Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 155 Special Reasons
Han Zhou had always thought he had a pretty good mental fortitude, but he had to admit that sitting with a large group of middle-aged people at a parent-teacher conference was indeed a very stressful experience for a young man like him.

Especially since he was sitting in the first row in the middle.

From the moment he sat down until now, he has been under constant scrutiny from all directions, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. He had no choice but to take a book from Mo Yixia's drawer and pretend to read it.

I haven't studied for three months, and I still don't quite understand it...

Sitting next to him was a serious-looking middle-aged man, dressed in a suit and tie, with shiny leather shoes, his hair combed like an adult's, and wearing an expensive watch on his wrist. He was probably a successful person.

It was clear he was trying his best to appear aloof, but after holding it in for a while, he couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me, the parent-teacher conference is about to start. Aren't you going to go out and call your parents in?"

Han Zhou put down his physics book, forced a smile, and said, "Um... I'm the parent. This student is my cousin. Her parents are too busy to come, so they asked me to attend this parent-teacher conference on their behalf."

The middle-aged man was taken aback upon hearing this, then frowned slightly: "That's really irresponsible. They can treat a senior high school parent-teacher meeting like that... I'm sorry, I wasn't talking about you, please don't mind."

"I know. It's okay."

Han Zhou knew, of course, that the other party was referring to Mo Yixia's parents. He didn't want to comment too much on it and just wanted to quietly wait for the parent-teacher conference to end.

However, the middle-aged man clearly didn't want to end the conversation there, and instead of pretending to be aloof, he continued to ask, "Judging from your appearance, you must still be in school, right? A college student?"

"Yes."

"Is today an early holiday?"

"I didn't have any classes today, so I had some free time and rushed back."

"I see... May I ask where you go to school?"

"I'm from Lincheng University," Han Zhou said with a smile.

"Linyi University? Those are top students." The middle-aged man looked surprised. "Where do you plan to work after graduation?"

"I'm a freshman in college, and I haven't thought about working yet."

"Oh, freshman year is great, it's the perfect time to experience university life, there's really no need to rush into thinking about jobs..." The middle-aged man nodded, then asked, "Have you considered taking the postgraduate entrance exam?"

"It's not confirmed yet..."

Han Zhou sighed inwardly, "Are parents these days really that problematic?"
He finally managed to end the conversation, and took out a math test paper clipped to his desk drawer. The test paper was a thick stack, and some of the mistakes were marked with colored symbols.

This should be equivalent to Mo Yixia's collection of wrong answers, but it's unclear whether she genuinely got these questions wrong or did it on purpose...

"So you're Mo Yixia's cousin?"

Han Zhou was flipping through the exam papers when he suddenly heard the middle-aged man next to him exclaim in surprise, "I've heard of this student; she's my daughter's deskmate. I never imagined you two were relatives."

He had obviously seen the name on the exam paper.

Han Zhou was silent for a moment: "Don't you know that this parent-teacher meeting requires students' families to sit according to their children's assigned seats?"

"Yes, I know. I'm sitting in my daughter's seat right now."

"Me too."

Your daughter's deskmate is Mo Yixia, and isn't your deskmate a relative of Mo Yixia?

The middle-aged man paused for a few seconds before reacting. Perhaps feeling embarrassed, he coughed twice and changed the subject, saying, "My daughter often mentions your cousin, saying that this child named Mo Yixia has made remarkable progress recently and has been constantly praised by her teacher."

Han Zhou became interested and said, "I know that, but did your daughter mention anything else? I'd like to know what her classmates think of Yixia."

He was curious about what Mo Yixia was like at school, and took this opportunity to find out.

The middle-aged man thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "Yes, my daughter thinks your cousin is rather cold. They became deskmates last semester, but their relationship has only been so-so over the semester, which has made my daughter a little disheartened."

If it were Mo Yixia's parents, the middle-aged man might be more mindful of his words, but he was much more casual with a young man like Han Zhou. "She didn't say your cousin was difficult to get along with, but there seemed to be a kind of... a kind of... a kind of distance? Yes, that's it, a distance. That's what my daughter said. She said your cousin has a kind of distance with everyone."

"She also said that your cousin always keeps to herself at school. Other girls usually go to the bathroom or eat with someone, but she always goes alone..."

The middle-aged man talked at length, and it was clear that his daughter really wanted to be friends with Mo Yixia. Otherwise, she wouldn't have talked so much about Mo Yixia at home. That's why this father had such a deep impression of the name Mo Yixia.

Han Zhou wasn't too surprised by Mo Yixia's behavior, as it was actually quite similar to how she usually acted; she wasn't deliberately putting on an act at school.

As for why this uncle's daughter hasn't been able to get along with Mo Yixia... it's probably because she really wants to be friends with Mo Yixia.

Mo Yixia hates anticipation, and the other person's longing and enthusiasm for becoming her friend can also be categorized as anticipation, which is exactly what she despises.

Expectations take many forms, and perhaps it is precisely because there are so many different kinds of expectations in this world that Mo Yixia, who hates expectations, develops a misanthropic mentality.

Han Zhou was somewhat emotional. He hadn't realized it before, but now that he thought about it, he realized that making friends with Mo Yixia was quite difficult. After all, even having the intention to be friends with her was a disadvantage, something that probably no one could have imagined.

Looking back now, I realize that the fact that he and Mo Yixia have gotten along this way is largely due to luck.

He didn't have any expectations for Mo Yixia at first; he simply saw her as a mission target. On the contrary, she was curious about his purpose, which gave them the opportunity to spend time together. For a considerable period afterward, they interacted through a model of exchanging benefits, which was the key to maintaining their relationship.

If he had approached her with the mindset of "I want to save this world-weary girl" or "make her love the world again," he might not have even had the chance to get to know her at the beginning.
Is this a twist of fate or destiny?

Whether it was by chance or fate, if the story unfolded as a typical "redemption of a world-weary girl," it would be absolutely impossible to build a good relationship with this guy.

Because the direction was wrong from the start.

Mo Yixia is a girl who hates expectations.

Sometimes, redemption itself is the heaviest expectation, so heavy that it can make it hard to breathe.

Not everyone who is misunderstood by the world is sick, nor do all "patients" need salvation.

Mo Yixia is probably like that.

However, if possible, Han Zhou would certainly like to help Mo Yixia regain her love for the world, but he knows very well that feelings of liking and disliking cannot be easily changed with just a few words.

Mo Yixia is a very smart person, and even more so a smart person who has studied psychology on her own. It's impossible for her not to understand her own state.

This guy's thoughts were hard to fathom, but Han Zhou understood that he didn't need to say much; he just needed to treat her as before. Pulling himself back to reality, he smiled and said to the middle-aged man, "It seems you and your daughter get along very well. These days, it's rare to see parents and children who can have such heart-to-heart talks."

This wasn't just polite talk; he genuinely felt this was rare, and he remembered that Guzheng and Uncle Gu and Sister Miao also had this kind of harmonious relationship.

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man immediately straightened his chest. He hadn't expected this young man to be so eloquent, and he was indeed quite proud of his relationship with his daughter.

He was just about to ask about the other person's family situation when a man wearing glasses walked into the classroom with a smile. He had seen the man before and knew that he was the homeroom teacher of Class 3, Grade 12. Realizing that the parent-teacher meeting was about to begin, he had no choice but to give up.

When the homeroom teacher of Class 3, Grade 12 saw Han Zhou sitting in the first row, he thought he had entered the wrong classroom, because there was no such student in their class.

He stepped out of the classroom and glanced around to make sure he hadn't gone to the wrong place. Then he walked up to the podium, looked at Han Zhou, and asked, "Excuse me, are you also a student's parent?"

Han Zhou knew this question would come, and replied without changing his expression, "Yes, I am Mo Yixia's cousin."

"Ok."

The homeroom teacher nodded and said nothing more. Clearly, like the security guard, he was well aware of Mo Yixia's family situation and therefore did not have much suspicion about this cousin who had suddenly appeared.

After a brief opening, the parent-teacher meeting began.

……

Senior year of high school is a time-sensitive period, and the school always requires students to make the most of every minute. Even when parent-teacher meetings require classrooms to be vacated, senior students cannot relax and rest outside the classroom. Instead, they are arranged to continue studying in different places.

In the school's words, the holidays are coming soon, and there will be plenty of time to play during the holidays. It's better to use this little bit of time to study.

That makes some sense – if there isn’t a huge amount of homework to do during the holidays.

The students in Class 3 of the third year of high school were arranged to study in a multimedia classroom.

As senior high school students, the classmates naturally have the self-discipline expected of them, and they can still study diligently even without supervision.

However, since it was close to the start of the holidays, and everyone had just met and chatted with their parents, it was inevitable that everyone would be a little restless. There were quite a few people doing their holiday homework while whispering to each other.

Seeing so many classmates talking, and the class monitor not only not standing up to maintain discipline, but also chatting and laughing with others, Zhang Meng couldn't stay still and secretly tapped Mo Yixia's desk next to her with her pen.

"Ok?"

Mo Yixia clearly noticed her little movements, but didn't look at her, only making a faint nasal sound.

After being deskmates for a semester, Zhang Meng didn't manage to build a good relationship with this special girl, but she did learn a bit about her personality. It wasn't that she was deliberately acting aloof, but rather that she didn't want to spend too much energy talking to her.

Realizing this, Zhang Meng immediately abandoned her intention to chat with Mo Yixia. However, as her gaze inadvertently swept across the other's table, her eyes widened, and she couldn't help but speak up.

"Um... Mo Yixia, what are you doing?"

"Doing homework."

Mo Yixia answered without looking up.

Zhang Meng was stunned, and asked uncertainly, "Huh? Are you doing your homework...?"

The holiday homework for their class has already been assigned. Most of the homework was assigned by the subject teachers before today, except for the math homework, which was assigned this afternoon. There are six test papers in total. Mo Yixia is currently working on the math homework. She seems to recall that the other person has been rushing to finish the holiday homework whenever they have free time these past few days.

This is not surprising, as Zhang Meng also wanted to finish her homework quickly so she could play more during the holiday. What was strange was that Mo Yixia's speed in solving problems was terrifying. She could write down the answers to multiple-choice questions in just two seconds, and even the fill-in-the-blank questions were finished while Zhang Meng was distracted.

No, even if other people are just guessing, they still have to roll the dice. You're doing something even faster than that. Are you seriously doing your homework?

Zhang Meng was dumbfounded, but Mo Yixia didn't answer again. Perhaps in her opinion, it was a stupid question, and anyone with normal eyesight could see what she was doing.

Seeing Mo Yixia turn over her test paper, Zhang Meng took a deep breath and cautiously reminded her, "Mo Yixia, um... although the test papers will be graded by your deskmate, and I will definitely do my best to cover for you, we will still be sitting in the front row when we come back from vacation, and the teacher will be watching us, so you'd better not answer the questions carelessly..."

Mo Yixia continued working: "I've already finished the third set of simulation questions. They're in my desk. I remember you just did the multiple-choice questions on this set. You can take them out and check the answers."

Zhang Meng was stunned for a moment, but quickly understood what the other person meant. Judging from the tone, could it be that Mo Yixia's test paper was not done randomly?
However, seeing the other person's lightning-fast answering speed, she was still full of doubts. She immediately took out the third set of mock exam questions from the drawer under the other person and then took out her own paper to compare.

She didn't have Mo Yixia's speed in answering questions, so she only did the multiple-choice questions in that short time. However, after checking the answers, she was stunned.

The two had three different answers—which was perfectly normal. Zhang Meng was certain that she had done all the multiple-choice questions seriously, but she couldn't be sure that she would get them all right. She circled the questions she was unsure about, and these were the questions that differed from Mo Yixia's answers.

She didn't know if Mo Yixia's answer was correct, but it at least proved one thing—

Mo Yixia didn't answer the questions randomly; she completed the test paper seriously!
Looking at the three sets of mock exam questions she had finished, and thinking about when the exam papers were handed out, Zhang Meng couldn't help but swallow hard.

Since the beginning of this semester, Mo Yixia has been different from before. Her grades in all subjects have steadily improved, and her answering speed is even more astonishing. But her previous speed was still within an acceptable range, but now it is simply too fast!
Thinking about Mo Yixia's recent changes, a bold idea suddenly popped into Zhang Meng's mind—

Could it be that Mo Yixia has been hiding her true strength all along?

She's not making steady progress, she's just gradually demonstrating her true abilities!

Only in this way can we explain the other party's exaggerated answering speed and the accuracy rate that is inconsistent with the answering speed.

Zhang Meng did indeed guess part of the truth.

However, in reality, Mo Yixia was not as unfathomable as she thought.

She can indeed spot the answers to simple questions at a glance, but she still needs to spend time calculating the more difficult ones. However, she doesn't need a high accuracy rate, so when she encounters these questions, she uses her experience and skills to make a quick choice—in short, she just guesses.

What she needs most right now is speed; accuracy only needs to be within the normal range.

However, she certainly wouldn't tell Zhang Meng about this. How she guessed was Zhang Meng's business. The most important thing right now was to finish these test papers as soon as possible.

Mo Yixia had no intention of chatting, but just then, Zhang Meng suddenly asked a question tentatively.

"Um... I remember you never used to rush to finish your homework before holidays. Is there some special reason today?"

I haven't been feeling well because of my irregular sleep schedule and diet. My eyes have also been hurting for the past few days. I'm currently recovering and adjusting my sleep schedule, and I should be able to update properly tomorrow.

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(End of this chapter)