Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 156 The Lying-Down Player
"Um... I remember you never used to rush to finish your homework before holidays. Is there some special reason today?"

In Zhang Meng's memory, Mo Yixia had always been a laid-back, unambitious person.

She didn't know if this description was appropriate, but she knew that the other person went to school every day just like clocking in for work. In class, they would rest with their chin propped up and listen to the lecture, and after class, they would rest alone looking out the window. It had always been like this.

Physical education classes proceeded in an orderly manner. Students did exercises without lagging behind, ran without falling behind, and maintained their physical fitness test scores above the passing grade. During free time, students would find a place to sit still until the end of get out of class.

As for where to sit, it depends on the weather that day. If the weather is nice, we sit on the lawn to sunbathe, and if the weather is hot, we sit in the shade of a tree to cool off.

Zhang Meng was curious about what Mo Yixia was thinking after she sat down. She neither watched the boys playing ball nor listened to the girls chatting and laughing, as if she was immersed in her own world. However, if a classmate asked her to help pick up the ball, she would get up, pick up the ball, throw it back, and then sit down again, staring into the distance in a daze.

No one knows what she is thinking.

Mo Yixia is a girl who likes to be a little lazy—this description may not be quite accurate, but Zhang Meng does often feel that way.

For example, with daily homework, the teacher requires students to complete the assignments exactly as they are assigned, without missing a page or writing an extra page. Once finished, they call it a day. Even though she knew that the assignments would have to be done sooner or later, she had no intention of doing them in advance.

Moreover, unless it's self-study time, she would never use any time outside of class to do homework. Zhang Meng once asked her why, and Mo Yixia's answer was simple: because break time is rest time, and rest time should not be used to do homework.

However, it is clear that her concept of "rest" is different from what others think of as rest. Her idea of ​​rest is to stare out the window in a daze. Whether it is celebrity gossip, grades, or even the dating topics that girls sometimes discuss in private, Zhang Meng has never seen Mo Yixia show any interest in anything.

In short, if we compare everyone's life to a river, then other people's rivers are like flowing water that constantly creates waves, while this girl's life is like stagnant water that never changes.

There are no waves, nor does it seek waves. All thoughts are hidden beneath the calm, waveless surface of the lake. Even if the lake water is so clear that you can see the bottom clearly, you can't see it clearly because the surface will break if you stir it.

However, today, that slight disturbance seems to have appeared.

Zhang Meng couldn't hide her curiosity, but she was also worried that Mo Yixia wouldn't want to answer her.

"What special reason do you think it could be?"

Fortunately, although Mo Yixia was still working on the test paper with her head down, she seemed to have become somewhat interested in the question and made a soft sound.

This is her usual way of speaking. She usually doesn't answer other people's questions directly, but instead throws the questions back at them in a rhetorical question, and yet she does so in a way that doesn't make people feel uncomfortable. This makes her seem like she doesn't refuse to communicate with people, but she rarely reveals her true thoughts.

Most of the questions were answered by the questioners themselves, so she only needed to give ambiguous responses.

Perhaps this is why Mo Yixia, despite seeming easy to get along with, actually exudes a subtle sense of aloofness...

Nevertheless, Zhang Meng was excited enough. The fact that Mo Yixia was willing to talk meant that she didn't shy away from discussing the topic, which meant that Zhang Meng could guess with confidence.

"Let me think... special reasons..."

She immediately started thinking outside the box, gently tapping her forehead with her pen, and tentatively asked, "You must have something important to do during the holidays, something you don't want to be interrupted, so you don't want homework to affect your mood?"

This is not hard to guess. Just as she often finishes her homework early so that she can play without any worries during the holidays, Mo Yixia will certainly clear all obstacles in advance for something.

"and then?"

Mo Yixia remained noncommittal, paused for half a second, and then asked slowly, "What do you think this 'important matter' refers to?"

They still brought the question back to them.

Zhang Meng was at a loss. If it were other classmates' ideas, she might be able to tentatively guess, but she knew nothing about Mo Yixia's interests and hobbies. Even whether the other person had any "interests" at all was still debatable. She was really at a loss for what to do.

Faced with her deep thought, Mo Yixia neither gave any hints nor urged her to guess quickly, but simply continued working on the test paper in silence.

Zhang Meng certainly wouldn't give up so easily. Since she didn't know Mo Yixia's interests, she might as well start with "waves" themselves.

Until yesterday, Mo Yixia had maintained the same "lying flat" attitude, which means that her change may have only started today. So what's special about today?

Yes—today is a holiday.

Starting tomorrow, it's not only the National Day holiday, but also the Mid-Autumn Festival, a time for family reunions—a festival with obvious special significance. If we look at it solely from the perspective of the festival, today is clearly special.

However, in Zhang Meng's memory, Mo Yixia's habits never changed because of any holiday. Whether it was a traditional festival or a statutory holiday, these days seemed to be no different from a regular half-day off on Sunday, so the reason should not be here.

Besides the upcoming holiday, there is another special thing worth noting today – the parent-teacher meeting that is currently being held.

Actually, parent-teacher conferences aren't anything special; they've been held before. Zhang Meng had met Mo Yixia's mother before. She was a very easy-going, wealthy woman, covered in jewelry. She had always attended parent-teacher conferences. However, Mo Yixia and her mother didn't seem very close. It was unclear at home, but at least that was the case at school.

It's worth mentioning that Zhang Meng didn't see Mo Yixia's mother in the classroom this time.

What's special about today isn't the parent-teacher meeting itself, but the people who came to attend.

Zhang Meng was glad she hadn't arrived at the multimedia classroom too early. She had gone to the restroom and by the time she returned to get her books, most of the parents had already arrived. She happened to see a handsome but unfamiliar boy sitting in Mo Yixia's seat. He had fair skin and a very nice smile.

She kindly reminded the other person that the parent-teacher conference was about to start and that it wasn't appropriate to visit another class at that time, but the other person didn't seem to care and replied with a smile that he was there for the parent-teacher conference.

She didn't pay much attention at the time, thinking that the other person was responsible for leading the parents to the parent-teacher meeting. Until now, she was still wondering why she had no impression of such a handsome boy before. Now she realized that the other person was not wearing a school uniform at all.

Linbei Middle School has very strict dress requirements. Students must wear school uniforms during class time. The fact that the boy wasn't wearing a uniform means that he wasn't a student at the school, but was actually there to attend the parent-teacher conference as he claimed.

The requirement for this parent-teacher meeting was that all parents had to sit in their assigned seats according to their children's seats, and coincidentally, that boy ended up sitting in Mo Yixia's seat...

So he came to attend Mo Yixia's parent-teacher conference.

Zhang Meng suddenly felt that she had discovered the truth.

Her breathing suddenly quickened. Considering that Mo Yixia seemed to be in a good mood today—or so she thought—she was increasingly convinced that her guess was correct. She lowered her voice and asked, "Is it because of the boy who came to the parent-teacher conference in your place today?" She stared intently at Mo Yixia, trying to read something from her eyes.

However, she was disappointed. Mo Yixia remained calm and composed, saying while working on the test paper, "You answered with a reason rather than an event, which has nothing to do with 'important things'."

Zhang Meng was somewhat dejected after hearing this, thinking that she had guessed wrong. But after thinking about it, she felt something was wrong. It took her several seconds to understand what Mo Yixia meant—did I guess right?

She didn't guess what the "important thing" was, but she wasn't wrong about the reason. This matter was indeed related to that boy, right?

That's definitely what it means!

Zhang Meng was overjoyed and thrilled, not only because she had guessed the truth, but also because she finally saw a different side of Mo Yixia—this perpetually lazy player would actually do her holiday homework early for someone, and was even willing to expose the fact that she had been hiding her strength!

And that person was a boy!

A very handsome guy!

The combination of these factors already explains a great deal.

Zhang Meng's inner gossip was burning fiercely, and she instantly imagined at least ten versions of campus romance stories. Suppressing her excitement, she asked, "Um... can we put the 'important matter' aside for now? I wanted to ask, what's your relationship with that boy...?"

Mo Yixia paused, staring thoughtfully at the last big question on the test paper. These kinds of challenging questions are usually very difficult, and she fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

After a moment, she concluded that the question was too difficult and beyond her current "level" of ability, so she could temporarily give up on answering it.

That saved another five minutes.

She put the test paper back in the drawer, took out the next one, and answered the multiple-choice questions at an astonishing speed of two seconds each, then asked, "What do you think?"

She threw the question back at her once again.

Zhang Meng knew Mo Yixia would do this, and she had already prepared her answer: "Since he's here for a parent-teacher conference, he must be your relative, right? But I feel like you two don't look alike, so even if you are relatives, we're probably not related by blood... So you're distant relatives?"

Although Mo Yixia always wears a mask and a baseball cap, her classmates still have a chance to see her face, such as when taking photos of certain documents or when measuring lung capacity, she always has to take off her mask.

It was a stunning beauty, and Zhang Meng still remembers how she felt when she first saw Mo Yixia's face under the mask.

All the classmates found it strange that such a beautiful girl would hide herself, but unfortunately Mo Yixia never answered this question.

Faced with Zhang Meng's guess, Mo Yixia, unusually, did not respond with a question, but said, "It's not too far, a little further than direct relatives within three generations, roughly that kind of relative."

Although Han Zhou ultimately chose the relationship of cousins, she still stuck to her original idea.

Zhang Meng was taken aback, not quite understanding why Mo Yixia specifically emphasized direct relatives within three generations. It couldn't be because direct relatives within three generations couldn't marry, could it? However, she was still quite encouraged because Mo Yixia was now willing to answer her question.

She wasn't particularly curious as to why such a young relative would be sent to the parent-teacher conference; that was a question for the teacher to answer. Instead, she asked, "What's your relationship like?"

"What do you think?" Mo Yixia asked again.

Zhang Meng looked expectant: "I think it should be great."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you do your homework ahead of time for him. It's a small thing, but it's completely different from your usual self. I guess you two are planning to go out and play together after the holidays. That's the 'important thing'."

Zhang Meng became more and more excited as she spoke, her eyes shining as she said, "I suddenly remembered, you seemed to have brought a backpack today. You usually only carry a bag and not a backpack. Could it be that you have a change of clothes in your backpack? Are you planning to go on a long trip?"

If Han Zhou were here, he would probably be immediately taken aback, and then invite this quick-witted girl to be Xiao Xiaoxiao's tutor.

The latter seems to lack reasoning skills. Since joining the detective club recently, he has been in a constant state of anxiety. Every time he goes to club activities, he racks his brains but can't find the murderer. His wild guesses have never been correct. He desperately needs an expert to guide him.

However, this guy has always enjoyed it and thinks joining the detective club is a very wise choice.

Han Zhou might be shocked, but Mo Yixia wasn't surprised. She had never deliberately hidden anything, so it wasn't strange that some things were guessed.

But then she suddenly became interested: "Can you really tell we have a good relationship just from that?"

"Of course." Zhang Meng nodded repeatedly. Although she couldn't explain why, she just had this feeling. "And mainly, I can tell you're in a good mood today."

If she wasn't sure before, she's now 100% certain; Mo Yixia is definitely in a great mood right now.

"Have it?"

Mo Yixia was slightly taken aback. She rarely showed her feelings, and sometimes she herself was not even sure of her own feelings. Had she shown them now?
"some."

Zhang Meng looked confident, then said somewhat shyly, "I've been observing you for a semester. Although I still don't know you very well, I can still see some small details."

Mo Yixia asked, "Could you tell me the details?"

As someone who excels at observing others, she rarely examines herself. Perhaps it would be a good choice to understand how others perceive her in such situations.

"I can't really explain it... but a person's feelings will inevitably exist... um... maybe it's more of an intuition, like your movements are a bit lighter than before?"

Zhang Meng tried hard to express her opinion, but unfortunately, she couldn't articulate it.

(End of this chapter)