Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 160 He was very careful about his words.

Perhaps because he had been evading the city management officers for a long time, this candied hawthorn vendor had developed a remarkable ability to escape. However, he was no match for Han Zhou's current physical abilities and was quickly caught up.

He kept running, repeatedly apologizing and explaining that he would come back after the city management officers left. To express his apology, he even gave Han Zhou an extra string of candied hawthorns. The two completed the transaction while running.

Looking at the three strings of candied hawthorns in his hand, Han Zhou was both amused and exasperated. He had earned eight yuan after running around, which was a small profit.

But then again, it feels so good to be able to run at full speed. If he were still sickly like before, he wouldn't have had the chance to climb the snow mountain with Mo Yixia.

Considering that Mo Yixia was still waiting for him, he turned around and ran back quickly.

Mo Yixia is a mature high school student, so there is no risk of her getting lost. Han Zhou saw her as soon as he returned, but she seemed to be dealing with several men who were trying to pick her up.

Han Zhou frowned. These guys must be at least in their thirties. Mo Yixia's high school uniform was so conspicuous, how dare they talk to her?

He walked over quickly, but only when he got closer did he realize that things were not as he thought.

"You mean the tourist attractions in Yecheng are suitable for couples? Hahaha, of course we know, everyone has a youthful past."

"You can find Yecheng's famous attractions online, so you're probably asking about interesting places that aren't too crowded, right? I get it, I get it, a romantic getaway for two, right? Well, you've come to the right person. I was the one who gave my son advice when he was pursuing his girlfriend..."

"I suggest you go and take a look at the old town."

"Thank you, uncle."

Mo Yixia listened attentively to the men's stories with a calm gaze, noting down the locations they mentioned. Then, as if struck by a thought, she said without turning her head, "Have you considered how I feel being left here all alone?"

Do you have eyes in the back of your head?
Han Zhou was taken aback, but fortunately he was used to this guy's various "superpowers" and explained, "Well, I went to buy you candied hawthorns, didn't I? You saw the vendor run away as soon as he got the money..."

Upon seeing Han Zhou appear, an older man looked him up and down, and said with a look of surprise, "Oh, young lady, is this your boyfriend? He's quite handsome."

He scrutinized Han Zhou, "But young man, this is where you're wrong. You're here for tourism, right? How can you leave such a lovely young girl in a place you don't know well?"

Han Zhou glared at Mo Yixia, thinking to himself that this girl was anything but cute, and he knew without a doubt that she was spouting nonsense again, even mentioning her boyfriend.

"You seem to be thinking something very offensive."

Mo Yixia seemed to see through his thoughts and said calmly, "If you insist on thinking I'm not lovable, then you'd better get past your conscience first."

Was my expression that obvious?
Han Zhou gasped, immediately handed over the candied hawthorn, and changed the subject, asking, "What are you guys talking about?"

The uncle chuckled and said, "Your girlfriend asked us what places in Yecheng are good for couples. We've already told her. You two can go and check them out when you have time. They're pretty good."

The men all had smiles on their faces, which made Han Zhou feel uneasy. Then, somewhat puzzled, he pointed at Mo Yixia and asked, "Can't you tell she's a high school student?"

"I can tell. The style of this school uniform is similar to my daughter's, just the color is different. What's wrong?"

"Um...don't you guys think this is puppy love?"

Han Zhou was indeed a little curious. Just like in his previous life, the mainstream view in this world was against early dating, and almost all families were like this. He didn't expect these uncles to be so open-minded. Judging from their conversation, some of them seemed to already have children.

"Haha, what do you mean by puppy love? You two are almost adults, aren't you?" an uncle laughed. "We were all like that back then. We were innocent and easily moved during our student days. When you actually enter the workforce, you don't have that kind of naive love to talk about anymore."

Another middle-aged man said sourly, "This old guy's wife is his childhood sweetheart from high school. They've been inseparable since high school, and we're all incredibly envious of them."

"Yes, in your young people's words these days, that brat was always showing off his love to us back then, always so smug," the other two uncles said with deep disgust.

"Alright, alright, do you think I wanted to? I was forced into it."

"See? This kid got the benefit and is still acting innocent!"

"..."

It's clear that these people have been friends for many years, forging a deep friendship since their student days, and they can still chat together now.

"In short, while we don't support young people dating too early, we don't object either, as long as it doesn't affect your studies. Of course, you must be mindful of boundaries in some things," the uncle who spoke first earnestly reminded them.

Mo Yixia gave Han Zhou a meaningful look, then lowered her head and said, "Don't worry, he's very careful."

Han Zhou's face darkened. What he said wasn't wrong in itself; he had always been very careful about his behavior. If anyone was careless about their behavior, it would be this guy. The problem was that other people would hear it differently.

Mo Yixia's expression and tone just now were so honest and intriguing; she managed to convey the feeling of "Don't worry, he wore it" with just a few words...

Han Zhou was certain that this guy was doing it on purpose!
Sure enough, the expressions on the faces of the middle-aged men instantly became subtle. They exchanged glances, then looked at Han Zhou's slightly pale face, and suddenly regretted saying that they didn't object to early relationships...

The puppy love they're talking about is at most the kind of innocent romance where people hold hands, hug occasionally, and are even shy about kissing. How can they empty their bodies at such a young age?
The group wanted to help the young couple who had gone astray back to the right path, but they couldn't take back what they had just said, so they looked embarrassed and hesitated to speak.

Fortunately, Mo Yixia didn't intend to make things difficult for these kind-hearted uncles. She said somewhat aggrievedly, "He's so timid. We've been together for so long and we've only held hands once, and that was me who took the initiative."

"Is...is that so..."

Hearing this, the older men breathed a sigh of relief. Noticing the disappointment in the young girl's tone, they raised an eyebrow and looked at Han Zhou, advising him in a knowing tone, "Young man, we're not trying to criticize you, but sometimes being too careful isn't a good thing. Taking initiative is also a necessary skill..."

Han Zhou's lips twitched. No, do you want me to be mindful of my boundaries or not?
……

Having finally said goodbye to this group of middle-aged men who were experts in the art of dating, Han Zhou walked towards the hotel with a look of utter despair. Noticing that Mo Yixia was unusually quiet beside him, he couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with you?"

Mo Yixia was holding a candied hawthorn she had bought not long ago, but she hadn't eaten it yet. In fact, Han Zhou had never seen her eat anything on the street, because she almost never took off her mask when she was out.

Mo Yixia shook her head slightly: "It's nothing, it's just that when I was chatting with the uncles just now, something suddenly came to mind."

Han Zhou looked wary: "You'd better not be talking about 'being mindful of boundaries'."

"Does this need to be repeated?" Mo Yixia turned her head and glanced at him.

She keeps many of her emotions inside, but not disdain. However, if possible, Han Zhou hoped she could also keep that emotion hidden...

"So what came to mind?"

Instead of answering, Mo Yixia asked, "Do you remember how many times we've held hands?"

"Why do you ask this?"

"You just need to answer my questions."

“Once…” Han Zhou thought for a moment, “like that time at the haunted house.”

His tone was somewhat complicated, but he quickly masked it.

"Will my hands be soft?"

As he pondered, the girl's soft voice rang in his ears.

"It is indeed quite soft..."

Han Zhou nodded subconsciously, then his voice suddenly stopped. He turned his head and saw Mo Yixia with her hair tied up, staring at him with a half-smile.

"This time you're quite honest."

"Ahem." Han Zhou changed the subject with a serious expression. "So why are you asking this?"

Mo Yixia withdrew her gaze and said, "We actually held hands more than once, but strictly speaking, that was the only time we held hands... Of course, that's not the important thing. Do you remember how I answered that uncle just now?"

Han Zhou thought for a moment and tentatively asked, "'We've been together for so long and we've only held hands once'?"

“That’s right.” Mo Yixia gazed into the distance. “I said that subconsciously. I feel like we’ve been together for a long time, but in fact, excluding the time we can’t meet, we’ve only known each other for a month.”

"I suddenly feel a little scared."

Han Zhou was stunned for a moment, then heard the other person continue, "Many things in this world are measured in terms of time, especially feelings. The interesting thing is that things that are built up over time are often destroyed by time, and destruction is always easier than accumulation. A relationship that lasts for decades may become blurred just because of a separation of one or two years. This is a completely unequal conversion relationship."

Mo Yixia looked up at the moon. The moon was exceptionally round tonight. Most people liked this time of day, but some did not, because each phase of the moon represents a change of time.

Each change of time represents an unequal exchange of emotions.

"So I was thinking, if even feelings built up over a long period of time can be diluted in a short time, then what is our relationship of less than a month?"

After a moment of silence, Han Zhou chuckled and said, "If it's really as you say, that feelings accumulated over a long period of time can be diluted by a short period of time, then our relationship of one month should have disappeared long ago because of a month of separation, right?"

"In my opinion, feelings aren't measured by the length of time spent together, but by 'effective memories.' A longer period of time can hold more memories, and naturally, there's a greater probability of accumulating 'effective memories.' So, the longer the time spent together, the deeper the feelings tend to be. However, even if the time spent together is short, as long as enough 'effective memories' are accumulated, there's actually no difference between the two. As for what you're worried about..."

"You said that feelings aren't measured by the length of time, right?" Mo Yixia interrupted him.

"Yes, but I haven't finished speaking yet."

"No need to say anything more, that's enough."

"enough?"

"enough."

Mo Yixia's tone was calm, showing no trace of her previous sadness, but rather a subtle ease. "You can still say something useful occasionally, I quite like your theory of 'effective memory'."

"Yeah……"

Han Zhou was somewhat suspicious, wondering what this guy was up to.

"I want to eat candied hawthorns," Mo Yixia suddenly said.

Han Zhou laughed: "Eat if you want, you have some right here."

"I want to eat the skewer on your right hand."

"What's the difference?"

"There's no difference, but I just want to eat it."

Han Zhou had no choice but to hand her the candied hawthorn: "Then you can have it."

Mo Yixia didn't take it. She was holding a candied hawthorn in her right hand, so she used her left hand to pull her mask down a little, revealing her delicate face and slightly opening her mouth.

Although nothing was said, the meaning was self-evident.

Han Zhou was taken aback, and said with a strange expression, "You don't mean you want me to feed you, do you?"

Mo Yixia glanced at him: "You ate four fish heads tonight, how can you still ask such a stupid question?"

Without giving Han Zhou a chance to continue speaking, she said calmly, "Also, although I haven't mentioned it, you shouldn't have forgotten that I would grade you, right? Now it's time for the assessment, are you unwilling to do such a small thing for me?"

After saying that, he opened his mouth again.

Han Zhou took a deep breath. Tomorrow was the Mid-Autumn Festival, and he was too lazy to argue with this guy on such a big holiday. He decided to let him feed him and reluctantly handed the candied hawthorn to the girl's mouth.

Mo Yixia took a bite of the top candied hawthorn and then lazily stayed still.

"You're not even willing to put in the effort to pull the candied hawthorn down, are you...?"

Han Zhou's face darkened, and he had no choice but to pull the candied hawthorn back. To avoid hurting the other person, he deliberately controlled his strength. Before long, he pulled off a candied hawthorn, and Mo Yixia tilted her head back, and the round candied hawthorn immediately rolled into her mouth.

Her lips still had a little bit of frost on them, making them look shiny. She stuck out her tongue and licked them, chewed for a while, and said, "It tastes pretty good. You should try some too."

Han Zhou was stunned. He looked at the candied hawthorn in his hand and asked, "You want me to eat what you left over?"

"Don't worry, I don't mind."

"I hate it!"

Mo Yixia immediately felt wronged: "Can't you even do such a small thing for me...?"

"Alright, alright, I'll eat it, okay?"

Han Zhou sighed helplessly. Although Mo Yixia was being lazy, she still managed to bite quite accurately, so there shouldn't be any saliva on the remaining candied hawthorns. He bit into one of the candied hawthorns and swallowed it in one gulp.

"How is it?" Mo Yixia asked, looking at him.

"It's quite sweet."

Han Zhou could only come up with this one assessment, thinking that the eight yuan was not well spent.

"Really? Sweet is just right."

Mo Yixia nodded slightly, revealing a satisfied expression. "It wasn't for nothing that I specially licked your candied hawthorn just now. I am indeed very sweet, right?"

Han Zhou's expression froze.

"what……"

Without giving him a chance to speak, Mo Yixia opened her mouth and continued to wait to be fed.

Han Zhou expressionlessly held the candied hawthorn to her lips, repeating the previous procedure.

Without waiting for Mo Yixia to speak again, he consciously ate the last candied hawthorn.

Mo Yixia said with satisfaction, "Have I been so sweet that you can't resist me?"

"Yeah."

Han Zhou gave a perfunctory reply, found a trash can to spit out the seeds, threw the stick in, and was just wondering whether to eat the other string of candied hawthorns when he turned his head and saw Mo Yixia extending her left hand to him.

He asked suspiciously, "What are you planning to do now?"

I don't know if it's because he's too excited about the holiday, but this guy is being unusually dramatic today.

"Of course we're holding hands. Otherwise, why do you think I would specifically free your hand?"

Mo Yixia said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Didn't you say that we need to create 'effective memories'? Now is the perfect time."

So eating candied hawthorns is to free up your hands...?

Han Zhou was dumbfounded: "When did I say that 'effective memory' meant holding hands?"

Mo Yixia sighed and grabbed his hand with just the right amount of force, enough to prevent him from breaking free.

The sound faded into the night, reaching the ears of those nearby.

"That's what I said."

(End of this chapter)