Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 186 is indeed quite extreme.
Han Zhou sat expressionlessly at the table, looking at Xiao Yuyan across from him, who was beaming with excitement.

This guy looked all eager to get started from the moment he walked in, clearly having already planned out what questions to ask.

This gave him a bad feeling.

He was still holding Mo Yixia's hands. Seeing Zhang Tao and the other person glancing at him from time to time, he felt a little awkward, so he changed the subject: "Sister Yuyan, is your friend alright?"

He was referring to Liao Xinyu.

"It's okay, you'll understand once you figure it out."

Xiao Yuyan smiled and shook her head, glancing at the two clasped hands out of the corner of her eye. Her smile widened, and she almost burst out laughing. Just as she was about to get straight to the point, she suddenly remembered the important reason she had come here. So she suppressed her smile and looked at Mo Yixia, hesitant to speak.

"that……"

Mo Yixia glanced at her and said calmly, "Are you trying to ask me why I said before that guy named Chen Xiang wasn't a good person?"

Xiao Yuyan nodded, then hesitated for a moment: "This issue shouldn't be considered..."

"Not counting."

Mo Yixia interrupted her, "However, there is one thing I need to make clear beforehand: if my words cause a breakdown in your relationship, I will not be responsible, and neither will Han Zhou."

Han Zhou raised an eyebrow. A breakdown in relations? Is it that serious?
Zhang Tao asked curiously, "I don't quite understand what you're saying?"

He knew who Chen Xiang was; he had met the others in the group when he caught up with Han Zhou before, but this was the first time he had heard the claim that Chen Xiang was not a good person.

Han Zhou wanted to say that it wasn't too late to listen now, but Xiao Yuyan was quite frank. Perhaps because she and Zhang Tao were now in a gossip alliance, she told him about the little conflict between Han Zhou and Chen Xiang without much hesitation.

Han Zhou glanced at her. Although this CP leader came to listen to gossip, she was still subconsciously protecting her friend deep down. The main reason she told Zhang Tao about this in front of him and Mo Yixia was probably to imply to Mo Yixia that this little conflict was nothing and that it was best to be truthful and not to slander others for it.

Mo Yixia understood what she meant, but she didn't explain anything. She said indifferently, "Someone who claims to be bad at joking insists on making jokes that make people uncomfortable. This is undoubtedly a sign of low emotional intelligence. I'm just stating the facts. I don't think there's any conflict between us."

Your bluntness is also a sign of low emotional intelligence...

Xiao Yuyan and Zhang Tao silently complained.

As if he had thought of something, the former suddenly frowned and asked uncertainly, "Wait, what do you mean by 'claiming that he is not good at joking'?"

"literal meaning."

Mo Yixia, seemingly too lazy to explain, gave Han Zhou a warning look, "Hold on tighter."

Han Zhou sighed silently. He had just tried to secretly loosen his grip while the others were talking, but it seemed that his intention had been seen through, so he had no choice but to silently increase the pressure.

However, I must say, this guy's hands are really soft; describing them as boneless might be an exaggeration, but...

Han Zhou didn't dare to think too much about it, after all, Mo Yixia was staring at him. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Zhang Tao laugh and say, "I didn't expect Han Zhou to be so henpecked."

Are you making low-EQ jokes too...?

Han Zhou thought to himself, but before he could say anything, he saw Mo Yixia nod in satisfaction: "Zhang Tao's jokes are really good, but I'm not actually that strict with him. He's very free."

She deliberately dragged out the second half of her sentence, making it clear to anyone that she was being sarcastic and sarcastic.

Han Zhou looked at Zhang Tao expressionlessly.

Seeing that familiar gaze, Zhang Tao realized he had said the wrong thing again, gave an awkward laugh, and then decided to keep quiet and not say anything more.

Xiao Yuyan increasingly wanted to confirm the relationship between Han Zhou and Mo Yixia again, but business was more important at the moment, so she asked, "Even if he has low emotional intelligence, does that mean Chen Xiang isn't a good person?"

She admitted that Chen Xiang sometimes made jokes that went too far, but that didn't mean he had a problem with his character.

"Indeed, no."

Mo Yixia shook her head, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "Then do you think a scumbag is a good person?"

Han Zhou wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt like she glanced at him when she spoke.

"A scumbag?" Xiao Yuyan frowned. "You mean Chen Xiang is a scumbag?"

She thought the girl was talking nonsense.

Mo Yixia said calmly, "If I'm not mistaken, Chen Xiang probably wasn't with you guys the night before last. He either didn't come home all night or met up with you very late."

"The night before last..."

Xiao Yuyan paused for a moment, then her face showed a look of reminiscence. The day before yesterday was a holiday, and the two of them from the dormitory had a meal together. It was at that time that they decided to climb Green Mountain.

Dinner was around 6 p.m. Chen Xiang was there at the time, but he left after eating, supposedly because of an urgent matter. After dealing with the urgent matter, he would go to the guide in advance to arrange the itinerary of Green Mountain and would not return to school that night.

So Chen Xiang did not return home the night before last...

Thinking of this, Xiao Yuyan was taken aback and looked at Mo Yixia with a puzzled expression: "How did you know?"

Not only Xiao Yuyan, but Han Zhou was also puzzled, wondering if Mo Yixia's "mind-reading" skills had advanced again, and that she could even analyze such things through micro-expressions?
Mo Yixia didn't explain, but continued, "If I'm not mistaken, when you met up the next morning, didn't he give his girlfriend a bouquet of flowers?"

Xiao Yuyan was stunned, and asked in shock, "You...how did you know?"

When everyone met up yesterday morning, Chen Xiang did give Qianqian a bouquet of flowers. Liang Qian was overjoyed. Xiao You even pretended to be unhappy and scolded Lin Ming for a while, saying that he was not romantic at all. So she had a deep impression of this incident.

Mo Yixia remained calm and offered no further explanation: "If I'm not mistaken, he seemed quite tired yesterday and probably went to sleep before it got dark."

"Yes, it is……"

Xiao Yuyan was completely convinced. Although there was the need to adapt to altitude sickness, Chen Xiang did seem much more tired than usual yesterday and went to bed very early, which made Liang Qian a little unhappy.

Han Zhou was equally shocked, looking Mo Yixia up and down as if he had seen a ghost, and exclaimed in amazement, "Has your mind-reading ability become this terrifying?"

Zhang Tao glanced at him, looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated, but ultimately kept his mouth shut, afraid of saying the wrong thing again.

"What does this have to do with mind reading?"

After a moment of silence, Mo Yixia looked at Han Zhou with an expression as if he were an idiot, "I just happened to see that guy named Chen Xiang the night before last."

Why didn't you say so sooner?!

Furthermore, since you saw everything, why say "if I'm not mistaken"?

Han Zhou was stunned for a moment, then noticed the strange looks from Xiao Yuyan and Zhang Tao. His face flushed slightly, and he asked, trying to remain calm, "When did this happen? How come I didn't see it?"

It's no wonder he didn't think of this. He and Mo Yixia have been inseparable these past few days. He can see everything she can see, and with his photographic memory, he won't forget anything Mo Yixia can remember.

However, he never remembered ever seeing Chen Xiang, so he didn't connect the dots. In addition, he had been personally experiencing Mo Yixia's "mind-reading" ability, so he thought that this guy had drawn his conclusion through observation and analysis.

"I already said, the night before last."

Mo Yixia said, "It's normal that you didn't see it. At that time, you were checking us into a room, and your attention was entirely on the receptionist. I looked around and happened to see that guy named Chen Xiang walk into a room. After that, two girls walked into that room one after the other."

She paused, then added, "No one came out in the middle."

After he finished speaking, the room fell into a long silence.

Xiao Yuyan deciphered two pieces of information from this sentence:
First, Han Zhou and Mo Yixia are indeed a couple, because they went to a hotel.

Second, it turns out that Chen Xiang really is a scumbag. He actually spent the whole night in the same room with two girls. She doesn't believe that the three of them did nothing in the room. It's impossible that they played cards all night, right?

Han Zhou wanted to explain that he had actually booked two rooms, but he felt that such an explanation would only make things worse and might backfire, so he simply left it at that. However, he still felt uneasy and secretly kept a watchful eye on things, thinking that he would have Lin Anyu remind his cousin not to talk nonsense when he got back, and also to prevent Gu Zheng from having any contact with Zhang Tao...

After a brief silence, Xiao Yuyan suddenly flew into a rage, staring intently at Mo Yixia, and said, barely suppressing her anger, "Are you sure what you're saying is true?"

Her anger wasn't directed at Mo Yixia, but at Chen Xiang. Liang Qian was Chen Xiang's girlfriend and also his best friend. If what Mo Yixia said was true, it meant that her best friend had suffered a serious betrayal, which would undoubtedly be a huge blow to the latter.

Mo Yixia calmly met her gaze: "When he entered the room, I saw that he was carrying three bouquets of flowers."

Although it wasn't explicitly stated, the meaning was quite clear: the three bouquets of flowers were obviously prepared for the two girls in the room and the girlfriend.

It was because she witnessed this scene that Mo Yixia asked Chen Xiang if he had given Liang Qian a bouquet of flowers when they met the next day.

This shows that she wasn't just making things up; at least it's true that she had seen Chen Xiang.

Xiao Yuyan fell silent, her face growing increasingly grim, wishing she could immediately go back and expose that guy's true colors.

Zhang Tao hesitated for a moment, then reassured her, "Don't get agitated. Your junior only saw him go into the room with two girls. It doesn't mean anything happened between them. Maybe nothing happened at all?"

The "junior" he was referring to was Mo Yixia. After all, Mo Yixia always called him "senior," and he assumed she was also a freshman at Lin University. However, it was still a bit strange; logically, a junior as pretty as her shouldn't be unknown at the school...

Upon hearing this, Han Zhou and the other two slowly turned their necks, looking at him with a shocked expression that seemed to say, "Are you serious?"

Xiao Yuyan forced a smile: "These days, are there still men and women who share a room and do nothing?"

Zhang Tao paused, then hesitated, "But they are one man and two women..."

"..."

It seems this reckless campus celebrity has put all his muscle-building skills into his brain, or he's obsessed with extreme sports and doesn't know much about group activities...

Han Zhou mentally scoffed, showing no intention of responding. Firstly, because the matter was none of his concern and there was no need to interrupt; secondly, because he suddenly remembered the night he and Gu Zheng had booked a hotel room together—

They really didn't do anything.

Xiao Yuyan thought Zhang Tao was just joking to make her happy, but she couldn't laugh at all. She lowered her head, hesitated for a moment, and said in a deep voice, "I'm going to tell Qianqian about this."

Han Zhou raised an eyebrow: "Now?"

If Xiao Yuyan confronts Chen Xiang now, Mo Yixia, the whistleblower, will undoubtedly be pushed forward as a witness, and it will be difficult to guarantee that a violent conflict will not break out.

This kind of thing can be argued over. Now that there's no cell phone signal, many things can't be verified. Liang Qian and the others might not believe Mo Yixia's story, and might even think it's a frame-up. It's secondary that it might affect their summit attempt at dawn; he's more worried that Mo Yixia will be resented.

This is on a snowy mountain; if something unexpected happens, the problem could be huge.

It wasn't that Han Zhou was worrying unnecessarily... Well, he admitted that his worries might be a bit excessive, but as the saying goes, one should not be wary of others, and it's best to avoid some things if possible.

He hoped that Xiao Yuyan would reveal this matter after she came down the mountain.

Although Xiao Yuyan didn't think as much as he did, she also realized that revealing the truth now was not a good choice and would only affect everyone's good mood. So she shook her head and said, "Not now. I'll tell Qianqian after we go down the mountain tomorrow."

Mo Yixia said, "I still remember what those two girls looked like. If you need, I can tell you their physical characteristics. Also, I suspect that Chen Xiang is a regular at the hotel we are staying at. You can set up surveillance in advance."

"In addition, you can also ask his roommates for information. As his best friends, they might know something, or even know everything."

"There's no need to check his phone. You won't find anything, and it will only make him more suspicious. If you really want to check, I suggest looking at his recent spending records. Tracking is actually a good option—simple and practical—but it's a technical skill and very time-consuming. You might not be able to do it. There are two main time periods to be wary of..."

Over the next few minutes, Mo Yi slowly and methodically presented a series of practical solutions for catching someone in the act of adultery, constantly offering advice to Xiao Yuyan. The latter was deeply moved, wondering why this girl seemed to have a lot of experience in catching adultery.
She glanced at Han Zhou suspiciously, and thinking of Zhong Ling, Gu Zheng and others she had met before, she had a guess in her mind: could the experience come from Han Zhou?
I'm getting more and more curious...

Noticing Xiao Yuyan's scrutinizing gaze, Han Zhou couldn't help but twitch his lips. Looking at Zhang Tao, who also had a strange expression, he felt a pang of regret, thinking that he should have locked the door from the inside to keep those two out.

He looked at Mo Yixia and felt something was off. Given her personality, she shouldn't be so concerned about other people's affairs.

Perhaps sensing something, Mo Yixia glanced at him and said meaningfully, "I equally despise every scumbag in this world."

This wasn't a lie; after all, this girl hated almost everything, but Han Zhou always felt that she was targeting him.

Zhang Tao kept his head down and didn't speak. After hesitating for a long time, he couldn't help but look up cautiously at Mo Yixia and ask, "There's something I can't figure out."

"what is the problem?"

Han Zhou raised an eyebrow and took over the conversation for Mo Yixia.

"How did you know Chen Xiang would be very sleepy the next day?" Zhang Tao asked with a curious look.

The room fell silent.

"6."

The next second, the same thought popped into everyone's mind.

Even the usually calm and collected Mo Yixia was taken aback for a moment, then turned to look at Han Zhou, signaling him to explain.

She's an innocent high school girl who can't explain this kind of problem.

This is what a truly innocent college student looks like, but isn't it a bit too exaggerated...?

Han Zhou muttered to himself, but kept his mouth shut and intended to pass the buck to Xiao Yuyan.

He was on guard against Mo Yixia, who always liked to find loopholes in his words to make fun of him, so he had to be careful.

Seeing Zhang Tao looking at her with a thirst for knowledge, Xiao Yuyan wasn't shy at all. After a moment's thought, she suddenly had a bright idea and explained, "It's like the same distance; carrying one backpack isn't tiring, but carrying two backpacks is very tiring."

She considered herself quite reserved, so she naturally couldn't be too explicit; this was a rather subtle way of expressing herself.

After saying that, he took a sip of water.

Zhang Tao seemed to understand, but not quite. Recalling his climbing experience today, he nodded and said, "I get it. Chen Xiang's stamina isn't very good, so he couldn't walk anymore carrying two backpacks... But Han Zhou's stamina is beyond my expectations. I'm afraid carrying three backpacks wouldn't be a problem for him."

"More than that."

Mo Yixia lowered her head and counted on her fingers, saying sarcastically, "This guy's dream is to carry five backpacks in one go."

"puff!"

Xiao Yuyan suddenly spat out water from her mouth. If she hadn't turned her head away in time, the saliva would probably have sprayed onto Han Zhou's face, who was sitting opposite her.

"No... I'm sorry..."

Seeing that all three of them were looking at her, she smiled awkwardly and poured more saliva into her mouth to cover up her embarrassment.

Zhang Tao didn't understand why Xiao Yuyan suddenly laughed, but he didn't pay much attention to it. Hearing that Han Zhou had such lofty ideals, he was intrigued and took the opportunity to extend an invitation: "Han Zhou, would you be interested in doing extreme sports with me?"

"puff!"

Xiao Yuyan spat out the water in her mouth again, as if she had choked, and coughed violently.

Carrying five bags at once is definitely pushing your limits...

This time, before she could turn her head away, Han Zhou, who was opposite her, was also caught in the crossfire, his face covered in water.

He was expressionless, looking utterly hopeless.

(End of this chapter)