Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 204 Are you an idiot?

"Would you like to stay at your place tonight?"

Han Zhou paused, turned around to look at Ouyang Lianyu, and asked in surprise, as if he could hardly believe his ears, "Teacher, are you serious?"

"Ah."

Although somewhat hesitant, Ouyang Lianyu nodded gently.

For her, inviting a man to stay overnight at her home was actually a very embarrassing thing, but she had just made a promise before, even though it was mostly just a joke. Now that Han Zhou was really homeless, she couldn't just brush it off with a joke.

She had repeatedly said that she wasn't a liar like him, so there was no reason for her to go back on her word now.

Moreover, Han Zhou's lateness was entirely due to her. She hadn't yet repaid the kindness of saving her before, and now that he had nowhere to go, she felt obligated to offer him some assistance.

Thinking of this, she added, "It's too late now, and I'm worried about you leaving alone."

"No need, there are plenty of places to stay, so I won't trouble you, teacher. Of course, I definitely won't stay under the bridge," Han Zhou said with a wave of his hand and a smile.

He could tell, of course, that Ouyang Lianyu was actually quite embarrassed. Asking him to stay overnight was probably already the limit, and he couldn't be so tactless as to agree.

"stop."

Seeing him turn to leave, Ouyang Lianyu immediately put on a stern face and called him back, her tone becoming more serious, "Did you find it troublesome when you escorted the teacher back?"

Han Zhou was stunned and said, "No."

"Then why would you think it would be a hassle for me to stay at my house for one night?"

"Um, that's not what I meant, it's just that men and women are different after all..."

"I'm your elder, and I don't mind, so why should you mind?"

Han Zhou said with a wry smile, "Even if I don't mind, we can't live in the same room..."

"Who told you my house only has one room?"

Ouyang Lianyu rolled her eyes at him, turned on the light, and pushed the wheelchair into the room. "Come in. If you're free tomorrow morning, you can accompany your teacher to the police station. Your teacher has never been to a police station in her life."

It's like I was actually there...

"Then I'll have to bother you, teacher."

Han Zhou smiled wryly to himself. Since things had come to this point, he naturally couldn't refuse anymore. So he put away his phone and followed Ouyang Lianyu into the house, closing the door behind him.

The moment she heard the door close, Ouyang Lianyu, who was walking ahead, felt a sudden tremor in her heart, and only then did she realize what she had just done.

Whatever the reason, she actually mustered up the courage to invite a man to stay overnight at her home, and this man was not a child, but a young man full of vigor.

That's incredibly bold...

Her cheeks were slightly flushed. It wasn't that she was worried about what Han Zhou might do, but she couldn't help but feel some strange emotions. She was even a little worried that the student might think she was indecent.

She actually agreed with Han Zhou's statement that the two of them had a good relationship. If it were any other student, she would never invite them to stay overnight at her house.

"Teacher Ouyang."

Lost in thought, Ouyang Lianyu was startled by a voice behind her. She quickly composed herself and asked in a calm tone, "What's wrong?"

"These should be men's slippers, right?"

Han Zhou looked down at the several pairs of slippers placed in the entryway. One of them was much larger than the others, obviously for men. He felt a chill and guilt. If Teacher Ouyang had a boyfriend, wouldn't his current situation be quite bad?
Thinking of this, he quietly reached for the doorknob behind him.

Ouyang Lianyu was stunned for a moment, then turned around and saw Han Zhou's nervous expression and furtive movements. She couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time: "What are you doing?"

Han Zhou forced a smile: "It's nothing, I just suddenly feel like going to an internet cafe..."

"If you want to play games, the teacher has a computer here too."

How could Ouyang Lianyu not see his concerns? She rubbed her forehead and said, "Don't overthink it. I bought these slippers specifically to protect myself. Sometimes I put them outside the door to deter people with ill intentions."

Han Zhou suddenly realized that he knew this. In today's society, the most vulnerable group to harm is women living alone. After all, women are relatively weak and are more likely to be seen as targets of crime. To protect themselves, many women living alone will put a pair of men's slippers outside their door to imply that there is a man in the house, thus deterring criminals.

"I see."

He then relaxed, removed his hand from the doorknob, looked down and re-examined the oversized slippers, and joked, "With feet that big, they must be very intimidating, right?"

Ouyang Lianyu was a little embarrassed. She had indeed specially chosen the extra-large shoe size. She said helplessly, "Although it's a bit big, you can still wear it."

"Me wear it?"

“I only have one pair of men’s slippers at home, so you can only wear these,” she chuckled. “Of course, you can walk barefoot if you want, but you know I won’t be able to clean the room for a while, so be prepared for your feet to get dirty.”

"Okay... thank you, teacher."

Han Zhou had no choice but to compromise and decided to wear the slippers that were suitable for Bigfoot.

He followed Ouyang Lianyu into the living room, put his bag on the sofa, and as if he suddenly remembered something, asked, "By the way, Teacher Ouyang, I have a question that I'm very concerned about."

Ouyang Lianyu's heart tightened, and she subconsciously thought that the other party wanted to ask her whether there had been men in her family, but she quickly realized that she was overthinking it.

Han Zhou stroked his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face: "If I leave my slippers outside at night, is there a possibility they'll be stolen?"

Ouyang Lianyu: "..."

"Slippers aren't valuable items, who would steal that?" After a moment of silence, she said with a helpless expression, "What on earth are you thinking about all day?"

"Not always."

Han Zhou shook his head. Stockings and underwear aren't valuable items, yet people still like to steal them, don't they?

Of course, the probability of Bigfoot's slippers being stolen is indeed much lower than the probability of his underwear being stolen.

He looked around at the things in the living room and asked, "Teacher Ouyang, you must live alone, right?"

"Yes." Ouyang Lianyu's heart tightened again. "Is there a problem?"

"Does one person need to rent such a big house?" Han Zhou asked, looking puzzled.

Ouyang Lianyu breathed a sigh of relief and explained, "I originally only planned to stay here temporarily, so I found two girls to share the apartment with. These two girls worked at the same company, but they moved out together a while ago because of work, so I'm all alone now."

"That's really nice, one person taking up such a big room." Han Zhou nodded enviously, took out a water cup from his bag, and took a sip of water.

"The water dispenser is over there, and the paper cups are in the cabinet downstairs."

Ouyang Lianyu first pointed to the water dispenser against the wall, then chuckled and said, "I still prefer a more lively atmosphere, but since I've already paid the rent and I don't usually live here, I'll stay for now and leave when the lease expires."

As if suddenly remembering something, she continued, "If you want to move, I can't help you much here, but if you want to find a place to live near the school, I can help you."

"Okay, thank you, teacher," Han Zhou said with a smile.

"The other room contains the things that the two girls who moved out didn't finish moving, so you can stay in this room tonight."

Ouyang Lianyu pushed the wheelchair to the door of a room, opened the door, and turned on the light. The room was unusually clean, with only an empty bed frame and mattress, apart from a full-length mirror.

“I have extra bedding in my room, but the teacher is having difficulty moving around right now, so I'll have to trouble you to make your own bed,” she continued. “Okay.”

"The toilet is over here. You can use anything on the sink, but there aren't any extra towels or toothbrushes..."

"It's okay, I have these things with me."

Han Zhou pointed to the backpack on the sofa.

"That would be great."

Ouyang Lianyu smiled and gave a brief overview of the things Han Zhou might need in the room before saying, "That's about it. If you have any questions, just come and find me, but remember to knock."

At this point, her expression turned serious, as if afraid that this student, who showed her no respect whatsoever, had forgotten even this basic fact.

Han Zhou was quite hurt, and said with a wry smile, "Of course I know about this kind of thing."

"It's good to know."

Ouyang Lianyu returned to her room and took out the bedding from the closet. It must have been her own replacement bedding, which had been washed very carefully and smelled of laundry detergent. Han Zhou spread it out in the room, feeling somewhat complicated. Apart from Guzheng, this was the second time he had stayed at a woman's house.

Ouyang Lianyu watched him make the bed quietly from the doorway, then suddenly asked, "By the way, what would you like to eat for breakfast tomorrow?"

Han Zhou was somewhat surprised, looking flattered: "Teacher, are you planning to make breakfast for me?"

“Of course, you’re a guest now.” Ouyang Lianyu was amused by his expression. “But I don’t have many ingredients here, so I probably can’t make a decent breakfast.”

"It's okay, as long as it's edible." Han Zhou didn't seem to care.

Ouyang Lianyu pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling offended, because she could read the meaning in the other person's tone as "you're probably not very good at cooking".

Her feeling was right. At this moment, Han Zhou subconsciously pictured Ouyang Lianyu frantically stir-frying vegetables while mistakenly putting sugar into the pot instead of salt.

Thinking of this, he hesitated for a moment, then volunteered, "But Teacher Ouyang, you're not able to move around easily right now, so how about I prepare breakfast instead? Consider it payment for tonight's rent."

He assured that this was out of concern for the injured and that he had absolutely no intention of doubting the other person's cooking skills.

"Can you?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Ouyang Lianyu subconsciously began to doubt Han Zhou's cooking skills.

Han Zhou felt he had been provoked.

His culinary skills are certified by the status bar, and have even become a "culinary proficiency" skill. Now, someone is actually asking him if he can do it?

"I'll show you what I've got tomorrow morning," he said, his hands behind his back, looking mysterious. "Just wait and see."

As long as he has the ingredients, he can make a delicious and visually appealing breakfast.

Ouyang Lianyu couldn't help but chuckle, and didn't refuse: "Then I'll trouble you."

……

Silent all night.

Nothing happened that night. There was no scene where Ouyang Lianyu accidentally fell and needed Han Zhou to help her up, no awkward encounter between the two when they went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and no cliché scene where she vaguely saw underwear hanging somewhere.

Everything was peaceful.

Having spent so long in a wheelchair, Ouyang Lianyu naturally had enough experience to take care of herself, so there wouldn't be any accidents happening just because there was another person in the family.

At 7:30 a.m., Han Zhou got up on time, first went to the bathroom to wash up, and then went to the refrigerator to prepare to show off his skills.

He moved very quietly so as not to disturb Ouyang Lianyu, who might still be sleeping in the room.

This teacher is a very busy person. He was still drinking coffee and working on his computer late last night, and he probably hasn't woken up yet.

Han Zhou was stunned when he opened the refrigerator.

Although he prided himself on his excellent cooking skills, as the saying goes, even a skilled cook cannot cook without rice. He searched the refrigerator thoroughly but still had to accept the cruel reality—there was nothing else in the refrigerator except two eggs, not even leftovers. Was he going to have to eat a boiled egg by himself this morning?

The nutrition was barely enough, but it was clearly not enough to fill their stomachs.

Unwilling to give up, he searched around and finally found a tomato in the kitchen cupboard. The label showed the date from the day before yesterday, and it didn't look spoiled.

Although he didn't know why the tomato was there, he was relieved to avoid the embarrassing fate of having to eat boiled eggs this morning. After searching carefully again and confirming that he had found nothing, Han Zhou decided to make a tomato and egg soup.

Scrambled eggs with tomatoes are fine, but one tomato and two eggs are not enough. He first rinsed the rice and put it in the rice cooker, then went to the kitchen to make soup.

"This thing alone can't showcase my cooking skills. Teacher Ouyang must be afraid I'll show off my skills, so he's hiding the ingredients..."

Lost in thought, just as the soup was about to boil, Han Zhou suddenly heard a knock on the door.

At first, he thought it was his imagination. He walked out of the kitchen and listened carefully for two seconds. He found that someone was indeed knocking on the door. He was puzzled. Would someone come to see Teacher Ouyang so early in the morning?
Just as he was hesitating whether to open the door, he suddenly heard the sound of a key being inserted into the lock. Startled, he quickly walked towards the entrance.

"Didn't Sister Lianyu come back here during her vacation...?"

Zhang Xinyue had a fried dough stick in her mouth and a bag of soy milk hanging on her wrist. After knocking on the door several times without getting a response, she muttered something and took out her keys from her bag to open the door. But as soon as she opened the door, she saw a man with a blank expression standing in the doorway.

man?

She was so startled that her mouth gaped open, and the fried dough stick in her mouth fell to the ground. She first looked down at it with concern, then quickly took two steps back and asked warily, "Who are you? Why are you in my house?"

She sized him up and realized that the boy was quite young, probably still in school, and very handsome.

Han Zhou also sized up the unfamiliar woman in front of him, and after a couple of seconds asked, "Are you Professor Ouyang's roommate?"

"How did you know?" The woman was slightly taken aback, then her face showed surprise. "Wait... Teacher Ouyang? You're Sister Lianyu's student?!"

As expected... Han Zhou understood. He knew it. What thief would be bold enough to break into the door so early in the morning? The woman in front of him was indeed one of the two roommates who had shared an apartment with Teacher Ouyang.

Thinking of this, he smiled kindly and said, "Yes, my name is Han Zhou, and I am a student of Teacher Ouyang."

He looks so handsome when he smiles...

Zhang Xinyue almost swooned, but she quickly realized what was happening and said warily, "Wait, this isn't a school. Even if you are Sister Lianyu's student, why would you be here?"

She noticed a detail: the young man was wearing unusually large slippers and his hair was a bit messy. Normal people wouldn't wear slippers when visiting someone's home... unless he was staying overnight.

Sister Lianyu hasn't shown up yet; only this guy came to open the door wearing slippers. If you connect all of this, it can only mean one thing...

"I see……"

She stared intently at Han Zhou, a cold smile playing on her lips. If she were wearing glasses, the lenses would have shone with an unusually glaring light.

"Aren't you actually a thief who sneaked into the house to stay overnight when no one was there?"

The air was silent for two seconds.

Han Zhou's smile froze.

Are you an idiot?
(End of this chapter)