Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 210 A Place That Seems Familiar

Well known.

In today's environment filled with various restrictions, things like horror anime obviously can't appear directly on TV; they can only be searched online and then cast to the TV screen.

Lin Anyu first found the horror anime that Lin Youya mentioned online, making sure there wouldn't be any unhealthy ads popping up, before turning on Do Not Disturb mode and casting his phone screen to the TV.

To create the atmosphere befitting a horror movie, all the curtains in the room were drawn, making the living room unusually dark, with only the television occasionally flashing its light.

Han Zhou and the others sat on the sofa, quietly waiting for the anime to start.

This is a horror film in the style of an anime. The art style alone gives people an eerie feeling. The beginning has no background music, only a gloomy scene that gradually unfolds with the sound of footsteps.

The story begins with a group of children's late-night adventure.

There is a house in the village that has been abandoned for a long time. The reason for its abandonment is unknown, but all the adults in the village have repeatedly issued stern warnings, telling the children never to play near the house.

The reason has never been explained; it seems that everyone is keeping it a secret.

However, since it's a horror anime, the storyline can't unfold without people doing crazy things. So, naturally, on a night with a full moon hanging high, a few high school freshmen sneaked into an abandoned old house.

Despite being called an old house, it doesn't look old at all. From the courtyard walls to the houses, there is no sign of damage. Although many places are covered with cobwebs and the yard is overgrown with weeds due to its age and disrepair, this big house is perfectly habitable if properly maintained.

Those with a place to stay are fine with it, after all, they have to save face, but even the beggars in the village who have nowhere to stay don't come to this place, which puzzles the children.

At this point, it was undoubtedly time for the commentator to step in. Sure enough, a round-headed child stood up and mysteriously recounted a story from the past to everyone.

They didn't listen to anything else, the only thing they heard was that this place was haunted, and they immediately looked at each other in bewilderment.

Remembering the adults' warnings, the children couldn't help but feel scared. But they had come to test their courage, and none of them dared to mention leaving. Instead, they were eager to prove their bravery and wanted to investigate.

There was a well in the courtyard. It was said that you could see ghosts in the well on the night of a full moon. Coincidentally, today was the night of a full moon. The group of people mustered their courage and came to the well, nervously peering down into the water.

I didn't see any ghosts, only the reflections of several people in the well water. Their faces looked a little pale in the moonlight, but there was nothing scary about them.

The children breathed a sigh of relief and immediately scoffed at the so-called ghost story. They soon left the house, discussing along the way whether to make this place their future secret base, since no one would come anyway.

On the way back, they met one of the children's older brothers, who had come looking for his younger brother. He could tell where they had gone just by looking at the direction they were heading back, so he picked up a stick to teach them a lesson.

This older brother was only a few years older than the children. He often played with them and was very easy to talk to. The children begged for forgiveness in turn. Seeing that he had calmed down, they shared what they had seen and heard in the house.

The older brother's hand, which had been raising the stick, suddenly froze.

"You said you saw your reflections in the well?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?"

“I’ve been inside that house during the day before…”

The older brother's face grew increasingly pale, and his voice trembled.

"But I remember...it was clearly a dry well..."

As soon as he finished speaking, eerie background music suddenly started playing, accompanied by a chilling laugh. A look of terror suddenly appeared on the older brother's face.

However, the scene did not change with his gaze; instead, the screen went black, and time jumped to several years later.

Only then does the story truly begin.

A strong sense of déjà vu... But this is an anime after all, so it shouldn't end with a standard domestic horror movie ending like hypnotic hallucinations, right?
Han Zhou calmly watched the screen, silently analyzing the direction of the story. Judging from the relatively short timeline, the protagonist of the story should be a child who entered the house a few years ago.

After all, the children are all adults by now, so it's not easy for them to be taken down due to factors such as involving minors and feudal superstitions... He thought to himself.

At this moment, Han Zhou was sitting in the middle of the sofa. To his right was the guzheng, which was not far away. To his left was Lin Youya, who was holding a cola. Further to his left was Lin Anyu, who was yawning incessantly.

At the beginning of the anime, everyone's expressions were relatively calm.

When the anime was about halfway through, Han Zhou and Gu Zheng were less than a centimeter apart. Lin Youya had hugged his arm tightly at some point, and Han Zhou could hear her teeth chattering.

The girl seemed to want to hug Lin Anyu's arm, but Lin Anyu was too weak. Every time a scary scene appeared, he would tremble violently, making Lin Youya, who was already scared, even more frightened. At this moment, Lin Anyu hugged Lin Youya tightly, and the two siblings squeezed together onto Han Zhou.

The group was clearly frightened.

As the most terrifying scene unfolded, Han Zhou felt a sudden weight lift from his body and realized that Gu Zheng was pressed tightly against him. The fact that she wasn't clinging to his arm was the girl's last act of defiance.

Lin Youya hugged his forearm tightly, and Lin Anyu wrapped his arms around her and then grabbed her upper arm tightly. It can only be said that the two are indeed cousins, as even their trembling and swallowing were almost synchronized.

Han Zhou was sandwiched between the three people, staring blankly at the television screen.

After finally waiting for the movie to end, the three of them were practically glued to him.

Lin Youya had somehow snuggled into his arms, covering her eyes with her little hands;

Lin Anyu gripped his arm tightly, using all her strength, almost tearing off a piece of flesh;

Gu Zheng buried half her head behind him so she could hide from the terrifying scene at any time.

Han Zhousheng stared blankly at the credits scrolling at the end of the movie, sighed deeply, and reminded the audience, "The movie is over."

Fortunately, he is currently in a state of near-death due to his enhanced physique. If it were before, he might have been seriously injured after watching this movie.

Upon hearing the reminder, the three of them snapped out of their daze and quickly moved away from him, their eyes darting awkwardly over the others.

After a brief silence, Lin Youya, known for her stubbornness, swallowed hard and commented in a trembling voice, "This anime is a little bit scarier than I imagined, but only a little bit!"

Lin Anyu, the second most stubborn of them all, nodded in agreement: "This thing is really quite exciting. I was a little sleepy at first, but the more I watch, the more awake I become. Interesting, really interesting..."

He picked up his phone with trembling hands and hurriedly ended the screen mirroring.

Gu Zheng, the epitome of stubbornness, shook her head slightly and said calmly, "Nothing special."

She loosened her grip on Han Zhou's clothes.

Han Zhou: "..."

Could you guys be any more fake?

However, he was too lazy to expose them. He just secretly remembered the incident and thought that if he had the chance to watch a horror movie with them again in the future, he would definitely sit far away from these people, record how they were shaking like sieves, and then casually say, "Nothing special."

Just as he was inwardly grumbling, Lin Youya's crisp voice suddenly rang in his ears: "Brother Han Zhou, you have a phone call."

He came to his senses and realized that Lin Anyu had suggested everyone silence their phones and place them on the table to ensure the best viewing experience, which was why he hadn't heard his phone ring immediately.

"Thank you."

I picked up my phone, and the caller ID showed an unfamiliar number.

Han Zhou raised an eyebrow slightly. After the experience of the thugs blocking his door last night, he now subconsciously thought of Han Long whenever he saw an unfamiliar number. So he got up, walked to a slightly farther place, and pressed the answer button.

"Hey?"

"Hello, is this Han Zhou?"

A clear, crisp female voice came from the other end of the phone; the voice sounded somewhat familiar. "You are..."

Can't you recognize my voice?

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment: "Xiao Xiaoxiao?"

"I told you to just call me by my first name, without the surname!"

It really was that guy...

Han Zhou understood immediately and asked, "Where did you get my phone number?"

"Of course, I'll ask Teacher Ouyang for it."

"Teacher Ouyang... so why did you call me?"

He and Xiao Xiaoxiao weren't very close, otherwise they wouldn't not even have each other's phone numbers. After all, they had only known each other for less than a month. The reason they were closer than other people in the class was because they always felt like they had met before.

"I have something I want to tell you."

"Very important?"

"It's not that important..."

"Then why don't you just send me a Fetion message?"

"How dare you say that!" Xiao Xiaoxiao got angry as soon as she mentioned it. "What kind of weird questions did you set on Fetion? I can't add you at all!"

Han Zhou was taken aback and asked in confusion, "Didn't I add you before?"

He remembered that he had accepted all the friend requests from his classmates before.

"No!" Xiao Xiaoxiao exclaimed angrily.

"All right……"

Han Zhou guessed that this guy probably hadn't added him back then, but that wasn't important. "I'll add you later. So, what do you want to say to me?"

Xiao Xiaoxiao was silent for a moment: "Do you remember when we both thought we had met each other before?"

"Of course I remember." Han Zhou's heart skipped a beat. "Are you talking about something related to this?"

"I'm not so sure either……"

Xiao Xiaoxiao's tone was full of uncertainty, "I went to a place this morning, and it felt so familiar. I also inexplicably thought of your face, so I was wondering if we had met there before..."

Han Zhou understood what she meant: "So you want me to go and see if I can remember anything?"

"Ah."

"...I'm very interested, but I don't have time right now. You can give me the address, and I'll go take a look when I have time."

Han Zhou had thought about it many times and concluded that he had never suffered from amnesia in the past eighteen years, so there was no possibility that he and Xiao Xiaoxiao had known each other since childhood and then both had lost their memories.

Moreover, even if that were the case, so many years have passed, and the two of them would look very different. Logically, they wouldn't feel a sense of déjà vu if they met again.

So he kept thinking about where this feeling of déjà vu came from.

Now that there is a possibility of finding the truth, he naturally will not let the opportunity slip by.

"Yes... never mind, you wouldn't be able to find it even if I told you. Let me know when you have time, and I'll take you there myself," Xiao Xiao said.

"also."

Han Zhou nodded and continued, "Did anything come to mind after you saw that place?"

"No, it just feels very familiar, but I've never been here before..." Xiao Xiaoxiao said, sounding confused.

"I see."

Han Zhou seemed to be thinking, "What's your name on Fetion? I'll approve it for you."

So many people have added him on Fetion that it's not easy to find Xiao Xiaoxiao's contact information if you don't know her username.

"Isn't my name in the class group chat? You can just go see for yourself." Xiao Xiaoxiao said impatiently and hung up the phone quickly.

Han Zhou thought so too, and quickly found Xiao Xiaoxiao's name in the class group and took the initiative to send a friend request.

It was only then that he noticed the other person's online name and couldn't help but chuckle.

Big, big.

No wonder this guy was too embarrassed to just say his online name...

"Whose call was that?" Gu Zheng asked curiously when Han Zhou returned to the living room.

“Xiao Xiaoxiao, you’ve met her before.”

Han Zhou didn't intend to hide it from Gu Zheng, since she also had a vague impression of Xiao Xiaoxiao, so he repeated what she had just said.

Lin Youya's eyes widened in surprise: "Really? We've never met before, yet I feel like we've met before. I've only ever seen this kind of story in anime! It's amazing!"

Lin Anyu also looked surprised: "It does sound quite mysterious..."

Han Zhou was temporarily confused, then turned to look at Gu Zheng: "I plan to take some time to go and have a look. If you have time, you can come with me."

"Okay." Gu Zheng agreed without even thinking.

"It might be quite far," Han Zhou reminded him.

He remembered that Xiao Xiaoxiao came from Beicheng. If the place she mentioned was in Beicheng, then they would have to travel far away.

"It's far, it's okay."

Gu Zheng shook her head. She was just as curious about it. More importantly, she could go out and have fun with Han Zhou. There was no reason not to go.

Lin Youya and Lin Anyu also wanted to join in the fun, but the former had to go to school and didn't have as much time as other college students, while the latter was at another school. Han Zhou promised to let him know when the time came, and if the other party was free, they could go and take a look together.

The group played until six o'clock. Seeing that it was time for dinner, Han Zhou used the vegetables in the refrigerator to cook a meal for everyone.

To ensure he could get into a focused state, he didn't ask anyone for help. Unfortunately, even though he was very focused, he still couldn't make a delicious meal.

This probability does not seem to be something that can be controlled by humans.

However, even though it was just the most ordinary food, with the added bonus of his "masterful cooking skills," everyone still praised the meal tonight. Lin Youya even repeatedly begged him to come to her house more often in the future.

Han Zhou nodded with a wry smile.

This is a transitional chapter. Originally, the main storyline about the guzheng should have followed, but the pacing suddenly felt off. A lot of chapters were dedicated to Yixia, and now a large portion is being devoted to the guzheng, spanning dozens of chapters with only single-character interactions. This squeezes out the space for other characters to appear, and the timeline remains stagnant. Even after these two major storylines conclude, we're still in the middle of the National Day holiday. When other characters reappear, it will feel like a distant memory, perhaps even forgotten. Therefore, the guzheng storyline needs to be pushed back slightly to adjust the pace.

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(End of this chapter)