Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 211 Not even a scumbag will be left

After dinner, Han Zhou took Gu Zheng home and greeted her parents.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, he left behind the local specialties he had brought back from Yecheng and left, saying he needed to go back and set up his new home.

Why is this guy walking in such a hurry?
Seeing Han Zhou close the door and leave, Gu Lang stared at the local specialties on the table for a while, then stroked his chin with a thoughtful expression: "Gu Zheng, did that kid tell you what he went to Yecheng for?"

"No."

Gu Zheng shook her head, picked up a pastry from the coffee table and stuffed it into her mouth. "He probably went out to play. I remember he has a roommate who is from Yecheng."

"You're not even going to ask about something like this?"

"What's there to ask?" Gu Zheng puffed out her cheeks and made a muffled sound. "Han Zhou has his own things to do. He can't be stuck with me every day like he was in high school."

So you knew that you two were inseparable back then...

Gu Lang and his wife Miao Yan'er exchanged a glance, puzzled. "That's true, but I remember you were still brooding over this a couple of days ago. How come you've suddenly become so open-minded?"

"How could I be gloomy!" Gu Zheng's stubbornness was triggered, and she immediately retorted.

Gu Lang's expression turned serious: "You used to eat a big bowl of rice at every meal, but these past few days you've only been eating half a bowl. What else could this mean but that you're sullen?"

Miao Yan'er nodded in agreement, clearly also agreeing that this was quite an abnormal situation.

"That's because your cooking is terrible..."

Gu Zheng rolled her eyes at her father, feeling a little unsure of herself, then puffed out her little chest. "Han Zhou said he would tell me anything. He didn't mean to hide anything from me, so why should I be upset?"

"You really trust that kid enough..." Gu Lang said with a sour look on his face.

Gu Zheng smiled and didn't deny it: "By the way, Han Zhou's cooking is really good now. His new house isn't far from ours, so I plan to learn cooking from him more often in the future."

Gu Lang objected: "If you want to learn cooking, just ask my dad, okay?"

“But your cooking isn’t as good as Han Zhou’s.” Gu Zheng’s honest words deeply hurt the father.

Girls can’t stay at home when they grow up…

Gu Lang sighed. As a father, how could he not understand his daughter's true feelings? While he felt envious and jealous of that brat Han Zhou, he couldn't help but feel a little gratified.

It seems this girl took his advice from the past two days to heart and is now planning to take the initiative.

"Alright... whatever you want."

He hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help but remind him, "But you have to promise your dad that it's okay to learn cooking skills, but you absolutely mustn't learn things you shouldn't learn."

"What are the things we shouldn't learn?" Gu Zheng asked, looking bewildered.

"Ignore your dad, he's just spouting nonsense all day long."

Miao Yan'er glared at her husband, annoyed. Seeing that the "head of the family" had spoken, Gu Lang said no more, and the topic was dropped.

After that, Miao Yan'er observed her daughter's expression for a while and asked curiously, "Xiao Zheng, did something happy happen to you when you went out today?"

She noticed it early on; Guzheng had been unusually happy ever since she entered the room, her tone cheerful, her movements light and agile, her eyes full of joy, as if she had encountered some great joy.

"No."

Gu Zheng vehemently denied it, swallowed the pastry, clapped her hands, stood up, and said in a light tone, "I'm going to take a shower."

After saying that, she hummed a little tune and walked into the bedroom, then carried her change of clothes into the bathroom, practically wearing the words "I'm so happy" on her face.

"Oh!"

The bathroom door was slammed shut.

Withdrawing his gaze, Gu Lang lowered his voice and said with a grave expression, "There's a problem, definitely a problem!"

Do you need to say this?
Miao Yan'er didn't want to pay attention to her husband's nonsense. After a moment of contemplation, she lowered her voice and said, "Do you think it's possible that Han Zhou confessed his feelings to Xiao Zheng?"

After much thought, she realized that this was probably the only thing that could make her daughter so happy.

"No." Gu Lang shook his head with a firm expression.

"why?"

“You know our daughter well. If that brat Han Zhou dared to confess his feelings, she would have agreed immediately. If that were the case, they would have entered the house as boyfriend and girlfriend just now. There would be no need to hide it from us.”

At this point, Gu Lang showed a pained expression, paused, and continued, "Besides, if that kid had really confessed, Xiao Zheng's face would probably have turned as red as an apple when we asked her just now. How could she have pretended to be so calm?"

Miao Yan'er thought it made sense, and after thinking for a while, she said, "Could it be some kind of unconscious confession?"

The so-called unconscious confession refers to the act of saying something that makes people blush and feel excited at certain unintentional moments.

For example, if a girl is walking on a scary, eerie path at night and keeps looking back in fear, the boy walking with her might suddenly say, "Don't be afraid, I'll walk with you on every dark path from now on." Or, if a girl praises a boy's cooking and he replies, "If you like it, I'll cook for you every day from now on," these can all be considered unconscious expressions of affection.

Of course, the person making the confession may not necessarily mean to confess, and some of their words may even sound a bit corny and awkward. But there is no denying that this unconscious expression of feelings is a very touching act.

Especially for someone who already has feelings for them, such unintentional romantic words are even more heartwarming than a formal confession, enough to make many people daydream and immerse themselves in happiness all day long.

If you don't quite understand, here's a relatively common extreme example—

A "simp" can be so happy that he can't sleep all night just because his goddess says "goodnight," and he spends all day wondering if she likes him. The two are essentially the same thing.

It's worth noting that unintentional confessions usually only work best with men and women who already have mutual feelings for each other. In other situations, you need to be careful to maintain a proper balance. If you were to tell a girl you've only known for three days, "I want to protect you for the rest of my life," you might end up being labeled a slut and gossiping online the very next day...

"I think so too."

Hearing his wife's guess, Gu Lang nodded in agreement, but soon his face showed worry. "An unconscious confession... As far as I know, many scumbags like to use this trick..."

"Are you giving a personal account?" Miao Yan'er glanced at him sideways, a half-smile on her face.

Gu Lang wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Let the children handle their own affairs, don't meddle all the time," Miao Yan'er said as she applied a face mask.

Gu Lang sighed, "I'm just worried that my daughter will be deceived by a scumbag. You know, Han Zhou's looks are comparable to mine when I was young. I'm not afraid that he'll be a womanizer, but I'm afraid that he won't be able to resist the temptations around him."

His words conveyed a sense of empathy and compassion.

"Don't treat Xiaozheng like a fool. Besides, you know what kind of person Han Zhou is. Stop projecting your own feelings onto others."

"It's better to be safe than sorry. What if that kid really..."

What do you see here?

Miao Yan'er impatiently interrupted him, pointing to the plate of pastries on the coffee table.

Gu Lang was taken aback and tentatively asked, "The plate?" "I'm asking about what's inside the plate."

"There's nothing there." He looked bewildered, and examined the area closely for a while. "Not even a crumb."

The last two pieces of pastry on the plate had just been eaten by Guzheng, and now there was nothing left on the plate.

After a moment's thought, Gu Lang had a flash of inspiration and asked, "I understand. Do you mean that kid's character is as spotless as this plate?"

"Do not."

Miao Yan'er shook her head slightly, her cheeks covered by a face mask, revealing only her two smiling eyes.

"What I mean is, if Han Zhou really dares to deceive Xiao Zheng's feelings and be a scumbag..."

"Then not even a trace of him will be left."

……

"Ah!"

Han Zhou sneezed suddenly when he got home, and his back felt a little cold, perhaps because it was a bit chilly.

He was puzzled. He was clearly immune to all diseases and never caught a cold. Could it be that someone was talking badly about him?
Before going home, he went to the supermarket to buy some groceries, planning to cook a late-night snack and figure out the skill of "mastering cooking" as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, the late-night snack I made still didn't turn out to be a gourmet dish.

As Han Zhou ate his late-night snack, he thought that a 20% increase in the deliciousness attribute would make people eat with relish. He wondered what a 50% increase in the attribute would mean. Would it spoil his palate?
After finishing his late-night snack, he went to the bathroom to wash up, returned to his bedroom, set an alarm for eight o'clock, and quickly fell asleep.

Perhaps because he wasn't used to the bed in his new home, he didn't sleep very well. Han Zhou woke up before eight o'clock and wanted to sleep a little longer, but he couldn't fall back asleep, so he got up to make breakfast.

I still couldn't make a decent breakfast.

After three consecutive failures, Han Zhou began to question the 30% success rate. Besides wondering if he was just unlucky, he also thought it might be related to the so-called attributes of the ingredients. Ordinary ingredients in reality probably did not meet the standard requirements of the skill, which led to the decrease in the success rate.

I just don't know how much it has dropped...

As I was pondering this, my phone suddenly rang. It was Guzheng calling.

Han Zhou initially thought Gu Zheng wanted to urge him to hurry over, since he had already arranged to go to Gu Zheng's hometown with her family today. However, after receiving the call, he realized that it wasn't what he thought.

The guzheng sounded a bit hoarse and had a strong nasal tone, which was obviously due to a cold.

Han Zhou was startled. How could he have suddenly caught a cold? He immediately asked how serious it was.

Gu Zheng said it wasn't serious and that leaving right now wouldn't be a problem, but before she could say anything, Miao Yan'er snatched her phone away and said, "I'm sorry, Han Zhou, Xiao Zheng suddenly has a high fever and probably can't go out today."

"It's alright," Han Zhou said, not minding at all. He then asked with concern, "I'd like to go take a look at the guzheng later, is that alright?"

"Of course you can, but Xiaozheng probably doesn't want you to come," Miao Yan'er suddenly lowered her voice.

"Why?" Han Zhou was taken aback.

"Of course it's because the child doesn't want you to see her in such a disheveled state."

Miao Yan'er chuckled softly, "Besides, you'll definitely ask her why she has a fever when you get here, and she definitely doesn't want to tell you right now."

Han Zhou was indeed very curious.

It's important to know that the guzheng's physical attributes can be described as a weakened version of "on the verge of death." The reason it's called a weakened version is because the guzheng's most prominent attribute is strength, while other attributes such as speed are not as exaggerated. Otherwise, if we only focus on strength, the term "weakened version" can be omitted.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Han Zhou's current "on the verge of death" status is a stripped-down version; otherwise, the guzheng would not be able to compare with the status bar.

Even so, Guzheng was definitely much healthier than the average person. In Han Zhou's memory, he had never seen her get sick. He really couldn't imagine how Guzheng, who was full of energy yesterday, could suddenly have a high fever today.

"What's the reason?" His curiosity was successfully piqued.

"This one……"

Miao Yan'er hesitated, as if she was trying to suppress a laugh rather than saying she didn't want to.

After a long pause, she said in a low voice, "I can tell you, but you must not tell Xiaozheng that I told you."

"I understand," Han Zhou nodded. "I told you that Uncle Gu told me."

"You brat, I'm listening right here! You think you can outsmart me?"

A voice gritting its teeth immediately came from the other end of the phone.

Han Zhou chuckled and said without changing his expression, "Of course I know you're here, Uncle Gu. I was just joking. Don't worry, I'm always a person who keeps his mouth shut."

Seeing that there was no sound on the other end of the phone, he became even more curious and urged, "Sister Miao? Uncle Gu? Tell me, why did Gu Zheng suddenly get a fever? Did she catch a cold from having a contest with someone to see who could cover themselves with a thinner blanket in the middle of the night?"

"puff!"

Miao Yan'er's laughter came through the phone, but it sounded muffled, as if it had been pulled away. Han Zhou felt a chill and immediately realized something was wrong.

Sure enough, the next second, Gu Zheng's weak voice, tinged with annoyance, rang in his ear: "Do you think I'm such a stupid person?"

"Hello? Hello? Can you hear me? Why can't I hear you all of a sudden?"

Han Zhou broke out in a cold sweat and immediately switched to feigning ignorance. "It seems there's a signal jammer in my neighborhood, so the signal isn't very good. If Gu Zheng isn't feeling well, let her rest. Remember, whatever you do, don't let her touch her phone; those things emit strong radiation... I'll go see her tomorrow!"

He hung up the phone immediately after saying that.

That was close...

Seeing that Gu Zheng hadn't sent a message to question him, Han Zhou guessed that her phone had been confiscated. He secretly praised himself for his cleverness and breathed a sigh of relief, but he was still a little curious about how this girl had gotten a fever.

He made up his mind to find out the truth tomorrow.

I can't go find Guzheng today, Mo Yixia is in class, and I can't go find her either. It seems the only person I can still look for is Zhong Ling...

No, no.

Han Zhou slapped his forehead, thinking to himself that he had gotten into a habit of grinding for points, always thinking about finding characters to unlock and earn points. Since he couldn't find Gu Zheng and Mo Yixia, he would find something else to do.

Moreover, he has already made a decision that goes against his ancestors' wishes, determined to achieve his dream of having both. He is already grateful that Gu Zheng and Mo Yixia can accept it. He can no longer provoke other girls and needs to keep his distance from them.

It's not that you can't touch the bell, but it's best to do it at school.

With this in mind, Han Zhou sent a message to Lin Anyu asking for recommendations on some cost-effective laptops while heading out to the market to buy some fresh vegetables.

He's staying home today until he makes some gourmet food.

The data was actually pretty good during the hiatus, with stable updates but a few fewer average daily subscribers. It was heartbreaking.
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(End of this chapter)