Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 244 Questionnaire
Autumn afternoons often make people feel drowsy.

Especially after a physical fitness test.

Mo Yixia sat in the shade of a tree far from the playground, resting her chin on her hand and lazily basking in the sun.

School uniform, mask, baseball cap—it's the same outfit all year round.

It was supposed to be shade, but in reality, the tree overhead had hardly any leaves left. Sunlight filtered through the branches, casting a long shadow of the girl that stretched all the way to the withered yellow leaves spread on the ground.

When the wind blows, the shadow is scattered and broken, and then the sunlight reluctantly pieces it back together.

Beside the shadow was another elongated shadow, which was Zhang Meng, who was panting heavily from exhaustion.

The 800-meter race, which she was running at full speed, was torture for the girl. She felt like her chest was about to explode, and her throat burned with every breath. If Mo Yixia hadn't advised her not to sit or lie down, she might have collapsed to the ground by now.

"Your health is too poor, there's no need to push yourself so hard."

Mo Yixia spoke softly, her gaze fixed on the distance, seemingly looking at something in the distance.

Zhang Meng was clearly still not recovered, and answered breathlessly, "I... I was only two seconds faster than passing... If I hadn't tried my best, I wouldn't have even passed..."

That's why I said your health is too poor.

"Well... I don't deny that... but I've noticed you don't seem to exercise much usually... why..."

Because her leg injury hadn't healed, Mo Yixia didn't participate in the physical test this time. However, in Zhang Meng's memory, although Mo Yixia's physical test scores were always just barely passing, she never seemed to be in a bad mood because of the physical test, as if she still had energy left.

Perhaps fearing that her deskmate might faint, Mo Yixia lightly interrupted her: "If the goal is just to pass, then it doesn't matter whether you exercise or not."

Zhang Meng felt as if she had been stabbed in the chest.

After finally catching her breath, she gulped down a sports drink, which made her feel alive again. She wiped her sweat as she sat down next to Mo Yixia.

Physical fitness tests are not something to look forward to for most students who are in a sub-healthy state, especially the 1,000-meter run for boys and the 800-meter run for girls, which is enough to dampen many people's enthusiasm for the day's physical education class.

Besides Mo Yixia and Zhang Meng, there were several other girls from their class under the shade of the tree, all of whom looked half-dead.

In school, boys' and girls' areas are often clearly separated. So the boys are not in this area, but sit in groups of three or five on the grass of the playground. Those with good physical strength or those who cheated during the physical test by running less than one lap have occupied the basketball court early on, rubbing their hands together, seemingly ready to start a big battle as soon as they recover their strength.

Boys at this age seem to have inexhaustible energy.

An autumn breeze occasionally blows, gently pushing the clouds in the azure sky. Occasionally, one or two unidentified gray birds fly by, landing on distant power lines and leisurely preening their feathers.

Zhang Meng silently guessed the species of the bird, resting her elbows on her knees, supporting her chin with her hands, and said with a melancholy expression, "The monthly exam is next week."

Mo Yixia remained silent; she usually did not respond to such meaningless murmurs.

Unless it's that guy.

"You have to be in the top 50 of your grade to visit Linda University. That's great! I want to visit Linda University too."

Zhang Meng looked distressed. Despite her best efforts, her ranking in the grade remained around 200th. She was grateful if she could occasionally break into the top 150, and she didn't even dare to dream of the top 50.

“Linyi University doesn’t restrict outsiders from entering or leaving, so you can visit anytime you want,” Mo Yixia said calmly.

"How can going alone feel the same as going with everyone? Besides, the school covers the round-trip transportation, and the money I save is enough for me to have a big meal."

"If you mean your classmates when you say 'everyone,' then don't worry. There are no more than five people in your class who can get into the top fifty in the whole grade, and you're basically not familiar with any of them."

These words were so hurtful that Zhang Meng gave a bitter smile and said, "Isn't it you I still have?"

"Do you think I can get into the top fifty in the whole grade?" Mo Yixia glanced at her.

"Of course, although no one else believes it, I have been your deskmate for so long. You have never failed to achieve any ranking you wanted. I always feel that you are like the protagonist in a novel who pretends to be weak but is actually strong, and you have been hiding your strength all along."

Zhang Meng wasn't just praising her; Mo Yixia's progress had only started this semester, with her ranking steadily improving in every exam. However, Zhang Meng had never seen any corresponding effort from her.

One or two rises in ranking may not mean much, but if you compare the opponent's initial ranking with their current ranking, the progress shown is quite remarkable.

Despite not putting in much effort, their ranking is improving rapidly.

This means that Mo Yixia always had some reserves.

"It's precisely because I know you'll definitely get in that I want to go to Lin University with you..."

Zhang Meng's tone suddenly turned somewhat sad. Compared to Mo Yixia, her academic talent was pitifully small, and all she could rely on was persistent effort.

Unfortunately, this effort does not seem to be enough to support her in achieving her current aspirations.

Mo Yixia quickly understood her thoughts and said calmly, "There's no need to treat an ordinary visit as a wish. If you really want to go to Linda University with me, then you should set your wishes higher, such as 'getting into Linda University through the college entrance examination'."

"I knew you wanted to apply to Linda University..."

Zhang Meng sighed, her expression growing increasingly melancholy. "I also want to set such a lofty goal, but my abilities are not yet sufficient."

"Who can say for sure about this kind of thing?"

Mo Yixia didn't say much. She was confident enough in her own abilities, but she wasn't sure she could get others to keep up with her pace.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore."

Although Zhang Meng was somewhat sentimental, she wasn't the kind of girl who wallowed in self-doubt all day. She quickly cheered herself up, took out a crumpled piece of paper from her school uniform pocket, and said in a low voice, "I've got some answers to what you asked me about before."

Mo Yixia looked over.

"There are 28 boys in the class. I've asked them all, and I even took the opportunity to ask the boys in the next class. According to the survey, about 38 percent of the boys like gentle girls, 31 percent like aloof girls, 12 percent like proud and arrogant girls, and 18 percent like mature and sophisticated girls."

Mo Yixia noted down these figures: "What about the remaining one percent?"

"This..."

Zhang Meng curled her lip, giving a disdainful look to a boy on the playground. "And there's a one percent chance he likes married women, preferably with children." "Did you tell him you were asking about his ideal type who's close to your age?"

"Yes, I was very serious and said that this was a survey and that he shouldn't joke around, but he still said it anyway, and he was grinning like an idiot. It was disgusting."

The thought of someone liking high school students with children is disgusting.

Zhang Meng secretly resolved that, regardless of whether the boy was joking or serious, she would never pay any attention to him again.

Although she didn't say it explicitly, Mo Yixia could already tell from her gaze who that "disgusting" boy was.

However, she didn't care about this. Everyone's ideal type is different. Even if someone likes a cute pig, she wouldn't comment, but she would never give her blessing either.

"Next is the second questionnaire."

Speaking of the second questionnaire, Zhang Meng blushed slightly and stammered, "I asked Liu Hao to do this for me. About 70% of the boys said the bigger the girl's breasts, the better. Only 7% of the boys said they preferred small breasts, and another 23% of the boys said they didn't have any requirements, as long as she was good-looking. And this is the same prerequisite that the first two types of boys also required..."

"The third questionnaire had a relatively consistent response: 97 percent of the boys said they liked rich young women, preferably the kind who were devoted to them, while the other 3 percent said they didn't care, and that it was also a kind of happiness for two people to build something together from scratch."

"As for requirements other than body shape and appearance, long, straight black hair is quite popular..."

Zhang Meng read aloud all the questionnaires she had collected recently to Mo Yixia. The latter listened silently, processed all the information in her mind, and finally came to a fairly satisfactory conclusion.

The probability of a girl like her becoming the ideal type for high school boys is about 70%. Although this is a very imprecise and incomplete statistic, this data is enough to illustrate the point.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"You're welcome. But you seem to be quite interested in this topic lately. Is it because you have a crush on a guy?" Zhang Meng asked curiously.

Recently, Mo Yixia has been asking her questions about this topic frequently. The so-called questionnaire was actually something she created herself. After all, she is a girl and doesn't understand boys' thoughts, so she made several questionnaires in her spare time and tried to get her classmates to help fill them out whenever she had free time.

Before Mo Yixia could answer, she heard several girls from her class talking about the boys on the basketball court not far away.

Although the physical fitness test was tiring, the time after the test was a rare opportunity to relax. After they had rested enough, they started chatting and somehow the topic turned to the boys in their class.

Zhang Meng perked up her ears.

"Xiao Zhanpeng is so handsome! He's tall and good-looking, his grades are great, and he's even amazing at basketball. Oh my god, how can someone be so perfect? ​​Tell me secretly, do any of you like him? I promise I won't tell anyone," a girl said, her face full of infatuation.

Teenagers tend to talk about the same few topics: boys talk about games, movies, and anime, while girls mainly talk about TV dramas, novels, and shopping. And whether it's boys or girls, they can't really avoid the topic of romance when they're with their friends.

Who is the most handsome, the most beautiful, and the most charming in the class? We might not talk about it openly, nor would we dare to test whether the person we like likes us back, but we absolutely enjoy guessing who our friends like.

However, the other girls obviously didn't believe her. They had heard similar things many times since they were little, and every time they whispered to each other, they promised not to tell anyone. But as a result, the news spread throughout the class that very afternoon.

If it were anything else, it would be fine, but liking someone is obviously not something that can be easily told to others. Faced with the gazes cast by Mo Yixia and Zhang Meng, the girls smiled a little shyly, and then quickly covered the mouth of the girl who was speaking, signaling her to be quiet.

Zhang Meng looked away. Although she was a little disappointed that she didn't hear the gossip she wanted to hear, she had an idea. She lowered her voice and asked, "Mo Yixia, do you like Xiao Zhanpeng?"

"Why do you think so?"

Mo Yixia glanced at her. If this name hadn't appeared so frequently in daily life, she might have had to spend time figuring out who this person was.

"Because you've been seeing him a lot lately," Zhang Meng said excitedly, as if she had some kind of evidence.

"If you've really observed me closely, you'll have noticed that I look out the window very often. The reason you have this misconception is because he recently sat by the window, which happened to block my view."

Mo Yixia patiently explained, her tone neither warm nor cold. As one of the few friends she had, she didn't want Zhang Meng to misjudge the person she liked.

"Is that so?" Zhang Meng was taken aback.

"Ah."

"That means he likes Jiang Ning."

"No."

"Sun Chengfei?"

"..."

Mo Yixia remained silent for a moment, then looked at the power lines in the distance. The gray bird that had just landed had disappeared without her noticing.

"The person you like should be Liu Hao, right?" she said.

Zhang Meng was stunned, then exclaimed in shock, "You...how did you know?"

After saying that, he hurriedly looked around guiltily, as if afraid that someone had overheard what he had just said.

"There are many bases for this."

"Even when I want to focus on something, I unconsciously cast my gaze elsewhere. If our eyes meet, I immediately look away. I want to share anything with them immediately, whether it's good or bad, as if that doubles my joy and lessens my sadness. When I'm bored, I can't help but think of them, imagining what will happen when we meet again, and sometimes wondering if they think of me the same way. I feel reluctant to part, and then I look forward to seeing them again. If there's no opportunity to meet or spend time together, I'll try every means to create one. Even though I hate most things, I can never get angry at them, even though I know they're a greedy and shameless person..."

Zhang Meng initially felt embarrassed, not expecting that she had unknowingly revealed so many of her thoughts. However, the more she listened, the stranger it seemed—

When did Liu Hao become such a greedy and shameless guy?

The description that follows is clearly inconsistent with my own situation.

She looked bewildered, then gradually realized what was happening and hesitated before asking, "Um... Mo Yixia, you're not talking about yourself, are you?"

"Not entirely."

Mo Yixia shook her head, rested her chin on her hand, and shifted her gaze from the distant power lines to something further away. The sunlight shone on her profile, as if illuminating the beauty mark at the corner of her eye.

As if she had thought of something amusing, she pursed her lips and said in a matter-of-fact tone:
"If our eyes meet, I will never be the one to look away first."

(End of this chapter)