Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 256 Two Years Ago

The village was exceptionally quiet at night, with the occasional bark of a dog. The evening breeze carried a slight chill, causing the clothes hanging at the door to sway.

Looking up, one can see a sky full of stars, a rare sight indeed. The sky is not pitch black, but a deep blue. Starlight falls, and the calm sea reflects the twinkling stars. The undulating waves lap against the shore, making a soft sound.

Xiao Xiaoxiao sat on the roof, gazing at the distant sea.

She heard a noise coming from the stairs behind her, and looked back nervously. When she saw Han Zhou holding a bowl, she turned her head back.

"Aren't you going to share some of your seat with me?"

Han Zhou walked to her side with a smile.

"Why don't you just sit on the ground?"

Despite saying that, Xiao Xiaoxiao reluctantly shifted her position, making room for half of the long bench beneath her. "What are you doing up here?"

"Dinner will be ready soon, it's time to eat." Han Zhou sat down next to her and handed her the bowl he was holding. "Try it, isn't it much better than your cooking?"

"I won't try it!"

"Are you sure you don't want to try it? You might never get to drink soup like this again."

Seeing the girl's sullen expression, Han Zhou said with a wry smile, "Be reasonable. It was clearly your own fault just now, there's no need to take it out on me, is there?"

According to the original plan, Xiao Xiaoxiao was supposed to prepare dinner tonight, with the others helping out. However, an accident happened as soon as she entered the kitchen. Xiao Xiaoxiao was splattered with oil stains. In order not to leave stains that could not be washed off, she had to quickly run to wash clothes and leave the cooking to Han Zhou and the others.

Honestly, this is nobody else's fault but his own. It was entirely his own mistake. Han Zhou was just standing a little too close at the time.

Xiao Xiaoxiao was a little annoyed. This guy just had to bring up the most embarrassing things again: "I'm not angry with you. I just don't want to drink the soup. Besides, this soup doesn't look good."

"Would you like to drink?"

Han Zhou shrugged, put the bowl on the ground, looked up at the night sky, and sighed, "So many stars, you can probably only see them in the countryside."

"You're making a fuss over nothing. I could see far more stars when I was a child than I do now."

"I could see stars when I was a child."

"So what if you can see them? Can you even name the stars?"

"I can name a few of the more famous ones, but I don't know about the others." Seeing Xiao Xiaoxiao's smug expression, Han Zhou put on a humble, inquiring look. "What, you're quite knowledgeable about stars?"

"Of course! I recognize most of the stars!"

"That's really amazing."

Han Zhou shook his head and chuckled, wondering if it was because this guy couldn't sleep at night, so he often came to this place to look at the stars?

"By the way, besides inviting you to dinner, there's something else I'd like to ask you."

"what's up?"

Xiao Xiaoxiao twitched her nose, and the more she smelled the soup on the ground, the more fragrant it seemed. Taking advantage of Han Zhou's inattention, she secretly picked up the bowl and swallowed.

If she doesn't drink it, it will get cold, and if it gets cold, she can't drink it anymore, and if she can't drink it anymore, it will be a waste. She doesn't want to drink it; she just doesn't want to waste it.

"You said before that seeing that wooden room reminded you of me, right?"

"Hmm, it just popped into my head for no reason, but that's all I feel. I don't remember anything else. Do you feel the same way?"

Xiao Xiaoxiao secretly took a sip of soup.

Han Zhou pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I didn't think of you, but that room is very familiar to me; it's where I used to live."

I thought Xiao Xiaoxiao would scream, but to my surprise, he didn't say a word. When I turned my head, I saw that he was holding a soup bowl and drinking soup sneakily. His eyes were as bright as searchlights on an island, and his face was full of intoxication.

Han Zhou smiled and didn't disturb him. Lin Anyu had caught a fish at the beach not long ago, and it was quite big. He was so excited that he insisted on cooking it to show off his culinary skills. He was still busy and it would probably be another ten minutes before he ate.

Time passed slowly. After about three minutes, Xiao Xiaoxiao resisted the urge to lick the bottom of the bowl, let out a satisfied sigh, and then reluctantly removed the bowl from her lips.

Han Zhou smiled and asked, "How does it taste?"

Having just performed a "it smells so good!" act, Xiao Xiaoxiao was a little embarrassed, but still shamelessly asked, "It's alright, not too bad. What kind of soup is this?"

"Ten-Ingredient Tonic Soup".

"The Ten-Ingredient Tonic Soup? I've never heard of it before."

Han Zhou casually said, "It's normal that you haven't heard of the dishes I created."

It was just ordinary chicken soup, and the chicken used was even a frozen chicken from the supermarket that wasn't fresh. Logically speaking, the probability of making a gourmet dish was very low, but unexpectedly, it succeeded. It just goes to show that luck is truly unpredictable.

It was precisely because this was a rare and exquisite dish that he specially served Xiao Xiaoxiao a bowl of fresh soup.

It didn't matter what kind of soup it was, and Xiao Xiaoxiao didn't care. She continued to ask in a nonchalant tone, "Do you still have this Ten-Ingredient Tonic Soup?"

"Have."

"Is it much?"

"Hmm, I did quite a lot, so what?" Han Zhou looked at the petite girl beside him with a half-smile.

"It's nothing, the soup is just so-so. We definitely won't be able to finish all of this, but I can force myself to drink a little more so as not to waste it," Xiao Xiaoxiao said shamelessly.

You're overthinking it. Putting aside the fact that no one would resist having a few more bowls of fine food, just the presence of the guzheng means there's no way these soups wouldn't be finished...

Han Zhou chuckled inwardly, feeling a bit emotional at the same time. He thought to himself that this guy was indeed self-reliant from a young age, and he was still quite shameless when he needed to be, managing to say such shameless things with a straight face.

When he first entered Xiao Xiaoxiao's home, he noticed that there were only signs of one person living in the small house. Considering her status as an orphan, he guessed that the girl might have always lived alone.

This situation reminded him of Senior Sister Zhong Ling, but the latter at least had an older sister to rely on, while if Xiao Xiaoxiao really had been living alone for a long time, then these years must have been quite difficult.

Han Zhou didn't ask Xiao Xiaoxiao why she became an orphan. She seemed reluctant to talk about it and disliked being pitied. Therefore, before arriving at Xiao Xiaoxiao's house, he had quietly reminded Gu Zheng and the others to treat the girl with normalcy.

Bringing himself back to reality, he said, "A true master chef can accurately judge how much food everyone will eat at a meal, eliminating any possibility of waste, and I am that kind of master chef."

"Stop bragging." Xiao Xiaoxiao scoffed. "Do you know how much rice I can eat?"

"do not know."

But I know how much food a guzheng can eat... Han Zhou silently added in his mind.

"Then why do you still call yourself a real chef?" Xiao Xiaoxiao glared at him, annoyed. "What were you trying to say to me just now?"

She was so engrossed in drinking her soup that she didn't hear what the other person said afterward.

When the topic turned to business, Han Zhou's expression became slightly serious: "I said, the wooden room you took me to see today, both in terms of its overall layout and the furniture arrangement, is exactly the same as the room I used to live in."

Xiao Xiaoxiao was taken aback: "Then what I described..." "That's right." Han Zhou picked up where she left off, "The room you described is the same as the room I saw. In other words, what you 'saw' was actually my room."

"how is this possible?"

Although the whole thing was already quite bizarre, Xiao Xiao was still stunned for several seconds when she heard these words. "I've never been to your house before."

"I've never been here before, and we've never met each other before, have we?"

"I always feel like you're lying to me..."

After a long silence, Xiao Xiaoxiao stared at Han Zhou with some suspicion, "Could this be one of your little tricks to lure girls home?"

Han Zhou laughed: "I don't think I ever said I was going to take you home, did I?"

"Anyway, I don't believe it could be such a coincidence."

“I don’t want to believe it either, but think about it carefully, does that box-like thing really look like a room? Why is it that only we have that first impression, and we can even mistake the sphere for a refrigerator?”

"I already said it was only half burned..."

Han Zhou interrupted the other person seriously: "So here's the question, why did you have the feeling that 'half of the room was burned down'? I had the same feeling at first, but after looking closely, there were clearly no signs of fire on the wooden room."

Thanks to his photographic memory, he recalled many discrepancies in details during his time back at Xiao Xiaoxiao's house. The images that first appeared in his mind were not the actual wooden room, but rather an illusion.

This illusion might be related to lost memories.

Seeing that Xiao Xiaoxiao remained silent, he continued, "If you don't believe me, you can ask Gu Zheng and Lin Anyu. They have seen what my room looks like. But if possible, I hope they don't know about this for the time being. It's enough for the two of us to know about this incredible thing."

Han Zhou didn't intend to hide it from Gu Zheng and Lin Anyu, but he was still completely unaware of the truth of the matter. Losing one's memory inexplicably was too strange, and he didn't know if there was any danger involved. Before he could find out some details, he didn't want the two of them to worry.

He also considered another possibility: that the matter was related to the status bar.

After all, the status bar unusually posted a task to find memories on the very first day it met Xiao Xiaoxiao. This doesn't fit the status bar's target selection pattern of "only being interested in problem girls with a charm score of eight or higher". This might mean that Xiao Xiaoxiao has other characteristics that are enough to attract the status bar, and there might be some connection between the two.

Xiao Xiaoxiao pondered for a long time, then suddenly looked at Han Zhou warily: "So you still mean you want me to come to your house, right?"

“I do have that idea.” Han Zhou nodded. “I’ve remembered some fragments. There might be something in my house that can help me quickly recall my lost memories, but I really can’t remember where it is. So I might need your help.”

"Really?"

Xiao Xiaoxiao was somewhat surprised. Apart from inexplicably thinking of this guy, she couldn't remember anything else.

Of course it's fake. This information comes from the mysterious brocade pouch; otherwise, Han Zhou would be completely clueless.

“Really,” he said.

You promise you're not lying to me.

"I assure you I'm not lying."

Xiao Xiaoxiao asked in bewilderment, "Even if what you're saying is true, if even you can't find what you've hidden, then what can I do to help you?"

Han Zhou revealed a mysterious smile: "Who says that thing was definitely hidden by me?"

Xiao Xiaoxiao was taken aback, but quickly understood what he meant: "You mean it's possible that I was at your house before and hid something?"

"That's a possibility, after all, you've never been to my house, but you have an impression of it."

"Okay, that's certainly a possibility..."

Xiao Xiaoxiao nodded thoughtfully; this guess was actually quite reasonable.

Han Zhou was somewhat surprised by the other party's calmness. You see, the reason why he was able to quickly accept the bizarre fact that he had inexplicably forgotten an important memory was mainly because of the mental preparation brought about by the status bar in advance. For most ordinary people, it is often difficult to accept such a fact.

After all, this is just too absurd.

But this is perfect, as he can now share his other discovery with the other party.

He took out his phone, opened the photo album, gestured for Xiao Xiaoxiao to come closer, and pointed at the phone screen, saying, "What do these things look like?"

He showed the other person a photo of the wooden room he had taken that afternoon, pointing to a wooden strip near the corner of the room.

Xiao Xiaoxiao looked at it and said, "This is a cabinet, doesn't it look like one to you?"

“No.” Han Zhou shook his head. “I look like a cabinet too, a very big one.”

"The kind with three doors?"

"Yes, one of the doorknobs is broken."

Fortunately, no one else was present. Otherwise, seeing the two of them seriously using a wooden strip as a three-door cabinet, and even talking about details like a broken door handle, would probably make them question their existence.

"Is there a problem?" Xiao Xiaoxiao asked.

"has a problem."

Han Zhou nodded, took a deep breath, and said, "And it's a very important issue."

Xiao Xiaoxiao perked up her ears.

"This cabinet has been in my house for many years. It's no longer useful. It has an unpleasant damp smell and takes up too much space, so I threw it outside a long time ago."

Xiao Xiaoxiao paused for two seconds: "You mean..."

“That’s right. Let’s assume this wooden room was man-made. Then, when he made it, he must have needed to refer to the layout of my room. And since the cabinet was still in my room when he made it…”

"Does that mean that was the time I saw your room, or it could be the time we lost our memories?"

Xiao Xiaoxiao excitedly picked up on Han Zhou's words.

"Correct."

Han Zhou nodded, feeling somewhat excited. The information provided by the mysterious brocade pouch was quite limited, but he was able to obtain an important clue based on his own observation and thinking, which meant he was clearly one step closer to the truth.

"Do you remember when you threw this cabinet away?" Xiao Xiaoxiao asked quickly.

"I don't remember the exact time, but it was during my high school years, probably two or three years ago, most likely two years ago."

Before this summer vacation, Han Zhou did not have the skill of photographic memory, so he did not remember such trivial matters very clearly. The reason why he was further certain that it happened two years ago was because Chen Long had abandoned him and left at that time. Only after that did he begin to discard things at home that he no longer needed.

However, this time period also happens to coincide with the time when the status bar appears...

Could this really be related to the status bar?

(End of this chapter)