Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 258 Lower Level Lottery

October 22nd, sunny.

It's been a week since we left Bay City. The temperature dropped briefly before slowly rising again, and today's weather is pretty good.

It was Sunday, but Chen Long, who usually lingered in bed even as early as 8 a.m., got up unusually early. He picked out what he considered his most handsome clothes from the closet, combed his hair in front of the mirror to look like an adult, and even applied some hair gel quite seriously.

Chen Zheng couldn't hold back any longer and sneered, "Do you really need hair gel for your buzz cut?"

"You know shit."

Chen Long ignored him. "Someone has been wearing framed glasses for almost ten years, but a couple of days ago he suddenly went to get a pair of rimless ones and even got a pair of contact lenses. Is that necessary for someone with such high myopia?"

Chen Zheng blushed: "I...I was thinking about my eyes!"

"I'm still thinking about my hair."

Chen Long mercilessly exposed him, "Those bastards in the next dorm were making a huge fuss last night, they were excited all night long. We all know what they're thinking, it's all about getting a few Fetion messages today, so stop pretending you don't care. Han Zhou, how's my hairstyle?"

"As handsome as ever." Han Zhou glanced down at the message and casually replied.

It's not really a perfunctory job, since Chen Long's look isn't much different from his usual appearance; saying it's the same as always is quite appropriate.

"right."

Chen Long nodded in satisfaction, slowly combing his hair back with both hands. "It was worth the investment in this hairspray."

Chen Zheng flew into a rage, even swearing: "Bullshit, you're clearly using mine!"

"That's not right. It's a venture capital investment. If I use your hairspray once, it's like you're investing in me. When we get together later, I'll do my best to get you Fetion (a Chinese instant messaging service). That's the return on investment."

Chen Zheng scoffed: "I only see the risks, not the rewards."

Chen Long straightened his clothes in front of the mirror, then sighed and said, "Let's not talk about anything else. I just want to ask you one thing: if I weren't around, would you dare to ask even one girl for a Feixin message?"

Chen Zheng was taken aback, stammered for a long time, and finally shut his mouth.

"Does this count as venture capital? Does it?"

"Fine, fine, okay?"

Han Zhou laughed and said, "Actually, Chen Zheng, you should work on your social skills more. You can't possibly spend your whole life with Chen Long, can you?"

"Let's talk about it another time," Chen Zheng said with an embarrassed smile, adjusting his glasses as he brushed off the topic.

He was well aware that his social skills were somewhat lacking, especially when facing girls, but this was a psychological issue that couldn't be changed overnight, and he didn't want to confront it too soon.

This idea has been with him for so many years that the so-called "too early" has been delayed for longer and longer, and nothing has changed until now.

"You and Lao Huo are so good. One of you is never short of girls, and the other already has a girlfriend. Yet you can still be so calm and composed when facing a blind date, without even changing your clothes."

Chen Long finally finished tidying up his clothes and hairstyle, and walked into the dormitory with a sigh, sitting on the stool to put on the new shoes he had just bought.

Seeing Chen Zheng putting on his shoes, Han Zhou asked curiously, "Is the social event about to start?"

"You really don't care at all," Chen Long said with a chuckle. "It doesn't start until 1 p.m., but I figured they're already preparing. I'm going to go check it out first and see if there's a girl I like."

Chen Zheng remained silent, but Han Zhou could still understand his thoughts. At this moment, the other party was probably thinking, "Me too."

Today is Sunday, and Huo Zhenxiang left early as usual. He has recently adapted to university life. He not only gets along well with his roommates, but also often plays basketball with people from other classes. When he comes back, he often talks about what he saw and heard on the court. It seems that he has gradually gotten used to living away from his family.

With Chen Long and Chen Zheng gone, Han Zhou was left alone in the dormitory.

He was quite busy this week. In addition to setting up a stall in his spare time, he also had to spend time practicing duets. For the past three days, he had been rehearsing with the guzheng every afternoon. In addition, he had to complete tasks to accumulate points. He hardly noticed the passage of time, and before he knew it, it was time for the social event.

"It's Sunday again..."

Thinking about today, Han Zhou felt somewhat worried.

He wasn't worried about the social event itself, but rather about the lottery he drew last week when he went to Bay City—

【Item 5: Interesting lucky draw (upper, middle, lower), one-time use item, effect can only be viewed after drawing the lot, price 33 points】

He drew this fortune stick last Saturday, but it will take twelve hours to see the contents. Judging from the literal meaning, the fortune stick does not have a good omen, as it is a mediocre fortune stick, only slightly better than the worst fortune stick.

Of course, Han Zhou had never studied fortune telling, nor did he know how to interpret divination slips, so he wasn't entirely clear on the meaning of this unfavorable slip. Fortunately, the status bar provided an explanation.

[Interesting Fortune Telling: Examine the fortune slip to see your fortune for the next week. If you draw another slip within ten minutes of the slip appearing, there is a chance your fortune will reverse the next day (a reversal slip can only be used once; multiple reversals are not allowed. If you draw multiple slips, the first one will be the most accurate). Note that the fortune slip only reveals your fortune, not your destiny. Your destiny is determined by the person drawing the slip.]

[Lower-level fortune: Your luck is not good, and there is a high probability of encountering a crisis that does not involve life-threatening danger. To resolve this, it is recommended to use a protracted strategy.]

The product descriptions are getting longer and longer these days, but this makes it easier for Han Zhou to understand the purpose of the products. Simply put, the interesting upper, middle and lower fortunes show your fortune a week later. If you are not satisfied, you can draw another one in ten minutes. Although you cannot change your fortune on the day a week later, you can change your fortune on the next day to some extent.

It sounds impressive, since it's a product that can influence one's fortune, but it's actually not very useful. Fortune is inherently unknown, and knowing it in advance isn't necessarily a good thing; it might even cause unnecessary trouble. Besides, the reversal fortune can only change the fortune for the next day, and the fortune for the next day is unknown. Before it's revealed, who knows whether it was originally a very good or very bad fortune?

Moreover, this product doesn't guarantee a turnaround in fortune; it's essentially a gamble. What if you draw the worst possible lot?
So after reading the description, Han Zhou lost interest in the product. Of course, the reason this thing is called "Interesting Upper, Middle and Lower Fortune" might be because it requires gambling on luck.

Using your current luck to gamble on your future luck sounds interesting indeed.

However, this thing isn't entirely useless. After all, being able to see your fortune a week in advance is already quite remarkable. If you use it in certain specific situations, such as a week before climbing a snow mountain, you might be able to predict certain things in advance.

Moreover, Han Zhou hadn't forgotten one thing: the "interesting upper, middle, and lower fortune slips" could be used on other people. He could easily see someone's fortune a week in advance, then pretend to be a fortune teller to achieve his goal...

Putting aside the value of the item for the moment, Han Zhou needed to consider one thing: what kind of crisis he would encounter today.
If it's not a life-threatening situation, then what kind of crisis is this? Also, what does the so-called "pushing and pulling tactics" mean?
Because he couldn't figure it out, Han Zhou even gave up using his free time this morning to set up his stall. After all, the crisis might mean being arrested by the urban management officers, which would explain his use of a stalling tactic...

Today marks the second week since he and Mo Yixia separated. According to their agreement, he was supposed to visit her today, but given the special circumstances, he had messaged her last week to tell her he wouldn't have time this week, but would visit her for the next two weeks. However, he hadn't received a reply. Mo Yixia has Sundays off every week, so she should be able to get her phone back. It's worth mentioning that she uses a backup phone that she prepared long ago at school, so she doesn't have to worry about her mother finding out.

Is Mo Yixia angry about this?
probably not……

Han Zhou quickly dismissed the idea. Mo Yixia wasn't the type to throw a tantrum. Unless he genuinely made an excuse not to see her, she wouldn't get angry about something like this.

Why isn't this guy replying to messages? He even changed his signature...

Han Zhou was pondering whether to make a call and ask when his cell phone on the table suddenly rang. The caller was Mo Yixia.

He was taken aback at first, then smiled. Could this guy be here to interrogate him?

He pressed the answer button and laughed, "Didn't you say that you should just send messages and try to make fewer phone calls under normal circumstances?"

It was noisy on the other end of the phone; it sounded like the other person was on the street.

After a pause, a cool voice came from the phone receiver: "The way you greet someone is just like a guilty adulterer."

Han Zhou said irritably, "Didn't you say that yourself back then? You're also a guilty adulterer, aren't you?"

"Have you forgotten? For a period of time, our relationship was kept secret..."

"Alright, alright, you seem to have quite a few people around you, so don't talk nonsense like that." Han Zhou quickly interrupted her rambling.

Mo Yixia readily agreed: "Okay, then we'll talk about it in person later."

"In person?" Han Zhou was taken aback. "Didn't you see the message I sent last week? I said I couldn't come to your place this week..."

After a moment of silence, Mo Yixia spoke softly, "That's why I came here."

Han Zhou was struck dumb, his hand gripping the phone trembling violently: "Coming here means..."

"What you're thinking is that I'm right outside your school gate," Mo Yixia said with a half-smile. "You seem quite nervous?"

"No, it's just a bit of an accident. Where are you now? I'll come pick you up."

Han Zhou finally realized where his crisis came from. After a while, he calmed himself down and asked in confusion, "But I remember you have evening self-study on Sunday nights, right? If you come to our school now, will you be able to get back tonight?"

"I'm at the East Gate."

Mo Yixia seemed to be talking to someone else, and after a while she said, "You just said that normally you can just send a message, but today is a special case. I came with the school, and there is no evening self-study tonight. I can stay with you until five o'clock."

She gave a brief explanation of the university visit.

Five o'clock... thank goodness, the ball doesn't start until seven, Mo Yixia can't wait until then, as long as she doesn't meet Guzheng before then...

So this is the art of attrition warfare...

Han Zhou breathed a slight sigh of relief, bent down to put on his shoes, and spoke after a couple of seconds to avoid arousing suspicion: "So you got into the top fifty in the whole grade?"

"To be precise, I'm in the top thirty. I'm worried about missing the chance to see you, so I don't dare to hold back too much this time."

Mo Yixia's calm and straightforward words made Han Zhou, who had just been pondering tactics, feel a pang of self-reproach and guilt.

To be honest, he was confident he could fool anyone, but he wasn't confident he could fool Mo Yixia.

This girl is so perceptive.

He smiled wryly and said, "Then you'll only be able to get a higher ranking in the future."

"It doesn't matter, there's not much time until New Year's Day anyway, I'll keep improving and get first place."

"I don't understand the world of geniuses."

Han Zhou sighed. Although his intelligence wasn't low, it was nowhere near that of a genius like Mo Yixia, who could easily get first place even while slacking off.

"It's okay, you can figure it out anytime."

Han Zhou felt that Mo Yixia's "exploration" was a bit strange, so he didn't respond and said, "I'm going out, I'll be there soon, wait for me at the door."

"Ah."

Mo Yixia put away her phone and stood quietly at the door, looking at the vast campus in front of her with a bored expression.

There were fifty students visiting the university this time. There were only four in her class. She didn't interact with the other three, nor did she know anyone from other classes. So she just greeted the teacher in charge and expressed that she wanted to visit the school by herself.

After all, it wasn't a primary school field trip, and high school seniors didn't need to worry about encountering any dangers on campus. Therefore, students were allowed to act independently during this visit. The teacher in charge agreed to her request, only reminding her to be careful and not to wander around.

Mo Yixia is now quite well-known throughout the senior year of high school. After all, anyone whose grades can improve so rapidly in a short period of time would attract attention, let alone this somewhat unconventional girl.

At first, some people suspected her of cheating, but after several rigorous monthly exams, such rumors were dispelled. The school even gave her a Best Improvement Award and asked her to give a speech on stage, but Mo Yixia refused.

She was still giving the school face, and didn't directly say that this kind of thing was meaningless, and that instead of spending time on meetings, they should use that time to do more morning exercises. She just casually said that these boring things would only affect her progress.

This extremely perfunctory statement was praised by the school during the morning assembly, who stated that this spirit of focusing all energy on learning is worthy of emulation by every student and can be extended to future work.

Fortunately, Han Zhou didn't attend that morning meeting, otherwise he might have burst out laughing in public. It's good enough that Mo Yixia can put half of her energy into studying; this guy probably spends more time researching dirty jokes than studying.

Mo Yixia waited quietly for a while. Suddenly, a girl walked past her. She glanced at her with some concern, then looked away.

(End of this chapter)