Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 264 You Should Help Me This Time

Ouyang Lianyu's home was small, but it was complete in every way. The refrigerator was mostly filled with ready-made food and simple vegetables such as tomatoes and cabbage. She probably knew that she was in a bad physical condition and it would be difficult for her to cook a proper meal.

There was a bag of chopped ribs and two steaks in the middle of the refrigerator. They looked quite fresh. Han Zhou looked at them with a puzzled expression, thinking that even if Ouyang Lianyu bought them, she couldn't cook them unless she stewed them all together. She explained that these were meats she had bought on sale last night when she went grocery shopping. She bought them because the price was so cheap.

To ensure the freshness of vegetables and meat, some large supermarkets will sell off the day's fresh vegetables, especially meat, at a discount at night. The supermarket near Ouyang Lianyu's home does this, so she usually likes to buy groceries at night. She thought that the ribs and steaks were only for her to eat, but now that Han Zhou and Mo Yixia have come, they won't go to waste.

Han Zhou went to the kitchen to prepare ribs and steaks, and Mo Yixia silently followed, but only stood at the door watching, showing no intention of helping.

"You're just going to stand there and watch? I remember you can cook, right?"

"I am a guest."

"I am a guest too."

"I am a guest brought by a guest."

"Okay... so I'm the guest who brought the guests?" Han Zhou smiled helplessly, lowered his head to chop scallions, ginger and garlic, and casually asked, "By the way, do you know how to prepare steak? I've never made this before."

"I've never made it before. It should be fine to just pan-fry it on both sides. My mom said you can also make it in the oven, but the steps are much more complicated."

"Your mother taught you this?"

“We would occasionally chat about trivial things in the evenings, but most of the time she did the talking.”

Mo Yixia recalled, "When making steak in the oven, you must do a lot of preparation beforehand. In addition to choosing high-quality ingredients, you also need to massage the meat repeatedly to make it firmer. After evenly applying the marinade, you need to wait at least two hours. The heat and time are very important. Only in this way can the steak be juicy and flavorful."

“It’s too complicated.”

Han Zhou gave up as soon as he heard that it would take at least two hours. He didn't have that much time right now, so he said, "Forget it, I'll just find a video to study. Do you want to wait outside?"

No, I want to stay here and watch over you.

Meanwhile, Ouyang Lianyu was looking at her phone in the living room. The screen showed a Fetion chat interface, with the contact's nickname being "Dad". The last chat history was from three years ago, with her saying, "Dad, Happy New Year".

She hasn't been home for three years.

It's not that she doesn't miss home, but that she doesn't want to argue. The reason she doesn't go home is because her parents keep urging her to go on blind dates. Their outdated ideas seem to be deeply ingrained, believing that a girl's future is only secure if she gets married early.

They'll get married first to stabilize their lives, and then no matter how she pursues her own life, neither of them will interfere. Even if she doesn't want to take care of the children, they're willing to help.

Ouyang Lianyu knew her parents were thinking of her best interests, but she didn't see it that way. She knew very well that unless she brought a boyfriend home, blind dates were inevitable. And even if she brought just any boyfriend home, only two possibilities would arise—

First, her parents were dissatisfied with her boyfriend and ordered them to break up. Second, her parents accepted her boyfriend and demanded that they get married as soon as possible.

None of these points were something she could easily accept.

Ouyang Lianyu is twenty-seven years old this year. Some of her classmates from back then have already gotten married. Some are happy and some are not. She once asked them about the meaning of marriage, but these highly educated classmates seemed unable to give a definite answer.

However, one answer left a deep impression on her—

"I don't know what the meaning of marriage is, but I am very clear about one thing: if you don't want to get married, it just means that you haven't met someone you truly love yet. This has nothing to do with material conditions or external factors. As long as you truly love someone, you will subconsciously want to stay with them for the rest of your life."

"Does marriage have to be a must? Can't people who truly love each other stay together even without getting married?" That's what she asked at the time.

“Lianyu, you…you’ve been obsessed with studying those math formulas since you were in school, and you’re so focused that you’ll miss your step on the stairs. If you can like someone to that extent, do you think you’d be willing to give them up? Forget it, you can choose whether you get married or not, but you should have a proper relationship. That way, at least you can cure your forgetfulness and daily injuries.”

"Where can I find someone to date at my age? Besides, I have no plans to get married anytime soon."

"You're so stubborn! Who says dating necessarily means marriage? At least experience love first! Aren't you a teacher at Lin University? There are tons of teachers at the school, there must be good men out there. If all else fails, there are always students. Wouldn't it be great to have a passionate teacher-student romance?"

"But you just said you wanted to get married as soon as you started dating..."

"Please, I'm saying that when you truly fall in love with someone, you subconsciously want to marry them. If you don't like them, just break up, right?"

"Isn't this too hasty? Can you be so casual about dating?"

"My goodness, don't you also fill several sheets of scratch paper when doing math problems? Who can guarantee that the answer is correct before you've checked it repeatedly?"

"I think I understand now that you've explained it that way."

"You... never mind, just treat me to a meal sometime, and I'll teach you properly. We haven't seen each other in ages."

"I'm in the hospital right now, so I might not be able to come see you for the time being..."

"..."

Looking at her chat history with her college roommate, Ouyang Lianyu felt a pang of melancholy. This chat history was from two years ago. Back then, she was still in contact with her former classmates, but now they had almost all cut off all contact, and she no longer even sent them holiday greetings.

Relationships need nurturing. No one can stay nostalgic forever. Once you stop contacting each other, the relationship will gradually fade until you become completely estranged.

As she was lost in thought, Ouyang Lianyu overheard a faint conversation coming from the kitchen.

She was a bit far from the kitchen, and Han Zhou and Mo Yixia were not talking loudly, so their voices were intermittent and difficult to hear even if you listened carefully.

She didn't care at first; eavesdropping on other people's conversations is very impolite. However, after vaguely catching a few words, her ears perked up instinctively. She didn't know if it was just a preconceived notion, but the more she listened, the stranger the words seemed to her.

At this moment, Han Zhou and Mo Yixia were discussing how to prepare the steak, which was a perfectly normal topic, but Ouyang Lianyu interpreted it in a completely different way.

Because she couldn't hear clearly, she filled in and corrected much of the content herself.

Han Zhou: "By the way, have you ever done that? I've never done it before."

Mo Yixia: "I've never done it, but my mom mentioned it to me."

Han Zhou: "Your mother taught you this?"

Mo Yixia: "We chat when we're bored at night, but we talk a lot... First of all, the foreplay must be thorough. You can't be impatient. Even if you're hard, you have to stay calm and caress repeatedly. That way, you can last at least two hours and produce a good amount of juice..."

Ouyang Lianyu couldn't listen anymore; her face turned as red as a freshly steamed crab, and her mind went completely blank.

What exactly did Mo Yixia's mother teach her?
Are parents today able to openly discuss such private matters with their children?
Even if Mo Yixia really learned this knowledge, wouldn't a girl feel embarrassed to openly teach a boy something like this?

And this Han Zhou... How can this kid be so shameless as to ask a girl if she has ever done such a thing?
Ouyang Lianyu took a deep breath, her ears twitching again. She heard Han Zhou say with a troubled expression, "Forget it, it's too troublesome to listen to. I'll just find a video to learn from. Do you want to watch it with me?" Mo Yixia replied, "Let's watch it together."

Shameless! Vulgar!

Ouyang Lianyu's face turned even redder. What on earth was Han Zhou doing? He was actually watching... watching that kind of video in a place like the kitchen... and even inviting a girl to watch it with him?

The key point is that Mo Yixia actually agreed!

Are all young people like this nowadays?

Lost in thought, Han Zhou suddenly came out of the kitchen with his phone in hand: "Teacher Ouyang, would you like to take a look at this?"

This guy actually wants to invite me to watch it together?

Ouyang Lianyu's expression changed, but she pretended to be calm and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"How do you fry this..."

"No need, I won't watch it!"

Ouyang Lianyu quickly shook her head, hesitated for a moment, and advised, "Um... Han Zhou, I know that young people these days have a lot of energy, but it's better for you to watch these kinds of videos alone at night..."

Han Zhou was taken aback: "What does this have to do with whether you have a lot of energy or not? I just wanted to ask if you've ever done this before, teacher..."

"No! The teacher has never done this before! And has no experience to teach you! You're not allowed to ask questions!"

Ouyang Lianyu's face flushed red, and she denied it as if by reflex. This child was too outrageous. Asking about his girlfriend was one thing, but he even had to ask about her...

If you haven't done it, you haven't done it. It's not something to be ashamed of. What's there to get worked up about?

Han Zhou was startled by her excited reaction and looked blank for a moment, but he didn't ask any more questions. He asked in confusion, "So you don't have any butter at home?"

Huang... Huang You?
Ouyang Lianyu's face stiffened, her tone turned cold, and her chest heaved as she said, "Do you think a teacher is the type to buy that kind of thing?"

"You're getting all proud of buying only steak and not butter..." Han Zhou said helplessly, "So that means you don't even have black pepper or olive oil?"

“Of course not… wait, what black pepper?” Ouyang Lianyu was stunned.

"Fried steak, please."

Han Zhou felt that Ouyang Lianyu was acting strangely, but he still patiently explained, "I looked it up online, and pan-frying steak requires butter, black pepper, olive oil, and sea salt. I couldn't find any of these things in my kitchen, so I wanted to ask if you have them at home?"

Ouyang Lianyu froze for two seconds: "...You were just watching a video of steak being cooked?"

Han Zhou said, both amused and exasperated, "What else could it be? Pork ribs? I don't need to watch a video to make this."

Ouyang Lianyu finally realized that she had misunderstood Han Zhou and Mo Yixia. They had been talking about steak in the kitchen, but her thoughts were too dirty, which led her to misinterpret their words...

Am I really such an impure woman?

She was incredibly embarrassed. Luckily, Han Zhou didn't realize something was wrong, otherwise she would have definitely crawled into a hole in the ground by now.

Just then, Han Zhou suddenly asked, "By the way, Teacher Ouyang, why were you so excited just now? What's so exciting about never having made steak before? I've never made it either, and it's not shameful."

Ouyang Lianyu was now allergic to the word "made". She lowered her head, trying to hide the embarrassment on her face, and explained, "Because the teacher's cooking skills are not very good, the steak she made last time was not good... Well, there is butter and olive oil! It's in the cabinet on the left side of the kitchen. You should go and cook, or the steak will burn."

“It won’t burn. I haven’t even put the steak in the pan yet.” Han Zhou looked at her suspiciously. “Teacher Ouyang, I feel like you’re acting strange. Are you still thinking about what your aunt said before? You don’t need to care about that kind of person. If you’re being polite, call her ‘aunt.’ If you’re not, she’s just a nobody. There’s no need to worry about her.”

Ouyang Lianyu was taken aback, then smiled gently: "Don't say that. My aunt is still very good to me. We just have some disagreements. You don't need to be too hostile towards her. I forgot to mention earlier that I appreciate you coming this time. I can't even remember how many times you've helped me."

"What's the use of just saying thank you? You're not even willing to give me a few days off as a way of expressing your gratitude," Han Zhou said with a laugh.

"Don't even think about it." Ouyang Lianyu glared at him.

"Okay, I'll go cook then. But teacher, are you feeling unwell? Why is your face so red?"

Han Zhou had just noticed that Ouyang Lianyu's face was as red as a ripe apple, and she looked rather cute.

"No, it's just a bit hot... You go ahead and get busy, the teacher is hungry," Ouyang Lianyu urged.

Han Zhou looked surprised: "You're hungry and you're urging me to cook? Have you forgotten who the guests are?"

"Teacher is having trouble getting around right now, I'll cook for you next time... Anyway, don't waste any time, there's a social gathering this afternoon, I'll go with you after lunch."

Han Zhou was about to go to the kitchen when he heard this, his expression changed, and he looked the female teacher in the wheelchair up and down: "Are you also going to participate in the social event?"

Ouyang Lianyu was taken aback. She could tell from the other person's expression that he had misunderstood. She said in an annoyed tone, "Don't think nonsense. Most of the students participating in this social event are from our department. I'm just going to check things out. I'm not going to socialize with the students."

Is it convenient for you to use a wheelchair?

"I can actually walk now. I can get used to it when I go to school. You can help me up then. Don't you want to see the teacher stand up?"

"Should I help him up?"

Seeing Han Zhou hesitate, Ouyang Lianyu didn't insist. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Tang Wenshuang and the others are busy, so it's a bit difficult for Xiaoxiao to help me. I can ask Guzheng instead."

"Then I'll help you up..."

Han Zhou quickly spoke up. How could he possibly let Gu Zheng come over to help support Ouyang Lianyu? Now that the social event had been exposed, Mo Yixia, although she hadn't said anything, would definitely go with him. So the safest solution right now was to find a way to prevent Gu Zheng from attending the afternoon's social event, or at least make sure that the other party couldn't see them.

As for the solution...

Han Zhou pondered for a moment, then suddenly fixed his gaze on Ouyang Lianyu. For some reason, a warm smile appeared on his face.

“Teacher Ouyang, I helped you this time, shouldn’t you help me this time?”

"What...what do you mean?"

For some reason, Ouyang Lianyu felt that there was something wrong with that smile.

(End of this chapter)