Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 270 Winning with a Clear Right
Even after many years, the girl still couldn't forget that bright afternoon.

The lingering warmth of late summer hadn't faded, and the sun that day was even hotter than usual. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the branches and leaves, casting dappled patterns on the path outside the playground. The September breeze gently caressed the girl's long hair, scattering her thoughts.

The pages rustled in the wind, and a densely filled notebook of wrong answers was blown to the ground. The girl brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, bent down to pick it up, and just happened to touch a slender finger...

Based on the limited TV dramas and novels I've watched, Ouyang Lianyu envisions an unforgettable first encounter on campus as follows.

Then Guzheng quickly shook her head, interrupting her idea, and corrected her with some dissatisfaction: "Teacher Ouyang, I have kept my hair short since high school, and I don't have a dense collection of wrong answers."

"Feel sorry……"

Ouyang Lianyu smiled awkwardly, realizing she had overthought things, cleared her throat, and said with a smile, "Would it be convenient to tell the teacher about what happened that day?"

As Gu Zheng swept the floor, she said, "What you said earlier is pretty much what I expected. It was in September, and the location was indeed on the playground. I was studying under the shade of a tree when Han Zhou suddenly came over to find me."

Her face showed a look of reminiscence, "At that time, Han Zhou was in poor health and hardly participated in any sports activities. Everyone said he was a sickly person, but do you know what he wanted to do with me that day?"

"doing what?"

"He wants to race me."

Perhaps to make Ouyang Lianyu understand what this meant, Gu Zheng added, "At that time, I was almost always number one in all sports events in the class and even the grade, while Han Zhou struggled to even run. Therefore, his challenge was meaningless to me. It's not an exaggeration to say that it was like an egg hitting a rock."

"So you refused?" Ouyang Lianyu asked curiously.

"No, I agree."

Ouyang Lianyu was taken aback, but she had heard Han Zhou talk about Guzheng's personality, so she wasn't too surprised. "Because you are not afraid of any challenge and are willing to give every challenger a chance?"

"Of course not." Gu Zheng pouted, looking quite resentful. "It's because he insisted on provoking me and asked if I was scared."

Isn't this an obvious provocation tactic...?

Ouyang Lianyu gave a wry smile: "He probably has feelings for you. I've heard that many boys nowadays like to attract girls' attention this way."

"is that so……"

Gu Zheng blushed a little. "I was talking to him normally, and then he suddenly said he wanted to challenge me. Later, when I asked him why, he wouldn't tell me the reason."

In fact, this is what happened that day—

Although Han Zhou, who was on the verge of death, obtained the status bar, the level one status bar's abilities were too limited and could not help him in his terminal illness. He also didn't know where to get the points needed to upgrade the status bar until he saw the words "Unlockable" on Gu Zheng's head at school.

The unique suffix naturally caught his attention, and he planned to take advantage of the PE class to have a good chat with the class monitor who had made him the perennial runner-up, to see what was so special about him.

At that time, Guzheng was doing English reading comprehension exercises. She didn't mind him coming over and responded intermittently, occasionally reciting a sentence from the answer options.

As luck would have it, she just happened to say, "I want to fall in love," and the status bar immediately reacted, changing the "Unlockable" message above the guzheng to "Unlocked," followed by a series of text messages—

[Keyword triggered, target character Guzheng unlocked, 10 points gained]

【Daily Task 1 (Guzheng): Inflict the target's heart rate acceleration state ten times to earn 1 point】

【Daily Task 2 (Guzheng): Collect ten phrases of 'I'm afraid' to earn 1 point】

[Side Quest Unlocked: The target character, Guzheng, possesses a strong competitive spirit and a deep desire for victory in any form. Please choose any talent the target character excels in and achieve at least one spectacular victory in fair competition. Upon completion of the quest, you will receive 20 points and can extract one enhancement skill from the target.]

Upon seeing this, Han Zhou was overjoyed. However, his points were not enough to upgrade his status bar, so he had to consider completing the side quest as soon as possible. He immediately challenged Gu Zheng, and his quick change of expression made Gu Zheng glance at him again.

Gu Zheng only mentioned running because that was the only thing that left a deep impression on her. In fact, Han Zhou had presented her with many challenges that day, including but not limited to English listening comprehension, cloze tests, and solving the most difficult math problem in advance, but without exception, she failed every time. There was no other way; the side quest had requirements. She had to defeat Gu Zheng in her area of ​​expertise, and it had to be a spectacular victory. Only in this way could she meet the requirements of the side quest and obtain the reward.

At the time, he knew little about the guzheng, only that she was good at studying and sports. He asked her about other things, but she was too lazy to answer. So he had no choice but to try to find a solution in those two areas.

Fortunately, he quickly came up with a crooked idea: to have a running race with the guzheng.

Compared to the others, Gu Zheng had a fairly good impression of the equally hardworking perennial second-place guy beneath her, and couldn't bear to bully him, so she politely declined his challenge. Who knew that he would take advantage of her kindness and actually say that she was afraid? So she coldly accepted the challenge, determined to cut off this guy's dog head.

Listening to Gu Zheng's resentful description, Ouyang Lianyu had a vague idea that Gu Zheng must have lost to Han Zhou in that competition. However, she was very curious about how Han Zhou had won against her if it was really as Gu Zheng described.

Could it be cheating?

“It wasn’t cheating.” Gu Zheng sighed. She was still upset about it. “I was too careless. I didn’t expect that guy to tamper with the rules.”

"What do you mean?"

“We started from the same starting line. He said the rule was that whoever got back to the starting line first would win. I subconsciously understood that whoever finished one lap first would win.”

Ouyang Lianyu was stunned for a moment, then realized what she meant and said, "Isn't this cheating?"

"No, he repeated the rules twice to remind me that there was a problem with the rules, but I didn't listen carefully."

Gu Zheng pulled the trash can and said with a laugh, "He was probably afraid I would beat him up. At first, he didn't dare to turn around and go back to the starting point directly. He even pretended to run a few steps, but he fell down after running a short distance."

“I turned around to help him up, but he righteously advised me not to turn back and to keep running forward. He said that a competition is a competition, and the rules are the rules. There is no room for leniency. He insisted on competing against me in my prime before he would feel at ease.”

Ouyang Lianyu covered her mouth and laughed, "He deliberately emphasized 'rules are rules,' probably because he was afraid you would get angry."

"Who says it isn't?"

Recalling Han Zhou's disheveled appearance at that time, Gu Zheng's eyes curved into a smile. "When I ran as fast as I could and looked back to see him running towards the starting line, I realized that I had been tricked. But that was also because I underestimated him. I did lose that time."

Looking at Gu Zheng's expression, Ouyang Lianyu suddenly remembered what Han Zhou had said earlier—

"Gu Zheng is very competitive, but she only pursues victories that she can be proud of. She is a stubborn person, but if she loses, she loses and will not make any excuses. Many people cannot do this."

She wins with confidence and loses with dignity... Ouyang Lianyu seemed to suddenly understand Han Zhou's concerns. This kind of girl is not afraid to compete in relationships, but believes that she will lose once the competition begins.

Even victory is meaningless if the person you like doesn't firmly choose you.

Who knows how much nostalgia and helplessness were mixed in with such a victory?

Such a victory is unfair, and unfairness means that the victory is sham.

However... while I understand, can Han Zhou really make Gu Zheng accept Mo Yixia's existence peacefully?

Ouyang Lianyu was filled with worry.

Worried that Guzheng would notice something was off, she forced a smile and asked, "Is it because Han Zhou beat you that you have such a deep impression of what happened that day?"

Gu Zheng shook her head and smiled.

"It's more than that."

(End of this chapter)