Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 285 I am your final problem
Compared to the bustling school playground, the pedestrian street outside Lincheng University appears rather deserted.

Sunlight filters through the gaps between the tall buildings, casting long, thin shadows on the ground. Withered yellow leaves twirl along the ground, rustling softly, like homeless, hesitant travelers, unsure of where to go.

Click.

A large foot in a leather shoe landed, crushing the fallen leaves on the ground. The middle-aged man in a suit and tie seemed to be always in a hurry, looking tired. The briefcase in his arms seemed unusually heavy, making it difficult for him to straighten his back.

"People's joys and sorrows are indeed not shared..."

Han Zhou sighed inwardly. This uncle looked like a corporate slave who even had to work overtime on weekends. Looking at the man's receding hairline, which had already receded to the point of no return, Han Zhou became even more determined to never work for anyone in his life.

"You seem to have made a very firm decision just now."

A faint scent of hair wafted into my nostrils. The girl beside me, wearing a mask and a baseball cap, seemed to be deep in thought as she said, "...Are you planning to give me a grand confession when no one's around?"

Han Zhou was used to Mo Yixia easily seeing through his thoughts, and said helplessly, "There's no one around, so what's the point of making it special?"

"Confessing your feelings is a very important thing, isn't it?"

Even if no one witnesses?

Even if no one witnesses it.

After a pause, Mo Yixia continued, "But since no one has ever confessed their feelings to me in a normal way before, I'm still looking forward to... a grand confession."

Although he didn't quite understand what "normal confession" meant, Han Zhou still realized: "Are you implying something to me?"

“No.” The girl shook her head seriously, “It’s an explicit statement.”

"Then you'll need to give me more time to prepare."

The air seemed to suddenly fall silent for two seconds.

Mo Yixia rarely showed a surprised expression, and glanced at the person beside her who dared not meet her gaze: "Does that mean you've already decided to confess to me?"

"Isn't that natural?"

Han Zhou looked slightly embarrassed, not only because he felt a little awkward about expressing his feelings directly, but also because the girl in front of him knew very well that his confession was for both of them.

Nothing can withstand a long wait, and so can feelings. Just like these fallen leaves on the ground, if spring is slow to arrive, they will eventually be crushed under the feet of passersby.

"That's rare. I thought you would change the subject or avoid the topic again."

Mo Yixia quickly suppressed her surprise and casually tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Even though I know that nothing in this world is a given, I still feel happy... Is this the charm of sweet talk?"

She placed her palm on her chest, feeling her heart pounding.

"This is not just sweet talk," Han Zhou corrected helplessly.

Mo Yixia tilted her head in feigned confusion, her slender, fair fingers lightly tapping her forehead: "Then why did you say that confessing to me is a matter of course?"

"You know the answer perfectly well," Han Zhou sighed.

"Yes, it's something that most people know perfectly well, with only a thin veil separating them. But establishing relationships always requires verbal acknowledgment. Why can't we just skip the step of breaking through that veil?"

Isn't your pronunciation of "pierce through" a bit too strong...?

Han Zhou thought to himself, about to speak, when the girl suddenly looked at him and exclaimed in realization, "I understand, it's to prevent situations where someone likes several girls at the same time, and is also liked by several girls at the same time, right?"

You might as well just replace "certain people" with my name...

Han Zhou looked embarrassed, knowing very well that he could no longer avoid the issue. Mo Yixia's tolerance all along did not mean that she did not mind. He could not continue to disregard her feelings. Even if he had to make everything clear, it would be better than continuing to run away.

"sorry."

He thought for a long time and realized that this was the only sentence he could say.

"You mean you know you're wrong, but you still want to keep doing it, right?" Mo Yixia glanced at him, her tone normal, revealing no emotion.

After a moment of silence, Han Zhou smiled bitterly and said, "You know, I can't lose the guzheng, and I can't lose you."

"I don't know." Mo Yixia didn't want to talk to him. "You'd better not always think of me as someone who is all-knowing and all-powerful."

"So I'm telling you this directly, aren't I?" Han Zhou asked cautiously, afraid of upsetting the other party.

Even though she may already be unhappy.

Seeing that the other person remained silent, he took a deep breath: "I don't want to make excuses. Just like you said, I am indeed a very greedy person, the kind who is insatiable. Therefore, I absolutely cannot allow the important people in my life to leave me. I will do everything in my power to do so, even if..."

"Even what?" Mo Yixia glanced at him.

"I don't know either..." Han Zhou hesitated and shook his head. "I originally wanted to beg you by clinging to your leg, but I know that would definitely not work for you."

Mo Yixia sighed: "How will you know if you don't try?"

"Please?"

"No, cling to my leg."

Han Zhou: "..."

He looked helpless, but he was also secretly relieved. The fact that Mo Yixia was still in the mood to joke meant that she wasn't really angry.

After a moment of silence, Mo Yixia suddenly said, "You could have made a request of me that I couldn't refuse, so why didn't you use that request to get me to agree to your harem dream?"

"How could I possibly force you to agree?" Han Zhou said irritably. "Besides, you didn't use any conditions I owe you to force me to choose only being with you, did you?"

During the time they spent together during the summer vacation, he and Mo Yixia each owed the other a request, but he never thought of using that request, especially after he realized he had fallen in love with Mo Yixia.

If possible, he wanted to save this request for last.

Of course, another reason he left this request was to guard against any unreasonable demands that Mo Yixia might make.

Mo Yixia glanced at him and said confidently, "That's because I'm confident in this matter. You will eventually choose me. It's not worth using your demands here."

"Then you are indeed very confident..."

Han Zhou really didn't know what kind of expression to show, because his thoughts were just as firm, which meant that Mo Yixia's confidence would inevitably be in vain.

“Confidence is a strength, isn’t it?” Mo Yixia said.

"I didn't say it was a flaw."

"But your eyes tell me that if you are too confident now, I will be very disappointed in the future."

"..."

Seeing that Han Zhou did not deny it, Mo Yixia looked up at the fallen leaves drifting in the air and said calmly, "I have always believed that disappointment comes from expectation. If you don't expect anything, you won't be disappointed. So it's understandable that you are worried."

Han Zhou didn't know how to answer.

Mo Yixia expects all of his love, while he expects all of her love. There is an irreconcilable contradiction between the two, and his expectations are destined to become Mo Yixia's disappointment.

However, Mo Yixia has a weakness that is not really a weakness: she never imposes her expectations on others.

She doesn't know how to be coquettish, coerce, or beg. Clearly, just saying "You're the only one I can hope for" would make a certain scumbag feel incredibly guilty and even cause him to waver strongly, but she never thought of doing that.

"Since he still likes other girls, I'll find a way to make him like me more, and to make myself like him more, until his love for me far outweighs his love for other girls. That way, he'll eventually choose me, right?"

Receive even more ardent love in return for even deeper affection, until you can no longer live without each other—

Han Zhou had thought about it many times, and perhaps this was the meaning of what Mo Yixia meant by "creating an avalanche".

What she wanted was not to repeatedly create conflict situations to force him to make choices, but to return to the way they got along when they first met, exchanging affection for affection. If I like you more, then you should like me more too.

If each falling snowflake represents a new expression of love, then the old snow-capped mountain will eventually be covered by new snow. If you try to create turmoil, it will gradually melt and collapse. The newly falling snowflakes will condense into new snow-capped mountains, growing ever more solid and taller in the ever-falling snowflakes, until they completely fill a heart.

The new snow mountain will never collapse, because the snowflakes used to build it will keep falling.

"Then like me even more, like me to the point of being obsessed with me, dependent on me, unable to live without me, and never liking anyone else again."

To be honest, it's a very naive idea.

It was such a naive idea that someone like Mo Yixia wouldn't have come up with, yet she did it anyway.

Han Zhou didn't know if his guess was right, but if it was true, his guilt towards the girl would only deepen.

After all, the other party had never demanded anything of him, yet he felt compelled to force her to fulfill his shameless expectations and desires, and to share the person he liked with another girl.

"Mr. Scumbag, can you tell me what you're thinking?"

As his heart clenched and his mind was filled with complex thoughts, he suddenly heard Mo Yixia's cool voice. He hadn't noticed much before, but now Han Zhou realized that Mo Yixia's tone was noticeably gentler than usual today. Even when she said "Mr. Scumbag," her tone was more teasing than angry.

The other party was intentionally taking care of his feelings from the very beginning.

Even if the person being cared for is preoccupied with thoughts of how to do something that would betray them.

Han Zhou opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. A thousand words turned into a heavy "I'm sorry".

"I'm sorry..." Mo Yixia adopted a listening posture, "For example, in what places?"

"It's the same in many places, I'm sorry."

"That's it..."

Mo Yixia turned her gaze into the distance, not pursuing the topic further, and instead asked, "Were you just thinking to yourself that I was childish?"

Han Zhou was taken aback, perhaps too surprised, which lessened his dejected mood somewhat: "You don't actually know how to read minds, do you?"

Mo Yixia rolled her eyes at him and sighed softly, "If that were really the case, I wouldn't have fallen for you in the first place."

"Then how did you figure that out...?"

Instead of answering, Mo Yixia asked, "You guessed what I meant by what I said on the snow mountain before, didn't you?"

"……Um."

"Since you guessed it, it's not surprising that you think I'm naive."

Mo Yixia smiled slightly. "To be honest, sometimes I think I'm quite childish too."

A sudden autumn wind blew, lifting the girl's waist-length hair and causing her skirt to flutter. Large swirling leaves danced in the air, yet miraculously, not a single one landed on her.

"Actually, even now, I still don't understand what 'liking' is, but I'm sure I like you, which is really incomprehensible... If the college entrance exam required a definition of 'liking,' I definitely wouldn't be able to get good grades."

Han Zhou was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "It's okay, this won't be on the college entrance exam."

“But I still want to learn.” Mo Yixia turned to look at him, “right before the college entrance exam.”

"Then I can't teach you..."

"Did I say I wanted to learn from you?" she said casually.

Han Zhou's expression changed.

Seeing his tense and blank expression, the girl smiled as if she had successfully tricked him, "Just kidding."

The wind had stopped at some point. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and spoke softly.

"Of course it's you, and it can only be you."

Just as Han Zhou was about to speak, he saw Mo Yixia suddenly rub her hands together in a pretentious manner and sigh in a distressed tone, "It's so cold. I should have worn more clothes when I came out."

As he spoke, he looked down at his right hand fingernails, lost in thought.

Han Zhou was suddenly inspired; he had never felt his mind so sharp before. He immediately grasped the other person's left hand, which had just been lowered.

It feels delicate and smooth to the touch, with a slight coolness.

"Is it still cold?"

"It's cold." Mo Yixia immediately stopped looking at her nails.

"Then shall I give you my coat?"

"No need, I'm wearing a dress, just put my hands in your pants too."

"Pants pocket?"

No, crotch.

Han Zhou: "..."

He took the girl's hand and tucked it into his coat pocket.

The two walked silently down the deserted street without saying another word.

On a weekend afternoon, both cafes and milk tea shops were packed with people, and the interior could be vaguely seen through the transparent glass doors and windows.

Young men and women sat by the window, holding steaming coffee in their hands, chatting or lost in thought, occasionally glancing out the window and smiling as they watched the loving couple outside.

They thought they were a perfect match.

"Han Zhou, do you think we look like a couple to other people?"

"of course."

"What if we don't hold hands, but just walk side by side?"

"It does resemble it."

"What if we don't stand side by side, but instead stand a little further apart?"

"It still looks like it."

"If we were separated by a street, a school, or a city, would we still look like a couple?"

"It has to look like it." Han Zhou subconsciously tightened his grip on the hand in his pocket, as if the other person might run away. "It has to look like it, even if it doesn't."

"That……"

Mo Yixia turned to look at him, her eyes flashing with pain and sorrow, "...Why aren't we together yet?"

Han Zhou froze, a sudden surge of panic and unease rising within him. The Mo Yixia of the past would never have been so sentimental; her sudden outburst of words... could it be that she wanted to...?

"Pfft!"

Mo Yixia suddenly laughed out loud, and said in a light tone, "It's good to scare you, so that you won't think I'm not important to you one day."

"As expected, you can't live without me anymore."

Her eyes were smiling, as if she had gotten her revenge, and she said with satisfaction, "Being a scumbag isn't easy. If you don't handle this well, you might lose me in the future."

"What...does that mean?"

"It means it's almost time for me to go back and find your guzheng."

Mo Yixia tried to pull her hand back, but she couldn't get it out no matter what she did. She turned her head and met Han Zhou's serious expression. "You're not allowed to leave until you explain yourself."

Seeing the tension and panic in the other person's eyes, she chuckled and said, "It's okay if I don't leave, but you'd better think carefully about how to explain this to the school and my mother."

"I'll confess then."

"Yeah."

Perhaps because she heard a satisfactory answer, Mo Yixia suddenly didn't want to pull her hand back and turned to look ahead.

At the end of the street, the facades of tall buildings are bathed in golden sunlight, creating a magnificent landscape.

"Don't worry, I'm not being sarcastic. Go find the guzheng."

She said, "Remember what I said before? The probability of me accepting you two-timing is very low, but it's not impossible. If you really insist, then I can give you this chance—if you're not afraid of things getting out of hand."

Han Zhou was stunned for a moment, then heard the other party continue, "I know you plan to win me over first because I seem easier to talk to. But unfortunately, you don't know me well enough. If this were a game, I would be like a level boss. If you can get that girl named Guzheng to accept your greed, then try to get me to accept it."

Han Zhou was stunned for a moment. Mo Yixia's meaning was already very clear. This was obviously giving him an opportunity.

"why?"

He asked why Mo Yixia had suddenly changed her attitude.

"Who knows? Maybe I'm just too confident."

Mo Yixia shook her head slightly, "In short, no matter how you want to fulfill your harem dream, don't put me in the first step of your plan, unless you want to fail from the very beginning."

"Remember... I am your final challenge."

(End of this chapter)