Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 311 Bad Woman

A blinding white light suddenly streaked across the sky, followed by a thunderous roar that lingered for a moment longer, echoing over the city only after the white light disappeared, vanishing into the dark clouds along with it.

"It seems like today isn't a good day to go out."

Two umbrellas, one large and one small, moved slowly in the rain. Han Zhou looked at the girl under the small mushroom-shaped umbrella, who was hanging her head and not saying a word, and broke the silence with his voice.

Since getting off the bus, Zhong Ling has been in a low mood, and the two haven't spoken to each other for a long time.

Seeing that the other person was just nodding absentmindedly, Han Zhou smiled bitterly and said, "Senior, why don't you cheer up, or tell me what I can do to make you happy? If Sister Yin finds out that you are so sad because of me, she will definitely kill me."

Perhaps the topic of her sister was quite important to Zhong Ling, because she finally came to her senses and said softly, "I'm sorry, I won't let my sister know. Even if she does, I will explain to her properly that it's not your fault, the problem lies with me, and... and I'm not unhappy."

She took a deep breath and tried her best to look happy.

Han Zhou sighed, stopped, and pointed to the glass wall beside the road: "Is this what you call 'not unhappy'?"

Zhong Ling looked in the direction he was pointing. The sky was dark, and a face without a smile was reflected in the glass wall. Rain was hitting the wall, looking like tears streaming down.

She subconsciously touched the corner of her eye, but didn't feel any moisture.

Although the image is somewhat blurry, it's unlikely that anyone would call such an expression "not unhappy".

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

Han Zhou had a bit of a headache: "I've said it many times already. Although I did send the message to the wrong person, both Yi Xia and I welcome you. You don't need to keep apologizing."

He paused, then coaxed, "And think about it, messages can be sent to many people by mistake, but I only sent it to you by mistake. Isn't that just like you always say, that we are very destined for each other?"

His face flushed red. To be able to portray carelessness as a stroke of luck was something even someone as thick-skinned as him couldn't quite bear. Of course, it would be a lie to say he wasn't guilty. If it weren't for that message, today would have been a peaceful day.

No, even with that message, today could have been a peaceful day. He didn't understand why Zhong Ling was suddenly so down.

Mo Yixia's "expulsion" could at most be considered a trigger, but it was definitely not the key. Could it be that the other party was really reminded of their deceased parents by the scenery?
"It's quite a coincidence."

Zhong Ling nodded, seemingly agreeing with Han Zhou's logic, but her mood remained low as she blamed herself, saying, "But if it weren't for me, it wouldn't have rained today."

Han Zhou was dumbfounded: "What does this have to do with whether it rains or not? You're not Jam Hsiao..."

"Who is Jam Hsiao?" Zhong Ling looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"It's nothing, it's not important. Go on, why wouldn't it rain today if you weren't here?" Han Zhou quickly brushed it off.

Zhong Ling was silent for a moment, then nervously tugged at the small cloth bag at her waist and said sadly, "I checked the weather forecast last night, and it said that today would be sunny, so I thought I could come out with you all today. But as soon as I thought that, it started raining outside, and it hasn't stopped since."

"Is that why?"

Han Zhou's expression was strange, then he seemed to understand something and suddenly realized, "So that's why you haven't replied to Yi Xia's messages?"

"Hmm, I don't know how to answer. I'm worried that if I come, the weather will get worse and worse." Zhong Ling looked up at the increasingly gloomy sky, her bangs blowing in the wind, and said softly, "I really shouldn't have come."

Han Zhou was silent for a moment, then carefully said, "Senior, have you ever considered the possibility that the problem isn't you, but the weather forecast in Lincheng?"

He had known for a long time that the weather forecast for Lincheng was seriously flawed.

Another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and amidst the rumbling thunder, Zhong Ling spoke softly.

"No, I've always been a very unlucky person. Most of the time I'm the one who's unlucky, but sometimes I drag others down with me, like today."

Han Zhou was taken aback. He remembered that Zhong Ling had said something similar before, but at the time she had just mentioned it casually and didn't seem to care much. But now it was clear that this was not the case.

The lightning illuminated the girl's profile. He stared at her for a moment, then suddenly laughed and said, "I don't think I'm unlucky today. It's just a little rain, not like I was struck by lightning."

After he finished speaking, he deliberately waited a few seconds, and seeing that no one was going to hit him, this scumbag, he continued, "And to be honest, I've never seen a zoo in the rain before, which is a good thing for me."

Zhong Ling gently shook her head: "But you can't see any animals at all on rainy days."

"Then consider it a walk. Being able to stroll around in such a natural place is definitely worth the ticket price," Han Zhou smiled. "Besides, who says you can't see animals on a rainy day?"

He pointed behind Zhong Ling, who turned around in confusion. There, she saw two little pandas on the tree behind her, their fur wet, their bright eyes scrutinizing the two of them.

"so cute……"

Zhong Ling's eyes lit up, and she immediately took out her phone to take a picture.

The wind suddenly picked up, and she could barely hold the umbrella with one hand. The mushroom-shaped umbrella tilted to one side, and raindrops fell on her right shoulder.

Just then, Han Zhou came closer and reached out his large hand to help hold the umbrella handle. The unruly umbrella immediately became obedient, keeping the increasingly violent rain out of its reach.

"Thank you."

Zhong Ling thanked them softly and carefully tidied her wind-blown hair.

"You're welcome, just focus on taking pictures."

Han Zhou smiled and waved to the little panda not far away.

The two little pandas looked at each other and raised their short arms to wave, as if responding to his wave.

Zhong Ling was stunned for a moment, then said incredulously, "They seem to really like you..."

"Maybe he likes you," Han Zhou said with a smile.

Zhong Ling hesitated for a moment, then carefully waved to the two little pandas, just like Han Zhou, as if afraid that her movements would scare the two cute little elves away.

Under her anxious gaze, the two red pandas responded in kind, waving their short arms again, looking incredibly cute.

"so smart."

Zhong Ling looked pleasantly surprised, her clear eyes brightened, and she waved cautiously.

The red panda responded again.

Seeing the long-lost smile on Zhong Ling's face, Han Zhou breathed a slight sigh of relief and quietly watched the interaction between the person and the two animals.

To be honest, both the little panda and the senior student were quite adorable as they greeted each other.

This is also thanks to the skill of "animal affinity".

[Animal Affinity: You are an animal's companion. When this skill is activated, you will more easily gain affection and favor from animals. The effect will fluctuate based on the animal's intelligence level (negatively correlated). Additionally, consuming two points will grant you a weak telepathic ability for the next thirty seconds. When you focus intently on an animal, there is a chance you will hear its thoughts. The effect will fluctuate based on the animal's intelligence level (positively correlated)]

He had previously thought this skill was not very useful, but now that it makes Zhong Ling happy, it has come in very handy.

A few minutes later, Zhong Ling finally put away her phone, reluctantly saying goodbye to the two red pandas. Suddenly, she paused, only then belatedly realizing something. She had been using one hand to greet the pandas and the other to take pictures, leaving no free hand to hold the umbrella. So why hadn't she gotten wet at all?
She glanced at the umbrella hanging above her head, then turned to look to her side. There, she saw Han Zhou holding two umbrellas, one above her head and the other above hers, just like before. Startled, she quickly took the umbrella, saying apologetically, "I'm so sorry, I was just so engrossed..."

She was having so much fun taking pictures of the red pandas that she asked someone to hold an umbrella for her, completely ignoring the person who helped her. This was extremely rude of her.

What's even more embarrassing is that this kind of thing just happened, and I haven't learned my lesson.

"It's okay," Han Zhou said nonchalantly. "Just don't forget to send me the photos."

"Okay... okay, thank you."

Han Zhou sighed helplessly, "Senior, you're being too reserved today. Am I that scary?"

“No,” Zhong Ling quickly shook her head. “I just… I just…”

"Just what?"

"I...I don't know either."

Seeing that the girl had returned to her previous dejected state, Han Zhou paused for a moment, then shook his head and smiled, "Never mind if you don't know. Let's keep going. We should see a lot more interesting animals."

"Ah."

Zhong Ling nodded, remained silent for a moment, then suddenly gripped the umbrella handle tightly, hesitatingly asking, "Um... junior, is Yi... Yi Xia really not angry?"

"Of course not, I guarantee it," Han Zhou said with a smile.

"really?"

"real."

Zhong Ling breathed a sigh of relief, and after a long while, she looked at the other person as if she had made up her mind and asked, "And what about you?"

"Me?" Han Zhou was taken aback.

"Yes, are you a little unhappy because today was supposed to be a time for you and Yixia to be alone together? I know you two have limited opportunities to meet..."

Zhong Ling tugged at her small cloth bag nervously. "You don't need to worry about my feelings. After all, you didn't invite me... Anyway, you can just tell me if you're unhappy."

Han Zhou fell silent and did not answer for a long time.

"right……"

Zhong Ling grew increasingly uneasy. Just as she thought her junior had tacitly agreed to her question and was about to apologize, she saw him looking at her with a strange expression.

"Hey senior... you don't think I only asked you to come out because I had no other choice, do you?"

Zhong Ling was stunned: "Isn't that right? My sister..."

“I respect Sister Yin, not fear her. She can’t force me to make a decision.”

Han Zhou interrupted her and continued, "The reason I hesitated that night was simply because the timing wasn't right. After all, I already had plans with Yi Xia this week, and I wasn't sure what you wanted to do. Yin Jie's thoughts aren't your thoughts either. If you're willing, we can totally go out and have fun at a different time."

At this point, he seemed to suddenly remember something and said seriously, "By the way, what I just said about Sister Yin killing me if you're unhappy was a joke. What I value is your opinion."

He had a vague idea of ​​why Zhong Ling felt disappointed. She seemed to think that her visit today was a complete mistake. He and Mo Yixia were unhappy, but they only went along with her because of Zhong Yin's questioning.

She felt that everyone was forcing her to be coaxed, like coaxing a child who hadn't grown up.

Seeing that Zhong Ling didn't speak, Han Zhou didn't keep rambling on either, but just silently waited for her to sort out her thoughts.

The two walked slowly up the slope, rainwater flowing down the slope, mixed with withered branches and leaves, and some small pebbles.

Han Zhou also saw a few colorful feathers among them, but he didn't know what kind of bird left them.

Even with the "animal affinity" setting activated, we still didn't see many animals along the way.

He looked around and suddenly noticed a darting gaze. He turned his head and met Zhong Ling's clear eyes.

The other person seemed to have been spying on him the whole time. He was clearly unable to dodge in time and didn't know whether he should look away or not. His neck was stiff as if it had rusted, and he didn't know where to look. In the end, he could only brace himself and look over, a hint of panic and embarrassment flashing in his eyes.

This was the first time Han Zhou had seen such an interesting reaction, and he laughed, "Senior, what's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing... I just wanted to ask again, are you really not upset? And... don't hate me..."

"No, how could I possibly hate you?"

“But it rained today…” Zhong Ling whispered.

"I told you this is the weather forecast's fault," Han Zhou chuckled.

"No, what I mean is, even though I knew that going out today might cause rain, even though I knew today was your and Yixia's time alone, even though I knew that coming today was a mistake, I still came..."

Zhong Ling gripped the small cloth bag tightly, her knuckles turning white. The bag gradually deformed under the constant pulling. Despite being so nervous that she wanted to immediately take back what she was about to say and escape, she didn't move a step or look away from Han Zhou.

Taking a deep breath, as if making a decision, she asked in an unprecedentedly soft voice, "...Even if I'm such a bad woman, you won't hate me?"

A white light streaked across the sky, followed by a muffled rumble of thunder, leaving her unsure whether her junior had given a reply in that brief moment.

The other person remained silent for a long time, and the only sound was the patter of rain.

It was raining heavily.

Was my voice too soft?
Zhong Ling felt a little awkward. She knew that her voice was always very soft, and just now it was so soft that she wasn't even sure if she had said anything. It was normal that her junior couldn't hear her.

Spending too much time with younger students has a downside: it makes it easy to forget that you are not a normal person.

Thinking of this, Zhong Ling gritted her teeth and was about to repeat the question she had just asked when she saw her junior open his mouth as if he couldn't help but laugh under the blinding lightning.

The deafening thunder was in her ears, and although she couldn't hear anything, she could still understand what the other person meant.

"of course not."

Her smiling tone was reassuring, especially considering that even her youngest junior could hear and respond to her voice, which gave her a strange feeling.

It must be fate that she was able to hear her junior's words amidst such loud thunder.

The junior's smile was something that puzzled her.

I got locked out of my house last night while moving boxes, and I had to call a locksmith to get in today.

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(End of this chapter)