Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 324 The Beginning
The incident with the chubby girl was just a minor episode, and Han Zhou quickly put it out of his mind. Seeing that Lin Anyu no longer needed his help to bolster his courage, he said goodbye, picked up a suspense novel at random, and left the bookstore.

He rarely has free time, but he has other things to do today.

He glanced at his phone's navigation app and saw that the furniture store wasn't far from the bookstore, only a twenty-minute walk away. Determined to save on taxi fare, he walked there. Along the way, he passed a rather upscale-looking residential complex with the words "Yunhuan Residential Complex" written above the gate.

"Strange, everything looks familiar to me now..."

Han Zhou shook his head, his gaze lingering for a moment on the girl wearing a mask, a baseball cap, and a school uniform at the entrance of the residential area before he looked away.

He didn't know what was wrong with him, but he had been feeling strange these past few days. Everything seemed familiar, especially that girl with long, straight black hair from earlier.

"Xia Xia, what's wrong?"

Jiang Baiqian looked at her daughter, who had suddenly stopped behind her, and urged her with a smile, "Don't just stand there, hurry up, or you'll be late for tutoring. The teacher said there will only be four hours of tutoring today. After tutoring, I'll take you out for a big meal, okay?"

"Xia Xia?"

"I'm going to get angry if you keep doing this."

"Xia Xia!"

Mo Yixia ignored her mother's incessant nagging, her gaze fixed on the direction the thin boy had just left, a thoughtful look appearing in her otherwise calm eyes.

"Why does this person give me a familiar feeling...?"

For the first time ever, she became somewhat interested and secretly made a mental note of the person's appearance, intending to study him when the opportunity arose.

At the same time, the more Han Zhou thought about it, the more familiar the girl seemed, but that was all; he couldn't recall having any interaction with her.

Could it be that I really dreamed about long, straight black hair?
With suspicion in mind, Han Zhou arrived at the furniture store and headed straight for his target—a cabinet on sale for a limited time.

He had a large three-door cabinet at home, but it was very old and had a damp smell. It was still usable, but last week he accidentally pulled off the door handle, so it had to die.

He plans to find a new cabinet first, and then go back to throw away the old one. Otherwise, he won't have anywhere to put all his clutter, and it will be quite troublesome to search for it when he needs it in the future.

Unfortunately, he arrived too late. When he got to the furniture store, the last discounted cabinet had already been bought by a pair of beautiful sisters.

He could afford the other cabinets, but the discounted ones were more cost-effective. After learning from the salesperson that there would be discounted cabinets available next week, he decided not to waste his money and would use the old cabinet for now, and come back next week.

"Would you like to see any other furniture? Our furniture is absolutely high quality and inexpensive, and I can introduce it to you one by one."

Han Zhou could feel the saleswoman glancing at his face, but he didn't mind and gave a polite smile: "No, thank you."

After he finished speaking, his gaze lingered for a moment on the two sisters not far away, and that strange sense of familiarity resurfaced.

"I'm going crazy, every pretty girl I see looks familiar..."

Han Zhou wiped his face hard, suspecting that he might be under too much mental stress lately. He decided to find a place with good air quality to change his mood and then left the furniture store.

"Sister, that person looks familiar."

Just as Han Zhou left, Zhong Ling turned around and saw his back. She quickly tugged at her sister's sleeve.

"what happened?"

Zhong Yin couldn't hear her sister's voice, so she could only try to guess what she meant. She immediately followed the other's gaze, but Han Zhou had already left the furniture store, and she saw nothing.

"nothing."

Zhong Ling shook her head slightly, thinking that the feeling of familiarity was probably just an illusion, but she still managed to picture the person from just now in her mind.

How strange... For a moment just now, she actually thought that if she called out to that boy, he would definitely stop and turn around to look at her.

But she didn't know the other person's name at all.

But it seems like ringing a bell would also work...

She looked at her bare, fair wrist and tilted her head in confusion.

Strange, there should be something here... "What's wrong, Xiaoling? Is something on your mind?" Her sister's concerned voice rang in her ears.

Zhong Ling snapped out of her daze, smiled, and shook her head to indicate that she was perfectly fine.

"Why are you so distracted? If anything happens, you must tell your sister, okay?" Zhong Yin patted her head.

Zhong Ling nodded obediently.

A look of doting affection appeared in Zhong Yin's eyes as she smiled and said, "I'll go find a car to bring the cabinet home later. Is there anything else you want to buy?"

Zhong Ling shook her head.

Zhong Yin was a little helpless. Xiao Ling was good in every way, but she was too "unambitious". She thought for a moment and said, "By the way, I recently learned how to make bags. Come with me to buy fabric and thread. I'll make you two. You can switch between them if you like."

Zhong Ling's eyes lit up, and she nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"Then you'd better decide what color you want, because for now, my skills can only make single-color bags."

Zhong Ling was a little worried. She didn't really have a favorite color, and she wasn't a very opinionated person. She was about to let her sister decide when she suddenly remembered that the boy she had just seen was wearing a blue and white jacket, and then she had an idea.

"I'll go with white and blue," she thought.

……

It turns out that stepping in dog poop really does seem to bring good luck.

Just now, Han Zhou received a call from Lin Anyu. The other party's voice was a little lisping, but his tone was quite excited.

He said on the phone that he had just parted ways with Bai Tongtong not long ago, and suddenly remembered that his exercise book was still with her. So he chased after her in the direction she left. When he arrived, he saw a group of thugs harassing Bai Tongtong. He was so angry that he rushed over and easily took down the group of ignorant thugs.

Your speech is slurred; it doesn't sound like you took it easily at all...

Han Zhou was worried, but he didn't interrupt his good friend's boasting. The fact that the other party could brag like that meant there was probably nothing wrong with him.

Lin Anyu continued, "You have no idea how dangerous the situation was. Bai Tongtong was almost crying. Fortunately, I held my own against four opponents. Although I suffered a minor injury, you know, scars are a man's badge of honor. I told her it was nothing, but Bai Tongtong wouldn't believe me. She insisted on checking my wound. And while she was checking me, guess what happened?"

Han Zhou readily agreed, "So?"

"Bai Tongtong's dad is here!"

Lin Anyu's tone became depressed, "You didn't see it. Bai Tongtong looks so quiet, but her father has a face full of fat and a big bald head. I thought he was the leader of that group of blond-haired people, so I rushed over without saying a word."

"and then?"

"Then her dad knocked out one of my teeth."

Han Zhou's lips twitched. So this was how this guy developed a lisp. He said with a strange expression, "Her dad doesn't think you're the boss of that gang of thugs, does he?"

“Yes.” Lin Anyu’s tone was somewhat complicated. “Not only that, he also thought I was Bai Tongtong’s shady boyfriend. He used a lot of force back then. To be honest, I’m traumatized by bald guys for the rest of my life…”

Lin Anyu's experience was heartbreaking, but it could also be considered a blessing in disguise. Bai Tongtong's father learned that he had misunderstood him and tried his best to apologize. Bai Tongtong also accompanied him to the hospital for his check-ups, which made him extremely happy.

Han Zhou realized this guy was just showing off, so he immediately hung up the phone and continued to breathe in the fresh air in the park.

And you know what? Getting close to nature is indeed a great way to heal the soul. Han Zhou felt refreshed after leaving the park. Only then did he realize that it was getting dark. He found a restaurant, ate a bowl of noodles, strolled around the streets for a while, bought groceries for tomorrow, and then walked home.

In winter, darkness falls quickly. By the time I reached my building, it was completely dark, and the surroundings were silent, desolate, and lonely.

Fortunately, Han Zhou was already used to this feeling. Just as he was about to go upstairs, he suddenly had a feeling and turned his head to look at the intersection on the other side.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he thought he saw a wriggling shadow under the streetlight.

The issue of human traffickers was mentioned in the main text a long time ago, as early as chapter 78, and more than once, though only briefly. It was also mentioned in Beicheng. Although the little girl was not Xiao Xiaoxiao, this matter was indeed related to her, which is why I said she had appeared before. I wonder if any readers thought of this beforehand.

Also, just a quick note: this part is important, but it won't be the main storyline, nor will all the content be revealed at once. We'll soon return to the "present" point in time.

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(End of this chapter)