Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 343 Wait and see
"Guzheng, can you tell your teacher why you are so determined to be number one?"

Since junior high school, Guzheng has been constantly hearing similar questions.

Teachers, classmates, and even parents.

Whether they cared about her or not, too many people transformed into journalists eager for the truth, constantly trying to uncover the reasons behind her insistence on being number one and attempting to correct her.

And she has answered this question more than once—

"There's no particular reason; I just simply wanted to be number one."

When people are hungry, they eat; when they are thirsty, they drink; when they are bored, they want to be number one—it's that simple.

There may have been reasons in the past, but as time has passed, those reasons have long since become irrelevant.

To this day, she neither hides nor needs to hide her desire to be number one.

She wanted to win, and that's why.

If I had to give a more specific reason, it would be that she simply wanted to do her best, nothing more.

But this world is really strange. It seems that there should be a reasonable motive behind every behavior, and this motive must be convincing enough, otherwise it should be wrong.

Just as someone who risks their life to rush into a fire must be doing so to save the victims, if their motive is simply to save their hidden stash of money, then even if they do manage to save someone in the process, their actions, which should be praised, will still be questioned.

People are more willing to hear that a student with excellent grades is working hard to change his hometown or studying for his bedridden parents. If they hear that he is only studying to earn more money in the future to buy a better game console, it will most likely cause them to burst into laughter.

Only flowers that have been wrapped can be called fresh flowers.

The reason "I want to win" is clearly poorly crafted and cannot live up to everyone's expectations.

Gu Zheng knew that if she were willing to add a tear-jerking story to her competitiveness... no, it didn't have to be tear-jerking. Even if it was just a more palatable reason, she wouldn't be without friends.

But she didn't want to make up stories.

Even when it comes to revealing her true feelings, her competitive spirit remains proud, and she will not allow herself to bow down to anyone.

Before her eyes was a blurry light. As time passed, the light gradually became hazy, changing from dazzling to soft. Gu Zheng opened her eyes and finally saw the person sitting in front of her—a young female teacher.

She quickly recognized the other person; it was her junior high school homeroom teacher, a very kind teacher who cared about all the students in the class and treated them all equally, whether they were struggling or high achievers.

She just didn't understand why she would see her junior high school homeroom teacher here.
At this moment, her homeroom teacher looked at her helplessly: "Guzheng, this is just a competition, not even a formal competition. You don't need to push yourself so hard. What if you get injured and it affects your high school entrance exam?"

The high school entrance exam...

Guzheng paused for a moment, the word "guzheng" had been out of her memory for a long time, and in light of the current situation, a slightly vague memory surfaced in her mind.

It was a month before the high school entrance exam. The school organized a visit to the high schools for students to learn about their preferred schools in advance. This was usually done to give top students more options. As she had already secured the top spot in her grade, she was naturally required to go.

It was May, and the temperature was already quite high. The sun was scorching and extremely bright, but you could still see the figures of physical education students sweating on the playground. Several tall boys were running laps on the track.

As the group passed the playground, someone whispered, "It feels like these boys can't even run as fast as Guzheng." This was overheard by a passing boy and soon attracted the attention of a group of physical education students.

The speaker was a girl, and the high school boys naturally didn't bother with her. They just chatted for a few minutes. The teacher who was showing Guzheng and the others around the school found it interesting. Perhaps it was to give the sports class a free recruitment advertisement, or perhaps it was to recruit Guzheng, the top student in the district. Suddenly, he chuckled and suggested that they have a friendly match.

Amid cheers from students on both sides, the friendly match began.

It was called a friendly match because no one initially thought that Guzheng could beat the high school athletes. In fact, if Guzheng hadn't been so pretty that the athletes wanted to watch her longer, the match would never have happened.

Because it's too much of a bullying.

What a joke! Counting the half year in junior high, they are high school sports students who have been training for nearly two and a half years. If they can't even outrun a junior high girl, that would be too ridiculous.
Amidst the mutual "passing the buck" among the boys in the sports class, the task of bullying someone was assigned to a boy with a cheerful smile.

The reason she still remembered the other person's cheerful smile was because Guzheng remembered that he had said he wouldn't use his full strength, and if he won in the end, he would ask her to give the other person the Feixin message.

She remembers that the other person was laughing the whole time.

There was no suspense; the result of this match was still a victory.

Of all the countless victories she had achieved in the past, this was not a particularly memorable event. Gu Zheng finally managed to recall it, looked directly into her homeroom teacher's eyes, and answered as she had done many times before: "As long as it's a competition, I must do my best to win."

"But this is just a friendly match."

The homeroom teacher sighed and reminded him with a wry smile, "Didn't you notice that your opponent wasn't using their full strength at the beginning?"

“I reminded him to give it his all before the competition even started, and then we competed again. I think I gave him enough respect.”

The homeroom teacher had a headache: "I've already asked other students about the specifics, so you don't need to repeat them. What I want to say is that if you really respect that boy, you shouldn't have suggested a rematch, and you certainly shouldn't have won against him in the second match."

“Once the competition starts, I will do my best to win, that’s respect,” Guzheng insisted. “Besides, I wasn’t the one who suggested a rematch.”

"I know I know."

The homeroom teacher patiently explained, "I know you weren't the one who suggested a rematch, but there are some things you might not understand. That boy is a second-year high school student who is a sports student. He has been training hard for two years and has excellent grades in the class. He has already set his future goals, and the school and his parents have high hopes for him. How could someone like that be willing to lose to a junior high school girl? That's why he suggested a rematch with you. But you... you should understand that you should let him win the second match. This... this is better for everyone."

"Why should we let her?" Guzheng didn't understand.

"Think about it, boys have pride. Losing a race to a junior high school girl would be a laughing stock if word got out. Even if you don't care about the boy's pride, you should at least let him win this time because of his hard work over the past two years or even longer, right?"

"Isn't my effort an effort?"

Guzheng couldn't understand when hard work became an excuse for an opponent to concede. Was it because the opponent wasn't working hard enough? Shouldn't one work even harder after losing?
The homeroom teacher was getting impatient, but still patiently said, "That's not what I meant, it's just... right, I just said that running like that could easily get you injured, and it might interfere with your high school entrance exam..."

"Teacher, I'm not hurt," Guzheng interrupted her, adding earnestly, "Even if..."

"Oh!"

Before she could finish speaking, the homeroom teacher seemed to have reached her limit, slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and glared at her with a ferocious expression.

"But the boy you were competing against is injured!"

Gu Zheng paused, taken aback.

The surrounding air seemed to freeze, suffocating her breath and heartbeat.

"Do you know that in order to surpass you, he even exceeded his previous limits! In order to surpass you, he risked his life. Just before sprinting, he fell heavily onto the track, resulting in a torn ligament in his left leg. He needs to rest for at least three months, and there is no guarantee that he will fully recover!"

"You enjoy competing with others so much, do you know what such an injury means for a sports student who makes a living from sports?"

"His future and dreams may be completely ruined just because you won't give him a second chance!"

The homeroom teacher roared hysterically, her breathing heavy like a half-erupting volcano. The other teachers in the office remained silent, casting strange glances at her.

The sky outside the window turned gloomy, and the atmosphere became terribly oppressive.

"I regret."

Gu Zheng took several deep breaths, trying to shake off the suppressed emotions in her heart, and said with her head down, "But this should not be a reason for me to lose."

"You... how can you not understand?" The homeroom teacher gritted her teeth and said with heartache, "If you had been willing to curb your competitive spirit back then, this accident wouldn't have happened. That boy wouldn't have been injured, his parents wouldn't have been heartbroken, the teacher who suggested the competition wouldn't have been held accountable, and I wouldn't have been... In short, when are you going to change your bad habit of being competitive? Don't you know that none of your classmates like you?!"

"I do not care."

"You don't care?"

The homeroom teacher laughed in exasperation, "Can't you even consider other people's feelings? Do you know you've ruined their entire future! Even if that boy recovers, he won't have the courage to run again!"

"I said I'm sorry."

Gu Zheng kept her head down, "But that's only because he's not strong enough."

"What did you say!"

"Giving up because of one failure is actually a sign of weakness. You have taught us similar principles many times."

"Since you're so unafraid of failure, why are you so obsessed with being number one?"

Guzheng finally looked up and stubbornly said, "I have the ability to win fair and square, so why can't I be number one?"

"What if you lose one day?"

"I will not lose, and even if I do lose, I will definitely win back."

The homeroom teacher laughed angrily: "That sounds nice, but what if it was a game you really valued, one you absolutely didn't want to lose, one that even affected your future, but you still lost in the end? Have you thought about how you would feel then?"

"To be honest, I don't know."

After a moment of silence, Gu Zheng clenched her fist, "But I will never beg my opponent to let me win."

The homeroom teacher was stunned for two seconds.

"It's always like this, you never do it!"

A moment later, she flew into a rage and said, "Have you forgotten? He Ling got depressed and transferred schools because of you. She considers you her best friend, but have you ever considered her a friend? She just wants you to give in to her this once, to fulfill her insignificant wish. Why can't you be kind enough to do her a favor?"

A wish...

Gu Zheng opened her mouth, her mood suddenly becoming somewhat downcast: "Teacher, you know perfectly well that even if I let her win, she still won't get the ranking she wants."

"Of course I know, but there's more to it than just first and second place. When will you ever consider the feelings of those around you? They consider you their closest people. Wouldn't it be nice if you occasionally gave up first place to make them happy?"

"I……"

"Wake up, Guzheng! Nobody wants you to keep winning!"

The homeroom teacher's face became incredibly ferocious, like a vengeful ghost ready to devour its prey.

"Nobody wants you to keep winning."

In the office, the teachers, who had been silent like puppets, spoke in unison, their voices hoarse.

"Nobody wants you to keep winning."

"Nobody wants you to keep winning."

The sky outside the office had grown increasingly gloomy, as if covered by a black rag. Strange sounds echoed from outside the window, loud and resentful, chanting over and over again.

Does nobody... want me to keep winning?
Guzheng lowered her head, and memories from junior high school onwards surfaced in her heart.

In junior high school, she got first place in her class for the first time. Some classmates suspected her of cheating. They searched her bag while she was eating lunch and eventually found a vocabulary book in her drawer, saying that this was the evidence of cheating.

But she only scored a little over 90 on her English test that time;

After she won first place for what felt like the umpteenth time, no one suspected her of cheating anymore. But some people said she was selfish, that she didn't share her study methods with everyone after becoming the top student in the whole grade, and that she only cared about improving herself.

But she always answered questions and never hid her study methods; it was just that people were unwilling to ask her.

She remembered this incident. After entering high school, in order to help everyone make progress together, she took the initiative to run for class monitor. However, it wasn't long before some people grew tired of the arrogant and competitive atmosphere she had fostered.

It seems that this is indeed the case. Starting from junior high school, it seems that no one wants her to keep winning. Even her parents worry that she might overwork herself and hurt her health, and have hinted several times that she should not be so obsessed with being number one.

She had no friends and no competitors. Every time she ran, everyone else would stay far away. As soon as the exam results came out, people would whisper and say, "Just watch, she won't be smug for long. Sooner or later she will lose badly and go home crying to her mother."

There were many similar comments, but she never cared. It all seemed to confirm one thing: it seemed that no one wanted her to keep winning, and everyone wanted to see her lose.

However, that was before she became familiar with Han Zhou.

It was dark outside the window, with only faint lights.

The chanting, like a curse, continued, as if trying to penetrate the brain.

But the guzheng seemed not to hear, and suddenly remembered the scene of Han Zhou giving her a birthday present last year.

Just before midnight, this frail fellow unexpectedly caught up with himself as he was running forward.

He would never slow down to wait for him, but would tell himself on a rainy night—

"You just need to run forward, and I'll keep chasing you."

There are people in this world who want to keep winning forever.

If no one else wants to see you win, then just let him be the only one to see you win.

Thinking of this, Gu Zheng suddenly raised her head and looked directly at the homeroom teacher's face, which had become cold and unfamiliar at some point.

“No, that’s not what Han Zhou said,” she said.

The homeroom teacher stared at her expressionlessly: "Who is Han Zhou?"

Gu Zheng realized she was dreaming, so there was no need to introduce Han Zhou to the other party. She simply turned and walked to the window, as if to announce it to all the sounds outside.

“I told him a long time ago that I would keep winning, and I said it again recently, but his answer has never changed.”

"What answer?" the homeroom teacher asked.

The guzheng's eyes curved into crescents.

Han Zhou said she was his sun.

In fact, he was also her sun.

She just wants to win, so she wants to shine even brighter.

He said he was 'wait and see'.

(End of this chapter)