Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 38 Zhong Yin
After following the girl named Zhong Ling for a while, Han Zhou realized just how remote her place was.

Hutongs and alleys are everywhere, surrounded by low-rise houses that have been in disrepair for many years. There are hardly any landmark buildings to be seen along the way. Perhaps it is because of the hot weather, but you can hardly even find a few people.

Han Zhou was puzzled. He wondered why Mo Yixia's friend had come to a place like this to sing last time.

Zhong Ling was very familiar with the area. She could easily tell which way to go and even found a shortcut to the supermarket by turning east and west.

She had short strides, but her steps were quick, giving the impression of being in a hurry. She always carried a small cloth bag around her waist while walking and would occasionally take out a handkerchief to wipe her sweat.

Han Zhou followed quickly behind her, occasionally trying to strike up a conversation, but Zhong Ling mostly responded with silence, only nodding or shaking her head occasionally.

The supermarket was quite far away, but since the two of them walked very fast, they arrived in no time.

This supermarket is small, only one floor, and at this time of day, it seems to have little business. As soon as you enter, the only employee in the supermarket is dozing off.

Zhong Ling found a small cart, carefully took out her broken-screen phone from her small cloth bag, and started selecting items from the shelves according to the shopping list in Fetion.

Han Zhou observed for a moment and found that the girl was buying mostly daily necessities, as well as seasonings such as salt and Sichuan peppercorn oil. Combining this with the Feixin message he had seen earlier, he guessed that the girl was sent by her sister to do the shopping.

Zhong Ling's family seems to be not well-off, otherwise she wouldn't still be using a phone with a cracked screen. The things she buys are very cheap, as if she has a clear goal. She takes the items very quickly, throws them into the shopping cart without any hesitation.

However, as she passed the shelf where the shampoo was placed, her movements suddenly slowed down. She looked around for a while, clenched her fists somewhat uneasily, and squatted down to stare blankly at the shampoo.

Han Zhou, who had been pretending to browse items nearby, noticed this and casually picked up a tube of toothpaste, walked over, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Upon seeing Han Zhou, Zhong Ling was taken aback for a moment, wondering why he was still there. She moved her lips as if to speak, but then suddenly remembered that he was hard of hearing. So she used her slender fingers to type a line of text in the Fetion input box.

"The shampoo I used to buy is sold out. Both of these are relatively cheap, but they are priced exactly the same. I don't know which one to choose."

What the hell?
Han Zhou thought to himself, "Is there any need to agonize over this? The two shampoos look pretty much the same anyway." He said, "Just pick one, won't you?"

Zhong Ling gently shook her head, then hugged her knees and continued to stare blankly at the shampoo.

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment, then remembered that girls tend to be more serious when choosing these things, so he suggested, "Why don't you just choose the one you like?"

Zhong Ling looked blank for a moment, then shook her head—she didn't know which one she preferred.

The shampoo I bought before was chosen by my sister, and she has been buying from that brand ever since. Now that she can't find the same shampoo, she doesn't know what to choose.

She wanted to message her sister, but she was worried that her sister was working right now and she didn't want to bother her with such a small matter.

Han Zhou was getting impatient. It was just choosing a shampoo; did this guy have decision-making difficulties? After hesitating for a moment, he sent a message to Gu Zheng.

Guzheng replied almost instantly, but was clearly very unhappy, sending several kitchen knife emojis in a row.

"It was fine when you asked to borrow my notes last time, but this time you actually came to ask me how girls should choose shampoo? What do you take me for? Can't you just search online?"

Han Zhou typed out a line of text without hesitation.

"Look at what you're saying. Searching online is nowhere as reliable as asking the class monitor."

Guzheng remained silent for about thirty seconds, not saying anything, but instead replying with a long message.

"Choosing a shampoo depends on your hair type. Dry hair should use a shampoo with less moisturizing properties, oily hair should use a shampoo with stronger cleansing power, and normal hair doesn't need to be so particular..."

The dense text was divided into several messages, all of which were Guzheng's experiences in choosing shampoo.

So professional...

Han Zhou sincerely praised, "As expected of the class monitor, this is definitely more reliable than searching online!"

Guzheng replied with a little person with arms crossed, followed by a sentence.

"So, who are you going to buy shampoo for?"

"I'm not buying for anyone, I was just asking casually. That's all, see you later."

Han Zhou put away his phone and saw Zhong Ling still squatting in front of the shelf in a daze, looking like she was going to agonize over it until the evening. So he said helplessly, "How about I help you choose? I think this shampoo on your left is more suitable for you..." He silently organized his thoughts, but before he could finish his long list of reasons, Zhong Ling picked up the shampoo on her left, put it in the shopping cart, and quickly walked to the next shelf.

Han Zhou was dumbfounded. So this guy never intended to choose for himself at all?
As he watched the other person walk away, he hesitated, wondering whether he should shamelessly follow her. But then he noticed that the girl suddenly pushed her cart back and headed straight for him, as if she had come to find him.

He hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Is there anything else?"

Zhong Ling clutched the hem of her clothes, a hint of panic flashing in her clear eyes. She seemed a little embarrassed, but she still raised her phone and pointed to a line of text on the screen.

Han Zhou looked closely and realized that this long list was indeed a shopping list. Then, with a strange expression, he read aloud the line the other person was pointing to.

"Rewriting two, three, and four, the sum is read as nine... What does this mean?"

He was suspicious, wondering if this line of text, written together with the shopping list, referred to some kind of product.
Zhong Ling quickly typed in the input box: "This is a riddle from my sister. The answer is something she wants me to buy, but I can't guess it."

Han Zhou chuckled, thinking to himself that he had just realized it. But this older sister was really interesting; she made such a fuss about buying things.

He pondered for a moment, then quickly guessed the answer and said, "Is it wine?"

Upon hearing this, Zhong Ling's eyes lit up. Without being curious about how the answer came about, she quickly nodded in agreement—her sister used to often ask her to buy wine, and this time the shopping list just happened to not include wine, so the answer was definitely wine!
She turned to leave, but then remembered she hadn't thanked him yet. So she typed "thank you" in the input box and then took small steps, pushing her cart toward the drinks section.

Han Zhou was secretly amazed. He hadn't expected that this girl, who seemed to have decision-making anxiety, would be so efficient. She quickly bought all the items on her shopping list and pushed them to the cashier to pay.

They moved so fast that he didn't even have a chance to say a word.

The saleswoman, a middle-aged woman, yawned and casually began scanning the merchandise. Suddenly, she noticed the young customer staring intently at her and asked, puzzled, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Zhong Ling held the banknotes in her hand, looking stunned. She had just made a request, hadn't this person heard her?
Just as she was about to speak again, Han Zhou suddenly strode over and smiled at the clerk, saying, "She plans to pay in cash, so please give her as much small change as possible when you give her the change."

The sales clerk didn't seem to care much for a pretty girl like Zhong Ling, but she became much more enthusiastic when she saw a handsome young man like Han Zhou, and a polite smile appeared on her face: "No problem."

She looked at the items in Han Zhou's hand and asked, "Are we paying for them all at once?"

"No, pay separately."

Upon hearing this answer, for some reason, the sales clerk suddenly smiled even more broadly and began giving Zhong Ling change with a beaming smile.

Before long, Zhong Ling put the change into her small cloth bag, picked up the large plastic bag with some difficulty, and walked out of the supermarket to head home.

Soon Han Zhou also came out of the supermarket. Seeing this, he wanted to go forward and help share some of the burden, but Zhong Ling firmly refused.

After a long silence, she suddenly put down the bag, typed a few words on her phone, and held it up to Han Zhou's eyes: "Why did you know?"

Han Zhou knew she was asking about what happened at the cashier earlier, so he honestly replied, "I saw it when you showed me the riddle. It said 'Remember to get plenty of change' at the bottom of the shopping list... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to look at it."

He possesses the skill of "speed reading," which allows him to read text in a very short time. This skill is developed through long-term study and has wide applicability.

Zhong Ling shook her head, her mood inexplicably dropping a bit. She stopped typing, picked up the bag, and continued walking.

The bag was heavy, and she couldn't walk as fast as before. She remained silent the whole way and didn't even ask why Han Zhou was still walking with her.

Even after buying a wrench at the hardware store, Han Zhou still couldn't get her to say the words "I want to be in a relationship".

He was getting anxious, thinking that today might not be completely fruitless. He saw that Zhong Ling was about to walk into the alley, and if he followed her any longer, he would probably be mistaken for a hooligan.

"that……"

Watching Zhong Ling's retreating figure, he hesitated to speak, but just then, a tall woman suddenly appeared at the alleyway ahead. She looked somewhat similar to Zhong Ling and had a very cold expression. She was undoubtedly Zhong Ling's older sister.

Name: Zhong Yin

Zhong Yin's gaze passed over her sister, and she squinted at Han Zhou, who was also looking at her.

After a brief eye contact, Zhong Yin suddenly frowned, his eyes fierce as if he had seen a piece of trash. He clenched his fists and strode over aggressively.

(End of this chapter)