Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 389 You Look Like a Scumbag
"Hello, please give me two cups of classic milk tea, medium size, hot."

"OK, just a second."

"By the way, do you have any food here?"

"Of course, this is the drink menu. We have a promotion going on recently, and many of our set meals are on sale, which is a great deal."

"Let me see... then I'll have a family meal."

Family-friendly meal?

The smiling bartender paused, her gaze quickly sweeping from the handsome customer's school uniform to the girl in the wheelchair in front of him. "Okay, it will take a little time to prepare the set meal. You can sit down and wait in the store."

"Thank you."

Han Zhou pushed the wheelchair toward an empty seat, completely ignoring Xiao Xiaoxiao's little fists that kept waving at his arm and her muttering through gritted teeth.

"Who's your sister? Who's your sister..."

"Who will depend on you for survival? Who will depend on you for survival..."

"Who wants the family meal? Who wants the family meal?"

Ever since parting ways with Director Wang, this guy has been holding a grudge about what he said back then, and Han Zhou has heard these nagging comments so many times that they're practically calloused.

He moved the chair to the side, pushed the wheelchair to the table and secured it to prevent it from moving around, before sitting down opposite the table. He said helplessly, "The family meal is the most affordable of all the meals. It includes two hamburgers, two chicken wraps, a serving of fries, a fried chicken, and a small toy. I chose it because it's good value for money."

Seeing that Xiao Xiaoxiao was still sullen, he shook his head and chuckled, "I'm still young. Having a daughter as big as you would affect my ability to find a girlfriend."

He wasn't enthusiastic about finding a girlfriend, and he wasn't even sure if he'd live long enough to have one. He said that to make Xiao Xiaoxiao happy.

This guy has been unhappy ever since he met Director Wang. I don't know why. Could it be because Director Wang looks a lot like his biological father?

Xiao Xiaoxiao scoffed and said disdainfully, "Tch, as if you could find a girlfriend without me by your side."

She pouted and lowered her head, her eyes dimming slightly.

Han Zhou laughed and said, "Do you believe that if I hadn't ordered the family set meal, the bartender would have asked me for my WeChat account?"

"I don't believe it, you're so narcissistic." Xiao Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes. "You're still wearing your high school uniform, and she looks several years older than you. How could she be interested in a little kid like you?"

"You're wrong about that. Some people just like younger girls. Otherwise, how do you think the terms 'shota' and 'loli' became so popular?"

Han Zhou solemnly recounted what he had heard from Lin Anyu, when he suddenly noticed that Xiao Xiaoxiao's gaze towards him had become wary, and she gripped the wheels of her wheelchair with both hands, looking as if she was ready to back away at any moment.

His lips twitched: "That's not what I said. I'm not interested in young people."

Xiao Xiaoxiao looked incredulous: "Then what kind of girl are you interested in?"

Han Zhou pondered for a moment. He hadn't really thought about this question much. After all, he was struggling to survive and didn't have time to think about love and romance.

After a long pause, he said seriously, "I'm interested in pretty girls."

"I knew it."

Xiao Xiaoxiao looked at him with disdain, "The first time I saw you, I thought you were a scumbag. You wouldn't let any pretty girl go."

Han Zhou sighed: "I'm your savior, after all. It's not right for you to have such a deep prejudice against me."

"It's because you're my savior that if any of the girls you've wronged want to kill you in the future, I'll try my best to save your life," Xiao Xiaoxiao said smugly.

Are you cursing me?

"I'm just reminding you that I'll give you my life anyway."

Han Zhou was taken aback and was about to speak when he saw the bartender from before walk over with a family set meal and two cups of milk tea. He smiled and said, "Hello, this is your set meal."

"Thank you." Han Zhou smiled politely.

"You're welcome."

The bartender smiled sweetly, hesitated for a moment, then took out her phone and said, "Um...excuse me, could we add each other on Fetion?"

Xiao Xiaoxiao, who had been drooling over the hamburger, immediately widened her eyes.

Han Zhou straightened his back slightly, his smile reserved: "Of course."

Over the years, quite a few girls have asked him for his contact information, but he usually politely refused. However, this time, in order to give Xiao Xiaoxiao a good slap in the face, he naturally wouldn't refuse.

The bartender was overjoyed. After adding the message on Feixin, she returned to the front desk excitedly, glancing over every now and then with a slightly flushed face, seemingly quite shy.

"How about it?"

Han Zhou inserted the straw into the milk tea and handed it to Xiao Xiaoxiao. Although he smiled without saying a word, his straight back was enough to show how smug he was.

"Tch, what's there to be proud of? He's definitely a scumbag..."

Xiao Xiaoxiao muttered something unpleasantly, biting the straw hard as if to vent her dissatisfaction.

"Can you please stop harping on the word 'scumbag'?"

"I'll pull it, I'll pull it!"

Han Zhou sighed helplessly: "Are you still a child?"

"You're the child!"

He shook his head, not caring, and placed Han Zhou and the chicken roll on Xiao Xiao's table. He then put on gloves, tore the slightly hot fried chicken into small pieces, and pushed them all in front of the other person, leaving only a chicken leg for himself.

After doing all that, he picked up the hamburger and started eating.

A few seconds passed, and seeing that Xiao Xiaoxiao was staring at him without moving, he said helplessly, "You eat your food, why are you staring at me?"

"Do you want to charge me?" Xiao Xiaoxiao said, dissatisfied.

“No.”

"Let me see what's wrong?"

Xiao Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes, picked up the hamburger, and started eating it in big bites.

"How does it taste?" Han Zhou asked with a smile, handing over a tissue.

"It doesn't taste good, cough cough cough."

Xiao Xiaoxiao choked for a moment, coughed twice, and took two big gulps of milk tea before she recovered. She said disappointedly, "I always thought this stuff was delicious."

She regretted saying that as soon as she finished speaking, because wasn't that basically telling this guy that she had never eaten a hamburger before?

"Really?" Han Zhou seemed oblivious to her odd behavior and chuckled, "I always thought this stuff was delicious too."

Xiao Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment, biting her straw without replying. After a while, she complained, "Why did you push all of this onto me? I can't finish it all."

"This is a family meal after all," Han Zhou shook his head. "I can't eat in peace if you don't eat your fill."

It took Xiao Xiao a couple of seconds to react, her face flushed red, and she gave a fierce look.

"what do you mean!"

...After leaving the milk tea shop, Han Zhou pushed Xiao Xiaoxiao towards Ginkgo Street—where a trade fair was being held.

Unlike the high-end and sophisticated trade fairs that often appear on television, the trade fair on Ginkgo Street is quite down-to-earth. Although the entire street is used as the venue, it is more like a gathering of various vendors than a trade fair.

The entire street was meticulously decorated, with a predominantly red color scheme. Long red carpets were laid on the ground, and long red ropes were strung across the top of the street, creating a festive atmosphere.

Han Zhou smiled and explained, "Those ropes in the sky are for hanging lanterns. The trade fairs here are held every few days, so many things have never been taken down. However, it's only lively during the Chinese New Year. If you come at night, you might not be able to squeeze in."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that there aren't many people here now. This place gets lively at night. It's a pity I have something to do tonight, otherwise I would have brought you here then."

"This place sells almost everything: food, drinks, jewelry, books, CDs, and antiques... The prices are quite cheap, but there's no guarantee that they're genuine."

Xiao Xiaoxiao was clearly visiting a place like this for the first time. While listening to Han Zhou's introduction, she looked around curiously, holding a little yellow duck in her hand—a toy given as a gift with the parent-child package. She had initially scoffed at such trinkets, but after receiving them, she found herself unable to put them down and kept squeezing them the whole way.

Han Zhou glanced at the little yellow duck, then continued with a straight face, "I remember there was a ring toss game earlier. The prizes you win are yours. It doesn't require much strength, so it shouldn't be a problem for your hands. How about it? Interested in giving it a try?"

"want!"

Xiao Xiaoxiao responded loudly, but then hesitated, pinched the little duck, and asked, "Is this expensive?"

She was shocked and heartbroken to learn that the milk tea and family meal had cost her over sixty yuan. That amount of money could have been used to buy a whole chicken. Therefore, she would always ask more questions whenever there was a need to spend money.

"Not expensive."

Han Zhou smiled and said, "As long as you get the hang of it, we can even make a small profit."

He pushed Xiao Xiaoxiao forward and soon saw a stall displaying various items. The owner, wearing a down jacket, was lying on a bench watching videos, surrounded by colorful little circles.

Seeing the two stop in front of the stall, the owner jumped up from the bench with a slap and said with a smile, "Are you two interested? You can only throw a ring once. As long as it catches, you don't have to ring it all. Whatever you ring is yours. Even if you don't ring it all, you'll still get a small gift."

Xiao Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up as she examined the items on the ground. Seeing her interest, Han Zhou asked, "How much are these rings?"

"Fifteen for twenty yuan, thirty for thirty, forty forty..."

"Give me thirty." Han Zhou paid via Fetion.

"okay!"

The shopkeeper quickly counted out thirty rings and handed them to Han Zhou. Han Zhou kept ten for himself and gave the remaining twenty to Xiao Xiaoxiao.

"Keep it up, we're counting on you to make our money back," he said softly, crouching down beside the girl.

Xiao Xiaoxiao seemed to be attracted by the dazzling array of prizes on the stool in front of her. This time, instead of mocking him, she appeared full of fighting spirit: "Which one can make me break even?"

"Just choose the biggest one you see."

"But the big ones might be hard to fit, right?" Xiao Xiaoxiao asked, somewhat troubled.

"Then just buy a few more smaller ones; you can still break even."

"The smaller ones don't seem to be worth much..."

"Then let's get a mid-range one. The mid-range one looks like it has a high cost-performance ratio."

“The medium-sized ones are a bit far away… wait, why are you expecting me to help you recoup your losses? What about yourself?” Xiao Xiaoxiao was displeased.

Han Zhou said without changing his expression, "I believe you're more accurate than I am in finding the answer."

Xiao Xiaoxiao was a little suspicious, but didn't think too much about it. Her thoughts quickly turned to how to recoup her losses. She looked back and forth at the prizes on the stool with a serious expression, as if she was thinking about how to sell them to maximize her profits.

"It's okay if you don't break even." Han Zhou noticed that she was too nervous. "It's just a game, just have fun."

"I'll be unhappy if I can't break even."

Xiao Xiao muttered something to herself and finally threw out her first ring, but unfortunately it was a little short of the piggy bank prize and she didn't get it.

"What a pity, it was just a little bit short," the boss said with a regretful expression.

As the stall owner, he certainly didn't want his customers to win any prizes, but in front of him was a cute and pitiful girl in a wheelchair wearing a hospital gown. Out of kindness, he hoped that she could get the prize she wanted.

Xiao Xiaoxiao was not discouraged and quickly threw out a second ring, but unfortunately, she still failed to catch it.

Unlike Xiao Xiaoxiao's cautiousness, Han Zhou's throwing of rings seemed much more casual. He threw five rings in different directions in one go. His movements were elegant, but none of them hit the target.

"You're wasting your time!"

Xiao Xiaoxiao raised her eyebrows, seemingly quite dissatisfied with Han Zhou's casual attitude, feeling that he had wasted a great opportunity to recoup his losses.

Han Zhou shook his head: "Have you ever heard the story of burning one's boats?"

"Break the boat and sink the ship?" Xiao Xiaoxiao was stunned.

This is a story from Han Zhou's previous life, which Xiao Xiaoxiao naturally had never heard of.

"It's okay if you haven't heard of it."

Han Zhou raised the ring above his head, leaned back slightly, and made a throwing motion before suddenly throwing the ring.

It circled in the air, drawing an arc, and hung steadily on the ear of a large bear plush toy.

Xiao Xiaoxiao's mouth dropped open. According to her observation, this should be the most valuable doll among all the prizes.

Han Zhou handed her the remaining four rings, and the expert sighed in a lonely tone: "I'm never afraid of not making a profit when I play this game."

He possesses the "powerful throwing" skill he acquired from Guzheng. Although limited by his weak physique, he cannot fully utilize the "powerful" characteristic for the time being, he still has some accuracy.

Of course, his accuracy is only evident in throwing, so he is quite confident in ring toss games, but he is not so confident in games like popping balloons.

He didn't know why, but even though he had never played a similar game before, he had a strange feeling that "I'm terrible at shooting".

"What a stinky brat."

Seeing Han Zhou's smug expression, Xiao Xiaoxiao immediately suppressed her amazed look, lest he get too carried away.

She secretly resolved to win a gift of even greater value than this guy's, to put an end to his arrogant attitude.

Just then, the shop owner walked over, looking distressed and carrying a large teddy bear. He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Young man, do you know a pretty girl with short hair?"

Han Zhou was taken aback: "Why do you ask that?"

“I used to do business on South Street. One day, a girl wearing the same school uniform as you came in. She was really good at ring toss and always won a lot of prizes. The thing is, there were clearly three or four ring toss stalls nearby, but she only ever came to mine. I couldn’t keep my business going, so I came here. The way that girl threw the rings was similar to yours, and she was wearing the same school uniform as you, so I was wondering if you two knew each other.”

The boss wore a wry smile, as if he were once again recalling the fear of being dominated by that short-haired girl.

Han Zhou looked strange, wondering if the boss was talking about the guzheng.
While it's true that a guzheng player can accurately throw away the rings, surely they wouldn't keep going to other people's stalls to take advantage of others?
He raised an eyebrow and noticed a banner hanging at the stall that read, "Zhang Weibao, ring toss master, ten-year record unbroken."

He asked curiously, "Boss, who is this Zhang Weibao?"

The shop owner smiled sheepishly: "This is me. Don't let my appearance fool you, I used to be really good at ring toss. I was quite famous in my hometown. My wife said that using this kind of advertising slogan would attract more customers to your business, so I used it."

Now I understand why Guzheng is targeting you specifically...

Han Zhou silently mourned for his boss for a few seconds, and was about to persuade the other party to change the banner when he suddenly saw a figure in a school uniform in the distance.

(End of this chapter)