Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 393 The Third Fragrance

The weather forecast for Lincheng was accurate for once, which is rare for it.

At nine o'clock the next morning, the torrential rain gradually turned into a drizzle. At noon, the rain that had been falling all night finally stopped, and the raging wind that had been raging for so long also subsided. However, it soon transformed into a biting cold wind.

In Lincheng's winter, every rainstorm means a significant drop in temperature, and this rainstorm was no exception. Han Zhou didn't know how much the temperature dropped, but he was woken up by the cold.

I opened my eyes to find the doors and windows tightly shut, and the air conditioning still set at 22 degrees Celsius, filling the room with warmth.

He was unsure where the chill came from until he noticed that the sheets beneath him were soaked.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, an unbelievable guess popped into his mind—

Are you kidding me? I wet the bed?

Fortunately, he soon realized that this was not the case, because not only his lower body, but also his hair was still a little damp, and his clothes were sticky, as if someone had poured a bucket of water on him while he was asleep.

Most importantly, there was no odor on the bed; instead, there were several different fragrances.

What Han Zhou couldn't understand was that although his sleep quality was not bad, it wasn't completely unchanging. If someone really splashed water on him, he couldn't possibly be completely unaware.

What's even stranger is that, even though he hadn't been drinking, he inexplicably had a hangover-like blackout, as if he had forgotten something important.

After trying to recall for a while, he only remembered that after having barbecue with everyone last night, he took a shower and went back to his room to sleep. He slept until he woke up now, and nothing else happened in between. He didn't think he had forgotten anything.

But why am I wet?
What's with all these fragrances on the bed?

Han Zhou was suspicious. He didn't bother to change his damp clothes. He leaned closer and carefully sniffed the scent on the sheets. He found that the scent was somewhat familiar.

He possessed a photographic memory; scents he frequently encountered would naturally leave a deep impression, thus allowing him to quickly identify the sources of several fragrances—

The scent on the left is very similar to Mo Yixia's, while the scent on the right is similar to Gu Zheng's. These two scents are the most intense, and they are not only present on the sheets but also on the blankets, as if the two of them had slept in his bed for a period of time.

In addition, there was another fragrance, which was fainter than the scents on Mo Yixia and Gu Zheng, but it was still clearly audible. Han Zhou tried hard to recall and found that although the scent was somewhat familiar, he couldn't quite place it under any name.

Although he has a photographic memory, he cannot remember all sounds and smells, as his brain cannot handle it. Only those smells that he has smelled many times can leave an impression in his mind, such as the fragrance of the guzheng and Mo Yixia.

However, since the scent seemed familiar, it meant he must have smelled it more than once before. Considering that everyone in the villa last night except him was a woman, it must be the scent of a girl...

Han Zhou tried his best to reconstruct what happened last night. Although his memory told him that nothing had happened, the nine points remaining in his status bar contradicted this belief.

Something similar had happened before, and he realized that he might have lost his memory of last night. However, for some reason, he always felt a sore back, as if he had been beaten up by someone last night.

Han Zhou was experienced in this kind of thing, so he didn't panic, but his expression gradually became strange.

The scent of the guzheng and Mo Yixia on the bed, my aching back, the damp sheets, memories fading away like a hangover…

All of this made it hard for him not to think of a passionate night.

However, he was certain that there was no other smell on the bed besides the fragrance, so things probably weren't what he thought...

Could it be that they slept on vegetarian food?

But how could Mo Yixia and Gu Zheng both be on the same bed at the same time?
With deep doubt, Han Zhou changed out of his damp clothes and was startled when he looked at his phone. He realized it was already noon, the first time he had ever slept until noon.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Ouyang Lianyu's voice rang out from outside: "Han Zhou, wake up and have lunch."

"right away!"

Han Zhou responded and immediately went to open the door, where he saw Ouyang Lianyu standing.

"I'm sorry, Professor Ouyang. I was probably too tired last night and just woke up."

“It’s alright.” Ouyang Lianyu smiled gently. “Everyone went to bed very late last night, and we just got up not long ago.”

Han Zhou was taken aback: "You all just woke up too?"

"About half an hour earlier than you. After all, girls take longer to wash up than boys. Zhong Ling and the others have already prepared the meal and are just waiting for you to come downstairs."

Ouyang Lianyu smiled and offered an explanation, then suddenly noticed a large wet patch on the bedsheets and asked, "Han Zhou, why is your bed wet?"

"It's nothing, I just accidentally spilled some water on it."

"Then I'll take it out to dry for you later."

"No need, I can do it myself. Besides, the rain has stopped, and it's hard to say whether we should stay here tonight." Han Zhou shook his head indifferently.

Judging from Ouyang Lianyu's reaction, she obviously doesn't remember what happened last night. Of course, it's also possible that she was sleeping at the time and didn't participate in what happened last night.

But Han Zhou didn't think so.

He noticed that Ouyang Lianyu was wearing Mo Yixia's slippers.

Teacher Ouyang, why are you wearing Pinru's clothes...?

Han Zhou thought to himself, then left the room and closed the door, pretending to be nonchalant as he asked, "Teacher Ouyang, did you and Yixia exchange slippers?"

“What?” Ouyang Lianyu was stunned.

"Didn't you notice that you're wearing Yixia's slippers?" Han Zhou assumed she was just careless and hadn't noticed.

Ouyang Lianyu looked down and glanced at it, then gave him a helpless look: "What are you talking about? These are the teacher's slippers."

Han Zhou was taken aback: "Aren't your slippers pink?"

"I do have a pair of pink slippers, but I didn't bring them with me from home. I just bought these slippers recently."

Seeing Ouyang Lianyu's confident words, Han Zhou was a little confused. He thought he had misremembered, but he had a photographic memory. How could he possibly misremember something like this?
"Teacher Ouyang, is Han Zhou still not awake?"

Just then, the urging sound of a guzheng rang out downstairs. Without thinking, he shouted "Awake!" and followed Ouyang Lianyu downstairs.

On his way downstairs, Han Zhou suddenly remembered something and felt it was necessary to find an opportunity to confirm whose scent the third fragrance on the bed was. Since he was alone with Teacher Ouyang now, he could take a good look at the other person's scent.

Actually, there is an even simpler and quicker way, which is to enhance the sense of smell by "accepting fate". However, this skill has a cooldown time. Once the sense of smell is enhanced, other senses cannot be enhanced for a short period of time.

Now that Zhong Ling is downstairs, it's clearly more important to enhance hearing and maintain timely communication with her, so Han Zhou has no choice but to give up on enhancing his sense of smell.

To avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings, he deliberately slowed his pace and walked behind Ouyang Lianyu, taking advantage of her inattention to slowly bring his face close to her neck.

This taste...

"Han Zhou, what are you doing?"

Han Zhou was comparing the scent on Ouyang Lianyu's body with the third scent on the bed when he suddenly heard Zhong Yin's slightly cold voice. He was startled and looked down to see Zhong Yin holding a kitchen knife downstairs.

Even in loose loungewear, it was hard to conceal Zhong Yin's broad chest, making it impossible to look away. However, her expression at that moment was very unpleasant, as if she were looking at a shameless pervert.

Han Zhou's heart skipped a beat. His behavior just now did indeed seem like that of a pervert. If he explained that he just wanted to smell Teacher Ouyang's scent, it would not only be useless, but would only make things worse. So, he stared at the back of Ouyang Lianyu's head for a while without changing his expression, and suddenly reached out and plucked a hair from her head.

Ouyang Lianyu naturally heard Zhong Yin's reprimand downstairs. Just as she was wondering what Han Zhou had done, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. She immediately turned to look at Han Zhou, asking in confusion, "Han Zhou, you..."

"Teacher, you have a white hair on your head." Han Zhou interrupted her in a serious tone.

"White hair?" Ouyang Lianyu was shocked and hurriedly pulled the hair behind her back to check. "Where is it?"

For a woman under thirty, the news of gray hair is undoubtedly a devastating blow, and she is no exception.

"Don't worry, Teacher Ouyang, there was only one, and I've already removed it for you," Han Zhou reassured him.

How could Ouyang Lianyu be at ease? She stared at his hand for a while and asked doubtfully, "But isn't this a black hair in your hand?"

Han Zhou explained, "I've already thrown away the white hair; this black hair was plucked out."

Ouyang Lianyu had a lot of hair, so she didn't mind him plucking a few more strands, but she was a little puzzled: "Why do you want to pluck an extra black hair?"

Han Zhou smiled faintly: "This is called making an example of someone."

The air was quiet for a moment.

Ouyang Lianyu hesitated for a moment: "Han Zhou, has anyone ever said that your jokes are lame?"

Yes, and there's more than one.

Downstairs, Zhong Yin answered the question for Han Zhou, "Teacher Ouyang, don't listen to this guy's nonsense. You don't have any white hair. Come down and eat."

Ouyang Lianyu gave Han Zhou a reproachful look, but he pretended not to notice and went downstairs with an embarrassed smile.

As Ouyang Lianyu said, everyone was awake. Even Xiao Xiaoxiao, who had seemed unusually tired yesterday, was already sitting at the table, chopsticks in hand, waiting for the meal to begin.

Upon seeing Han Zhou arrive, she rolled her eyes from afar: "We've been waiting for you. You only got up at midday. What a lazybones."

Han Zhou didn't take it to heart. As he found a seat, he said, "I heard you only woke up half an hour earlier than me. If I'm a lazybones, then you're a little lazybones."

The guzheng player beside him gave him a disapproving look: "Are you indirectly criticizing me?"

She also didn't get up until 11:30.

Across from her, Mo Yixia was leisurely blowing on the hot porridge in her bowl. Hearing this, she replied without looking up, "Do I need to beat around the bush when I'm talking to you?"

"What right do you have to talk to me like that?" Gu Zheng said disdainfully. "You didn't get up until 11:30, did you?"

"But I left the room before you."

"That's because I need to tidy my room!"

"But I left the room before you."

"You didn't even tidy up your room before leaving, what's there to be proud of?"

"There's really nothing to be proud of."

Mo Yixia took a small sip of the porridge. "But I did leave the room before you."

"you……"

"Alright, alright, stop arguing."

Han Zhou interrupted the two of them helplessly and said, "You both get up at 11:30, you're both equally diligent, but I only get up at 12:00. I'm a lazybones, okay?"

"There's no need to elaborate on something so obvious," Mo Yixia said calmly.

“Indeed.” Xiao Xiaoxiao nodded in agreement.

Ouyang Lianyu smiled and said, "Actually, not everyone gets up at 11:30. I heard that Xiaoxiao gets up at 10:00 and she usually prepares lunch."

"You?" Han Zhou looked at Xiao Xiaoxiao in surprise.

"Can't you?"

The latter puffed out her small chest smugly, and glared at him with displeasure upon hearing this.

"It's not impossible," Han Zhou shook his head, looking suspicious. "It's just that, based on my understanding of you, you should be the one who gets up the latest."

"Stop talking nonsense! I've always gone to bed early and woken up early, okay?"

"I remember……"

Just as Han Zhou was about to give an example, Zhong Yin suddenly spoke up: "Since everyone has already gathered together for lunch, let's not worry about the issue of going to bed early and waking up early."

Everyone fell silent and focused on eating.

The sky outside the window was a clear, bright blue, and the sun was shining brightly. If it weren't for the dewdrops hanging on many trees and the puddles of all sizes on the ground, no one would know that a downpour had occurred last night.

Han Zhou sipped his porridge, but his mind was still on the third lingering scent left on the bed.

His gaze swept over everyone in the room. Apart from Ouyang Lianyu, who had already been cleared of suspicion, the remaining suspects were Wang Lengqiu, Xiao Xiaoxiao, Zhong Yin, and Zhong Ling.

Wang Lengqiu is the most suspicious among them.

Because among everyone, only Wang Lengqiu's scent was one that he hadn't smelled before, matching the description of "smells somewhat familiar but doesn't quite fit the person."

And coincidentally, Wang Lengqiu was sitting to his left at that moment, and not too far away.

"Shall we take this opportunity to smell the other person's scent?"

Han Zhou hesitated. He didn't want to waste too much time confirming this matter, and he was also worried that if things went wrong, he would be misunderstood again like before.

Just then, an opportunity quietly presented itself.

Perhaps because she was lost in thought, Wang Lengqiu accidentally knocked over the chopsticks next to her, and made no attempt to bend down and pick them up.

The chopsticks landed right next to her legs.

If you take the opportunity to get close to the other person while helping them pick up their chopsticks, you should be able to clearly smell their scent.

(End of this chapter)