Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 396 is destined to be a draw.
The afternoon sun slanted down, casting a layer of shimmering gold on the lake's surface.

The lakeside is covered with reeds that have already turned yellow. When the wind blows, they droop down in rows, resembling silver waves under the sunlight, gently stirring the lake surface and creating ripples.

Han Zhou found a relatively flat spot, cleared away the fallen leaves, neatly spread out newspapers, and gestured for the others to come and sit down.

"Thank you."

The girls didn't stand on ceremony and sat down next to him one after another.

Because the newspaper had limited space, everyone had to squeeze together to sit. Han Zhou was worried that everyone would feel awkward, and was about to get up when Wang Lengqiu and Xiao Xiaoxiao pulled him back.

"This is the lakeside, don't wander off," Zhong Yin said, who was a little further away.

Zhong Ling, who was beside him, nodded in agreement.

"Do you take me for a child?" Han Zhou said, both amused and exasperated.

Ouyang Lianyu pressed down her wind-blown hair, turned to look at him, and smiled, "To your sister Yin and me, you're just a child."

“Yes, he’s just a kid!” Xiao Xiaoxiao nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, agreeing earnestly.

Now you call me a child, but when I say you're old, you won't be happy...

Han Zhou thought to himself that he was complaining, but he didn't refute it. He chatted with the others casually.

The winter lake breeze carried a chilly feel, but it wasn't so biting under the sunshine. The group of people sitting together didn't feel cold at all; on the contrary, they felt warm and cozy.

The sun was lazily hiding behind the clouds, dozing off. Suddenly, it yawned and blew the thick clouds into scattered fluff across the sky.

"It looks like it won't rain anymore."

Ouyang Lianyu looked up at the blue and white sky and said with some regret, "The school should be able to resume normal classes soon."

Xiao Xiaoxiao asked curiously, "Why do you seem so regretful, teacher?"

"Because Teacher Ouyang, like us, also hopes to have a couple more days off," Han Zhou replied casually from the side.

"really?"

Everyone looked at Ouyang Lianyu with some surprise. Like Han Zhou in the past, they all thought that Teacher Ouyang was someone who really enjoyed going to work.

Ouyang Lianyu gave Han Zhou a reproachful look, nodded and smiled, "Yes, I've been too busy lately. I'd like to take a break if I have the chance."

"Isn't it the sports meet these two days? There should be plenty of free time to rest, right?" Xiao Xiaoxiao asked.

"That's you, not me."

Ouyang Lianyu gave a wry smile, "It's precisely because it's a sports meet that there are so many things to do."

There was one more thing she didn't mention: ever since the news of her having a boyfriend spread throughout the school, both teachers and students were eager to find out who her boyfriend was. Whenever they saw her, they would swarm around her to ask, just like a press conference.

However, what really troubled her was not this matter, but that her parents seemed to be planning to come to the city to personally inspect her so-called boyfriend.

It was less of an inspection and more of an exposé to expose this clumsy lie.

Of course, the fact that parents who haven't been in contact for a long time suddenly said they wanted to come to Lincheng might mean they missed their daughter. If they wanted to ease the tension, this might be a great opportunity.

Therefore, Ouyang Lianyu was hesitant about whether she should tell her parents the truth or find someone to pretend to be her boyfriend.

If it's the former, given the parents' eagerness to marry off their daughter, they might try to find her a partner within the school. Although the parents are very cultured, the aunt might not be so, and could easily make the matter public knowledge.

If it's the latter, not to mention that finding a fake boyfriend to deceive her parents would make her feel guilty, it would be difficult to find someone who could satisfy her parents and with whom she could have a good understanding of each other. Not to mention that if the fake relationship turned into a real one, and her parents were so pleased that they decided to directly ask the man's parents to approve the marriage, then things would be difficult to resolve.

"Teacher Ouyang, what's wrong?"

Seeing that Ouyang Lianyu was absent-minded, Wang Lengqiu, who was beside her, unusually showed concern.

"nothing."

Ouyang Lianyu snapped out of her daze and shook her head with a smile.

"It's okay."

Wang Lengqiu nodded and said slowly, "If you feel cold, you can squeeze closer to me."

As she spoke, she squeezed closer to Han Zhou.

Wang Lengqiu had always been aloof and indifferent, so no one thought much of it. Only Han Zhou felt a tremor in his heart, realizing that the purpose of her words was to get closer to him.

Recalling how he had used the excuse of picking up chopsticks at lunchtime to smell Wang Lengqiu's leg, and how the other woman, instead of calling him a pervert, had kept moving her leg closer to him, a strange thought suddenly occurred to him—

Could it be that Wang Lengqiu is planning to seduce me?
However, he quickly dismissed the idea, because if he had to figure out the cause and effect, it was his perverted "seduction" during the meal that came first, not Wang Lengqiu's active seduction.

"I really don't understand this guy anymore..."

Han Zhou sighed inwardly and tried to get up, but Xiao Xiaoxiao and Wang Lengqiu pressed him down again. He had no choice but to sit down obediently. He didn't want Wang Lengqiu to be too far away from him. He wanted to find someone to help him, but then he suddenly remembered that his two most capable generals were currently fighting by the lake and had no time to pay attention to what was happening here.

"Han Zhou, what's wrong with you?"

Just as he was feeling melancholy, Xiao Xiaoxiao suddenly spoke up beside him, as if she had noticed something was wrong with him.

Yes, I also have Xiaoxiao!
Han Zhou's eyes lit up. Although Gu Zheng and Yi Xia weren't there, Xiao Xiao could still help him. So he said calmly, "It's nothing, I just suddenly feel a little hot."

With so many people present, he couldn't easily give Xiao Xiaoxiao a meaningful look, so he could only secretly pray that she would understand his meaning.

Under his expectant gaze, Xiao Xiaoxiao suddenly realized and exclaimed in surprise, "I heard that only people who are extremely cold can feel hot. It seems that you must have lost your mind from the cold. I told you not to zip up your coat properly."

As she spoke, she squeezed herself closer to him.

Han Zhou: "?"

Are you acting like me?

This guy not only doesn't help defuse the situation, but he's clearly stirring things up on purpose. I have no idea what he's up to.

However, apart from Han Zhou, the others didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with it, and just assumed that Xiao Xiaoxiao was joking.

Just then, Zhong Yin asked, "Who do you think will win, Gu Zheng or Yi Xia?"

Although it wasn't explicitly stated, and no one even mentioned that this was a competition, it was clear that whoever caught the most fish would be the winner this afternoon.

I imagine that both Guzheng and Yixia will do their best to win.

"do not know."

Everyone shook their heads in unison. Even Han Zhou, who knew these two people best, couldn't predict the outcome of this competition, so they had even less of a chance to predict it.

"So far, it seems like neither of them has caught a single fish, right?"

Ouyang Lianyu pushed up her glasses and looked at the small basin beside the two of them.

"Maybe the bait isn't very good," Zhong Yin explained with a wry smile. "When I saw Gu Zheng arrive with her fishing rod, she was already getting ready to leave. She didn't have time to buy bait, so they're using leftover scraps of meat from last night."

"So, unprofessional people using unprofessional bait?" Xiao Xiao succinctly summarized the situation of this competition.

"It's still a lake where we don't know if there are any fish," Wang Lengqiu added softly.

“It seems the guzheng has a better chance of winning,” Ouyang Lianyu analyzed.

After all, if fishing with a rod isn't an option, Gu Zheng's spearfishing tactic would clearly have a huge advantage. "That is, she has to be able to see the fish," Han Zhou reminded her.

While everyone was analyzing the battle situation, Gu Zheng and Mo Yixia were also thinking about ways to win.

Neither of them had professional fishing skills. Although the fishing rods they held looked quite professional, they didn't know how to use them. The bait they used was also uncommon. As a result, half an hour passed and neither of them caught anything.

It's worth mentioning, however, that both of them had enough patience. Even when the fishing rods didn't move at all, they remained as calm as Jiang Taigong, sitting on their fishing platform without even glancing at each other.

After a long pause, Mo Yixia suddenly spoke up: "It seems today will be a draw."

Her voice wasn't loud, just loud enough for the guzheng player, who was not far away, to hear.

She wore a baseball cap today, mainly to protect herself from the strong winds outside. With the cap holding her hair in place, she wouldn't have to fix it so often.

Guzheng, with her short hair, naturally had no such concerns. Her shoulder-length hair swayed in the wind, and she calmly replied, "You're wrong. I'm going to win today."

Once in a competitive situation, Guzheng becomes much calmer than usual. Even if she knows she has the upper hand, she will not let her guard down or mock her opponent prematurely.

Only those who win in the end are called victors.

"Just with that sharpened bamboo pole next to you?"

Just as Han Zhou had guessed, Mo Yixia had already figured out what Gu Zheng wanted to do and calmly revealed her intentions.

"Just because of it."

Gu Zheng wasn't afraid of her intentions being seen through beforehand, after all, what she was going to do was something that ordinary people couldn't learn.

Mo Yixia didn't take it seriously and said indifferently, "It seems you've taken my advice to heart, and your skin has become much thicker than yesterday."

Ignoring her sarcasm, Gu Zheng held the fishing rod with a clear conscience: "We're competing to see who catches more fish, not who hooks more. No one says I can't use a bamboo pole to spear fish."

"you're right."

Mo Yixia neither rebuked Gu Zheng for being despicable nor praised her for being resourceful. Instead, she casually changed the subject, "I heard you have a very strong competitive spirit in everything?"

“Most of the things,” Guzheng corrected.

"What's the reason?" Mo Yixia asked.

"Why should I tell you?"

"You don't have to tell me, I just feel that your competitive spirit seems to be misdirected."

"What do you mean?" Gu Zheng frowned slightly.

"I have no intention of correcting your outlook on life." Mo Yixia rested her chin on her hand, letting the fishing rod swing back and forth in her hand, and said slowly, "It's just that in my opinion, there are only three things in this world that a person must win."

"What three things?"

"The first thing is, of course, to form a fertilized egg before other sperm. Otherwise, you would still be called Guzheng and I would still be called Mo Yixia, but we would obviously not be us."

Gu Zheng was stunned. Although she wanted to complain, she was powerless to refute what Gu Zheng said.

After a pause, Mo Yixia said with a wistful tone, "Fortunately, this matter was already completed during the sperm stage. Because of this, we only need to do our best to win two more things after birth."

Gu Zheng didn't know why she was showing such a melancholy mood, so she patiently asked, "What two things?"

"one."

Mo Yixia raised one index finger.

"Winning someone's favor."

"two."

She raised her second finger.

"We will do anything to keep him by our side."

The air remained quiet for a long time. The girl's fishing rod swayed incessantly, causing the float to move and creating ripples on the lake's surface.

Gu Zheng gripped the fishing rod tightly, keeping it motionless, and hesitated before saying, "The thing you believe you absolutely must win is just that, just that..."

"Is that so superficial?"

Mo Yixia tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and dismissively replied, "I said, this is just 'in my opinion.' It may seem superficial to you, but it's irreplaceable to me."

"Han Zhou is just as irreplaceable to me!" Gu Zheng said somewhat angrily.

“I’m not referring to Han Zhou.”

Mo Yixia shook her head. "That's not really important. What's important is... do you know what you absolutely have to win?"

She turned her head and glanced at the guzheng.

“Of course I know!” Guzheng answered loudly.

"Yeah."

Mo Yixia remained noncommittal, gazing quietly at the horizon of the lake before finally adding, "It's good that you know."

The sunlight dimmed at some point, and the sun lazily hid behind the clouds again.

I'll beat you right now!

Seemingly feeling slighted, Guzheng angrily opened the cup containing the bait, forcefully scattering all the bait into the lake, then picked up a bamboo pole and stood up to wait.

Her job is simple: whenever a fish is attracted to the surface of the lake by the bait, she can spear it as soon as she sees it.

This is a skill that the guy next to me could never learn.

Before long, there seemed to be movement beneath the surface of the lake, and a black fish carefully swam to the surface.

Gu Zheng's eyes lit up. She raised her fishing rod and stood still, patiently waiting for the fish to swim into her attack range. Unexpectedly, at that moment, a fishing rod suddenly swept towards her, immediately scaring the black fish away.

Gu Zheng was taken aback, then turned her head and glared angrily at Mo Yixia, who was slowly reeling in her fishing rod not far away: "What do you mean?"

"Fishing," Mo Yixia replied unhurriedly.

"fishing?"

“If there are fish over there, I can naturally move my fishing rod over there to fish.”

Gu Zheng cursed the guy inwardly for being shameless, and said angrily, "This isn't fishing, it's clearly herding fish!"

After a moment of silence, Mo Yixia did not deny it, and calmly said, "But this is still within the rules, isn't it?"

To be honest, she had no experience with fishing, so she didn't know how to win, but she just wanted to avoid losing.

Just as she said at the beginning.

Today is destined to be a draw.

(End of this chapter)