Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 423 This brother is better off not being one.

Gu Zheng's parents seem to care a lot about Han Zhou...

Noticing Miao Yan'er's emotional change, everyone realized that Han Zhou's relationship with Gu Zheng's family was closer than they had imagined.

This Sister Miao was clearly angry, but her anger wasn't directed at Han Zhou, but at the person who had put him in a wheelchair.

Zhong Yin had no doubt that if they could name even one of them, this seemingly smiling woman would drag that person out and beat them up in the next second.

And that is indeed the case. Gu Lang and Miao Yan'er have practically treated Han Zhou as their own child. Even if he doesn't end up with Gu Zheng, they will try to attend Han Zhou's wedding as his parents.

After all, this child no longer has parents.

Of course, they will try their best to avoid this situation.

Holding two weddings would cost significantly more money, but the main issue is that Guzheng (the guzheng) would definitely not be happy about it.

As long as Guzheng is not happy, whether Han Zhou is happy or not becomes less important...

In short, Gu Lang and Miao Yan'er both regarded Han Zhou as their future son-in-law. Therefore, when they saw Han Zhou sitting in a wheelchair, and they had never heard about this from Gu Zheng, their first reaction was that Han Zhou had been beaten up and the two children were worried that they would make a big fuss and that's why they hadn't told them.

But then I thought about it again and realized it was unlikely—

With Guzheng around, the one who should be beaten into a wheelchair should be the one on the other side!
Since Guzheng is still alive and kicking, Han Zhou must not have been beaten up; there must be another reason.

Zhong Yin was a little uneasy, after all, Han Zhou's injury was entirely due to their carelessness. If she told Gu Zheng's parents, it might upset them. But she still took the initiative to tell them the truth and put all the blame on herself.

She could easily guess why Han Zhou was pretending to be asleep; it was most likely to slip through Gu Zheng's parents' "surprise attack" and, as a precaution, avoid being asked about Mo Yixia.

She had heard about what had happened at the hospital before; Guzheng's parents had seen Yixia in the ward and had tried to probe her.

Unfortunately, Yixia is currently at school, and the two could run into each other at any time.

This is a crisis for Han Zhou that is neither too big nor too small.

Even knowing this, Zhong Yin still deliberately downplayed Mo Yixia's existence during the narration. It wasn't entirely to cover up for Han Zhou, but mainly because it was difficult to say who was right and who was wrong when Gu Zheng and Yixia fell into the water at the same time. It would be terrible if Gu Zheng's parents were unhappy and caused trouble for Yixia.

"...That's just the way it is."

Miao Yan'er and Gu Lang exchanged a glance: "You mean... when you were fishing with Xiao Zheng, you accidentally pushed her into the water, and you failed to rescue her. In the end, Han Zhou pulled both of you out with a fishing line all by himself?"

"That's it."

Zhong Yin clenched his fists and lowered his head, saying, "I'm sorry, it was all because of my carelessness that Gu Zheng and Han Zhou were hurt at the same time. If I had been more careful, they wouldn't have been injured."

"elder sister……"

Zhong Ling grabbed her hand, a look of panic and unease on her face.

Ouyang Lianyu hesitated to speak, but Xiao Xiaoxiao secretly tugged at her sleeve, making her hold back.

Wang Lengqiu stood quietly in place, without saying a word.

Miao Yan'er remained silent for a long time, gazing at Zhong Yin for a long while. Suddenly, a smile appeared on her face, and she shook her head dismissively: "It's alright. This world is always full of surprises. It's all over now. It's good that you're all alright."

"Thank you," Zhong Yin said dejectedly.

There's no need to put so much pressure on yourself.

Miao Yan'er gently patted her shoulder, then helped smooth her wind-blown hair and straightened her collar. "Your name is Zhong Yin, right? I heard from Xiao Zheng that you're a very nice older sister. That child is a bit stubborn, so I hope you can help take care of her in the future."

Zhong Yin was momentarily lost in thought.

This was the first time since her parents passed away that someone had helped her tidy her clothes and hair as an elder.

"Thank you."

She thanked her again, but her tone was different from the first time.

"You're too kind."

Miao Yan'er smiled at her, said nothing more, and then turned to look at the others, chatting with each of them about everyday things.

Her attitude was so friendly that it was as if she wasn't Guzheng's mother, an elder with an age gap, but rather "Sister Miao" who was about the same age as everyone else.

Meanwhile, Gu Lang wasn't idle either. With his hands in his pockets, he looked Han Zhou up and down while circling around to the front of the wheelchair, observing Han Zhou's expression from the front to see if the other person was really asleep.

Just as he reached out to touch Han Zhou's jacket zipper, a hand suddenly blocked his way. It was the thin girl who hadn't said a word until now. "Don't worry, I mean no harm. I'm just worried he'll catch a cold, so I wanted to help him zip it up."

Gu Lang said cheerfully, but in his heart he was cursing and adding another grudge against Han Zhou—based on his intuition from his past years of wandering among women, if this girl didn't like Han Zhou, he would dare to run naked around the playground!
Haha, this guy's got a good reputation with women. Even when he's injured, a bunch of girls take care of him, and they're all pretty girls...

They're completely disregarding the guzheng!

He sneered inwardly and continued, "Han Zhou and I have been close since we were little. Once, he insisted that I call him 'Dad,' but how could I agree? I kept saying no, but he wouldn't listen..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was suddenly struck in the chest with an elbow. Miao Yan'er smiled apologetically at the girls with complicated expressions: "Sorry, he just likes to talk nonsense."

Gu Lang winced in pain, shrugged, and stopped talking.

Wang Lengqiu stared at him for a while before withdrawing her hand from in front of Han Zhou.

Gu Lang was a little annoyed, wishing the girl would stop him a little longer so he wouldn't have to zip up the brat's zipper.

But since the other party had already made way, even if he was annoyed, he could only pretend and asked while unzipping his jacket, "By the way, is this brat... is this kid really asleep?"

"Correct."

Xiao Xiaoxiao nodded and said, "Han Zhou has been feeling sleepy every day since his abdominal injury. If the doctor hadn't said that getting more sun would help his recovery, we wouldn't have brought him out in a wheelchair."

Hmm, this little girl looks well-behaved and doesn't seem to know how to lie. She probably won't help this brat deceive people...

Gu Lang had a plan in mind. Suddenly, he raised an eyebrow, quickly unzipped Han Zhou's jacket, and frowned as he looked at the other man's blood-stained abdomen.

"Has this kid's wound... reopened?"

He had been wondering if Han Zhou's injury was fabricated, since using fishing line to drag two people ashore sounded too far-fetched. He had just pretended to zip up Han Zhou's zipper to confirm this, but when he looked down, he saw blood on the other's abdomen.

If he knew that Han Zhou's true achievement was dragging three people ashore, he would probably be so shocked that his eyes would pop out.

Upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed drastically, and they rushed over to check on Han Zhou's condition. Ouyang Lianyu, Han Zhou's temporary guardian for the day, panicked even more and suggested sending him to the school hospital.

Han Zhou, who was pretending to be asleep, was inwardly groaning. He didn't want to go to the school hospital. Not to mention anything else, Mo Yixia, who was originally wandering around the school, would definitely rush over immediately and bump into Uncle Gu and Sister Miao, recreating the scene in the hospital ward back then.

He cursed his bad luck. He had just endured Uncle Gu's slander that he wanted to recognize him as his father, but who knew that he would be defeated by a small badminton shuttlecock.

However, looking at it from another perspective, this might not be a bad opportunity. The guzheng competition is about to begin, and if Uncle Gu and Sister Miao could stay and watch the competition...

"There's no need for such a fuss. You all stay here, we'll take him to the school hospital. Find someone to show us the way."

Gu Lang's voice was unusually calm, yet it shattered Han Zhou's last illusion.

Sensing that his wheelchair was being pushed, he sighed inwardly. Just as he hesitated whether to pretend to be groggily awake, a voice as beautiful as heavenly music suddenly rang in his ears—

"Don't worry, this is normal bleeding, it's not a ruptured wound, and you usually don't need to go to the school clinic."

Her tone was soothing and gentle, giving the impression of a refined lady from a wealthy family.

—Bai Tongtong!

Han Zhou recognized the voice, and his eyes lit up as he saw hope again.

He knew very well that Bai Tongtong would not normally come to Linda alone, much less come to help him out of a predicament for no reason. Therefore, there was only one possibility for Bai Tongtong to be here...

Lin Anyu, my brother, my dearest friend and family!
It's him!

Sure enough, the next second, Lin Anyu's hearty laughter rang out in the darkness: "Yo, everyone's here, hahaha, are you all here to cheer on Guzheng? Wait, something's wrong, it seems like one person is missing... Let me see, weird, where's that person...?"

"Holy crap! Uncle and Auntie, what brings you here?"

"Whether we came or not is not important. I remember you. You're Han Zhou's good friend, right? You just said there was one person missing here. Who were you talking about? Do you know Gu Zheng?"

"Ha, ha, did I say that...?"

Han Zhou felt utterly hopeless.

Hands and feet without eyes.

It's better not to be a brother.

(End of this chapter)