Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 429 Accident
"Han Zhou, it's been a long time since you've been to our house. Why don't you go back next week and come visit us?"

On the playground, Miao Yan'er shook her arms, which were a little sore from holding the position for too long, and said with a smile while looking at the track.

She didn't shout, but her voice still clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

Having a general understanding of the relationship between Han Zhou and Gu Zheng, the others' expressions didn't change much, but Ouyang Lianyu panicked a bit. After all, Han Zhou had already agreed to help her pretend to be her boyfriend to deal with her parents next week, so he wouldn't have time to do anything else.

Fortunately, Han Zhou clearly hadn't forgotten this point, and replied with a wry smile, "I've been quite busy lately, let's talk about it after the winter break."

He knew in his heart that Sister Miao must have a lot of questions for him. The reason she hadn't "made a move" was not to save face for him, but to save face for the girls around her.

Miao Yan'er pondered for a moment and then smiled and said, "Winter vacation is still a long way off. How about this, Xiao Zheng definitely has to come home for New Year's Day. You can come back with her then, and we can have a New Year's Eve dinner together as a family."

Upon hearing the phrase "our family," not only everyone else but even Gu Lang looked at his wife in shock, wondering if she had given him permission to say it.

This kid is very suspicious. He's only been in college for a short time and he already has so many pretty girls around him. Will he be able to treat the guzheng well in the future?

However, he quickly understood his wife's intention—as a former playboy, he had naturally experienced many ups and downs and seen all sorts of chaotic situations. He knew that it was precisely at times like these that one could discern subtle clues.

He had long felt that the girl named Wang Lengqiu was looking at Han Zhou strangely. This kid wasn't stupid. She was practically throwing herself at him, yet he didn't know to keep his distance. Wasn't he obviously up to something?

Thinking of this, Gu Lang immediately glanced at Wang Lengqiu without showing any emotion. Based on his past experience, only two things could happen in this situation:
The first scenario is that Wang Lengqiu and Han Zhou are completely innocent, and the former is simply in love with the latter. In that case, when she hears that the person she likes has "become a family" with another girl, she will not show much emotional fluctuation on her face, nor will she make any protesting actions.

After all, unrequited love is the norm in this world. Even if some people's unrequited love is written all over their faces, they still find it hard to muster the courage to confess directly, let alone get involved in the other person's feelings. Even if they are sad or upset, they dare not easily show it. They might even try to force a nonchalant smile to maintain their last bit of dignity.

Another possibility is that Han Zhou has already started a relationship with this girl named Wang Lengqiu. Even if there isn't much physical contact, they might be in some kind of ambiguous relationship. In that case, the girl would never allow Han Zhou to become family with someone else. Even if she doesn't dare to protest directly, her facial expressions can indirectly reveal a lot.

However, Gu Lang observed for several seconds, but he couldn't discern anything from Wang Lengqiu's face. On the contrary, the expressions on Teacher Ouyang's and the two sisters' faces were rather intriguing, as if they were the ones who were truly in a difficult position.

"?"

A question mark appeared above Gu Lang's head.

He discovered that things might be more complicated than he had imagined.

In fact, the reason why Ouyang Lianyu and the other two had such complicated expressions was because they all thought of Mo Yixia without prior agreement—although there was no evidence, they were almost certain that Yixia would never give up the time to spend New Year's Eve with Han Zhou to someone else.

...It might even have already been booked.

It has to be said that they guessed very accurately; Mo Yixia had indeed booked Han Zhou's New Year's Eve time a long time ago.

Facing everyone's gaze, Han Zhou remained calm and smiled, "Okay, but you can't let me cook all the meals by myself."

Although he said that, he had secretly made up his mind to find a way to keep Gu Zheng from going home for New Year's Day. Otherwise, under the watchful eyes of Uncle Gu and Sister Miao, he would have no chance to "manage his time".

Perhaps because he agreed so easily, Ouyang Lianyu, Zhong Yin and the others were a little suspicious. They had originally planned to use the excuse that "Han Zhou had already made plans to spend New Year's Eve with us" to help him out of the predicament, but now it seemed that they had overthought it. Han Zhou did not seem to be troubled by the New Year's Eve arrangement.

Could it be that they guessed wrong, and Han Zhou didn't actually plan to spend New Year's Eve with Yi Xia?

For some reason, while everyone breathed a sigh of relief, they also felt a strange sense of regret.

They didn't know why, or perhaps they simply didn't want to admit it, but for a fleeting moment, they were all tempted by the suggestion of "everyone ringing in the New Year together." "New Year's Eve..."

Zhong Yin glanced at her well-behaved younger sister beside her. Since their parents passed away, they hadn't celebrated the New Year with many people in a long time, including the New Years that followed. Although the two of them kept each other company and were never lonely, it still lacked the festive atmosphere.

Besides, she had to admit that her New Year's Eve dinner wasn't very good; she wished someone with good cooking skills could come over and help...

Ouyang Lianyu felt similarly. She had been "run away from home" for many years, and in the past few years, she had been alone for both New Year's Day and Chinese New Year. Whenever fireworks were set off outside, she would feel somewhat lonely—especially when she occasionally spent New Year's Eve lying in the hospital.

Everyone was lost in thought, unaware that Gu Lang, who had been observing them closely, had taken in all these complex changes in expression.

Just then, a series of exclamations suddenly rang out on the playground, as if some accident had occurred. Everyone quickly gathered their thoughts and looked towards the track.

On the track, a tall girl was lying face down on the ground, her face contorted in pain. Her elbows and knees were covered in dust, and her palms were scraped raw, oozing bright red blood.

Clearly, she had slipped and fallen during her all-out sprint.

"Xueyi! Are you alright?!"

"Quickly, take her to the school clinic!"

People on both sides of the track clearly knew the girl and immediately shouted in concern. Some tried to rush onto the track, but were stopped by student council members standing nearby.

"Sorry, the match isn't over yet. Please don't interfere with the athletes' performance..."

"Affect my ass! Didn't you see someone was injured?! Don't stop me! I'm taking her to the hospital!"

"I know someone is injured, but please understand that according to the rules, if any athlete leaves the field early, the competition is considered forfeited..."

"If you forfeit, you forfeit. Is the person more important or the competition?"

"Please calm down. What I mean is that you need to respect the athlete's wishes. We've already sent someone to call a doctor from the school hospital. She can receive treatment at any time, and the competition is still going on. If you rush in now, it might cause other athletes to get injured as well."

The student council member was sweating profusely, but his tone remained relatively calm. He knew, of course, that people were more important than the competition. The problem was that many people were watching today's sports meet, including leaders from the Education Bureau. The school had repeatedly emphasized the need to maintain order at the event and to prevent any accidents from happening.

But now that the accident has happened, all he can do is maintain order at the scene. The president said that it is precisely in times like these that we must follow the rules and not panic. The president is on the playground and he will surely arrive soon.

The boy who had just spoken became impatient and tried to rush forward while shoving, saying, "You fucking get out of my way, are you trying to force me to fight?"

The student council member patiently explained, "It's not that I don't want to move aside, it's just that I can only do so after that girl voluntarily withdraws from the competition. In fact, I also suggested that she should withdraw as soon as possible..."

More than ten seconds had passed since the girl fell, and the other athletes had all finished the race and handed the baton to the last runner in their team.

In other words, even if the girl gets up now and keeps running, she will only come in last place in the end, so it would be better for her to give up and receive treatment as soon as possible.

On the track, all the athletes received the baton and shot off from the starting line like arrows, sprinting into the distance.

Only a short-haired girl was left standing there all alone.

(End of this chapter)