Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 447 This is a very new way of moving forward
On the track, seeing that Gu Zheng and Mo Yixia were moving slowly but were able to get along peacefully, Han Zhou, who was in the second stage, breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention away from the competition on the grass.

It's okay to go slowly. The most important thing is to avoid any trouble. Unlike yesterday, Guzheng's teammate today is himself. He will cover for the team and work with everyone to win first place.

Han Zhou's confidence stemmed from the fact that although the race was a relay, it didn't mean that those who finished running couldn't participate in the subsequent races. Whether as an outside helper or a strategist, he could assist those who came after him in completing the race.

In other words, the people from the earlier stages can provide intellectual or physical support for the later stages, but only one person can be sent out at a time.

Like Mo Yixia, Han Zhou also vaguely felt that the adjustment of the competition rules might be related to him. After all, even a segment like "wheelchair racing" was introduced, so it was hard not to see some kind of ulterior motive. He just didn't know why Senior Xia Qing would do this.

Overall, however, this is indeed an excellent way to break the deadlock. At least he no longer has to rack his brains to figure out how to make Guzheng and Yixia win at the same time, nor does he have to face any choices.

Although there was a slight mishap—Gu Zheng and Mo Yixia becoming teammates was indeed a bit nerve-wracking—it's better for them to be teammates than rivals, and so far everything seems to be moving in a positive direction.

Senior Xia Qing, my superhero!
Once again expressing his gratitude to Xia Qing for her gift, Han Zhou pulled himself out of his thoughts, looked at the other superhero standing beside him, and said earnestly, "Senior, thank you for being willing to help me this time."

With a face like a lotus emerging from water and a waist as slender as a willow swaying in the breeze—the superwoman beside her is none other than Wang Lengqiu.

At first, he didn't know that Mo Yixia had privately told everyone not to team up with him today, including Wang Lengqiu. He just assumed that everyone had formed teams in advance because they didn't want to get too involved in his "love triangle". It wasn't until the draw not long ago that he vaguely understood the real reason.

In a sense, when Wang Lengqiu took the initiative to ask to team up with him, it was tantamount to "betraying" the group and breaking his promise to Mo Yixia.

So it's no exaggeration to say that the other side really came to participate in today's competition entirely for him.

Han Zhou felt very guilty about this, after all, he seemed to have never given this girl a good look since the first time they met, and he even seemed to have "played" with her feelings since childhood. However, Wang Lengqiu never got angry with him, but instead always treated him well without asking for anything in return.

To be honest, he didn't know how to respond to this relationship.

Wang Lengqiu, who was watching the game on the lawn, tilted her head upon hearing this: "Why do you need to say thank you?"

It wasn't an act; she genuinely seemed to be unaware of why Han Zhou wanted to thank her.

"Because you broke your promise to Yixia in order to help me," Han Zhou said.

Wang Lengqiu thought for a moment before realizing what was going on: "Do you mean when I told everyone I wanted to team up with you?"

"Yes." Han Zhou gave a wry smile. "If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have bothered you."

"No trouble."

Wang Lengqiu shook her head, her pitiful face revealing little expression, but her tone was exceptionally gentle.

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment: "Next time you can refuse me..."

"Aren't you happy to be teamed up with me?" Wang Lengqiu turned to look at him, her expression somewhat puzzled.

"of course not……"

"Then why should I reject you?"

Han Zhou paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and patiently explained, "What I mean is, if it's something that will cause you trouble, you don't have to accept it without even thinking about it."

Wang Lengqiu thought for a moment: "Will this matter cause you trouble?"

"Of course not, I meant..."

"If it won't cause you trouble, then it won't cause me trouble either."

Seemingly sensing Han Zhou's self-reproach, the girl thought for a moment longer before cautiously asking, "Are you worried that Yi Xia will be unhappy?"

It seemed that after thinking it over, she realized that this was the only thing that would bother the boy in front of her.

Han Zhou sighed, about to say that it had nothing to do with other people and that he should think more about himself, when he heard the other person continue, "Don't worry, I didn't break my promise to her."

"Yixia said that she wouldn't team up with you even if you begged her, but actually I wanted to team up with you anyway, regardless of whether you begged me or not," Wang Lengqiu explained earnestly.

Han Zhou paused for two seconds: "Is...is there any difference?"

"Have."

"What's the difference?"

"I already told you."

"..."

Han Zhou hesitated, almost forgetting that this guy had his own flawless logic and an unusual thought process. No wonder even Mo Yixia couldn't understand his thoughts.

"Then why didn't you just ask me to team up with you from the beginning?" he couldn't help but ask.

He didn't understand why Wang Lengqiu didn't take the initiative to ask him to team up last night, since she wanted to so much.

"Because you seemed to prefer teaming up with other people, I thought you wouldn't be happy to talk to me."

Wang Lengqiu let out a soft breath, her tone gentle.

"So when you said you wanted to team up with me, I was really happy."

The winter wind blew away the drifting clouds, making the girl's already soft voice even softer.

But Han Zhou could still hear it clearly.

Wang Lengqiu wasn't stupid; she knew she was actually the last option. If it weren't for the fact that everyone else had already formed teams, Han Zhou wouldn't have considered choosing her as a teammate.

But she still said she was very happy.

She never jokes.

A complex emotion welled up in Han Zhou's heart.

Seeing Han Zhou staring blankly at her, Wang Lengqiu thought he still hadn't gotten over his concerns, so she patiently comforted him, "Don't worry, I teamed up with you willingly. If Yi Xia is still unhappy, I'll apologize to her properly."

"I won't hold you back. Actually, I've always had a habit of running. Although I'm not as fast as Guzheng, I'm not slow either..."

"I said, senior."

Han Zhou suddenly spoke, interrupting the girl.

"what happened?"

"sorry."

Wang Lengqiu tilted her head: "Why should I say sorry?"

Han Zhou didn't explain, but just shook his head, took a deep breath and said, "I also volunteered to team up with you."

"I know."

Wang Lengqiu nodded slightly, paused for a moment, and then asked as if to confirm, "Shall we start now?"

This girl wasn't completely clueless; on the contrary, perhaps her thoughts were more complex than most people's, just a little difficult to understand. "From now on," Han Zhou smiled.

Wang Lengqiu seemed to want to laugh as well, but she didn't. Her appearance was serene and endearing.

"Thank you," she said.

Han Zhou gave a wry smile: "I'm the one who should be saying thank you."

Wang Lengqiu first shook his head, then nodded.

"Then you shouldn't have said sorry."

"why?"

"Because you can only choose one of 'thank you' and 'sorry' at a time."

Han Zhou was taken aback for a moment, then couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Where did you learn this twisted logic from?"

He was unaware that he was trying to dismantle the mind of the person in front of him.

“That’s not fallacy,” Wang Lengqiu corrected earnestly.

"All right……"

This wasn't the first time Han Zhou had heard things he couldn't understand from the other person, and he was used to it by now. After hesitating for a moment, he tentatively asked, "By the way, senior, is there anything you want to achieve?"

He was curious about what kind of desires this girl harbored deep in her heart.

"I will marry you."

Wang Lengqiu's answer came almost spontaneously.

"Ahem, besides this?"

Han Zhou had already guessed that she might answer like that, so he immediately pretended not to hear and asked about other wishes.

He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but the moment Wang Lengqiu finished speaking, he felt as if Guzheng, who was far away on the lawn, suddenly turned her head and glared at him, her eyes filled with murderous intent, as if she had heard Wang Lengqiu's words.

Wang Lengqiu was not disappointed. After thinking about it seriously, she said, "I hope you won't call me senior sister, but Qiuqiu or Qiuqiu instead."

To be honest, this is actually a very simple wish.

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment: "Xue... Qiuqiu, I don't understand, why are you so insistent on using these two names?"

He remembered asking this question before, but he couldn't help but ask it again now.

"Because affectionate terms of address help to bring two people closer together."

Wang Lengqiu's answer was exactly the same as before.

Han Zhou recalled that his answer at the time was, "But our relationship has clearly not reached the point where we can use affectionate terms."

The other party's next response was, "That's why we need to use affectionate terms to build rapport."

An impeccable set of logic.

This time, he didn't plan to struggle. After all, even if he changed his answer now and told the other person, "But our relationship isn't that far off now," the other person would definitely say something like, "Shouldn't we use more affectionate terms then?"

Besides, aside from being a little embarrassed, it's not a difficult wish to fulfill.

In fact, what he really wanted to ask was another question—

"Is that what I called you when we were little?"

"Ah."

For once, Wang Lengqiu didn't just brush it off with a "thank you," but instead nodded gently.

it is as expected……

Han Zhou breathed a sigh of relief, then frowned slightly. Something was wrong. This answer clearly proved that the two of them had known each other since childhood, but didn't Wang Lengqiu say before that they didn't know each other?

He pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, "So what did you call me back then?"

Wang Lengqiu still didn't intend to brush it off with a simple "thank you".

"Han Zhou—"

She was about to answer when Xia Qing's excited shouts suddenly came from the loudspeaker.

"Unbelievable, unbelievable!"

"Wow... that girl in group one wearing a mask... she flew!"

Han Zhou was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized who Xia Qing was referring to. He quickly looked towards the lawn, and then his eyes widened as he witnessed a scene he would never forget—

On the lawn, Mo Yixia was clinging tightly to Guzheng's shoulder, almost completely hanging on her body. With Guzheng supporting her, her right leg was exaggeratedly suspended in the air, while her left leg, the only one still on the ground, was not exerting any force. She was being pulled along by Guzheng like a kite, and the speed was getting faster and faster. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she was "flying," which caused a stir on the playground.

Aside from the basic rules, the core rule of the three-legged race is that the rope binding the legs must never be untied, and otherwise the two people can run however they want.

It's not hard to see that Gu Zheng is holding back her speed. After all, Mo Yixia's left leg and her right leg are tied together, and running too fast could hurt her. So she is very careful. Even so, the two are gradually catching up with the other teams.

It's worth mentioning that Mo Yixia's left hand firmly gripped the left ear of the guzheng, and surprisingly, the guzheng, aside from looking sullen, didn't resist at all.

This was the result of Mo Yixia's preemptive action and subsequent coordination. She tried to use the force of pulling the guzheng's ear to reflect the pain in her left leg, in order to control the other party's maximum speed.

As for whether there was any personal vendetta involved, only Mo Yixia herself probably knows for sure.

Han Zhou was dumbfounded. He had to admit that this was a very new way of moving forward. It was estimated that only someone with Gu Zheng's physical abilities could completely shift a person's center of gravity onto themselves, lift up their teammates, and to some extent achieve the effect of getting rid of a burden.

But without Mo Yixia's trust and cooperation, she wouldn't have been able to fly the latter like a low-flying kite.

So...did these two plan this together?

The guzheng is one thing, but does Yixia really need to go to such lengths for the competition?

Han Zhou looked like he was questioning the meaning of life.

Meanwhile, Ouyang Lianyu and the others on the other side were full of worry because Gu Zheng and Mo Yixia's running style was actually quite dangerous. Fortunately, nothing went wrong until the end of the three-legged race, and the two immediately participated in the next event. Mo Yixia's leg showed no signs of injury.

Although the two put in a strong effort and quickly overtook the three groups of competitors, they were still lagging behind because they had fallen so far behind in the early stages. By the end of the second event, they were still in a losing position.

Each round only has two events, which means that the competition for Guzheng and Moyixia is over, and they can only rely on their teammates to catch up.

At this moment, the baton, signifying the start of the second stage of the competition, was passed to Han Zhou.

(End of this chapter)