Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 466 At Least Tonight
There was no air conditioning in the kitchen, so the temperature was much lower than in the living room. Warm water flowed from the faucet into the sink below.

"Mom, you should go and rest. I'll wash the dishes."

“Let Mom come. It’s not easy to see you, so Mom has to do something for you, right? Xiao Han will cook for you, so I won’t try to do anything. Let me wash the dishes for you again. You can just stay here and chat with Mom,” Liang Hongfei said with a smile.

Ouyang Lianyu was both amused and exasperated. Seeing that she couldn't persuade him otherwise, she could only stand aside and say helplessly, "You insist on washing the dishes as soon as you come over. Do you think I still can't take care of myself?"

"It has nothing to do with whether you can take care of yourself or not, Mom just wants to care about you more."

Liang Hongfei squeezed dish soap onto her hands, her smile gentle. "All parents in the world are the same. Even if you were to overcome your carelessness, I still wouldn't be able to rest easy about you."

"So isn't this just a roundabout way of saying that I can't take care of myself?" Ouyang Lianyu couldn't help but say.

"What nonsense are you talking about, child?"

Liang Hongfei turned around and glared at her daughter, then chuckled, "Your dad is right, you do talk back more than before. No, to use your young people's words... you call it complaining, right? I wonder where you learned that from."

Ouyang Lianyu fell silent.

Liang Hongfei didn't ask any questions and continued washing the dishes with a smile, observing the kitchen as she did so. Every now and then, she could find something to criticize: one minute the upper cabinets shouldn't be used for heavy items because it's unsafe; another minute the seasonings should be placed closer to the gas stove for easy access; and yet another minute it would be best to wear gloves while washing the dishes to avoid hurting her hands...

Although they were all trivial matters, Ouyang Lianyu listened with great interest. She did not dislike her mother's teachings on life experience and always hoped to become a well-rounded person like her.

Most importantly, she hadn't heard her mother nagging for a long time since leaving home, and now she felt especially warm towards her.

"It's not like I'm giving you a lecture, you don't need to take it so seriously."

Seeing her daughter staring at her intently, Liang Hongfei chuckled. "Why are you looking at Mom like that? Do I look that much older?"

“Of course you’re not old.” Ouyang Lianyu quickly shook her head and said, “You’re still as young as before, and you look no different from in your wedding photos.”

“Our Yu’er knows how to talk.”

Liang Hongfei said with a smile, "Unlike your father, he doesn't even know how to compliment people. When I asked him if I was old, he said I was like the old poplar tree in the yard, immortal."

She couldn't help but roll her eyes. Despite being sixty years old, it was clear that this mother had a very youthful mindset.

Ouyang Lianyu covered her mouth and chuckled softly.

Liang Hongfei laughed too, and after laughing for a while, she said, "Your dad isn't very good at talking, and he's very proud and prone to overthinking, but he still cares about you. Listen to your mother, don't hold a grudge against him, okay?"

"I understand."

Ouyang Lianyu's smile faded slightly. She adjusted her glasses and said softly, "...I have never been angry with him."

"Of course I know, and your dad knows too."

Liang Hongfei skillfully washed the dishes, a smile always playing on her lips. "You've never lost your temper with anyone since you were little, which is why we worry that you might be wronged outside. We're afraid you won't tell us if you're not doing well... Also, your father and I have never been angry with you."

"mom……"

For some reason, Ouyang Lianyu suddenly felt a lump in her throat. Although there was a reason for it, no matter how much they had a conflict, she should have contacted her family at least once in all these years. She didn't expect that her parents didn't have any complaints about her.

Seeing her daughter's complicated expression, Liang Hongfei thought she didn't believe her, and laughed, "Don't tell your dad that I told you this. The other day, your aunt called home and belittled you on the phone, saying that you've accomplished nothing outside and don't even have a decent man by your side. Your dad was furious and gave your aunt a good scolding. When he hung up the phone, his face was red."

Ouyang Lianyu was stunned.

Although she remembered her father as strict and old-fashioned, she had never seen him swear, nor could she imagine such a scene.

"You think your dad came to the city to expose you and force you to go back to your hometown for blind dates, but that's not the case. He's worried that you have no one to rely on here and that you won't have anyone to stand up for you if you feel wronged. That's why he rushed to see you. He went to the school in advance to secretly find out about this."

Liang Hongfei smiled and shook her head. "I've been with your dad for almost forty years. I know him better than he knows himself. Although he always has a stern face and won't talk to me, I know exactly what he's thinking."

She looked at her daughter, who was standing there in a daze, and said in a helpless tone, "In short, your father is just hypocritical. What he says and what he thinks are completely different things. You don't need to take a lot of what he says seriously—except for the part about you getting married as soon as possible."

Hearing her mother bring up the topic of marriage again, Ouyang Lianyu immediately snapped out of her reverie and quickly changed the subject, saying, "Mom, I want to ask you a question. Since you and Dad already knew that Han Zhou was a fake boyfriend I found, why did you still insist on meeting him?"

“What’s fake can become real,” Liang Hongfei said with a smile. “Didn’t you see that Xiao Han is quite happy to call me Mom? Maybe he’s thinking of making this a real relationship too?”

"Mom, don't joke with me, I'm serious." Ouyang Lianyu's face flushed.

"Mom is serious too."

Without turning her head, Liang Hongfei asked in a questioning tone, "Yu'er, tell your mother, you know that your father is very traditional, so why didn't you find someone else, but instead chose to have one of your students pretend to be your boyfriend?"

Ouyang Lianyu was taken aback for a moment, then subconsciously replied, "Because I have a good relationship with him..."

"Oh? You've been at Linda University for so many years, surrounded by so many male colleagues. Are your relationships with them all just so-so?"

"Um, yes, it's pretty average..." Ouyang Lianyu honestly admitted.

She was a little embarrassed, and in order not to make her interpersonal skills seem too poor, she quickly added, "But I get along quite well with most of my female colleagues."

Liang Hongfei chuckled and asked in a teasing tone, "So, do you have a better relationship with your female colleagues, or with Xiao Han?"

The air was quiet for a moment.

Ouyang Lianyu wasn't stupid. Now that things had been said so clearly, if she still didn't understand her mother's meaning, she'd be incredibly slow-witted. Her face flushed instantly, and she quickly waved her hand, saying, "Mom, don't overthink it. Han Zhou and I are just ordinary friends..."

"Answer Mom's question first."

"me……"

Ouyang Lianyu stammered for a long time, not really knowing why she was so agitated. After a while, she answered in a guilty tone, "It's probably because I have a better relationship with Han Zhou... After all, we're teacher and student, we spend a lot of time together, and we..."

"Yu'er."

Liang Hongfei interrupted her, rinsing the grease off her hands with the tap. A look of reminiscence appeared on her face as she smiled and said, "Do you remember when you were little, your dad always made you read those poems and songs, but you didn't like them. One day, you secretly read extracurricular books about mathematics, and your dad found out. He asked you if you liked mathematics, and your reaction then was exactly the same as now. And of course you like mathematics."

so……"

She wiped her hands, turned to look at her daughter whose expression was gradually becoming blank, and her smile grew even wider.

"Tell Mom, do you like Xiao Han?"

"Teacher Ouyang, what's wrong?"

Winter nights are cold to begin with, and tonight's wind was exceptionally strong. Even Han Zhou, whose physique was extraordinary, couldn't help but shrink his neck and put his hands in his pockets.

Looking back at the high-speed rail station, and seeing that Ouyang Lianyu beside him was absent-minded, he smiled and said, "Uncle and Mom haven't entered the station yet. If you really can't bear to leave, you can go back and see them now."

Ouyang Lianyu's parents left much earlier than expected, having booked their return tickets for 8 p.m. that evening. The anticipated difficulties did not materialize, and the two did not even mention the engagement once, as if they had only come to the city to see their daughter and had no other purpose.

Ouyang Lianyu snapped out of her daze and met Han Zhou's smiling eyes. She suddenly looked away and said helplessly, "My parents are no longer here. Stop calling them 'Mom' all the time."

She turned around, looking at the high-speed rail station getting further and further away, feeling the biting cold wind of the winter night, and actually had the thought of going back to take another look.

"Sorry, I've been calling you that for almost all day, I've gotten used to it."

Han Zhou gave an awkward smile, then asked, "Do you want to go back and take a look? I'll go with you."

"no need."

After hesitating for a moment, Ouyang Lianyu shook her head, "Let's go to the parking lot, I'll take you back to school."

"Teacher Ouyang, I think we should take a taxi back. You seem a bit distracted today..."

"Aren't you going to leave the car here? Or could you drive it back for me sometime when you have some free time?"

"...Let's go to the parking lot."

"..."

The two went to the parking lot, sat in the driver's seat and passenger's seat as usual, and fastened their seat belts.

The parking lot was quiet, with only the occasional roar of engines. If the car lights weren't on, perhaps no one would see the two people sitting side by side.

But the car lights always come on.

No one will sit in the driver's or passenger's seat forever.

Looking in the rearview mirror, Ouyang Lianyu saw an intellectual and gentle face. Although she looked very young, unless she was wearing a school uniform, probably no one would associate this face with a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl.

For the first time since birth, she has begun to care about her age.

“Teacher Ouyang, I was serious at noon. Why don’t you spend New Year’s Day with us? We can all ring in the new year together. It’ll be more lively with more people. Then we can find a quiet place to video call your parents…”

The car engine roared to life. Looking at the rows of empty vehicles around her, and listening to the boy's voice beside her, Ouyang Lianyu, though unwilling to recall, still remembered the last words her mother had spoken to her in the kitchen at noon—

“Yu’er, choices are for the future, but liking someone is for now, and there’s no need to worry about that. If you want to be sure if you really like someone, you have to learn to temporarily forget everything related to reason and make a judgment with your heart and pure emotion.”

"If you really can't do that, there's an even simpler way: put your heart into it and imagine the other person with someone else."

"You must still try your best to discard rationality, forget your identity, forget your age, forget everything, just like you once focused entirely on mathematics—"

"If you feel heartache, even just a little bit, then you might have fallen for him."

In fact, Ouyang Lianyu wanted to refute this the moment she heard it. She had seen Han Zhou and Gu Zheng Yixia together more than once, but she had never felt any unease, let alone heartache. The only thing she was dissatisfied with was Han Zhou's lack of commitment in his relationships.

Therefore, she does not intend to try this method.

Reason is an integral part of emotion. If you completely surrender your mind and body to the control of your feelings, is it still true love?

After all, emotions are largely driven by desires. If you acknowledge such liking, wouldn't that be tantamount to indirectly admitting that you are coveting the other person's body?
...In short, this is definitely not a good way to confirm whether you like someone.

After driving the car out of the parking lot, Ouyang Lianyu shook her head, putting aside those distracting thoughts, and began to concentrate on driving.

If it weren't for the cold weather, she would definitely have opened the car window to let the cold air into the car and calm herself down.

To prevent any further distractions, she barely dared to turn her head to look at Han Zhou the whole way. By the time she finally managed to catch a glimpse of him, he had already fallen asleep in his seat.

She paused for a moment, then pulled the car over to the side of the road and gently covered the other person with the blanket that was on her lap.

"Thank you, you've worked so hard today," she said softly.

No one responded.

The fogged-up car windows seemed to separate the outside and inside of the car into two worlds: one cold and noisy, the other warm and quiet.

No... it's not deserted.

If this guy were still awake, he'd probably answer with something like, "I'd be willing to go through fire and water for Teacher Ouyang..."

Ouyang Lianyu couldn't help but smile and pulled the blanket over the boy up a bit.

She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but looking at that sleeping face, she felt her heart beat faster for no reason. It took her a while to look away and continue driving.

The car drove slowly on the highway, and in the distance, you could see a tall building with the words "Lincheng University" printed on it; that was the teaching building of Lincheng University.

We'll be at school soon.

Ouyang Lianyu slowed down the car, turned her head to look at Han Zhou who was still fast asleep, and tried to wake him up.

But the words stuck in her throat.

After hesitating for a long time, she did not continue driving towards the school gate, but turned the car around and drove towards the apartment.

In fact, Ouyang Lianyu couldn't be sure whether she didn't want to try the method her mother mentioned, or whether she was afraid to try it.

She wasn't even sure if she had this idea.

However, even with both reason and emotion at her disposal, she was still certain of one thing—

At least tonight, she didn't want Han Zhou to go back to school.

(End of this chapter)