Forced into a romantic relationship

The winter weather in Lincheng is unpredictable. It rained on and off several times during the night. In the morning, the rain suddenly intensified, and the raindrops pattered down, making the dog bowl in the yard clang loudly.

When Han Zhou woke up, it was almost nine o'clock. He felt a chill as soon as he got out of bed, so he immediately shrank back under the covers. He struggled in bed for a while before finally getting dressed and getting out of bed.

Pulling back the curtains, the sky seemed to have been torn open, with torrential rain forming a dense curtain that made distant scenery extremely blurry.

With this heavy rain, it looks like we won't be able to go out today...

As Han Zhou thought this, he glanced back at the blankets on the bed, and the scene of Wang Lengqiu leaving that night involuntarily floated into his mind, making him feel somewhat complicated.

He walked to the bedside and folded the quilt. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Zhong Ling looking anxious outside.

"What's wrong, senior?"

Upon seeing Han Zhou, Zhong Ling's eyes lit up as she was about to knock on the door, but they quickly turned anxious again. She exclaimed urgently, "It's terrible, junior! Senior Wang Lengqiu is missing!"

"Gone?" Han Zhou exclaimed in surprise. "When did this happen?"

"I don't know. She was gone when Guzheng and I woke up. We've searched everywhere, but Senior Wang Lengqiu isn't home. Guzheng and Grandpa Wang have already gone out to look for her."

Han Zhou's heart sank, and he strode towards the door: "Have you called her?"

Zhong Ling followed closely behind him, saying worriedly, "I've tried calling, but no one answered. The phone was switched off when I called the third time."

Han Zhou tried dialing Wang Lengqiu's number, and sure enough, the phone rang with the message "The number you dialed is currently switched off."

He quickly sent a few messages on Fetion, asking where the other party was, and then asked, "Does Grandpa Wang also not know where Senior Wang Lengqiu went?"

Zhong Ling shook her head: "I don't know. Dou Dou doesn't know where Senior Wang Lengqiu went either. She didn't notify anyone when she left, as if she was deliberately avoiding us."

Looking at the heavy rain outside, she said worriedly, "With such heavy rain, where could Senior Wang Lengqiu have gone?"

He turned off his phone and deliberately left, avoiding everyone...

After hearing Zhong Ling's words, Han Zhou's heart sank, his brows furrowed, and a bad premonition gradually arose in his heart.

Seeing his solemn expression, Zhong Ling hesitated for a moment, then asked worriedly, "Junior...did something happen last night?"

This was the first time she had ever seen her junior make such an expression.

Han Zhou did not answer; he did not even hear Zhong Ling's words.

His mind was in turmoil, filled with the image of Wang Lengqiu leaving last night and her cautious words before she went—

"Will you stop being unhappy if I leave?"

He suddenly felt like slapping himself, regretting why he hadn't firmly denied those words and instead chose to remain silent.

Wang Lengqiu's way of thinking is different from ordinary people. Once she takes such a reaction as a default, it is entirely possible that she will put the option of "leaving" into practice.

If it's just a literal departure, that's fine; at least there's still room for reconciliation. The scary thing is that Wang Lengqiu might do something foolish—

This girl's life was already lacking in color, and last night, her waiting went unanswered. Instead, she heard the cruel answer that "we might not even be able to be friends anymore." Under such a blow, wouldn't she have suicidal thoughts?
In fact, Han Zhou had considered this issue before.

However, he quickly dispelled his concerns because, in his view, Wang Lengqiu was actually a very strong-willed girl, and he didn't think he held such an important place in her heart.

As he said yesterday, Wang Lengqiu may only like him from the past. Beautiful memories add a filter to the past, and this feeling may not be love, nor may this love be real.

But now that I think about it, his idea was so ridiculous.

He doesn't understand Wang Lengqiu and has never gotten close to her heart, so what gives him the right to casually label her as strong?

He kept telling himself not to run away, but to face it bravely, but it seems he was a little too "brave".

He had already betrayed the feelings of two girls, so he kept telling himself that he couldn't hurt anyone else's feelings. That's why he wanted to cut the Gordian knot and end it all as soon as possible. But thinking about it carefully, wouldn't such a ruthless rejection be another kind of cruel hurt to Wang Lengqiu?

There's nothing wrong with refusing, but couldn't we have chosen a gentler approach?

Han Zhou clenched his fists. Regardless of whether he had acted too hastily, he had already blamed himself for Wang Lengqiu's disappearance.

Regardless of whether the girl's disappearance was related to him, he owed her an apology.

"Junior?"

"Junior?"

"what happened to you?"

The soft breaths that kept ringing in his ears pulled Han Zhou back to reality. When he saw Zhong Ling's worried face, he had to force himself to calm down and asked, "What's wrong, senior?"

"N-nothing, I just..."

Zhong Ling hesitated for a moment, then suddenly gripped the small cloth bag at her waist tightly. Mustering her courage, she said, "Junior, you...you look terrible. Guzheng had the same expression when she left. Something must have happened last night, right?"

She stared intently into Han Zhou's eyes, and said nervously, "You could actually tell me..."

Guzheng had the same expression when she went out...

Han Zhou immediately realized something, his expression became even more complicated, and then he forced a smile and shook his head, saying, "I'm sorry, senior, I can't tell you yet."

"That was not what I meant……"

Zhong Ling quickly shook her head. She was so nervous that the small cloth bag at her waist was almost deformed from being pulled so tightly. "You don't necessarily have to tell me, but... but like you told me before, if you really have something on your mind and can't find anyone to talk to, you can tell me. Although I'm not very good at comforting people, and I might not be able to help you..."

Her voice grew softer and softer as she spoke, and her head kept lowering, almost burying itself in her chest.

Han Zhou was stunned.

It's clear that this introverted girl has put in a tremendous effort to say these words. Even though it's the rainy day she fears most, and she's probably terrified herself, she's trying to comfort herself.

Seeing the girl's nervous and uneasy appearance, his previously suppressed mood suddenly improved a lot. He smiled and said, "I understand, thank you, senior."

"No...you're welcome."

Zhong Ling was actually quite embarrassed after saying those words, her face flushed slightly, and it took her a while to raise her head. Seeing that Han Zhou's expression had improved a lot, she breathed a sigh of relief and a smile appeared on her face.

Just as I was about to say something more, Guzheng suddenly ran into the house from the rain. Although she was holding an umbrella, her hair and coat were already soaked by the heavy rain.

Seeing this, Zhong Ling hurriedly ran to grab a towel, while Han Zhou immediately asked, "How is it? Have you found Senior Wang Lengqiu yet?"

"No."

Gu Zheng tossed the umbrella aside, took the towel, and shook her head, saying, "I searched the backyard and asked several people on the street, but they all said they hadn't seen Senior Wang Lengqiu. I guess she probably left before dawn."

“Grandpa Wang went to look in another direction. He said that none of the umbrellas at home were missing, which means that Senior Wang Lengqiu didn’t even take an umbrella with her when she left.” Her expression was heavy, and her brows were full of worry. Clearly, she also had some terrible suspicions in her mind.

Han Zhou was silent for a moment, then asked, "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?"

Gu Zheng sat on the stool, rubbing her hair haphazardly with a towel, her eyes obscured by the dampness: "Back then, nobody knew that Senior Wang Lengqiu had run away from home. Didn't she say yesterday that she wanted to go mushroom picking? So at first, we didn't take it seriously and assumed she had gone to pick mushrooms, so we didn't rush to wake you up."

"That's it?"

That's all.

Han Zhou didn't press further. He had already guessed that Gu Zheng had likely overheard his conversation with Wang Lengqiu last night and also guessed the reason for Wang Lengqiu's disappearance. He didn't want to wake him up because he didn't want him to feel too guilty or worried, so he wanted to find Wang Lengqiu on his own before he woke up.

That's why he's in such a sorry state, looking like a drowned rat, probably because he's been searching for a long time.

Perhaps noticing Han Zhou's unusual expression, Gu Zheng hesitated, but ultimately said nothing more. She stood up and said, "Don't worry too much. I guess Senior Wang Lengqiu hasn't gone far. I'll go out and look again; I'm sure I can find her..."

"You sit here quietly."

Han Zhou pressed the guzheng back onto the stool, and at the same time snatched the towel from her hand, carefully drying her hair. "You're soaked. In this cold weather, if you don't want to catch a cold like last time, then go take a hot shower later."

"I won't catch a cold..."

Gu Zheng struggled to get up, clearly reluctant. Compared to her cold, Wang Lengqiu's safety was obviously more important at this moment.

"Don't worry, I have a way to find Senior Wang Lengqiu," Han Zhou said.

"really?"

Guzheng stopped struggling, but her expression clearly showed disbelief.

"You have to believe me."

"I believe you, but can't I go with you to look for it?"

"I told you, your most important task right now is to take a hot shower," Han Zhou said firmly.

"OK then……"

After hesitating for a moment, Guzheng said, "Then you must promise me."

"What's the guarantee?"

"I promise to bring Senior Wang Lengqiu back."

"I promise."

Han Zhou's voice wasn't loud, but anyone could hear the seriousness in his tone.

He glanced back at Zhong Ling and chuckled, "Senior, could you please keep an eye on this girl for me and make sure she doesn't wander off?"

"Okay, okay, I'll go turn on the hot water."

Zhong Ling nodded repeatedly, then ran to the bathroom to turn on the water heater.

Only Han Zhou and Gu Zheng remained at the door.

The rain poured down, and Han Zhou silently wiped Gu Zheng's hair, remaining silent for a long time.

"You're the one running around everywhere..."

Amidst the cacophony of rain, only the disgruntled sound of the guzheng could be heard.

After a long pause, the girl suddenly spoke, her voice tinged with anger: "Han Zhou, you promised me you would bring Wang Lengqiqiu back, didn't you?"

"Yes, I promised." Han Zhou looked puzzled. "Is there a problem?"

He didn't understand why this guy was suddenly angry.

"Any other questions?"

Gu Zheng gritted her teeth, stood up, and punched him twice. Then she snatched the towel back from his hand: "I've already promised you, what are you dawdling for? Hurry up and go find someone! I can dry my hair myself!"

Han Zhou paused for two seconds, then gave a wry smile and said, "I was just wondering where she might run off to."

He certainly didn't intend to waste time here, so besides drying Guzheng's hair, he did something else: he bought a detection radar from the monthly store.

[Detection Radar: A one-time use item that must be used in conjunction with the unlockable character detector. Once activated, it will continuously display the real-time location of all unlockable characters within a 10-kilometer radius for 10 minutes.]

During his trip to the snow mountain a few months ago, he successfully found the missing Mo Yixia with this item. He thought he could also quickly locate Wang Lengqiu this time, which was the basis for his confidence in making a promise to Gu Zheng. However, to his dismay, the radar did not show Wang Lengqiu's location.

This means there are two possibilities.

First, Wang Lengqiu had gone beyond the detection range of the radar and had moved to a place with a radius of ten kilometers.

As for the second possibility... Han Zhou dared not think about it.

He knew very well that the only thing he could rely on to find Wang Lengqiu as soon as possible was the status bar. However, with the detection radar now malfunctioning, he couldn't think of how to use the status bar to create a suitable status for finding someone, nor could he find any other items that could be useful at this moment.

"Have you figured it out yet?"

Gu Zheng didn't notice Han Zhou's unusual behavior. A flash of worry crossed her eyes as she urged, "If you keep dawdling, the daylily will get cold!"

Han Zhou didn't want her to worry, so he nodded and smiled, "I've figured it out. I'll be going now. Remember to tell Grandpa Wang when he gets back..."

Before the words were even finished, Chen Doudou suddenly rushed out of the room with her short legs and shouted, "Brother Han Zhou, Sister Guzheng, I found a note, it looks like it was left by Sister Wang Lengqiu!"

Note?

Han Zhou and Gu Zheng exchanged a glance and rushed over, only to find that Chen Doudou had tripped on the threshold because she was running too fast. She was about to fall flat on her face, and her chubby face was distorted with fright.

Fortunately, Gu Zheng reacted quickly and grabbed the other person by the back of their collar, but due to her limited movement, she was unable to catch the note that was about to fall to the side of the umbrella.

Han Zhou was further away, and by the time he reached out, it was too late. He could only watch helplessly as the note fell into the large water stains on the edge of the umbrella.

His expression changed, and he quickly picked up the note, but the note was already soaked, and the writing on it was blurred and faded away, making it completely illegible. He couldn't even make out the few words that were originally written on it.

Seeing this, Gu Zheng was shocked and quickly put down Chen Doudou, looking at the note in Han Zhou's hand.

Since the handwriting on the note was too illegible, the two could only guess, and eventually gleaned the following message:

"I buried my last words in the ground; don't wait for me." (End of Chapter)