Forced into a romantic relationship

Did I make a typo again?

Upon hearing the childish voice on the other end of the phone, Han Zhou's first reaction was that it was another wrong number, but he soon realized that the girl's tone of voice was strangely familiar.

This tone...

He paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Hello, is this Ms. Jiang Baiqian's phone number?"

"Yes."

After a pause, the girl answered crisply, "But she's too busy to answer the phone right now."

"Then who are you?"

“I am her daughter.”

Is this really Yixia from when she was little...?

A surge of joy welled up in Han Zhou's heart. The image of a scaled-down version of Yi Xia sitting in a room answering a phone call immediately appeared in his mind. He couldn't help but chuckle, and his previously suppressed mood improved.

Recalling how he had been repeatedly manipulated by Yixia in the past, and how he knew he would likely never be able to turn the tables, he suddenly realized that now might be the perfect opportunity for "revenge"—

He can't beat high school student Yixia, so surely he can handle an elementary school student version of her?

Thinking of this, a mischievous thought suddenly came to him, and he asked with a smile, "So you're Ms. Jiang's daughter. Your name is Yixia, right?"

“Mo Yixia,” Xiao Yixia corrected.

His tone was indifferent, exactly the same as his future way of speaking.

She clearly didn't like being called by such an intimate name by strangers.

It must be said that some talents are innate. Even the elementary school version of Yixia still possesses that keen observation ability—before Han Zhou could speak, she continued, "You seem very happy."

Han Zhou was taken aback: "Why do you say that?"

He was indeed very happy, whether it was because he heard Xiao Yixia's voice or because he was about to reap a magnificent "revenge". He was happy, but the question was, how did this guy figure it out?

However, he had clearly forgotten one thing: Yixia didn't recognize him and naturally wouldn't explain much to him. She simply asked to herself, "Why did you use a public phone to call my mother?"

As a primary school student, Mo Yixia's observation skills are clearly far superior to those of her peers. Many children would not notice such details, let alone regard them as suspicious points, but little Yixia noticed them.

Han Zhou didn't believe that Yi Xia had the ability to "read minds" when she was a child, so he said in a relaxed tone, "Because I left my cell phone at home, I can only make calls from public phones."

"What is your relationship with my mother?" Xiao Yixia asked.

"I'd say we're partners," Han Zhou gave a vague answer.

Are we familiar with each other?

"Not very familiar."

"If you're not familiar with her, why do you remember her number?"

Since the widespread use of mobile phones, people have become accustomed to saving phone numbers in their phonebooks and rarely memorize them. The only phone numbers that people actively write down are usually those of important people.

It is clearly suspicious that someone could remember the number of an "unfamiliar" person when their phone is not with them.

Seemingly having made a connection to something, Xiao Yixia didn't give Han Zhou a chance to explain and continued, "Also, you must have deliberately changed your voice, right? You don't dare let my parents know who you are."

Han Zhou's heart skipped a beat.

It wasn't that he was frightened by Xiao Yixia's keen insight, but rather because he suddenly realized something—

As far as he knew, Yixia's parents had broken up when she was young, and eventually even separated and were on the verge of divorce... Could this be his fault?

If Xiao Yixia relays the conversation to her father, telling him that a man called her mother from a public phone, deliberately hiding his face, seemingly having a close relationship with her mother, and even seemed happy when he learned that she was the one who answered the phone, what would Xiao Yixia's father think?
Will he suspect that he has been cuckolded, or even that his daughter is not his own?
It's not impossible!

Thinking of this, Han Zhou lost all interest in how to tease Xiao Yixia and quickly asked, "Um... Yixia, you just said your mother was too busy to answer the phone, so what is she doing now?"

He didn't believe that Jiang Baiqian had also accidentally left her phone at home.

"you have not answer my question yet."

After a pause, Xiao Yixia emphasized again, "Also, my name is Mo Yixia."

Just as Han Zhou was about to speak, he suddenly noticed a faint sound coming from the other end of the phone. He immediately used his "listen to fate" technique to enhance his hearing, listened carefully for a moment, and then hesitantly asked, "Are your parents arguing right now?"

Although he couldn't hear clearly, he was certain that there were faint sounds of arguing coming from the other end of the phone, and Mo Yixia's parents were probably arguing outside the room right now.

"You even know this?"

Although it was a question, Xiao Yixia didn't seem surprised. She didn't press Han Zhou to ask if he had really changed his voice, and said, "They are indeed arguing right now, so you'd better say what you want to say now."

Her tone was calm, giving the impression that she had seen through everything. If it weren't for her still very childish voice, Han Zhou would have suspected that it was Yi Xia from the future who had traveled back in time.

Of course, there are differences between Xiao Yixia and high school student Yixia. The former has clearly not yet developed a misanthropic mentality, and at this time, she has not yet mastered the skills of being sarcastic and making suggestive remarks.

If you have anything to say, it's best to say it now...

Han Zhou was confused. Xiao Yixia's tone gave him the feeling that she knew something, but the problem was that he himself didn't know what he wanted to say. This guy couldn't possibly know that he came from the future, could he?

Just as this thought crossed my mind, Xiao Yixia suddenly said, "You made this call to find me, right?"

The tone was less of a question and more of a certainty.

Han Zhou was startled and subconsciously looked around, afraid that he would see Mo Yixia standing not far away, looking at him with a half-smile.

This guy must have been a secret agent since he was a child...

He neither confirmed nor denied it, and asked, "Why do you say that?"

In fact, such a cautious answer was already an answer for Xiao Yixia, and it was the answer she wanted.

Inside the room, the ten-year-old girl turned to look at the door. Even though the door was closed, she could still hear the endless arguing outside. Rather than hanging up the phone, she thought she might as well talk to this stranger a little longer.

So she explained calmly, “You were very excited the moment you heard my voice, and afterwards you didn’t make any move to let me call my mom to answer the phone, which means that I was your target from the beginning.”

Han Zhou was stunned for a moment, thinking to himself, "So Yi Xia didn't think about me cheating on her father at all? Then it seems that the breakdown of her parents' relationship has nothing to do with him..."

This made him secretly relieved.

He still didn't deny it, and asked curiously, "Since my target is you, what do you think my purpose is?"

"Either they like me, or they have ulterior motives towards me."

At this point, Xiao Yixia clearly didn't have the thick skin she would have in the future, so she didn't choose the "like her" option, but instead said, "The fact that you used a public phone to make this call means it's the latter."

Han Zhou pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "What if it's the former?"

If it were the future Yixia, she would probably immediately answer, "Then let's go register now with our household registration book." But the current little Yixia naturally doesn't have that kind of power yet. After a two-second silence, she said, "Then you really are a pervert. You're so old and you still like children."

Han Zhou was taken aback. Although he was indeed much older than this girl, he wasn't exactly old, was he?
"What if we're the same age?" he couldn't help but say.

"I refuse to date early," Xiao Yixia replied. "Are you sure?"

Han Zhou's expression was strange. According to the definition of early love in China, students who date before graduating from high school are considered to be in the category of early love. But this guy wants to elope all the time. How does he seem to reject early love?
Xiao Yixia didn't answer, but said calmly, "If someone my age really likes me, they should boldly stand in front of me and confess their feelings."

Han Zhou's expression froze. Could it be that this guy could foresee the future and knew that he wouldn't dare to stand in front of her and confess his feelings in the future, so he deliberately said such a thing?
But then again, this guy is really precocious... Does he really know what liking someone is at such a young age?
Suddenly, the pitiful face of Xiao Wang Leng Qiu flashed into his mind, and he thought that it would be necessary to correct her views on love.

Pulling himself back to reality, he was also curious about whether Xiao Yixia had any concept of love at this point, so he asked, "You're just a little girl, do you even know what 'like' means?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know."

"Then why do you let other people confess their feelings to you?"

"How am I supposed to know who's so stupid as to be obsessed with romance at such a young age if no one confesses their feelings to me?"

"..."

Han Zhou suspected that she was implying something about him, but he had no evidence.

Fortunately, he wasn't too thick-skinned. He coughed twice and said, "I was just joking. I do have some designs on you. So what do you think my designs are?"

He was very curious about how Xiao Yixia perceived him.

"At this point, are you still going to keep pretending?"

Xiao Yixia paused for two seconds before speaking, then sighed softly, "You're so timid and hesitant even in front of a child, you really are a coward. But daring to do something like this also shows that you're very brave... You're a very strange person."

"I can not understand what you say."

This time, Han Zhou wasn't trying to test him; he genuinely didn't understand what the guy was saying.

How did making a phone call to Jiang Baiqian make him so bold? It's impossible that Yixia's father is a gangster boss who would send people to kill him in a fit of anger, right?
"There's no need to keep pretending. My parents are about to finish arguing."

Xiao Yixia glanced at the door and said, "There's a school event next Friday, so we'll be dismissed half an hour early. As agreed, you have to kidnap me before my mom comes to pick me up."

what?
Han Zhou was dumbfounded. What did this mean? When had he and Yi Xia ever made such a promise?
and many more……

Could it be that Xiao Yixia couldn't stand her parents arguing all the time, so she tried to hire a "robber" to take her out for a couple of days to have some peace and quiet?
Given Yixia's personality, it's not impossible that she would come up with such an ingenious escape plan.

...And if that's the case, it's obviously better for me to take Yixia away myself than to let her fall into the hands of someone whose background I don't know.

Thinking of this, Han Zhou didn't dare to figure things out for a moment, lest Xiao Yixia notice something was wrong, so he just remained silent.

Aside from Xiao Wang and Leng Qiu, he originally didn't want to contact other people from the past in advance, because it might cause deviations in the future. But since things seem to be related to the "robbers," he'll stay by Xiao Yixia's side no matter what next week.

As he expected, Xiao Yixia interpreted this silence as tacit agreement, so the girl stopped talking and was about to hang up when the man on the other end of the line suddenly asked, "Can I ask you a profound question?"

She observed the commotion at the doorway and said calmly, "When an adult asks a child profound questions, are you just implying that you're stupid?"

"Why can't you connect it to the fact that you're smarter than adults?" Han Zhou said helplessly.

"Because that's always been my thought."

"You really are...not humble at all."

Xiao Yixia didn't reply, but instead asked, "If I say you can't ask, are you planning to stop our deal?"

Han Zhou did not answer.

The air was quiet for a moment before Xiao Yixia's voice came from the other end of the phone: "You only have two minutes. If you're any later, we won't be able to keep this a secret anymore."

Han Zhou knew that this meant he should ask quickly.

Knowing Yixia as he did, he didn't dare to say the word "time travel" aloud. So he mentally organized his thoughts before asking:
"If one day you accidentally enter someone's life, causing their time to stand still, or even leading to an unfortunate end... if you were given a chance to do it all over again, would you change it?"

"No," Xiao Yixia replied without hesitation.

"why?"

Her answer was so decisive that Han Zhou began to suspect that she hadn't thought about it at all and was just giving a perfunctory answer.

As it turned out, Xiao Yixia's answer was not perfunctory; her very first sentence revealed her attitude—

"One should not regret what one has done."

For some reason, Han Zhou subconsciously pictured a girl wearing a mask and a baseball cap tucking her hair behind her ear and turning to look at him with a smile.

Under the scorching sun, the girl tiptoed, reached out and grabbed a bright green leaf, then quietly let it go back into the tree canopy.

A gust of wind suddenly blew by, rustling the leaves and lifting her nearly waist-length hair.

"Furthermore, how can you be sure that what you call 'stagnant time'... isn't the eternity she longs for?"

Han Zhou was stunned. The phone booth he was in seemed to have transformed into a large, leafy tree in an instant. He stood under the shade of the tree, looking at the girl in front of him with some helplessness.

"What if it ends in an unfortunate way?"

The girl sighed and pointed to the leaf she had just released: "You shouldn't ask me this question, nor should you ask yourself. You should ask her, ask her if she regrets it—"

"If she doesn't regret it, you don't need to regret it for her, right?"

Han Zhou stood silently under the shade of the tree for a long time, then suddenly smiled: "You said it yourself."

"I said it, so what?"

A clear child's voice rang in his ears, and all the surrounding scenery faded away. Han Zhou came back to his senses and smiled into the microphone, "It's nothing, thank you for your answer. You are indeed smarter than adults."

“It’s also possible that you’re dumber than a child.” Xiao Yixia didn’t understand what this guy was laughing at, so she spoke without any politeness.

"may be."

Han Zhou didn't argue, and said, "I will be there on time next Friday to take you away."

“If you had been caught from the beginning, I wouldn’t have spoken up for you.”

"Don't worry, if I want to, no one can catch me."

Xiao Yixia remained noncommittal and was about to hang up when she suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, what should I call you?"

Han Zhou thought for a moment, and a smile appeared on his face.

You can call me 'Xi Niu'.

He originally wanted to call himself a "Western Cowboy," but Yixia had a very good memory. If she were to recall seeing a "cowboy" since she was a child, her intelligence would easily lead her to certain associations. So he had no choice but to call himself "Western Cow."

After hanging up the phone, Xiao Yixia immediately deleted the call log, put her phone back in its place, and went back to her desk to do her homework.

"rhino."

She wrote those two words on the draft paper, along with phrases like "time stopped," and then crossed them out one by one. She recalled the conversation between the two of them and felt somewhat confused.

"Strange, I always feel like he knows me very well..." (End of Chapter)