Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 94 Cousin
No wonder this kid was acting so suspiciously. He said he was free and asked if I needed a ride. Turns out it was on his way...

Han Zhou felt strange. He didn't recognize the girl next to Lin Anyu and didn't know where she came from. The two of them chatted and laughed until they went on stage, when the host separated them.

The host was a middle-aged man with a Mediterranean-looking face and a thick accent, but he was not incomprehensible. On the contrary, his speech was quite humorous, and his accent added a comedic touch.

"Alright, six more handsome men and beautiful women have come up on stage. The longest valid time for the game was two and a half minutes, and no one has successfully entered the third stage yet. Will someone break the two-and-a-half-minute record this time? Let's wait and see."

This wasn't a TV program, so efficiency was paramount. The host didn't waste much time, quickly separating the six teams of contestants by gender, with each team about five meters apart. He then handed out six cards to the participants and announced the start of the game.

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone on the stage started dancing and gesturing wildly.

Han Zhou's attention was focused on Lin Anyu, but the guy's movements were too abstract for him to tell whether it was "Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg" or "White Crane Spreads Wings." Surely no one could make "Spreading Wings" look like chicken feet...

It has to be said that this segment was quite challenging. In addition to demonstrating his own actions, Lin Anyu also needed to observe the girl's actions. It was clear that the first word stumped him, and his scratching his head almost made Han Zhou laugh.

He wanted to record the expression, but considering it might cause unnecessary misunderstandings, he didn't take out his phone.

Zhong Ling asked curiously, "You're watching so intently. Are any of your friends on stage?"

"Yeah, that one who hops on one foot is just so stupid," Han Zhou said, unable to suppress a laugh.

Zhong Ling quickly spotted Lin Anyu on the stage. Seemingly amused, she looked closely and asked in confusion, "It looks like the guy who hit on me last time. He pretended to be blind back then..."

She gradually recognized Lin Anyu.

"That's him. Senior, be careful. This guy is a liar and loves to flirt with girls."

Han Zhou slandered Lin Anyu without batting an eye, and Zhong Ling believed him and nodded warily.

Nearly a minute had passed during the conversation. To Han Zhou's surprise, Lin Anyu was still alive and had become one of the only two pairs of challengers still playing on stage. It was clear that he was working very hard, and Han Zhou might not have been able to do some of the embarrassing things he did.

The girl with Lin Anyu must have been trained in dance; she was very flexible and her body language was much richer than the clumsy Lin Anyu's. Another minute passed, and although the process was difficult, the two of them successfully passed the first round and became the only pair of challengers to enter the second round.

Without wasting any time, the host immediately began the second segment, handing two cards to Lin Anyu and the girl respectively. As soon as fifteen seconds had passed, the host announced that time was up and took the cards back from the two of them without any hesitation.

He glanced down at the contents of the two cards, a faint smile appearing on his face: "Why don't you two guess whether you've successfully completed the second round of the telepathy challenge?"

Lin Anyu's eyes gleamed with wisdom, and he immediately said confidently, "I think we've succeeded."

"Oh?" The host seemed a little surprised, touching the few remaining hairs on his head, and asked, "This challenger seems quite confident. What's your basis for that confidence?"

"Because before this, you never asked any of the challengers similar questions, but instead directly announced their failure and then let the next group of challengers come on stage. But this time, you've unusually kept them in suspense..."

Lin Anyu became more and more confident as he spoke, "There must be something fishy going on if things are not normal, so we succeeded, otherwise you wouldn't have wasted your time."

The host was taken aback, then laughed and said, "I thought you were confident enough in your understanding of each other, but it turns out you've been studying me."

Lin Anyu smiled without saying a word, his gaze searching for something below the stage. The girl stood beside him with her hands behind her back, smiling and remaining silent.

The next second, the host showed a regretful expression and patted Lin Anyu on the shoulder, saying, "I admire your confidence, but unfortunately, both of you failed your challenge."

He showed them their cards, which contained sixteen uncommon characters. Neither of them could circle a single one that matched. This is actually quite normal, but it was somewhat awkward in the context of the "Telepathy" game.

Lin Anyu's smile froze.

The host looked at him meaningfully: "However, this challenger's analysis is very insightful. I did say that intentionally with the intention of misleading you, but I didn't expect you to follow my train of thought completely. Perhaps we are more in sync than each other."

A burst of laughter erupted from the audience.

Lin Anyu found the bald man's gaze increasingly strange, so he quickly led the girl off the stage as if fleeing. Just as they stepped off the stage, they received a message from Han Zhou.

"I think you and that older man get along quite well. You could try to get to know him. By the way, who's the girl next to you?"

Lin Anyu looked around for Han Zhou and replied, "You're here too. Zhang Chengfan told me to go find him if we click. This is my cousin, she's a dancer."

"You have a cousin?"

“I have a lot of messy relatives. She was going to stay in Lincheng for a few days, and my dad asked me to take her around when I had some free time. I don’t know where she heard about this Qixi Festival event, but she insisted that I bring her here to check it out and win a 10,000 yuan prize. I really had no choice but to come.”

Han Zhou asked curiously, "Your family would be short of ten thousand yuan?"

"I don't lack money, but I've never earned any money myself since I was a child. Gambling doesn't count. I'm just trying to support myself. Sigh, making money is really too difficult. I'm better off just living a carefree life."

"This is nothing. Making real money is much more tiring than this," Han Zhou said disdainfully. "I really envy your ability to live a life of ease and comfort, unlike me, who has nothing but hard work."

"It's alright, you have more to envy than just these things," Lin Anyu replied cheerfully. "Stop talking about me, where are you? I know you're with a girl, it can't be Guzheng, right?"

“You’ve seen her before. You even pretended to be blind in front of her last time.” “Oh, I remember. Wasn’t she the girl with the fair skin?” Lin Anyu had a vivid memory of that day, after all, he had been exposed to the sun for half a day and had been forced to pretend to be blind twice. He replied, “But I’m not trying to be mean, this kind of game is more suitable for young couples. You should have called Guzheng over.”

As classmates, he personally preferred to see Han Zhou and Gu Zheng together. Besides, the more he looked at them, the more he felt that their relationship was unusual, and it would be unreasonable for them not to be together.

"You know it's suitable for couples, so why did you come with your cousin?"

“A distant cousin, the kind that’s really far away.” Lin Anyu glanced at the girl beside him, then added righteously, “And I was forced into it.”

"I don't have as many thoughts as you. I'm not participating in this event for anything else, I just want to see if I can win the prize money. Okay, it's almost our turn, we'll talk about it later."

Han Zhou put down his phone. The game on stage was still going on. It would be their turn in a few more rounds. Judging from the current situation, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes.

As they got closer to the platform, Zhong Ling's expression suddenly became tense. Han Zhou thought she was worried about not being able to win, so he comforted her, "Don't worry, senior, we can do it. It's okay if we don't win. Just consider it as joining in the fun. I heard this place has become a popular spot."

Zhong Ling hesitated, then said hesitantly, "But if we lose, we won't get the prize money, and you'll be very disappointed, won't you?"

Han Zhou then understood what she was really struggling with, and asked in a low voice, "Are you afraid that we won't win if we don't 'cheate'?"

Zhong Ling nodded at first, then shook her head: "I wasn't worried before, I was very confident, but after I rejected your suggestion, I started to get scared. What if I lose and you don't get the prize money, then I..."

[A temporary task has been triggered. Please complete the 'Telepathic Connection' challenge without using the status bar to resolve the inner conflict of the target character, Zhong Ling. The time limit is 15 minutes. You will receive 15 points.]

Han Zhou was stunned. He didn't expect that a temporary task would be triggered at this time. However, he was not happy. Putting everything else aside, the second part of this game was entirely based on luck. Without the help of the status bar, it would be difficult to pass. Was this really going to test whether he and Zhong Ling had a telepathic connection?
"It seems Zhong Ling is hesitant about whether to 'cheate' as I suggested before. She certainly doesn't want to do it, but considering my interests, she probably doubts whether she's being too stubborn and selfish..."

Han Zhou roughly guessed what Zhong Ling was thinking at this moment, and said nonchalantly, "Does Senior feel that we are not in sync enough?"

This was a question the other party had asked not long ago, and now he was using it to ask the other party in return.

Zhong Ling gently shook her head: "No."

"That's fine."

Han Zhou chuckled lightly. Seeing that the other person was still hesitant, he suddenly asked, "Does senior know why I told you about my past when we were at the bubble tea shop?"

"Because I told you about my past, this is just reciprocity..."

"It's not just that. I think we are quite similar, although that's not really related to what I'm trying to say right now, but I feel like you won't understand if I don't explain it more clearly."

Zhong Ling was stunned for a moment. Did this mean she was stupid?

Han Zhou said, “From childhood to adulthood, my dad would always inadvertently remind me that my birth caused my mother’s death. I do feel guilty about this, but I never think it’s my fault. I should live my life as I should. Living a negative life like my dad would be a disservice to my deceased mother.”

Zhong Ling nodded, seemingly empathizing, and said, "Yes, my sister always teaches me the same thing."

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment: "If I'm not mistaken, senior, you probably also feel guilty, right? You think your parents' death is related to you, which is why you suddenly didn't want to continue talking about it."

Zhong Ling is a very easy-to-understand girl; her thoughts are basically written all over her face.

Zhong Ling tugged at the small cloth bag, took a deep breath, and nodded gently: "Not just Mom and Dad..."

Han Zhou knew this wasn't the time to talk about this, so he interrupted, "I don't know what happened to you before, but I think you can be more assertive."

"Full of confidence?"

“I know a girl who, if she thinks cheating is wrong, will never do what I want. She might even beat me up to force me to change my ways, instead of suddenly feeling regret and remorse.”

Zhong Ling was silent for a moment, then hesitated before asking, "Is your friend a girl?"

Han Zhou was taken aback. Was this the key point?
Also, how did you figure that out?

Fortunately, Zhong Ling seemed to understand what he meant. Just as she was about to speak, she noticed that the people in front of her suddenly moved forward. It turned out that it was their turn.

Han Zhou laughed and said, "Let's go, it's our turn."

"Well, come on."

Zhong Ling nodded gently.

Tomorrow is the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao). I wish all the candidates the best of luck and hope they achieve great results. Um, I'm also taking the Gaokao tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous…

:.ヽ(*`).:

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(End of this chapter)