Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 386: Collective Social Death
At one o'clock in the morning, the heavy rain still showed no sign of stopping.

The luxurious chandelier emits warm white light, and the circle of light formed just falls into the elegant teacup placed on the coffee table directly below. As the water ripples slightly, hot steam continues to rise, filling the living room with the fragrance of tea.

Taking the freshly brewed hot tea from Ouyang Lianyu, Zhong Yin thanked her and praised, "Teacher Ouyang, you brew tea really well. This is the first time I smell such a strong tea fragrance."

Zhong Ling, who was sitting next to her, smiled and nodded, indicating that she agreed with her sister.

Ouyang Lianyu was worried about Xiao Xiaoxiao and Han Zhou, so she was in a bad mood. She forced a smile when she heard the words and said, "Thank you for the compliment. I learned tea art from my family for a while before, but now I only remember the process. The strong aroma of the tea is probably because of the good tea leaves."

"I remember that Mr. Ouyang's family seemed to care a lot about these etiquettes."

Guzheng held the teacup and blew it, saying, "Anyway, I think there is not much difference between drinking tea and drinking hot water. To make tea, just put some tea leaves in and pour boiling water. It's too troublesome to warm the cup and moisten the tea."

After a pause, she added, "Although the tea brewed by Teacher Ouyang is indeed very fragrant."

She knew that Ouyang Lianyu's family education was rigid and strict, and she was speaking up for her.

Mo Yixia took a sip of tea and put down the cup gracefully: "You are indeed more suitable to drink hot water."

"Why do you always like to butt in?"

Gu Zheng immediately frowned, looked at her with dissatisfaction, and snorted, "I just like to drink hot water, so what? Is it your business?"

"I never said I liked butting in."

Mo Yixia pulled up the hair beside her ears and said slowly, "But if it's really troublesome, your best choice should be tap water."

"The trouble I'm talking about is doing unnecessary things. Don't misinterpret my meaning!"

"Unnecessary things? Some people don't like hot water, and even in winter they will let the boiled water cool down before drinking it. Some people like sweet things by nature and are always used to adding sugar to water. Some people use the most expensive tea sets and buy the most expensive tea leaves, just for a sip of carefully brewed hot tea -"

Mo Yixia glanced at Gu Zheng and said, "Everyone has their own preferences. What you call 'superfluous' may be what others need every day. I'm curious, how do you define the word 'superfluous things'?"

Gu Zheng curled her lips and said unconvincedly: "I just said what I think, who wants to listen to your lecture?"

"I didn't think of reasoning with you."

"Then what do you want to do?"

"I don't want to do anything."

After a pause, Mo Yixia said calmly: "You can understand this as my 'necessity.'"

Everyone smiled bitterly. Since Han Zhou left, this was the third time Mo Yixia had caused trouble for Gu Zheng.

Ouyang Lianyu was afraid that the two would quarrel, so she quickly changed the subject and asked, "What did Han Zhou do upstairs?"

It wasn't just to change the subject. She was really concerned about this issue. If it weren't for Mo Yixia and Guzheng "guaranteeing" Han Zhou, she would never have let Han Zhou leave in such an unclear manner.

Han Zhou and Xiao Xiaoxiao were both her students. The disappearance of Xiao Xiaoxiao had already made her very worried. If Han Zhou also disappeared, she would never be able to forgive herself.

Seeing that Han Zhou had not returned yet, she always felt a little uneasy.

When Xiao Xiaoxiao and Han Zhou were mentioned, varying degrees of worry appeared on everyone's faces, but they obviously could not answer Ouyang Lianyu's questions.

No one knew why Han Zhou went upstairs, and no one knew why he was so sure that he could find Xiao Xiaoxiao.

"Why don't we go upstairs and take a look."

Wang Lengqiu, who had been silent all this time, suddenly made a suggestion.

"no!"

Gu Zheng was the first to object, and said firmly, "Since Han Zhou told us to wait downstairs, he must have his reasons. No one is allowed to go upstairs before hearing from him!"

Before leaving, Han Zhou specifically told her to keep an eye on everyone and not allow anyone to go upstairs before the other party came back, and even if they wanted to go to the toilet, they had to hold it in as long as possible.

Han Zhou's expression was very serious at the time, and he was obviously serious. Although Gu Zheng was also very curious about what Han Zhou wanted to do by going upstairs, since the other party had given this task to her, she could not let him down.

Anyway, Han Zhou also said that he would explain to everyone when he comes back.

Wang Lengqiu lowered his head slightly and stopped talking.

Ouyang Lianyu comforted her, "Guzheng, don't be angry. Wang Lengqiu is just worried about Han Zhou."

"I'm not angry." Gu Zheng shook her head. "I'm worried about Han Zhou, too, but he told me before he left that he would be back with Xiao Xiao soon, so everyone please wait patiently for a while."

"Did he say how long to wait?" Jong-eun asked.

"No, I just said that if nothing unexpected happens, I'll be back soon."

"What if there is an accident?"

The air was quiet for a moment.

Seeing everyone looking at him, Zhong Yin explained, "I mean, what if Han Zhou never comes back?"

Ever since her parents passed away, she has been accustomed to preparing for the worst in everything. That is why she taught her sister to scold boys who approached her and to solve the problem from the root.

Although he didn't say it, Zhong Yin also cared about Han Zhou's safety and was worried that he would get into an accident alone.

It was raining heavily tonight, which always gave her a feeling of uneasiness.

Zhong Ling looked worried. She was also very worried about Han Zhou. You know, Xiao Xiaoxiao disappeared mysteriously, and it must be very difficult for Han Zhou to find her. The "unusual" method he used might have certain risks, so he forbade everyone to go upstairs.

"One hour."

At this moment, Mo Yixia spoke up, "Wait for another hour at most. If Han Zhou doesn't come back, we'll go upstairs to find him."

She had just tried to call Han Zhou, but the call showed that the other party was out of the service area, which meant that the other party had probably gone to a place with no signal.

This was a rather unbelievable thing. You know, even if Han Zhou climbed out of the villa through the window and ran at a speed of one hundred meters per second, he would not be able to run out of the signal area in just ten minutes.

Even if Han Zhou really had the ability to run out of the signal area in such a short time, he didn't need to climb out of the villa from the upstairs. He could just go through the front door and there was no need to go upstairs.

Therefore, she speculated that Han Zhou might have entered a space where the signal could not reach, or was under some kind of force that could block the signal within a small range.

Considering that Xiao Xiaoxiao disappeared out of thin air, she was more inclined to the first guess - Han Zhou was most likely to have gone to where Xiao Xiaoxiao was, which might be another space.

Han Zhou had previously told Mo Yixia and Xiao Xiaoxiao about his experience in the unfinished building, so Mo Yixia knew very well that this was not the first time something like this had happened.

However, according to Han Zhou's narration, he and Xiao Xiaoxiao both lost part of their memory after they came back last time, and he didn't know if the same situation would occur this time.

What’s also worth noting is that there were obviously many strange things about Han Zhou and Xiao Xiaoxiao last time, but neither Zhang Tao and others who went to the unfinished building together, nor the many viewers in the live broadcast room noticed these abnormalities. Even if Han Zhou didn’t say it, Mo Yixia herself would hardly notice it.

"Perhaps the reason why this world looks so normal is because many abnormal things have been corrected..."

Mo Yixia was thoughtful. Just in case, she wrote down some key words on paper and in her hands in advance to prevent her memory from being corrected.

Gu Zheng did not object to Mo Yixia's proposal. An hour was plenty of time. If Han Zhou hadn't come back by then, there was really no need to wait any longer. "Okay," she said, "I'll do as you say, but I have to go upstairs first."

"It's up to you." Mo Yixia didn't care.

It was almost 1:20 at this time, but no one was sleepy at all. They picked up their phones from time to time to check the time and chatted casually.

No one knew if it was because they were too worried about Han Zhou and Xiao Xiaoxiao, or because they felt embarrassed, but everyone tacitly agreed not to mention the incident of hiding in Han Zhou's room before.

As time passed, a very loud question suddenly rang in everyone's ears:

"Don't you feel sorry for me?!"

Ouyang Lianyu was stunned, she stood up suddenly and looked around, wondering: "Did you hear Han Zhou's voice..."

Before she could finish, her breathing suddenly stagnated and she felt inexplicably guilty, then she shouted uncontrollably.

"Yes!"

The cry was extremely loud, carrying a hint of shame and self-blame, echoing the question just now.

What am I...doing?
Ouyang Lianyu's mind went blank. She had no idea why she would do such a thing. Her face turned red instantly and she was so embarrassed that she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"..."

Fortunately, she didn't feel embarrassed for two seconds before she heard everyone in the living room shouting out their hearts out one by one, just like they were counting in military training. Even the usually calm Mo Yixia raised her voice, with a dull look in her eyes.

What's even more exaggerated is that even the mosquito-like bell turned red and made a slight response that everyone could hear, which showed how hard she tried to make a sound.

The air became quiet.

The girls all had dazed expressions, their eyes met in the air, then immediately looked away in panic, looking down at their toes.

Thinking of their own heart-wrenching responses, some of which even had a tearful tone, everyone felt extremely embarrassed.

However, when they thought that they were not the only ones feeling embarrassed, everyone's expressions became a little better.

After a long silence, Gu Zheng looked down at her curled toes and asked nonchalantly, "Um... did you all hear Han Zhou's voice just now?"

She dug her toes into the ground and resisted the urge to grab the sofa, otherwise she would probably tear the leather.

"Well, it seems to be the case..."

Zhong Yin also lowered his head and clenched his teeth, but his toes could not be seen.

"Well..." Ouyang Lianyu said, trying to suppress her embarrassment, "It seems like she's asking someone if they feel sorry for him..."

"And we all answered 'yes'."

Wang Lengqiu was an honest man, and just one sentence made the already embarrassed crowd feel even more ashamed.

Compared to others, her reaction was not intense, and she did not seem to deny that she felt sorry for Han Zhou.

After the initial shock, Mo Yixia's expression was still calm, but there was still a faint blush on her face. She said thoughtfully: "The sound just now didn't sound like it came from upstairs. It sounded more like Han Zhou yelling in my ear."

After thinking for a moment, she pointed to a spot near the window and said, "Probably this location."

"Yes, I feel the same way." Ouyang Lianyu nodded repeatedly and agreed, "It's as if Han Zhou is standing there."

Everyone nodded.

Gu Zheng frowned and said, "But Han Zhou is clearly not here."

"Could he be able to become invisible?" Zhong Yin asked in surprise.

Mo Yixia shook her head: "Not necessarily invisible, but he may have found Xiao Xiaoxiao."

"Why do you say that?" everyone asked hurriedly.

"Remember the rumor that Han Zhou just mentioned about the haunted girls' dormitory?"

Mo Yixia said slowly, "The reason why the ghost rumor spread so widely is that more than one person heard strange voices and footsteps in the dormitory corridor, but did not see the corresponding sound source, and this matter is deeply related to Xiao Xiaoxiao."

Gu Zheng immediately understood what she meant and asked in surprise, "Are you saying that Han Zhou's current situation is the same as Xiao Xiao's, where we can only hear his voice but not see him? Is this actually the truth behind the haunting? Do you think Han Zhou is with Xiao Xiao now?"

"That's what I mean." Mo Yixia nodded.

"This is incredible..."

Ouyang Lianyu had a complicated expression. Everything that happened tonight had completely overturned her understanding of the world.

"In that case, if we just wait a little longer, Han Zhou will come back with Xiao Xiao?" Zhong Yin asked.

"should be."

Ouyang Lianyu breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what, it was a good thing to be able to successfully find Xiaoxiao.

Everyone fell silent, with relaxed smiles on their faces, but they all tacitly did not mention the "counting" incident just now.

However, the honest man Wang Lengqiu once again tore off the fig leaf of the crowd and nodded, "The question just now has the ability to make people answer sincerely involuntarily. I believe Xiao Xiaoxiao will answer loudly after hearing the question, just like us. In this way, Han Zhou will be able to find her easily."

The smiles on everyone's faces froze.

Mo Yixia showed an interested expression: "Do you also think that everyone's answers just now are sincere?"

"Isn't it?" Wang Lengqiu tilted his head.

Mo Yixia did not answer, but said: "But everyone's answer just now is 'yes'."

Wang Lengqiu was puzzled and asked, "Doesn't this mean that everyone feels sorry for Han Zhou?"

Mo Yixia couldn't quite understand what the girl was thinking, so she wasn't sure if she had said those words on purpose. However, she noticed another thing, which was that the other party was obviously a little awkward when calling Han Zhou's name, as if she was forcing herself to change her words, as if she rarely called Han Zhou that.

"You have a point."

Putting her thoughts away, Mo Yixia picked up the teacup and took a sip, then glanced at everyone in the living room with a smile.

"There should still be some time before Han Zhou comes back. Are you interested in talking about how you feel sorry for him?"

(End of this chapter)