Forced into a romantic relationship

What do I want?
Han Zhou looked out the window. The rain seemed to be getting heavier, and the whole world seemed to be soaked in a murky mist. Even the dim lights downstairs were swallowed up by the thick rain curtain, leaving only a blurry halo struggling in the darkness.

Walking through the quiet corridor and into the ward, looking at the girl sleeping lightly on the bed, he once again remembered what Uncle Xia had said not long ago.

Yixia once said that he was a greedy person.

He never denied it.

During the time he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, he always thought that "rather than dragging others down with this body, it would be better to find a place to leave quietly." He tried to minimize contact with others, and thus inevitably lost a lot.

And perhaps because of this, after he "recovered," he became a greedy person.

He wants everything.

But life isn't a game where you can start a new playthrough and collect everything. People who want everything can easily end up with nothing.

Han Zhou brought over a chair, quietly sat down beside the hospital bed, and stared at the girl on the bed in a daze.

He only slept for four hours last night and had been running around almost all morning, so he was very tired. In addition, the weakness he felt from traveling through time had not completely subsided, so he fell asleep in his chair not long after.

When he woke up, the rain outside the window seemed to have lessened a bit, but the sky was still dark, except for the pair of eyes in front of him that were exceptionally bright.

Upon closer inspection, he saw Xiao Wang Leng Qiu leaning over the bed, looking at him strangely, seemingly trying to reach out and check his breath to see if he was dead.

"When did you wake up?"

Han Zhou rubbed his face to shake off the drowsiness that was clinging to him. Seeing that the girl still had an IV drip in her hand, he thought he hadn't slept for long.

"I woke up as soon as you got back," Xiao Wang Leng Qiu replied.

While they were talking, she remained lying on the edge of the bed, showing no embarrassment or awkwardness on her face, even though their faces were very close.

She is a light sleeper and will wake up whenever there is any noise in the room to see if aliens have returned; if not, she will continue to sleep.

"Then why didn't you wake me up?" Han Zhou asked, straightening up.

"Because you look very tired, you should sleep more when you're tired."

"That's right."

Han Zhou smiled, got up to wash his hands in the bathroom, then picked up the oranges he had bought on the way back from the table, peeled them as he asked, "And you, have you had enough sleep?"

"Mmm." The girl nodded gently.

"Are you hungry?"

"A little."

"Would you like some oranges?"

"eat."

It seems the IV drip is working; the girl is gradually recovering and has regained her appetite. She opened her mouth and took the orange segment that Han Zhou handed her.

Han Zhou breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Is it sweet?"

"sweet."

Xiao Wang Leng Qiu nodded naturally, paused, and continued, "Can I have the whole one?"

"Of course, all of these were originally bought for you," Han Zhou said with a smile.

He originally planned to borrow some money from Uncle Xia to tide him over. Of course, he wouldn't lend the money for nothing. He planned to teach Uncle Xia some of his best dishes. But when Uncle Xia heard that it was a child who needed money, he stuffed two thousand yuan into his hand without saying a word and told him that he couldn't let the child suffer.

Han Zhou took out his phone and glanced at it, only to realize that it was already 2 PM. However, because Xiao Wang Leng Qiu's fever was quite high, the doctor had given her another bottle of saline solution, which was why the needle hadn't been removed yet.

Perhaps because she hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch, Xiao Wang Lengqiu seemed to be starving. After finishing a whole orange, she hesitated for a moment and suddenly said, "Could you peel another orange for me?"

Without saying a word, Han Zhou immediately peeled another orange, and the girl ate the whole orange in one go, saying she wanted to eat another one.

While jokingly saying, "Eating too many oranges can make your face turn yellow," Han Zhou peeled another orange. However, this time the girl only ate one segment before shaking her head and saying that she was full, and refused to eat a second segment no matter what.

Could it be that it's too sour?
Han Zhou was puzzled, so he could only finish the rest of the oranges himself, even though they were clearly quite sweet.

He didn't think much of it and said while pressing his temples, "I've already arranged leave for you at school, but Teacher Chen said that after you recover, we both have to go to school together to explain things to her, otherwise she'll call your parents."

Xiao Wang Lengqiu appeared calmer than expected. After thinking for a moment, she asked, "Are you free later?" "Yes, I am, but Wang Leng..."

Han Zhou was pondering why Teacher Chen was so easy to talk to, which distracted him somewhat. He subconsciously wanted to call her "Senior Wang Lengqiu," but quickly realized he shouldn't, so he changed his words to, "...But do you know why Teacher Chen would make such a request?"

"do not know."

Xiao Wang Leng Qiu shook her head, then tilted her head and asked curiously, "Were you... trying to call my name just now?"

She did find out after all.

Knowing he couldn't hide it, Han Zhou didn't try to deny it, but simply gave a calm "hmm".

“But I’ve never told you my name,” the girl said earnestly.

Han Zhou's heart tightened, but he pretended to be relaxed and said, "I heard it from Teacher Chen."

"No, if you don't even know my name, Teacher Chen will never believe your identity and won't tell you my name."

Xiao Wang Lengqiu shook her head, her clear eyes reflecting Han Zhou's feigned calm face. "You asked about the class and Teacher Chen's name, and even the location of the office, but you didn't ask about my name. This means you knew my name from the beginning."

The air fell silent.

Sure enough, the child was quite perceptive.

She might not be blind to the problems in many things, but she simply chooses not to ask.

Han Zhou fell silent. Before he could speak, the girl looked at him strangely for a moment and then said something that made him extremely ashamed—

"You're so stupid, my name is clearly on the homework."

There wasn't much emotion in those words, but perhaps it was just his imagination, but Han Zhou seemed to detect a hint of pity for his own intelligence in them.

It was a cautious, very subtle form of sympathy.

"Yes."

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Han Zhou coughed and nodded shamelessly, "Actually, I saw your name in the homework book, but I just forgot to mention it."

"really?"

"real."

"it is good."

One who dares to speak out.

One who dares to believe.

Or...

Both of them were deceiving themselves.

In short, the matter was easily dropped.

However, when it came to names, Han Zhou suddenly remembered something and decided to seize this opportunity to climb up the social ladder, perhaps by changing how he addressed the other person to get closer to him.

So he pretended to look out the window and casually asked, "Um... can I call you Qiuqiu? Or Qiuqiu?"

These are two titles that Wang Lengqiu, the future king, repeatedly mentioned, presumably ones they used in the past.

Xiao Wang and Leng Qiu neither agreed nor refused, but asked in confusion, "Why?"

"Because I heard that an affectionate nickname can bring two people closer."

"But we're not even friends..."

"Precisely because we're not even friends, we need to use affectionate terms to bridge the gap between us, right?"

Han Zhou said with a sincere expression.

(End of this chapter)