Forced into a romantic relationship

Another night of torrential rain.

Early in the morning, the rain lashed the roof like countless silver whips, making a heart-stopping sound. The water overflowed the steps, forming a shimmering mirror in the yard, reflecting the fragmented, leaden sky, the crooked telephone poles, and Han Zhou's distorted face.

"It seems that weather forecasts aren't as unreliable everywhere as they are in Lincheng..."

He stood at the doorway, gazing into the distance at the town blurred by the heavy rain, a sense of unease rising in his heart.

The rainstorm was more intense than anyone had anticipated. The water on the road was already above knee-deep and seemed to be rising further. Even Uncle Xia said that he had never seen such heavy rain in all the years he had lived in the town.

For a moment, Han Zhou wondered if he really was the "Rain God," since Uncle Xia had said on the day he arrived that it hadn't rained heavily in the town for a long time.

It's the weekend, and apart from those who need to work overtime, no one wants to go out in this weather. So it's obvious that business won't be done today. Uncle Xia is happy to have some free time. He finds a chessboard that has been gathering dust for a long time and asks Han Zhou to play Go with him.

The most common problems in rural towns are left-behind children and elderly people living alone. Uncle Xia belongs to the latter. Although he often chats with guests on weekdays, he still feels lonely when he is alone.

Han Zhou's Go skills were average, but Uncle Xia's weren't much better. The two sat at the door, playing like chickens pecking at each other, going back and forth, and for a while, the game was evenly matched.

"Xiao Han, you seem a bit distracted."

Seeing Han Zhou's gaze frequently drifting outside, Uncle Xia tentatively asked while placing a piece, "Are you worried about your friend?"

It must be said that although Xia Shu's chess skills are not high, the way he makes his moves is really stylish. He is calm and composed in every gesture, showing the demeanor of a master. In contrast, Han Zhou looks like a novice who has just started out.

Although this is indeed the case.

"I am a little worried."

Han Zhou did not deny that he was indeed a little worried about Xiao Wang and Leng Qiu's situation—the floodwaters had risen so much in just one night, which was somewhat unexpected.

Besides that, the main reason was that he thought of the rainy day when Wang Lengqiu disappeared again.

However, the reason he was able to leave with peace of mind last night was naturally because he had something to rely on—"There Will Be a Response" could take him to Xiao Wang Leng Qiu's side at any time if necessary.

Normally, the state generated by the "custom state generator" can only exist for 48 hours. However, perhaps due to time travel, or perhaps because Han Zhou needs to use "Echo" to return to the original time point a month later, "Echo" seems to have temporarily lost the limitation of only existing for 48 hours. It is estimated that the countdown will only start again when he returns to the "present".

In other words, as long as his body can withstand it, Han Zhou can use "There Will Be a Response" at will for this month without having to spend any points.

Of course, this is on the premise that he has a target he is eager to see and can clearly remember the other person's face.

Uncle Xia knew this was how it would be. After hesitating for a moment, he lowered his voice and asked, "Then why didn't you stay overnight at her house with her last night?"

In fact, he had already prepared himself for Han Zhou to stay out all night again last night, but to his surprise, Han Zhou actually came back, which was quite unusual.

He was worried that the two of them might have had a fight.

Han Zhou's expression became a little strange. Xia Shu clearly knew that the friend he was talking about was a child, so why could he still say something like "spending the night at a child's house" so casually?
He couldn't quite remember. Was the social atmosphere really that free ten years ago?

He muttered to himself, then replied, "Staying overnight at her house isn't a good idea, and her family will be back soon."

According to Xiao Wang Lengqiu, Grandpa Wang should be back from the city this weekend. If he continues to stay at the other party's house overnight, he might run into Grandpa Wang.

It's hard to say what will happen then, but it will definitely have an impact on the future—after all, according to Grandpa Wang from the future, the other party had never seen him before.

"That's right."

Uncle Xia nodded subconsciously. After all, she was a woman with a child, and it was easy for the neighbors to gossip if she always brought men to stay overnight at home. She really had to be careful about the impact.

and many more……

What does it mean when I say my family is coming home?
Could it be... that woman isn't divorced yet?!

Uncle Xia's hand trembled, almost dropping the chess piece. However, before he could ask anything, a broadcast suddenly came from the radio on the table:
"According to meteorological monitoring, affected by continuous heavy rainfall, our city will experience widespread rainstorms in the next 24 hours, with rainfall in some areas expected to exceed 100 millimeters..."

This is an urgent notice regarding the activation of the flood control emergency response.

Including Xinghua Town, many areas in Xuancheng have experienced continuous heavy rainfall in recent days, with some areas expected to receive torrential rain, which could lead to natural disasters such as floods and flash floods.

Although Xinghua Town was not included in the areas mentioned in the broadcast, it is still at risk of flooding and is currently undergoing a Level IV flood control emergency response.

Hearing about both the emergency response and the flash floods, Uncle Xia lost his appetite for chess and quickly asked, "Little Han, what does this Level IV flood control response mean?"

It means that there is a possibility of flooding, but the likelihood is not high.

Han Zhou reassured him, "As long as you stay at home, you'll be fine, so Uncle Xia, you shouldn't go out unless necessary."

A Level IV flood control emergency response is the lowest level of response in China's flood control emergency system. It indicates that there is a general risk of flooding or waterlogging disasters currently occurring or expected. It is a preventative response, primarily aimed at reminding residents to be careful, and is far from requiring evacuation.

Workers will still have to work overtime, and students will still have to go to school. If we don't consider the risk of potential flooding, it's basically just telling residents that there will be heavy rain soon and they shouldn't go out unless necessary—that's roughly the level of emergency response.

After hearing Han Zhou's explanation, Uncle Xia breathed a slight sigh of relief, then suddenly realized, "You said I shouldn't go out recently, so you..."

“Yes, I have to go out for a bit,” Han Zhou replied, taking over his words.

He was still worried about Xiao Wang Lengqiu.

The child lives in such a remote place that there are hardly any decent drainage ditches nearby. The water level is likely to rise faster than in other places, so he needs to go and check it out to feel at ease.

Uncle Xia was taken aback: "Going to see your friend?"

"Correct."

"But...aren't you afraid of running into her family..."

Han Zhou found it strange. Wasn't Xia Shu's focus a bit odd? Shouldn't the first thing to worry about be the weather outside? What was with being afraid of running into family members?

"It's okay, I didn't stay overnight at her house."

"That's true..."

Han Zhou spoke with such confidence that Uncle Xia hesitated for a long time, unable to utter a single word. After a long silence, he could only express another concern in his heart with a complicated expression, "But with such heavy rain, wouldn't it be too dangerous for you to go out now?"

The water outside is already above my calves, so going out now is definitely not a pleasant experience.

"It's okay, I have this."

Han Zhou pointed to the rain boots he was putting on, his tone relaxed, "Besides, it won't take me long to get to her house."

Seeing that he had already put on his shoes, clearly determined to leave, Uncle Xia didn't say anything more. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Then be careful... By the way, are you coming back tonight?"

If he comes back, he'll have to wade through the floodwaters again. But if he doesn't come back, will Xiao Han get beaten up by his friend's family?

Han Zhou picked up the umbrella, feeling that Uncle Xia's expression was a bit strange, and asked in confusion, "Uncle Xia, is there something you want to tell me?"

"No, I just wanted to ask if you need me to prepare dinner for you," Uncle Xia said with a smile.

He found it difficult to say what he wanted to say.

Han Zhou didn't think much of it and smiled, "No need for dinner. Don't worry about me. If I don't come back, remember to take care of yourself." After saying goodbye to Uncle Xia, he left the room.

……

To be honest, walking through the puddles wasn't a pleasant experience, but fortunately, Han Zhou didn't intend to let his legs suffer. He quickly found a secluded corner and planned to use "Echoes" to teleport to Xiao Wang Leng Qiu's side.

However, after standing there for a full three minutes recalling Xiao Wang Leng Qiu's face, he still couldn't complete the teleportation and remained in the same spot.

He thought that perhaps there were other witnesses nearby, preventing the trigger condition of "there must be an echo" from being met, so he changed to two more secluded places, but still failed to trigger the teleportation.

Has the "there will be a response" rule failed?

Han Zhou began to suspect that the "inevitable response" might still be affected by the "only exists for forty-eight hours" rule. Although it did not appear to have disappeared, it actually no longer existed. It was still hanging in the status bar only because he would have to be teleported back in a month.

But he also felt that the status bar shouldn't have such a basic bug. Since "echoes are guaranteed" hadn't disappeared, it meant the status was still there, and the inability to trigger the effect wasn't a problem with the status bar, but rather his problem—

Perhaps he failed to meet the conditions for the effect to be triggered.

There are three conditions to trigger "a response": first, you must be in a state where no one is watching; second, you must have a strong desire to see someone; and third, you must keep recalling the other person's face.

He had already met the first and third conditions, so what he was clearly lacking was the desire to see Xiao Wang Leng Qiu.

Thinking back, the reason he was able to travel through time was because he was so worried about Wang Lengqiu's safety and his desire to see her was so strong that he was willing to give anything to get her back. At the same time, the face of little Wang Lengqiu just happened to flash through his mind, which led to him accidentally completing the time travel.

What you keep in mind will surely come to pass.

If the initial "thought" hadn't been strong enough, even if one kept recalling the face of someone from the past a thousand times, it would have been difficult to trigger a time travel.

There are almost no limitations to "there will be a response"; the only limitation is perhaps the sheer number of "thoughts".

If you have enough willpower, it can even transcend time.

Han Zhou was unable to trigger "There Will Be an Echo" perhaps simply because his desire to see Xiao Wang Leng Qiu was not strong enough to meet the conditions for triggering the teleportation.

The reason he didn't speculate whether "There Will Be an Echo" had failed was because he had just witnessed the situation where "Experience Makes You a Doctor" failed yesterday—if a status cannot take effect, the status bar will give a prompt.

Han Zhou tried to adjust his mood, but he couldn't muster enough desire to see Xiao Wang Leng Qiu. In the end, he had no choice but to walk to her house.

He was curious about just how demanding the conditions were to trigger "a response is guaranteed," but he dared not easily recall others trying it, fearing that once teleported away, he would never be able to return. So he had no choice but to temporarily put this state out of his mind.

This is troublesome...

Since the conditions for triggering "There Will Always Be an Echo" are so difficult, does that mean I won't be able to teleport directly to Xiao Yixia's side next week?

Lincheng and Xuancheng are quite far apart; it must take a long time to get there by bus...

Han Zhou was lost in thought the whole way, and soon arrived in town. By sheer coincidence, he ran into Teacher Chen, who had just come out of school.

"Teacher Chen?"

"you again?"

"It's me, what a coincidence."

"What a coincidence!"

Wearing a raincoat, Teacher Chen's expression hardened upon hearing this. "Don't you know the town has activated a level four flood warning? Why aren't you staying home? What are you doing out here?"

Han Zhou smiled and asked instead of answering, "And you, what are you doing out here?"

Teacher Chen frowned slightly. She was clearly talking about something very serious, and this young man was taking it far too lightly.

She disliked the other person's flippant attitude, and her tone immediately hardened: "There are a few boarding students at the school, I went to take a look."

"Do elementary schools have boarding students?" Han Zhou asked in surprise.

“Some children come from remote mountainous areas. They don’t board at school. It’s impossible for them to walk for hours on mountain paths to and from school every day, right?”

"I see."

Han Zhou looked enlightened and immediately said, "Then please go home as soon as you're done, teacher. I have something to do, so I'll be leaving now."

"?"

A question mark appeared above Teacher Chen's head. Shouldn't this be her word?
"Are you trying to change the subject?"

She pushed up her glasses, scrutinized the face before her, and suddenly said, "You want to go find Wang Lengqiu because you're worried about her safety?"

Han Zhou had a premonition that if he dared to answer no, the teacher might immediately send him home.

Just as Professor Ouyang is used to treating every student in the university as his own, many older teachers are also used to treating every young person as their own student.

So he answered, "Yes."

As he expected, upon hearing this answer, Ms. Chen's tense expression relaxed slightly. If this child had gone out specifically to buy snacks, then she really needed to give him a good talking-to.

“Then I’ll go with you,” she suddenly said.

"You? Why?" Han Zhou was stunned.

Is this teacher, Ms. Chen, really that concerned about her students?

“Wang Lengqiu’s grandfather called me and begged me to go and check on the child no matter what.”

Teacher Chen said somewhat helplessly, "I don't know where Wang Lengqiu lives. If you know, please lead the way quickly."

Upon hearing that it was Grandpa Wang's request, Han Zhou didn't say anything more and started leading the way. After walking for a while, he suddenly turned around and asked, "By the way, Teacher Chen, you didn't tell Grandpa Wang about my matter, did you?"

Teacher Chen gave him a strange look: "Didn't you say that as long as we don't tell Wang Lengqiu's parents, it'll be fine?"

She paused, then her gaze suddenly sharpened. "I'm asking you, you haven't done anything wrong, have you?"

"How could that be? I was just asking casually," Han Zhou said calmly.

Teacher Chen thought to herself that she would definitely have to ask Wang Lengqiu a lot of questions when she met him, and replied, "Don't worry, I'm not that free."

Teacher Chen seems to be in a bad mood today... Is it because she was forced to work overtime?

Han Zhou stopped talking and continued to lead the way until he heard someone shouting loudly ahead.

The shouts were too chaotic and disorderly, mixed with dialect, so he couldn't hear most of them clearly, and even if he did, he didn't know what they meant. Only one word stood out clearly in his ears—

Flash flood!

(End of this chapter)