Forced into a romantic relationship

"I never imagined I'd return to Lincheng in this way..."

At three in the morning, Han Zhou, who hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time, began to suffer from insomnia.

This was partly due to the overdose of stimulants leading to heightened mental alertness, but more so because of the sorrowful figure vaguely seen after using the "51% Future Simulator".

In order to successfully trigger the "echo" teleportation effect, he had to use the "51% Future Simulator" to forcibly fill in the future with Senior Zhong Ling. Although it was a helpless move, it is undeniable that without her consent, he still dragged this girl, who should have stayed out of it, into the mess.

This made him feel guilty and uneasy.

However, since the matter has already occurred, he will naturally take responsibility—if there is a future that would make Senior Zhong Ling feel sad, he will never let such a future become a reality.

He looked at the status bar notification in front of him.

You have successfully used the 51% Future Simulator.

[Due to the current timeline being out of order, the simulation is temporarily unavailable and will automatically resume within seven calendar days after you return to your 'current' time point.]

[Note that this simulation will be influenced by the combined will of both participants, weaving together a realistic dream connected to the future. During the simulation, both participants will be conscious, retaining their memories of reality and clearly aware that they are in a dream. Furthermore, death in the dream will not immediately end the simulation (note that no supernatural elements will appear in this dream except for the status bar)].

There is a 51% chance that the simulation results will become reality in the future, a 48% chance that they will become a dissolved dream, and a 1% chance that they will become part of reality (the will of both participants will affect the probability to some extent). If you wish to retain the relevant memories, please take the memory-freezing pill in advance.

[Click here for more details]

Fortunately, perhaps the status bar was also worried that letting an eleven-year-old girl "see the future" now would cause chaos in the past, so the simulation will not start at this point in time, but will wait until Han Zhou returns to the "present".

This gave him a slight sense of relief.

If the simulation could start at any time, he would probably have to sleep during the day to avoid falling asleep at the same time as Xiao Zhongling. Fortunately, there's no need to worry about that for now.

Besides some worries about the future, Han Zhou was also concerned about another issue—whether it was by chance or fate, since he had already met the deceased parents of the Zhong Ling sisters in the past, should he try to interfere with their fate?

Reason told him that non-interference was the best course of action, since the status bar had already told him from the beginning that he should minimize interference with the timeline.

Moreover, trying to bring the deceased back to life in the future is a blatant provocation against fate, and the impact will be far more than just a simple butterfly effect; it could very well lead to extremely dire consequences.

After all, there is the possibility of "being resurrected after death," and there is also the possibility of "being reborn and dying again." Han Zhou remembered that Zhong Ling's family was in a car accident. If it was Zhong Ling's parents who survived, would it have been the two sisters who died instead?

A life for a life is perfectly reasonable.

To take an even more pessimistic view, perhaps fate had already prepared a cruel joke. If it weren't for his reminder, Zhong Ling's parents might still be alive and well. But once he intervened, it was precisely this that led to their tragic deaths in the car accident.

From an emotional perspective, Han Zhou felt that since he had such a rare opportunity to go back to the past and happened to meet Zhong Ling's parents, it would be a waste not to do anything.

After all, he has already interfered with the past to some extent, so why not just interfere more thoroughly?
If fate could be rewritten, Zhong Ling wouldn't have to be mute, Zhong Yin wouldn't have to wear a hearing aid, their parents could have survived, and he could even have tried to save Gu Zheng's grandmother...

Thinking of this, Han Zhou sighed inwardly. He really couldn't become someone like Yi Xia who would never regret anything. If he had even one chance to "regret," he would wish to make everything around him perfect.

But it’s still the same sentence.

People who want everything are likely to end up with nothing.

So let's put this issue aside for now.

He will stay in Lincheng for one to two weeks until he has completed the "kidnapping" of Xiao Yixia before leaving. It won't be too late to make a decision then.

Han Zhou tossed and turned in bed for a long time. He was exhausted, but he still couldn't fall asleep. Although he knew he could take sleeping pills to fall asleep, he decided to go outside for some fresh air.

He glanced at Xiao Wang Lengqiu, who was already asleep, pulled the blanket up a little, then quietly got up, put on his slippers, and walked to the window.

He couldn't even remember that nine years ago, Lincheng still had such dark nights.

There was no moon, and no stars could be seen.

The curtains in the room were only half drawn, the other half replaced by the black velvet cloth formed by the night, hanging firmly outside the window. Occasionally, a breeze would rustle through the treetops, and one could hear the soft rustling of the leaves, but no movement could be seen.

Han Zhou pushed open the door. The living room was as dark as if it had been splashed with ink. This was not his own home after all, and he did not want to turn on the lights and disturb Zhong Ling's family's rest. He could only rely on his memory to grope his way forward. He walked very lightly, but he still bumped into something unexpectedly near the sofa. The touch was soft, and he could vaguely hear a muffled groan and the rustling sound of fabric rubbing together.

Did someone actually break in?
Han Zhou's expression changed slightly. He could tell that he had bumped into a person, but Zhong Ling's family obviously didn't need to sneak into the living room in the dark. So who was this?

He reached out to grab the arm of the person in front of him, but the other person shone a light on him with their phone first. Although the light was quite glaring in the darkness, he was still able to see the person in front of him clearly—it was Zhong Yin, who was wearing pajamas.

Zhong Yin clearly hadn't expected to run into him. The two stared at each other, one in a punching stance, the other reaching out to grab something. However, the position of her hand hovering was rather subtle, causing the girl to blush instantly, her eyes filled with a mixture of shame and anger.

Just as she was about to say something, she heard the sound of a door opening suddenly in the darkness. Her expression changed instantly, and she quickly made a "shh" gesture to Han Zhou. Then she turned off her phone flashlight, pressed Han Zhou's head down hard, and hid behind the sofa with him.

"Snapped."

Almost at the same time, the corridor lights were turned on; judging from the noise, it must have been Mr. Zhong getting up to use the restroom.

The dim yellow light slanted into the living room, tearing a hole in the darkness. Zhong Yin looked tense and didn't dare to breathe, afraid that Han Zhou across from her would make a sound. Just as she was about to give him a warning look, she saw the latter suddenly cover his face as if he was ashamed and lower his head as if he had suffered some great insult, looking like he was ashamed to be seen.

"?"

Zhong Yin was stunned and didn't understand what this person meant. If he really wanted to cover his face, why was he only using one hand?
The next second, she suddenly realized something, and her cheeks flushed. She then discovered that the other person's other hand was tightly trapped between her chest and thigh, which explained why she didn't dare to move.

She was initially embarrassed and annoyed, so she quickly straightened up and pulled the arm away from her thigh with a flushed face. Then she was still confused—she was the one who was at a disadvantage, so why was this person acting as if he had been teased?
She glared at Han Zhou fiercely, thinking to herself that she would settle accounts with this kid later.

In fact, Han Zhou suddenly covered his face not because he was ashamed, but because he remembered that he hadn't worn a mask when he went out, so he tried to cover his face, even though it was useless.

A few minutes later, Mr. Zhong finally turned off the light and returned to the bedroom, plunging the living room back into complete darkness.

Zhong Yin didn't dare to make a sound immediately and continued to squat behind the sofa to wait until her legs were almost numb before she finally managed to climb onto the sofa with difficulty.

She took a deep breath, rubbed her stiff calves, and spent a few minutes adjusting the pained expression on her face before turning her phone flashlight back on with a cold expression. She saw that the boy who had been covering his face with his hands was now sitting on the sofa, with only his eyes showing. His comical appearance almost made her burst out laughing.

She recognized that the boy was wearing her father's short-sleeved shirt. As her gaze moved down, she saw numerous scars, large and small, especially the conspicuous bite mark on his arm.

Remembering what her parents had said that night, Zhong Yin's anger subsided considerably, but she still tried to keep a straight face and asked in a low voice, "What are you doing out here so late at night instead of sleeping?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I came out for some fresh air."

Han Zhou glanced at the girl beside him out of the corner of his eye and once again felt the difference in personality between the current Zhong Yin and the future Sister Yin. If it were Sister Yin, after what just happened, she would probably be looking for a wrench everywhere by now, but this girl was still able to patiently ask about the matter.

Without a doubt, it was that unexpected turn of events in the future that completely changed her.

"Why didn't you even turn on the lights when you came out for some fresh air?" Zhong Yin had no idea what Han Zhou was thinking. She shone her phone flashlight at his face from high to low and continued the interrogation.

"I'm afraid of disturbing your rest."

This reason wasn't very convincing. If it were someone with a strong sense of vigilance, they would easily suspect that he might be trying to steal something, but Zhong Yin believed it.

"You're overthinking it..." she muttered as she put her phone down. "We don't need to be so careful in our house."

Han Zhou remained noncommittal, then asked curiously, "Then why didn't you dare turn on the light? You were even hiding from your dad just now?"

"That's none of your business."

Zhong Yin's expression immediately changed. "In short, you have to keep tonight's events a secret for me, or I won't let you off the hook."

As she spoke, she waved her little fist in a threatening manner.

Han Zhou felt a strange urge to laugh; he hadn't expected that Sister Yin had such a childish side.

Zhong Yin ignored him, got up, and tiptoed around the living room for a while, searching for what she wanted. Just as she was about to give up, she heard a voice behind her:
"Are you looking for this?"

"Which one?"

"Safflower oil".

"how do you know?"

She turned around in shock, her voice rising several decibels. She quickly covered her mouth and looked at Han Zhou, who was holding the safflower oil, with a puzzled expression.

"When your parents woke you up last night, you stared at this bottle of safflower oil for a long time. I thought you were looking at me," Han Zhou replied.

At this moment, he could only cover his face with one hand, feeling inexplicably ashamed, as if he were playing the role of Uchiha Sasuke.

His leg was injured, but he refused to go to the hospital. Uncle Zhong had no choice but to take a bottle of safflower oil from the bedroom to apply to his leg. It was at that time that Zhong Yin had his eye on the safflower oil.

"You're quite narcissistic."

Zhong Yin's face lit up with joy, and she hurriedly took the safflower oil from his hand, asking, "Where did you find this?"

She started looking for safflower oil as soon as she got home this afternoon, but the whole family couldn't find it. It wasn't until she was woken up in the evening that she saw it, which gave her the idea to sneak out at night to look for it.

"It's in the box under the coffee table."

"Thanks."

Zhong Yin was overjoyed, but then suddenly remembered something and reminded him again, "But you still have to keep it a secret for me. Don't tell anyone about tonight's events, including this bottle of safflower oil."

Han Zhou nodded, then couldn't help but ask, "Is your leg injured?"

"I told you, it's none of your business."

Zhong Yin rolled her eyes at him, but instead of rushing back to her room with the safflower oil, she sat back down on the sofa and patted the seat next to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Aren't you having trouble sleeping? I'll keep you company and chat with you."

"You're a high school student, right? Don't you have school tomorrow morning?"

Despite saying that, Han Zhou still sat down on the sofa.

Chatting with Sister Yin when she was young was a truly rare experience.

Zhong Yin tossed the safflower oil up and down in her hand, turned her head and gave him a knowing look, and said, "Tomorrow morning's self-study and the first two periods are all English classes."

"……Then what?"

"And then? Then I can go to sleep."

Sleeping in English class?

Han Zhou was taken aback. "You should be a good student, right?"

He heard that Sister Yin had good grades in high school and had even been awarded the title of "Three Good Student". How could someone like that sleep in English class?

Oh, he seems to have received the "Three Good Student" award before, then it's alright.

"Good student... Have my parents told you about me?"

Zhong Yin was somewhat surprised, then asked with a puzzled look, "Who said good students can't sleep in class?"

"That was not what I meant."

"what does that mean?"

"It just doesn't feel like your style."

"You don't know me, how would you know what my style is?"

Zhong Yin glanced at him, feeling that this person was a bit strange, but didn't think much of it and casually said, "Never mind... remember to keep this a secret for me too."

Han Zhou was both amused and exasperated: "Does this mean that everything that might negatively impact your image in front of your parents and sister needs to be kept secret?"

"You know it very well."

Zhong Yin's eyes lit up, but then his face fell again. "Can you stop covering your face all the time? You're a grown man, not some big star. What's there to be ashamed of?"

"I'm rather shy," Han Zhou said against his conscience.

If anyone who knows him were standing here, they would laugh their heads off upon hearing this. If this guy is shy, then there is no one in the world who is thick-skinned.

He coughed lightly and changed the subject, saying, "If you want to maintain your image, why tell these things to an outsider like me?"

Zhong Yin's eyes darted around, and she tossed the safflower oil in her hand even higher: "Of course it's because we hit it off immediately. To be honest, I felt a special connection with you the moment I saw you."

Han Zhou naturally couldn't believe such nonsense. After a moment of silence, he suddenly became expressionless.

"Hey... you wouldn't be thinking of making a move on my sister, would you?"

Zhong Yin's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't believe that this guy could even guess something like this. She was so shocked that she couldn't catch the safflower oil falling from the height.

"Snapped!"

The next second, the safflower oil slipped from his fingers, and the glass bottle shattered into countless fragments the moment it hit the ground, the amber liquid flowing freely across the floor.

(End of this chapter)