Forced into a romantic relationship

The next afternoon, the utterly depraved Han Zhou was indeed dragged off his bed, but not to be executed; instead, he was called to get up for dinner.

He hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time, and since he went to bed very late last night, he slept until six o'clock, a full fourteen hours, long before Zhong Yin, who was at school, came home.

"You can really sleep."

Wearing a school uniform and with her hair in a high ponytail, Zhong Yin leaned against the door with her arms crossed and sneered, "If I hadn't spoken up for you, my parents would have already woken you up with a stick."

"Thank you."

Han Zhou could tell she was lying, but he still thanked her sincerely, "I'm sorry, I've been too tired lately."

His apologetic look made Zhong Yin feel embarrassed, especially after seeing that the other person was somewhat "disheveled." She was a little flustered and quickly looked away, saying, "I heard from your sister that you've been working very hard these past few days. What I said earlier was just a joke. My parents aren't like that. They're very easy to get along with. Anyway, get up and eat!"

As she spoke, she couldn't help but look back, but Han Zhou had already straightened his clothes: "Where's my sister?"

“Helping in the kitchen. My mom said that kid is like a little adult. He got up early this morning to wash the clothes you changed out of yesterday, and he was even planning to help start the fire and cook, but we use natural gas at home, hahaha. I just watched, and that kid really can do everything, he just doesn't talk much.”

Zhong Yin's smile faded as she tried to laugh. Precocious children don't necessarily come from unhappy families, but precocious and taciturn children are definitely not happy.

If a family is happy, no one would be willing to let their child do a lot of housework and take pride in it all day long, or even use things like "Look, the neighbor's daughter can cook at five years old" to manipulate the child.

Why don't you mention that Uncle Zhang achieved financial freedom at the age of thirty?

"She's not very talkative," Han Zhou said with a wry smile.

This is already considered good; in the future, Wang Lengqiu will basically only be willing to talk to him properly.

“But she really depends on you,” Zhong Yin said with a smile.

"Have it?"

"Of course I have it. Don't underestimate my 'sister observation radar'!"

"What radar?"

"Is there a problem with the 'sister's observation radar'?"

"No."

A chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) high school girl? That's interesting.

This should be considered one of Eun-seo's dark histories, right?

Sister Yin, you don't want your past embarrassing moments to be exposed, do you...?

If Sister Yin ever looks at me coldly again, I'll threaten her like this... Han Zhou thought to himself.

"Let's go eat." He stretched, feeling refreshed after his sleep.

After all, sleeping for fourteen hours is probably longer than some people's working hours.

This guy really doesn't hold back at all...

Zhong Yin muttered to herself, seeing that he was dressed so thinly, hesitated for a moment, walked to the wardrobe, and took out a school uniform: "It's too cold to be wearing so little. Why don't you take my school uniform and wear it?"

Han Zhou paused, immediately becoming wary: "Even if you try to please me like this, I will never give up my sister to you."

"Who asked you to give me your sister? You don't appreciate my kindness." Zhong Yin rolled her eyes at him, annoyed. "Are you going to wear it or not? If not, I'll take it away."

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment, then cautiously probed, "Don't you hate men?"

He remembered that Sister Yin didn't seem to like interacting with men, so why would she so easily lend her coat to someone else?

"Who said I hate men? If I really did, I would have beaten you up last night." Zhong Yin thought this guy was a bit strange.

In fact, she didn't usually lend her coat to others. The reason she was so special to this Sun Wukong was not only because he was good-looking and touched by his willingness to get injured all over his body to protect his sister, but also because she had a very strange dream last night.

A strange, real, yet vague dream.

You'll beat me up later...

Han Zhou thought to himself, but abruptly changed the subject, saying, "What I mean is, your clothes might be a little small for me."

"It won't be small."

Zhong Yin blushed, threw her school uniform on the bed, and quickly left the room.

Watching the other person's back, Han Zhou suddenly realized, "That's right, Sister Yin's school uniform must be a size larger than the average girl's..."

He didn't make a fuss, after all, the weather was indeed very cold, and there was no need to make things difficult for himself. Besides, troubling Sister Yin wasn't much trouble, so he put on his school uniform and left the room.

Surprisingly, it fits quite well.

Upon entering the living room, Xiao Wang and Leng Qiu were already seated at the dining table, waiting. There was an empty seat next to them, clearly reserved in advance for Han Zhou.

The two seats were very close together.

Seeing that only Uncle Zhong and Zhong Yin were in the room, and Aunt Ye and Xiao Zhongling were nowhere to be seen, Han Zhou said as he sat down, "I'm sorry, Uncle Zhong, I got up late. Where are Aunt Ye and the others?"

"It's alright, more rest will help the injury heal faster," Zhong Chengguang said with a smile.

The head of the family was tall and strong, giving people a strong sense of security, but the smile on his face did not inspire any fear.

“My mom took my sister to the bookstore to buy storybooks. There was a bit of traffic on the way, so they won’t be back for a while. She told us to eat first,” Zhong Yin explained from the side.

Traffic jam...

Upon hearing this word, Han Zhou inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps it was because he had bound Zhong Ling to the "51% Future Simulator," but he was actually a little afraid to see little Zhong Ling, worried that it might have some negative impact on the past.

But then he thought about it again. He had already shown his face to Zhong Yin in the past. If there was no way to remedy the situation, the impact on the future had already been done, so there was no need to worry about those things anymore.

"By the way, you haven't met my sister yet, have you? Let me tell you, she's incredibly cute, but she's a little shy, so if you meet her later..."

As a natural-born sister-obsessed person, Jong Eun can't stop talking about his sister once he starts, and this family obviously doesn't have the rule of "not talking while eating or sleeping". Uncle Jong not only doesn't stop him, but occasionally adds a few words with a smile.

About five minutes later, Zhong Yin finally finished "recommending" to his sister, looking at Xiao Wang Leng Qiu sitting next to Han Zhou with a smile, and then looked at Han Zhou: "Okay, I'm done talking. It's your turn now."

"My turn?" "Yes, it's your turn to talk about your sister." Zhong Yin's eyes lit up.

"Does your family still have this rule...?"

"You talk too much. Consider this your payment for staying at our house," Zhong Yin said, feigning displeasure.

"Just my accommodation fee? What about my sister?"

"Cute girls don't need to pay for lodging at my house!"

Han Zhou pondered for a moment: "Actually, if I just wear a wig, you might be able to mistake me for a cute girl."

"Pfft! You're really shameless."

Zhong Yin almost spat out the food in her mouth.

Zhong Chengguang was amused and thought to himself that this child was quite interesting, with a completely different personality from his sister.

But speaking of which, when did Xiaoyin become so close to this boy? Does she usually chat with boys like this?
He laughed and said, "Wukong, Xiaoyin was just joking. She meant that you two siblings don't need to feel burdened living in our house. Just treat it as your own home. We like our house to be lively."

He had asked the girl named Xiaoya, and the two of them would likely be homeless for the next week. He, his wife Xiaoyin, and Xiaoling had discussed it and decided to keep them at home.

It's just a matter of adding two more pairs of chopsticks anyway.

Xiao Ya is naturally Xiao Wang Leng Qiu. Last night, Han Zhou realized that the name Wu Fan was too advanced for a girl, so he came up with a more common name and instructed Xiao Wang Leng Qiu to use Xiao Ya as her name during this period and never reveal her real name.

Although she didn't know why, Xiao Wang Lengqiu still carried out this principle very seriously. Whenever she heard "little duck" mentioned on TV, she would go to the TV to report it. This made Zhong Yin laugh so hard that she wanted this cute little girl to become her younger sister.

Even though Han Zhou had a thick skin, he couldn't help but feel annoyed when someone called him "Wukong," but he could only bite the bullet and agree, smiling and saying, "I understand, thank you Uncle Zhong."

Xiao Wang and Leng Qiu, who were standing nearby, also said "thank you".

Not long after finishing dinner, Zhong Yin rode her bicycle out the door, her ponytail bouncing in the sunset. She was a high school student and still had evening self-study sessions.

"It must be quite far from the school from here," Han Zhou said.

"It's quite far, so Xiaoyin asked us to buy her a bicycle. This child doesn't want to stay at school and insists on going home for meals." Uncle Xia stood at the door smoking, his smile a mixture of helplessness and satisfaction.

The autumn evening breeze was a bit cool, but also comfortable. Looking at the wildly flamboyant sunset clouds, Han Zhou couldn't help but think of Sister Yin, who had almost single-handedly shouldered everything after her parents passed away. His thoughts were complicated.

The sun rises and sets in the west every day, but many things can change in an instant.

He cannot grasp the wind that stirs the clouds, but he can certainly try to stop time.

"Sister Yin is a very family-oriented person," he remarked.

"Sister Yin?"

Zhong Chengguang glanced at him in surprise and chuckled, "Did Xiaoyin tell you to call her that? That kid always likes cute girls to call her 'sister.' Do you want another little brother today? Or did you take what you said at dinner seriously?"

He laughed heartily, and after a while said, "That child is younger than you, so you can call her Xiao Yin just like I do."

"I'll try my best," Han Zhou said with an awkward smile.

He was still a little afraid that Sister Yin would come after him in the future.

"Haha, you're afraid of Xiao Yin, aren't you?" Zhong Chengguang noticed this and laughed again.

"……A little."

"Can you tell me why?"

"It's probably because she always looks at my sister with a scary look." Han Zhou naturally couldn't tell the truth, so he could only make up a reason.

To be honest, it was quite frightening. At least Xiao Wang and Leng Qiu were terrified. When Zhong Yin was around, they would often grab his clothes, as if they were afraid of being taken away.

"A terrifying look... Haha, you're in big trouble if Little Silver hears you say that."

"Then I'll have to ask you to keep it a secret."

"It's easy to talk about."

"..."

The two chatted for a while at the door. Although they didn't talk much, even from just a few words, Han Zhou could sense that this was a happy family, so perfect that it was hard to bear to break them up.

Even though we'd only spent less than a day together... no, less than a few hours, some thoughts still kept popping into my head uncontrollably.

Zhong Chengguang felt very comfortable chatting with this young man. If he had to explain why, it was probably because the boy was genuinely sincere, spoke in a way that was interesting without being offensive, and despite his young age, he gave off a very reliable feeling.

Just then, Han Zhou, who had hesitated for a long time, suddenly spoke up: "Uncle Zhong, may I ask you a question?"

"It's okay, go ahead and ask. You don't mean you want to know if Xiaoyin has a boyfriend, do you?" Zhong Chengguang joked.

He wasn't just joking; he vaguely sensed that the young man seemed particularly attentive to Xiao Yin. It might just be his imagination, but whenever they talked, the ease and familiarity they displayed were just like that of longtime friends.

But they had only just met.

Even Xiao Yin herself noticed this and planned to look through her elementary and middle school graduation albums when she got home tonight to see if she had a classmate named Sun Wukong.

Han Zhou was completely taken aback when Uncle Zhong joked about his daughter who was in high school. He paused for two seconds before quickly denying it, saying, "No, that question isn't presumptuous enough."

Zhong Chengguang was amused again: "Isn't it presumptuous enough to have designs on my daughter? Then tell me, what kind of question would be presumptuous enough?"

"Please don't be angry."

"I'm not angry, go ahead and ask."

Looking at that smiling face, Han Zhou let out a soft breath, facing the setting sun, and asked in a tone that was half-joking and half-serious:

"If, I mean if... if one day Uncle Zhong is no longer here, do you have any last wishes regarding your two daughters?"

(End of this chapter)