Forced into a romantic relationship

The bookstore was unexpectedly crowded on Saturday.

Especially in the children's book section, there were quite a few parents bringing their children to choose books.

Han Zhou and Xiao Yixia were mixed in with each other. Although they were a rare high-profile couple, they weren't particularly eye-catching, especially since Han Zhou was wearing a mask and a baseball cap.

Although he had become so lawless as to plan to rob scalpers or even sneak into concert venues, he remained sufficiently vigilant about things as simple as avoiding showing his face.

The bookstore is crowded and noisy, and most of the people there are students. Who knows, one of them might be his future classmate. It would be troublesome if he were seen.

"where are you going?"

Seeing Han Zhou leading her towards the group of chattering children, Xiao Yixia, who was following behind, asked.

"Children's Book Section"

Do you think I like children's books?

"Do not."

Han Zhou shook his head, his expression solemn. "Children's books are mostly thin, so they should be easier to read."

"Pfft."

Hearing this, Xiao Yixia didn't react much, but a girl behind them couldn't help but laugh.

She didn't quite understand what he meant, but she found it amusing how seriously the boy spoke.

Xiao Yixia's gaze fell on the dazzling array of bookshelves, and she said in a nonchalant tone, "If you just want to eat more easily, then you might as well buy a smaller notebook."

"How about that?"

Han Zhou looked serious, as if this was no small matter. "Isn't it said that you are what you eat? If I eat this homework book, won't I become completely ignorant and only know the word 'homework'?"

"You're also completely ignorant now, you can't even do elementary school homework."

Xiao Yixia didn't even turn her head, and pointed out the truth without any mercy.

Han Zhou wasn't embarrassed and smiled faintly, saying, "After all, everyone has their own expertise. Elementary school students have their own areas of expertise, and college students have their own areas of expertise. You might not be able to do the homework that I can do."

Although they had only known each other for a short time, Xiao Yixia was already used to this guy's shamelessness. She wasn't angry when she heard his words, but just turned her head and glanced at him: "What if I could do it?"

"Then just pretend I didn't say anything."

"Pfft."

As soon as Han Zhou finished speaking, the girl behind him burst out laughing again.

"Ok?"

Seeing that everyone around her, including Han Zhou, had turned to look at her, the girl blushed, quickly lowered her head, covered her face with the book in her hand, and hurriedly ran towards another bookshelf.

"Was she laughing at me just now?"

Han Zhou looked away suspiciously and asked in an uncertain tone.

"Someone like you is afraid of being laughed at?" Xiao Yixia said dismissively.

This guy was brazenly declaring not long ago that he was a shameless person, and he has just proven it with his actions more than once. Now he actually cares about other people's ridicule. It's really strange.

"I'm not afraid."

Han Zhou stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and asked in bewilderment, "But what I just said wasn't anything funny, was it?"

"The monkeys in the zoo think the same way."

Xiao Yixia gave a nonchalant reply, turned around and left the children's book section, heading towards the general book section.

Compared to the bustling children's book section, the general book section was much quieter, which was exactly where the girl who had laughed out loud twice had fled to.

However, Xiao Yixia was clearly not there to chase after her; she had only come here to select the books she wanted.

Although she is only nine years old, she is clearly not interested in children's books.

Han Zhou followed curiously, wanting to see what kind of books Xiao Yixia would be interested in.

The children's book section and the general book section are located on the left and right sides of the bookstore, respectively, while the middle section is dedicated to selling educational materials.

Several learning machines were placed on a table next to the teaching aids area. There were quite a few children gathered around, but none of them were studying properly; they were all playing games on the learning machines.

There aren't any fun games on the learning machine, but kids this age are having a blast playing with it, and soon they start comparing scores.

Several parents who had just finished picking out books overheard their children talking about how they were dismissing a score of 500 and how they were vowing to get a perfect score next time. They thought the children were determined to do well in the next exam and were very pleased. But when they got closer, they realized the children were talking about game scores. Their faces turned green, and they bought each of them a set of practice questions with a cold smile.

Han Zhou was amused, but Xiao Yixia kept her eyes straight ahead and slowly walked to the bookshelves in the general book section, looking up to observe the books on the shelves.

"What kind of books do you like? Do you want me to give you some suggestions?" Han Zhou asked from behind.

Xiao Yixia didn't answer, but said, "The books here are more varied than I expected."

Han Zhou smiled and said, "After all, it's a general book section, so it can be considered adult reading material. The adult world is just that complicated."

"Is your world complicated too?" Xiao Yixia asked as she pulled a book from the bookshelf and flipped through it.

"Wait... wait, what's with that doubtful tone of yours?"

"Sorry, aside from your shamelessness, I don't see anything about you that makes you seem like an adult," Xiao Yixia said bluntly.

"A man is a boy until he dies, haven't you heard that saying? As for shamelessness, I'll take that as a compliment."

Han Zhou remained calm, appearing not proud but rather ashamed. However, he suddenly remembered something—since he was already at the bookstore, he might as well buy the book "Witnessing Aliens" that Xiao Lengqiu hadn't finished reading.

Although Xiao Lengqiu said it wasn't important, I've already read half the book, and it would be a shame not to see the ending.

Xiao Yixia didn't look up, and after a while she replied, "But you don't seem like a teenager, you seem like a child instead."

She paused, then added, "And these are children who can't even do elementary school homework."

“What’s wrong with being a child? Aren’t you a child now?” Han Zhou said with a smile.

"But I will grow up eventually, while you will only grow old. Maybe by the time I grow up, you will already be dead."

Han Zhou's smile froze.

He sighed and said helplessly, "Isn't what you're saying a bit too much?"

Even if he can't travel back to nine years later, by the time Xiao Yixia grows up, he will only be under thirty years old, in the prime of his life. How could he possibly die like that?
Sure enough, there's a reason why this guy has no friends.

Perhaps because no one ever expected her to make friends properly, she didn't need to put on an act in such places, and naturally, she didn't develop the habit of speaking politely. It's sad, but from another perspective, this might be the only place where she was relatively free.

“I’m just stating the facts,” Xiao Yixia replied.

"What kind of fact is that...?"

The girl seemed not to hear, continuing to flip through the book in her hands, and said in a light tone, "The book says that there are similarities between the psychology of men and the psychology of children. I was a little skeptical at first, but now I believe it."

Han Zhou was taken aback, only then noticing that the other person was holding a book on child psychology. He couldn't help but twitch his lips: "So you were just using me as an experiment?"

"I didn't do anything; you were the one who cooperated with me."

Xiao Yixia shook her head, put the book back on the bookshelf, and walked towards another bookshelf.

"Aren't you going to buy this book?"

"I won't buy it, you won't eat it anyway."

"..."

Han Zhou opened his mouth, then said helplessly, "I didn't mean to buy it for me, I meant to buy it for yourself."

“I already have a lot of books at home.”

"But all those books were bought by your parents, right?"

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment, "I'm just making a suggestion. Since you're already here, why don't you buy a book you like?"

Xiao Yixia was silent for a moment, then suddenly stopped and turned to look at him: "What if I don't like any of them?"

Han Zhou was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled and said, "Then of course we don't need to buy any of them."

"But what if you absolutely have to buy it?"

"Then let's pick one that we don't dislike so much."

The air seemed to suddenly quiet down. The general book section was completely silent, with only the occasional rustling of pages turning. It was as if the children's book section not far away was a completely different world.

After a brief silence, Xiao Yixia seemed to sigh: "I thought you could say something useful."

Han Zhou smiled and said, "What useful advice do you expect a child to give?"

This guy just said he was like a child, but now he can't even complain. He's really shot himself in the foot.

Xiao Yixia ignored him, turned around, and looked at the rows of books on the bookshelf in front of her.

Han Zhou stopped speaking and waited silently for her to finish making her selection.

A few minutes passed, and the girl looked up and observed for a long time. Suddenly, she stood on tiptoe, raised her hand, as if she wanted to pull out a book about the appreciation of ancient poetry from the bookshelf. Her fingertips were about to land on the spine of the book.

Just as they were about to touch, the girl paused slightly, turned to the left, and gently landed on the comic book next to her.

Comic books...

Although he didn't think Xiao Yixia was the type to like comic books, Han Zhou didn't interfere. Instead, he said, "If you're interested, take a look first. I'll keep watch for you."

Without saying what kind of whistle he was giving, he immediately put his hands in his pockets and stood behind Xiao Yixia, looking around like a guard with a sword. Whenever someone approached, he would cough softly twice to remind Xiao Yixia that someone was coming.

The bookstore was already crowded today, and even though the general book section was relatively less crowded, people would still pass by every minute or two. As a result, his coughing almost never stopped. At its worst, he coughed like a machine gun. People who didn't know better would think he had some incurable disease. If it weren't for the fact that he was wearing a mask, probably no one would dare to approach him.

Xiao Yixia sighed and put the comic book back on the shelf: "If you keep coughing like this, we might be kicked out of the bookstore soon."

Actually, it wasn't that exaggerated. Han Zhou's cough was very soft, and only people who got close could hear it, but her ears suffered.

Han Zhou smiled faintly: "Just tell me if I'm professional or not?"

"I take back what I said before."

Xiao Yixia returned to the bookshelf she had been standing on, pulled out the book "Child Psychology," and said expressionlessly, "You're even more childish than a child."

Just as Han Zhou was about to retort, the other person suddenly asked, "Do you have any extra masks?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

Since yesterday when he and Zhong Yin fought over a mask, Han Zhou has learned his lesson and made sure to bring several spare masks with him when he went out today.

"Give me one," said Xiao Yixia.

"why?"

Han Zhou found it a bit strange, and while taking out a mask, he emphasized, "Let me clarify, my cough just now was fake, it has nothing to do with the flu or anything like that."

It's autumn now, and the flu season is still quite severe.

"And you even claim to be a professional lookout."

Xiao Yixia put on a mask and her gaze fell on a woman with a bag at the entrance of the bookstore. "That's our Chinese teacher."

Han Zhou was slightly startled and immediately pulled the girl behind him before explaining, "I don't know what your Chinese teacher looks like."

Do you know what one of my teachers looks like?

"I have no idea."

"Then why were you coughing just now?"

Han Zhou gave an awkward smile: "That makes it seem more professional."

Xiao Yixia fell silent, looked down at the book "Child Psychology," and decided to buy it today.

At the entrance of the bookstore, a woman carrying a bag seemed to be confirming something with a clerk. After chatting for about a minute, she walked straight towards the general book section, her high heels clicking rhythmically on the tiled floor.

Damn it, how did she get here?
Han Zhou tensed up, his gaze fixed on the Chinese teacher who looked to be nearly thirty. He quietly covered Xiao Yixia's retreat, but halfway back, he suddenly remembered something and said with a serious expression, "By the way, what would happen if the teacher saw you?"

"not so good."

"So, it's like... what? What does 'not so good' mean?"

"Literally, nothing will happen if she sees it."

Han Zhou was struck dumb: "Then why do you suddenly need a mask?"

If nothing is going to happen, why did he retreat so aggressively just now?
Xiao Yixia looked up at him, slowly pulled up her mask, and spoke in a nonchalant tone.

"That looks more professional." (End of Chapter)