Forced into a romantic relationship

Zhong Yin had never gone shopping with a boy before, let alone held hands like this before.

However, compared to nervousness and unease, she felt more at ease at this moment, as if as long as she was being held by the big hand beside her, even the most crowded crowds were nothing to worry about.

And this is indeed the case.

Even though she was still going against the flow of people, and even though the area in front of her was still crowded, no one bumped into her anymore; instead, they all consciously made way for her.

"what have you done?"

She looked at Han Zhou beside her and couldn't help but ask.

"did nothing."

Han Zhou smiled dismissively and casually said, "I guess it's because I have an aura of dominance that everyone avoids me."

"You're just talking nonsense."

Zhong Yin rolled her eyes at him, but didn't ask any further questions.

In fact, Han Zhou wasn't lying; in a sense, he truly possessed an aura of dominance.

[Fearless Warrior (modified) → Fearless King: Once activated, when you walk bravely and fearlessly on the road, no one will dare to stop you from moving forward]

There was no other way; there were just too many people on this commercial street. If he wanted to avoid being bumped into by the crowd, he could only use the status bar to give himself a buff.

I have to say, this buff is actually quite useful. I wonder if I can use it to get into the concert tonight...

At this point, Han Zhou had given up hope of getting concert tickets. Unless he had a stroke of luck this afternoon and a kind person was willing to give him two tickets, he would have to resort to crooked means.

He turned to look at Xiao Yixia, only to find that she was also looking at him. So he winked and made faces at her, not caring whether she could understand him or not.

Before long, the three entered a jewelry store, where a salesperson immediately greeted them warmly with a smile: "Hello, gentlemen, how can I help you?"

She had a sharp eye. Although the young man and woman were dressed plainly, the little girl beside them was covered in luxury goods from head to toe, clearly someone who had grown up with a silver spoon in her mouth.

What's even more noteworthy is that these three are all obviously handsome men and beautiful women, and almost all of them are wearing masks and baseball caps, clearly trying to conceal their identities...

Low-key, understated, and combined with today's concert...

Hmm... Could it be that this man and woman are Xu Xiangyang's celebrity friends! And that little girl is their daughter?
What? He looks too young?
So what if you're young? Which celebrity doesn't look young?
Thinking of this, the shop assistant felt a surge of excitement and became even more eager, quickly launching into a fluent and engaging introduction to the jewelry in the store.

Han Zhou thought to himself, "I'm just a poor guy. If you're going to recommend something, at least recommend something cheap. Why are you talking to me about things worth hundreds of thousands?" He smiled and explained, "Sorry, we're just passing through and didn't intend to buy anything."

This jewelry store has direct access to the mall, which is why they went into it.

The sales clerk was convinced that her judgment was correct and was not about to let such a big customer slip by. She quickly said, "Sir, your wife is so beautiful, with such a lovely swan neck. She would look absolutely gorgeous in a necklace!"

Before Han Zhou could speak, she had already taken a necklace from the counter, displayed it in front of Zhong Yin's neck, and immediately handed her a mirror.

"Madam, do you think the color of this necklace is a perfect match for your skin tone?"

She continued, “This teardrop-shaped pendant is very flattering to the face, making your neck appear even longer and more elegant. The platinum's texture is also very sophisticated, perfectly complementing your气质 (qi zhi - inherent quality/temperament). The brilliance of the main diamond is just right, neither too ostentatious nor too understated, enhancing the overall refinement and elegance…”

"Sorry, I don't need this!"

Being addressed as "Madam" repeatedly, Zhong Yin's face was already burning red. She finally managed to shake off the enthusiastic shop assistant and fled the jewelry store with Han Zhou as if they were running away.

Seeing that the sales pitch had failed, the young saleswoman was a little disappointed, but she quickly put that feeling of frustration behind her and took out her phone to send a message to her best friend.

"I think I just saw a celebrity. Can you help me think of any celebrities in the entertainment industry who have big breasts?"

"How big is it? How would I, an A, know? Anyway, it's definitely a D... Oh right, it jumps when it runs!"

Meanwhile, Zhong Yin and Han Zhou had reached a safe location. Zhong Yin, who was not in good physical condition, leaned on his knees and panted, saying, "Do we look like we have a lot of money? Why did that shop assistant insist on trying to sell us the necklace?"

There were so many people entering the jewelry store, but the staff showed extraordinary enthusiasm only towards them.

Han Zhou roughly guessed what was going on. He turned around and glanced at Xiao Yixia, who was walking over unhurriedly, and said half-jokingly, "Maybe you do have the potential to be a lady of high society?"

Zhong Yin blushed, immediately thinking of the words "madam" she had just heard, and said irritably, "I'm only seventeen years old, how am I like a woman?"

"You're talking about potential. Who knows, you might become a wealthy lady in ten years?"

"I'll only be twenty-seven years old in ten years, which is still very young!" Zhong Yin immediately retorted.

"I didn't say I wasn't young, why are you so agitated?" Han Zhou said with a wry smile, extending his hand.

Zhong Yin fell silent, realizing that she had been too excited, because she had just subconsciously connected the scene she saw in her dream.

She reached out her hand as well, letting Han Zhou pull her up, and muttered, "I've heard that you men are all very 'single-minded,' only ever liking eighteen-year-old girls. Twenty-seven must not be young in your eyes."

"Who says men only like eighteen-year-old girls?" Han Zhou said, laughing and crying at the same time. "I'm not faithful, I like seventeen-year-old girls too."

He was telling the truth, whether it was his infidelity or his liking for seventeen-year-old girls—of course, the seventeen-year-old girl here referred to the future Mo Yixia, but Zhong Yin naturally assumed it referred to herself. Her heart raced a little, and she hurriedly lowered her head, then suddenly raised it again, clenching her fists, staring into Han Zhou's eyes and questioning, "Then do you like twenty-seven-year-old girls?"

"I've already told you I'm not faithful."

Han Zhou didn't understand why she cared so much about this issue, and said helplessly, "Age has never been important. As long as I like someone, I will like them no matter how old they are."

Xiao Yixia, who happened to be walking over, overheard this. She gave him a disdainful look but didn't say anything.

Zhong Yin remained silent, simply extending her hand and waiting. Seeing that Han Zhou hadn't reacted for a long time, she became furious. She immediately swung her ponytail at Han Zhou's face, then took his hand and forcefully pulled him to her side.

Han Zhou was stunned for a moment: "Sister Yin..."

He wanted to say that there weren't that many people left, and that they no longer needed to hold hands, but Zhong Yin interrupted him before he could finish speaking.

"If we don't even dare to hold hands, what kind of couple are we pretending to be? How can we convince Zhang Yang that we're engaged?"

The girl took a deep breath, as if she wanted to inhale all the noisy air and bright lights in the mall into her lungs and transform them into courage.

"Indecisiveness... Listen! If you dare let go, you're dead!"

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment, glanced at Xiao Yixia standing beside him, and said in a low voice, "But Sister Yin, there are still children here..."

ha?
You dared to kiss me in front of Xiaoling and Xiaoya, and now you're afraid of the kids seeing us holding hands?

"You didn't say that when you held my hand!"

Zhong Yin was so angry that her teeth itched. She glared at Han Zhou and then dragged him forward.

Han Zhou stumbled and quickly grabbed Xiao Yixia's hand to prevent her from getting lost.

The three of them then strolled hand in hand through the mall.

Since it was a farewell gift, Han Zhou naturally wanted to find something meaningful, but he couldn't find the ideal gift after searching the whole mall, so he could only pick a few things symbolically first.

Choosing gifts for others wasn't difficult, but since it was an "engagement gift," it obviously had to be more formal and couldn't be something like dolls or clay sculptures. Han Zhou searched for a long time before finally choosing a pair of couple rings for two hundred yuan on the advice of the shop assistant.

Although it's a bit shabby to use for an "engagement," it should be enough to fool Zhang Yang.

Zhong Yin was stunned when she saw the wedding rings: "You really want to bring up the engagement with my dad?"

"if not?"

Han Zhou was serious, of course. Without Uncle Zhong's approval, was he really going to be forced to kiss Sister Yin in front of Zhang Yang?
He took the box containing the wedding rings from the shop assistant, but before he could put it away, Zhong Yin snatched it away and examined it over and over again.

After a while, as if she had noticed something, she asked in confusion, "What do these two letters on the inside of the ring mean?"

"It's the initials of our names, let's go all the way with this act," Han Zhou replied casually.

Zhong Yin was even more puzzled: "I know this 'Z' is the initial of my name, but shouldn't the first letter of your name be 'S'? Why is it 'H'?"

Han Zhou's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly calmed down and said without changing his expression, "Oh, that's your ring. 'H' means 'honey,' representing my dear Zhong Yin."

Zhong Yin blushed slightly, but still felt that he was just fooling her, so she held out her hand and said, "Let me see your ring."

The letters engraved on Han Zhou's ring are of course "HZ", but according to what he just said, it should be "HS". Once Zhong Yin sees it, this lie will naturally fall apart.

He broke out in a cold sweat and was about to explain when Xiao Yixia, who had barely spoken the whole way, suddenly said, "Sister Zhongyin, I also picked out gifts for you and Brother Wukong."

"really?"

Zhong Yin's eyes lit up, her attention immediately diverted, and she quickly bent down to ask what the gift was.

Han Zhou secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but then he was puzzled, wondering why Xiao Yixia had helped him out of that predicament.

However, I can only ask this question after I leave the mall.

It's worth mentioning that Xiao Yixia actually prepared a gift for him, a round-headed toy rhinoceros. "Rhinoceros" and "West Bull" – it's unclear whether she was using this toy to mock him for having too many names.

Xiao Yixia's gift to Zhong Yin was much more high-end and classy—a pair of expensive headphones. However, neither Zhong Yin nor Han Zhou knew how much those headphones were worth.

Just as the three were about to leave the mall, a man suddenly appeared at the entrance of a shop, beaming, and said, "Hello everyone, we recently received a new batch of hearing aids. If anyone in your family needs one, you can bring them over to try them out..."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat and dared not continue.

Of the three, the young girl wearing a mask was shaking her head, as if she was listening to music with headphones.

The little girl, wearing a mask and a baseball cap, looked out of the mall with a bored expression, as if she hadn't even noticed him.

The only exception was the boy who had been joking just moments before; now his eyes held a terrifying, murderous glint. (End of Chapter)