Forced into a romantic relationship

"Scumbag."

This was the first thing Xiao Yixia said to Han Zhou as he approached.

Han Zhou didn't pay attention. He simply bent down, picked up the small schoolbag from the ground, dusted it off, straightened up, and casually tossed the schoolbag over his shoulder.

“Let’s go,” he said. “That scumbag will take you home.”

Xiao Yixia stood still, turning her head to glance at the distance—Zhong Yin was still standing by the flower bed, her eyes red-rimmed, yet smiling, with Xiao Zhongling looking worried beside her, and Xiao Lengqiu quietly watching this side.

"What you should be doing now," the girl said, turning her gaze away, her childish voice languid with weariness, "isn't it to properly comfort your girlfriend?"

Han Zhou paused, turned around, gave her a strange look, then smiled helplessly and said in a soft voice, "I've already coaxed her."

In fact, a girl with Zhong Yin's personality doesn't need comfort from others at all. Rather, it was the other party who drove her here.

No matter what, Sister Yin is always the strong Sister Yin. If he hadn't been unable to hold back for a moment, he probably wouldn't have seen this girl show her vulnerable side.

Unlike the stubborn Guzheng, Zhong Yin's strength appeared graceful and composed. She cried, but after a brief stay in his arms, her wet sorrow seemed to be blown away by the night wind, leaving no trace.

And the more this is the case, the less he can do anything unnecessary.

"I thought you would deny it immediately."

Xiao Yixia stared at him for two seconds before taking a step to catch up, her boots making a soft rustling sound as they stepped on the fallen leaves.

"Deny what?"

"The fact that she's your girlfriend."

Sure enough, girls are naturally good at finding loopholes in words, and even children are no exception.

Han Zhou chuckled, but when he thought of Zhong Yin's tear-streaked face not long ago, his smile gradually faded.

The winter night wind was like a dull knife, stinging his cheeks. He put on his mask and couldn't help but think of that forced kiss through the mask at the movie theater entrance.

Looking back now, whatever the reason, it was a pretty awful thing to do.

That was a young girl's first kiss.

"Looks like I've really become a complete scumbag..."

Han Zhou mocked himself inwardly. He once thought that he would only have two of the three characteristics of a so-called "scumbag": "not taking initiative, not refusing, and not taking responsibility." But now, he couldn't even take responsibility.

Gathering his scattered thoughts, he slowed his pace and walked side by side with Xiao Yixia, gently placing a hand on the girl's head, which was covered by a baseball cap.

"I've already told you, the person I like is you."

Xiao Yixia slapped his hand away without hesitation, but this time she didn't call him a pedophile. She simply straightened her hat brim and glanced at him, saying, "Is this the only kind of thing you dare to say to children?"

Han Zhou was taken aback.

"probably."

After a moment, he sighed and said with feigned melancholy, "After all, one has to take responsibility for saying such things to adults."

“You have to take responsibility for saying things like that to children.”

Xiao Yixia spoke calmly, taking her phone out of her pocket. The cold white light from the screen instantly illuminated half of her face.

As she typed something on her phone, she looked over seriously and said, word by word, "It's still about legal responsibility."

"You're not thinking of calling the police to arrest me, are you?"

Han Zhou craned his neck to look, but the girl raised her hand and pressed it against his forehead, her tone filled with a cute helplessness: "If you keep doing this, I'm really going to call the police."

Han Zhou couldn't help but chuckle, but didn't continue looking at the content on the screen: "There has to be a legitimate reason to call the police, right?"

"You're lying to a child."

Fooling children...

Han Zhou was surprised that Xiao Yixia could say such cute things so seriously, and said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, "When did I lie to a child?"

"You just said that you don't need to take responsibility for what you say to children, which shows you've been toying with children's feelings quite a bit." "What do you mean by toying with feelings...?"

Han Zhou's lips twitched. "Did I mean that?"

Xiao Yixia put away her phone, not even looking up, and said, "So, you just said that the person you like is me, is that true?"

Han Zhou paused for a moment, then suddenly realized that the child seemed to be asking a serious question, so he answered just as seriously, "Of course."

"Will you always like me from now on?"

"of course."

"No matter what I become in the future?"

Rather, I would say I like what you will be like in the future… Han Zhou chuckled inwardly and nodded seriously again: “No matter what you become in the future.”

"Yeah……"

Xiao Yixia seemed lost in thought, then suddenly looked up and asked one last question, "Will you only like me from now on?"

Han Zhou was silent for a moment, then changed the subject, his voice sounding somewhat abrupt in the empty street: "Did your parents call you before the concert started?"

"Are you trying to change the subject?" Xiao Yixia asked unhurriedly.

Han Zhou didn't answer, but continued to ask, "If I'm not mistaken, you were waiting for that call, so why didn't you answer it then?"

Is this important?

If you think it's unimportant, then it's unimportant.

Han Zhou secretly breathed a sigh of relief, shook his head and said, "But how do you plan to explain this to your parents?"

"Shouldn't you be the one to ask that?"

Xiao Yixia said in a matter-of-fact tone, "I'm just a poor little girl imprisoned by scumbags."

Han Zhou laughed: "Don't worry, I've already thought of a way."

He paused, then continued, "Even if I'm a scumbag, I'll make them accept me."

Xiao Yixia didn't seem curious at all about what the so-called solution was. She just looked at the riverbank not far away and casually asked, "What if they refuse to accept it?"

Han Zhou pondered for a moment, perhaps thinking of something amusing, and suddenly laughed: "Then I'll elope with you?"

"No."

Unsurprisingly, Xiao Yixia refused quite decisively.

She walked on by herself until she reached the riverbank, then stopped, found a clean spot, and sat down on the ground.

On a winter night, the river surface is shimmering with fragmented light. The warm colors of the distant streetlights and the cool colors of the neon lights are all blurred into patches of color in the ripples.

A breeze swept across the river, carrying a damp chill, and ruffled a few stray strands of hair beneath her hat brim.

"Why did you stop? Are you tired?" The next second, Han Zhou sat down next to the girl.

Xiao Yixia ignored him, simply resting her chin on her hand and quietly gazing at the shimmering river before her. After a while, she finally spoke, "In the past, eloping would have resulted in being drowned."

Han Zhou's lips twitched: "Your 'before' is way too far back in time..."

The girl's gaze never left the river, her voice muffled by the night wind: "So, how long ago do you think 'a long time ago' is considered a long time ago?"

Han Zhou paused for a moment, then, mimicking her gesture, rested his chin on his hand and gazed at the shimmering black water. After a moment's thought, he replied, "I suppose... any period of time that I haven't personally experienced can be considered a distant past."

Xiao Yixia remained noncommittal, unsure whether she couldn't understand the meaning of the sentence or didn't agree with the answer.

She continued to gaze into the distance, resting her chin on her hand, until a night breeze blew by. Only then did she raise her hand to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear and turn to look at her.

“I said.”

"What kind of person will I be in the future?" (End of Chapter)