Forced into a romantic relationship

This chapter was difficult to write and may need further revisions.

“I said.”

What kind of person will I be in the future?

When she asked this question, Xiao Yixia's tone remained calm, but her usually composed eyes held an unusual hint of inquiry.

Han Zhou froze.

No way... Could it be that this guy has already figured something out?

He turned his head and stared in astonishment at the nine-year-old girl beside him, finding it utterly absurd. But then he thought, if it were Yixia when she was a child, perhaps this wouldn't be so impossible.

After a moment's hesitation, he tentatively asked, "Did you guess it?"

"Guess what?" Xiao Yixia asked back.

In the distance, the city lights merged into a blurry halo in the night, reflected on the slowly flowing, inky water, shattering into dancing gold foil that flickered in the girl's eyes.

Looking at that delicate little face, Han Zhou suddenly sighed and smiled helplessly, "You're quite cute when you pretend to be stupid."

He was certain that this guy had already guessed it.

"Am I not cute when I'm not pretending to be stupid?" Xiao Yixia tilted her head slightly.

Han Zhou was taken aback: "Cute is cute, of course... but don't you feel embarrassed asking it so seriously?"

"The teacher said that people should be brave enough to discover their own shortcomings and also generous enough to admit their own strengths."

Xiao Yixia took off her mask and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Being cute is my strength."

It has to be said that when that little face was revealed to the public, even the most critical person would probably find it hard to deny this statement.

Han Zhou was already used to Mo Yixia's "narcissism," but even so, he couldn't help but chuckle at this moment. So he simply followed her lead and asked, "Then what are your shortcomings?"

“We haven’t found anything yet,” Xiao Yixia replied without hesitation.

Han Zhou laughed: "So you're saying you're perfect?"

Xiao Yixia thought about it carefully, then gently shook her head: "Having no flaws doesn't mean being perfect, but that's a fair way to understand it for now."

"Then I'm very curious, why can't someone as perfect as you make friends?" Han Zhou asked, barely suppressing a laugh.

"Don't change the subject."

The girl glanced at him. "Answer my question first."

"You're the one changing the subject, aren't you..." Han Zhou chuckled inwardly, feigning confusion as he asked, "What question?"

"What kind of person will I be in the future?" Xiao Yixia repeated the question she had asked at the beginning.

Han Zhou sighed: "Shouldn't you have said, like I just praised you, that I looked cool when I pretended to be stupid?"

Xiao Yixia gave him a strange look: "Were you pretending to be stupid just now?"

Han Zhou: "..."

He opened his mouth, but then decided it wasn't worth arguing with a child. So he took off his mask, exhaled a long puff of white air, and said with some emotion, "I thought you wouldn't care too much about the future."

In the future, Yixia will be someone who has no expectations for anything. She hates expectations from others and doesn't easily give expectations to others. She cherishes every moment of the present but rarely thinks about the future.

Perhaps for her, the word "future" itself is an expectation that is too heavy.

Of course, this happened before the two met.

Han Zhou was conflicted. He didn't know how Xiao Yixia would feel if he told her now that she would gradually hate everything around her in the future.

Or perhaps it was this conversation today that led to this future?
He looked up at the night sky, which was tinged with a dark orange hue by the city lights.

Ultimately, did I really manage to get anything back on track this time I went back to the past?
If the past is destined to be unchangeable, and all deviations will eventually be corrected by the status bar, then what is the point of returning to the past this time?
Seeing that Han Zhou remained silent for a long time, Xiao Yixia did not urge him. She simply sat quietly by the riverbank and waited, ignoring the constant vibrations of her phone in her pocket.

When her phone vibrated for the fourth time, she simply turned it off and turned her gaze away from the dark water and towards Han Zhou.

"My future self won't be as perfect, right?"

Hearing this, Han Zhou finally came to his senses and asked curiously, "Why do you say that?"

"If my future self is perfect enough, you should have answered my question long ago. There's no need to hesitate."

Han Zhou was stunned for a moment. For a brief instant, he seemed to see the shadow of Yi Xia from the future again. She could guess his thoughts without even looking at him.

He shook his head and chuckled: "That's not why I'm hesitant."

He paused, then continued, "And in my opinion, you are already perfect enough in the future."

"Is it just 'your opinion'?" Xiao Yixia asked thoughtfully.

"Isn't perfection enough for me?"

"Of course not enough."

"Then there's a solution."

Han Zhou shrugged. "After all, I can't control what other people think."

Xiao Yixia remained noncommittal, and after a few seconds spoke again: "So in your opinion, am I cuter now, or am I cuter in the future?"

Han Zhou was taken aback, clearly not expecting Xiao Yixia to ask such a question, but even so, he reflexively became serious.

As a scumbag who needs to be fair to both sides, he had rehearsed similar questions countless times. However, Gu Zheng still doesn't know that he's trying to two-timing her. Yi Xia does know, but aside from humiliating Gu Zheng with her breast size, she's too lazy to make such a pointless comparison. Unexpectedly, the first time she's used this standard answer is here—

He took a deep breath and said solemnly, "Each has its own charm."

The air grew quiet.

"If you were asked to write a third-grade composition, you wouldn't even get ten points."

After a brief silence, Xiao Yixia sighed, clearly dissatisfied with the answer. "My question is, who is cuter?"

Han Zhou hadn't expected her to take it so seriously, and said with a wry smile, "Whether it's the you of today or the you of the future, aren't you essentially the same person?"

Xiao Yixia shook her head: "Even the same person can be different at different times."

Han Zhou was stunned. He knew Xiao Yixia was smart, but he didn't expect her to say such a serious sentence.

Can a wooden boat whose parts are constantly replaced during its voyage still be considered the original one? Whatever the answer may be, it's not something a nine-year-old should be thinking about.
He didn't quite understand. Yi Xia had never been a competitive person, so why did she insist on proving herself superior to her future self?
"I need to remind you of something."

Just then, Xiao Yixia spoke again, her voice calm yet clear, "You may know a lot about my future self, but the me of today and the me of the future are actually two different people."

"I understand," Han Zhou said with a smile.

No, you don't understand.

Xiao Yixia stood up, gently brushed the dust off her clothes, and then slowly walked forward along the riverbank.

"I can tell that you know me in the future, you know Sister Zhongyin in the future, and you also know the girl who is always by your side. You are very kind to all of us, and you are especially tolerant of me. This is because we in the future are very important to you, right?"

Han Zhou was taken aback, then stood up, picked up his schoolbag, and followed behind the girl.

There was no point in denying it, so he nodded: "Yes." Xiao Yixia didn't turn around. Her small figure was elongated by the streetlights, and in a daze, it seemed to overlap with the outline of her grown-up self. Even her tone was exactly the same as when she grew up.

"I think you must value us and those experiences very much. The reason you went back to the past must be to prevent certain tragedies from happening, right?"

That statement is only half true. Han Zhou's return to the past was entirely accidental. Initially, he only wanted to resolve his issues with Wang Lengqiu, but later, he genuinely wanted to use this opportunity to do more.

For example, preventing the car accident that killed the Zhong sisters' parents.

So he nodded again: "Yes."

"But that's the problem."

Xiao Yixia tilted her head slightly, her eyes shining brightly in the night. "What you care about is the future, and the present you are in, while we are in the 'past'."

"You're always worried, worried that your choices are right, worried that if you make the wrong choice, the future will go in an even worse direction."

"So, what are we in your eyes? Are we adjustable parameters to ensure perfect operation in the future? Or are we NPCs that must follow a predetermined path?"

Han Zhou was stunned.

He was surprised not only by Xiao Yixia's ability to easily read his mind, but also by the fact that she could say such things at such a young age.

“I’ve never considered you as NPCs,” he retorted instinctively.

"No?"

Xiao Yixia withdrew her gaze, her tone indifferent, "If you want a perfect ending, then you have to impose all your expectations for the future onto our past selves, don't you?"

Han Zhou opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He knew she was wrong, or at least not entirely right. But a strong sense of frustration still welled up from the deepest part of his heart, silencing all his words of rebuttal.

It turned out to be the case.

He seems to have found the real reason why the future Yixia hates anticipation.

Just as he had always feared, his interference did not lead to a better future; on the contrary, it was his excessive involvement that made many things worse.

So, was the accident that Zhong Yin's parents encountered also caused by him?
Could I really have prevented this tragedy from happening?

Or perhaps, doing nothing is actually the right thing to do?
Han Zhou had hoped to get answers from Yi Xia, but now he was even more confused.

If only the future Isha were here… he thought bitterly.

Just then, accompanied by the night wind, Xiao Yixia's voice rang in my ears again.

Are you thinking right now, "I wish my future self were here?"

Han Zhou came to his senses and saw a small figure standing in front of him, looking up at him with a calm gaze, yet also with some incomprehensible emotions.

"How did you know?" he asked with a wry smile.

"Your thoughts are written all over your face."

Xiao Yixia rolled her eyes, which was unusual for her, then lowered the brim of her hat and said in an ambiguous tone, "You must be thinking that if it were me in the future, I would definitely be able to understand all your thoughts and feelings."

Han Zhou was stunned.

Before he could say anything, Xiao Yixia continued, "Someone told me that a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a storm in a very far place. This is called the butterfly effect."

Han Zhou's heart tightened.

Perhaps sensing his change in mood, Xiao Yixia sighed softly, then raised her head, stood on tiptoe, and reached out her hands to carefully smooth out the stiff muscles on his face.

"But we are not butterflies, and we don't know whether a storm is good or bad. Maybe the wind blows away the dark clouds covering a city, or maybe it just stirs up some insignificant dust."

Han Zhou's lips moved: "What do you want to say?"

"What I want to say is that you don't need to think of yourself as a savior."

Xiao Yixia spoke softly, exhaling puffs of white mist that quickly dissipated under the streetlights.

"No matter what we will be like in the future, at least you are facing us now. You don't have to, and can't, take on our 'destined' future."

She spoke calmly, as if she were merely discussing tomorrow's weather, "If the future is destined to remain unchanged, then let's not change it."

Han Zhou was stunned.

He finally realized that what Xiao Yixia had said before wasn't meant to blame him; she had simply seen the pressure he was under from the beginning and that's why she had comforted him in such a roundabout way.

He opened his mouth, his voice strained: "But what if I still want to try to change things?"

"Then let's face the consequences together."

Without hesitation, Xiao Yixia replied, "To be precise, it means that we in the future will share the consequences with you."

"But……"

"No buts."

Xiao Yixia interrupted him, "I've already said, you don't need to be a savior. At least to me right now, you're just a strange, but not that annoying, adult who suddenly appeared in front of me, nothing more."

The shimmering light on the river danced quietly in her eyes. The city lights in the distance remained, like a constellation of stars that would never fall.

Han Zhou remained silent for a long time. The night wind carried a chill, yet it seemed to dispel some long-accumulated pent-up emotions in his chest.

After a long while, he exhaled a long breath, and the white mist dissipated in the night.

“I understand,” he said.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "But I have a question for you."

“Before that, you should answer my question first,” Xiao Yixia said.

Han Zhou knew exactly what she was referring to, and smiled, saying, "You're adorable no matter what."

Xiao Yixia looked up at him without saying a word.

“Remember what I said before? ‘Any time that you haven’t personally experienced can be considered a distant past.’”

Han Zhou met her gaze without fear and said earnestly, "In other words, as long as it's time that I've personally experienced, there's no distinction between past and future, so there's no need to compare. You've always been adorable."

Xiao Yixia stared at him for a while, then turned her head and looked back at the shimmering river in the distance.

"A cunning answer."

A night breeze ruffled the wisps of hair on the girl's forehead. She pursed her lips, raised her hand to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and continued, "So, what question do you want to ask me?"

Han Zhou hesitated for a moment before tentatively asking, "The butterfly effect you just mentioned... who told you about it?"

Although Xiao Yixia is very smart, he still felt that it was a bit too much for her to say those things at her age.

"I'm only nine years old now, and I sometimes have strange dreams."

Xiao Yixia didn't answer directly, but simply pulled her hat brim down a little.

"However, I still think I'm cuter now." (End of Chapter)