Chapter 567
Marriage
Under the narrow, old eaves, only the sound of rain pattering could be heard.
Water droplets streamed down the broken edges of the roof tiles, splashing out fine ripples in the puddles.
Han Zhou looked down at the hair tie on his wrist, which was now a darker color from being soaked in the rain, and remained motionless for a long time.
In the past, Sister Yin made me wear my hair tie on my wrist, but now she's making me hide it... Whom should I listen to?
After a long while, he let out a long breath, and the white mist quickly dissipated in the humid air. Now was not the time to dwell on this. While the "there will definitely be a response" was still ongoing, he had to hurry and head to Xiao Leng... no, to Wang Lengqiu's side.
The phone call didn't last long, less than three minutes. Since the future hadn't changed at all, it meant that Wang Lengqiu's fate was still running on its original track.
Although the experience of returning to the past was brief, it was enough for Han Zhou to gain a deeper understanding of Wang Lengqiu. He knew very well that the other party was definitely not the kind of person who would commit suicide.
Or rather, given this girl's personality, even if she really wanted to die, she wouldn't leave such a nonsensical note, causing unnecessary worry.
She doesn't like to bother others.
But it was precisely because Han Zhou had a good understanding of Wang Lengqiu that he could better understand what she had endured over the past nine years, and he could also better empathize with how she must have felt when he repeatedly spoke coldly to her.
Guilt gripped his heart like a spiderweb, tightening his grip, and he dared not go to see her immediately.
Therefore, only after confirming that the other party was not in immediate danger would he call Zhong Yin to calm himself down.
Although I got a scolding, I did feel much better.
I wish Senior Wang Lengqiu could scold me when we meet later...
Han Zhou smiled bitterly to himself, then closed his eyes, and the image of Wang Lengqiu's expressionless face appeared in his mind.
To trigger the "always echo" teleportation effect, four conditions must be met.
First, no one witnessed it.
Second, maintain a strong desire for the goal.
Third, keep recalling the other person's face in your mind.
Fourth, envision a future with the other person.
He thought it would take some effort to meet the fourth condition, but almost the instant the thought crossed his mind, Han Zhou's body suddenly felt lighter.
When he opened his eyes again, he was standing at the entrance of a residential building, with the sound of continuous rain behind him and the faint roar of vehicles.
At the same time, the detection radar beeped.
This means that Wang Lengqiu is nearby.
Han Zhou breathed a sigh of relief, but a sense of confusion arose within him.
What is the senior student doing in a place like this so early in the morning?
He walked down the stairs and looked out through the rain. It seemed to be a residential area, not high-end, but clearly not a town or village.
Is this in the city?
No wonder it could exceed the detection radar's range of ten kilometers and actually get to such a far place... Han Zhou's confusion deepened, and he turned to look at the residential buildings behind him.
"There will be an echo" will teleport him to the nearest deserted place, so it is obvious that Senior Wang Lengqiu is currently in a room in this building.
Holding a detection radar, he climbed the stairs, wondering whether he should tidy himself up before knocking on the door. When he looked up, he saw someone sitting at the corner of the stairs.
She sat curled up on the steps, leaning against the cold wall, wrapped in a slightly oversized dark down jacket. Even so, it couldn't hide her thin figure. The collar was turned up, almost covering half of her face, revealing only her delicate nose and overly quiet eyes. Her long hair fell out from the edge of the hood, with a few damp strands quietly clinging to her pale cheeks.
I felt pity for him.
It was Wang Lengqiu.
The girl's fingers were red from the cold. She held an ordinary transparent plastic bag containing several soft, white steamed buns. She ate them in small bites, occasionally pausing to look at the buns in her hands. Her long eyelashes drooped down, casting faint shadows under her eyelids.
There was no heating in the stairwell, only a damp, cold wind seeping in through the cracks in the stairwell windows. She shrank her neck and buried the lower half of her face deeper into her collar. Then, she saw Han Zhou directly below, looking like a drowned rat.
"How did you get here..."
She seemed to pause for a moment, put down the steamed bun and stood up, but before she could finish speaking, the figure had already pounced over and tightly embraced her frail body.
Her usually calm eyes trembled almost imperceptibly. Her arm paused in mid-air for a moment before tentatively raising it and gently placing it on the other person's mud-covered back, then slowly closing it.
So cold.
Thinking this, she didn't care that he was covered in mud. She turned her face and gently pressed it against his cold neck, rubbing it lightly as if that would warm her up.
It will be warm.
Just like back then.
Nine years later, two damp bodies were pressed tightly together again, just like on the day the flash flood broke out.
"Are you back?" she asked softly.
To outsiders, this was undoubtedly a puzzling statement, but Han Zhou understood it. He tightened his arms around her, and his deep voice rang out from her hair.
"Yes, I'm back."
Han Zhou didn't know how to describe his feelings at this moment. For him, the separation from Xiao Lengqiu was still yesterday, but in this girl's life, it had already been nine long years.
He opened his mouth, many words surging in his throat, but in the end only they came out as a hoarse whisper.
"I'm sorry, senior."
This time, Wang Lengqiu didn't ask him why he apologized or what happened. She just quietly hugged him, gently hummed in agreement, and didn't make a fuss, just like when they were children.
This was not a grand and enthusiastic reunion, but in the midst of this quiet moment, something that had stood between the two seemed to have been broken.
Side quest (Wang Lengqiu) completed, 80 points earned, 1 additional skill enhancement draw.
[Skill enhancement in progress... Drawing complete, you have obtained the skill - Concentration]
[Full concentration: When you are focused on something, you will gain more or less time.]
Han Zhou ignored the prompt in front of him, then suddenly remembered that he was covered in mud and water. Just as he was about to let go, he was pulled back into his arms by a small but firm force.
The girl in his arms was breathing heavily. With her frail body, it seemed that just pulling like that had exhausted all her strength.
The torrential rain outside seemed to have stopped; the sound of rain could no longer be heard, leaving only the rapid, hot breaths of two people close together.
“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said.
Han Zhou paused for a moment, then his expression softened: "I know."
“I haven’t forgotten you,” Wang Lengqiu continued.
"I know too."
"I have studied hard and strived to improve myself."
"I can tell."
"I resisted the urge to watch the ending of 'Witness an Alien'."
"Ah."
"I still prefer pigeons because they don't treat me like their mother."
"..."
She didn't cry tears of joy, nor did she recount the hardships of the past years; she simply spoke like a child, saying things that no one could understand.
Han Zhou listened silently. He could understand some of what was being said, but he still couldn't understand some of it. But it didn't matter that he couldn't understand; he was willing to listen patiently.
Perhaps realizing she had said too many incomprehensible things, Wang Lengqiu gently pulled away from his embrace, raised her head, and gazed nervously into his eyes before uttering the most straightforward words imaginable—
"...I miss you so much."
Han Zhou's heart skipped a beat.
The other person had said those words last night, but he hadn't understood their weight then. Hearing them again now, he felt as if an invisible hand was clenching his heart, and a sour pain spread through him. Before he could say anything, Wang Lengqiu pulled out all the tissues he had, stood in front of him, and carefully wiped the rain from his face and hair, bit by bit. Then she was about to unzip her down jacket, seemingly wanting to take it off and give it to him, but he stopped her.
"Have you forgotten? I am the all-powerful stick figure."
Han Zhou zipped her up again, and although he was smiling, his tone was somewhat bittersweet, "Stickmen don't catch colds."
He looked at the other person's clothes, which were covered in mud, and said with a wry smile, "Sorry, I've gotten your clothes dirty too."
Wang Lengqiu stared at him for a while, then gently shook her head, squatted down, picked up the steamed bun on the steps, and tentatively offered it to him.
"Want to eat?"
Han Zhou was taken aback, and couldn't help but recall the scene outside the school gate that day. He felt a pang of bitterness in his heart, but he didn't show it. He just nodded heavily, his tone smiling.
"Let's eat together."
The two sat down side by side on the cold steps, sharing the few steamed buns that had already cooled down.
Han Zhou's hands were too dirty to touch the food, so Wang Lengqiu tore off a small piece and carefully offered it to his mouth. He no longer avoided it and naturally lowered his head to take it in and chew it slowly.
Only the faint sound of swallowing and the patter of rain outside the window remained in the air.
“Like feeding pigeons,” the girl suddenly said.
"is it?"
Han Zhou was amused by her strange thought process, and then suddenly thought of something and asked curiously, "Speaking of which, I've wanted to ask you for a long time, senior, why do you like pigeons and not see you as your mother?"
Wang Lengqiu tilted her head and then answered very seriously, "Because mothers and children cannot get married."
"Um, I don't quite understand..."
"I want to marry you."
"so what?"
"So you can't treat me like your mother."
"When did I ever consider you my mother?"
Well… Han Zhou was both amused and exasperated. He probably would never be able to fully understand what this girl was thinking.
it's fine.
There is still a long time ahead, and he can study it slowly.
He turned to look at the girl's profile. She was eating a steamed bun in small bites. When she saw him looking over, she thought he wanted more, so she broke off a small piece of the bun and handed it to him.
Honestly, it's clearly my eating manners that resemble a pigeon more...
Han Zhou chuckled, swallowed the steamed bun, and spoke softly before she could feed him again.
"Senior."
"Ok?"
Wang Lengqiu looked up and handed over the last half of the steamed bun.
Outside the window, the rain seemed to have lessened a bit, with fine rain streaks slanting against the gray glass of the stairwell, winding into watermarks.
"I like you."
The hallway was dimly lit, with only the hazy light from outside the window casting faint shadows of the two people on the cold steps. It was so quiet that they could almost hear each other's heartbeats.
Wang Lengqiu paused for a moment, and a rare look of bewilderment appeared on her face, which was pale from the cold.
After a moment of silence, Han Zhou's gaze fell on the girl's hair, which was damp with rain, and then he looked up and looked intently into her quiet eyes.
"Whether it's guilt or being moved, I don't really know if this counts as true love, but I feel... no, it's not just a feeling, I can't leave you anymore."
Indeed, Han Zhou didn't know if this counted as liking someone, or even if these words could be called a confession.
He knew very well that this feeling was not as intense and passionate as his feelings for Mo Yixia, like the short but unforgettable chirping of cicadas in summer, nor as long and steady as his feelings for the guzheng, like the pages of a book turned by the spring breeze.
But like autumn leaves, it silently sinks into the soil year after year, slowly decomposing and dissolving, eventually seeping deep into the earth and becoming a part that can never be removed.
Han Zhou never denied that he was a greedy person. Since he couldn't let go, and since he had already tasted the pain of loss and experienced the joy of regaining what he had lost, he would never let Wang Lengqiu leave his side again.
So he spoke with even greater determination, his voice exceptionally clear in the quiet stairwell, yet gently enveloped by the soft sound of the rain.
"Senior, I think I've already said it before: someone like me isn't worth your affection. I've given you so many chances, and since you didn't run away, it's too late to back out now."
"I love you. From today onwards, unless I die, I will never let you suffer the slightest grievance again."
Wang Lengqiu held the steamed bun, her long eyelashes lifted, and quietly looked over.
Han Zhou did not flinch, letting her gaze see into the depths of his heart.
But he seemed to have misunderstood. Wang Lengqiu didn't seem to be trying to guess his thoughts; she simply asked softly:
"Can we get married?"
She paused, then added earnestly, "We can make her the bride first, and then have the wedding..."
"of course."
Han Zhou interrupted her without hesitation, "I will buy you the most beautiful wedding dress, take you anywhere you want to go, and hold the grandest wedding for you."
For the first time, he made such a solemn promise in a relationship.
Although he looked disheveled at the moment, he believed, and he believed that Wang Lengqiu would believe, that he had such ability.
Wang Lengqiu's red lips parted slightly, whether in surprise at his determination or in anticipation of such a future, she asked after a few seconds, "What about Guzheng and Yixia?"
"Forehead……"
Upon hearing these two names, Han Zhou's initial enthusiasm instantly cooled, and his momentum vanished. He awkwardly scratched his head and, after a long while, managed to utter five words.
"I'm sorry, senior..."
Wang Lengqiu shook her head, put down the half-eaten steamed bun in her hand, and gently hugged him again: "You've already said sorry twice today."
She paused, then continued, "But back then, you clearly said that was the second to last time you apologized."
She remembers, she remembers everything.
Even after nine years, she still remembers everything from that time.
Nine years and yesterday seem to make no difference to her.
No... there are still differences.
She is no longer a child and can choose the life she wants.
So she said softly, "So you don't need to apologize to me anymore. It's okay if we don't get married. I won't be unhappy."
That's not humility, but a kind of gentle self-sacrifice.
"Senior, you've misunderstood."
Han Zhou suppressed the stinging in his nose, placed his hands on the girl's shoulders, pulled her in front of him, and said with a smile, "I'm sorry not because I'm planning to give up on marrying you, but because I'm not a faithful person when it comes to relationships."
Wang Lengqiu tilted his head.
Han Zhou looked into her clear eyes and suddenly smiled with unusual seriousness.
"So, let's get married after graduation." (End of Chapter)