Chapter 569
Lovers
As everyone knows, Wang Lengqiu doesn't joke around.
So when she says she wants to shower together, she really means it.
But why?
When Han Zhou asked this question, he was met with a profound counter-question from Wang Lengqiu.
Can't lovers shower together?
Just as she uttered those words, the rain began to fall softly, pattering against the eaves above and striking Han Zhou's slightly startled heart.
He then remembered that they were now in a relationship, and showering together didn't seem to be a problem. He hesitated and said, "It's okay... but why does it have to be a shower?"
“We’ve all gotten wet in the rain, and we’ll catch a cold if we don’t shower,” Wang Lengqiu said earnestly.
Neither of them had brought an umbrella, so they could only try to walk close to the eaves. Even though they were very careful, their shoulders and hair still inevitably got wet with the cold rain.
"There's no need to shower together then..." Han Zhou said with a wry smile.
"You don't want to?" The girl tilted her head. "Take a bath with me."
Her voice was calm, but her face was simply too alluring. A few water droplets clung to her eyelashes, trembling slightly as if splashing from her watery eyes. Just by quietly gazing at him like that, she gave the illusion that she was about to cry from a wronged state.
"It's more accurate to say that we weren't prepared."
Han Zhou was a little embarrassed and admitted, "After all, the person I saw yesterday was still the one who was a child, so it's inevitable that I'd still think of you as a little kid. Now, suddenly asking me to take a bath with you just feels a bit strange..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly wanted to slap himself. The girl had taken such the initiative, and he, a grown man, was still being so hesitant and timid. It would be a laughing stock if word got out.
But jokes aside, he really couldn't bring himself to take a bath with Wang Lengqiu right now, even though they were lovers.
"Do I look like a child?" Wang Lengqiu seemed a little puzzled.
That's not what I meant...
That's what you mean.
Surprisingly, Wang Lengqiu denied his words, and after thinking for a moment, said, "You kissed Sister Zhong Yin back then, and Sister Zhong Yin kissed you back, even if you weren't lovers."
Clearly, this is a true story, and even nine years later, she still remembers it vividly.
After a pause, she suddenly realized something and asked in confusion, "Are you just 'ordinary friends' too?"
Han Zhou was startled, and for some reason felt like his current girlfriend had caught his ex-girlfriend red-handed. Although that wasn't the case at all, he quickly changed the subject and said, "Of course not, but it's been so long, how do you still remember?"
He was also a little curious as to why, out of everyone, only Wang Lengqiu retained her past memories. However, he figured it must be related to the [Entering the Painting Detection Recorder], since what this thing read and recorded was her obsession.
As for what constitutes cause and effect, he couldn't understand it, and it didn't matter anymore.
"I remember everything that is related to you."
Amid the continuous sound of rain, Wang Lengqiu replied in this way.
She didn't press Zhong Yin further, even though she had already noticed the hair tie on Han Zhou's wrist. It seemed that as long as the other party was unwilling to answer, she wouldn't dig deeper.
But there was one thing she still wanted to understand.
She suddenly turned her face to look at me. Her wet hair clung to her thin cheeks, and water droplets were slowly gathering at the ends of her hair and dripping down.
"Brother Han Zhou, do I really look like a child?"
Nine years later, she finally used that title again, even though she had become a so-called senior student, she still wanted to call him that.
Han Zhou was taken aback, then chuckled and said, "I already said it doesn't look like it."
To be fair, Wang Lengqiu's leaps of thought do seem a bit like an adult's in many ways, and her speech can be somewhat childish. But once you understand her personality, you'll find that this isn't a flaw, but rather a kind of clear and precious quality.
As for why she was so persistent about this question, Han Zhou could roughly guess the reason.
That stemmed from a conversation nine years ago—
"Brother Han Zhou".
"Ok?"
"If one day I'm no longer a child, will you still like to be with me?"
He didn't answer the question directly at the time, but now he can give a proper answer.
“Whether you’re a child or not, I enjoy being with you,” he said with a smile.
Wang Lengqiu didn't reply, but lowered her eyes and looked at the shallow puddle at their feet, watching the raindrops spread ripples in circles.
The traffic light flickered and flowed on the wet ground, changing from green to red and then back to green, until the two of them crossed the zebra crossing side by side with the crowd. Only then did she speak softly, her voice almost melting into the sound of the rain:
"After we shower together, you won't think of me as a child anymore."
Han Zhou's smile froze.
After taking a bath together, you won't feel like a little kid anymore...
So this guy thinks he still considers her a child "in that area"?
He swears to God, he never even considered that!
You should know that although Wang Lengqiu is thin, she is still quite well-endowed. If even she looks like a child, then Guzheng must look like an infant.
The slanting raindrops painted the street scene in a hazy bluish-gray hue, and water droplets fell in strings from the eaves, splashing tiny ripples on the waterlogged pavement.
Along the streets, the signs glowed in the mist, creating hazy halos like old photographs soaked in water.
The nearest hotel was just across the zebra crossing. The environment looked quite nice. Han Zhou first took Wang Lengqiu to a clothing store next door to pick out a few changes of clothes, and then walked into the hotel. Completely ignoring the scrutinizing looks from the front desk, he slapped his ID card on the table.
"Book two...one room."
Although he was dressed in a disheveled state and looked no better than a beggar, in reality, the classic scene of the hotel receptionist looking at him sideways and sneering, "Can a poor wretch like you afford to stay in a hotel?" would not happen.
The receptionist smiled, took my ID with both hands, and asked, "Would you like a twin room or a king room?" "King room."
Wang Lengqiu, who was next to her, spoke first, and took out her ID card from her bag and handed it to the front desk for registration.
Perhaps because Han Zhou's expression was too shocked, she tilted her head, looking puzzled as if to say, "Is it not allowed?"
"Sir, is there a problem?" the receptionist asked curiously.
"No problem, a double room, the best one."
Han Zhou shook his head. He didn't care whether it was a double room or a king-size bed room, but he was surprised that Wang Lengqiu also carried his ID card with him.
"If the rain gets too heavy, my parents might not come back this afternoon. I'm worried they won't be able to get back, so I brought my ID card," Wang Lengqiu explained.
Upon hearing this, Han Zhou, who had just felt much better, suddenly felt infuriated, and his anger towards that family intensified.
Wang Lengqiu would never make such an assumption without a reason, which means that something similar may have happened before, and that the family never treated her as family at all.
Perhaps when she graduates and starts working and earning money, her parents will remember that they have such a girl, and then shamelessly come to reconnect with her, constantly telling her how hard it was to raise her, and even blaming her for not contacting them first.
Thinking about this, Han Zhou felt that his previous revenge plan was not enough to vent his anger. He rarely used his status bar on others, but it seemed that he had to use it today. Since he got the points from Wang Lengqiu, he decided to use them to vent his anger on the other party.
Upon entering the hotel room, Han Zhou checked for cameras as usual while calling Gu Zheng to tell everyone that he had found Wang Lengqiu but might be late returning. He also explained the background of the incident.
In a way, Wang Lengqiu's sister did him a big favor. After all, the information hidden in that group photo was too shocking to be shown to others right now. This was a good excuse to tell everyone that the photo was missing.
This successfully provoked Gu Zheng and the others' anger. It was good that Senior Wang Lengqiu was alright, but when they thought about how they had searched everywhere in the heavy rain and spent the whole morning in fear, only to find out that it was all because of such a terrible prank, how could they not be angry?
Even someone as gentle as Zhong Ling couldn't hide her annoyance, muttering "That's too much" to herself as she sat next to Gu Zheng. Han Zhou could picture her clenching her little fists.
Gu Zheng was furious and kept demanding the address, saying she would come over and beat the family up herself.
Han Zhou comforted her for a while and repeatedly assured her that he would handle the matter. Gu Zheng then gave up the idea of coming to seek revenge. She repeatedly told him to take good care of Senior Wang Lengqiu and mentioned that they would continue to prepare for the mountain climbing.
Han Zhou patted his chest repeatedly, guaranteeing that he would never let Senior Wang Lengqiu suffer any injustice—he would certainly take good care of Senior Wang Lengqiu, and even brought her to a double room, but obviously he couldn't tell Gu Zheng these things.
Feeling guilty, he chatted with Guzheng for a while before hanging up the phone, only to feel a headache coming on.
Although he had spent a month there, he had a photographic memory and naturally wouldn't forget that on their first day in town, they had agreed to go to the mountaintop to watch the sunrise together when the weather was good, and had even bought two tents.
He was wondering why four people only bought two tents. Although it could be explained by men and women each using one tent, it was still too crowded for three girls to squeeze into one tent. There was no need to save that money.
But now he seems to have realized it—
Gu Zheng and Wang Lengqiu went to the store to buy the tent. Gu Zheng's intentions weren't so obvious, but considering what happened last night, Wang Lengqiu's intentions were clear—she obviously planned to sneak over and sleep in the same tent with her.
Since Guzheng neither objected nor bought another tent, but instead seemed to tacitly agree to the suggestion, it probably means that... she might have the same idea.
Thinking of this, Han Zhou felt a jolt, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was not impossible.
Even if Gu Zheng didn't intend to sneak into his tent in the middle of the night, she must have had other intentions. Otherwise, she wouldn't have continued to think about climbing the mountain as soon as she learned that Wang Lengqiu was safe and sound. After all, it's still raining heavily now, and who knows if it will clear up in the next few days.
Therefore, mountain climbing must be very important to her.
Thinking of the guzheng's strangeness, Han Zhou couldn't help but think of Zhong Ling, the senior student who had also been somewhat absent-minded these past few days, clearly preoccupied with something.
Besides, he hadn't forgotten that he and Zhong Ling still had a "debt" to settle—
You have successfully used the 51% Future Simulator.
[Due to the current timeline being out of order, the simulation is temporarily unavailable and will resume automatically within seven calendar days after you return to your 'current' time point.]
[Note that this simulation will be influenced by the combined will of both participants, weaving together a realistic dream connected to the future. During the simulation, both participants will be conscious, retaining their memories of reality and clearly aware that they are in a dream. Furthermore, death in the dream will not immediately end the simulation (note that no supernatural elements will appear in this dream except for the status bar)].
There is a 51% chance that the simulation results will become reality in the future, a 48% chance that they will become a dissolved dream, and a 1% chance that they will become part of reality (the will of both participants will affect the probability to some extent). If you wish to retain the relevant memories, please take the memory-freezing pill in advance.
[Simulated countdown: 167:11:36]
"Exactly seven days..."
Looking at the countdown on the status bar, Han Zhou felt his head throb even more.
On the day the flash flood occurred, in order to increase the probability of triggering "There Will Be an Echo", he had to use the [51% Future Simulator] to deepen his bond with Zhong Ling. However, because he was in the past, the simulation was stuck and could not start. Now that he has returned to the present, he will have to face this simulation that may become the real future.
"No, we just came back from the past, and now we're already heading to the future..."
Han Zhou smiled bitterly to himself, wondering what his senior would do when she saw him in her dream.
Fortunately, apart from him, no one knew that this simulation might be connected to the real future; the senior student would at most treat it as an exceptionally realistic dream.
This means he only needs to pretend to be an NPC in the dream. If the senior thinks he's a friend, he'll pretend to be a friend; if she thinks he's a neighbor, he'll pretend to be a neighbor. In short, everything will be based on the senior's will, so that at least the two of them won't feel awkward after "waking up"...
Han Zhou pondered to himself, then suddenly his expression turned serious, and he made a decision.
Even putting aside the simulation, he still needs to find some time to have a proper talk with his senior.
Whether it's to help his senior sister resolve her inner conflict, to fulfill his promise to Sister Yin, to have a chance to go back in time and change the tragedy, or even just to complete the last side quest and earn points, he needs to find out the truth behind the accident a few years ago.
In addition, he remembered another task—
[A temporary mission has been triggered. Please check the suitcases of the targets Gu Zheng, Zhong Ling, and Wang Lengqiu without being discovered by the individuals involved, and find any suspicious items inside. The time limit is 48 hours, and you can earn 150 points.]
If he had previously been indifferent to this mission, he now suddenly felt that it might really be necessary to check the three people's suitcases.
"Sneaking into the room is easy, since the three of them are sleeping in the same room now. The only difficulty is how to get their suitcase combination codes. After all, the premise of the mission is to keep the parties involved from finding out, so it's not appropriate to just ask them for the codes directly..."
Just as I was pondering this, the bathroom door clicked softly.
Wang Lengqiu, wrapped in a bath towel, emerged from the steamy air. (End of Chapter)