Chapter 573
The Nightmare Ring
Let's rewind a little.
"No, I have to go find Han Zhou."
Looking at the continuous rain outside, Gu Zheng, who had been sitting at the door all day, suddenly spoke.
"why?"
Sitting next to her, Zhong Ling looked puzzled. "Didn't the junior say they would be back later?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly realized that without a junior classmate to help relay the message, Guzheng wouldn't be able to hear her. So she had no choice but to take out her phone and type what she wanted to say into the chat input box.
Gu Zheng looked at her phone screen, her brows furrowing slightly: "But he also said he was going to cause trouble for that family. He's a stranger in this place, what if he gets taken advantage of? I have to go help him."
Although she knew in her heart that Han Zhou no longer needed her protection, deep down, he was still the "sickly boy" from high school who was cornered in an alley and needed her to rush in and help him out.
In addition, she also wanted to visit senior Wang Lengqiu.
Zhong Ling thought about it and felt that there was some truth to it. A look of worry appeared on her face as she lowered her head and typed another line of text in the chat box:
"Should I call my junior?"
"We can't fight."
Gu Zheng immediately shook her head, "That guy just likes to show off. It's raining so hard outside right now. If he knew I wanted to come over, he definitely wouldn't agree."
Zhong Ling looked troubled: "But if we don't call, we won't know where our junior is."
"Aren't they going to Wang Lengqiu's parents' house? Grandpa Wang definitely knows the address. We can just ask him."
Zhong Ling nodded, but then another question popped into her head: "What if they come back right after we set off?"
"us?"
Gu Zheng's gaze fell on the two words on the screen. She looked up and asked, "Senior, are you going too?"
"Um……"
Zhong Ling nodded somewhat shyly, "I'm also a little worried about my juniors, and it's getting dark soon. It's not safe for you to go out alone. I want to go with you."
There was something else she didn't say: if she were left here alone, she would probably just be staring blankly at Grandpa Wang, and that would be truly unsettling.
Gu Zheng remembered that Han Zhou had said that Senior Zhong Ling was actually a little afraid of rainy days, so he hadn't originally planned to have her come along. But seeing that she didn't seem to mind, she didn't refuse and simply stood up.
“Let’s go now. Han Zhou will definitely send us a message before he comes back. The buses should have stopped running by now. We’ll take a taxi. If we receive a message from Han Zhou along the way, we can just ask the driver to turn around. You wait here for me for a bit. I’ll go ask Grandpa Wang for the address.”
Watching that figure running towards the rain without hesitation, Zhong Ling couldn't help but feel a little envious. Gu Zheng was a very opinionated girl. If it were her, she would probably still be hesitating at this moment.
……
Just as Gu Zheng had predicted, the buses to the city had already stopped running. It took the two of them quite a bit of effort to hail a taxi, and after a bumpy ride of more than half an hour, they finally arrived near the address that Grandpa Wang had mentioned.
The rain was still falling, but it had lessened, turning from a downpour into a fine drizzle. The streetlights cast a dim, yellowish glow on the wet ground, and the broken lights were reflected in the puddles.
"Where to next?"
Zhong Ling first typed the message on her phone before opening her umbrella and getting out of the car. The blast of cold air made her instinctively shrink her neck.
"Of course, we're going to Wang Lengqiu's parents' house."
After reading the message, Gu Zheng said without hesitation, "If things go smoothly, Han Zhou and the others should be there now. If things don't go smoothly, we can also ask that family where Han Zhou and the others are."
"But if things don't go smoothly, the junior might have a big falling out with the senior's family. Would they be willing to tell us where the junior and his family are?" Zhong Ling asked worriedly.
"If things don't go smoothly, it means Han Zhou was mistreated there."
Gu Zheng snorted coldly, "Even if they are willing to tell us, I won't give them a friendly look."
Zhong Ling was stunned for a moment, then said weakly, "Isn't this a bit inappropriate..."
"What's wrong with it?"
Gu Zheng said nonchalantly, "Senior, you're just too nice, that's why everyone gives you such a bullying nickname like 'the mute bride.' Sometimes you have to be a little tougher."
Zhong Ling carefully organized her thoughts before typing, "But I heard from my junior that you were quite tough back in high school, but a lot of people also called you 'Bullet Girl'..."
Han Zhou's original words were, "Gu Zheng had a terrible temper back then," but she naturally couldn't say that, so she had to use a gentler way of saying it to cover it up.
Gu Zheng looked embarrassed: "Han Zhou even told you this?"
“My junior classmates often talk to me about you.”
Zhong Ling smiled slightly, "He said this nickname suits you well; it's both powerful and cute."
Gu Zheng snorted coldly, turned her head to glare at the street lamp beside her, seemingly quite displeased that Han Zhou was talking about her everywhere. After a few seconds, she reluctantly asked:
"...Did he really say that?"
"Ah."
Zhong Ling smiled and nodded, hesitated for a moment, and did not mention that Han Zhou had also praised the nickname "mute bride" as cute.
The two entered the residential area and quickly found the house number that Grandpa Wang had mentioned. Gu Zheng didn't stand on ceremony and knocked on the door directly.
A short while later, the door opened, and a girl who looked to be in junior high school opened it. At first, her face was a little gloomy, but when she saw that it was two unfamiliar, pretty older girls, she was stunned for a moment, and then she showed a sweet smile.
"Hello, sister... Who are you looking for?"
To be fair, as Wang Lengqiu's biological younger sister, Wang Yuchun's looks are naturally quite good. She is a very lively girl, and you can see some resemblance to her older sister in her eyes and brows.
Gu Zheng has always been powerless against cute things, but she believes that Han Zhou would never lie to her—this girl's heart is probably not as innocent as it appears on the outside.
So she said expressionlessly, "I'm Wang Lengqiu's friend. I heard she took leave to go home, so I came to see her."
"My sister's friend?"
Wang Yuchun tilted her head and thought for a moment, and indeed, her appearance did resemble Wang Lengqiu's somewhat.
After a moment's hesitation, she said apologetically, "I'm sorry you're a step too late. My sister brought a shady boyfriend home this afternoon, had a big fight with Mom and Dad, and then left. She won't answer my calls, and I don't know where she went."
"A shady boyfriend?"
The sentence sounded particularly jarring in the quiet corridor. Gu Zheng keenly picked up on two key words and subconsciously repeated them.
Zhong Ling glanced at her furtively, her expression turning somewhat tense.
"That's what Mom and Dad said..."
Wang Yuchun lowered her head, her voice timid, "They said my sister is not filial at all. Not only does she not study hard at school, but she also found that kind of boyfriend... They are still angry in the room, and they won't listen to any of my advice."
"What kind of boyfriend?" Gu Zheng pressed.
"I don't know... I get out of school late, so I don't know the specifics, but my parents told me that my sister's boyfriend has a terrible temper. He said a lot of swear words during arguments and broke a lot of things. Before he left, he said he wanted money from my parents, or else my sister would break off all ties with them..."
As soon as she finished speaking, she noticed that not only the flat-chested, short-haired woman in front of her, but even the woman who looked very gentle had a sour expression.
She was secretly delighted, thinking that her plan had worked—hearing that her sister had found such a terrible boyfriend, she figured that even if her friends didn't immediately distance themselves from her, they would definitely be secretly laughing at her.
So she added a few more words, subtly and overtly belittling Wang Lengqiu, before giving the two of them an apologetic smile, leaving behind the words, "Please let me know if you find my sister," and then closed the door.
However, she was overthinking it.
In fact, if she hadn't embellished the story and had instead tried to be as objective as possible in recounting what happened that afternoon, she might have really caused Han Zhou and Wang Lengqiu a lot of trouble. But unfortunately, she never intended to tell the truth from the beginning, and her flawed account made it difficult for Gu Zheng and Zhong Ling to believe even a single word of it.
Both of them knew very well that no matter how angry Han Zhou was, he wouldn't go to someone else's house and smash things, much less demand money from Wang Lengqiu's family. After all, both trespassing and extortion are illegal.
At most, he would just find a reason to lie on the ground first, and then start to defend himself.
So naturally, they also assumed that the only truth, "boyfriend," was a lie.
Gu Zheng was furious. She never imagined that someone could be so wicked—although she already had all of her parents' favoritism, she still took advantage of her neglected sister's misfortune and couldn't stand seeing her sister do anything good.
Zhong Ling, who is usually mild-mannered and lives with her older sister, showed a rare expression of anger. As a sister-obsessed girl, she couldn't understand the child's intentions in making up these lies. Shouldn't sisters love each other?
The two stood at the door for a while. Although they had only seen Wang Yuchun briefly, they felt as if they could already see what kind of life Wang Lengqiu had been living all these years.
They had all had happy and fulfilling families, which is why they couldn't understand why such families existed.
"Senior, let's go."
After a long while, Guzheng bent down, picked up the umbrella placed against the wall, turned around and walked downstairs with a sullen expression.
Zhong Ling followed silently behind her. After hesitating for a moment, she took out her phone and typed a line of text in the chat box.
Gu Zheng glanced at it and shook her head, saying, "Of course I can't believe that child's words. Han Zhou is not that kind of person. Even if he really claims to be Senior Wang Lengqiu's boyfriend, it's just to have an identity to back her up."
Zhong Ling carefully observed her expression, and seeing that she didn't seem to be being sarcastic, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief and typed to continue asking, "Then why do you look unhappy?"
"Knowing that Senior Wang Lengqiu is so unhappy, of course I'm not happy."
Gu Zheng said indignantly, "That guy is just a child. I've never hit a child before in my life. I have nowhere to vent my anger. It's really infuriating."
She paused, glanced back at the closed door behind her, and snorted softly, "But it doesn't matter. Han Zhou has a lot of bad ideas. He said he would help Senior Wang Lengqiu get revenge, and he definitely will."
"Ah."
Zhong Ling nodded vigorously. She believed that her junior would help Wang Lengqiu get revenge, but she didn't think he was a person with bad intentions, so she nodded less forcefully.
When the two walked out of the residential building, it was already 8:30.
The rain hadn't stopped; fine raindrops drifted in the halo of the streetlights. The temperature was even lower than when she entered the building. Zhong Ling instinctively wrapped her down jacket tighter, her breath condensing into white mist in the cold air.
She glanced down at her phone, and seeing that she still hadn't received a message from Han Zhou, she couldn't help but ask, "It seems like the juniors haven't gone back yet. Should we call and ask?"
"No need, I know where they are."
Gu Zheng also took out her phone to look at it, then shook her head and said as she walked out of the community, "Han Zhou said on the phone this morning that he found Senior Wang Lengqiu in the stairwell. The weather is so cold now, they couldn't possibly wait in the stairwell all day. In addition, Han Zhou also said that he lost his umbrella and needed to find a place to change clothes, so they must have found a hotel to rest."
As she looked at the rain in front of her, the image of Han Zhou and Wang Lengqiu walking side by side in the rain automatically popped into her mind.
In such cold weather, without an umbrella to shield them, it's impossible to tell how far or near they were...
Gu Zheng shook her head, clearing those distracting thoughts from her mind, but her heart still felt as if something was blocking it.
That bastard! It's so late. Whether he's going home or not, shouldn't he at least call and let me know?
She didn't show her emotions on her face and continued to analyze, "They didn't use umbrellas when they left the community, so they certainly wouldn't go too far in the rain. The most likely scenario is that they chose the nearest hotel."
As they spoke, the two had already reached the entrance of the residential area. Zhong Ling looked around and found that although there weren't many hotels nearby, there were still several, making it difficult to determine which hotel Han Zhou and his group had gone to.
Seemingly sensing her confusion, Guzheng stopped and scanned the several hotels along the street: "If it were just Han Zhou alone, he might just find a place to stay anywhere, but with Senior Wang Lengqiu around, he definitely won't settle for anything. He'll choose the best hotel nearby, so..."
She suddenly turned around, raised her right hand, and pointed to the hotel across the street, which required crossing a traffic light to reach.
"They must be living there now."
Zhong Ling listened, stunned. After thinking about it carefully, she realized that the analysis was indeed reasonable and well-founded, but it seemed to have overlooked one problem—
"What if the juniors check out and leave early?" she couldn't help but ask.
“It costs over two hundred yuan to stay at a hotel for a day.” Gu Zheng rolled her eyes, then smiled and said, “Do you think Han Zhou, with his penchant for taking advantage of small things, would be willing to check out so early?”
Does the younger student like to take advantage of small things?
Zhong Ling was puzzled and quickly typed a question, but in her haste, she accidentally typed "person" instead of "small," and the text in the input box became: "Does junior like to take advantage of others?"
Since the misunderstanding with Teacher Ouyang's parents last time, she has learned her lesson and no longer uses the chat box with other people to type text. Instead, she chooses to use the chat box with her sister, so that even if she accidentally sends a message, it won't cause trouble.
Just then, a car sped past on the street, splashing up a large patch of water. The sound of the splashing water startled her slightly, and her finger unconsciously fell, pressing the send button once again.
Zhong Yin on the other end of the phone read the message almost instantly, immediately replying with a question mark, and then followed up with:
"Xiaoling, did that kid take advantage of you too?"
Seeing that she had sent the wrong message again and even made a typo that could cause misunderstanding, Zhong Ling was initially flustered, and then a sense of doubt arose in her heart.
What does 'also' mean?
—These words were not her true feelings, but rather came from Guzheng. She happened to be looking at her phone screen at that moment, so she naturally saw the message.
At the same time, Zhong Yin seemed to sense something was wrong, quickly retracted the message, and sent a new, edited one:
"I just typed an extra word. What I mean is, did that guy take advantage of you?"
"No, sister, I accidentally mistyped it."
Zhong Ling was afraid that her sister would misunderstand, so she hurriedly and frantically explained the situation, finally managing to clarify the whole story and mention that they were already on their way to the hotel.
After this explanation, Zhong Yin finally understood the general outline of what had happened.
However, she wasn't as oblivious as her simple-minded younger sister—if Guzheng really was just here to help Han Zhou, she could have simply called to ask for the hotel's location. After all, she was already here, and Han Zhou wouldn't kick her out.
Han Zhou couldn't bear to lose his temper with the girl next to him, let alone the fact that Gu Zheng was acting out of kindness.
Thinking of this, Zhong Yinliu frowned slightly.
Even she knew this, so Gu Zheng, who knew Han Zhou better than her, certainly couldn't possibly be unaware of it.
But not only did she stop Xiaoling from calling to ask for the address, she also transformed into a detective, trying to find the place without alerting Han Zhou... This behavior was just too perfect—
Catching someone in the act of adultery.
Of course, things might not be that serious. After all, Guzheng has a strong personality, and perhaps she just didn't want to listen to Han Zhou nagging on the phone, which is why she didn't want to make the call.
But in any case, besides worrying about Han Zhou, she must have other thoughts on her mind right now...
Zhong Ying had just sold the last batch of pastries and was putting the empty trays back into the cabinet. The sound of rain pattering outside the window made the shop seem exceptionally quiet.
Her face was ashen. She didn't want to care about Han Zhou's life or death. If that guy really dared to do something to betray Gu Zheng and Yi Xia, it would be his own fault, and it was none of her business to worry about.
The moment her fingertips touched the cold glass counter, she suddenly felt a pain in her chest. She instinctively pressed her hand to her chest, and her fingertips touched the pendant she wore all year round. The inexplicable feeling of unease in her heart grew stronger.
She frowned and threw the rag into the sink.
This is really troublesome.
When she came to her senses, she found herself dialing Han Zhou's number as if possessed.
The moment the call connected, her frustration surged to its peak, causing her tone to become exceptionally cold.
"I don't care what you're doing right now, the guzheng is almost at the door." (End of Chapter)