Chapter 581
Holding Hands
When the four of them walked out of the hotel, the rain was still falling, and the air in the night was even colder than during the day.
Arriving at the apartment building, Han Zhou glanced up at the family's window—the lights were off, and the room was pitch black. He waited silently for a moment to make sure the family was asleep before leading the three of them upstairs.
Actually, he didn't need to make a special trip. Under the combined influence of "never forgetting the past" and "happiness above all else," he had already woven a nightmare for this family, which would work even if they were in a hotel. But in order to prove to Guzheng that "black magic" was real, he had to make this trip.
"Han Zhou, what if your 'sauce' doesn't work later?"
After all, they were there to do something bad. Even someone as righteous as Guzheng felt they should be careful. On this point, the three girls were surprisingly in sync, all moving very quietly. Even after they went up to the second floor, the motion-activated lights in the hallway were never triggered, and the surroundings were pitch black.
Gu Zheng was already a little afraid of the dark, and there was an inevitable risk of falling as she went upstairs in the dark. So she could only grab Han Zhou's sleeve and follow him as he groped his way forward in the dark, her tone still filled with doubt.
Han Zhou originally wanted to tell the three that there was no need to be so cautious. After all, even if that family had a wild imagination and connected their nightmares to him, they would definitely not be able to find any evidence. But before he could finish speaking, a hand suddenly reached out and naturally grasped his palm.
His heart skipped a beat.
The sound of the guzheng came from the right rear, and he also felt his sleeve being tightly gripped by the other party. The hand came from the left rear, and its owner could only be Zhong Ling and Wang Lengqiu.
But it's highly unlikely that Zhong Ling would take his hand voluntarily, and it's also unlikely that she would accidentally take his hand instead of Wang Lengqiu's, since there's a significant difference between a boy's hand and a girl's hand.
It's obvious that the only person who would take his hand at this moment would be Wang Lengqiu.
What is the senior doing?
Han Zhou was so flustered he almost stopped breathing. He understood Wang Lengqiu's thoughts—she had thought she could have him all to herself for the whole night, but the sudden appearance of the guzheng had disrupted her plans. So even if it was just this short period of darkness, she wanted to secretly seize the illusion of being alone with him for a moment.
But the problem is... the guzheng is right next to me!
The motion-activated lights in the hallway don't need to be switched on or off. Whenever they make a little noise or someone passes by, the lights will turn on, and at that moment, Guzheng will definitely see their hands clasped together.
Han Zhou knew very well that Gu Zheng was not a stupid person. The reason he could deceive her time and time again was simply because she trusted him enough. Even with absurd claims like "black magic," she was willing to brave the heavy rain in the middle of the night to verify them.
But if she saw the two of them holding hands, even the most ingenious lie would crumble instantly, not to mention that his lies were inherently flimsy.
But he had only just started a relationship with Wang Lengqiu, and if he were to just shake off her hand like that, not to mention how Wang Lengqiu would feel, he himself would also feel bad.
"What if it doesn't work..."
He forced himself to calm down, hesitated for a moment, and finally gently squeezed the slightly cool fingers in his palm. Then he lowered his voice and tried to make his tone sound calm and normal, "Then we'll have to rely on you to smash their windows."
The hand trembled slightly, as if it hadn't expected to receive a response under such circumstances. A few fingers struggled symbolically for a moment, but quickly quieted down and obediently remained in his palm.
"Then you'll have to leave first later."
Gu Zheng lowered her voice as well, saying with an air of experience, "I just checked, there are quite a few surveillance cameras in this community, and several security guards. If you run too slowly, it will be troublesome if you get caught."
Normally, Han Zhou might have joked, saying something like, "If I bumped into you, I think the security guards would be the ones in trouble." But at this moment, he didn't dare tease her, afraid of accidentally activating the motion-activated lights. He forced himself to remain calm and said:
"Don't worry, I feel great today, so it shouldn't be your turn to make a move."
"you……"
Guzheng was about to start playing when she suddenly froze.
Because she clearly felt—
The sleeve she had been clutching tightly suddenly slipped from her palm.
Instead, a warm, large hand appeared.
The girl's heart skipped a beat in her chest.
The darkness seemed to grow even thicker at that moment, but her senses were amplified infinitely. She could clearly feel the warmth of that large palm and the thin calluses on his fingers from years of holding a pen.
What's this guy up to...?
She almost instinctively wanted to pull her hand back, but then she felt reluctant and, as if afraid the other person would pull their hand back, she gripped it tightly as if in a contest.
Han Zhou also instinctively tightened his grip.
She increased the force again.
Both of them were very strong, and at this moment it was like they were arm wrestling, neither willing to give in.
Is this guy challenging me...?
Never mind, he's weak, and I'm so strong, it wouldn't be good if I accidentally hurt him...
After a brief struggle, the usually defiant Guzheng was the first to give in, her grip loosening as she was led by the large hand.
She didn't know why Han Zhou suddenly grabbed her hand, but even if Han Zhou hadn't reached out, she had just... been planning to reach out.
Although the "exam" date has been set, in order to achieve good results, one needs to go through many mock exams before the official exam.
But now that the simulation has actually started, she is much more nervous than she imagined. Her heart is pounding so hard that she suddenly begins to wonder if Han Zhou is secretly casting a spell on her.
But she didn't ask, nor dared she ask, for fear that she might accidentally trigger the motion-activated light and let everyone see what she looked like now.
And this was exactly what Han Zhou wanted.
He knew that although Guzheng was competitive, she was also a very shy person. If the two of them were holding hands in the dark, she would also be afraid of being seen by everyone when the lights suddenly came on.
It has to be said that this was a rather risky move, but the effect was surprisingly good. For the rest of the time, Guzheng was unusually well-behaved. Even when he secretly pinched his chubby fingers several times, Guzheng did not resist. He just hummed a few times, and it was hard to tell whether he was happy or unhappy.
Of course, Han Zhou didn't show favoritism. Since he had pinched Gu Zheng's fingers, he naturally had to pinch Wang Lengqiu's fingers as well. Compared to Gu Zheng's fleshy hands, which were so lovely to touch, Wang Lengqiu's hands were much more slender. However, perhaps due to the principle of "thermal expansion and contraction," he felt that the hand he had warmed up at this moment seemed to have become softer and more plump than it had been in the afternoon.
And so, with Wang Lengqiu in his left hand and Guzheng in his right, he felt like a tightrope walker with a bottomless abyss beneath his feet, where a single misstep would shatter him to pieces.
Yet, the warmth and touch from those two hands felt so real, filling him with an absurd, overwhelming sense of peace.
"So soft."
In the darkness, he suddenly murmured something to Wang Lengqiu, and also to Guzheng.
Upon hearing this, Gu Zheng bit her lip. A strange sensation spread from her fingertips, like a subtle electric current, tingling and creeping up her arm, making her cheeks even hotter.
"Junior, junior..."
At the same time, Zhong Ling's slightly trembling voice reached Han Zhou's ears. Her tone was particularly complex, carrying a hint of shyness, a hint of panic, and a hint of helplessness.
It has to be said that Zhong Ling's voice was pitifully soft, and even in such quiet darkness it was hard to hear clearly, but naturally it did not escape Han Zhou's enhanced hearing through the status bar.
"how……"
He was about to ask a question when his expression suddenly froze.
Because the sound of the bell came from his left rear.
His hearing is excellent now, so he can accurately pinpoint the source of the sound. Zhong Ling is very close to him; there's no way Wang Lengqiu could be in between. Could it be…
A certain guess gradually became clearer in his mind. He held his breath and subconsciously squeezed the hand in his left palm again.
"Well……"
The bell emitted a suppressed low groan.
It’s over.
Han Zhou's heart skipped a beat.
He finally realized that the person he had been holding hands with just now was not Wang Lengqiu, but Zhong Ling.
If that were all, it would be one thing. It's so dark now, it's understandable that I might have grabbed the wrong person, especially since the other person "came to my door willingly." But what I just said, "So soft"... how is that any different from flirting in the senior's ears?
I should have thought of that sooner.
That's right. Although Senior Leng Qiu has her own unique worldview and sometimes does things that catch people off guard, she understands my situation very well and would never deliberately cause me trouble at a time like this...
So she had absolutely no reason to hold my hand...
Why did my senior suddenly take my hand?
No, it seems like she just offered her hand; I was the one who took her hand first...
Han Zhou felt increasingly guilty. He swallowed hard and tentatively tried to let go of Zhong Ling's hand, but Zhong Ling seemed stunned and showed no intention of pulling her hand away.
Just then, a series of chaotic footsteps sounded from above the stairs, and the motion-activated lights in the stairwell turned on.
Almost simultaneously, Zhong Ling, Gu Zheng, and Han Zhou withdrew their hands and put them into their coat pockets. One turned her head to the left, another to the right, and the third looked up at the sky, as if nothing had happened.
The two girls' faces were so red that anyone who didn't know better would think they had a fever.
Wang Lengqiu, standing at the bottom of the stairs, took in the entire scene.
But she didn't ask any questions, nor did she show any curiosity in her eyes. She simply whispered, "That's my parents' house upstairs."
"I know."
Han Zhou forced himself to calm down, not daring to look at Zhong Ling beside him for a moment. He planned to apologize to her privately. He nodded and said, "The footsteps just now came from the room upstairs. It seems my 'curse' has taken effect."
"real or fake?"
Gu Zheng's heart was pounding, and she didn't dare turn to look at him either, but she couldn't help asking, "You mean that family was frightened by a nightmare?"
Han Zhou didn't explain, but continued walking up the stairs.
"Go up and take a look, and you'll find out."
……
Tonight, Wang Shen had a very strange dream.
Or rather, it was a dream within a dream that was so real it was unsettling.
He was sleeping at the time, and it was very dark in his dream. He couldn't see anything clearly, but he saw a shadow in front of him. Even though he couldn't see it clearly, he could still tell very clearly that it was his eldest daughter.
"dad."
A voice rang out in the darkness. It was indeed his daughter Wang Lengqiu's voice, but her tone was unusually calm, unlike that of a human, let alone a college student in her twenties.
But... what exactly is she in her twenties?
A question that had been ignored for many years suddenly surfaced in Wang Shen's mind, instantly dispelling most of his sleepiness. He was both surprised and suspicious: "Leng Qiu? You, why are you home again? Aren't you at school..."
"I've come back to see you," the shadow in the darkness spoke softly, its tone stiff and mechanical.
As she spoke, the figure's voice suddenly became clearer, less mature, and more like that of a high school student, as if the person standing there was not a college student, but a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl.
She has become younger.
Wang Shen's heart tightened, and he felt a strange unease. He sat up in bed and tried to see his daughter's face clearly, but the darkness was like thick ink, only outlining a blurry and thin human figure.
"You..." He was about to ask a question when the shadow spoke again.
"You always say you're busy, and that I'm causing you trouble."
This time, the voice was even more tender, with a slight hoarseness unique to young girls who had just gone through puberty, like a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child. At the same time, Wang Shen vaguely felt that the outline of the figure in the darkness seemed to have shrunk a bit.
Fear, like a cold vine, quietly coiled around his spine.
"You've never cared about me, and you've never kept any of the promises you made to me."
The voice changed again, becoming clear and childlike, completely in the tone of a child, probably only eight or nine years old. The shadowy figure also appeared shorter, now looking like a person carrying a schoolbag, standing in the dimly lit stairwell waiting.
“I have hardly seen you since I was seven years old.”
Wang Shen finally realized a terrifying pattern—with each time the shadowy figure spoke, her "age" was regressing.
"dad……"
In a daze, it seemed as if he had missed "many years" again. When he came to his senses, he only heard a childish voice calling out, with the unreserved attachment of a five-year-old child.
The shadow in the darkness had become so small that it seemed he could easily reach out and touch the soft hair.
It was only at this moment that he finally remembered how adorable his daughter was when she was little.
But later, as she grew taller and her expression gradually became more silent, the pressures of schoolwork, future prospects, and life piled up like mountains, and that cuteness faded away without her realizing it, turning into a nuisance.
Wang Shen felt cold all over. He wanted to move, to get out of bed and turn on the light, but it was as if his limbs were being held down by a nightmare, and he couldn't even lift a finger.
He could only watch helplessly as his daughter, in the darkness, with her increasingly childish and distant voice, pulled him back to every moment in the past when he had neglected, ignored, and disregarded her.
"hug……"
The last sound was so faint it was almost inaudible, a soft murmur like a baby's first cry.
As the call faded into the darkness, the outline shrank completely into a blurry dot.
Then, accompanied by a cry, the little dot disappeared along with it.
The bedroom was deathly silent, save for Wang Shen's heavy breathing and pounding heartbeat. It was dark and empty, as if no one had ever been there.
But that voice, which gradually receded and eventually vanished into nothingness, was like a rusty, dull knife, repeatedly sawing and cutting into his heart.
He suddenly opened his eyes, his back covered in cold sweat. (End of Chapter)