Chapter 589
A Happy Together
For a moment, Han Zhou thought that it was because he had activated "happiness first" that Zhong Ling had to maintain that inappropriate smile even when facing the most painful memories.
But even after he turned off "Happiness First," the smile on Zhong Ling's lips did not fade, which made him realize that this might be some kind of psychological problem.
Some people are like that; even if their hearts are already full of wounds, they still have to put on a smile on their faces, just so as not to add burden to others. They carefully maintain the illusion that "I'm fine," as if this can hide their pain perfectly.
In contrast, although Wang Lengqiu also didn't want to cause trouble for others, she never showed a fake smile and never engaged in internal strife. Her seemingly self-willed nature was actually a manifestation of inner strength.
Thinking of this, Han Zhou sighed inwardly.
The senior in my memory always seemed to have that perfectly timed, gentle smile.
So gentle, so well-behaved, she could often influence those around her.
But is she... really happy?
He had never doubted it before, but now he suddenly wasn't sure.
He handed her a tissue, gesturing for her to wipe the blood from her lips. After a moment's hesitation, he added, "Senior, although I don't know what happened in the past, I can assure you that I will never hate you."
He clearly didn't want to play the gentle role at a time like this, but he couldn't help but say those words.
If the other person doesn't dislike me for being a jerk, how could I possibly dislike her?
Seeing that Zhong Ling remained unmoved, he looked at the scarlet on her lips, then glanced at the silent Zhong Yin on the screen. After hesitating for a moment, he tentatively reached out and gently wiped away the glaring bloodstain for her.
Normally, Zhong Ling would have lowered her head in embarrassment, but at this moment she seemed to have fallen into some kind of whirlpool, remaining motionless and unresponsive.
On the screen, Zhong Yin's face was ashen, but he didn't speak. He just shook his head slightly, probably asking him to wait patiently for a while.
About a minute later, Zhong Ling finally spoke again:
"...That's a winding mountain road leading to Wushan Scenic Area in Jingcheng."
This was probably the real beginning of the tragedy. Although her tone remained calm, she unconsciously tightened her grip on the small cloth bag at her waist, the strap digging deeply into the cleavage of her chest, her knuckles turning white.
Wushan Scenic Area, winding mountain road...
Han Zhou silently noted down these two keywords.
As Zhong Ling narrated her story, and Zhong Yin continued to add details on the screen, he finally pieced together the complete picture of the accident—
It was a tragedy that began with a car accident.
Initially, it was just because a farm vehicle suddenly stalled in the rainy night, causing Zhong Ling's family's vehicle to lose control, skid sideways, crash through the road guardrail, and almost slide down the hillside.
This should have been just an ordinary car accident; fortunately, everyone in the car only suffered minor injuries.
But coincidentally, there was a construction team working at the foot of the mountain below that highway.
Due to the sudden downpour, the project was forced to stop. The construction workers, who wanted to save time, were too lazy to transport the remaining explosives back to the warehouse. Instead, they casually parked a pickup truck loaded with unused detonators and explosives near the entrance of the tunnel to take shelter from the rain.
No one knows what ignited the gunpowder. Perhaps it was a short circuit, a worker's negligence, or perhaps it was simply an uncontrollable fate, like this sudden downpour.
But regardless, the explosion occurred.
Fortunately, the explosion center was some distance from the road and did not directly engulf the vehicle, but the vehicle body was still affected by the blast, and the violent shock wave shattered the already fragile road surface edges.
The roadbed collapsed instantly after losing its support.
The vehicle, which had been hovering, went completely out of control at that moment and rolled down the hillside. Fortunately, the slope was not steep, and although everyone suffered severe injuries again, miraculously no one died on the spot.
But misfortune had no intention of stopping there.
With the shockwaves caused by the explosion, the mountain structure became extremely unstable. Almost instantly, the rocks collapsed, and a mudslide carrying mud rushed in.
In the final moments, Zhong Yin exerted all her strength and only managed to pull her younger sister, who was still alive, away. Their parents, along with the wrecked car, were completely swallowed by the surging mudslide and lay buried beneath the road forever.
Han Zhou felt heavy-hearted, and the faces of his two elders resurfaced in his mind.
Without a doubt, this was a complete tragedy, and I was unable to change it.
Even so, it was just an accident. He didn't understand why his senior would think he would hate her after hearing the whole story.
But gradually, he understood.
For some reason, the senior student seemed to completely blame herself for the accident. Or rather, she blamed it on her "voice."
That's why she never dared to speak loudly again.
This may sound a bit far-fetched, but it's not incomprehensible.
After all, in this accident, she lost not only her loving parents, but also her sister's hearing. She was the only one who was unharmed. If she really took all the blame upon herself, it would seem inevitable that she would develop this kind of mental illness.
As the "murderer" who killed her parents and the "villain" who caused her sister to lose her hearing, it is only natural that she would worry about being disliked.
Looking at the girl in front of him with a stiff smile and a body as tense as a string, Han Zhou's Adam's apple bobbed, but he couldn't say a word for a long time.
He wasn't good at sweet talk, but he wasn't bad at words either, yet at this moment he didn't know what to say.
He believed that Sister Yin had said the same things countless times over the years, but even the sister he trusted most couldn't resolve the knot in her heart, so it seemed that anything he said would be in vain.
After a long silence, he didn't offer any words of comfort, but instead said earnestly, "Senior, if you don't mind... could you take me to the place where the accident happened sometime?"
As the saying goes, "there is always a solution within three steps," and in a sense, the side quests posted in the status bar may be the key to unlocking the knots in these girls' hearts.
Returning to the scene of the accident was obviously cruel for Zhong Ling, but it was also an opportunity. Perhaps only by going back there and facing the past could she cry from the bottom of her heart and truly get over this tragedy.
Upon hearing this, Zhong Ling, who had seemed somewhat numb, paused for a moment and looked over in disbelief. Zhong Yin on the screen, on the other hand, had a sudden change in expression. His anger was about to erupt, but it quickly cooled down, turning into a complex and unfathomable expression.
"Why?" Zhong Ling asked softly.
As she asked the question, she bit her lip again, almost tearing the strap of the small cloth bag at her waist. It was unclear whether she was afraid of facing that past again or afraid of being seen by others.
Han Zhou was taken aback.
As a friend, suddenly proposing to go to the place where the other's family members died was indeed an odd and excessive request, and for a moment, he couldn't find a suitable reason to explain it.
Fortunately, Zhong Yin seemed to see his embarrassment and roughly guessed his sister's problem. She spoke up at the right time to break the deadlock: "It was my suggestion to let Han Zhou go back to that place with us."
Hearing this, Zhong Ling became even more confused, and even the suppressed sadness in her eyes faded a little. She asked again, "Why?"
This time, Zhong Yin obviously couldn't continue the lie, so she could only turn her gaze to Han Zhou and give him a look that said, "You're good at lying, you make up a story."
But for a moment, Han Zhou couldn't come up with a story. Meeting Zhong Ling's clear yet broken gaze, he remained silent for a long time before he could only bite the bullet and say, "Because I once swore to take responsibility for you two sisters..." Zhong Yin's expression froze.
She had expected him to make things up, but she never imagined he would actually say something like that—what did he mean by swearing to take responsibility for the two sisters?
However, it must be said that, from a rather strange perspective, this statement had a rather good effect. Zhong Ling quickly broke free from that suffocating sadness and stared blankly at Han Zhou.
Is this guy really that good at charming girls?
Zhong Yin's expression was complicated. Seeing that her sister seemed less upset than before, she picked up her water glass and took a sip absentmindedly, unaware of the subtle flutter in her heart caused by a certain remark.
"What does 'responsible for' mean?"
Zhong Ling gripped the small cloth bag at her waist again, but this time it wasn't entirely because of sadness, but for some reason she herself didn't know.
"The literal meaning."
Seeing that the situation had finally returned to his preferred path, Han Zhou breathed a sigh of relief. After a moment of consideration, he said seriously, "If I had to explain, it would be that I will try my best to lead you to happiness... that's roughly the idea."
"puff!"
Zhong Yin just drank the water and immediately spat it out.
"Sister?" Zhong Ling was startled and looked at her phone screen with concern.
"Cough cough cough, I'm fine, but I might need to change the sheets. You guys keep chatting."
Zhong Yin frantically wiped the screen, got out of bed, and hurriedly went to the wardrobe to find the sheets.
Damn, why does this guy's tone sound like he's not making this up?
Is he really after Xiaoling?
Still trying to take advantage of me?!
No…impossible. Even if this guy is a womanizer, he wouldn't be this promiscuous. He's just trying to distract Xiaoling, so he's deliberately saying nonsensical things…
Standing in front of the wardrobe mirror, Zhong Yin vigorously wiped her face, trying to banish those unrealistic thoughts from her mind.
At the same time, Han Zhou realized that his words might be misunderstood, so he quickly explained, "Senior, the happiness I'm talking about is only for you and Sister Yin to be happy, not for me."
Actually, Zhong Ling hadn't thought much of it. Hearing this, she assumed Han Zhou was planning to sacrifice his own happiness for theirs, so she quickly shook her head: "But if my junior isn't happy, my sister and I won't be happy either..."
Regardless of the process, at least the result was good; she returned to her usual gentle and charming self.
Han Zhou was taken aback. Looking into the girl's concerned eyes, he said awkwardly, "Uh, I didn't say I wouldn't be happy..."
"So what do you mean?"
Zhong Ling was a little nervous, but she still looked intently into his eyes.
"What I mean is, if you and Sister Yin can be happy, I can be happy too. That's our future."
"Isn't that just being happy together?" Zhong Ling asked, puzzled.
Han Zhou was stunned for a moment. Seeing that the other party didn't care about the issue, he simply stopped worrying about it and said with a smile, "That's right, then let's be happy together."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Yin, who had just returned with the bed sheet, turned pale.
This guy, saying such ridiculous things once or twice is one thing, but is this never going to end?
She quickly made the bed, climbed into bed, pulled the covers over her head, and glared coldly at Han Zhou through the screen. Just as she was about to lash out, she heard him suddenly look over and speak first:
"Sister Yin, my senior and I have already discussed it. When we have time, we'll go together... to check out that place. You should come along too, right?"
Zhong Yin was taken aback and subconsciously looked at his sister, only to see the latter nod slightly, indicating that they had indeed discussed it.
She frowned slightly and hesitated, "I'm fine with it, but Xiaoling, you..."
"Cough cough."
Han Zhou coughed, interrupting her, "Sister Yin, stop being so wishy-washy. Didn't we already discuss this?"
sentimental?
Zhong Yin's eyes flashed coldly. She thought to herself that this kid was really bold today, daring to provoke her again and again. However, she quickly remembered that she had indeed said that she was the one who brought up this matter, so she did not make a scene, but secretly made a mental note of this.
"Go, of course we'll go."
Even in front of her sister, she couldn't put on a cold face, and spoke in the same coquettish tone as before, but she herself was completely unaware of it.
Han Zhou was unaware that he had already been resented. Seeing that Zhong Yin had given in, he continued to ask, "When are you free?"
"Business has been quite busy lately, let's wait until after New Year's Day."
Zhong Yin wasn't in a hurry to push this matter forward; there were some things he needed to clarify with this guy beforehand.
If we don't even know Xiaoling's real inner conflict, then we've just wasted our time.
In addition, she also needs to prepare herself mentally.
Returning to that place would be a cruel thing for her.
"Then let's discuss it in advance."
Han Zhou stood up. "Just let me know when you're ready. I'm available anytime."
Anyway, Teacher Ouyang will approve my leave... he silently added in his mind.
Zhong Yin remained noncommittal, then suddenly seemed to remember something, frowning slightly as she said, "Remember, this isn't a date between you and anyone else, you..."
"I understand, I understand."
Han Zhou thought she wanted to bring up the hair tie again, so he quickly assured her, "I've always treated you all as elders, and I would never have any improper thoughts about you..."
What are you thinking about now?
Zhong Yin gritted her teeth. "What I mean is, you're not allowed to bring anyone else this time, not a single person."
"And... you said I'm your elder, and I have no objection, but is Xiaoling also your elder?"
She narrowed her eyes slightly.
Ah, finally I've found an excuse to teach this kid a lesson. (End of Chapter)