Chapter 592
The Secret of the Guzheng
Han Zhou's plan is progressing exceptionally smoothly.
He had just set off to check the road conditions up the mountain when his phone started vibrating repeatedly, with three messages popping up almost simultaneously.
Guzheng: "It's done. The combination to my senior's suitcase is 053."
This was followed by a sighing emoji.
Zhong Ling: "Senior Wang Lengqiu's suitcase combination is 115."
Wang Lengqiu: "421, 053".
Han Zhou was stunned, thinking to himself that this was too fast. He had only been gone for a short while, and they had already gotten the combination codes for each other's suitcases.
Replying to each message individually was too much trouble, so he simply sent a group reply: "So fast, how did you do that?"
"Don't worry about it, no one will suspect you anyway."
“I didn’t do anything. Guzheng suddenly told us her suitcase combination, saying that April 21st was a very memorable day for her. She also asked if we set the combination in the same way. Senior Wang Lengqiu nodded and told us the combination.”
"Thanks to the guzheng."
Commemorative significance?
Han Zhou was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized that 053 referred to May 3rd, the day his senior's parents passed away.
No wonder that after getting the senior's password, Guzheng didn't smugly send her usual pig emoji with hands on hips, but instead sent a sighing emoji. It seems she also realized the heavy meaning behind the password.
As for 115, it should refer to November 5th, which is the day he first met Xiao Lengqiu.
However, the meaning of Zhong Ling and Wang Lengqiu's code is not difficult to understand, but what is April 21st, and why is it of commemorative significance to the guzheng?
Han Zhou was curious, but he didn't want to ask too many questions at the moment. After all, normally he shouldn't know about this right now, so he suppressed his curiosity and sent a message to the group as a reply:
"Thank you. When I get back, I'll need your help to hold them off."
The three of them naturally had no objections.
When Han Zhou returned, the three girls were sitting in the yard chatting with Grandpa Wang.
The afternoon sun pierced through the clouds and lazily spilled onto the bluestone pavement, but the damp stones absorbed half of their luster, making it appear somewhat dim.
Chen Doudou also moved a small stool and sat down on the side, her two short legs dangling in the air, holding a cup of steaming flower tea in her hands. The aroma of the tea mixed with the smell of the earth after the rain slowly spread in the air.
But perhaps the adults' topics were too boring, and her chubby little round face quickly became filled with boredom. So she picked up a twig from the ground, tiptoed to the eaves, and teased the lazy big yellow dog lying on the ground.
But as soon as the yellow dog raised its eyelids, she would immediately shrink behind Wang Lengqiu in fright. Her cowardly yet playful appearance amused everyone, and Han Zhou also laughed out loud.
Hearing the laughter, the group turned around and saw Han Zhou standing at the door. Gu Zheng immediately got up and walked over, asking, "How is it? Is the road up the mountain okay?"
She secretly gave Han Zhou a look, indicating that she had already created an opportunity for him to rummage through the suitcase.
Han Zhou understood immediately and replied, "It's not a big problem, it just rained, so some places might be a bit difficult to walk on."
Gu Zheng hesitated for a moment: "Then, for safety's sake, how about we set off tomorrow?"
Although she was quite looking forward to the hike, she also understood that hiking after the rain was risky. It wouldn't have mattered if it were just her and Han Zhou, but considering the two senior students, it was better to be cautious. Anyway, there was still time, and it wouldn't be too late to set off tomorrow.
Han Zhou remained noncommittal, his gaze falling on Zhong Ling and Wang Lengqiu.
"I'll listen to my junior."
Zhong Ling whispered, and also secretly gave him a look that said, "I've already held everyone back."
“I’m fine with anything,” Wang Lengqiu said calmly.
Seeing that the three of them were waiting for him to make a decision, Han Zhou thought for a moment and said, "Let's set off tomorrow then, it's good to do more preparation."
Chen Doudou, who had been eavesdropping, lit up when she heard this. She quickly ran to Han Zhou, tilted her head up, and asked expectantly, "Brother Han Zhou, can we set off after I have my vacation?"
She had heard that her sister Wang Lengqiu and the others were planning to go hiking to watch the sunrise, and she was incredibly envious. She wanted to go too, but she had to go to school and couldn't find the time.
Let alone climbing mountains, she still has to go back to school for class later.
Before Han Zhou could answer, Gu Zheng smiled and rubbed Chen Dou Dou's head, then shook her head with a smile: "No, Dou Dou, you're still too young. Climbing mountains is too strenuous for you."
Han Zhou glanced at her without showing any emotion. In fact, if Gu Zheng wanted to, she could easily carry the bag up the mountain. It wouldn't be difficult for her. This reason was somewhat untenable.
Of course, Guzheng wasn't very familiar with DouDou, and taking a stranger up the mountain was too risky. Even if everyone agreed, DouDou's parents might not agree, so their refusal was reasonable.
But then again... why is Guzheng so obsessed with climbing mountains?
Despite being politely rejected, Chen Doudou remained undeterred and looked up at Han Zhou again. However, Han Zhou was powerless to help her and could only shake his head with a wry smile.
In the end, she could only walk towards school with a long face, carrying her little schoolbag, looking dejected.
Zhong Ling looked worried. She got up and walked to the courtyard gate. Looking at the little girl's lonely figure, she felt a pang of pity: "Dou Dou looks so pitiful..."
"It's because you're too soft-hearted, senior."
Han Zhou laughed, "The weather is so cold now, and we have to walk such a long mountain road. The child's body can't handle it." Seeing that Zhong Ling still looked reluctant, he added, "Don't worry, the sadness is only temporary. At worst, I'll cook a few more braised pork dishes, and Dou Dou will forget about it after eating them."
Zhong Ling gave a soft "hmm," but her eyes were still somewhat unfocused, though it didn't seem to be just because of Dou Dou.
Han Zhou was puzzled and was about to ask a question when Gu Zheng suddenly said, "Han Zhou, I'm hungry. Go and get the snacks from my room."
Han Zhou's heart skipped a beat, realizing that Gu Zheng was creating an opportunity for him to enter the three-person room, so he jokingly asked, "Didn't we just have lunch? Are you hungry again so soon?"
"Stop rambling."
Gu Zheng rolled her eyes at him. "Go get it quickly. Look carefully. I want some beef cubes. I don't know if there are any left."
Zhong Ling, of course, had no idea that the two were working together, but she realized that this was a good opportunity to create a chance for her junior, so she said softly, "I also want to eat something... Junior, can you help me find some chocolate?"
"no problem."
Han Zhou smiled and, while the others were still chatting, stepped into the house.
Upon entering the room, he immediately noticed three suitcases placed side by side against the wall. After thinking for a moment, he first locked the door from the inside before walking over to the suitcases, squatting down, and placing his fingertips on the combination lock of the first suitcase.
Although, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the three of them should now be keeping each other in check until he leaves the room, he dared not delay and quickly turned the dial to be on the safe side.
With a click, the first suitcase opened.
This is Guzheng's suitcase. When you open the lid, the first thing you see is neatly folded clothes, and you can't see anything wrong with them.
Han Zhou glanced at the task list again. The task required him to find suspicious items in the suitcase. Since they were suspicious items, they should be quite conspicuous. Obviously, they were not referring to these changes of clothes.
He silently said "I'm sorry" to himself, and then began rummaging through his suitcase.
Gu Zheng's suitcase wasn't big, but it was packed with quite a lot of things. After searching for a long time, the most suspicious item he found was a pair of scissors about the size of a palm. He found nothing else.
Strange... Could it be that Guzheng sensed my true intentions and hid the things beforehand?
Han Zhou was puzzled. He picked up the scissors and examined them carefully for a while. He found that they were just ordinary scissors and there was nothing suspicious about them.
Of course, it's somewhat suspicious that someone would specifically bring a pair of scissors, but the status bar doesn't give any indication, meaning that this isn't the suspicious item mentioned in the mission.
Hesitating for a moment, Han Zhou's gaze fell on the last unchecked spot in the suitcase—the semi-transparent zippered pocket inside the lid.
Inside was a small, light gray storage bag, bulging and clearly full of things.
Even without opening it, he could guess what was inside.
During the search, he did not see any underwear. Gu Zheng would not be without underwear, so obviously, the underwear could only be in this storage bag.
Knowing that it contained underwear, he still opened it to check, which was a bit perverted, but Han Zhou did not hesitate too much. He just silently apologized in his heart and reached out to unzip it.
Sure enough, the first thing that caught my eye was a set of neatly folded white underwear.
Han Zhou silently observed the size of the bra for a while, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then took the bra out of the storage bag.
It wasn't that he wanted to take the underwear out to check, but the storage bag was too small, and if he wanted to continue checking what was inside, he could only take out the outer items first.
He wasn't surprised that there was still underwear under the underwear, since Gu Zheng had a habit of taking a bath every day and wouldn't only bring one set of underwear to change into.
But when she took out the third set of underwear from the storage bag and reached inside, her fingertips felt a strange slippery sensation.
Han Zhou paused in his movements.
The feel of it...
He pulled his hand out, looked down, and was slightly taken aback.
It turned out to be a pair of stockings.
It wasn't thick cotton stockings for warmth, nor was it designed to repel insects or snakes; instead, it was a pair of extremely thin black stockings, with a deep, almost translucent color and a faint matte finish, as if they would break at the slightest touch.
Although the packaging was still intact, Han Zhou could clearly see through the thin plastic that the inner thighs of the stockings were intricately trimmed with lace.
Han Zhou subconsciously squeezed the thin packaging. It felt soft and smooth to the touch, and even through the plastic, he could imagine the texture of the product against his skin.
His expression grew increasingly strange.
It was indeed unprecedented for Gu Zheng to buy stockings, but if that were all, it wouldn't have shocked him so much.
The real problem is...
He hesitated for a long time, but finally couldn't resist. He carefully tore open the packaging, took the stockings out of the bag, and held them above his head to examine them closely.
He was completely stunned when he saw the cutout design at the crotch of the stockings.
Isn't that supposed to be sexy stockings? (End of Chapter)