Chapter 617
Han Zhou's Day
The [Delayed Transmitter] costs 200 points, and activation requires another 200 points. Using it once will burn through a full 400 points, which is painfully expensive. However, for the sake of being safe, Han Zhou gritted his teeth and bought it.
Unfortunately, a week's buffer time is still too short. Next week is Christmas, and the week after that is New Year's Day, both of which are eventful times and not a good time for simulations. If only we could find a way to postpone the simulations until the winter break...
To maximize his gains, Han Zhou planned to reset the countdown when it was about to end tonight. He carefully checked the item description of the [Delayed Launcher] again to make sure there were no problems before closing the status bar and heading towards the cafeteria.
Since we're already late, we might as well wait until we've had breakfast before going to the classroom; it won't make a difference if we wait a little longer.
As he took the elevator to the second floor, just as he was about to step toward the breakfast window, a person rushed toward him in a panic, almost bumping into him.
"Senior?"
Han Zhou recognized her at a glance, reached out and grabbed the girl's arm, steadying her as she almost fell off the elevator, and couldn't help but ask, "Why are you in such a hurry?"
Zhong Ling wanted to apologize, but when she looked up and saw it was him, a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, which was then replaced by anxiety.
"I overslept today, I'm going to be late for class..."
Just as he finished speaking, the melodious school bell rang in the distance.
"It's not that I'm 'going' to be late," Han smiled. "I'm already late."
The bell rang as if struck by lightning.
Looking at the girl who looked completely lost, Han Zhou suddenly remembered that this senior was a truly good student. She had probably never been late or left early from childhood to adulthood, and being late was probably a very serious matter in her eyes.
So he suppressed his smile and gently comforted her, "It's okay, senior, it's just being late. I was late today too."
Zhong Ling paused, perhaps because her junior's expression was too relaxed, and her mood inexplicably eased as well: "R-really?"
"Really, since we're already late, let's eat first."
"But……"
Zhong Ling hesitated, thinking that if she ran faster and got to the classroom sooner, the teacher might give her a chance to reform.
There's no "but".
But Han Zhou didn't give her that chance. He looked around first, then stuffed the book in his hand into her arms and pointed to a deserted corner, "You go sit over there first, I'll go buy breakfast."
After saying that, he turned and walked towards the breakfast window.
Zhong Ling opened her mouth, then looked at the book in her arms. In the end, she was too embarrassed to "abandon" her junior and slip away alone. So she obediently walked to the spot he pointed to, sat down uncomfortably, and took out her phone every now and then to check the time.
Before long, Han Zhou came over with two bowls of hot porridge. He pushed one of the bowls in front of Zhong Ling, and thick white steam rose up, spreading between the two of them.
"Drink it while it's hot." He pulled out a chair and sat down, saying in a half-joking tone, "You'll have the energy to take a scolding if you're full."
Zhong Ling paused for a moment, then subconsciously gripped the small cloth bag at her waist, asking nervously, "Will I get scolded for being late?"
Han Zhou couldn't help but chuckle, and continued to tease her: "That depends on how good-tempered your teacher is."
Zhong Ling recalled the face of a certain teacher and hurriedly stood up: "Sorry, junior, I have to go to the classroom right away!"
"What, is that teacher very fierce?" Han Zhou asked curiously.
Zhong Ling hesitated for a moment, then nodded cautiously: "A little..."
"I see..."
Han Zhou sighed with feigned regret, "But if you leave, who will drink this extra bowl of porridge? I bought it especially for you."
Zhong Ling was about to turn and leave when she heard this, she paused, as if struggling internally for a few seconds, and then slowly sat back down: "Then...then I'll finish my drink before I leave."
She took a deep breath, and a look of resignation appeared on her cute little face. She was about to pick up the hot porridge and drink it all in one gulp.
The next second, Han Zhou quickly grabbed her wrist and said with a wry smile, "This porridge is very hot, you have to drink it slowly."
Meeting those smiling eyes, Zhong Ling finally showed a hint of grievance on her face and said weakly, "Junior...are you bullying me?"
She had already bought half a basket of steamed buns, but her junior still bought an extra bowl of hot porridge and insisted that she finish it before leaving, clearly not wanting her to go to the classroom.
"How can this be called bullying?"
Han Zhou withdrew his hand seriously and said righteously, "Sister Yin told me to take good care of you. I was just worried that you wouldn't have enough to eat, so I bought an extra bowl of porridge."
“But I didn’t say it was because of this bowl of porridge…” Zhong Ling whispered, revealing her suspicion.
Han Zhou's expression stiffened for a moment, but he quickly recovered and said helplessly, "Senior, you have to understand that with your stamina, even if you run at full speed now, it will take you more than ten minutes to get to the classroom. You might as well wait until you finish eating before you leave."
"But if I eat before leaving, get out of class might be over, and then being late would be considered skipping class..."
"It's not that serious." Han Zhou smiled. "Just send a message to your roommates and ask them to sign you in."
"But wouldn't that be lying?"
"Lying is only called doing bad things; doing good things is at most called a white lie."
"Is this...is this a good thing?" Zhong Ling was stunned.
"Of course."
Han Zhou took the chopsticks out of the chopstick holder, wiped them clean, and handed them to her, coaxing her gently, "Think about it, senior, you're so cute, the teacher definitely wouldn't want to punish you, you don't want to lose points on your coursework, and you don't want Sister Yin to worry about this. It's a win-win situation, no one would be unhappy, right?"
Hearing her junior say she was cute in a serious tone, Zhong Ling's face instantly turned red. She lowered her head slightly, still somewhat hesitant: "But this isn't quite right..."
Before she could finish speaking, her phone screen lit up with a message from her roommate, telling her that the teacher had just finished taking attendance and that they had already answered for her.
Zhong Ling was stunned.
"See? I told you it was nothing."
Han Zhou also saw the message on his phone and said with a smile, "Given your reputation at school, it's impossible for the teacher not to remember you. Since he didn't expose you, it means he also felt it was unnecessary."
"But……"
"Roll call is over. If you run to the classroom now, it will be awkward, won't it?"
Having said that, Zhong Ling had no choice but to take the chopsticks. After a long silence, she asked softly, "Junior, why... do you not want me to go to the classroom?"
Han Zhou was shocked: "Is it that obvious?"
"It's obvious."
Zhong Ling nodded slightly, hesitated for a moment, and then cautiously added, "It's quite obvious that you're pretending to be shocked now..."
Han Zhou laughed: "I thought you wouldn't be able to tell."
"I'm not that stupid..."
Zhong Ling's ears turned slightly red, and a wronged expression reappeared on her face.
"I did not mean that."
"What...what does that mean..."
Zhong Ling raised her head, trying to glare at him like her sister did, but her eyes were as soft as cotton, completely lacking any intimidation.
Han Zhou didn't answer, but instead asked, "Senior, if I deliberately didn't want you to go to the classroom, would you be angry with me?"
Zhong Ling paused, not quite understanding what she meant, but still shook her head. "No, and I was late because I overslept, it has nothing to do with my junior."
"Actually, the reason you were late was because of me..."
Han Zhou muttered to himself that if it weren't for the influence of the [51% Future Simulator], Zhong Ling wouldn't have overslept.
The simulation has now been postponed, which means that the synchronized sleep effect of the [51% Future Simulator] is still ongoing, and it's unknown whether the two will continue to be late in the coming week.
"What?" Zhong Ling didn't hear what he said.
"nothing."
Han Zhou shook his head, thought for a moment and said, "Anyway, senior, if you get caught being late in the future, just say it's because I didn't let you go to the classroom."
He didn't care about being late, but his senior was so honest. If she were caught being late too many times and there was no reason given, it would be too unfair.
He paused, as if he had thought of something, and continued, "Similarly, if I get caught being late, I'll say it was you who wouldn't let me go to the classroom."
"Why?" Zhong Ling looked bewildered.
Han Zhou said with a mysterious expression, "Because I have a feeling that we'll probably be late together again in the future."
Zhong Ling said "Oh," lowered her head and blew on the hot porridge in her bowl. After a long silence, she finally couldn't resist.
"Junior..."
"Ok?"
"Your feigned mystery just now was quite obvious..."
……
After breakfast, considering that Zhong Ling was shy, Han Zhou simply accompanied her downstairs until the first class was almost over before taking her to the classroom door and then leisurely strolling back to his own class.
Seeing that he missed the first class, Chen Long and the others naturally helped him sign in. He thanked them and then naturally sat down next to Xiao Xiaoxiao, who was catching up on sleep at the table, and gently poked her head.
"what?"
Xiao Xiaoxiao turned her head to the side and glared at him irritably.
Han Zhou asked suspiciously, "Didn't I give you sleeping pills? You've been having trouble sleeping lately?"
"No."
"Your dark circles are so bad, did you go steal a pig last night?"
You're the one who stole the pig!
Xiao Xiaoxiao snorted coldly, then crossed her arms and raised her head triumphantly, "You'll find out then."
"When will that be?"
"I'm not telling you."
The petite girl rolled her eyes. "But you, why are you late again today?"
Han Zhou smiled slightly and gestured for her to come closer.
Xiao Xiaoxiao hesitated for a moment, but couldn't resist her curiosity and leaned her face closer.
I won't tell you either.
Xiao Xiaoxiao was furious, but quickly suppressed her anger, touched the peach blossom earring on her earlobe, and turned her head away disdainfully: "Tch, if you don't want to tell me, then don't tell me. I don't care anyway."
Han Zhou chuckled, then stopped teasing her and reached for the notebook on her desk: "Alright, did you take any important notes in the last class? Let me copy them."
Being late is one thing, but I can't fall behind in my studies. Otherwise, putting everything else aside, I won't be able to get past Teacher Ouyang.
Seeing this, Xiao Xiao slapped his hand away, quickly hugged the notebook to her chest, rested her chin on it, and asked with a stern face, "I can lend it to you, but what should you call me?"
Han Zhou sighed inwardly, but a respectful expression appeared on his face as he addressed him respectfully as "Little Master".
"Speak louder, I can't hear you."
"Little adult." Han Zhou raised his voice.
"That's more like it."
Xiao Xiao smiled broadly and then handed him the notebook she was holding.
Han Zhou took the notebook and flipped through several pages, but didn't see any new notes. He raised an eyebrow and said, "You haven't written anything down."
"Because we didn't need to take notes in the last class," Xiao Xiaoxiao said matter-of-factly.
Is it just my imagination? This guy seems to be getting more and more childish... Han Zhou muttered to himself, put the notebook back, and said, "By the way, I have to go home tomorrow. You can take Teacher Ouyang's car to Guzheng's house the day after tomorrow."
"You're taking another day off?" Xiao Xiaoxiao's eyes widened.
He has classes tomorrow, and if he wants to go home, it means he'll have to ask for leave.
"I have something urgent to take care of," Han Zhou said calmly.
"Hmph, don't think I don't know what you're up to. You're looking for—um, um..."
"Han Zhou, don't bully Xiao Xiao, let go of her hand right now."
A gentle voice sounded behind them. Han Zhou turned around and saw Ouyang Lianyu looking at him with a helpless expression.
Han Zhou immediately let go of his hand and said with a smile, "We were just joking."
Ouyang Lianyu initially thought the two were just joking, but seeing Han Zhou's guilty look, she couldn't help but become suspicious and asked, "Is that so, Xiaoxiao?"
Xiao Xiao secretly kicked Han Zhou under the table, then glared at him angrily, and said sullenly, "He's just bullying me."
"Han Zhou?" Ouyang Lianyu's expression turned serious.
Han Zhou chuckled awkwardly and remained silent, while Xiao Xiaoxiao beside him wore a gloating expression.
After a long silence, Ouyang Lianyu sighed and said, "Both of you should come to my office at noon."
This is probably Han Zhou's daily routine during this period.
His days were divided into regular blocks. He would attend classes when he had them, and when he didn't, he would juggle relationships with several girls—going to the office at noon, having dinner with Guzheng in the afternoon, and then finding time to see Wang Lengqiu in the evening. His life was quite "fulfilling".
And in this seemingly peaceful daily routine, Friday had quietly arrived, and he was going to see Yixia tomorrow.
To be on the safe side, he did not make this public. After all, if he were to do to Yi Xia what Leng Qiu had done to him that day, as Yi Xia had said, it would be too embarrassing to talk about, and might even become a black mark on his history. If possible, it would be best not to leave any trace.
But then again...
Did Yixia guess what Senior Wang Lengqiu had done to me? If she guessed wrong, what kind of expression would she have?
Thinking of this, Han Zhou felt a mix of emotions, but also a sense of anticipation.
That night, he got into Lin Anyu's car for the first time in a long time.
The car silently drove into the depths of the night, speeding away into the distance. (End of Chapter)