Forced into a romantic relationship

Chapter 171 Big crisis!
"Can I sit here?"

After the car had been driving for about half an hour, Zhang Tao's voice suddenly rang in Han Zhou's ears. The latter turned his head to look at Mo Yixia, who was wearing headphones next to him. He really wanted to say no, but in the end he nodded.

"can."

"Thank you."

Zhang Tao sat down opposite him, placed his backpack on the empty seat next to him, and explained with a smile, "The signal isn't very good on this stretch of road, so the live stream keeps cutting out and I can't interact with the audience. I'm a very energetic person and can't sleep in the car, and I'm a bit bored sitting alone in the back, so I wanted to chat with someone I know. I hope I'm not bothering you guys?"

"No, but please don't speak too loudly. This guy is asleep, he must be asleep..."

Han Zhou glanced at Mo Yixia suspiciously, his tone somewhat uncertain. This girl had only been in the car for a short while when she said she wanted to sleep, and unusually, she even put on her headphones and started listening to music. She didn't press Zhang Tao about his "interesting look," as if she had left it at that.

Han Zhou had clearly not done anything he felt guilty about, but for some reason he felt a sense of relief.

It's unclear whether Mo Yixia is truly asleep. Wearing a mask and snow goggles, she could very well be pretending to be asleep, perhaps even staring intently at him right now.

Given this guy's style, he could very well do something this pointless...

Zhang Tao nodded to indicate that he understood, a hint of curiosity flashing in his eyes, but he ultimately did not ask about their relationship. Instead, he lowered his voice and asked, "Why did you suddenly put on snow goggles?"

He remembered that the other person wasn't wearing snow goggles when he first got in the car.

I suggest you put this on as soon as possible...

Han Zhou muttered to himself, of course he wouldn't tell the other person that it was to guard against Mo Yixia's "mind-reading ability", and that the person who should be most wary of her was you. While taking off his snow goggles, he replied, "This is my first time using these mountaineering equipment, everything is new and exciting, so I'm wearing them to get a feel for them beforehand."

He only put on these things after being watched by Mo Yixia for a while. As for Mo Yixia's reason for wearing snow goggles in the car, it's quite simple: she was using them as eye masks.

Zhang Tao smiled and said, "Judging from what you're saying, this must be your first time climbing a snow mountain, right?"

"Hmm, I'll take advantage of the holiday to experience it." Han Zhou said with some curiosity, "I heard that you're a very good extreme sports enthusiast, are you also interested in snow-capped mountains of this level?"

The reason for saying "this level" is that the Wucai Snow Mountain is not difficult to climb; it is a beginner-level snow mountain. It may be somewhat difficult for the sub-healthy population that is prevalent nowadays, but it should not be a challenge for extreme sports enthusiasts like Zhang Tao.

“I plan to challenge the highest peak in the future. I heard that this challenge is very difficult. Although I have a lot of climbing experience, I have never climbed a snow mountain before, so I plan to take it step by step and start with this kind of beginner snow mountain to get used to it and see the scenery along the way.”

Zhang Tao explained, "You've probably heard of me, right? I'm a video blogger, and I'm fairly well-known. But recently, I've encountered a bottleneck in both videos and live streams, so I'm planning to temporarily change my style and find some nice tourist attractions to visit, which can also satisfy some of my fans' requests."

"Challenge the highest peak..."

Han Zhou was immediately filled with respect and exclaimed, "I've heard that just saying those words takes courage."

He had limited knowledge of climbing, but he was still very clear about how difficult it was to reach the summit.

Like Mount Everest in its previous life, Juefeng is the world's highest peak, known to everyone and quite mysterious. Many films and TV series like to use this towering peak as the background of their stories, and every time it is mentioned, in addition to marveling at its altitude that touches the clouds, they almost always emphasize the danger of climbing it.

This is a daunting peak, said to be beyond human reach, dangerous and mysterious, with almost all climbers leaving their wills before attempting it.

This statement comes from a horror movie that Han Zhou and Gu Zheng watched together before. He couldn't quite remember the plot, but it seemed to be related to the Yeti. Although it was an exaggerated description, it still illustrates the difficulty of climbing the mountain.

Therefore, when Han Zhou heard that Zhang Tao wanted to challenge the summit, he once again gained a clear understanding of his senior's "recklessness".

"It's not that exaggerated. You're thinking too much about the summit. As long as you can afford it, someone can even carry you to the summit."

Seeing Han Zhou's blank expression, Zhang Tao was both amused and exasperated. This junior was rather thin and clearly hadn't been involved in outdoor sports much, so it was normal that he didn't know much about this area.

He gave a brief explanation, then said, "By the way, since you know me, I won't introduce myself. But I don't know your name yet, would you mind telling me?"

He was a mild-mannered young man, and his manners and speech were quite polite.

Han Zhou then realized what he had done and replied, "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Han Zhou, and I'm a freshman."

"Han Zhou..."

Zhang Tao noted down the name, looked at the other person for a while, and joked, "You should spend more time on the basketball court when you have time. I think you're more handsome than Zhang Ziwen."

Han Zhou was taken aback. He remembered the name Zhang Ziwen, who was also one of the six celebrities and was known as the "King of the Court". It was said that the main reason for his fame was that he was very handsome, like a male protagonist who had stepped out of a comic book.

But wait a minute, can you become famous just by being handsome these days? I'm not a celebrity in the entertainment industry, I need to have something else to offer besides my looks, right?

Han Zhou always believed that to become famous in college, one had to be "active". Good looks alone were definitely not enough. Putting aside everything else, one had to be good at at least one of these three things: singing, dancing, rapping, or basketball.

Oh, it seems like the basketball was taken. Oh well, never mind.

Just as Han Zhou was about to speak, he saw Zhang Tao across from him suddenly beam with joy, looking down at his phone and saying, "Great, we have a signal!"

"There's a signal? Does that mean the live stream has resumed?" Han Zhou remembered that Zhang Tao had just said he had started a live stream.

"That's right, it's recovered!"

Perhaps realizing that his reaction was too excited, Zhang Tao smiled a little embarrassedly and said in a restrained tone, "I'm sorry, I made you laugh. I promised the viewers in the live broadcast room that I would let them watch the whole process of climbing the snow mountain, but there was almost no signal after that, so I got a little excited."

"The whole thing?" Han Zhou looked surprised. "Wouldn't that mean it would be broadcast until tomorrow morning?"

"That's not what I meant. It's impossible to broadcast for that long; it would be tiring and boring. Actually, we'll just broadcast a little bit of each process, as a detailed guide for fans who will be interested in Green Mountain in the future. The main focus is still on collecting video footage for editing," Zhang Tao explained with a smile.

Han Zhou nodded, wanting to ask if being a video blogger was profitable, but he was too embarrassed to ask.

It wasn't time to climb yet, so Zhang Tao didn't take out a professional action camera. He just turned on the front camera of his phone, and a few viewers quickly flooded into the live stream. They were probably die-hard fans who sent messages to greet him.

"Hello everyone."

Zhang Tao also greeted his fans and said with a smile, "I am currently traveling by car to a mountain town at an altitude of 2,000 meters. I will arrive soon, and the climb of Green Mountain will officially begin."

"I didn't want to either, but the signal was bad along this stretch of road, which is why the live stream was interrupted."

"I haven't had any adverse reactions yet. I'm quite adaptable to high altitudes, and the current altitude isn't too high."

"Food? I brought chocolate, cola..."

"..."

Zhang Tao really enjoyed interacting with the viewers in the live stream. Just as he finished answering all the questions in the chat, another new chat message popped up on his phone.

"Is Brother Tao chatting with someone? I've been watching the live stream the whole time. I think I just heard you say that someone is more handsome than Zhang Ziwen. Is that true?"

"Really? Is it Zhang Ziwen from our school?" someone asked quickly.

"I don't believe you unless I see it."

"You're really awesome, bro, you've been watching the live stream the whole time..."

"Who cares if it's real or fake, just let us take a look, isn't that enough?"

"..."

Many viewers in the live stream are from Lincheng University. After all, they are well-known bloggers from the same university, and everyone is happy to support their own. In addition, extreme sports are more appealing to young people, so they often watch Zhang Tao's live stream. If they are lucky, they may even meet new friends from the same university in the live stream.

It's worth mentioning that a significant portion of Zhang Tao's fans are female college students from Linyi University, who spend their days enthusiastically supporting him despite their seemingly reckless behavior.

Seeing that many people in the live chat were asking for the handsome guy who was even more handsome than Zhang Ziwen to appear, Zhang Tao smiled wryly and subtly conveyed the audience's request to Han Zhou.

"Make me appear on camera?" Han Zhou was taken aback and immediately shook his head in refusal. "Let's forget it. I'm not very interested in this kind of thing."

His voice wasn't loud, but it still reached the live stream, and the refresh rate of the comments immediately increased.

"He sounds like a handsome guy, Tao! Let us see him!"

"Yes, yes, let me see!"

"I think I've heard this voice before..."

Zhang Tao was in a dilemma. He usually tried his best to meet the requests of the viewers in the live broadcast room, but since Han Zhou was unwilling to appear in the live broadcast room, he naturally had to respect the other party's wishes and privacy, so he did not make any further requests.

However, no matter how much he pleaded, it was to no avail. Han Zhou's attitude was quite firm. There were actually two reasons why he refused to appear in the live broadcast room. Besides his lack of interest in being in the public eye, he also had a vague sense of unease—

It's worth noting that Zhang Tao is a well-known figure at the school, and his live streams are likely watched by many students from Lin Da University, including Gu Zheng.

Although Guzheng never watches live streams, what if she happens to see one by chance, or what if one of her classmates sees it and forwards it to her?
This is by no means impossible.

Han Zhou was not afraid of being seen by Gu Zheng, but the problem was that he was with Mo Yixia right now. If Gu Zheng saw this, what difference would it be from being caught in bed with someone else?
Thinking of this, he suddenly froze.

Wait, why do I feel like this is catching someone cheating?

Han Zhou's mood became extremely complicated, and just then, a lazy voice suddenly rang in his ears.

"I think it's good to be on camera."

(End of this chapter)