I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"Oh, it's nothing."

Then, he saw the student walk up to Zhu Wenyun and casually say something to her. Zhu Wenyun herself looked up in a daze, seemingly unaware that someone had come to find her.

In a sense, she was the same as Chen Junqian. At most, she was only familiar with her classmates, and she didn't know any students from other classes, let alone have any contact with them.

But the moment she saw Chen Junqian standing by the window, this girl, whose height was absolutely outstanding among the elementary school students, jumped up from her seat, clearly recognizing him.

Actually, Lin Mu's complaints back then weren't wrong. How many elementary school students their age would frequently go to the vegetable market? Therefore, Zhu Wenyun was also deeply impressed by Chen Junqian, who had been quite skilled in all aspects of the vegetable market a couple of days ago.

Of course, this was mainly because Chen Junqian was the first person to see her selling vegetables with her grandmother at the market. She was not only from the same school and grade, but also from the next class.

Having read a lot of extracurricular books in her spare time, Zhu Wenyun, whose imagination is much richer than that of her peers and who is prone to daydreaming, had already thought of many possibilities in just a few seconds.

But she had neither eaten the apple that had been unintentionally modified by aliens and gained superpowers, nor did she have a remote control in her pocket that could be used to control other people's words and actions. She also hadn't seen either the Phantom or the Pentagon UFO. So, faced with Chen Junqian's 'summons', she could only slowly and laboriously move out of the classroom and walk to his side.

"I am Chen Junqian from Class 4 next door."

"...Ah, um, I am Zhu Wenyun."

Just a few days ago at the market, the other person showed no stage fright in front of so many adults and confidently promoted their products to him and Lin Mu. But now, when they met again alone in the school corridor, which was also bustling with people, the other person appeared completely timid. If it weren't for the fact that Zhu Wenjun was a little taller than him, it would have looked like a scene of bullying.

Incidentally, since elementary school boys develop more slowly than girls, it's actually the girls who bully the boys more often.

"I just wanted to ask if you brought your science textbook? We have this as our first class this afternoon, but I forgot to bring it. Could I borrow it? It's okay if you don't, thank you."

"I brought it, I'll go get it for you."

Perhaps because her brain was still a bit malfunctioning, Zhu Wenyun subconsciously gave an honest answer and then went back to the classroom. When she sat down in her seat and took out her book from her bag in the desk drawer, she belatedly realized that she might have said she didn't bring it, and then naturally ended the conversation.

However, since she had already agreed, she had no choice but to take out her science textbook, jog back to the classroom door, and hand it to Chen Junqian, giving him a somewhat worried and anxious instruction:

"Um, well... even though I'm lending it to you, if possible, it's best not to write anything or make any notes in it. And when you turn the pages, please be a little gentler and don't fold the inner pages."

"Okay, I understand. I will return it to you intact after class."

Chen Junqian carefully took the textbook from the other person's hands with both hands. He had also discerned from her words and actions that she was indeed a book lover, so instead of leaving immediately, he gestured with his chin towards her seat.

"Do you also like reading Zheng Yuanjie's books? I just saw you reading his 'Five Apples That Trouble the Earth'."

Probably not expecting Chen Junqian to suddenly bring this up, Zhu Wenyun was first taken aback, then hesitantly nodded:

"Ah."

Then, as if she had just remembered something, she quickly waved her hand:

"But that won't do, because I haven't finished watching it yet."

Seemingly worried that her words would displease him, Zhu Wenyun quickly offered an alternative:

"However, I also have a book called 'Canned Little People' and a book called 'Red Sofa Music City' in my desk drawer. I can lend you those two if you want to read them."

"I've read all of these books. Well... consider this a thank you for lending me the books today. I have quite a few Zheng Yuanjie fairy tales at home. If there are any books that you haven't read but I have, I can bring them to school tomorrow to lend to you."

Perhaps because discussing books easily calmed Zhu Wenyun down, it was quite obvious that she had relaxed considerably. After hesitating for a moment, she took the initiative to speak:

"I'd like to read 'The Germ King' and '419 Deadly Sins,' do you have them?"

"Yes, I'll bring it to you tomorrow."

"Thank you."

Since it was almost time for the first class of the afternoon, Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun, who weren't very familiar with each other, didn't chat any longer. After saying goodbye, they returned to their respective classes.

When Chen Junqian returned to his seat, he discovered that Zhong Yu had already borrowed a textbook.

"That's what they call being more careful than being afraid of something going wrong. Thanks for your hard work. Who did you borrow it from? Just leave it there and return it after class."

Do you know Zhu Wenyun from the class next door?

"Zhu Wenyun? Never heard of her, she probably never asked me to do any quests or anything."

As the two chatted, Lu Cheng, who was in the front row, turned around slightly and joined their conversation:

"It would be a miracle if she asked you to do any online game quests. She's a model student in Class 3. Didn't our teacher read her weekly journal aloud before? She completed it with exceptional quality and quantity, much better than those of us who just barely managed to reach the word count."

At this point, Lu Cheng lowered his voice mysteriously again:

"However, Zhu Wenyun's biggest problem is that she usually performs well in Chinese class and writes good weekly journals. The teachers all say that she reads a lot of books, but when it comes to the formal exam, she often can't even finish writing the Chinese composition. So many people in her class say that her usual weekly journals are actually copied."

Chen Junqian had heard Lin Mu mention this before, but not in as much detail as Lu Cheng, so he asked out of curiosity:

"Old Lu, how do you know so much?"

"I overheard it yesterday when I went to the office to deliver some documents for my homeroom teacher. It sounded like they were discussing with the homeroom teacher of Class 3 whether or not to let her participate in the next city-wide essay competition."

Because the main subject teachers usually teach several classes, and so did their class's Chinese teacher and homeroom teacher, Mr. Yang. He also taught Chinese to the neighboring Class 3, otherwise he wouldn't have read out the outstanding weekly journals of the neighboring class to his own class.

"Also, don't rush to ask me why you went to borrow a book from her. Haven't you noticed that you've been getting involved with girls a lot lately?"

Faced with the class monitor's probing question, Chen Junqian simply gave a perfunctory reply:

"You're just imagining things. I was just borrowing a book from someone."

There's nothing he can do. Who told him to have a system living in his mind that keeps telling him to be the male protagonist of a romantic comedy and to build some kind of bond with girls? Actually, elementary school kids are at an age where it's easy for them to become friends. It's just that he never took the initiative to interact with others in the past.

Just like when he saw Lin Mu a couple of days ago, if he hadn't stopped to ask and help, he wouldn't have truly gone from being an acquaintance to a good friend. It's just that compared to Lu Cheng and Zhong Yu, who are still stuck in the idea that boys should hang out with boys, he was a little more proactive.

Before they could exchange more than a few words, the science teacher had already entered the classroom. As the school bell rang, led by class monitor Lu Cheng, all the students stood up and bowed to the teacher to greet him. Only after receiving a "Hello, classmates" response did they lazily return to their seats.

I can only say that I tend to get sleepy during the first class in the afternoon.

However, Zhu Wenyun, who was sitting in the next classroom, showed no signs of falling asleep.

Although quite some time had passed, she was still replaying the scene of her conversation with Chen Junqian in her mind. Even though the two of them had barely exchanged a few words, it seemed as if she had to reconsider and re-examine every single word before she could feel at ease.

However, she quickly pursed her lips, looking conflicted.

Just like the sofa in her house isn't red and doesn't contain a music city that can cure illnesses, and the canned yellow peaches that her grandmother specially bought don't contain any little people with unique talents, even though her name contains the word "ask," sometimes she just can't bring herself to ask many questions.

She couldn't bring herself to directly ask the boy who had stumbled upon her secret—a secret that seemed so small to others but so huge to her—how he got there and found her, whether he would tell others about it, or what he thought of her.

She couldn't get an answer to any of those questions.

Just like how she couldn't get an answer from her grandmother about why her parents could only come home once a year.

Chapter Thirteen: The Embarrassing System That Is Trying to Localize

When get out of class ended, Chen Junqian took the book to the door of Class 3 next door to return it, only to find that their class was still running overtime. So he had to stand near the door and wait for a while. After about three to five minutes, he finally saw the teacher come out with the lesson plan.

Because of the extended class time, many students who needed to use the restroom had already gathered their strength and rushed out right behind the teacher. Chen Junqian had no choice but to temporarily give way to avoid being bumped by one of the students who were rushing in and out.

After the group of people at the door had all dispersed, Chen Junqian finally had a chance to wave inside and carefully handed the textbook back to Zhu Wenyun, who was sitting inside, through the window.

"Thank you."

Although he didn't actually need it, Chen Junqian still politely said thank you before turning to leave. Zhu Wenyun, who was behind him, could only sit back down with a sigh of relief after carefully checking her textbook and finding no obvious signs of damage.

After school in the afternoon, the four-person blackboard newspaper team also worked together to clean the blackboard at the back of the classroom before going home separately. However, Chen Junqian and Lin Mu were just pretending and reunited after a few steps.

Perhaps because he hadn't eaten snacks from the school gate for several days, Lin Mu's eyes lit up when he looked at the colorful packaging on the roadside. But when he thought about how he only had a few yuan left, he immediately deflated.

It was early September, and the weather hadn't completely cooled down yet, so the shops near the school gate were still selling popsicles. Everywhere you looked, you could see elementary school students eating popsicles or licking green tongues. Seeing this, Chen Junqian tentatively offered a suggestion:

"Lin Mu, would you like some popsicles? It's my treat."

"Okay, okay, if it's just the two of us, let's buy some shaved ice."

As one of the most popular popsicles among children, the advantage of Want Want Ice Popsicle is that it is easy to share in a friendly way. After taking out an Ice Popsicle from the freezer and paying for it, Chen Junqian cleanly tore open the packaging, snapped it at the joint, and cut the popsicle in two with a snap. He then gave the slightly larger piece to Lin Mu.

"Thank you."

After politely saying thank you, Lin Mu took the popsicle Chen Junqian offered and took a bite, feeling her steps become much lighter.

Just like the previous two days, Chen Junqian bought groceries and cooked, but changed the dishes a little. After greeting Lin Mu, who was engrossed in eating, he took a car back home.

After three days of this, his family finally realized that he was coming home later and later, so Chen Jun soon came over to subtly inquire about his son's whereabouts after school.

"I need to prepare the blackboard bulletin board for the next two weeks, so I'll probably be coming home a little later. I also need to use the home computer to look up some information tonight."

However, Chen Junqian had already come up with a reason, and without batting an eye, he simply used the blackboard bulletin as his excuse.

The father seemed quite happy that his son was actively participating in class affairs. After all, Chen Junqian was indeed a child who was flawless in every aspect, except that he didn't seem to care much about anything, didn't have many friends, and was usually invited to play by others. He rarely took the initiative to invite friends to play together.

After his father left, Chen Junqian sat at his desk in his room and began to think about a blank page in his exercise book.

In the few days since his rebirth, he has probably fully adapted to the various aspects of this era. However, whether it's muscle memory or the influence of his current elementary school student body, he does tend to see things from a child's perspective more easily.

But actually, Chan Kwan-him himself doesn't dislike this.

For a long time before his rebirth, he, as a third-rate children's literature writer, struggled with this question: how to write literary works that would be popular with children from their perspective.

But I just can't do it.

Whether he tried to communicate and interview his childhood friends, or directly observe his audience—the elementary school students who are now skilled at using smartphones to watch short videos and even shoot videos—Chen Junqian could say he gained nothing.

So much so that many times, even he himself would think that it might be because of his parents' sudden accident in his last year of elementary school that his entire childhood came to an abrupt end, while at the same time preserving his most precious memories, as if freezing the most beautiful moment and constantly adding to and beautifying it in the years that followed.

However, he is not the kind of person who would casually click on a nostalgic video one day and say something like, "We used to eat so well when we were kids." It was precisely because everything in his childhood profoundly influenced him that Chen Junqian later chose to become a children's literature creator.

Although the result was quite unsatisfactory.

It was probably around that time that the idea popped into his head that if he could go back to his childhood and relive it all, he might be able to write a good story.

However, compared to the somewhat distant future plans, Chen Junqian does have two other things that are more immediate.

First, there was the accident that happened to my parents about three years later. Although I don't know how big the effect of his butterfly effect was, if possible, I should have let my parents leave the factory before that, to avoid that production accident from the root.

Then came an even closer incident, about five months later, that occurred at their school.

This was probably one of the most memorable things for Chen Junqian throughout his primary school years. On the one hand, he was indeed a witness to the incident, and on the other hand, it was after that incident that the school officially introduced and implemented the staggered dismissal system throughout the school.

On March 11th of next year, at the start of the second semester of his fourth grade after his winter vacation, a serious stampede occurred in the stairwell of his school building during the evening dismissal time.

Chen Junqian couldn't quite remember the initial cause of the incident. He only remembered that the entire downward stairwell was in chaos, filled with the cries and shouts of students who had been trampled. The situation was finally stabilized after school staff arrived from nearby. The only relief was that no one was actually killed, but nearly ten students still suffered injuries of varying degrees. One girl in his class even had several stitches in her forehead.

For Chen Junqian at this moment, these are probably the two tragedies that happened around him that are closest to him and that he can most easily change.

Thinking this, Chen Junqian heard the voice of that useless system that seemed to be frequently produced by a certain online novel website before he transmigrated into his mind again after a long time.

Ah, compared to these events, I definitely prefer events like the school festival, swimsuit episode, study tour and hot spring episode, and the lucky pervert episode—events that fit the romantic comedy setting better.

Looking at the system that hadn't been around for a few days and was now acting crazy again, Chen Junqian rolled his eyes silently. He sincerely felt that the system was not as good as those systems on other websites that could grant you something like the Eternal God Emperor Physique just by signing in.

[I already said it's because someone insisted on forcing me to bring him back to this real world that I'm completely unfamiliar with. If it were a romantic comedy world, even if you asked me to install a mod that turns everyone into a girl or reverses chastity concepts, and modify all my background and abilities to my liking before entering, I would have no problem with it.]

[And I haven't come away empty-handed these past few days. At least from your perspective, I've roughly figured out some of the operating rules of your world. I'm currently trying to convert those Japanese-style codes, which is quite a lot of work, since I don't understand them at all.]