I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

[For example, the trope of a high school student who is a light novel author, which is very common in the world of anime and manga, I can tentatively convert it into a web novel author. But there are still a lot of other tropes that I don't understand at all. For example, this 'Tokyo handsome guy' trope. I've browsed around the internet here and the closest thing seems to be some weird 'Kyo-ye' trope, but you're not in Beijing. It's a headache.]

Chen Junqian almost choked on his own saliva because of the complaints from his own system, so he quickly raised his hand to stop them:

"You'd better not mess with things that involve real-world elements. I don't want to wake up one day to find that the whole world has become something else."

[Okay, let me figure it out a bit more, but it's no use if I figure it out by myself. You, the protagonist of my chosen romantic comedy, also need to play a role, otherwise I won't be motivated... Let me see, wow, you seem to be doing pretty well these past few days, your network of relationships has suddenly expanded by several.]

As he spoke, a report resembling a resume quickly appeared on Chen Junqian's retina:

Lin Mu: Appearance adaptability A, basic ability adaptability B+, personality adaptability C, action adaptability C, speech adaptability B, current romantic comedy adaptability B, first candidate for childhood friend (childhood sweetheart).

"...What the hell is this?"

If we compare a romantic comedy to a play, the actors are definitely the most important. And given that reality is the stage backdrop, finding such good candidates is already quite good; otherwise, every character should be a standard A-list actor.

Presumably quite proud of what he had cobbled together, the embarrassing system thoughtfully added the following explanation:

First of all, the characters in a romantic comedy should ideally all be beautiful girls. Although the story can use its settings to explain who is more attractive, in the illustrator's work, all the heroines appearing in the color illustrations and on the cover must have a level of attractiveness that would make readers want to stop and buy the book. This is the principle of appearance adaptability.

[Then there's the basic ability. After all, having only good looks without any skills will only make you a pretty face, and while you can use the lack of ability to trigger events that increase favorability, repeating it over and over again will only make you seem like a hopeless case, significantly lowering the reader's favorability.]

Next are personality, actions, and speech. Many characters in romantic comedies are characterized by their cuteness through these three aspects. If we take a younger sister character as an example, the one I prepared for you originally had all three adaptability ratings of A, a personality that is both energetic and assertive and weak and clingy, and who would appear on your bed every morning and say things like, "Isn't a younger sister born to meet her older brother?" or "The innate sibling relationship that exists from birth is a more noble existence than that of a couple."

"I'm so frustrated I'm digging my toes into the ground."

After listening to the system's detailed explanation, Chen Junqian was relieved about the CCB ratings it listed for Lin Mu. After all, he really couldn't imagine that Lin Mu would do something so extraordinary that no real human would say or do.

[However, her overall rating is still B, so she's a potential star. I feel like I can already see all sorts of possibilities in her. But romantic comedies always need a childhood friend character, right? After all, the saga between a childhood friend and a newcomer is always the most frequent. By the way, the second most frequent is the relationship between a younger sister and a childhood friend.]

"...I'll say it again, I don't have a sister."

[But just a few days ago, I didn't see any childhood friend connection in you either. Connections between people always need to be actively created, especially on this real-world stage. A sisterly relationship can be created, just like a childhood friend relationship. Although there's always less of a sense of transgression and sweetness when there's no blood relation, you can't force too much in this kind of situation.]

After rambling on and on like this, the system, in a remarkably human-like manner, yawned:

Alright, I'm going back to hibernation. Consider this a reward for finding the top candidate for childhood friend. I'll also give you a buff from my storage that doubles your intelligence and learning efficiency. After all, the host of the world I visited before was the kind who aspired to get into Tokyo University, said women would only interfere with his learning speed, but ended up having a romantic comedy with a bunch of arts, science, and sports students. Your world is probably equivalent to Peking University? Anyway, this should help you. Keep moving towards your goal of becoming the strongest romantic comedy male protagonist. Good luck!

And so, the system, which had made a brief appearance in a long time, fell silent again in Chen Junqian's mind. However, according to it, at least he hadn't come away empty-handed this time.

The first candidate for childhood sweetheart...

Unconsciously, Chen Junqian thought of Lin Mu's smiling face again, and he also raised the corners of his mouth as he looked at the blue sky outside the window.

He shouldn't be considered a substitute at all.

Chapter Fourteen: What she wanted most was the Sheep Talisman.

Perhaps it was because of the embarrassing system's statement last night, but today Chen Junqian suddenly started paying special attention to Lin Mu's every move and smile.

Girls of this age haven't had time to fully develop yet, especially for someone like Lin Mu who is visibly developing later. So, although she was rated as having an A-level appearance adaptability, Chen Junqian still couldn't find any words like "beautiful" or "pretty" to describe Lin Mu right now. However, she was undeniably adorable when she smiled.

For the four of them who create the blackboard newspaper, the only perk they can currently claim is that they can legitimately skip the long break between classes every day, instead of lining up for morning exercises on the playground, and leisurely hide in the classroom.

After printing the blackboard bulletin board layout they had found the night before onto paper using their father's printer, the four of them started working on their own tasks.

It has to be said that Xu Youwei's painting skills are quite good, and she is one of the best among her peers. Chen Junqian was even tempted to ask her to draw the pictures for his hand-copied newspaper in the future. This was probably the homework he hated most when he was in elementary school. The main reason was that he couldn't draw and his handwriting was not good. Every time he forced himself to hand it in, it was just barely passing the passing grade and he couldn't even stand it.

The class monitor and Lin Mu's chalk writing was also quite neat. While the three of them were busy working on stools, Chen Junqian mainly took on the role of a logistics assistant, helping to hand things over, helping to hold the stools, and occasionally taking two steps back to squint and check the overall effect or whether the characters were crooked.

Listening to the music for morning exercises playing on the radio, and estimating that the break was almost over and the students in the class would soon be coming back, the group temporarily stopped working, wiped the benches clean, and put away the chalk, blackboard eraser, rulers, and other tools. Then they went to the restroom to wash their hands and faces.

As soon as Zhong Yu returned, he familiarly slumped onto the table again. It seemed that the morning exercises during the break between classes had exhausted his remaining energy. He was just short of nagging Chen Junqian to let him join in making the blackboard newspaper, so that he could legitimately avoid going downstairs to sunbathe.

He has always had this kind of personality. Although he gets along well with everyone, he never makes requests in a joking tone that would make the other person feel uncomfortable. He has a great sense of propriety in his interactions with people. Not to mention among elementary school students, even when Chen Junqian was in college in his previous life, he never saw anyone with this kind of habit and skill.

Chen Junqian pulled out two Pipilu series books that he had specifically looked for on the bookshelf when he got home last night from his schoolbag, and took advantage of the last bit of the long break to run to the door of Class 3 next door.

Whether it was a coincidence or the other person had been waiting there, as soon as he approached, he saw Zhu Wenyun sitting by the window, looking somewhat absent-minded and glancing at the classroom door every now and then. He casually handed the book to her through the open window.

"Here, this is what we agreed on yesterday, for you."

"Thank you."

Just like Chen Junqian yesterday, Zhu Wenyun also took great care today, specifically using both hands to receive the book:

"I should be able to finish reading it and return it to you next Monday."

"It's okay to watch for a while, since I've already finished watching it."

After saying that, Chen Junqian glanced at the covers and titles of the two books again, then leaned halfway against the window and asked Zhu Wenyun a question with some curiosity:

"Is it because these are the only two books left in the Pipilu series that you haven't read? Otherwise, why would you choose these two?"

As one of Zheng Yuanjie's most devoted fans, Chen Junqian not only read almost all of Zheng's works many times when he was young, but also revisited many classic children's literature works after becoming a creator in the field himself.

However, it was precisely because of this that he was genuinely curious about Zhu Wenyun's choice.

Among Zheng Yuanjie's numerous series and works, 419 Sins is probably the least like, or rather, not a fairy tale at all. Instead, it consists of a series of very short stories used to educate readers about my country's Criminal Law. It can only be said that in every aspect, it seems like a work that is just padding out the word count to get paid for the manuscript.

In contrast, while "Pipilu and the Germ Boss" does tell a long story, firstly, Chen Junqian doesn't think children would have any fondness or interest in germs, especially for clean girls; secondly, the book has too many realistic elements, so it can't be considered a fairy tale that children can enjoy reading.

However, it seems that most of Zheng Yuanjie's works are in this style.

"No, I borrowed these two books from you first because I was quite interested in their titles and summaries."

It sounded like the question had been thrown back at him verbatim, but considering that Zhu Wenyun hadn't actually read the contents yet, Chen Junqian didn't press the matter further. After all, the other party might complain in a couple of days that the title had misled them or that the content didn't match their expectations.

It's fair to say that his perspective on the book title "Pipilu and the Remote Control Teacher" changed when he was a child compared to when he grew up and experienced more things...

It's best not to think about it any further; the impact on elementary school students is immeasurable.

"Okay, I'll come again next Monday."

After saying that, Chen Junqian quickly left the classroom of Class 3 as soon as the bell rang for the next class, returned to his seat in his own classroom, and began to wait for the teacher to come for the next class.

Today is Thursday, and the weekend is just around the corner. The students seem more restless than in the past few days, though this could also be due to a computer class in the afternoon.

I remember when he was in junior high school, he also had computer class on Thursday afternoons. Back then, the first two classes were biology and chemistry, so together it was biochemistry computer class, which was quite entertaining.

Lin Mu's parents should be back in a couple of days, so his cooking duties will be over. However, starting next week, he will be taking up his post as a discipline committee member again, partnered with Xu Youwei.

Thinking of this, Chen Junqian subconsciously glanced in the other person's direction twice, but unexpectedly, Xu Youwei was also secretly glancing in his direction. Their eyes met briefly in the air before she looked away, and feeling a little embarrassed, she turned her head back.

"Why don't we go with Weiwei after school today? There are leftovers from yesterday's food, and I can heat it up myself now, so we should have plenty of time."

At lunchtime, while eating and watching cartoons at the after-school care center, Lin Mu, with a bitter face, chewed on a bitter melon and, as if trying to distract himself, made the same suggestion to Chen Junqian, as if that would make it easier to chew the food in his mouth.

"Today? It's possible in terms of time, but we need to work on the blackboard newspaper together after school. By the time we finish and leave the school gate, most of the students will have left, and it would be easier to be discovered if we tried to follow them."

"That's what they say, but I just feel really uncomfortable because I feel like Weiwei has been acting weirder and weirder lately..."

All I can say is that if that embarrassing system were still awake at this moment, it would probably roll its eyes and mutter, "As expected, people in the real world are quite unadaptable in their speech and actions." In a typical anime/manga setting, it would definitely say something like, "Because xx is about to break down."

Despite the limited vocabulary and descriptive abilities of a primary school student, Lin Mu still tried her best to convey her meaning to Chen Junqian:

"That's right, didn't I ask you about the talisman yesterday?"

As she spoke, she glanced up at the television screen, which was still playing the series in sequence. After the Twelve Talismans arc ended, the Eight Demons arc began. This episode featured the Black Hand gang using the power of the talismans to rob a bank, and Valmont being possessed by Shendu. It was just as thrilling, but Lin Mu clearly didn't feel the same way as yesterday.

“You said you wanted a chicken the most because you wanted to see what it felt like to fly, but I wanted a dog.”

"But this morning I actually talked to Weiwei about this issue again, and she told me without hesitation that what she wanted most was a sheep, the sheep talisman that allows the soul to leave the body."

"At first I thought it was because Vivi wanted to use this to travel to all sorts of places around the world from home, but she actually told me that."

"...She said she wanted to use this to make herself look like she was dead, and then use her soul to see how her family would react, whether they would cry or laugh, or think it was really great?"

For Lin Mu, who has been truly pampered and cherished by her family since childhood, these kinds of topics and thoughts are probably completely incomprehensible to her. As a result, when she was just repeating these few words, she seemed to have tears in her eyes.

"This idea does seem a bit extreme, but the main problem is that we have absolutely no idea what her family situation is like."

Although Chen Junqian had long guessed that Xu Youwei's various awkwardnesses were definitely due to family issues, he still felt it was a bit much to hear her say such things without changing her expression. After all, this is not the era when children can be exposed to a large amount of mixed information bombardment on the Internet at a young age. Elementary school students are generally quite innocent and don't even think about things like life and death.

"Oh yeah, I don't even know where she lives."

"Actually, I'm more curious about what she does on her way home from school and where she goes than where she lives."

In reality, the only reason why children choose to wander the streets after school is that they don't want to go home. However, the reasons why they don't want to go home can lead to all sorts of speculations.

But based on the information Chen Junqian has gathered so far, he doesn't think Xu Youwei has really reached the point where Lin Mu is worried about her wanting to commit suicide. After all, based on his interactions with her and his own observations, he feels that Xu Youwei is essentially still a child at heart, and everything she does is to want attention and to be cared for, whether in class or at home.

In a sense, this can be considered a positive self-rescue behavior. After all, if the above behavior is repeated for a long time without receiving positive feedback, this string may suddenly snap at some point.

Even as a mediocre children's literature creator, Chen Junqian has had extensive exposure to child psychology. Children, no, not just children, all humans send out some kind of message when they are troubled and want help from others. It's just that children's messages are often more obscure and awkward, and each person has their own unique behavior.

Suddenly becoming cheerful or suddenly becoming silent, suddenly expressing a desire not to go to school, or simply muttering something else.

But what if you send out these messages and no one helps you? Then all that remains are anger and hatred about why no one wants to help you, followed by despair and giving up on everything.

From another person's perspective, this behavior can be considered a form of arrogance. Because no matter what, the recipient of the message will feel like, "Even if you say this, I still don't understand what you're thinking."

However, children are unconsciously self-centered, so the two sides often cannot understand each other. They are just more likely to make mistakes than more mature adults.

In fact, when Chen Junqian entered the children's literature industry with great enthusiasm in his previous life and began to survey his audience, primary and junior high school students born after 2010, he was deeply aware of this and sincerely felt a sense of powerlessness.

Some people have been smoking for three years by the age of twelve; some people meet the person they want to protect most at the age when they are most helpless; some people cry when they think of their ex-boyfriend from kindergarten; every elementary school student can tell a heartbreaking story; and when they hear various DJ love songs, they think of their ex-wife and ex-husband.

Fourth graders might be melancholic literary geniuses who have read anime, movies, and TV shows but never read a book; eight-year-old girls can become internet celebrities with false eyelashes and big eye bags; kindergarten kids can pose for photos like tough guys; fifth-grade girls wear sexy dresses and hold cigarettes; third-grade boys can simultaneously date five girls and solemnly add "I already have a wife, please do not disturb" to their personal profiles; at an age when they haven't even finished paying off their teeth, they already call themselves qualified old smokers and old drinkers.

If the youth-angst literature of their generation was still confined to QQ Space, then the audience that Chen Junqian had to face after growing up could now lie down in sewage and cosplay as a jellyfish without any psychological burden, and smoothly post it to short video platforms with the caption "I'll be a jellyfish in my next life, because it doesn't have a heart and doesn't feel pain."

"Hello... Chen Junqian?"

However, Lin Mu's small hand waving in front of his field of vision quickly pulled Chen Junqian out of the vortex of memories.

Oh, it's still 2009.

Therefore, even children's problems may be easier to solve than those of their peers a decade or more later.

Chapter Fifteen: The Tracking Operation in Progress

Without further ado, after the four-person team on the blackboard newspaper successfully completed their task for the day, Chen Junqian and Lin Mu began their plan to track Xu Youwei.

To minimize the chances of being discovered, the two of them took off their conspicuous school uniform jackets and put them in their backpacks. They each wore only a short-sleeved shirt underneath and followed behind Xu Youwei at a distance.

However, the other party seemed completely unaware of their two sneaky followers, because as soon as they stepped out of the school gate, the disciplinary committee member who would take office next Monday had already taken the lead in pulling out a bottle of green-packaged bubble solution from the inner pocket of his backpack and started blowing bubbles for his own amusement.

Bubbles of all sizes shimmered with iridescent colors in the afterglow of the setting sun. Not only Xu Youwei, but even the younger children walking along the roadside couldn't help but tiptoe and turn around to catch them with their hands, watching them burst one by one on their fingertips and palms.

Seemingly finding the bubbles, which would disappear into the air in no time, a bit unsatisfying, Xu Youwei quickly put away the bubble solution and instead took out a tube of bubble gum and a blowpipe from the outer pocket of her backpack. She skillfully kneaded the squeezed bubble gum into a suitable shape and then held it to one end of the blowpipe, gently blowing bubbles at her lips.

Once it reached about the size of a ping-pong ball, she was satisfied and gently removed the bubble from near the mouth of the blowpipe. After quickly tying the opening shut, she tossed the bubble back and forth between her two hands like a marble. If she added two more, it would look a bit like an acrobatic performance.

Not only was Xu Youwei playing with bubbles in her hands, but she was also blowing bubbles from time to time, having somehow popped a large piece of bubble gum into her mouth. Lin Mu, who was following behind her, even wanted to ask her for tips on how to do it.