I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"Oh, right, here you go."

Although he had guessed in the morning that the disciplinary committee member who was solemnly checking the appearance of students entering the school must have something bulging in his bag, Chen Junqian still felt a sense of awe when he actually saw the other party pull out a box of Black Spider firecrackers from the gap in his backpack.

"Aren't you afraid of being caught bringing this to school?"

Chen Junqian, who hadn't played with this thing for over ten years, took the box. He remembered that the last time he saw it before his rebirth was when netizens jokingly photoshopped the printed 'black spider' into 'black mamba'.

"It's not like a firecracker that explodes if you accidentally press it. It's nothing serious. There aren't many people living in that alley ahead. Come on, let's go play there."

Seeing that Chen Junqian did not show any particular resistance or stern refusal, Xu Youwei enthusiastically led him into another alley.

Just as she said, this alley, which was dirty and messy in every way, was completely devoid of human interaction. Only a garbage can that was almost overflowing with trash on the side of the road had any presence.

Xu Youwei casually picked up an empty mineral water bottle from the top of the trash can. She skillfully, even nonchalantly, rubbed two firecrackers along the dark red coating on the side of the box. After the sparks sizzled, she calmly and unhurriedly stuffed them into the bottle.

The next second, with a loud bang, the empty plastic bottle was blown up and bounced several times in the air, and a faint smell of gunpowder filled the air.

"Where did you buy all of these? I usually only play with them during winter break and Chinese New Year."

After playing with Xu Youwei for a while, throwing firecrackers, blasting puddles, and blowing up bottles, Chen Junqian asked her a question out of curiosity.

"That would be a small shop that's quite far away. If you're interested, I can take you there next time. But I'm the opposite of you. I don't get to have much fun during the Chinese New Year, so I want to have as much fun as I want during the regular season."

Seemingly feeling that throwing them one or two at a time wasn't enough, Xu Youwei pulled out a one-yuan lighter from somewhere and quickly dragged Chen Junqian to a secluded corner to squat down. She poured out all the remaining firecrackers from the box and then gestured for Chen Junqian to gather them into a circle with the lit end pointing towards the center, stacking them layer by layer to form a shape like a bonfire.

After everything was successfully completed, she reached out and handed her lighter to Chen Junqian.

"How about it? Want some?"

As the pillar of the household who would later be responsible for lighting five hundred strings of firecrackers during the Lunar New Year, Chen Junqian was certainly not afraid of such a small scene. After asking Xu Youwei to step back a little, he lit the lighter and steadily lit all the firecrackers before jumping up and covering his ears with her.

The noise from the twenty or so firecrackers exploding together was indeed much louder than the one or two that had exploded earlier. As soon as they finished, you could hear the dogs from the neighboring alleys barking in fright at you. But Xu Youwei seemed to be used to this scene. She even had the leisure to quickly pull out two more firecrackers from her bag, which looked like incense sticks with red ignition strips at the tips.

This firework was one of the things Chen Junqian played with a lot when he was a child, but it had different names. Girls seemed to call it a fairy wand, while others called it a morning light flower or a fun firework. However, Chen Junqian preferred to call it a paintbrush because after it was lit, you could use the light left behind when it burned in the air to outline lines that lasted a long time but were quite beautiful. If you were fast enough, you could even write one or two simple words.

With a touch of nostalgia, Chen Junqian took a cigarette from Xu Youwei's hand, lit it with a lighter, and tried to leave a mark in the air, just like when he was a child. However, his name was indeed too long and had too many strokes. By the time he finished writing the first character "Chen" and got to the second half of "Dong," the left side of "Gua Er" had already disappeared without a trace.

After a brief pause, the firework in his hand had burned to its very end, leaving only a small, charred stick at one end.

Unlike his method, Xu Youwei held the lit sparkler above her head like a real fairy wand, and as the sparkler burst into bloom, she began to spin it around her from top to bottom like a gymnast waving a ribbon.

Burning magnesium powder drew luminous spirals in the air, and several shooting stars streaked across the wall by the alley. Her body spun around with the trails of fireworks, the hem of her school uniform jacket fluttering with her movements. The remaining traces of light and sparks wove her from head to waist into a cocoon-like shape, as if wrapped in golden thread.

Facing the last flickering flame, Chen Junqian seemed to see countless glittering starlight clinging to the other person's eyelashes and pupils.

Although he had never seen a fireworks display or festival that the system had mentioned countless times, at this moment, he felt as if he had already seen it.

Even if it's just a celebration for two people.

Chapter Twenty-Four: We Can Have Stories

Unlike Zhu Wenyun, Chen Junqian did not feel any psychological pressure about going to the other person's class to find them.

Gu Cheng once said in his poem "Avoidance":

You don't want to plant flowers, you say: 'I don't want to watch them wither away little by little.'

Yes, to avoid the end, you avoid the beginning.

Indeed, repeating the same things day after day, following the same routines as yesterday, if one can avoid intense ecstasy, then naturally there will be no sorrow to follow. Chen Junqian did the same thing in his previous life.

But he has been reborn after all.

Even though he still doesn't fully understand what the male protagonist of a romantic comedy should be, after all, even if the system tells him to become more 'gentle', he can probably only sing back, 'Your damn gentleness makes my heart ache and my tears flow.'

However, Chen Junqian knew very well that most male protagonists in stories generally possessed a common trait: extraordinary drive.

If there are no events, create them; if there are no stories, create them. Often, the connection between people does require taking the initiative to take a step, just like his relationship with Lin Mu and Xu Youwei, and just like it is now.

Perhaps because the number of students in the class was an odd number, and Zhu Wenyun herself was very tall and sat in the last row, Chen Junqian, who came to the door of Class 3 to familiarize himself with the location today, found that the other party actually did not have a deskmate. She looked like a little tail hanging there at the back of that group.

It was the break between the first and second classes of the morning, and many elementary school students who looked like they had stayed up late the night before were sleeping on their desks. However, Zhu Wenjun was not one of them; instead, she seemed to be absentmindedly thinking about something.

Chen Junqian asked a student from Class 3 who was passing by to call out to the other person again. He felt that he would have to agree on a secret code with Zhu Wenyun, otherwise it would probably be long before rumors spread that a boy from the next class came to see the same person every day.

She probably expected Chen Junqian to come again, since she had written such a thing on the bookmark she returned yesterday. This time, Zhu Wenyun seemed much calmer than when she was suddenly asked to borrow a book. However, she still didn't seem to want to talk to him in a place like the classroom door, and instead gestured for the two of them to go to the stairwell at the end of the corridor a little further away.

Are you here to borrow a book from me?

Once they arrived at this quieter place with fewer people around, Zhu Wenyun seemed to calm down considerably, although she was still a little nervous, constantly rubbing the ends of her long hair with her right hand.

"Borrowing books is one thing, but I also wanted to talk to you about my thoughts on those two Pipilu books. I was very curious when I first lent them to you, but you hadn't read them yet, so what do you think now?"

"The book 'The Germ Boss' is very good, and the book '419 Sins' is very useful."

Faced with Chen Junqian's straightforward question, Zhu Wenyun also spoke her mind without hesitation.

"it works?"

"Yes, it's very useful to me. It's like the Legal Time and Space program that Anhui Science and Education Channel broadcasts every night at 7 o'clock. I feel like I've learned a lot of useful things that can protect me."

"Oh, I see... That's good then."

Since the two weren't particularly close yet, Chen Junqian didn't ask any further questions. However, considering that the other person seemed to be a left-behind child living alone with her grandmother, it wasn't too hard to understand.

After all, the safety education that their primary schools currently carry out is just having them sign a responsibility agreement related to drowning during summer vacation. There is indeed a lack of popularization and publicity in terms of law. When he was a child, the first time he learned about so many specific crimes under the criminal law was from this book of 419 crimes.

"And then there's the germ boss. If Yuan Lie Lie (the germ boss in the story) really existed in the world, that would be great. With just a word, he could make germs leave anyone's body, and even bring the dead back to life."

Perhaps genuinely captivated by these two stories, before Chen Junqian could ask again, Zhu Wenyun naturally shared her feelings:

"Of all the long novels by Teacher Zheng that I've read, the protagonist's 'special abilities' in this one are among the ones I most desire. As for the golden thumb... well, I don't understand what stock trading is at all; the five-pointed flying saucer... even if I actually built one, I wouldn't have Shuke and Beta to help me pilot it; a superhuman who gains abilities by downloading computer software into their body—I don't even have a computer at home yet; and then there's cloning, doppelgangers, remote-controlled teachers, Hua Tuo with a heating system, robotic monkeys..."

"You've really read a lot of Zheng Yuanjie's books, haven't you?"

"I've probably watched most of them several times, haven't you?"

"Yeah, me too, and I've probably seen even more and more of it than you have. But fairy tales are fairy tales, and reality is reality. Don't try to replicate many of the plots in the stories, like putting a pony sculpture in the microwave hoping to make the Phantom come out."

Faced with Chen Junqian's unhesitating act of destroying the child's dream, Zhu Wenyun could only feel deeply hurt, with a sense of defeat, as if saying, "Even a child your age would betray Ultraman Tiga and refuse to believe in the light?"

"Of course I know, after all, I wouldn't be like Pipilu talking to the germs on my body and saying things like, 'I want to see Yuan Lielie, can you help me find it?' But sometimes I just think, if these things really existed in the world... they could fulfill so many wishes that can't be fulfilled in reality, right?"

Since he himself was a reincarnated individual, and possessed a subtle system, Chen Junqian didn't completely deny it, nodding in agreement:

"That's true, but I thought if you liked 419 Deadly Sins, you'd be more inclined towards a realistic personality."

"I've read a lot of realistic children's literature. Lately, I've been feeling a bit down, so I've been reading more books by Sunshine Sister Wu Meizhen, especially her 'My Deskmate is My Nemesis' series. It made me want to have a deskmate."

Upon hearing the other party mention Wu Meizhen, Chen Junqian casually offered a suggestion:

"Since you've read so many books, have you ever thought about trying to write a novel and submitting it for publication? I remember that Wu Meizhen's Sunshine Sister website has a special section for submissions from young readers, and outstanding works are even selected for publication in her own 'My Deskmate's Rival' series."

"I do know that. After all, each book of 'My Deskmate is My Nemesis' does publish several such works at the end, and the last page is a call for submissions. But whether it's 'My Deskmate is My Nemesis PK Arena' or 'Sunshine Family Headquarters' that you mentioned, they are only soliciting stories about deskmates or campus stories."

At this point, Zhu Wenyun glanced up at the crowds coming and going in the corridor, then lowered her head again, slowly sliding her upper body down against the wall and sitting down with her knees drawn up to her chest.

"...I don't have a story like that to write."

"How about I provide you with stories? After all, there's never been a rule that you have to write about your own school or your deskmate's experiences. Can't you just write down what you've seen or heard?"

It must be said that Chen Junqian's angle was something Zhu Wenyun hadn't expected, so much so that she stood there stunned for a moment before stammering as she repeated:

"I... write the story you provided? But these are mostly in the first person."

"It's nothing more than mixing various stories you've heard into your own character. After all, different people will have different feelings about the same thing. A thousand readers will have a thousand Hamlets. Whether you're an observer or someone who's involved, as long as you record your feelings, it's a good story."

Chen Junqian's words touched her somewhat. After all, Zhu Wenyun did indeed harbor a real dream about writing. Or perhaps this was just a way for her to comfort herself, since students who found campus life boring all the time were more likely to hope for a major event to suddenly break out.

Just as Chen Junqian said, even though she doesn't have any rivals or memorable campus stories in her class right now, that's why she especially hopes that something will actually happen, even if it's just taking hearsay about other people's experiences and projecting them onto herself.

"But I write very, very slowly."

Upon hearing Zhu Wenyun's statement, Chen Junqian naturally recalled the rumors about her that he had heard from the class monitor a couple of days ago. He felt that he understood why Zhu Wenyun often performed well in her weekly journal entries, but always struggled to finish her essays when faced with Chinese exam questions.

It seems this child still uses the slow and meticulous writing style.

"It's okay, there's no rush anyway, just treat it as writing a weekly journal."

"Well."

Having said all that, Zhu Wenyun nodded in agreement, then looked up at Chen Junqian with some anticipation, wanting to hear what kind of story he could tell.

"Although the protagonist of this story is not your deskmate, you can assume she is when you write it. To protect her privacy, we won't reveal her name. This is entirely up to you, since none of the selected manuscripts used real names."

After rehearsing his story briefly, Chen Junqian recounted his conversation with Lin Mu last week about losing money and grocery shopping. Although he had just said he wouldn't reveal his name to protect privacy, Zhu Wenyun recognized the familiar time and place as the real person involved in the story, since she had been there at the time.

"So, there was something behind the scenes when I ran into you two at the market that day."

"Oh, by the way, your water spinach is really delicious. If the market over there weren't outside my mom's area, she would probably go there again the next day."

"Because they are indeed grown by our own family, they are bound to be fresh and delicious."

Unlike a certain picky eater, Zhu Wenyun seems to have no resistance to these green vegetables at all, which explains why she is much taller than her peers.

"But this is indeed a story worth writing, and I'm more familiar with the market area, so I can add a lot of details. However, as for cooking... I feel that I can either only gloss over it or I'll have to ask you to go into more detail."

"It's alright, you finish writing the first part first. Class is about to start anyway, so let's meet here again sometime."

Compared to the sunlit corridor, not many students would venture near the somewhat dark stairwell where the two of them were now. Zhu Wenyun thought about it and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, when you need to find me, just stand by the last window for a while so I can see you... If I need to find you, if I need to find you..."

"How about we schedule a fixed time? That way it'll save us the trouble. I can't do it during the break before the third period in the morning or afternoon because I need to prepare in advance to get my eye exercises checked. What about you?"

"I'm fine with either option, how about the two breaks after the first class in the morning and afternoon? Everyone takes a nap in the classroom, and there won't be many people in the hallway."

"okay."

After confirming with each other, Chen Junqian thought for a moment and decided to borrow another book from the other party. He finally chose Shen Shixi's "Wolf King's Dream". Although he later learned that most of the other party's books, such as the Leap of the Ibex, were pure fantasy settings that had little to do with nature, for children of their age, animals as protagonists were still quite novel and attractive in all aspects.

As the preparatory bell rang, Zhu Wenyun said goodbye to Chen Junqian. Even after walking into her class and sitting in her seat, she still felt a little dizzy and disoriented.

Unlike Xu Youwei, who was simply perceived as an oddball by her classmates because her overly conspicuous clothes made her stand out and was unconsciously distanced from them, she simply didn't want to communicate with anyone. After all, communication meant mutual understanding, and she didn't feel that she or anything in her family deserved to be understood.

If nothing unexpected happens, she thinks that this repetition and cycle should continue until she finishes elementary school. After all, sometimes the unchanging is a good thing, for her grandmother's crops, vegetables, and herself.

But undeniably, even without a story of her own, she does want to write one, even if it doesn't happen to her, because she can make it feel like it happened to her, just like the fairy tales she's read over the years.

【today】

Zhu Wenyun wrote the following in his exercise book:

I spied on other people's stories, and then quietly experienced that happiness myself.