I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"It hasn't been long, we've only been out for a short while. Let me show you the way."

Seeing that Chen Junqian was wearing the scarf she had given him, Zhu Wenyun no longer cared about his intimate behavior with Shen Nianqiu. After all, she had seen even closer interactions between the two of them before, so she quickly put herself in the protagonist's shoes and took the initiative to lead the way for Chen Junqian.

“My home is over there. Actually, there aren’t many households in this village, so it’s quite easy to find.”

It's clear that this is a small, sparsely populated place. Even Zhu Wenjun and her grandmother only come to stay for a few days during the Spring Festival each year. Other families are in similar situations, mostly consisting of elderly people and children left behind by their parents. The few people you occasionally see are usually young children, a few years old, having snowball fights and building snowmen outside with snot running down their faces.

"There are advantages to having fewer people. It's incredibly quiet, and I slept well last night—phew."

Zhu Wenyun took Chen Junqian's right hand directly, while Shen Nianqiu was still savoring the warmth of the other's touch on her cheek. She held her brother's left hand in both hands and kept it pressed against her face. While speaking, she playfully blew on her palms a couple of times, showing that she had indeed gotten along well with Zhu Wenyun here yesterday.

"So why did you call me over in such a hurry today? I was still asleep in bed this morning when you two bombarded me with text messages."

Instead of answering Chen Junqian's question immediately, Shen Nianqiu continued to tease him, drawing on the information revealed in his earlier words:

"Little brother got up so late. Looks like he had a lot of fun playing with Mumu or Youwei last night?"

"It's nothing much. I went out shopping with them and ended up bumping into a conman on the way."

On the way to Zhu Wenyun's house, Chen Junqian briefly recounted the incident that happened on the street the previous night to the two of them. Compared to Shen Nianqiu, who simply remarked that Mu Mu was too easily fooled, Zhu Wenyun was visibly more interested in this unexpected event that could be considered a new plot point. If the three of them hadn't already arrived at her house, they probably would have asked Chen Junqian to explain in more detail.

Grandma Zhu, whom Chen Junqian hadn't seen for a while, was still as sprightly as ever. When Chen Junqian arrived, she was rummaging through a pile of old objects in her house, seemingly trying to pick out a few that were still usable. She wasn't surprised to see him, probably having already heard the news from her granddaughter. She was still quite enthusiastic, bringing him a stool and a tray filled with melon seeds and peanuts, while smiling at him:

"Oh, my godson is here, what a rare thing."

"Well, I should at least come and visit you. I've left your things here."

Politely taking the tray from the old lady and placing it on the coffee table beside her, Chen Junqian also put the gifts aside before reaching out to place his hand on a brazier that had been lit in the hall. He used the warmth of the charcoal fire to dispel the chill of the journey, while continuing to exchange a few more pleasantries with Grandma Zhu.

Here, take it.

Zhu Wenyun, who came out of the kitchen, quickly stuffed two steaming small steamed buns into Chen Junqian's hands. Anhui is located at the junction of the north and south, and both noodles and rice are staple foods. Although Guoning is closer to southern Anhui, Zhu Wenyun herself usually eats more noodles. The steamed buns she is giving to Chen Junqian are also homemade. She just doesn't know if she strictly followed the nursery rhyme that says "ferment the dough on the 28th and steam the buns on the 29th".

Although Chen Junqian taught Zhu Wenyun many dessert baking techniques, in situations where they weren't alone, she preferred the simpler food she had been eating since childhood. However, when Chen Junqian thought about how white steamed buns could still be prominently displayed at the French Bread Festival more than a decade later, he felt much more at ease about it and even considered making a nine-square dessert grid on the spot.

It was almost noon. After exchanging a few words with Chen Junqian, Grandma Zhu went to the kitchen in the back room to cook. Chen Junqian took a bite of the soft and sweet steamed bun in his hand to temporarily fill his stomach, while raising his eyes to observe Zhu Wenjun's hometown, which he was visiting for the first time, with some curiosity.

The layout is similar to his grandmother's house. The first thing you see is the central painting with a strong sense of the times. Below it is a square table and four long benches. The solid wood chairs are a bit cold to sit on in winter, so a thick cushion has been added. If you are still too cold, you can sit directly on the fire bucket.

This type of heating appliance, commonly found in southern regions, is round and hollow, about the height of a stool. Half of it is enclosed by wood, and a brazier can be placed underneath. The upper semicircle is just big enough for one person to sit on. As soon as you sit down, you can feel a wave of heat rising from below, making you feel warm and comfortable all over. If you also put a hot water bottle on your hands, it's truly an experience of warmth from your toes to the very tips of your hair.

However, Chen Junqian always felt that another important reason why Lin Mu liked sitting on these fire buckets was because they were usually very tall. Sitting on them would make her appear taller, allowing her to experience a rare feeling of being above others, just like how someone would choose the upper bunk when taking a train sleeper.

With only the three younger generation members left in the hall, the atmosphere quickly warmed up again. It wasn't that they didn't get along with Grandma Zhu, but they were just a little reserved when adults were around. Otherwise, Chen Junqian wouldn't have taken the three kids out for a stroll last night.

"Actually, Wenjun's house is quite big."

"A house is useless if no one lives in it. In fact, it is not that big. Often, we feel that it is big only because of shadows, symmetry, mirrors, the long years, the unfamiliarity of the residents, and the simplest loneliness."

"Borges's poem is indeed excellent. Wenyun really likes him. I remember there was a novel that used his poem as its opening line—'I give you the loyalty of a man who has never had faith.'"

"Well, actually I really like all the sentences in his collection of poems called 'What Can I Use to Keep You?' I'll probably use two of them in the future."

"Stop, stop, stop, stop—can you please stop suddenly starting to talk about these literary things?"

It can only be said that although Shen Nianqiu was evenly matched with Zhu Wenyun in last year's "Chinese Character Dictation Competition", she is not a genuine literary girl, but just a simple good student. So, faced with Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun's almost zero-frame-starting chat style, she immediately felt a bit overwhelmed and asked them to stop.

"Okay, actually I just suddenly thought of this sentence."

It's clear that after these few days, Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenyun have developed a pretty good relationship. If it were before, Zhu Wenyun would probably just chuckle and continue talking to herself. But now, she's actually willing to stop talking at Shen Nianqiu's request, which makes Chen Junqian a little curious about what the two of them have been talking about in the past few days.

"So can we talk now? You suddenly called me here and said it had to be today. I had a hard time convincing Mu Mu and her sister. We had agreed to play with them for another day."

"Actually, there's no particular reason. If I had to say, it's the same reason you wanted to stay there, little brother. What, Mu Mu can let you stay with her, but Wen Jun and I can't?"

Wearing a full set of brand-new clothes that Chen Junqian had bought for her after she came to Guoning, Shen Nianqiu just smiled. The heavy winter clothes did not look too bulky on her. The girl, who was seventeen years old after the New Year, was entering the golden age of the heroines of romantic comedies. Every smile and frown of hers exuded amazing charm, even making Zhu Wenyun, who was the most mature in appearance among the three childhood sweethearts in Guoning, look a little inferior.

"Okay, so here I am."

Seeing that there was nothing urgent, Chen Junqian relaxed, picked up the fire tongs from the brazier, and poked at the embers to make them burn brighter. Then he asked again:

"Speaking of which, how's Wenyun's new book coming along?"

As this was about whether she could make a successful debut after becoming a contracted author for "Fireworks," Zhu Wenyun clearly attached great importance to this writing project; otherwise, she wouldn't have been so conflicted about the subject matter and outline beforehand.

"There are no major problems. Nianqiu has been a great help to me in this regard. The specific character design of the female lead and the plot outline of the entire novel have been almost completed."

"No, no, it should be said that Wenyun helped me a lot. It's so great that you wrote down my thoughts. And if things really get to that extreme situation later, I'll need your help again."

"It seems I really don't need to worry..."

Chen Junqian had only spoken halfway when his phone rang again in his pocket. The name that appeared on the screen was none other than Youyou, who had been ringing quite frequently lately.

"Wait a moment, I need to take a call from Youyou."

Watching Chen Junqian walk into the yard with his phone in his hand, Shen Nianqiu exchanged another glance with Zhu Wenyun without making a sound.

In the past two days, she has read almost all of the other party's published, rejected, and unpublished articles. Compared to Mu Mu, whose number was so small that Zhu Wenyun herself didn't know how to write about her, Xu Youwei's personality and experience were the prototype that she liked to incorporate into her female protagonist.

"I give you my whole soul, along with its quirks, its tantrums, its mood swings, its eighteen hundred bad habits. It's really awful, but it has only one redeeming quality: it loves you."

P.S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing. The last sentence is also a quote from Wang Xiaobo.

PS2: I've been incredibly busy with various family matters lately, but things are gradually getting better. I'll try my best to get my update schedule back on track. Thank you for your understanding.

Chapter 145: The Best Arrangement (Part 2)

It has to be said that Chen Junqian has been receiving a lot of calls from Xu Youwei lately. However, she has always maintained a good balance and hasn't gone to the point of checking up on him like, "Hey, what are you doing? Let me know." In addition, he can understand the feelings of a girl who is in the throes of first love at this stage, and he doesn't feel that it is a heavy burden. After all, a boyfriend does need to be aware of this. So, he casually told Youyou on the other end of the phone that he had arrived at Zhu Wenyun's house, chatted briefly for a few minutes, and then quietly said goodbye, ending this call that was not so sudden.

When he returned to the hall, Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenjun tacitly refrained from asking what the two had discussed on the phone. Or rather, they were the least qualified to ask. One of them talked to Chen Junqian on the phone almost every night without stopping, and the other's conversations were so extensive that the former had to use a keyword search function to find the key points when he stole his phone. Moreover, the two of them already had a vague suspicion in their hearts, so they were even less likely to show it on their faces, but they were still pondering it in their hearts.

Compared to the literary girl who doesn't even care if she is the other's first love, Shen Nianqiu is obviously more concerned about the two's suspected relationship. To the point that she is already frantically thinking about what aspects of Xu Youwei's personality and characteristics attracted her younger brother, and when the two started dating.

After all, in her eyes, girls like Chen Xi and Gu Linguo, who are even younger, needless to say, would also be considered children, even among the three childhood friends of Guo Ning who are the same age as Chen Junqian. Xu Youwei and Lin Mu would be naturally classified as children by her. They are completely different from Zhu Wenyun and herself. They don't seem like the type that a precocious boy like her younger brother would like, or at this age.

So that means the other party took the initiative?

To be fair, Hsu Yu-Wei has always been quite proactive. Last summer, she even flew all the way to Beijing by herself to attend the recording of a TV show...

"Excuse me, let's continue talking about the new book."

"Yes, I've already communicated with the editorial department. Of course, they also hope that I can finish writing as soon as possible, preferably before this summer. Firstly, the hype from the last New Concept Writing Competition hasn't died down yet, and secondly, the second season of 'Chinese Character Dictation Competition' will be broadcast at that time, which can be used to promote me."

After all, she was a promising talent that the Fireworks Studio had nurtured for several years. The company also attached great importance to Zhu Wenyun's first full-length novel after she officially signed the contract, and the resources allocated to her were quite good. As long as the quality of Zhu Wenyun's novel is up to par, it is almost a certainty that she will be pushed to the forefront of the domestic youth literature trend. After all, she had already accumulated a group of fans before, and after completing the accumulation from scratch, it is easy for her to grow her fanbase.

"Well, regarding more specific business contract matters, I will have the company assign a dedicated lawyer to assist you."

Because it's no longer the small-scale operation it used to be, even though Chen Junqian knows the other party isn't a small workshop, he still maintains a certain level of caution. After all, Zhu Wenyun is, frankly speaking, just a minor student, and there's still a possibility that she might be taken advantage of and even help count the money. In fact, news like this is all too common in the entertainment industry, so it's best to be careful.

"Okay, thank you for your help."

Since it was a topic between Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun, Shen, who was already lost in thought about what tricks Xu had used to steal her cabbage, naturally had no desire to interrupt. She just sat there in a daze, resting her chin on her hand, until Zhu Wenyun took the initiative to steer the topic to her, and only then did she belatedly come back to her senses.

"Junqian must have known about Nianqiu a long time ago, right?"

Although Shen Nianqiu is two years older than Zhu Wenyun, she still uses the usual form of address. After all, China doesn't place as much emphasis on seniority or seniority as Japan or South Korea. Chen Xi usually addresses the three of them by their first names, since they are only a year or two apart.

"I had some guesses before, but I only found out the specifics in the last two years. My sister wouldn't have told me such details before that."

"Because you were a little kid back then, and you still are now, right?"

Shen Nianqiu subconsciously retorted to Chen Junqian's answer.

"But many of my worries can only be shared with people my own age."

"That's true, but many of the problems are not something that minors of the same age can solve. Rather, most of the dramatic conflicts in youth-themed works are caused by this underlying logic. If you think about it this way, little brother, you really are the kind of character that only appears in novels."

Being around the same age and with a similar way of thinking, she could empathize with her own teenage anxieties while also possessing social resources that many adults might not be able to access. If she hadn't known this, Shen Nianqiu definitely wouldn't have told the other person about her situation, because doing so would only have added another person in the world to worry about her, and would have been of no other use.

"Well, it sounds like destiny and fate, doesn't it? A netizen I met online when I was very young actually helped me a few years later. But from my perspective, it's the same. The netizen who comforted me and chatted with me for several years on the other end of the internet was actually a beautiful and gentle older sister, not some transvestite or a burly man."

"Tch, you're just being cheeky."

Although she scoffed, Shen Nianqiu clearly liked Chen Junqian's words. However, she subconsciously felt that his choice of words was a bit off. After all, in her own memory, she hadn't really comforted Chen Junqian much. He had always been the more reliable one. But for now, she just took it as Chen Junqian praising her to avoid making her feel uneasy, so she didn't pay much attention to it.

She will definitely repay Chen Junqian later; that is an undeniable fact.

After all, there are only two years left until he becomes an adult. By then, the common saying among parents, "You'll be happy once you get into university," will no longer be just empty talk. He can truly do what he wants to do and use these two years to make as many preparations as possible for his younger brother's coming of age.

That's right, Shen Nianqiu had already thought it through. The university she wanted to attend would at least be in the same city as Chen Junqian's, and it would be even better if it were the same school. In fact, in terms of academic performance alone, it wasn't entirely impossible.

She certainly doesn't have the ability to start earning money at that age like Zhu Wenyun, or rather, she doesn't have the opportunity or platform. Rather, students at this age are instilled with the idea that studying is the most important thing. But she still maintains full self-confidence and believes that her talents can shine on a freer stage after she grows up.

"In short, my task now is to get everything sorted out before June of this year. Considering that I still need to revise and review the manuscript, I should submit the first draft by April at the latest. Today is February 1st, three months... I guess I'll have to make do."

Having been a seasoned author for several years, Zhu Wenyun is no longer the child who struggled for ages to write a Chinese composition. After setting her initial goals, all that's left is to keep writing.

For Chen Junqian, the only good news was that Shen Nianqiu had temporarily taken over his role and would describe in great detail the experiences and feelings of those little details in their interactions from the woman's perspective. So he no longer needed to be called over by Zhu Wenyun every few days under the pretext of gathering material for some strange little interactions.

The three chatted around the brazier for a while longer before Grandma Zhu called them to eat. Since it was just the four of them, there was no need to follow any rules. After putting the brazier under the table, they sat down and started eating. The atmosphere at the table was still lively, but everyone tacitly shifted the topic to their daily lives at school.

After all, to be honest, among the three children present, apart from Chen Junqian, the other two families have their own problems. Otherwise, one wouldn't have to spend the New Year with his grandmother, and the other wouldn't have eloped from Lin'an to Guoning.

After the meal, Chen Junqian took the initiative to clean up the dishes and wipe the table. The two girls were not idle either, each helping to wash the dishes and pots in the kitchen. It was at this time that Grandma Zhu, who was helping Chen Junqian clean up the leftovers in the front hall, took the initiative to bring up her family's affairs with him.

More precisely, it concerns Zhu Wenyun's parents.

Although he had briefly discussed this topic with Grandma Zhu on the phone before, they hadn't gone into much detail. Moreover, it seemed that Zhu Wenjun herself had been hiding something from her grandmother. After chatting with Grandma Zhu for a while, Chen Junqian concluded that she definitely hadn't told him that he had actually sent 50,000 yuan to his parents.

Grandma Zhu seemed to only know that her granddaughter had sent money to her parents, but she didn't know the specific amount, let alone imagine that it would be such a large sum of 50,000 yuan. In fact, if she sold vegetables herself, her net income in a year might not even reach that much.

That's why, after hearing Chen Junqian say that number, the old man's hands unconsciously stopped moving, and his expression turned somewhat gloomy. This robust old man, who had been a lead dancer in the square dance group at the entrance of Guoning Yangning Park for quite some time, showed signs of fatigue or mental exhaustion in front of Chen Junqian for the first time. His lips moved slightly, and a very faint sigh could be heard.

Humans are ultimately social beings. Even the closest kinship will eventually fade if people cannot spend a lot of time together. Perhaps Zhu Wenyun's parents did leave their hometown with the intention of giving Zhu Wenyun a better life, but after their child was born and was able to stay with them, the daughter and mother left behind in Guoning suddenly became somewhat superfluous.

Actually, it wouldn't be bad if things continued like this. After all, unlike Shen Nianqiu, who couldn't even find a specific person to remember when facing the song "Where Has the Time Gone" on New Year's Eve and could only feel a sense of inexplicable sorrow from the bottom of her heart, Zhu Wenyun at least has a grandmother who truly loves her and whose hair has turned white and wrinkles have grown for her. At the same time, she also has her own dreams and is working hard step by step towards them. Her future can be said to be bright.

But that's exactly what happened.

Having grown up in that kind of family, Shen Nianqiu still harbors a sliver of unrealistic fantasies about her parents to this day, and Zhu Wenjun is naturally even more so. This is the real reason why she was able to 'easily' 'lend' that 50,000 yuan to her parents, even though she knew that the money would most likely never be returned to her.

However, if the matter could be completely resolved with just 50,000 yuan, that would be fine. What Chen Junqian was more worried about was that this was just a starting point. Once this door was opened, Zhu Wenyun would become the family's cash cow. The closer she got to her ideal, the more she would have to bleed money from her family. This kind of mental and economic pressure could easily crush a person. There have been too many such examples of "prodigy wasted" in the entertainment industry.

Grandma Zhu was also able to sense this, so after a brief consideration, she made a decision that was very much in her own style:

“If they come looking for money from Wenjun again, I’ll grab a bottle of pesticide and run to their doorstep.”

Upon hearing the old man's answer, Chen Junqian, who was wiping the table, almost choked. After coughing twice, he quickly stopped him:

"No, no, it's not that serious. The internet is very developed now. If Wenjun becomes famous in the future, she will be a public figure. In this situation, it is easy to gain public sympathy. And if it really comes to a lawsuit, I know lawyers. In fact, they are the ones who are at a disadvantage and have no reason to fight. After all, Wenjun has been with you, Grandma, since she was a child."

"...They clearly have parents but live like they don't. Now that the child has become successful, they've come back. There's no such thing as a free lunch."

She spat again on the ground, and as she watched her increasingly tall granddaughter washing dishes in the kitchen, Grandma Zhu suddenly felt a nameless panic. It was as if she belatedly realized that she was no longer the old woman who could carry a basket in the fields from sunrise to sunset like she used to, or who could take a tricycle full of neatly bundled vegetables and a little girl sitting there reading a book to the market on weekends. Just like the two old ladies who had suddenly disappeared from the square dancing aunties behind her this year, she was also approaching the latter half of her life, the stage of birth, aging, sickness, and death.

It wasn't until she saw the scarf around the boy's neck, the same one her granddaughter was wearing, that her gaze finally settled down. In a daze, she recalled the little girl who had suddenly run up to her a few years ago, saying she wanted to learn how to knit gloves.