I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"Oh, just tell her we're at KFC, and she can help us share the load. Otherwise, she'll really gain weight if she eats it all."

Having never personally witnessed his sister's face-to-face interaction with Xu Youwei, Chen Junqian felt that Chen Xi perfectly fit his characteristics of being highly adaptable to romantic comedies. With Mu Mu starting to become a bit troublesome, she was the only one he didn't have to worry about much. So, upon hearing this, he wasn't particularly surprised, nodded, and simply replied to Gu Lingguo with this statement.

Not long after, Gu Lingguo took the bus and arrived here. After finding the two on the second floor, she sat down next to Chen Xi. Seeing the large stack of food still in front of them, she immediately put on an expression as if she had accidentally wandered into the imperial palace, and said with utmost respect:

"So this is what you two eat so early in the morning?"

"Today was an unexpected situation. It was just a simple tasting session for new products, but I didn't expect there to be so many new products lately. Lin Guo, take whatever you want to eat. Xiao Xi and I have already tried them, and there's nothing particularly hard to eat."

"Okay, I won't stand on ceremony. Here, change your Coke to a large!"

"Besides holding a pizza, the new Three Kingdoms is probably the second thing I don't want to hear about..."

Chen Xi, who was sitting there with a leisurely sigh, looked like she was almost full. She was shaking the straw in her cup while watching her best friend play with her food.

First, she carefully removed the meat patty from the middle of a chicken and corn burger, removing any lettuce scraps and salad dressing. Then, she took the fried egg from another bacon and egg burger, solemnly placed it on top of the meat patty, and finally drizzled on the sweet chili sauce meant for chicken nuggets. To Chen Xi's utter bewilderment, she gestured to Chen Junqian as she demonstrated, even thoughtfully adding sound effects:

"Ta-da! Hamburger patty, done!"

Perhaps influenced by a male protagonist who constantly tests which readily available domestic ingredients can be used to impersonate elements of Japanese romantic comedies, Gu Lingguo has now started playing this game as well, which makes Chen Junqian, who sits opposite her and used to substitute apple candy with candied hawthorn, cotton candy, and so on, unable to help but chuckle.

"Brother, do you want some?"

"Hmm, I'm a little full."

"Oh, never mind then, I'll try it myself and see how it is."

Noticing an achievement titled "Essential for Heart-Filled Bento Boxes" flashing in his mind, Chen Junqian ultimately declined the girl's invitation.

As an achievement that is not exclusive to any specific character and can be triggered repeatedly, this achievement has been achieved by Zhu Wenyun alone for the past few years. Moreover, with the arrival of evening self-study, the speed at which this achievement is achieved is also increasing, and it is about to reach the final limit of one thousand times.

So even though no one else knew about this except him, Chen Junqian still had a bit of an obsessive-compulsive desire to make Zhu Wenyun achieve a 100% perfect completion rate. Although the other party initially triggered this achievement in the same way as Gu Lingguo in front of him, using an extremely abstract 'handmade' method to fool the system's judgment.

But she did later learn cooking and baking with him.

Romantic comedies certainly have no shortage of such characters, and audiences have even become accustomed to giving them the title of "housewife".

However, reality and the world of anime are different after all.

From then on, I smiled as I sat at the counter in my long dress, washing my hands and cooking for you.

Hmm—that's why he wasn't very interested in the fast food in front of him.

After all, the person he's currently pretending to be dating is a girlfriend who knows all his likes and dislikes and can cook.

P.S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing. Happy New Year! May all your wishes come true and everything go smoothly in 2026.

PS2: Actually, theoretically speaking, Junqian's two girlfriends are currently in a secret relationship and a fake relationship, so the one in the public eye hasn't appeared yet... Hmm, it's hard to guess who it will be next.

Chapter Thirteen: Someone Came for You (Part Two)

October 1, 2014, the first day of the National Day holiday.

October sunlight streamed in through the glass windows of the hospital corridor, carrying a slightly annoying warmth. Shen Nianqiu stood at the elevator entrance of the obstetrics and gynecology ward, carrying two large bags of things she had brought from home: a thermos, a change of clothes, maternity pads, and other miscellaneous maternity supplies.

She glanced at her phone; it was 9:47 a.m.

The elevator doors slowly opened, and a young couple pushed a stroller out. The woman's face showed the weariness and satisfaction of becoming a new mother, while the man carefully protected them, afraid that they might bump into something. The baby was wrapped in a pink swaddle, and it was probably a girl.

Shen Nianqiu stepped aside to let them pass first, and the man even nodded to her and said thank you.

There weren't many people in the inpatient ward at this time, and she was the only one in the elevator. The girl looked at her reflection in the inner wall of the elevator. At 1.68 meters tall, she was definitely considered tall among girls, and her features were equally flawless, even in her simplest bare-faced appearance.

But no matter how beautiful she is, people who don't want to look at her won't give her a second glance.

"Did you bring the things?"

Yang Suling leaned against the headboard, not even lifting her eyelids:

"Just leave it there, on the bedside table. You heartless bastard, you only came back from school once when your own mother was about to give birth, and you didn't even peel an apple for me."

"Oh."

The girl, who had already learned to automatically ignore most of her mother's words and only extract the instructions she needed to follow, put down her things and turned to get the apple and fruit knife.

"Please peel the skin cleanly; it's uncomfortable for me to chew with the skin on."

"it is good."

Shen Nianqiu sat down on the accompanying chair and began peeling an apple. The blade spun along the peel, the thin red skin peeling off in circles, like a silent process of detachment. Outside the window, she could hear the early birds chirping. The door to the private room was ajar, and the occasional footsteps and the sound of a trolley passing by in the corridor could be heard.

Yang Suling picked up her phone and started scrolling through various news articles and parenting tips, but she still kept talking:

"After you peel the apple, leave it there. Then go wash this thermos; it was used to hold ribs yesterday, so there's oil in it. Soak it in hot water for a while and then wash it clean. Also, clean my cup; there are tea stains on the inside. Please scrub it for me and pour me some hot water."

"it is good."

After peeling the apple, Shen Nianqiu cut it into small pieces and put them on a plate. She also took the thermos and teacup out to wash them. When she came back, Yang Suling had already finished the apple and was still looking at her phone.

A while later, the nurse came to take my blood pressure.

Shen Nianqiu stood by and watched. The nurse asked a few questions, such as how well she slept last night, whether she felt uncomfortable, and whether the fetal movement was normal. Unlike before when she was looking at her phone the whole time and only talking to people, Yang Suling showed a high degree of focus this time and answered seriously several times.

After recording the data, the nurse gave a few instructions and then left.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Yang Suling spoke to her daughter:

"By the way, could you ask me what time my IV drip is scheduled for today?"

Shen Nianqiu quietly left the ward and went to the nurses' station to ask. The nurse replied that it was eleven o'clock and told her to come and call someone or ring the bell at that time.

So she went back to the ward and told Yang Suling the time.

"Please remember this for me, and bring me another basin of water so I can wash my face."

When Shen Nianqiu brought over the washbasin, sure enough, this task was also hers.

After wringing out the warm towel, she squatted down by the bed and gently wiped her mother's face with the towel.

Forehead, eyebrows, bridge of the nose, cheeks, chin.

Shen Nianqiu wiped the face while looking at it.

At 41, her skin had begun to sag, fine lines appeared at the corners of her eyes, and the flesh on her cheeks drooped slightly. She also appeared somewhat puffy due to edema during pregnancy.

This intimate gesture seemed to be the first time between the two of them.

Even though she knew that this was the person who gave birth to her, Shen Nianqiu still felt so unfamiliar with him.

"Wipe your neck too."

Shen Nianqiu lowered her hand and wiped her neck as she requested.

Behind the ear.

She went behind her ear and wiped it carefully.

"okay."

Yang Suling opened her eyes, picked up a towel, and casually wiped her hands a couple of times.

"Go and pour out the water."

"it is good."

Shen Nianqiu took the basin of water out, emptied it, washed it, and then brought the empty basin back. Throughout the entire process, she didn't say a single unnecessary word.

"Go and bring me my lunch. It's from that soup place next to the hospital. I love their pigeon soup. Tell them to put less salt in it. And you can have some too."

When Yang Suling said this, her tone was exactly the same as when she gave the order earlier, so much so that Shen Nianqiu didn't react at first and was subconsciously stunned for a moment.

This was probably the only thing her mother said to her that could barely be considered a word of concern today.

Although she couldn't detect any concern in her voice.

It was more like a casual remark, implying that she was worried she'd faint from hunger and no one would run errands for her.

"Ah."

Shen Nianqiu nodded in agreement, then took the money, left the ward, and walked out of the hospital.

She paused as she passed a shop window.

Her reflection was in the glass. Her ponytail, tied in the morning, was a little loose, with a few strands of hair hanging down beside her face. As she unconsciously tilted her head slightly, her hair shifted as well. Then, the girl in the glass saw herself and smiled inexplicably, with a sense of expected innocence.

In fact, Shen Nianqiu knew from a young age that in that family, her existence was superfluous, and whether she was good-looking or not would not change that fact.

So she learned to hide herself away very early on, to keep quiet, to avoid attracting attention, to minimize any trace of her presence, to the point that it was almost nonexistent.

The girl looked away and continued walking forward.

When Yang Suling brought back the pigeon soup and bought two steamed buns from the nearby shop, she was on the phone.

"Yes, she just had an IV drip. Nianqiu is here to take care of her today, so you don't need to come over. Anyway, she's on holiday and has nothing to do."

Listening to her mother's words, Shen Nianqiu simply placed the food on the bedside table and silently sat down in the accompanying chair.

Indeed, she has nothing to do during her vacation anyway.

"Nianqiu?"

Yang Suling's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"What are you standing there for? The pigeon soup is getting cold, bring it to me first."

She snapped out of her daze, brought the soup to the bedside, and then helped the other person raise the headboard, adjusting them into a comfortable position where they could eat without having to do anything.

Where's the spoon?

"It's in the bag."

"I didn't know it was in the bag. I told you to take it out, you idiot."

She took out a spoon and handed it to him.

Yang Suling took the spoon, took a sip of the soup, and then began to frown:

"It's a bit too salty. Didn't I tell you to tell him to put less salt in?"

"I told you, maybe the master didn't notice."

"Then you should keep a closer eye on it; you can't even handle something this simple."

"I'll be more careful next time."

Shen Nianqiu sat beside her, just watching her mother eat.

To be honest, she was indeed a little hungry. Even though the steamed buns she had bought were in the bag next to her, Shen Nianqiu just didn't feel like eating anything.