I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

To put it more accurately, she might not want to eat in front of the other person.

In fact, Shen Nianqiu couldn't explain why, but she simply didn't want to.

That's why, during lunchtime, the girl just sat there watching her mother eat, sounding like a piece of furniture in the house. But furniture only needs to stay there quietly; she also needs to be on standby and react at any time, such as cleaning up after the meal.

At 12:30, the IV drip was finished. Shen Nianqiu rang the bell to call the nurse to come to the ward to remove the needle, and then used a cotton swab to stop the bleeding for her mother.

"Press it a little longer, my blood clotting hasn't been working well these past few days."

"it is good."

"You're going to hurt your mother to death if you hit her like that."

"……Um."

Yang Suling continued playing on her phone with her other hand, while Shen Nianqiu stood there gently pressing the cotton swab on her until she finally removed it after five or six minutes.

"The doctor said I should move around more. It's good for the baby if I walk around after eating. Can you help me go downstairs for a walk and come back later? Also, my slippers seem dirty, can you wipe them for me? And call and ask your dad what time he's coming over tonight."

"it is good."

Following her mother's instructions, Shen Nianqiu did everything one by one. After wiping the slippers and making the phone call, she helped Yang Suling to the elevator. They went down to the first floor and slowly walked around the hospital's small garden twice.

Yang Suling walked very slowly, supporting her waist as she went, and stopping to rest every now and then.

"Slow down, I can't keep up."

"it is good."

"Hold on tight, don't let me fall."

"it is good."

"There's a chair over there, help me over and sit down for a while."

"it is good."

The afternoon sun felt hot and bothersome. Shen Nianqiu helped her mother sit down in a chair, while she stood beside her. A moment later, she heard Yang Suling sigh again.

"You said that once your younger brother is born, will I still be able to take care of him?"

This time, Shen Nianqiu didn't say anything more. Instead, she silently looked at the ground in the distance, as if counting the number of patterns on the floor tiles. Yang Suling didn't seem to care and continued to chatter on about the topic.

"You'll have to help out a lot then, feeding, changing diapers, soothing the baby, that's how I used to take care of you. I don't expect you to serve me like that anymore, just help me take care of your little brother."

Shen Nianqiu remained silent.

Did you hear me?

Yang Suling raised her voice and questioned him.

"I heard you."

She had no choice but to answer in this way, but her voice was very soft, as if it were drifting from a very far place.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

Back in the ward, Yang Suling said she was sleepy and wanted to take a nap. So Shen Nianqiu helped her lay the bed flat, drew the curtains, and lowered the air conditioning temperature.

"Tuck me in with the blanket, my shoulders are a bit cold."

She tucked the blanket in.

"Put the water glass closer, I'll need a drink when I wake up."

She moved the water glass closer to the head of the bed.

"Alright, you can handle it yourself, just don't make too much noise and disturb me."

"it is good."

The middle-aged woman with a large belly closed her eyes and soon began to breathe evenly.

Shen Nianqiu sat motionless in the accompanying chair.

The ward was quiet. The curtains blocked out the sunlight, with only a thin ray of light leaking in through the gaps, landing on the back of her hand—a thin, faint ray, as if it might disappear at any moment.

Finally having a little personal time, Shen Nianqiu took out her phone and saw a message from Chen Junqian that had been sent about ten minutes earlier:

I've packed my bags and am getting ready to go to the train station. What's my sister doing?

The girl stared at the words 'What are you doing?' and her finger hovered over the screen for a long time.

Oh right, what is she doing?

Peeling apples, wiping faces, fetching water, emptying urinals, washing thermos containers, scrubbing cups, wiping slippers, making phone calls, buying wontons, helping with walks... Even a brief recollection reveals a multitude of such tedious, caregiver-like tasks, yet Shen Nianqiu's final reply was simply three words:

At the hospital.

Her phone vibrated immediately; Chen Junqian replied to her message instantly.

【Have you got a meal yet?】

This was the first time Shen Nianqiu had been asked this question today. She sat there and glanced at the two cold buns beside her. She instinctively typed "[ate]", but quickly deleted it and retyped:

Not yet, not really want to eat it.

【It would be better if you ate something. Although I understand that you want to wait for me to come over and have a good meal with me, it's also important to take care of yourself. Eat something to fill your stomach. Um, I'll arrive at 3 pm, so it'll be about two hours. We can talk about other things when I get there.】

After seeing the message, Shen Nianqiu, who was sitting there, suddenly felt like she was full again. She quietly left the ward. Although she knew very well that her mother would get angry if she woke up in the middle of the night and saw that she was not there, she still got up and went out. She went to the end of the corridor, found a place to sit down, and asked him if it was convenient for her to call him.

Because they had just said, "We'll talk about other things when I get here," the two of them tacitly avoided bringing up that topic. They simply did what they always did: Chen Junqian took the lead in speaking, while Shen Nianqiu listened attentively to what new and interesting things had happened in Guoning during this time, or things he couldn't help but share, using his bright side to enrich her own life.

This time passed incredibly quickly, much faster than the two hours in the morning.

By the time I realized what had happened, I had already heard the other person mention that he was at the hospital entrance.

On the afternoon of October 1, 2014, around 3 p.m., if you were passing by the flower bed in front of a hospital in Lin'an, you could clearly see a girl leaning against the chest of a boy who was a little taller than her. Although she was trying her best to suppress her sobs, you could still tell that she was crying and her whole body was trembling.

Even if you saw it, it wouldn't seem strange, since such scenes and tears are common outside hospitals. Passersby would naturally assume it was another patient's family member, or that something had happened to someone in their family.

But Shen Nianqiu herself knew very well.

It's not because anyone left.

It was because someone came for her.

P.S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

PS2: Although this book also criticizes Tiny Times, I actually read the novel when I was in junior high school. Students at that age are very easily swayed by this kind of thing. The main idea of ​​this chapter is probably described in a passage: I believe that there will definitely be someone in this world whom you love. He will cross the surging crowds of this world, walk past them one by one, with a heart beating strongly, with a heart full of warmth and heavy love, and come to you, hold you tight. He will definitely find you. You have to wait.

Chapter Fourteen: The Most Troublesome Female Lead (New group number available in this chapter)

Although Chen Junqian himself has stated more than once that the so-called scent or smell on both men and women is actually marinated by commonly used shower gels, shampoos, hairsprays, perfumes, and so on, just like the sun-kissed smell of a quilt after it has been dried in the sun, it is nothing more than a mixture of the smell of organic matter after being decomposed by ultraviolet rays or the smell of fibers after being heated. Scent is simply a standard projection of emotions.

That's why there's an achievement called "You smell so good" in the romantic comedy category. However, aside from Mu Mu, who accidentally triggered it first, Xu Youwei should be the one who triggered it most frequently in the past few years.

However, if we were to find a strong competitor for Youyou in this achievement, it would definitely be Shen Nianqiu right now.

In fact, when Shen Nianqiu was enveloped by Chen Junqian's aura—which she herself couldn't quite describe, but which Zhu Wenyun would probably describe as 'cold, refreshing, and clean'—she just felt an extraordinary sense of familiarity. Familiarity brought peace of mind, and peace of mind brought relaxation. Thus, the string that had been taut in her mind naturally snapped.

Her cheek pressed against the fabric of Chen Junqian's clothes on his chest. Her body reacted before her brain could, and before she even realized it, tears welled up and fell in large drops onto his clothes.

But Shen Nianqiu dared not make a sound, and could only bite her lower lip tightly until she tasted the rusty, bloody flavor.

She was afraid that if she cried, the darkness, jealousy, and resentment hidden in her heart would flow out with her tears and scare him away. She was afraid that if she cried out loud, she would become a hysterical madwoman like those in TV dramas. She was afraid that the noise would bother him, that her tears would stain his clothes, but she was also afraid that if she looked up, he would see her most disheveled side.

So, the girl, who was two years older than him but shorter than Chen Junqian, looked more like a badly injured little beast that dared not cry out. She just huddled in his arms, convulsing silently and continuously.

Chen Junqian could feel the dampness on his chest and the fact that the body in his arms was trembling like a leaf, a breakdown under extreme restraint.

In fact, most of the time, or more precisely, when he wasn't face-to-face with Shen Nianqiu, Chen Junqian would show the side of a romantic comedy male protagonist, like Katsuragi Keima, the male protagonist of "The World God Only Knows," meticulously studying each person's personality so that he could do the most advantageous thing in front of them to ultimately create a romantic comedy.

For example, Chen Junqian knew that he should treat girls like his sister and Zhu Wenyun, whose personality adaptability was D, with a more assertive attitude, otherwise he would be led into their rhythm and controlled by the nose. But every time they met, he just couldn't do it.

Perhaps it was because the time they spent together was pitifully short compared to other girls, or perhaps the ending of the other person in their past life lingered in his mind. Just like now, when Shen Nianqiu hugged him while crying, Chen Junqian felt as if his heart was being squeezed tightly by a large hand, aching with a sour feeling. He couldn't bring himself to say anything to make her strong, and for a moment, he even had a subtle thought of blowing up the whole world to cheer her up.

"I'm already here, why are you still crying, sister?"

And so, when Chen Junqian lowered his head and spoke again, his voice was filled with nothing but a helpless indulgence.

As he spoke, he raised his hand again, his palm stroking the back of her head, pressing her, who was a little chilly from the wind, deeper against his chest, as if using his body heat to warm a block of ice.

“She used to say things like ‘I’m the older sister,’ but if you really want to cry, you don’t have to hold it in. It feels really good to cry it out.”

Unlike the "sister" she heard from Yang Suling today, hearing this title from Chen Junqian only made Shen Nianqiu feel happy. So she shook her head and nodded vigorously in his arms, but still dared not speak, afraid that if she opened her mouth, it would be a broken sob. She could only embed herself more tightly in his arms, greedily savoring his scent, as if it were the elixir that kept her alive.

After a while, the trembling in my arms gradually subsided, leaving only occasional sobs.

Chen Junqian let go of her and looked at Shen Nianqiu's red eyes and nose, her pitiful yet forcedly calm appearance, which made him lose all desire to say anything more. If he were to write the achievement "If there were a female protagonist in front of me who would shed tears for me", he would probably only write the simplest three words: "I would feel sad".

He took out a pack of tissues from his shirt pocket, pulled one out, and instead of handing it to her directly, he gently wiped away the tear stains from the corner of Shen Nianqiu's eyes. The touch of his fingertips on her skin was reassuring.

“Cry like a little child, no… a little child would cry as loudly as possible, ideally so the whole world could see him cry.”

Chen Junqian deliberately softened his tone, trying to make Shen Nianqiu happy.

Shen Nianqiu closed her eyes and let him wipe her, her voice carrying a heavy nasal tone, unusually soft and pitiful:

"Don't you like children?"

"No, no, no, I don't remember Mumu ever crying like you did, not even in first grade. But crying will probably make you feel better, right? Go sit over there for a while."

Shen Nianqiu remained silent and motionless, standing there like an object, until Chen Junqian took her hand and led her over. Looking at her obedient appearance, as if she were someone he could do anything for, Chen Junqian felt that she was completely different from Lin Mu. Instead, he felt a sense of powerlessness welling up in his heart again. He wanted to tell her many things, but looking at her red and swollen eyes from crying, he couldn't bring himself to say them.

"okay."

He shook his head helplessly, took her cold hand, intertwined their fingers tightly, as if trying to transfer his strength to her in this way, and then pulled her straight over to sit down on the bench next to him.

To be honest, on the way to Lin'an, Chen Junqian was thinking about how to conduct his conversation with Shen Nianqiu. Whether it was verbal persuasion or talk therapy, it was often only effective in the world of anime and manga, because people in real life are the ones who tend to get stuck on things. Moreover, he was not suitable to say many inspirational quotes to Shen Nianqiu.

Chen Junqian could sense that if he said something like, "You're an independent individual, not anyone's sister or daughter, you're Shen Nianqiu," or "You need to learn to love yourself, treat that home as a temporary residence, and just observe from the sidelines. Don't waste your emotions on them, and don't place all your hopes on me. Be independent," Shen Nianqiu would probably only be able to naturally extract the meanings of "you're not anyone's sister" and "don't place your hopes on me."

The logic of independence is like a paradox for Shen Nianqiu right now. In fact, she is almost becoming the template for her least favorite roommate from junior high school. After all, teenagers at this age always like to use 'independence' and 'freedom' as excuses to detach themselves from their families and then use the name of love to escape these responsibilities with another person.

This certainly doesn't count as true independence.

Moreover, Shen Nianqiu's situation is even more complicated.

Independence in a family means separation or severance, but in her relationship with Chen Junqian, independence becomes a synonym for being abandoned. So she wants to be independent on one hand, but doesn't need to be independent on the other, or perhaps the latter's lack of independence is what causes the former's independence... It's a complete mess.

If Chen Junqian were given another chance, he would surely handle his relationship with Shen Nianqiu better. But things have come to this, so he can only continue as they are. After all, the best time to plant a tree is now, if not ten years ago.

In fact, there is a similar scene in Zhu Wenyun's new book, "My Dearest Forever," where the male protagonist can only surrender with his hands raised in the end:

"I didn't say I didn't want you, and I certainly didn't mean I didn't want you." He finally relented, reaching out to pull Zhu Nianxia into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head, and letting out a long sigh.

"I'm worried you're working too hard." His voice lowered, carrying a resigned gentleness. "Why can't you understand?"