I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"Then let's forget about it. Let's go, the piano is inside."

After greeting the music teacher he had become acquainted with through the New Year's Day performance, Chen Junqian casually explained the situation to the three little fans behind him, then went up on stage and sat down in front of the piano that had already been placed there. He familiarly placed his hands on it and began to familiarize himself with the piano provided by the school.

Watching the boy on stage already tapping away at the black and white keys, Zhu Wenyun, sitting in the audience, fell into deep thought. The main audience for her romance novels was naturally mostly female, so in this respect, the male protagonist's character was often portrayed with the luxurious setup of Mary Sue novels. Among the many elements, the piano was indeed often chosen, since this image was already pre-existingly associated with other words such as 'prince,' 'melancholy,' 'loneliness,' and 'genius.'

However, Zhu Wenyun herself has never written a male protagonist with this kind of character. The reason is simple: she has never met a boy like this. More precisely, Chen Junqian did not exhibit this trait. And she herself is the kind of writer who only writes about what she knows and is good at.

Just then, she heard Gu Lingguo next to her mysteriously muttering something to Chen Xi:

"Actually, every time this happens, I feel that the kind of plot where you fall in love with someone when you're young and it's the end of your life is more reasonable. For example, if a primary school student suddenly walks by in the auditorium, she will definitely stand there in a daze or exclaim 'Wow!' and from then on, she will make a vow to become a pianist. In fact, for such a genius who is obviously not from your world, you might think that if you can't accompany them to the end of this road, at least you should remember me in your life, blah blah blah."

"It sounds like a story about someone who will regret it for the rest of their life."

"So, Xiaoxi, how about trying out 'Your Lie in April' from last season? It's pretty much the kind of plot I was just talking about. It's just a pity I already learned piano, so I can't switch to violin anymore. Besides, I think this kind of plot with lifelong regret is really good, at least it makes the other person never forget you for the rest of their life..."

Before Gu Linguo could finish speaking, Zhu Wenyun, who had been listening silently, interrupted her, speaking her thoughts like a senior in life:

"This idea is wrong from the start. If you hold such a thought, then you will never be able to truly walk this path with the other person. If it is an unavoidable tragedy, that's fine, but if it is just your own imagination, well, should I say it is very pathetic?"

As a renowned author of romantic comedy novels, Zhu Wenyun's opening remarks immediately drew the attention of the two girls, a year younger than her. Zhu Wenyun herself ignored Chen Xi, focusing instead on Gu Linguo as she spoke:

"Actually, our magazine does have this kind of subject matter, like lifelong regret and then the whole 'chasing after the husband/wife' scenario, but I always feel that it's stupid to think that only one person's departure or death can prove the importance of each other. From the reader's perspective as a third party, it might seem great, but the person involved can't see it. Deliberately using separation to prove that you can't separate feels like you're just putting yourself in a very humble position."

After saying this, Zhu Wenyun didn't wait for Gu Lingguo to speak and immediately asked:

"Doesn't Lin Guo also play the piano?"

"Ah, um, what's wrong?"

Stunned by what she was said, Gu Lingguo nodded subconsciously, and then she saw Zhu Wenyun point in the direction of Chen Junqian on the stage:

"I haven't seen the anime you mentioned, but if I were you, I would be over there asking Junqian if we could try playing a four-hand piano duet later, instead of saying this from the audience."

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

Chapter 36: I'm going to set today as an anniversary (5k6)

After briefly testing the piano's various scales and performance, Chen Junqian was just about to stand up and stretch when he saw Gu Lingguo, who had been chatting with someone in the audience, suddenly appear below the stage, leaning on her arm and waving at him.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing this, Chen Junqian took two steps over and then saw the other person point to the piano behind them:

"Senior! Senior! Can I give it a try?"

"Oh, you mean the piano? It's definitely much better than the one you have at home. The stairs are over here, why don't you come up and try it out, and experience the quality of this big brand."

Unlike the characters in anime and manga who are often princesses or child prodigies, or at the very least, fallen geniuses, Gu Lingguo, who only learned piano because of her mother's obsession, actually had only mediocre talent in the piano. After all, she herself did not devote all her energy and time to it.

Just like she told Chen Junqian when she first learned piano, the piano was just a cute, anime-related attribute that she had artificially added to herself. In fact, she had used this kind of thinking to comfort herself in many things in the past, and finally, as if by magic, she really waited for that person.

"I want to play a four-hand piano duet with my senior!"

After Gu Lingguo went up the stairs to the stage, she made the above declaration, revealing her true intentions. Then she sat down in the chair in front of the piano and gestured for Chen Junqian to sit next to her.

"...Why did you suddenly think of playing four-hand piano? You haven't practiced this before, and the sheet music for four-hand piano is different from the regular ones."

Although he said that, Chen Junqian still went along with Gu Lingguo's personality and accepted the invitation.

"Let me think about the pieces you can play. How about Canon? As usual, I'll just have to learn them myself."

"Yeah, I was just playing it for fun, you don't have to take it so seriously, senior."

As she spoke, Gu Linguo unconsciously glanced at the almost empty audience seats below the stage, and finally found an opportunity to say a certain cringeworthy line that she had been wanting to say for a long time:

"One day, we will fill this place to capacity!"

"However, the piano and idols are so different."

Because of Gu Linguo's words, Chen Junqian couldn't help but chuckle. It was mainly because he was reminded of a nearly fixed formula in the popular crossover anime fanfiction serialized online in the past two years, called "The Hidden Tenth Member of Muse".

However, if it were really possible, he would like to grind some achievements with the female lead of a romantic comedy who is an idol. The main reason is that this attribute, which is so common in the world of anime, is extremely rare in reality. Unless he directly enters the entertainment industry now and changes his style from the male protagonist of a romantic comedy to the male protagonist of a Chinese entertainment novel... In that case, the book he asked Zhu Wenyun to write might have to be renamed "I'm Really Not a Big Star".

Although it was Chen Junqian's first time playing a four-hand piano duet, his skills were undeniable, and he was quite relaxed. After all, even if he made a mistake, the two people in the audience probably wouldn't notice. Moreover, Gu Lingguo probably didn't come up for the four-hand piano duet in the first place; she was simply there for the physical contact that resembled that of the male and female protagonists in a romantic comedy.

The so-called four-handed piano playing means that two people play the piano with their four hands together. It doesn't necessarily have to be all four hands, but in certain parts, they must cooperate with each other. This is called "crossing hands," which means reaching over the other person's hand and extending your own palm to play the keys in the other range.

As the lighthearted melody rose slowly, Chen Junqian's slender body tilted slightly to the right, his right arm stretching out and crossing over Gu Linguo's arms. In that instant, it was as if he had pulled Gu Linguo into his embrace.

For a moment, Gu Linguo's vision was filled with his arm. The white shirt cuff swayed just centimeters from the tip of her nose. She could even see the slightly raised blue veins on the back of his hand and the beautiful, taut lines of his fingers when he exerted force, which made her own hand movements a few seconds slower.

However, Chen Junqian soon began to play a guiding role, or more directly, he began to lead her.

His piano playing was like a gentle yet powerful ocean current, carrying Gu Linguo, like a small boat, towards a wider sea. Whenever she hesitated slightly in a section, Chen Junqian's accompaniment would fill in with extreme precision, giving her a foothold; and whenever she wanted to push forward, his chords would become more passionate, paving the way for her. Indeed, just as he said at the beginning, she could play her own piece, because Chen Junqian was capable of such near-perfect coordination.

To be honest, before learning piano, Chen Junqian had joked about how Lang Lang had to shake off a pound of hair gel and get dandruff after playing a single piano piece. But after playing the piano himself, he was able to empathize with him. After all, piano performance does require the performer to showcase different performance styles according to the musical style. The performance in "Your Lie in April" was exactly the same. After playing a piano piece, it was as if he had fought a battle with someone. All the heart-pounding, sweaty, and tearful moments were normal.

Even though his and Gu Linguo's four-hand piano duet wasn't quite that exaggerated, after the last note completely fell, their bodies leaned forward simultaneously due to inertia, and their shoulders inevitably touched for a moment. Zhu Wenyun, who was watching from below the stage, also looked thoughtful. On the other hand, Chen Xi next to him curled her lips, thinking that the two of them playing was not as good as her brother playing alone.

"I'm even more looking forward to the seniors' performance at the New Year's Day gala. I'll be there to watch."

Gu Lingguo briskly rose from her chair and whispered in Chen Junqian's ear:

"Actually, it's not just me and Xiaoxi. It seems that many first and second-year junior high students stayed at school until the evening to see my brother at the New Year's Day performance this year. The girls in our class have been discussing the fact that my brother was going to play the piano that day for several times. Hehe, I saw it first today, and we even played together."

"That's as if you didn't watch me play in the music room the other day. Looks like my coat was just a waste of your time. Maybe next time you should skip it."

"Wow, this won't do. The most important thing for the male lead in a romantic comedy is to be kind and gentle."

After exchanging a few jokes with Gu Linguo, Chen Junqian sat back down at the piano. He still had a lot to test and familiarize himself with, and he only had one day left, so he had to continue. Seeing this, Gu Linguo wisely stopped bothering him. After getting what she wanted, she skipped off the stage and looked at the boy who was still focused on pressing the keys. She suddenly remembered a sentence she had once heard from her mother.

To live, or rather, for a girl to live, is to find ways to increase her own value.

In fact, if we only consider this point, she might indeed have a subtle blood connection with her mother. However, Gu Lingguo would prefer to use a more anime-like term to describe it, which is to pile on those cute attributes that are like those of female protagonists and that others would like.

However, the process was always more difficult than she had imagined.

Gu Linguo turned around and returned to the audience.

After all, she's not a real girl from an anime.

Just like Chen Junqian complained tonight about how his drawer was overflowing, Lin Mu, after returning to her room after evening self-study, also started to worry about her drawer. However, what filled her drawer wasn't greeting cards, but a thick stack of diaries.

The main problem is that every year when she writes greeting cards, she always takes out her diary from that year beforehand, whether to find inspiration or to prepare herself emotionally. She always has to quickly scan through it before she picks up her pen to write the greeting card. As a result, when she opened the drawer with the little lock today, she found that the diary inside was already piled up to the brim.

If I were to put it somewhere else, I feel I should tell Qianqian first, because the key to the lock hanging on the drawer is still in his hands. What if he opens it one day and finds that the diary inside is not complete? Wouldn't that be like lying to him?

With this in mind, Lin Mu began to read through this year's diary page by page.

Compared to previous years, in 2014, thanks to the introduction of two strong external aids, Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun, her diary entries did indeed reach a new high in terms of word count. However, this was mainly due to Lin Mu's own age gradually increasing. After all, even the word count requirement for Chinese composition topics had been increased to 600 words, so her diary entries naturally increased in length, and her diary was used up faster and faster.

However, this change is hardly good news for tonight's Christmas Eve. After all, it's already past nine o'clock when she gets back from evening self-study, and tomorrow isn't the weekend, so she still has to go to class. If she waits until she finishes reading a year's worth of diaries before starting to write, it feels like it will take forever.

Realizing this, Lin Mu reluctantly put down his diary again and began to focus on the blank greeting card in front of him.

"Mumu, the bath water is ready. Take a bath first, then you can do your work. I can soak your clothes first."

A moment later, her mother's voice came from the doorway again. Lin Mu had no choice but to put down her pen again, answer, and then take out her change of clothes from the closet. She carried them out of the room, went into the bathroom, handed the clothes to her mother who was waiting there, and then quickly soaked herself in the bathtub that was already filled with water.

Come to think of it, Qianqian used to hang out here before, and we even talked on the phone for a long time.

Lying there with half her face submerged in the hot water, Lin Mu unconsciously thought of the incident that had just happened. Although her mind no longer felt dizzy as it had then, she still felt her face getting hot.

On another note, when those childhood friends who actually bathed together in elementary school look back on these memories as adults, do they feel similarly to me now...?

Wen Yun seemed to have mentioned today that she's also one of the female protagonists in her new book. If she wasn't lying to Weiwei, does that mean the upcoming book has two female protagonists? If so, one of them will definitely lose in the end...

When I bought it, I thought such a big space might not be enough for me to express myself, but after being back for so long, I've only written two words. Will Qianqian be unhappy if I don't write more...?

Besides the greeting card, I wonder if Qianqian listened attentively to the voice message I recorded for him when he woke up. I'm a little embarrassed about it, so I haven't asked him about it yet...

It can only be said that, like many others, Mu Mu unconsciously started thinking about all sorts of things while taking a bath. Various thoughts floated and sank in her mind like bubbles on the water. Although she didn't get a definite answer in the end, it was still a rare time for Mu Mu to relax after a long day of studying. At least after taking a bath, she felt much more refreshed, both physically and mentally, and even the progress of the greeting card could be made smoothly.

Before she knew it, it was midnight. Lin Mu finally finished writing this year's greeting card and breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly closed the card, stuffed it back into the envelope, and then quickly sealed it with a reindeer sticker. Only after doing all this did she feel her face burning hot and her heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her throat.

The heating in the room seemed too strong, making it hard for her to breathe.

"Phew—it's so hot."

She got up from the carpet, wanting some fresh air, and walked barefoot to the window. Then she suddenly pulled open the heavy blackout curtains.

The next second, Lin Mu froze on the spot.

I had thought it was just a dark and cold night outside, but what came into view was a beautiful, crystal-clear world.

I don't know when it started, but it started snowing outside.

Large snowflakes, like goose feathers falling from the sky, swirled and danced in the dim glow of the streetlights, silently landing on the treetops and rooftops, gently enveloping the whole world. A thin layer of mist reflected on the windowpane, mirroring her wide-open eyes filled with surprise and delight.

"It's snowing..."

Lin Mu muttered to himself, subconsciously placing his palm on the cold glass.

This is the first snow of the year, and also the first snow of Christmas.

She glanced back at the newly sealed envelope on the table, and the words inside, "I hope to see the first snow with Qianqian this year," still seemed to be warm to the touch.

My heart skipped a beat.

This is... such a coincidence!

She had just made a wish, and yet, heaven sent snow to her window.

As Lin Mu watched the swirling snowflakes outside the window, Chen Junqian's image suddenly and uncontrollably surfaced in her mind. What was he doing now? Was he also looking out the window?

She suddenly longed to hear his voice.

Without a second thought, even faster than reason, she grabbed her phone from the table and opened the pinned chat window with the profile picture of the cat whose name matched her online nickname.

My fingertip hovered over the screen for two seconds before I finally sent a message:

[Qianqian, are you asleep?]

Just one second later, the phone vibrated.

[I just lay down, what's wrong?]

Chen Junqian wasn't surprised that Lin Mu would suddenly send him a message at this time. After all, the other party had done this more than once, sending him the contents of his dreams that he hadn't completely forgotten after waking up in the middle of the night. So he quickly replied with this message.

It's snowing outside! What a coincidence! I just wrote my wish to watch the snow with Qianqian in a greeting card, and it seems like God heard me.

That's great.

Upon seeing the message from Lin Mu, Chen Junqian was just about to get up and look out the window when another message came in first.

However, since Qianqian is already in bed, he shouldn't get up; he might catch a cold.

Wait for me a moment.