I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"Never Left the Scene, How Could I Be Absent?", the latest work by Wen Yun, a rising bestselling author of romance novels, following "My Dear Forever My Love"... This is it, boss, I want three copies!

"Three books? That's surprising."

"Because I promised Wenyun I would buy two books, and one for Qianqian, that makes a total of three books."

Smiling, Lin Mu bought three books from the bookstore owner. As soon as he unwrapped one of them and opened the title page, he spotted a certain word amidst the numerous instances of authors praising each other's work:

[The best work I've read in recent years that handles the love triangle theme; a heartwarming winter love song for every reader.]

III. A love triangle?

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

Touching the day at the beginning of the month

As the title suggests, I also used AI to create a card of Mu Mu, which is pretty much the same outfit she wore in yesterday's new chapter.

Wishing all readers good health and all the best.

Image: "Mumu (Winter Limited Edition)", Location: "Images/1769950257-100437844-114415358.jpg"

——

Chapter 41: I already told you not to project your own feelings onto this (5k6)

A love triangle.

Upon seeing the words "this time" and recalling who the two female protagonists in the book were based on, Lin Mu immediately slammed the newly opened book back shut. She suddenly had a strong premonition that no matter what was written inside, she absolutely could not read it in front of Qianqian. So she hurriedly stuffed two of the books into her bag and handed the extra one to Chen Junqian.

"So this is the final title? Actually, I suggested 'Us and Them' to Wenjun."

Chen Junqian saw his childhood sweetheart's actions but didn't say anything. Although he hadn't read the final draft completely, he had been closely involved in the entire creation process of the book. Therefore, he was familiar with most of the plot and had read some of the scattered paragraphs. So, he wasn't in a hurry to open the book and see what was going on right now.

"Come on, go home."

After putting the new book Lin Mu handed him into his schoolbag, Chen Junqian patted the back seat of the bicycle he was riding, signaling for Lin Mu to get on.

"Go back where?"

"Mumu can go back wherever she wants, and she can come to my house for lunch too. My mom will definitely welcome her."

Normally, Lin Mu would have readily accepted Chen Junqian's invitation without hesitation. However, the two new books in her bag were constantly vying for her attention. Even though she herself didn't know whether she wanted to or didn't want to read anything from the books, there was no denying that she wanted to go back and read them as soon as possible.

"Hmm... but I want to go back and read some books first. I promised Wenjun that I would support her as soon as possible."

"Okay, then I'll take Mumu home first."

With a light touch, Chen Junqian restarted his bicycle and rushed to take Lin Mu home before noon. After politely declining Lin Mu's mother's invitation to stay for lunch, he turned around and headed straight for Zhu Wenyun's new home.

Just like Xu Youwei's new home, Zhu Wenyun's newly rented house is also only used for weekend stays. Most of the time, it serves as a storage room for her belongings, especially her ever-increasing collection of reference books. Chen Junqian has already helped her move books several times, so much so that stepping into this familiar corridor between buildings now makes him feel a bit of back pain for no apparent reason.

"Oh, here it comes."

Zhu Wenyun didn't seem surprised by Chen Junqian's visit. Unlike the previous urban village, the new house had heating, so it was quite warm even in winter. Zhu Wenyun was also wearing only casual home clothes. Her every move reminded Chen Junqian of those hardworking women in anime who were given a subtle "housewife" vibe by the comments.

"Well, I'm here to report my thoughts on the book to the great author."

"You finished reading it so quickly? I remember you went to school with Mumu this morning to help with copying papers?"

"No, I'm planning to see it live."

Taking the slippers Zhu Wenyun offered, Chen Junqian sat down on the sofa without any hesitation. He then took the new book Lin Mu had given him from his bag, unwrapped it, and instead of opening it right away, handed it to Zhu Wenyun, who was sitting next to him.

"Can I sign my name first?"

"This is for my dearest boyfriend, is it okay to sign it like this?"

"Then forget it."

Chen Junqian twirled the brand-new book in his palm, then picked it up again. After briefly glancing at the table of contents, he began reading and making comments from the first page.

"After so many revisions to the beginning, you still ended up using the first version?"

"It is still slightly different from the first version."

"where?"

"I added a flashback, here it is."

Chen Junqian looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a passage from a diary:

[June 17th: The high school entrance exam is over! Tomorrow is our first summer vacation together since we became a couple, I'm so excited! Although we've already planned to travel far away together this summer, we still haven't decided on a specific destination. Is it because we've been to so many places together before? Come to think of it, it makes sense, since we used to travel together every winter and summer vacation.]

June 24th: The middle school entrance exam results are out! I never expected to get into the special admission class. I heard that the special admission class only looks at the scores of academic subjects and does not look at the scores of physical fitness test and physics and chemistry experiment. So although my overall ranking was not high enough, my academic scores were enough. I feel like God is looking out for me. Now I can continue to be in the same class as him in high school. We have been childhood sweethearts from kindergarten to elementary school to junior high school and high school.

[June 25th: I officially kissed him! Because he's never been the proactive type, I took the initiative and we shared our first kiss. It feels like a very memorable day.]

[July 3rd: We went to the water park together today. I bought a really nice swimsuit and he complimented me. As usual, we rode the water slides together. Actually, if you only think about going on amusement park rides with him, maybe being over 1.4 meters tall is enough?]

[July 8th: A little self-reflection. I've been thinking about him too much lately, practically my mind is filled with him. He probably finds this bothersome, so I need to become more independent. The academic pressure in the special admissions class is very high. Starting tomorrow, I need to go to the library by myself to do my homework and study, and I also need to practice cooking so I can cook for him next time.]

[July 25th: We went back to the junior high school to visit our teacher. While she wasn't there, we kissed many times in the office. The feeling of being held tightly by him was so wonderful. I wish this summer could last forever.]

[August 1st: I'm starting to feel like this is pointless. After all, the diary entries above are all my fantasies. We never actually went to the water park, nor did we ever kiss. Oh well, I'll just tear it up.]

[August 2nd: But when I think about what I saw before, I realize I still can't help but write this in my diary. He would never hold hands or kiss another girl behind my back. That must be a dream, otherwise it would be too strange, because how could he do something so outrageous to me?]

[It's so unfair! Why can I continue dreaming while in a dream, but not wake up after waking up...? I want to go back to the reality in my diary and continue my summer vacation.]

If only it were 2010!

"The author's perverse sense of humor is overflowing on all levels... Aren't you afraid that Mu Mu will break off your friendship with you for writing this kind of thing?"

"No, what I told her was that the female protagonist in this book was based on some of her past experiences with Qianqian. It's a completely different concept from the previous book. Her relationship with the character Xue Ya should have disappeared completely starting from one-third of the way through this book. The rest is all my own imagination. If we're talking about something, the connection between Youwei and the character Lian Xinyu is closer, since I collected more material about her."

Zhu Wenyun herself seemed indifferent to Chen Junqian's criticisms, her tone carrying a hint of sarcasm:

"Moreover, I taught Mu Mu the method of using a future diary a long time ago, but she actually only used it to write down her visions of the future to encourage herself, so the situation in the book is absolutely impossible."

"Her initial motivation for writing a diary and the reason she has been able to persist until now is that doing this makes her happy and fulfilled, because she is recording things that others consider mundane but she finds joy in. So if one day she is really unhappy, I would rather believe that she will run into your arms and wipe away her tears than believe that Mu Mu would still have the mind to write this kind of diary. It is just a literary creation technique."

"Ok."

As Lin Mu's childhood friend, after carefully considering her personality, Chen Junqian also felt that what Zhu Wenyun said seemed to make sense. In fact, before getting into the love triangle, he would have preferred to suggest that she first understand the concept of love. If Lin Mu saw this kind of content, her thoughts would probably be closer to those of a child who was dragged by their parents to watch family soap operas. She would probably just think that the entertainment industry is really messy, and wouldn't have any thoughts about relating to it.

Of course, as Zhu Wenyun mentioned earlier, the person who was truly and wholeheartedly involved was someone else.

While Xu Youwei's reasons for not going to school with Chen Junqian to copy her grades included not wanting to see her report card in advance, a large part of the reason was that she wanted to see Zhu Wenyun's new book as soon as possible.

Last year, when Zhu Wenyun's new book was released, she and Lin Mu read the book together at a milk tea shop and then enthusiastically started discussing their thoughts. But this time, she deliberately huddled alone in her new home, leaning against the old wall filled with memories to read the book by herself.

The promotional slogan printed on the book jacket, "Those so-called tender evidences that have been spied on are only one in ten thousand. In a corner where there are only two of us, he and I, he and I, have many more romantic secrets," was like a tiny thorn that gently pricked Xu Youwei's fingertip the moment she touched it.

As the first person to observe this girl through Zhu Wenyun's novels, Xu Youwei would naturally admit that the other party did indeed have unparalleled talent in literature. Even though she had never been in love, she could still move a large number of readers to tears when she wrote romance novels. However, when she thought that a large part of these readers also had no experience in love, she felt relieved.

It seems there's a saying in the industry that only people who have never been in a relationship can write the most touching love stories.

Xu Youwei opened the book, the pages exuding a faint scent of ink. The world within the book unfolded slowly through the words. She didn't even glance at the title page, but went straight to the first page with a clear goal. After all, this was a new work that Zhu Wenyun had personally selected, with her as the female lead. Thinking back to the female leads described in Zhu Wenyun's previous books, even in the drastically different "My Dear Forever My Love," the female lead still managed to have a smooth romantic relationship with the male lead until the end.

So this time it's no problem either!

From Xu Youwei's own perspective, the beginning of the story is cliché yet heartwarming: the female protagonist Lian Xinyu, the male protagonist Gu Yuan, and the second female lead Xue Ya, three childhood sweethearts who grew up together. They shared an ice pop together, sheltered from the rain under the eaves during a downpour, and chased each other on the playground track. Their childhood in the small town is written as carefree as ever, but it makes the girl's breath catch slightly.

...It looks so alike.

It can only be said that as members of the same childhood sweetheart alliance in Guoning, from Zhu Wenyun's perspective, most of their experiences are actually visualized. Moreover, she herself thoughtfully provided a lot of material. However, with the help of the other party's writing style, Xu Youwei herself gradually began to fall into a kind of bewilderment called memories.

However, soon, Lian Xinyu in the book began to increasingly reveal her own shadow. This strange feeling, like reading a friend's evaluation of her in a yearbook, made Xu Youwei feel a little complicated. She kept repeating the thoughts, "Oh my god, this is just me" and "I didn't have so many little thoughts back then."

Then came the confession.

The woman went first again.

Xu Youwei certainly wouldn't tell Zhu Wenyun even such a thing, so Zhu Wenyun created a completely original confession scene. She had the female protagonist in the book use candles and lights to express her feelings on the snow where the two of them had played with firecrackers and built snowmen countless times.

The flames of the eternal lamp on the snow, in the light and shadow of memory, resembled a school of golden fry, swimming passionately in our pupils, becoming fireflies in the river of time. And you walked towards me with a smile; between the moonlight and the snow, you were the third kind of unparalleled beauty.

This feels so romantic...

For some reason, Xu Youwei was reminded of the things she had done with a snow spray can when she was a child, and she hugged her knees again, resting her head against the wall behind her.

However, that place has long been leveled and no longer exists.

Thus began their secret underground romance.

Xu Youwei felt her throat was dry, but she still couldn't help but continue reading.

She watched as the two people in the book, in a gathering of three, built a secret world for two within this seemingly stable triangle.

This was the part that Xu Youwei read most carefully, yet was also the most satisfying. She had almost the same feeling as Shen Nianqiu last year, and wanted to thank Zhu Wenyun for using the most appropriate words to depict all those little thoughts that she herself couldn't summarize.

Thinking this, Xu Youwei couldn't resist taking out an invisible pen that always stayed in the cabinet next to her, turning on the ultraviolet light, and finding a small blank wall to write down her favorite sentence:

I give you my whole soul, along with its quirks, its tantrums, its mood swings, and its 1,800 bad habits. It's truly awful, but it has only one redeeming quality: it loves you.

Zhu Wenyun's brushstrokes are so delicate they are breathtaking:

Xue Ya was still excitedly planning her summer vacation trip, completely unaware that under the table, Lian Xinyu's little leather shoes were gently hooking around Gu Yuan's ankle. Although Lian Xinyu's heart would occasionally skip a beat when her friend suddenly turned around, she maintained a calm smile and responded to Xue Ya's words. The thrill of being caught in the act, like a secret affair, mixed with deep guilt towards her friend, was like a cup of honey water laced with poison—sweet yet deadly.

Xu Youwei's expression was also somewhat subtle when she read this.

She remembered, or rather, she didn't know how many times she had done this.

However, compared to the guilt and anxiety that seemed to push her heart out of her throat in the book, she herself might be more composed.

However, their psychological states were, in a sense, exactly the same.

I didn't intend to take anything from her, and it wasn't even a matter of who liked whom first. To me, when I liked him, you didn't like him yet, so it was just me who liked him, and it actually had nothing to do with you.

But the next second, an even deeper sense of self-loathing swept over him.

Looking into the other person's eyes with such unwavering trust, Lian Xinyu felt like a thief, stealing a possibility that should have belonged to her friend, stealing the pure relationship between the three of them.

Undoubtedly, this is also what Hsu Yu-Wei has always been most worried about.

As the novel's plot unfolds, the atmosphere begins to grow increasingly oppressive.

The truth will always come out; this is an eternal truth.

Moreover, apart from seeing Mu Mu's shadow in her childhood, Xue Ya's behavior in the book is completely different from Lin Mu's. She just trusted her friend too much, so she never thought in that direction. But after countless eye contact, countless times when the two mysteriously lost contact at the same time, and countless attempts to cover up the truth, the seed of doubt finally took root in her heart.

Xu Youwei turned the pages faster and faster, as if she wanted to see her verdict as soon as possible.

The climax in the book occurs on a gloomy summer night. The three of them have arranged to watch a movie at Gu Yuan's house. Xue Ya arrives early and witnesses the two of them kissing.

The perspective shifted at this point.

Just moments before, I had no idea my voice would be so filled with sorrow, each word and each sentence like a string of cries. My ears were ringing, as if the sea breeze was blowing through rusty barbed wire, and when I ran outside, it started raining again. The rain brought the scent of the distant sky, a fishy smell.