I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

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Chapter Sixty-Three: XX in Progress

[As a classic scene that always appears in the large-scale romantic comedy DLC of school trips, the test of courage has always been a scene that vividly demonstrates the psychological phenomenon of the suspension bridge effect. Whether it is two people suddenly unable to find their way back and rejoin the group, or one of them getting lost and being found by the other, the heroines with different personalities will experience emotions called fear and panic in the dark and claustrophobic environment, and thus reveal a variety of delicious and real reactions.]

[Conditions for achieving this: Get lost together in a dark wilderness environment with any heroine who is suited for romantic comedy, or one of them gets lost]

In fact, Chen Junqian was quite satisfied with his system in terms of its advance prompts and warnings.

This achievement appeared after Lin Mu sent him the message about going to set off fireworks together on the first night of the Lunar New Year, and it should refer to this event. However, considering that Xu Youwei would most likely be with him at that time, Chen Junqian was a little unsure who would trigger this achievement.

Moreover, with the three of them in such a scene, and considering the "test of courage" in Chengjiu's name, Chen Junqian, a veteran of romantic comedies, almost instantly thought of the episode about the test of courage in "Nisekoi," and immediately felt a subtle change in his mood.

If we're really going to get lost together, then all three of us should get lost together.

If one of them gets lost, they should definitely search for the other person together.

After silently making this decision in his heart, Chen Junqian stopped thinking about it. After all, this was something that would only happen on the first day of the new year, so he should just focus on getting through the next few days.

As the only male protagonist in a romantic comedy in a small county, Chen Junqian's plan and goal for today is actually quite simple: to finish his winter vacation homework so that he can have no worries during the rest of the winter vacation.

Studying is still necessary, and homework still needs to be done. After all, the system isn't some kind of academic genius training system. Although it provides a boost to learning, he still needs to learn all the knowledge himself. Fortunately, Chen Junqian was one of the best students of his age in his previous life, and he has never given up on progressing in this area after his rebirth. So he didn't become a child prodigy in elementary school like many other rebirth novel characters, struggle in middle school, and become an ordinary person in high school.

In the past, he would just hand over his winter and summer vacation homework to Zhong Yu after he finished it. But starting this year, several science teachers have introduced new regulations that require students to submit not only the winter vacation homework itself, but also the corresponding draft paper.

This completely baffled Zhong Yu. The main problem was that scratch paper was inherently difficult to copy, and Chen Junqian could answer many questions with just a glance and a quick mental calculation, leaving no way for Zhong Yu to copy the solution process. As a result, Zhong Yu had to do his homework on his own during this period, and he didn't even have time to play games with Chen Junqian anymore.

After silently mourning for his good friend for a second, Chen Junqian focused on his winter vacation homework.

In the past, he quite liked to use study sessions as an excuse to call people together to do homework. However, now that everyone is older and has more on their minds, Chen Junqian has started to intentionally avoid such large-scale gatherings. The welcome banquet he held for Shen Nianqiu last time had exhausted him quite a bit, so he decided to postpone such group activities for now and wait until the progress was more advanced.

Chen Junqian had just finished writing twenty or thirty pages in his room when he suddenly heard a soft knock on the door. He casually said "Come in" and saw his younger sister, who had just left, sneak back in.

"Is your brother doing his homework?"

"Hmm, you've finished writing?"

"It'll be done soon. I write according to the plan every day. Isn't that how my brother used to be? But somehow he became the kind of person that everyone hates the most. Even though the holiday hasn't started yet, he's already done most of his homework in just a few days after it's been handed out."

"Because that way I'll have more time during the holiday. After all, Xiaoxi knows that it wouldn't be surprising if I were called out at any time."

"The reason this happened is clearly your own problem, brother."

As she said this, Chen Xi naturally sat down on the edge of the bed closest to Chen Junqian's desk.

She originally planned to go find Gu Linguo after breakfast, but when she knocked on the door, she found out that Gu Linguo had also left early in the morning. She sent her several messages on her phone, but Gu Linguo kept giving vague answers about where she had gone, so Chen Xi came back.

"Does brother know where Lin Guo went?"

"Hmm? Is Lin Guo not home right now?"

"Yeah, I just went to look for her, but she wasn't there. I asked her a couple of questions on QQ, but she didn't reply. She's acting all mysterious. I thought my brother must know."

"I don't know, she doesn't report to me where she goes or what she does in real time."

Although he quickly guessed where Gu Lingguo might be, Chen Junqian hadn't confirmed it himself, and he felt there was no need to let his sister know about the house for the time being, so he shook his head and pretended not to know.

"So, what does Xiaoxi want with Lin Guo?"

Without giving the other person a chance to continue asking questions, Chen Junqian immediately threw the question back to his sister, regaining control of the conversation.

"...It's nothing, just like with my brother, I ask her to do my homework together."

Chen Xi also couldn't really tell Chen Junqian that she actually cared a lot about the keywords Gu Linguo sometimes muttered, like 'the cuteness of the fiancée' type of character' and 'bride's training,' so she looked away and stood up.

"Since your brother doesn't know either, then I won't bother you while you're doing your homework."

Although she said that, she didn't seem to have any intention of leaving. Instead, she walked directly to Chen Junqian's side.

"what?"

"How about I help you clean up? It's almost Chinese New Year anyway. If you don't bother me, I won't bother you. It's fine like this."

Although Chen Junqian really wanted to say that he had cleaned the bedroom with Lin Mu and Xu Youwei a few days ago, he simply let her do it after seeing her start getting clean towels from outside. However, he couldn't help but chuckle as he looked at the other achievement, "Bride Training in Progress," that was starting to light up in his mind.

Sigh, both of them are in progress, so why does the other one always lag behind?

With that in mind, Chen Junqian glanced in that direction again.

Why are you flashing too?

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

PS2: I left home today and went back to my rented apartment. I'm a bit tired and only have two thousand left, sorry.

Chapter 64: Don't Use the Swords of the Previous Dynasty to Slay Officials of the Current Dynasty (Part 2)

How can one showcase their charm in roles that would undoubtedly be considered the true heroine in other films, such as a blonde, arrogant, twin-tailed childhood friend and an aloof, sharp-tongued, long-haired, literary girl? How can one win the male protagonist's heart in the story and capture the audience's interest outside of it?

Without a doubt, among the plethora of mass-produced "school city-style harem light novel adaptations" this season, "Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend" certainly did not disappoint Gu Linguo and Chen Junqian's expectations.

Although they both believed from the beginning that no matter how the anime was adapted, it would be difficult to completely recreate the charm of the text itself in Fumiaki Maruto's light novels and visual novels, they also praised the anime production as outstanding. In this era where the anime community is slowly expanding, it easily attracted a large audience. Perhaps, like the audience attracted by "Highschool of the Dead" and "A Certain Scientific Railgun" a few years ago, the female characters in these works will probably become the most prolific writers in fan fiction in a few years.

As for the many female characters in this work, Gu Lingguo's interest was undoubtedly focused on Kato Megumi. In fact, when she read the original novel translated by Chen Junqian a couple of years ago, she had intentionally turned her attention to this girl who seemed to be 'designated' by the light novel's title.

Unlike the first season of the anime, which only aired seven episodes, the original light novel of "Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend" has already reached its seventh volume. So while most anime-only viewers are still spamming comments like "cameraman, extra chicken leg for lunch" in the barrage because of the senpai's black stockings, Gu Lingguo, a fan of the original novel, has already been able to glean some answers to the initial question from the story so far.

Just like the 'blonde twin-tailed tsundere childhood friend' and 'ice-cold, sharp-tongued, long-haired literary girl' mentioned at the beginning, the biggest advantage of Kasumigaoka Utaha and Sawamura Eriri is undoubtedly that their moe attributes are visible to the naked eye. They are presented to the audience directly at the beginning of the story. The contrast with Kato Megumi is that she does have these moe attributes, but she does not deliberately 'pile' these moe attributes.

Aside from characters whose presence is so faint that they could even directly star in Assassin's Creed—a setting that simply uses classic exaggeration to give the plot a comedic feel—most of the time, the other person is more like an ideal type in real life: gentle, tolerant, emotionally stable, a little bit sarcastic, highly proactive in crucial moments, and only shows a little playfulness and temper in front of close friends and family.

However, even though Gu Lingguo realized that this kind of character portrayal could indeed defeat those 'high and mighty' other female protagonists, she still couldn't do it.

You could even say the two are completely opposite types.

If the other person isn't intentionally trying to cultivate cute attributes, then she's the one who's deliberately trying to cultivate those attributes onto herself.

It's about what you call yourself, what you cosplay, and even learning to play the piano.

It is precisely because of this that, as the story unfolds, the cunning, jealousy, troublesome nature, and even the slightly yandere-like possessiveness that the former finally reveals beneath his 'saintly' exterior are all the more captivating to the audience and readers.

But in reality, it's a completely different story.

Because the order of cause and effect is completely reversed.

She first developed this personality before trying to build up those cute attributes, praying that they would cover everything in white like heavy snow in winter, leaving only a fresh patch of snow waiting for someone's footprints to step on.

However, Gu Lingguo still chose to find Shen Nianqiu because she felt that the other person was just like her. Neither of them could compare to Zhu Wenyun, who was not much better. However, this could also be said to be because the other person had indeed experienced a painful lesson.

Of course, Gu Lingguo had no idea that her opinion of Shen Nianqiu was still based on the book "Dearest Forever," which was actually published a year ago.

If Chen Junqian were to open the female protagonists' personal panels at this time, he would find that in terms of adaptability to romantic comedies, Gu Linguo has fallen to a lower position than Shen Nianqiu.

This applies to actions, personality, and speech.

Although she had been living here for several days, Shen Nianqiu still felt a strange sense of unreality every morning when she woke up in this bed.

It was completely different from staying in a hotel before. As her things were placed in the house, it gradually became filled with the atmosphere and meaning of home.

She was long past the age where she felt lonely and scared sleeping alone, so sleeping alone essentially meant that she was the only person in the room.

This is her room, all to herself.

It could even be said that it was this sense of novelty and leisure that overwhelmed Shen Nianqiu's inner and physiological desires, allowing her to live a quiet and obedient life until today, even though Chen Junqian did not come to sleep with her after she came to Guoning.

In any case, Shen Nianqiu herself would not admit that there was a certain childhood friend's influence involved. Even if she thought about it again, she knew that the other party would definitely not have those ulterior motives she imagined. But after all, she had just 'offended' Lin Mu once, so she should restrain herself for the time being.

Of course, she had other things to do these past few days, so she didn't have much time to actively invite Chen Junqian over or go out together.

The house was fully furnished with all the necessities. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he walked to the nearby street outside the community to buy breakfast. Just like Chen Junqian, Shen Nianqiu, as a high school student, also had to do his homework. Considering that he wanted to have fun during the New Year, most students would hope to finish all their homework before the New Year. However, few could actually do it, but Shen Nianqiu was one of them.

Her world is actually quite simple, consisting of only three things: singing, studying, and Chen Junqian. And when doing any of them, she always maintains the most focused attitude.

After finishing breakfast and completing her morning homework, Shen Nianqiu began to stroll around Chen Junqian's house, which had become one of her most frequent forms of entertainment in the past few days.

Although the house is a four-story villa, the actual daily activity area is only on the first and second floors. After all, she is the only one living there now, and she doesn't live there permanently. The girl next door named Gu Lingguo is probably the same. Therefore, most of the rooms on the third and fourth floors of the villa are identical blank rooms. The only room that has been cleaned up is the music room that her younger brother told her about before, which has a very good soundproofing.

It was no secret to Shen Nianqiu that Chen Junqian could play the piano. She had received a piano piece specially recorded by him a few years ago, and she still uses it as her phone ringtone.

In this respect, they might really be like a brother and sister who both have artistic talent.

After sitting in front of the piano for a while, Shen Nianqiu's gaze swept over another chair next to it, and suddenly an image of another girl sitting there listening to her younger brother play the piano appeared in her mind.

What kind of girl is Gu Linguo?

To be honest, if we only consider first impressions, the other person was probably the easiest to get along with among all the girls in Chen Junqian's social circle that Shen Nianqiu met when she first came to Guoning. Lin Mu had some subtle lingering resentment because of the World Expo incident years ago, but the other person gave her a pure and kind feeling like a younger sister from beginning to end. So much so that she even thought at that time that it would be better if Chen Junqian's younger sister was Gu Lingguo instead of Chen Xi.

But looking back now, the whole thing is actually quite strange, especially considering that Gu Linguo and Chen Xi were good friends.

After all, girls often don't like this kind of "copycat". This is why many best friends turn into enemies in an instant. Even though she is not the younger sister, she acts more like the younger sister than the "real younger sister". Although you can say that she just wants a brother like Chen Junqian, it still makes people feel that this girl has some scheming.

Later, after the three of them created a small group chat, Shen Nianqiu gradually learned more about Gu Linguo. She found out that the reason why Gu Linguo and Chen Junqian became closer was because of their shared interest in anime and manga. They had even gone to anime conventions together and jointly managed related accounts on a website called Bilibili.

Shen Nianqiu had considered exploring her younger brother's interests, but she was under immense pressure from all sides, both academically and emotionally, and had a lot to do every day. Moreover, she herself didn't have any hobbies in this area, so she only glanced at it and then gave up.

Compared to this aspect that she knew nothing about, what Shen Nianqiu really wanted to know was the other person's family situation. However, since Gu Lingguo wouldn't take the initiative to talk about it, Shen Nianqiu could only try to find out a little bit from Chen Xi and Zhu Wenyun, and then piece together the other person's mental journey in her mind by asking about the experiences from Chen Junqian.

In fact, Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenyun's thoughts were quite similar on this point. The reason they pursued this kind of plot was not because they were interested in the story itself or the female protagonist, but because they wanted to know what their favorite male protagonist was like in other stories.

However, Zhu Wenyun chose an immersive experience, while Shen Nianqiu simply wanted to learn more about Guoning's situation.

Just then, the older sister sitting by the window suddenly saw someone approach the gate, successfully open the gate with a key, and walk into the house. Judging from the figure and appearance, it was Gu Lingguo, whom she had just been thinking about.

Shen Nianqiu wasn't surprised that the other person also had a key to this place, since there were other people's rooms inside. What she was more concerned about was why Gu Lingguo had come here at this time. So she immediately came out of the music room on the third floor and bumped into Gu Lingguo as she walked in at the bottom of the stairs on the first floor.

Good morning, Sister Shen! I hope I didn't disturb your sleep?

"No, I've been up for quite a while."

"Okay, that's good."

Gu Lingguo took her pair of cotton slippers from the shoe cabinet next to her and put them on. It had indeed been a while since she had been here. She first looked around and saw that the living room had been left with many traces of daily life since Shen Nianqiu moved in.

After glancing at it twice, she asked in a lighthearted tone:

"I knew my brother would let Sister Shen stay here. By the way, which room on the second floor did Sister Shen choose as her bedroom?"

"Me? I chose the one next to Junqian's."

Perhaps because she had called out "Junqian" all day at Chen Junqian's house yesterday, or perhaps for some other reason, Shen Nianqiu stopped using the term "younger brother" and called him by his name directly.

"Oh, is that so? Can I go up and take a look? I just came here to pick up some things. Sister Shen can also see my room later. Junqian and I have been decorating it carefully for quite a while."

"it is good."

After nodding in agreement, Shen Nianqiu turned around and led Gu Lingguo upstairs. They stopped in front of the door marked with cherry blossom petals: