I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"Is this your sister? She's so cute."

"Yeah, my sister."

Explaining their kinship from beginning to end seemed rather complicated, so Chen Junqian simply nodded in agreement. After all, she did call him brother, and since they shared the same surname, she was practically his younger sister.

"Did you bring your younger sister to the movies?"

Lin Mu, of course, had no idea that Chen Xi was simply having a social anxiety episode. At this moment, her mind was completely absorbed in the frying pan. She thought that Chen Xi simply didn't know her and therefore didn't want to talk to her. However, since she had come over to talk to Chen Junqian, she naturally turned her head back to continue chatting with her childhood sweetheart.

"Yeah, I just watched the episode of Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: The Tiger's Might".

"Ah, I watched this a few days ago. Today I came to watch Avatar with my mom. Has Qianqian seen this before?"

Although the concept and prototype of 3D movies were proposed and born as early as the last century, for most domestic audiences, Avatar was indeed the first blockbuster that introduced them to the 3D movie mode.

It is precisely because of this that since Avatar was released in mainland China last month, its box office has been rising steadily. I remember that it finally won the title of the second highest-grossing film in mainland China with a total box office of more than 1.4 billion RMB.

"I heard that to watch this kind of 3D movie, you have to get special glasses from the staff beforehand. Once you put them on, you can experience an immersive 3D effect."

Sure enough, for kids, no plot or big production value matters as much as the gimmick of 3D. Lin Mu was quite animated as he talked about it.

"I haven't seen it yet, but I'll probably find time to watch it later."

"I see..."

Lin Mu pursed her lips thoughtfully upon hearing this, her eyes darting between Chen Xi, who was still lost in thought, and Chen Junqian. She felt that if it weren't for this little burden, she would have immediately invited him to the movies. However, in the end, she made up her mind:

"Then I'll tell Mom I won't watch it today either, and we can watch it together next time, okay?"

"...Isn't this unnecessary? After all, we're already here."

I couldn't help but utter one of the three most common Chinese sayings for comforting people, and by the way, the other two are "It's the New Year" and "It's still a child."

You know what, it seems like this scenario could actually be used today.

“It’s okay, Mom and I will just watch another movie. We haven’t bought the tickets yet, so watching ‘Avatar’ is also a good idea. Since ‘Avatar’ is the first 3D movie I’ve ever seen, I especially want to watch it with Qianqian.”

Lin Mu had already said so much, so Chen Junqian had no choice but to nod in agreement.

"Let's make an appointment later."

"Okay, you can take your little sister home now. Goodbye, sister—"

Completely unaware that the other person had said goodbye, Chen Xi, with her exceptional human-computer intuition, finally snapped out of her daze after Lin Mu returned. She then shook Chen Junqian's hand.

"friend?"

"Yes, good friend."

I thought my brother didn't have many friends.

Why would you have such an idea?

"Because you've read so many books and watched so many cartoons, and played so many games, yet you still have time to make friends."

Feeling as if he had been suddenly struck by a powerful blow in his past life, Chen Junqian patted his sister's head again.

Well, he's starting to understand why the male protagonist in those romantic comedies the system mentioned likes to pat heads. It seems like it's really addictive, especially for a kid like Chen Xi who doesn't react much when touched.

“Let’s go home and I’ll take you to dig up some Terracotta Warriors. They were a gift from another friend who came back from a trip to Xi’an.”

"Oh, the Terracotta Army."

The moment history-related topics are mentioned, it's as if a switch has been flipped for Chen Xi, and he immediately perks up.

"Brother, do you know which dynasty the Terracotta Army belongs to?"

Chen Junqian, who has completely adopted a child-rearing and child-coaxing mentality, simply shook his head and said, "I don't know."

"It's from the Qin Dynasty, unearthed from the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Brother, haven't you seen the latest TV series 'The Myth'? It tells a story from this time."

Unlike the 2005 film version of "The Myth" starring Jackie Chan and Kim Hee-sun, the TV series version of "The Myth" only started airing at the beginning of last month. However, since "Chinese Paladin 3" which aired last summer was a huge hit, people often mistake Hu Ge's face for Jing Tian from the other show.

"It's really good. I love the character Su Su. Jin Sha, who plays her, also sings very well."

Forcibly resisting the urge to say that "Su Su will be written out of the show in episode eight," Chen Junqian nodded in agreement with the other person's topic.

"Indeed, I also like her rendition of 'Myth of Stars and Moon'."

"Right, right?"

It feels like if the two of them weren't still on a crowded street, the kid would be singing a couple of lines to him any second now.

Since he still had some money left, Chen Junqian, in a rare moment of luxury, took a taxi to take Chen Xi back to his grandmother's house. Then, he took out the blind box that Xu Youwei had given him, and he and his sister sat on small stools in the front yard, listening to the songs that Chen Xi had downloaded to his laptop, while they started punching the brick where the terracotta warrior statue was buried.

It must be said that the Shaanxi History Museum has put a lot of effort into its cultural and creative products. All kinds of tools such as shovels and chisels are available. After slightly wetting the thick brick, the two of them started digging from the left and right.

Children always have endless energy and curiosity about things that interest them.

In no time, Chen Xi's posture had changed from sitting to almost lying on the ground. Unfazed by the cold, she rolled up her sleeves to her forearms, propped herself up on her elbows, and her face was only a fist's distance from the brick. She didn't bother to wipe the mud off her nose and face. The moment the shovel in her hand touched something hard, she softened her movements again.

"Dig it."

"Okay, be careful, don't break your hands or legs."

As someone who worked in the cultural and creative product design industry before his rebirth, Chen Junqian had seen countless brats who would physically break the little things inside in half with a single shovel. He could only say that with such skills and personality, they would probably be the first to be thrown out even if they went to rob a tomb, let alone do archaeology.

However, Chen Xi was clearly not the kind of impatient brat. After confirming her goal, she became even more patient and even refused Chen Junqian's help. She squatted there and continued to meticulously carve the brick in her hand, which had shrunk considerably and was gradually taking on the shape of a terracotta warrior.

Chen Junqian waved his hand and called over the little mongrel dog, Xiao Guai, who was also lazily squatting at the door. Chen Junqian scratched its chin and sat there quietly watching Chen Xi dig out the terracotta warrior piece by piece.

They brushed away the dust, chiseled away the dirt from the gaps in the armor, and then used the water pump in the yard to rinse the whole body. Finally, the small terracotta warrior sculpture, which was about ten centimeters tall and covered in black luster, stood proudly in front of them.

Jinsha's gentle voice is still there, singing the theme song from "The Myth".

However, Chen Xi doesn't think about questions like "Where will you be a thousand years from now, and what kind of scenery will you be around?" Just as the charm of history is only partially revealed to her through various literary and artistic works, all her emotions at this moment are just a nascent and innocent bud in her heart.

She simply felt that she wouldn't have to stay cooped up in her room playing computer games when visiting relatives during the Chinese New Year this year. After all, there was someone else she was willing to play with and who was willing to take her along, someone she called "brother" but who wasn't really her brother...?

Chapter 49: No one can erase the promise we made (Part 2)

The "flavor of the New Year" is a term that will be repeatedly mentioned on the internet for many years to come, but it is still quite complex and varies from person to person when it comes to describing it.

Just as everyone has different views on childhood and adolescence, some people attribute the lack of festive atmosphere to the Spring Festival Gala that they haven't watched since a certain year, some complain about the sudden ban on setting off fireworks and firecrackers after a certain year, and some feel that they have simply grown up and said goodbye to the childhood when all happiness was easily obtained.

After all, it's inevitable that anyone who goes from receiving lucky money to giving it away will feel a little wistful.

As for Chen Junqian, he prefers to define the New Year's atmosphere as the human touch, the literal meaning of human touch, because if he hadn't been reborn, after a few more years, the number of people at their New Year's Eve dinner table would start to decrease, and then decrease further and further.

When a festival meant for family reunion loses most of the relatives and friends who want to reunite with it, the meaning of the festival naturally fades and eventually disappears, becoming just another ordinary day of the year.

However, Chen Junqian himself couldn't maintain such a good mindset. After all, holidays are the days when all the wandering ghosts and spirits in the wild are most likely to be revealed, especially during the Spring Festival.

On New Year's Eve, Chen Junqian accompanied his grandfather to the ancestral graves to pay respects. Then they put up Spring Festival couplets and set up the table. However, since their family celebrated the New Year in the evening, they had a simple meal at noon. Around four o'clock in the afternoon, the New Year's Eve dinner officially began.

Chen Junqian's family has a few rules, but not too many. Apart from pouring a little bit of white wine into everyone's cup at the beginning to pay tribute to the ancestors, his grandmother always says that the first thing to eat is vegetables, and not to touch the fish on the table. There are no other rules, and they are quite casual.

After a long New Year's Eve dinner, Chen Junqian received a large red envelope from each of his parents and grandparents. Because of his outstanding performance in the exams this year, the red envelopes were even thicker than last year.

However, it's really just a formality, because the next day the parents will take it away again, saying that it's safe for a child to carry so much money, leaving him only two or three bills as pocket money.

Even if only a fraction of it remains, this is still the day Chen Junqian has amassed the most wealth since his rebirth. After all, he's not a genuine rich woman like Lin Mu, otherwise he wouldn't have come up with so many tricks to try and squeeze out a few extra dollars in kickbacks.

After helping his parents clean up the New Year's Eve dinner table for his grandmother, his mother and grandfather went out to play mahjong and cards, respectively, while his father stayed at home. Chen Junqian also took the opportunity to ask for his father's phone.

Since being promoted and given a raise to become the workshop director, his father's mobile phone has evolved from a flip phone to a smartphone. However, Chen Junqian came over not to read novels or play games, but mainly because he had his eye on the mobile QQ app.

One day after the start of winter vacation, he made an appointment with his online friend 'Qiu' to watch the Spring Festival Gala together that night. After logging into his QQ account on his phone, he saw that the other person was online and sent a smiley face emoji.

Have you finished your New Year's Eve dinner?

"Yeah, I just finished eating. How about you, sister?"

It can only be said that since it's typing on the internet, Chen Junqian is already used to the role-playing games requested by the other party. After all, in a dozen years, let alone his sister, there will be a lot of people calling elementary school students "Mom" on the internet.

"We finished eating a while ago. We celebrate the New Year at noon, so we just eat something light in the evening."

Since most TV stations were broadcasting the Spring Festival Gala live tonight, Chen Junqian casually turned on CCTV-1's live stream, leaving it running as background noise while continuing to chat with the other party via text.

Unfortunately, the current mobile QQ doesn't have a built-in phone function, so calling directly wouldn't be convenient. After all, Chen Junqian wasn't sure when his father would want to take the phone back for himself, and making calls all night would incur exorbitant phone bills, since the current data plans only included a few hundred minutes of domestic calls.

Frankly speaking, Chen Junqian himself doesn't really remember the 2010 Spring Festival Gala. Whether it was the 2009 Spring Festival Gala, which made Xiao Shenyang an overnight sensation with the skit "Not Short of Money", or the 2011 Spring Festival Gala, which will feature the grassroots group Rising Sun Gang, who are very fond of his grandparents, covering "In the Spring", they all hold more weight in his memory. 2010, on the other hand, is awkwardly stuck in the middle, neither here nor there.

Unlike most children her age who only watch comedy sketches and other talk shows on TV, Qiu herself seems quite interested in singing, dancing, and other artistic programs. After all, she was once the lead singer of a choir and received professional vocal training.

"Actually, I am learning dance now, and I go to professional ballet training classes on weekends."

"This is the first time I've heard you mention this."

"Because it's not like singing, which you can show to your younger brother. If you say it directly, people will think you're bragging. After all, we chat online and can't meet in person, so people can say whatever they want about themselves."

The reason Qiu cared so much about Chen Junqian was because he had actually foolishly pulled out his family's household registration book when they first met, revealing his real information without any precautions, just to prove who was older.

"really."

After all, when you're out and about, you have to choose your own identity online. The main reason Chen Junqian was willing to chat with her for so long was that after he did something stupid, she was actually willing to pull out her family's household registration book in a huff, just so that this little brat would willingly call her "sister."

All I can say is that rewatching the 2010 Spring Festival Gala, it felt like Chen Junqian perfectly embodied the stereotypical image in every aspect: Feng Gong, who practically kissed the audience and was about to say "I've missed you all so much!"; Guo Zi, the bald guy who changed wives every year but was always afraid of them; and Liu Qian, who said, "Now is the moment to witness a miracle." However, when Zhao Benshan came out, Chen Junqian still looked at the kitchen behind him and shouted loudly:

"Grandma, Dad, Zhao Benshan is out!"

There's no way around it; over the years, Zhao Benshan, who has appeared on the Spring Festival Gala more than twenty times and brought a skit that created a buzzword for the following year every year, has become a symbolic figure in a sense. From the elderly to children, everyone seems to have gotten used to his appearance and his ability to make people laugh.

But Chen Junqian, who is reborn, knows very well that this year is actually the penultimate time that Zhao Benshan has appeared on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala stage. After this year's "Donation" and next year's "My Deskmate", Zhao Benshan never appeared on stage again until his rebirth, sealing himself and those classic sketches such as "Red Sorghum Model Team", "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow", "Selling Crutches", "Selling Cars", "Heart Disease", "Talking About Things", and "Torchbearer" in the memories of several generations.

However, even with such mixed feelings, when watching Chen Junqian's skit this year, he still managed to chuckle along with his family and online friends on QQ at certain moments. After all, the future is set and cannot be changed, so all that can be done now is to enjoy the present.

Aside from the skits, what captivated Qiu the most was Faye Wong's cover of "Legend" at this year's Spring Festival Gala.

Actually, if you only look at the song title, Chen Junqian doesn't have any impression of it at first glance, and might even think of a web game scene next door. But when Faye Wong sang the line "It's because I glanced at you in the crowd that I could never forget your face", he suddenly realized that he had heard this old song released by Li Jian in 2003 before.

It's fair to say that many old songs are like this: you might not recognize the song title at all, but when certain lyrics appear, they can inexplicably pull you back to a certain time in the past, even if you weren't even born at that time.

Besides Faye Wong's "Legend," the reunion of another long-standing duo at this year's Spring Festival Gala further illustrates this point.

That is the Little Tigers, who reunited as a group this year, the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese lunar calendar.

As a Taiwanese idol group formed in the 1980s and active in the 1990s, frankly speaking, they should be considered idols of Chen Junqian's mother's generation. Chen Junqian is only quite familiar with Nicky Wu among the members, but this is only because of the hit palace drama "Scarlet Heart" that Nicky Wu will be starring in next year.

Even so, when the melody of "Love" played on the Spring Festival Gala stage, and the three no-longer-young "Tiger Team" clapped their hands and sang "Let's string your heart and my heart together, string a lucky clover, string a concentric circle," Chen Junqian could still feel a kind of emotion that transcended time and space.

"My mom loved them back then, so I've basically known these songs since I was little... Um, answer the phone!"

Qiu on the other end of QQ seemed quite excited about the program. In fact, just as the interlude on the TV screen started, her phone rang. Chen Junqian had just stepped out of his room to the open courtyard to answer it when he heard the girl's voice mixed with the music from her TV.