I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

A new round of bounties is here!

The bonus chapters for the previous round of 10 chapters and 40,000 words have all been paid out.

Let's have another round. Considering that everyone will have used up their monthly votes by the end of the month, let's add an extra recommendation vote.

Two hundred monthly votes, two thousand recommendation votes, ten thousand tips, and one extra chapter for every one hundred blades.

It remains the same: 4,000 words per update, with no price increase.

This will continue until the 31st of this month, with a maximum of ten updates.

Enjoy your reading!

Chapter 51: Exclusive Titles (Two-in-One)

To be honest, Chen Xi is actually a pretty easy child to manage. Like most children her age, except for not liking to play outside, computer games and cartoons on TV can easily keep her occupied and allow her to sit quietly and play for an entire afternoon.

However, there is a specific prerequisite: it should ideally be a historical theme. After all, this child is genuinely interested in this kind of content. Last time Chen Junqian saw her, she had already completed the entire game of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Cao Cao's Biography". He heard that she is currently working on the "Dynasty Warriors" series. She also watched the animated version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" broadcast by CCTV twice last year.

Actually, if we're talking about some of the more well-known historical animations in China right now, besides "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," the first thing that comes to Chen Junqian's mind is "Heroes of Qin and Han," which was produced by the same team and is set against the backdrop of the Qin-Han transition period. However, this animation won't be officially broadcast until next year.

If we go back in time, the animated series "Heroes of Sui and Tang Dynasties," which aired in 2003 and was set during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, was actually quite good. However, Chen Xi didn't really like its art style, saying that it looked too much like the Western Olympian gods.

Further down the line, Chen Xi found the 2007 film "Young Detective Dee" a bit scary, so it had to be passed over.

Fortunately, Chen Junqian had watched enough cartoons when he was a child. If we push the timeline back to the Song Dynasty, he dug out the DVD of "The Great Hero Di Qing," which also premiered in 2003 and was rebroadcast on television many times in the following years.

Chen Xi approved of the animation's art style, so on the afternoon of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the two of them closed the door and hid in their room, eating sunflower seeds and snacks while watching the animation.

Rewatching this animation that left a deep impression on him in his childhood, Chen Junqian recalled that his father used to really like the theme song, and would often hum the last line of the theme song, "Asking about the coldness and warmth of the world, I just laugh it off."

"The Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty came after the Tang Dynasty, right? Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing."

"Yes, the Song Dynasty in this animation is indeed the one after the Tang Dynasty."

Speaking of this, Chen Junqian also recalled two jokes he heard in college about the history department next door. One was about the Song Dynasty. It was said that a student in their department couldn't even distinguish between the Southern Song and the Southern Song Dynasty when he was showing off to his girlfriend in the library. After being pointed out, he actually said, "I am from the history department." From then on, his name spread among the lecturers and professors in the entire department.

Another story involves a misunderstanding caused by an accent. It is said that a history freshman heard the lecturer say "History is the names of dead people" during his first class. He was so shocked that he immediately posted about it on his social media after class. It wasn't until the next class that he realized the lecturer meant "History is what makes people wise".

However, Chen Junqian felt it was too early to tell these historical jokes to the still clueless child in front of him. After all, a joke is no longer funny when it needs to be explained. So Chen Junqian just said it casually and did not continue to explain.

As it turns out, in terms of film quality alone, "The Great Hero Di Qing" is indeed of high standard. Even though Chen Xi had no knowledge of this period of history, with Chen Junqian's constant explanations, she was able to watch it with great interest, her little face still full of joy.

However, since Chen Xi and her family had to go to her grandmother's house for the New Year that evening, around four o'clock, Chen Xi had no choice but to leave with her parents with some reluctance. Considering that today was only the first day of the New Year and there was still a long way to go before the Lantern Festival and the start of school, she felt that she could come over at any time after visiting all the relatives she needed to visit.

After a lively dinner with relatives who were no longer only seen during the Spring Festival, Chen Junqian walked out into the courtyard alone as the adults set up mahjong or card tables in the inner room.

The remnants of the 500 firecrackers set off last night were swept into a corner. Actually, if you were willing to look around, you could find quite a few unexploded small firecrackers inside.

Compared to regular firecrackers, these small firecrackers are louder and more powerful. However, because the fuse is shorter, children who are less daring usually won't choose to do it, and adults will strictly forbid it, since it is indeed quite dangerous and it is easy to get injured if you are not quick enough to release it.

Just as Chen Junqian was staring blankly at the pile of red paper scraps on the ground, wondering if he had done something like this in his past life, he suddenly felt a tap on his left shoulder from behind.

When he subconsciously turned around, the other person hid behind his right shoulder in a blind spot and patted his shoulder, then walked around to Chen Junqian's front as if the prank had succeeded.

The other person was about the same height as him... but it wasn't the young hero Nezha, but Xu Youwei.

Although he knew that Xu Youwei's maternal grandmother's hometown was indeed in the next village, and that she knew where his home was, Chen Junqian was still somewhat surprised when Xu Youwei suddenly showed up at his door on the evening of the first day of the Lunar New Year.

What are you doing here?

"I told her I was coming to spend the Lunar New Year with my grandma, but she goes to bed early and is already asleep, so I came here alone to visit you—"

As she spoke, Xu Youwei proudly showed Chen Junqian the large bag she was carrying. By the dim light of the street lamps outside the courtyard, it was vaguely visible that it contained all sorts of firecrackers and fireworks.

"Do you know how tiring it is to carry all this stuff over here?"

"Then you might as well just send me a message on QQ and I'll come over and get it for you."

"I don't have a computer or a phone, so where am I supposed to get a QQ account? But since I've already brought it here, if I'm not done playing tonight, I can come back tomorrow night, or you can come pick me up."

"Only tricycles are available."

"Tch, it's not like I haven't ridden in before."

Half a year has passed, and it seems that Xu Youwei's hair has grown longer than before, from ear length to almost shoulder length. This is especially noticeable now that it is all down and she is not wearing any headbands, hair clips, or hair ties.

Unlike the sparklers and fairy wands that we only dared to secretly bring to school and play with after school in deserted alleys, Xu Youwei was clearly well-prepared tonight. Although Chen Junqian had gone to buy firecrackers wholesale with his grandfather every year when he was a child, in terms of variety and style, they were indeed not as good as the big bag that Xu Youwei brought.

"come out."

Seeing that Chen Junqian was still standing there motionless, Xu Youwei didn't say a word and directly grabbed him, dragging him from the yard to the road. Not satisfied, she seemed to want to take him to a darker place without streetlights.

"Firecrackers are more fun in the darkest places."

As she spoke, Xu Youwei seamlessly slipped her hand inside the gloves Chen Junqian was wearing—the ones Zhu Wenyun had given him as a Christmas gift the month before last—and pulled them off with a simple backhand motion.

"It will be inconvenient to press the lighter button while wearing gloves, take them off."

Unlike Chen Junqian's hands, which had been indoors and wearing gloves, Xu Youwei's fingers, which had been carrying bags all the way from outside, were noticeably cold. Chen Junqian unconsciously grasped the fingers she had extended, as if trying to share some of his body heat with her.

When the two of them reached a sparsely lit open area, Xu Youwei nodded with satisfaction, biting the flashlight she had brought with her as she untied the bag in her hand and began to pull out the 'weapons' one by one.

"Let's play with this first. It spins and flies while glowing, it's so pretty."

After picking and choosing two firecrackers that resembled butterflies or bees and had wings around them, Xu Youwei took out a lighter from her pocket and tossed it to Chen Junqian, signaling him to light it.

Using the flashlight the other party had given him, Chen Junqian found the fuse and lit it successfully as Xu Youwei had instructed. The firecracker that had been placed on the ground then, just as the other party had said, emitted beautiful fireworks and rose into the air like a real butterfly, fluttering about one or two meters above the ground until the fuel was completely exhausted before falling back down.

"And then, well, I brought a lot of these things, and these kinds of things are only really fun to play in the dark."

Because the lights were too dim, Xu Youwei deliberately turned off the flashlight when the 'little bee' took off. At this time, Chen Junqian could only vaguely see a figure talking next to him, and then something was stuffed into his hand. Judging from its shape and style, it was the sparkler that the two of them had played with once after school.

However, just as the other party said, unlike the meager two sticks back then, Xu Youwei brought two large bunches today. The effect of lighting them together in the boundless darkness was definitely greater than that time at dusk, almost illuminating the other party's entire face clearly.

But today, Xu Youwei didn't spin around like a gymnast adding a halo around herself like last time. Instead, she imitated Chen Junqian and tried to write her name in the air using the trail of flames left by the fire.

Just like Chen Junqian's character "Qian" with its many strokes, Xu Youwei's character "Wei" is not simple either. Often, the traces of the character disappear completely in the air before she can even finish writing it, no matter how many times she tries.

Just as Chen Junqian was considering whether to suggest that the other party simply write an abbreviation like they did for Christmas last time, Xu Youwei spoke to him first.

The sparkler in her hand was still burning, and the golden sparkles emitted by the flames danced around her like countless fireflies, allowing Chen Junqian to see her expression clearly.

"Let's write together, or separately."

"Then let's give it a try."

Relighting the flame in his hand, Chen Junqian wrote another name in the air for the first time, a name other than his own.

Just as he finished writing the character 'Xu', Xu Youwei had already left a seemingly unrelated 'Wei' in the air in cursive script.

To be honest, apart from the grass radical at the top, Chen Junqian couldn't see all the strokes below very clearly, but he still cooperated quite well and continued to write without stopping, completing the left and right halves of the character '幼' together with Xu Youwei.

If a camera had been filming the whole thing, it would have been noticeable that the name formed by those three characters actually did pause in the air for a brief moment, maybe half a second or a second. But even if it didn't, the impression left on their retinas was enough to show that they had succeeded, even if it was only for a fleeting instant.

Actually, if he really wanted to try using this thing to leave a mark in the air, Chen Junqian thought that Lin Mu's name, with its simpler strokes and only two characters, would be more suitable. However, seeing Xu Youwei, who was enthusiastically studying how to replicate the name 'Chen Junqian' with him again, he ultimately didn't say it aloud.

"Don't you have a nickname, Chen Junqian?"

After several unsuccessful attempts, Xu Youwei pouted and asked him, somewhat dissatisfied:

“I have a nickname that my mother gave me, Youyou.”

"Young, young?"

"It's not the 'you' in my name, but 'youyou,' the 'youyou' in 'youyou deer's cry.' Although it was indeed because of this homonym that I chose the name at first."

After explaining this, Xu Youwei pressed on with another question:

What about you? Don't you have anything?

"...It seems there really isn't one."

After a moment's recollection, Chen Junqian shook his head. He really didn't have a nickname growing up. If you really wanted to count, his grandparents called him "Xiao Bao" when he was very young, but that couldn't really be considered a nickname, it was just a pet name.

"Then I'll get one for you right here. If you feel embarrassed, then we can just use it when we're alone together, okay?"

Chen Junqian initially thought that Xu Youwei would also use the reduplicated word "Junjun" to address him, just like Lin Mu did. However, he did not expect that although she used a reduplicated word, it was not the answer he had in mind.

"How about Qinqin? This is the same as my nickname, both lines are from the Book of Songs, 'I have not seen my lord, and my heart is filled with worry.'"

"You've actually read the Book of Songs?"

"It wasn't me, it was my mom. She had already prepared a whole bunch of names before I was even born... Hmm, look, the second character of your name is the 'Jun' in 'gentleman,' so what do you think?"

"what ever."

Having said all that, Chen Junqian really couldn't refuse. Although he really wanted to complain that the previous sentence might sound like "kiss," he ultimately didn't say anything. Instead, he and Xu Youwei, whose interest had been rekindled, started writing his new name, which he had acquired that evening, in the air.

After playing for a while, even though Xu Youwei had brought two bundles of sparklers, they were all used up. The other party rummaged around and pulled out a big one.

These are fireworks that look like long sticks. They're called "skyrockets" here, but in other places they're called "flower tubes" or "magic bullets."

Unlike most firecrackers that you have to let go of immediately after lighting the fuse, this is a handheld firework. When you play with it, you just point the muzzle at the sky, and the projectiles inside will be launched continuously at intervals of about three seconds, blooming one after another in the night sky, giving you a great sense of accomplishment.

"So why is it just one?"

"Because this thing is too long, it's really inconvenient to carry around. I carried this huge bag all the way here, you know."

As she spoke, Xu Youwei waved to Chen Junqian, signaling him to light the fuse and place his hand on it as well. Together, they held the same firecracker high, pointing the muzzle at the sky, watching the dazzling fireworks bloom one after another on the distant horizon.

"Hey—Qinqin."

"What is it now?"

"I just wanted to call you that suddenly."

"Am I about to be put into the Purple Gold Gourd?"

"I don't have that kind of thing, and it's not your real name, so it probably won't work?"

"But the meaning of a name is that when it is called out, people will realize that they are being called, so it should be the same, even if the name only exists between two people, right, Yoyo?"

"Ok!"

Completely ignoring Chen Junqian's teasing response, Xu Youwei simply nodded vigorously. Her small face, illuminated by the fireworks in the sky, radiated a smile that was far more fitting for the festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year than the one she had at the New Year's Eve dinner table the previous night.

Actually, the matter of names is not as complicated as the other party described.

Because from the beginning, all she wanted was a name that was exclusive to Lin Mu, just like the one she used for him.

Chapter 52: The Flag of Childhood Sweethearts Will Always Stand Tall (Part 2)

Before they knew it, it was the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. Although theoretically the period before the Lantern Festival is considered part of the New Year celebrations, most of the relatives they were supposed to visit had already been seen over the past three days. So, Chen Junqian had just borrowed his father's phone to open QQ when he saw a message from Lin Mu inviting him to a movie.