I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"Oh, I also have some chilled plum juice in my fridge, made by my grandma herself, it's so delicious."

During a break in an advertisement, Zhu Wenyun seemed to suddenly remember this matter. After putting the bowl aside, she went to the refrigerator and poured two glasses of ice-cold plum juice.

"for you."

After taking a bite, Chen Junqian gave it a thumbs-up, praising it highly.

"It really tastes good, even better than what you buy outside."

"Yes, I think so too. When Grandma comes back, I'll ask her how she does it. I'll have her teach me first, and then I'll teach her... I'll make it for you to drink later."

Whether it was simply because she was with Chen Junqian, or it was just her personality, Zhu Wenyun spoke as if she had no psychological burden or shyness whatsoever. She said it as if she were just casually saying, "Let's have cold noodles tonight," not even in the form of a question, but as a direct and straightforward statement, giving Chen Junqian no chance to shake his head in denial.

However, Chen Junqian himself had already gotten used to Zhu Wenyun's personality. After all, just two months ago, she was the girl who hugged him and asked him to praise her while the reporters were still there. It was fortunate that the segment was not broadcast, otherwise, it might have been dug up again by some girl who was still subscribing to "Happy Detective" and aspired to be a detective.

"Okay, but I won't drink your plum juice for nothing. So, Wenjun, is there anything you'd like me to make?"

In response to Chen Junqian's question, Zhu Wenyun simply looked at the contestant on the TV screen who had made it to the final round and was just one step away from winning the grand prize of home appliances, before turning to him and saying:

“I’d like to see you participate in this show in the future, if it’s still airing then, and when the host asks you why you’re here, you can say it’s because of this promise between the two of us, how about that?”

"Okay."

Chen Junqian nodded without hesitation, then took his cup and clinked it with Zhu Wenyun's cup in a ceremonial gesture.

In the height of summer, plum soup is served in a white porcelain bowl, with crushed ice making a clattering sound against the sides.

On a sweltering summer day, when all that existed in Zhu Wenyun's room was an electric fan, she made a small wish for him:

“Junqian will definitely win... so I want you to win me a big air conditioner.”

Chapter 33: Even in Reality, There Are Paths to Success (Part 2)

Near the end of summer vacation, Chen Junqian went to his sister's house again and happened to find her reading in her room.

Although he always says that the only strictly female rooms he has ever been to are Lin Mu and Xu Youwei's (Zhu Wenyun lives with her grandmother), this is not entirely accurate. The main reason is that Chen Junqian himself doesn't really categorize his sister as a female friend, but rather as a relative.

So not only could Xu Youwei and Lin Mu not be successfully locked in, even Chen Junqian himself and the shameless system in his mind that was so enthusiastic about younger sister characters had not officially recognized Chen Xi as a female lead with the suitability for romantic comedy.

However, precisely because of this, Chen Junqian found it quite easy to get along with his sister. After all, aside from the initial slight regret that he could have taken advantage of the system if she had also been included in it, his mindset eventually returned to normal. At least when speaking and acting, he wouldn't suddenly have some whimsical idea about how to achieve a certain accomplishment here, but could instead focus all his attention on the specific interactions.

"Hmm? Brother's here. Do you want some salt soda? Dad brought back a lot yesterday, it's all in the fridge."

Upon seeing Chen Junqian arrive, Chen Xi temporarily placed the book she was holding on the desk, skipped over to him, and pointed to the refrigerator next to her.

Today, only Chen Xi was at home. Although her aunt, who is a teacher, was theoretically on vacation during the summer vacation, she also ran a tutoring class to earn extra money, so she was basically still working. Her uncle, on the other hand, had been running around doing business for the startup of Three Fierce Xu and had gotten several shades darker from the sun.

The salt soda that Chen Xi just mentioned was something the other person bought specifically to drink. Staying outside all the time in the summer can easily lead to heatstroke and loss of salt and water, which is why such a magical drink as salt soda exists.

However, Chen Junqian wasn't interested in this rather strange-tasting drink, nor did he have the habit of using it to spit someone out, so he simply shook his head and refused:

"I'll just drink water."

"Okay, then I'll pour some water for my brother."

Watching his younger sister run to the cabinet next to him to get a disposable paper cup, Chen Junqian subconsciously thought for a while about the criteria for the system to include female protagonists, namely, 'possessing adaptability to romantic comedy', which appears in the conditions for achieving each achievement.

In fact, the system itself had also talked to him about this issue. In the context of the real-world stage, female protagonists with the adaptability to romantic comedy are quite rare. So even among the four people it currently includes, Lin Mu, Xu Youwei, and Zhu Wenyun only have a B level of adaptability to romantic comedy, while Shen Nianqiu only has a B- level.

The so-called romantic comedy adaptability is determined by comprehensively considering five aspects: appearance, ability, speech, personality, and actions. In fact, if the appearance adaptability of the first four female protagonists hadn't dragged down their scores, their overall romantic comedy adaptability score might not have even reached B.

Especially Shen Nianqiu, if Chen Junqian remembered correctly, his older sister's adaptability in terms of personality, actions, and speech was D, C, and C+ respectively.

So, in terms of personality compatibility alone, Shen Nianqiu is probably completely unsuitable to be the female lead in a romantic comedy, but Chen Junqian hasn't truly realized this yet.

After all, although the system is terrible, it is still quite rigorous in its scoring.

On the other hand, the fact that the younger sister hasn't been included yet actually shows that she's just a perfectly normal child. Rather, it suggests that there aren't that many female protagonists in reality who are suited for romantic comedies. If they were everywhere, reality would have already become a world of romantic comedies.

With a touch of emotion, he took the cooled boiled water from his sister's hand, and then she leaned directly against his back:

"Brother, did you go on vacation to Hebei last month?"

"Yes, I went to Shanhaiguan, Qinhuangdao, and Beidaihe. I even have some photos here. Let me show you."

As he spoke, Chen Junqian took out his phone from his pocket and showed his sister the photos he had taken in Shanhaiguan last month.

"Shanhaiguan, the First Pass Under Heaven... Isn't this the place where Wu Sangui surrendered to the Qing army? But he later rebelled again. I wonder what he was thinking."

It must be said that the story of the Marquis of Pingxi who risked everything for a woman is indeed quite widely circulated, even elementary school students like Chen Xi know it.

Although Chen Xi is no ordinary elementary school student, at least according to Chen Junqian's observation, if we only consider the amount of history reading, this child has read more books than Zhu Wenyun.

"Yes, this is it."

Because of his sister's question, Chen Junqian recalled a historical joke about Wu Sangui that he had heard from a history classmate in his previous life, so he casually mentioned it:

"The tour guide there also told us a joke, saying that after Wu Sangui died, he met the emperor in the underworld, and the emperor asked him:

'Minister Wu, how is the rebel leader (Li Zicheng)?'

Wu Sangui replied:

'It has been quelled by my wrath!'

The emperor then asked, "How is that Western bandit (Zhang Xianzhong) doing?"

Wu Sangui then said, "It has already been pacified by me!"

The emperor finally asked, "And what about the Jurchens?"

Wu Sangui replied, "I died of illness while on my way to conquer the Jurchens!"

The emperor couldn't help but exclaim, "Excellent! My dear minister, you truly deserve to be called the most loyal subject of our Great Ming Dynasty!"

"That's a really good joke. I initially thought only the Soviet Union would have jokes like that."

"Because history sometimes has very contrasting and hellish events. If we really want to talk about it, many people and dynasties have things to talk about. Although many of them are indeed modified from the Soviet jokes you mentioned, Xixi, history is often a cycle. Otherwise, there wouldn't be the saying that the only lesson mankind can learn from history is that mankind cannot learn from history."

While flipping through photos in his phone's album with his sister, Chen Junqian asked her again:

"Does Xixi have any particular travel destination she'd like to visit right now?"

"As for me, I still want to go to Xi'an and visit the Shaanxi History Museum. Besides, my brother gave me a Terracotta Warrior model, so if I go there someday, I'll bring one back for him too... or it would be even better if my brother came with me."

When the topic of history, antiques, and museums came up, Chen Xi straightened up from her brother's back, ran to her room, and took out the book she had been reading:

"I've been looking at this recently."

Chen Junqian took it and saw that it was indeed the first book of Ya She, which was published in the first half of this year. Just like "Dragon Raja", which was also serialized in "Manke Novel Illustration", it was one of the most popular fantasy works among primary and secondary school students during this period. However, the former is closer to Western fantasy, while the latter incorporates historical themes, making it a relatively fresh theme on the market.

Actually, when I was chatting with Zhu Wenyun a couple of days ago, Chen Junqian also recommended this book to her. After all, if she really intends to start a serialization career in "Fireworks", considering the target audience, "The Silent Shop" has a lot of merits, especially for teenage girls.

In Chen Junqian's eyes, before the inexplicable time-travel development and the abrupt start of BL, the story of Ya She was quite good. He had liked it for a while when he was in elementary and middle school, and the girl in front of him seemed to feel the same way.

However, looking back now, we can see that even the first book in the series did contribute classic female-oriented novel tropes such as falling in love with Huo Qubing, falling in love with Xiang Yu, and falling in love with Chen Ajiao's witchcraft doll. Oh, and there's also the part about Zhu Yuanzhang being able to unify the country because he overheard the guidance of a mermaid candle. It seems that at that time, he only focused on the historical parts.

There seem to be quite a few things to complain about; sometimes, the childhood filter can be really strong.

"Has your brother read this book too?"

Seeing that Chen Junqian had only glanced at the table of contents and then returned the book, Chen Xi asked him this question out of curiosity.

"Yes, I've seen it."

I even watched the second and third parts.

Recalling a mysterious chapter called "Liu Qing Shu" and the subtle plot involving Zhou Yu and Sun Ce that made him throw the book away, Chen Junqian felt a bit listless.

"Which story is your brother's favorite?"

"I don't have a particular favorite. If I had to pick one, it would probably be the one from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. After all, I'd really like to raise a couple of auspicious beasts from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, like a nine-tailed fox or something."

"I see."

To Chen Junqian's relief, his dear younger sister didn't seem to be heading in any mysterious direction, but instead nodded sincerely and expressed her thoughts:

"I probably prefer the story about the millet pillow because I always have dreams, sometimes sweet dreams and sometimes nightmares. I wish there was a pillow that could only give me sweet dreams."

"But the story also says that if you only have sweet dreams, they will eventually turn into nightmares. Because if you are immersed in sweet dreams, the reality after you wake up will become an even more deadly nightmare due to the contrast."

Yes, that's right.

Still feeling a bit uneasy, Chen Junqian subtly inquired about his sister's opinions on the stories of "The Ancient Mirror" and "The Beauty of Yu." Her response was that the plots were good, somewhat like a retelling of historical tales, adding her own imagination to the gaps in history, but regarding romance…

"Maybe I'm too young now? I don't really understand the feeling of wanting to fall in love with historical figures. If it's a TV series, you can say you like the actor who plays the historical role."

"When I read historical stories, I do think that this person is very powerful and that person is very powerful, but I still can't understand the idea of ​​falling in love with them. If I had to say, it would probably be like falling in love with my imagination?"

At this point, Chen Xi shook her head vigorously, like a rattle-drum.

"Maybe it's because people think this kind of plot is more romantic? Like the ones I've seen before, such as 'Love Through Time,' 'A Step into the Past,' and 'The Myth.' But if I were to date, I would definitely date someone I know very well, or at least someone like my brother."

Chen Xi seemed to realize that she had said something very impressive in a very casual way. She then used the excuse of putting the book back to run back to her room. After a while, she came out again and started watching TV series with Chen Junqian.

2011 should be considered a big year for the explosive release of Qing Dynasty dramas, from Palace at the beginning of the year to Scarlet Heart and The Legend of Zhen Huan in the second half of the year. However, Chen Junqian used to watch them with his mother, but now he watches them with his sister.

However, it must be said that apart from the electronic-sounding theme song "The Power of Love," Yang Mi's "Palace" did not leave a deep impression on Chen Junqian. Although both were produced by Yu Zheng, in his eyes, the quality was far inferior to last year's "Beauty's Rival in Palace." Therefore, after watching two episodes, the two went back to watch "Kangxi Dynasty," which actually had scenes featuring Wu Sangui, whom they had just discussed.

After spending the afternoon playing with his younger sister at Chen Xi's house, and then being invited to stay for dinner by his aunt who had just returned from get off work, Chen Junqian finally got up to say goodbye.

Not long after, Chen Junqian's uncle, Chen Xi's father, who had just returned from a business trip to Lin'an, also came home and began to eat the meal that his wife had left for him in advance. The conversation naturally turned to the matter of Chen Junqian's family, who had come to the house in the afternoon.

"Is your sister-in-law busy with house renovations lately?"

"Well, Junqian will be starting junior high next year, and he'll definitely need to buy a new house in Yunqi Jinyuan to get into Ningzhong High School."

"I know."

My uncle picked up a piece of food and put it in his mouth, chewing it:

"Isn't Xixi going to junior high school soon? Why don't we buy a new house there? It'll be closer to Ningzhong."

"The new company is doing very well, but I'll definitely be much busier than before in the next two years. As you can see, next month I have to go to Xinjiang to contact nut suppliers and stay there for a while."

“You’re busy with work too. Once Xixi starts junior high, we’ll both be incredibly busy. My parents are getting old, and your parents have passed away a long time ago. Neither of them can take care of the child. It’s better to live closer to Junqian’s family. At least we can go to their house for lunch together and look after each other.”

"Besides, you can see that Junqian is bound to be successful in the future. They're all relatives, and he's willing to take care of Xixi. Listen to me, it'll be fine to build a good relationship with him beforehand."

Then, the man asked his daughter another question:

"Does Xixi want to live with her brother when she's in junior high?"

"miss you!"

Chen Xi nodded without hesitation and then said: