I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

She had just picked a slice of lamb roll out of the pot when she heard Aunt Lin next to her suddenly call out:

"There's chili oil on the side so you can dip it in."

"Okay, I understand. Thank you, Auntie. I'll dip it in later. I want to try a couple of bites of the lighter broth first to taste the original flavor of the soup base."

Chen Xi nodded, and just as she was about to put the meat in her mouth, she heard the other person continue to persuade her:

"This chili oil looks spicy, but it's not actually spicy. It's mainly because I fried it at home. It's very fragrant and would definitely taste good with it."

"Yes, Auntie."

Having said all that, Chen Xi had no choice but to comply. She picked up another piece of enoki mushroom with her chopsticks, dipped it in the chili oil placed beside her under Aunt Lin's eager gaze, and then ate it.

"It's delicious."

"Of course, the chili peppers I use are good quality, and besides, I didn't add any other weird stuff when I fried it at home. It's different from the junk food you guys usually eat outside. It won't cause pimples, so you don't have to worry about it."

Chen Xi nodded again upon hearing this, and then politely reached out to scoop some more chili oil. But as soon as the spoon was handed over, the other person craned their neck and instructed:

"Hey, hey—you scoop out the chili oil, remove the chili bits, that layer of oil is the most fragrant, hey, right, you scoop it out again... no, no, it has to be right up to the top layer, or give me the spoon, I'll do it."

Being directed at without knowing what to do, Chen Xi could only obediently accept the other woman's mother's kindness along with her best friend. Then she heard the mother turn around and start talking about her daughter:

"It's normal for you to have pimples during puberty. Don't keep thinking about it. Besides, this is the most important age for studying. It has nothing to do with your appearance. If you really care, then eat less junk food outside. We're not short of food or clothes for you. Just tell Mom what you want to eat and don't buy junk food outside."

Then, just like the scene that had repeated countless times at this dining table, the middle-aged woman once again sighed as she looked at the boiling hot pot:

“When I was a child, we didn’t have such good conditions. You guys eat better now than we used to eat during the New Year, but you’re still picky about food and won’t eat this or that.”

Completely at a loss for words, Chen Xi could only watch as her good friend passively accepted another large mouthful of food, including cilantro, which Gu Linguo had clearly told her she couldn't eat. But perhaps because she was a guest there today, Gu Linguo was able to silently swallow those things.

"That's right, you have to try something yourself to know what it's like. There's no such thing as liking or disliking something. If I threw you back in my childhood and you went hungry for a few meals, you'd know. Your dad and I both like this, so why don't you like it? Now you know what it tastes like, right? Would I harm you? Would your family harm you? We only think of giving you good things to eat, don't we?"

Having probably eaten quite a bit, Gu Lingguo subconsciously reached out to grab the orange juice next to her and pour herself a drink to calm down, but just as she picked up the bottle, she heard her mother's words again:

"Pour the drinks for the guests first. Your classmate's cup has been empty for so long, can't you see? How did we raise a girl like you? People will say we have no manners when we go out."

"Ah, I can do it myself."

Chen Xi quickly took the bottle of orange juice from her friend, poured herself a glass, and then instinctively wanted to pour one for Gu Lingguo, but was stopped by Gu's mother:

"Let her do it herself."

As she spoke, the woman reached out and slapped her daughter's back, which had slightly bent as she reached out to help Chen Xi hold the disposable paper cup.

"How many times have I told you not to hunch over? You're growing up now. If you don't take care of yourself now, you'll be happy when you're old and have a hunchback like your grandfather!"

Although it was Gu Linguo being mentioned, Chen Xi also instinctively straightened her back, not daring to bend it at all.

Gu Lingguo straightened her back and poured herself a drink without saying a word. The label of the orange juice clearly said "shake well for better taste", but her posture was very serious and meticulous. After pouring her own drink, she even got up and refilled her mother's half-finished cup.

When she reached into the hot pot with her chopsticks to pick up a slice of lotus root, Chen Xi, sitting next to her, unfortunately snatched it away first. She froze for a second, her chopsticks lingering there for an extra second, and then she heard that familiar lecture, which felt particularly awkward in the presence of her friend:

"How many times have I told you not to pick and stir the food! Think about what you want to eat before putting your chopsticks in the pot. It's fine when you're eating at home with your own family, but now that we have guests, if you do this in front of outsiders when you visit your classmates' houses, your boyfriend's houses, or your in-laws' houses, what will people think of you? What will they think of our family?"

It's almost like triggering a finishing move in a fighting game, followed by a barrage of lectures:

“I work myself to the bone with your dad every day, and then I have to take care of you when I get home. Isn’t it all because I hope you can do better? I even bought you a house so you could get into the best junior high school in the city. I was even planning to quit my job and focus all my energy on taking care of you when you take your high school entrance exam. So you need to put more effort into your studies, okay?”

As she spoke, she hadn't even forgotten Chen Xi standing beside her.

"Chen... Little Chen, right? Since you are my daughter's good friend, you should also communicate and help each other with your studies so that you can make progress together and get into a good university. That's what good friends are."

"Ah, oh, um."

Chen Xi, who usually complains to her brother about her mother, now had the urge to rush home and sing her praises. It felt like she was just answering on instinct.

However, Gu Linguo remained calm about the situation.

At least on the surface, that's how it seems.

After all, she never considered her home and bedroom to be safe places, since her mother had the key and she could open the door anytime, anywhere.

I want to see if she's doing her homework diligently, if she's going to bed on time, and what she's actually doing...

For her, one of her most frequent nightmares was probably waking up in bed one night, only to see her mother's face so close to hers, clear even in the darkness, yet expressionless. Her mother was there to check if she had gone to bed on time.

The other person was standing by her bed, bent over, with their head bowed low and their face very close.

If viewed from the perspective of a third person outside the door, it might look more like a monster clinging to a child and sucking at some kind of life force.

----------------------------------

This weekend, Chen Junqian visited his future new home after a long absence. Just as he had told Lin Mu a couple of days ago, he was checking out the renovation progress and also helping his mother buy some items. After all, there weren't many days left in 2011, and they were expected to move here after the New Year next year, so it was important to prepare things in advance.

What he was going to buy today was bedding for his room.

Compared to the rooms in the dormitory building for the wear-resistant factory employees, Chen Junqian's new room was undoubtedly more than twice the size. Therefore, the size of the desk and bed was also increased accordingly. However, it was still empty at the moment. What Chen Junqian had to do next was to fill them in little by little, so that he could save some effort when he moved in later.

Although she really wanted to be the first girl to enter Chen Junqian's house, it was a bit of a pity that the timing was not right, as it coincided with Lin Mu's tutoring class. So the two of them had to make an appointment for next week, and Chen Junqian would have to take care of everything this week.

After busily moving some of his books from his old home to his new one, Chen Junqian turned his attention to his bedding, which was drying on the exercise equipment downstairs.

Unfortunately, since his balcony was already filled with the new bedding from his mother's room, he had no choice but to temporarily use the fitness equipment provided by the community downstairs.

After estimating that the time was about right, Chen Junqian went downstairs to put away the quilt. The thick winter quilt was folded into a high pile in his hands, carrying the unique smell of sun-dried quilts, which made people feel refreshed.

It's already early December, and Christmas and his birthday are just around the corner. Zhu Wenyun mentioned this to Chen Junqian a couple of days ago. After gloves, her next challenge this year is scarves.

According to her plan, the year after next will be the turn to knit sweaters. In fact, Zhu Wenyun can already knit a sweater quite skillfully with her grandmother. However, she does feel that a scarf is more suitable, since it is something worn on the outside that others can clearly see.

Because he was thinking about this, Chen Junqian, carrying his blanket upstairs, didn't really notice that there was another girl, equally preoccupied, walking downstairs ahead of him.

Today was the day Gu Lingguo was brought by her mother to tidy up the new house, which was almost finished with renovations. However, she didn't have any particular thoughts about her room or her new home. After all, even after moving, her bedroom would still remain completely transparent to her mother.

However, compared to these, Gu Linguo was actually more concerned about the latest episodes of "Guilty Crown" and "Fate/Zero" that would be released tonight. Both of these October anime series had already reached exciting parts of their stories, making people unconsciously look forward to the upcoming plot...

In theory, compared to Chen Junqian, who was walking uphill and carrying a tall stack of quilts, Gu Lingguo, who was walking downhill, undoubtedly had a wider field of vision. Unfortunately, she was also focused on other things, so by the time she realized what was happening, she saw a quilt with two legs pressing down on her.

"Well--"

The moment he realized he had bumped into someone, thanks to his super-fast reflexes, Chen Junqian immediately adjusted his posture and reached out to help the other person up.

In fact, the force coming from the blanket had indeed disappeared at the beginning, and it seemed that the person who collided with him had also managed to regain his balance.

But then, as if he had twisted his ankle on the steps again, the other person pressed down on him through the blanket. Chen Junqian quickly adjusted his position, leaning slightly to the side against the wall to avoid being pulled backward and rolling down the steps. At the same time, he grabbed the other person's hand again, helping her regain her balance, before apologizing.

"Excuse me, are you alright?"

Then, Chen Junqian saw a small head pop out from the blanket he was holding. It was a girl who seemed familiar yet also unfamiliar, giving him a smile that was a mixture of apology and another subtle emotion.

Standing on tiptoe, she pressed the blanket down as far as possible with her hands, propping her chin up so that her eyes were level with his. Gu Lingguo then confirmed his face once more, and said something she should have replied to Chen Junqian a long time ago, but which hadn't been heard in the chaos:

"I'm fine, how about you?"

Chapter 41: Data Entry Failure (Part 2)

"fine."

He had a feeling that he had seen the other person somewhere before, but Chen Junqian couldn't quite remember where he was. After all, the memories in his mind were a collection of his past and present lives. Even with this inexplicable sense of familiarity, he still couldn't be sure whether he had seen the other person in his previous life or had some interaction with him after being reborn.

"Then I'll go back first."

Seeing that Chen Junqian was about to leave, the little girl who looked about the same age as his sister followed him. Just a moment ago she was going downstairs, but now she followed Chen Junqian upstairs, as if she wanted to see where his house was.

"You're Chen Junqian from Class 4, Grade 6 of Experimental Primary School, right?"

"You were first in your grade, appeared on TV and received a banner, and won first place in the men's 1,000-meter race at the sports meet two months ago. I saw you when you spoke under the national flag."

"Are you carrying a blanket home? Do you live here too? Which floor are you on? Maybe we're neighbors?"

To be honest, this was probably the most talkative girl Chen Junqian had met since his rebirth. He had only gone up a few steps when she had already launched into a barrage of questions and answers, and then bombarded him with a whole bunch of questions.

"I live on the third floor, room 301. You're also a student in the lab, right?"

"Third floor... then we're neighbors, I live in room 302 next door."

The moment he heard those words, Chen Junqian's eyes sharpened. He felt as if he had found the mysterious female lead who had been scanned out by the system not long ago. After all, having watched romantic comedies so many times, he was already very familiar with the battle between childhood sweethearts and newcomers.

Adding to the inexplicable sense of familiarity she had felt earlier, this was practically the perfect combination of all the prerequisites for a childhood friend reunion, just like the female lead, Yozora Mikazuki, in the romantic comedy "Haganai," which aired this October.

However, no matter how hard Chen Junqian racked his brains, he couldn't recall having such an old acquaintance before, whether at the wear-resistant factory or in his hometown in the countryside. Moreover, judging from the other person's words, it seemed that she knew him because he was quite famous at school.

Chen Junqian turned around and carefully examined the girl from top to bottom. Physically speaking, she did seem to have fallen from the sky (the steps). However, he couldn't find a single adjective to describe her.

He was neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin, and his hairstyle and clothes were nothing special. The only thing that left a deep impression on people was his pair of eyes that seemed to speak. At this moment, he was looking at him in sync, and even blinked in confusion, as if he didn't understand why Chen Junqian was suddenly staring at him without saying a word.

"I won't officially move in until around the Lunar New Year next year. What about you?"

Although it's not like the scenes in Japanese literature where people give gifts to their neighbors after moving and say "please take care of me in the future," Chen Junqian did move from a tenement building where the neighbors had close relationships. So, he would still pay more attention to the relationship between neighbors and outsiders. Moreover, this girl really does seem to be the sixth female protagonist in the system's description who is adapted to romantic comedies.

"I estimate I'll have to wait another year, because this house was originally bought specifically for me to attend Ningzhong High School. If I move here now, it will mean taking a longer route to the experimental school."

"So you're a year below me."

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Gu Lingguo from Class 2."

Perhaps because he had watched too many Japanese romantic comedies, when he heard the other person introduce themselves, Chen Junqian even naturally imagined hearing "senior" in the background before remembering that his younger sister seemed to be in Class 2.

"Class Two? Do you know Chen Xi?"

"Ah, she and I are good friends. I just invited her to my house a couple of days ago. Senior...ex...brother, what's your relationship with Xixi? If you both have the surname Chen, are you siblings?"

It seems that Gu Linguo hadn't decided on a term of address at first either, and after struggling with all sorts of strange terms for a while, she naturally switched back to calling him "brother".

"Yes, she is my sister."

Because he felt it was a bit troublesome to explain his relationship with Chen Xi to people every time, and in the current online environment where recognizing godfathers is becoming popular, having a god-sister is indeed a somewhat strange relationship that is easy for people to say strange things, so now he usually just uses "sister" when introducing or explaining to others.

As they spoke, the two walked up to the third floor. Just as Chen Junqian was about to put the blanket down and take out his keys from his pocket, Gu Lingguo, who was standing next to him, understood and took the blanket from his hands.

"Thank you."

With one hand free, Chen Junqian took out his key from his pocket, opened the door, and was about to reach for his blanket when the other person, acting as if to see things through, simply carried the blanket inside first.

Can I see your house?

"It's nothing. I was just planning to invite you in for a seat and a drink of water anyway."

Chen Junqian took a pair of his mother's shoes from the nearby shoe cabinet and placed them in front of the other person's feet. He changed into his own shoes first, then took the quilt and went into his room to put it away. When he came out again, he saw Gu Lingguo sitting obediently on the sofa in the living room, seriously looking at the surroundings and environment.

After handing her a glass of water from the water dispenser, Chen Junqian sat down opposite her and started using the opening line Jia Baoyu had once used: "I've seen this younger sister before." Gu Lin, of course, readily admitted it:

"Well, since you're Xixi's brother, I'll call you that for now. Of course, you've met me before, because during the stampede last March, I almost fell down the stairs, and you pulled me back. So you're my savior, right?"

"I see. But I didn't recognize him at first, and he's hardly a savior."

"Because it was just a one-time encounter, and it happened almost two years ago. As for whether it was life-saving or not, it was chaotic back then, and it's not surprising that anything could have happened. So that's how it is for me. And Xixi always tells me the same thing. In fact, I think it's because of you, brother, and that stampede incident that I became good friends with her."