I turned reality into a romantic comedy

"Get up."

But when the two of them struggled to get up at the same time, they found that doing this together was not easy either. The inflatable ball immediately began to wobble comically from side to side, and the huge circular reflection on the lake surface shattered into millions of golden scales.

After struggling for a while without achieving their goal of standing up at the same time, the two finally gave up and lay back down, letting the inflatable ball drift aimlessly on the lake with the wind, like a tiny planet orbiting alone on the planet Earth.

They are the only two inhabitants of this asteroid.

"Is this place considered a secret base now?"

Chen Junqian heard Xu Youwei, who was lying next to him, suddenly ask this question.

"what?"

"There are two people now."

Then she repeated it again, as if to add to the explanation, or perhaps simply to herself.

"Because now there are two of us."

Chapter Twenty-Six: So what falling speed is five centimeters per second?

While Chen Junqian and Xu Youwei were floating in an inflatable ball on the lake in the park, little Lin Mu, who had already returned home, was undertaking another grand project.

It can only be said that even for Lin Mu, who is definitely considered sensible by all standards among her peers, her room would inevitably become a 'doghouse' if the adults in her family were not around for a week and there was no one to supervise and teach her at all times.

Although Lin Mu could still argue that "nothing is as comfortable as my own doghouse," considering that Chen Junqian would be visiting his home again on Friday night, Lin Mu, unable to keep up the argument, started tidying up his room before his parents could even reach their breaking point.

As a true darling of the family, Lin Mu's room is several times larger than Chen Junqian's, and its decoration is also significantly more exquisite, with the thirty-square-meter space painted in a soft cream color.

The curtains hanging on the windows for ventilation are double-layered. The outer layer is tulle embroidered with stars, and the inner layer is cotton fabric printed with daisies. On sunny days, when the wind blows, the whole room will immediately transform into a garden filtered through sunlight, with tiny, flower-like spots of light shimmering all over the floor.

The large desk and wardrobe were covered with stickers that she had haphazardly pasted on at different times in the past, from Snow White to Star Cat to Ali, and so on. Although some of them seem a bit childish now, it seems that they are not so easy to peel off when you actually try to remove them, so you have to give up for the time being.

Lin Mu carefully arranged all the books on the bookshelf according to their series order, and then stuffed the harmonica that had been casually placed on the table into the drawer. Feeling that the books looked much neater, Lin Mu nodded with satisfaction.

Then, she picked up a transparent glass bottle that had been placed on her bedside table. It was filled with folded stars and origami cranes. After looking at it from left to right, she finally found a good spot to put it down. She then casually fiddled with the wind chime hanging above, which was made of various seashells and glass beads.

Although she couldn't cook, Lin Mu didn't think it was her problem. After all, it was extremely rare for a primary school student of her age to be as adept at going to the market to buy groceries and then cooking as Chen Junqian. She was often praised by her family for being skillful.

Whether it's the glass bottle overflowing with little stars and origami cranes, the tiny cross-stitch on the desk, or the handmade bracelets carefully placed in the drawer, they should all reflect this point. When Chen Junqian comes next time, I must let him take a good look at them.

After tidying up the entire room inside and out, Lin Mu turned around and saw the growth chart he had magnetically attached to the back of the door.

Next to each measurement, a small flower is drawn and the date is recorded. The latest record is from a little over a week ago when school started, and the previous record is from two months ago when summer vacation started. If Lin Mu used to measure once every six months or a year, then recently she has suddenly become more frequent.

On the door next to the scale, there is an exaggerated upward arrow left by orange-red crayon, solemnly marked with the words "Goal is to grow to 1.65 meters" and "Hope to suddenly grow taller after waking up tomorrow morning!"

Ugh... I guess I should take this off first.

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

"Damn, why are you so enthusiastic about PE class now? We used to just find a shady spot, lie down, and wait for get out of class to end, right?"

Weighing the badminton racket he had just borrowed from the equipment room, Zhong Yu looked a little sore-toothed.

"During the run just now, you were jogging to warm up, but how did you suddenly sprint to the front? Are you really aiming for the 'Three Good Student' award, which signifies all-round development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor, just like the class monitor?"

"I just wanted to get some exercise."

Chen Junqian, who had taken off his jacket, tossed the shuttlecock into the air and hit it. He felt his still-developing body as he played badminton with Zhong Yu, who was not as strong as him.

"Are you planning to sign up for next month's sports meet?"

"No, let's talk about it next year. After all, physical fitness isn't something that can be achieved overnight."

"It's all about participation. Look at Xu Youwei, she signs up every year, only to be a runner-up every year, and then she signs up again every year. Our class monitor is so worried about signing up for the sports meet lately, he's almost dragged me along to make up the numbers."

"Her physical fitness is actually not bad. Her poor performance at the sports meet was because she participated in too many events and didn't know how to prioritize. As a result, she ran out of energy when she got to her strong events."

These past two days, Chen Junqian talked to Lu Cheng, who was in charge of class affairs, and after personally experiencing Xu Youwei's physical strength, he also defended her a little. After all, if he admitted that the other party was bad, wouldn't he, the defeated opponent, be even weaker?

"That's true. After all, not many girls are willing to run 800 meters. It's exhausting."

Although his stamina was quite depleted, Zhong Yu's reaction speed was still fast. For a while, he was able to fight back and forth with Chen Junqian. However, he soon became discouraged and finally sat down on the ground, waving his hands and saying that he was not going to fight anymore.

"You need to work out more, otherwise I don't know how you're going to pass the physical fitness test in the high school entrance exam."

As someone who was overweight in junior high school and suffered terribly during the physical fitness test for a long time, but ultimately managed to get into the only key high school in the city based on his academic performance, Chen Junqian still feels a bit of a strange shadow when he thinks back on it.

"That will take several more years. Anyway, they don't look at this in the elementary school graduation exam. Let's practice it in junior high school."

When the topic of junior high school came up, Zhong Yu, panting heavily, asked him:

"You should still be in Ningzhong Middle School, right?"

As Guoning is a county-level city, there are only two junior high schools in the city: Guoning Middle School (referred to as Ningzhong) and Hejin Middle School (referred to as Jinzhong). Since the former has a much higher college entrance rate than the latter, and the enrollment adopts a zoned system, meaning that students living in the designated school district will automatically be enrolled, most parents choose to buy school district housing in advance in order to ensure that their children can attend Ningzhong.

Chen Junqian's previous life was no exception. After his father was promoted to workshop director at the end of this year, he had been preparing for this matter. In the end, he saved up all his savings and bought a school district house near Ningzhong two years later. After the house was renovated, he moved with his family and settled his junior high school life in Ningzhong.

"I think so. Why are you suddenly asking this?"

"Because my dad said yesterday that he's found a house he likes and is planning to start renovations this year so that I can go to Ningzhong Middle School."

As he spoke, Zhong Yu shrugged nonchalantly, pretending to be under a lot of pressure.

"Let's not talk about that. The National Day holiday is almost here, right? Actually, some netizens have recently asked me to meet them in person during the holiday. Do you think it's a good idea?"

"Is the brother or sister you met in the game?"

"My sister said she's from Jing County next door, and I think she's not that far from here, so I'm still a bit hesitant."

"Isn't our grade going on a trip to Jingxian County next month?"

"Being assigned to follow the class by the school is useless. I can't sneak out to meet my online friend. She said she's the same age as me. We chatted quite happily online, and I even bought her VIP memberships."

Seeing Zhong Yu talking animatedly about this topic, Chen Junqian tried hard to recall his past life. Suddenly, he remembered that the online love interest that Zhong Yu was obsessed with in junior high school seemed to be someone he met around this time. Could it be the one Zhong Yu is talking about now?

"Are you two having an online relationship?"

"You could say we're dating. We even changed our profile backgrounds and names to couple names last night, hehe."

Perhaps because he was too excited, Zhong Yu's tone seemed to be floating and had a strange retroflex ending.

"Aren't you afraid of being exposed and ruined?"

“We’ve exchanged photos and video chatted before. Dude, you’re not as stupid as you think. I’ve met other people who tried to scam me before, but this one is really different, for real.”

"...Then I can only wish you good luck, just don't get carried away."

"Tch, I think you don't understand at all. This kind of online dating where you meet up offline once in a while is the ultimate answer for this era. For example, if you were to actually start dating someone in our class right now, everyone from the other classmates to the teacher would probably know within two days. And then, you'd definitely get your parents called in to write a self-criticism. But it's different online. Who would know who I'm dating?"

Faced with Zhong Yu's eloquent speech, Chen Junqian could only surrender.

"I don't plan on dating or anything, so what's there to be afraid of?"

"I just gave a random example. Besides, everyone is very gossipy. Who knows, rumors might pop up one day that you're dating someone."

At this point, Zhong Yu started winking and making faces at another part of the playground. Lin Mu and Xu Youwei were chatting in the shade there, completely unaware of who he was winking at.

"I just hang out with them normally. Besides, for us, the line between dating and hanging out with friends is already blurry. We just hang out together and give each other gifts, right? What else can you do with your partner?"

Chen Junqian just rolled his eyes. It wasn't like he hadn't seen kids dating before. In this era before the explosion of internet information, even a surfing expert like Zhong Yu could only flirt with his online girlfriend by calling her "husband" and "wife" in chat.

However, hearing Zhong Yu mention online dating suddenly made him think of his online friends.

In fact, he still doesn't know where the other person's home is or how far away it is from him as the crow flies. Whether before or after his rebirth, they have always politely maintained a certain distance between them. After all, what they sometimes seek is this kind of "online friend" relationship where they know the other person won't affect their real life, so they can freely express all their thoughts.

But if one day he really wants to see the other person, or the other person asks to see him, how would he respond?

The moment the question popped into Chen Junqian's mind, he felt as if one of his embarrassing systems was muttering, "Do you know... the speed at which it falls is per second...?" But before he could hear it clearly, Lin Mu's face appeared before him again.

"Qianqian, are you daydreaming again?"

"...When did you arrive?"

Subconsciously leaning back, Chen Junqian also kicked Zhong Yu, who was holding his breath and secretly laughing the whole time.

"Just now, I told you that if Zhong Yu couldn't play anymore, I would play badminton with you, and you just stood there spacing out. But you can't do that when crossing the street, Weiwei, you have to keep an eye on him."

"Oh."

Standing next to her was Xu Youwei, who seemed to have been dragged over by Lin Mu and was nodding in agreement.

"I was just lost in thought for a moment. Come on, come on."

Picking up his racket and getting back to his feet, Chen Junqian quickly went to the other side to start a rematch with Lin Mu, who had replaced Zhong Yu.

Unlike Zhong Yu, who was initially quite confident, Lin Mu, who seemed to lack athletic ability, quickly found himself struggling to keep up. Chen Junqian won seven or eight points in a row, and Lin Mu pouted somewhat unhappily before replacing Xu Youwei, who had been eagerly waiting to try her hand at the game.

The two of them played back and forth until the end of get out of class. While Lin Mu and Chen Junqian went to the equipment room to return the badminton rackets, Lin Mu quickly asked him:

"What kind of food do you want to eat on Friday?"

"I don't have any particular dietary restrictions. If I really have to say what I should avoid, not eating cilantro would be one of them."

"Yeah, remember."

"As for what dishes you want to eat, is there anything you particularly like? If we have the same tastes, then it's a good opportunity for you to have a meal of your favorite dish."

"I like so many dishes, like scrambled eggs with toon leaves, braised duck feet with dried tofu, and the fried tofu stuffed with meat that Mom made last time was also delicious, and so on..."

"Yes, I've remembered that too."

"You've memorized everything?"

"Because I feel like I'll have to cook for you for another week around this time next year."

"Hehe... Well, I'll ask my parents to leave me a little more money."

"As long as you don't lose any more money and make the whole budget too tight, it's fine. But considering that nine yuan and fifty cents can last a week, it doesn't seem like a big deal. Lin Mu is really easy to take care of."

"Yes, yes, I'm super easy to take care of... Hey, don't talk about me like I'm some kind of puppy."

No longer needing any games or quizzes as a means of communication, they can now naturally learn about each other through everyday conversations.

However, regarding whether this time's childhood friend-themed character will replicate the legendary stunt of many similar characters starting to run backwards before the finish line, the still-localizing "Shameless System" maintains a somewhat mischievous expectation.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Some Parents Always Dream of Becoming a Wolf King

At this moment, in a stone cave at the foot of the mountain, Meimei's five wolf cubs were born with cries.

Perhaps one of them will become the future wolf king.

I reread Shen Shixi's "Wolf King's Dream" after a long time. Although I really wanted to complain about the fact that domestic animal education should also follow Chinese educational concepts, Chen Junqian himself didn't dislike the story itself. After all, he has been really beaten down by society and has really written countless children's literature manuscripts. Now he has learned to dialectically look for the advantages of each work.

But before he could put his knowledge to use in his next writing project, his rebirth suddenly happened, and perhaps in that future timeline, a great children's literature writer would be lost because of it.

Of course, this is just a joke that Chen Junqian often makes to himself. After all, when he entered the industry, traditional children's literature had indeed begun to decline rapidly. In a sense, the time when he entered the industry with his childhood dream can be considered as 1949 when he joined the Qing army.

The editor once told him that instead of writing works that age-appropriate children would prefer, what he really needed to write were works that parents would read first and think their children would like and find useful. Regardless of whether terms like "training logical thinking skills" or "developing brainpower" sound plausible or not, he should just add them all together and be done with it.

Although Chen Junqian himself didn't know what kind of works children of the appropriate age liked, after actually experiencing them, he could only feel deeply bewildered.

What exactly are their points of laughter, tears, and excitement? Chen Junqian didn't understand until the very last day before his rebirth.

That's probably why he's always been a second-rate children's literature writer—or rather, a practitioner in the field.

Unconsciously, Chen Junqian recalled many memories that were by no means pleasant. He put away the book in his hand and walked towards the stairwell in the corridor, intending to return the book when he met Zhu Wenyun today.

Today is Friday, and five days have passed since their agreement. However, during their routine meeting yesterday, Zhu Wenyun still said that he was still working on it, which was just like his past self when faced with an editor's urging to write a manuscript, saying that he would write it right away and that inspiration was flowing in endlessly.

However, it seems there has been a breakthrough today, because before Chen Junqian could even return the book, Zhu Wenyun spoke to him first, her tone somewhat excited:

"I've written the first chapter."

"That's fine, here you go, the book is yours."

Perhaps because she had been racking her brains over writing, Zhu Wenjun hadn't borrowed any books from him for several days. Now, when she received the books Chen Junqian returned, she didn't even check them carefully as she used to. However, it could also be because the two of them had already built up some trust.

Anyway, Zhu Wenyun simply took the book, hugged it to her chest, and continued sharing her writing experiences:

"Yesterday during my computer class, I logged onto Sunshine Sister's Flowery Clothes Youth Literature Website and read several novels written by people around my age. Then I read Sunshine Sister's reply, and that's when I found my inspiration and started writing."

"She said that the purpose of elementary school students writing novels is to have fun, so there is absolutely no need to blindly believe in the opinions of authorities. They can listen to the call of their own hearts, boldly conceive ideas, and freely express themselves. As long as the words come from the heart, they are valuable."

"After realizing this, I felt like I knew exactly how to write it. However, the slight problem was that everyone was using the first person, so I could only write in the first person as well."