I turned reality into a romantic comedy

As Chen Junqian recalled the direction of his home at this moment, he curiously looked up and looked around at everything that was both familiar and unfamiliar. A large area of ​​shiny red spicy strips was laid out in front of the small shop at the school gate. They came in slices, strips, and shreds, all for 50 cents a pack. If you wanted to be a little more extravagant, you could add 50 cents to buy a grilled sausage. However, since they could be eaten in just a few bites, for most children, the cost-effectiveness was far less than that of spicy strips, which they could eat all the way home.

Just as school let out, an old man rode up on a tricycle and lifted a thick blanket off the vehicle in the open space in front of the school gate. The loudspeaker on the tricycle continuously broadcasted, "Big steamed buns - small steamed buns!" Standing next to him was a heavily pregnant parent waiting for his child. The parent had just turned on his phone, which displayed the words "China Telecom 3G".

The aroma of fried food and cumin quickly filled the air from the stalls selling fried skewers and three-flavor chicken strips. Vendors selling pastries were taking out translucent steamed cakes and colorful rice cakes, packaged in plastic bags, from buckets also wrapped in cotton blankets, and began to enthusiastically hawk their wares.

It's the beginning of the new school year, and many students are crowding in front of various shops, picking out their favorite book covers and stationery, chattering noisily.

Feeling his pockets, Chen Junqian found only a five-cent copper-yellow coin, the 1998 national emblem design. The children all thought this design was prettier than the lotus design from 00 onwards. If they had both of these coins, they would definitely choose to spend the lotus one first.

This is the money he paid for the bus fare home.

As Chen Junqian gradually recalled parts of his past, he walked towards the bus stop across the street. The platform was already full of students and parents. After waiting for a short while, an old-fashioned orange bus chugged to a stop in front of him.

However, since there were no front or back doors at that time, all the passengers waiting to board could only wait for the passengers who wanted to get off to get off first, and then they couldn't wait to squeeze on.

The bus wasn't very big, but Chen Junqian, being small, managed to squeeze on first. He then tossed his five-cent coin into a metal box that was transparent on top and closed on the bottom. The people behind him boarded one by one, and the clinking sound of coins falling into the box could be heard.

Adults pay one yuan, children pay fifty cents. You can also see two children getting on the bus one after the other, with the child in front throwing down one yuan and shouting "Two people!"

Chen Junqian quickly grabbed a large number of seats behind the bus driver and sat down. He then propped his head up with his hand and looked at the coin box that was so close to him and would be abolished in a few years. He suddenly remembered hearing someone say that because the driver wouldn't look at it and the sound of coins falling in was similar, people could use game tokens to get away with it.

When a certain number of coins have been accumulated, the bottom of the box will be opened, and the stacked coins will fall to the bottom, which is not visible.

For most children, this was undoubtedly more like a fun magic trick, and the mountain of coins was quite attractive in itself. A little boy sitting next to Chen Junqian watched the process repeat with fascination, watching the coins being thrown in, piling up, and then falling with a whoosh.

Chen Junqian only glanced at it for a moment before looking away, his gaze shifting downwards from the coin to the bottom of the box, where an advertisement was pasted:

Bo'ai Hospital benefits countless families.

To pass the time, Chen Junqian carefully read every word on the advertisements, including the contact information. This had become a habit of his; even when he was in the bathroom, he would carefully read the instructions on toilet paper, shampoo, or shower gel before putting them back, satisfied.

After all, Chen Junqian didn't have a cell phone at that time.

Rather, it seems that only my parents have bought a cell phone each for work, and both are flip phones. My grandparents and I communicate with them through landlines.

The seven-digit landline number is probably the earliest long string of numbers that Chen Junqian himself remembered.

Although it was something my parents half-forced me to memorize.

"The wear-resistant plant, we've arrived at the wear-resistant plant!"

As the car slowly came to a stop, I heard the driver in front shout.

Chen Junqian then came to his senses and got off the bus with the others who got off at this stop.

The wear-resistant factory, whose full name is Phoenix Wear-Resistant Materials Co., Ltd., has a very grand name and is indeed quite famous locally, with a scale of several thousand workers. Chen Junqian's parents also work there.

His current home is also in the employee housing allocated by the factory.

However, using "employee housing" as an analogy doesn't seem to be a particularly accurate description.

Chen Junqian walked slowly up the hillside alone with his schoolbag on his back. Even though more than 20 years had passed, he could still remember the road he had walked throughout his childhood.

Several somewhat old, orange-yellow buildings came into view in the distance.

A tenement building.

It houses ordinary workers and their families.

"Junqian is back."

In front of the tenement building, there was a small house, a small shop. An old man sitting inside was fanning himself with a palm leaf fan. He raised his hand to greet Chen Junqian. It seemed that his son was some kind of cadre in the factory, which was why he had such a prime location to open a shop.

The children and workers in the nearby tenement buildings mostly buy their odds and ends from him, and he earns quite a bit of money every month.

"Hello, Grandpa Wang."

Chen Junqian still remembered the old man. The shop was still open until he moved away, but he never saw him again. When he came back, the entire wear-resistant factory was gone, and the area had been redeveloped and transformed into another residential area.

"Why do you look so listless today? Did you fail your exam?"

The old man gently tapped Chen Junqian's nose with a palm-leaf fan.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Children shouldn't sigh so easily."

The old man deliberately said something harsh, then picked up a lollipop from the counter and handed it over.

"I'll treat you to something."

"Thank you, Grandpa Wang."

Chen Junqian glanced at it and saw Q-boy lollipops, which cost one cent each and were considered the best value candy among elementary school students.

"I'm going home first."

After unpacking the lollipop and biting it into pieces, savoring the sweetness of industrial saccharin and coloring on his tongue, Chen Junqian continued walking home without looking back.

"This child... seems different from before."

The old man pondered for a long time. If he hadn't recently heard from his son that the other party's father might be promoted to workshop director this year, he wouldn't have been willing to part with that one-cent lollipop.

Chen Junqian, who was leaving, naturally had no idea what the other person was thinking. His pace quickened, until he was even jogging, and he jogged all the way back to the second tenement building.

The building, which used to be gleaming with gold, now bears the inscription "Zhuangyuan Lou" (状元楼, meaning "Top Scholar Building"), which has since faded considerably.

Actually, it is surrounded by a group of well-known buildings with prestigious names such as "Building of Talented Scholars" and "Building of Learned Scholars".

Beneath these prestigious titles, eight families live in cramped conditions on the same floor.

However, such a high population density has not brought a corresponding level of popularity; the area is often deserted during the day, only bustling with activity at night.

After all, adults are at work and children are at school during the day, so they wouldn't specifically bring the elderly to live with their family in such a place. So it only gets lively in the evening after the adults get off work and the children get out of school.

Only at night, when mahjong tables are set up one after another, can the noise travel from the first floor all the way to the sixth floor.

Chen Junqian walked into the third floor of Zhuangyuan Building and stood in front of room 304.

He took the house key from the outer compartment of his backpack.

The total area is less than 30 square meters, with a very small living room and kitchen. To the left of the entrance is the bathroom, and then there are only two sleeping rooms.

Chen Junqian waited on the sofa in the living room for almost an hour, holding his schoolbag.

He first looked around his home, a familiar yet unfamiliar sight.

On the wall hangs a photo of him taken at the age of four in a special place, wearing various clothes, such as a soccer jersey and a suit, with artistic fonts such as 'Soccer Boy' and 'Workplace Elite' next to it.

The old-fashioned sofa was a worn-out beige color. The armrests and backrests were covered with embroidered towels, which made it look less monotonous. However, if a child sitting on it misbehaved even slightly, it would easily make a mess of the sofa, drawing scolding from the adults.

Opposite the sofa was a TV with a DVD player on top, and the shelf below was filled with various cartoon discs. For children, this way of watching their favorite cartoons without having to watch commercials is undoubtedly much better than watching "take a break, we'll be right back" and the series of public service announcements that follow on the children's channel over and over again.

On Chen Junqian's own bookshelf, just like before his rebirth, a row of various books were arranged, from the youth versions of the Four Great Classical Novels to unsolved mysteries of China and the world. The spines of Zheng Yuanjie's Pipilu's Adventure series, in three colors—azure, orange-yellow, and silver-red—were brightly colored, and a boy with big eyes made a gesture to him on the book cover: 'Challenge the limits of imagination with Pipilu.'

At this time, the first book in the Charlie IX series, "The Ghost of Black Bay Street," will not be officially published until January of next year. Therefore, next to Zheng Yuanjie's books are Wu Meizhen's "My Deskmate and My Nemesis" series and Yang Hongying's "Mischievous Ma Xiaotiao" and "Laughing Cat Diary" series. Next to them are Qin Wenjun's "Jia Li, the Boy," Ge Bing's selected fairy tales, and some other foreign children's books such as "Adventure Tigers."

Next to it were a few scattered issues of "Zhiyin Manke" and "Manhua Party". A single volume of a comic book costing more than ten yuan was definitely something he couldn't afford now. He would even feel bad about spending five yuan on a magazine.

Perhaps because of Chen Junqian's words earlier, the system that was still bothered by the fact that someone didn't choose to be the protagonist of a romantic comedy, which was temporarily stored in his mind, also showed great interest in the books in front of him, and kept urging him to read all the books on the bookshelf in a quantum reading method.

Then, Chen Junqian heard the other person clicking their tongues in amazement.

"To be honest, I feel that these can also be considered part of the two-dimensional romantic comedy. If this is the alternative romantic comedy world you are looking for, it doesn't seem to lack potential."

As it spoke, it began to give examples one by one:

"Look at Ma Xiaotiao, he's essentially the male protagonist of a romantic comedy. He could be the male lead in any galgame. And this silly girl, Angel, is a perfect candidate for the ugly duckling to swan transformation. She's no different from those gloomy characters in light novels who only I noticed, sitting in the corner of the classroom with big glasses, long bangs, and braids, pretending to be passersby. And then there's Lu Manman, who can simultaneously combine so many elements like tsundere, feminism, violence, stalker, and childhood friend, and in the end, she's still a total loser."

"And isn't there a younger sister character? Crazy girl Du Zhenzi, look at how the character introduction on the cover says, she argues with her cousin Ma Xiaotiao when they meet, and misses him when they're apart. She's a 'little witch' with a cat face. Actually, the art style of anime is largely based on cats..."

"And another thing, this Phantom Ship book from the Pipilu series you mentioned actually features a girl named JS (a primary school girl) who is the prettiest in her class and uses superhuman alien technology to escape from school and try to stop a war. How can that not be considered a kind of otaku fantasy?"

"...I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe it's because you see everything through the lens of romantic comedies and come to this conclusion?"

Chen Junqian, still sitting on the sofa with his schoolbag, replied very quietly, showing that he was indeed not interested in these things at all.

"No, no, no. If this world is really like the one described in these books, then in my opinion it still has the potential to become a romantic comedy. After all, I didn't give you a second chance at life. You are the one I chose to be the protagonist of the best romantic comedy."

"Let's talk about that later."

Chen Junqian muttered something as he finally heard footsteps. He looked up at the door that was being opened again and again.

A man and a woman, both around thirty years old, walked in together.

Both were wearing plain blue work clothes. The woman was carrying a plastic bag of vegetables in her right hand, while the man was holding a large stainless steel thermos in his right hand. This type of thermos can be used as a cup by simply using the lid, which is quite convenient.

"son?"

The woman was the first to notice Chen Junqian, who was sitting on the sofa staring straight at her. She called out to him naturally.

"Dad, Mom."

He had finally reached this point where he was still young, and in about three years he would be forever young and forever love his parents.

As far as Chen Junqian was concerned, he didn't care what those romantic comedies filled with names he couldn't understand were like. But if it was a comedy, the main theme of the story should be a happy ending, just like how the model operas after the Spring Festival Gala always added the line "Let's make dumplings together".

For a long time afterward, Chen Junqian was convinced of one thing.

From this moment on, he was truly 'reborn'.

Only then did he truly qualify to become the protagonist of a so-called romantic comedy created alongside many others.

Chapter Two: Not Childish Even for Children

Not wanting his parents to see him lose his composure, Chen Junqian shouted, then quickly turned around and went back to his room, closing the door behind him. The two people who had just returned home felt his attitude was a bit strange, but they didn't think much of it. Soon, one of them went into the kitchen to wash his hands and start cooking, while the other grabbed a storybook he had recently brought home from the table and went into the bathroom.

It was probably because he had a father who would even glance at a book while using the toilet to pass the time that Chen Junqian developed the good habit of reading at a very young age. There were always small magazines such as Story Club or Zhiyin near the bathroom at home for entertainment, while Yilin and Reader were relatively rare.

The trade-off is that you might get so engrossed in watching that you squat for too long and it takes a lot of effort to stand up.

After catching glimpses of these scenes through the crack in the door, which brought his childhood memories back to life, Chen Junqian's mood finally calmed down. He reached out and pulled back the curtains in his room, taking advantage of the still bright light to take another good look at his room.

Actually, there's nothing special about it. It's just a bed, a desk with a cabinet, a chair, and a bedside table. His spare clothes are all kept in the same closet as his parents', and the bedside table is filled with spare socks and other small items.

The only computer in the house was in his parents' room and was password protected. He remembered how, as a child, he would rack his brains trying to guess the password hints until he finally got his hands on it by using an underhanded trick, thus beginning his internet surfing career.

Just as Chen Junqian was already imagining how he would use the internet to earn his first pot of gold and give his peers a huge head start, a certain system in his brain kindly reminded him:

"Alright, now can we start talking about romantic comedy?"

"I didn't send you back to the present to help you build some business empire. Let me emphasize again, what a child your age should be doing most is..."

"Enjoy your childhood?"

"Of course not. It's about starting to build all sorts of bonds, create all sorts of memories, and create all sorts of CG events with other girls when you're still a child. You've been reborn, so you definitely have to fall in love. And it has to be a romantic comedy with happy endings for everyone. That's what it means to win at the starting line."

"Actually, if you ask me, the time you were reborn is actually quite late. You should have won over most of the people around you in kindergarten. If you had started in elementary school... you could still be considered childhood friends."

"You really have a strong attachment to romantic comedies."

"Because that's what I do, and if it weren't for someone's connections, I would have already reincarnated you into someone who, upon opening their eyes, finds a little sister sweetly calling out to them, 'Onii-chan, time to wake up!'"

"Stop, stop, okay?"

Chen Junqian rubbed his temples with a hint of helplessness:

"Of course I thank you for letting me be reborn, and I also promise you that I can go... well, try to be the male protagonist of this romantic comedy, but everything has to be done step by step, right? You keep saying this, but I don't know exactly how to do it."

"Okay, okay, you mean you want me to give you tasks, but I don't have any rewards for completing tasks, after all, I'm not that kind of system."

"You granting my wish to be reborn is already the greatest reward for me. I'll try my best to cooperate with you, okay? After all, putting aside romantic comedies, I'll definitely want to have a relationship after being reborn, since I never had one in my previous life."

"I'm relieved to hear you say that. Let's start by trying to build bonds with one or two girls. The method is up to you. After all, I haven't figured out the rules of operation here yet. It doesn't seem very reliable to give you two buffs like Lucky Pervert. It wouldn't be good to turn you from a celibate type into a prison-bound male lead. Anyway, good luck to you. I'm going to take a break to recharge."

After saying that, Chen Junqian finally felt his mind suddenly become much clearer and quieter. Feeling much more relaxed, he lay down on the bed and began to think about the current situation.

After all, this point in time is sixteen years ago for him. He has forgotten many of the subtle memories of his childhood, and many of the remaining ones are shrouded in a fog. Although he can think of a lot of money-making ideas in one go, perhaps as the system said, it is indeed too early for a primary school student to think about these things now. He should just let nature take its course and enjoy this reborn old time again.

The setting sun shone through the window, still carrying a slight warmth, so much so that Chen Junqian unknowingly fell asleep. He didn't wake up until his mother called him from outside to wash his hands and have dinner. He answered and opened the door to leave his room.

Today's menu consists of three dishes and a soup: stir-fried cucumber with ham slices, stir-fried green peppers with dried tofu and shredded pork, a dish of "ants climbing a tree" (minced pork and vermicelli), and a large bowl of tomato and egg soup.

In fact, when it's just the three of them eating, his father Chen Jun and mother Wang Hongling don't usually put food on his plate. After all, Chen Junqian isn't particularly picky about food. Apart from scallions, ginger, and garlic, which most children dislike, he doesn't have any particular aversion to vegetables.

"School just started these past few days, so let us know if there's anything you need to buy, like book covers or stationery. Oh, and also this year's complete guide to elementary school textbooks, didn't you say you wanted to buy that at the beginning of every new semester?"