I turned reality into a romantic comedy

"One, two, one, two..."

Lin Mu nodded and counted softly, but after only a couple of steps, things went awry. One of them lifted his leg too fast, and the other hadn't caught up yet. The two of them swayed violently and almost fell. Chen Junqian instinctively reached out to support Mu Mu's shoulder, and the other's hand was already on his chest, helping them regain their balance.

"Next time, it should feel better if you wrap your arms around me like this."

After trying a few times, Chen Junqian discovered the problem: the height difference between him and Lin Mu caused their centers of gravity to be in different positions. After thinking for a while, he gestured for Lin Mu to reach out and wrap his arms around his waist to try to bring their centers of gravity closer together.

"……Um."

After glancing subconsciously at the other children around her, Lin Mu reached out and hugged his side and the tree.

Frankly speaking, if it weren't for the minimum eight-hour time limit, a three-legged race would indeed be the most suitable opportunity to achieve the "Forced Romance Link" achievement.

However, to Chen Junqian's surprise, this achievement was accomplished by another girl just two days later over the weekend.

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As a perfect attendee at every sports meet since first grade, Xu Youwei has always prioritized enjoyment over competition. After all, with her physical abilities, if she focused all her energy on one or two of her strengths, winning an award would be a sure thing.

But she would apply for every project she could, and then achieve a mediocre result in each one.

However, her mindset underwent a subtle change during this year's sports meet.

In fact, Xu Youwei had also prepared to invite Chen Junqian to participate in the three-legged race. However, she did not expect that Lin Mu, who had never participated in a sports meet before, would join in the fun at this time. When she casually asked Lu Cheng about the registration status of the event in the back seat, she had already learned that the two of them had registered to participate.

The countryside on weekends remains Chen Junqian and Xu Youwei's secret hideout.

"So it really is because of the sports meet, right?"

Seeing Xu Youwei start tying ropes to her legs as soon as she came in, Chen Junqian asked her a question with a hint of helplessness.

"certainly not."

But Hsu Yu-wei would never admit it, since she had already come up with a reason.

"What is Qinqin thinking? This is also to prepare for the apocalypse a year from now. Hasn't Qinqin seen movies of this kind? When two survivors go out to explore after the apocalypse, they will tie safety ropes around each other's waists to prevent them from getting lost."

"...But Yoyo, you're strapped to your legs. If the end of the world really comes, we'll probably fall to the ground after running a couple of steps in this state, and then be drowned by aliens, monsters, floods, or something like that behind us."

"This is where you need to practice, I'm sure of it."

After tying her legs together with Chen Junqian's, Xu Youwei dragged him to the camphor wood chest that had turned into a magical storage cabinet. She then opened the chest and took out a package of things she had just bought yesterday.

"Is it going to be instant noodles again?"

Over the past period of time, the two of them have used the excuse of finding food reserves for the apocalypse to eat and drink a lot of things at public expense. Compressed biscuits were the first thing they ruled out, as they were indeed a bit unpalatable, followed by instant noodles.

However, compared to choosing flavors, what they were researching was actually more specific about how to eat it. Chen Junqian, who had a lot of experience eating instant noodles during his university years, not only contributed a method of eating it directly from the packaging without a bowl, but also took some time to go to Xu Youwei's grandmother's house to stir-fry a bowl of instant noodles for her. It can only be said that the two of them had a very happy meal that day.

I just don't know if this condition will still exist if the end of the world really comes.

"No, that's not it. The problem of food is now behind us. Today, we need to solve the problem of usage, which is energy."

As Xu Youwei began unpacking the bags, she started her usual role-playing game with Chen Junqian in a serious tone.

"Generally speaking, after the apocalypse, humanity's power system will completely collapse, and we might return to the primitive era of slash-and-burn agriculture overnight. I've already asked around, and generators are too expensive. We simply can't afford them right now, so we have to settle for second best."

After taking out two flashlights and two packs of batteries, Xu Youwei continued to rummage through the bag.

"Batteries will eventually run out of power. After all, reality isn't like in horror games where the protagonist has a flashlight with unlimited nuclear power, so you have to use it in crucial moments. For everyday lighting, this is definitely the best option."

After saying that, she took out a whole tray of red candles from the bag.

"How about it? Don't you miss it a little?"

"It has indeed been several years since I last saw him."

Chen Junqian nodded in agreement. After all, even if we don't mention the phrase that elementary school students overuse in their essays, "Mom/Teacher/XX is like a candle, burning itself to light up others," there used to be frequent power outages in their rural area a few years ago. Back then, his grandparents would light candles at home. However, there are fewer of those now, since high-powered flashlights are quite useful.

"Come on, Qinqin, let's go turn off the lights together."

Since the two are still bound together, Xu Youwei has to give Chen Junqian advance instructions before doing anything.

However, probably because their heights were closer and Xu Youwei was more agile, after a while, Chen Junqian and she were able to move around very freely.

She drew the curtains and turned off the lights in the room, making the whole room much darker. Xu Youwei, who was very into her role, didn't even use the lighter that was already there, but instead pulled out a box of matches from somewhere.

The match flicked and lit up the air, its warm yellow light blooming between the two people, illuminating the girl's slightly pursed lips and the thin shadow cast by her eyelashes.

Chen Junqian reached out to protect the flame, carefully bringing it close to the candle wick. The flame flickered gently, casting their shadows on the wall, sometimes large, sometimes small, like some kind of secret heartbeat.

Then, the candle wick crackled softly, and the warm light it emitted spread inch by inch along the old camphor wood chest next to it, the mirror on the dressing table, and the corners of Xu Youwei's eyes and eyebrows.

"I remember, this is how it's going to happen next."

As she spoke, Xu Youwei reached out and tilted the candle downwards, dripping a few drops of melted wax from the top onto the table. Then she straightened the candle again, placed the base on the melted wax, and fixed it in place.

Seemingly feeling that one candle wasn't enough for lighting, Xu Youwei repeated the process, and in no time, she had neatly lit two rows of eight red candles on the table.

"I feel like if I order a few more, it'll be my birthday soon."

"Birthday candles are much shorter than these. To be honest, they should be used for ancestor worship... no, ancestor worship should use white candles. These red candles are definitely the kind that were used for weddings in the past. After all, there's a saying: 'The wedding night is like a candle on the wedding night.'"

After all, the secret base they were in now was the new house that Xu Youwei's deceased grandmother had used before. So while talking about this, she unconsciously glanced at the other decorations around her, as if thinking about whether her wife had lit so many red candles when she got married decades ago.

After watching the candlelight flickering on the wall for a while, Chen Junqian reached out his hand without saying a word. However, his two palms formed a shape in the air, casting a large shadow that looked like a puppy on the wall behind him, as if it were opening and closing its 'mouth' and barking twice at Xu Youwei.

Shadow puppetry was one of the ways he would pass the time when he was bored during power outages when he was a child.

Even now, Chen Junqian can still clearly remember many of the patterns.

Sitting opposite him, Xu Youwei smiled knowingly, then made her own hand gesture, casting the shadow of a small bird on the wall behind her, flapping its wings made of palms and flying high above.

With a flick of his finger, Chen Junqian transformed the dog into a menacing wolf.

Xu Youwei also cooperated by intertwining her fingers together, turning into a rabbit that had no distinguishing features except for its two long ears. Then, it ran away in a disheveled manner, causing the candlelight beside it to flicker in the wind it created.

After playing this game for two rounds, which resembled the transformation of a minor saint subduing a major saint, Xu Youwei reached out and grasped his hand again, leaving only a blurry shadow on the wall.

"Speaking of which, is there any hand shadow game that two people can play together?"

"Let me think, crabs should be fine."

Since he had always played alone before, Chen Junqian was also taken aback by Xu Youwei's sudden question. He then extended one of his hands, gesturing for Xu Youwei to extend her other hand. The two of them crossed their hands in the air to represent half of a crab's body, with their moving fingers representing its eight legs.

But the next second, the crab's right side flipped over, and the four legs on the right, which were originally the same as the four legs on the left, wrapped around Chen Junqian's fingers one after another. Chen Junqian's fingers were held by her in a clasped-together manner, and it took a while before she pulled away.

As Xu Youwei moved, the shadow on the wall swayed gently as if performing a silent dance, before finally curving up on the wall into a C-shape.

Or rather, it's half of a heart shape.

A few seconds later, the missing half was filled in.

The candlelight cast long shadows, the tips of which almost touched the mottled roof beams, like the child in that story who used candlelight to illuminate the entire house and solve his father's problem.

What Xu Youwei doesn't understand yet is...

If you only dare to kiss your shadow, you will only get a fleeting illusion of happiness.

Chapter 37: I Really Have Controlled You (Part 2)

"The sports meet... I probably won't participate."

Although she has a height that makes people easily ask, "Girl, do you play basketball or volleyball?", Zhu Wenyun is actually not a girl who loves sports. After all, she would rather spend her time reading books.

However, this doesn't mean that Zhu Wenyun herself is a literary girl who lacks physical strength. She helped her grandmother with chores at home since she was a child. Chen Junqian could feel it when they usually strolled around or rollerbladed together. It's just that she wasn't used to the atmosphere of participating in sports meets, so she had never signed up.

"But if you participate this year, I can write a cheering speech and submit it to the radio station."

"The students from Class 3 are cheering for the students from Class 4, right?"

"Anyway, if it's anonymous, no one will know who submitted it. Besides, I'll just write about you by name. And when someone participated in the 1000-meter race last year, those few minutes were all spent writing cheering messages for you, okay?"

"You remember all of this?"

"I remember. The main problem is that I didn't know you were going to participate in the competition at that time, so I was a little delayed when I was writing it on the spot. As a result, you had already finished your race, so I didn't submit it. So what project are you going to participate in this year?"

"It should still be the same as last year, one thousand, plus a three-legged race for two people, with Mu Mu."

"That's it..."

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Wenyun shook her head again and said:

"The three-legged race is more for entertainment, so I'll just write a few cheering paragraphs for your 1000-meter race. But how do you write these?"

"Didn't you just say you remembered last year's sports meet?"

"I'm not going to bother memorizing the contents of those cheerleading speeches."

Rather, when Zhu Wenyun herself heard one cheer after another from the stands, such as "Chen Junqian, who is running on the track, no matter the result, your figure is the most beautiful lightning on the track. I am waiting for your triumphant return!" or "Chen Junqian, do you know? When you run, even the wind becomes gentle. The distance of one thousand meters is the trajectory that my eyes follow. No matter the result, you are already my champion," she only felt a subtle irritation in her heart, just like a few months ago on the van to Xuancheng. Otherwise, she wouldn't have failed to write a cheer on the spot after Chen Junqian finished running.

"Whatever you want. By the way, how's the revision of the sample manuscript going?"

"It's almost done. The first chapter should be published in the January issue of Journal A next year."

Fireworks is a bi-monthly publication, so each month is divided into two issues, A and B. Although Chen Junqian himself hasn't read it much, Shen Nianqiu seems to like it quite a bit. It's just unknown whether they are still subscribing now.

Thinking this, he asked another question:

Have you chosen a pen name?

After all, the submission format was different from the last time. Generally speaking, when submitting to this kind of magazine, writers would give themselves a pen name. However, Chen Junqian had never heard Zhu Wenyun mention this topic.

"No, I'm still using my real name, but I've removed my surname, so for readers and editors, it feels quite like a pen name, just the two characters 'Wen Yun'."

Hearing Zhu Wenyun mention his name, Chen Junqian couldn't help but feel curious. After all, he had heard stories about Lin Mu, Xu Youwei (nickname), and even Shen Nianqiu, but he had never heard Zhu Wenyun mention his name.

Actually, he was quite curious at times, since from any perspective, Zhu Wenyun's family didn't seem like a cultured family, yet they gave her such an artistic name.

"Junqian wants to ask about this name? Actually, it was given by my grandfather. He read a lot of books before, but unfortunately my father did not inherit this talent. However, he passed away when I was in first grade. Many of the books in my family were left by my grandfather, and he was the one who read to me when I was a child."

After listening to Zhu Wenyun's explanation, Chen Junqian nodded in understanding.

So, does Wenyun like her name?

"Hmm... I guess you could say I like it. After all, it's not hard to write. As for whether it's hard to pronounce, sometimes people do get stuck on the last character. But if you tell her it's the character 'Yun' from Wen Tingyun, it's fine. I guess you could say I'm riding on the coattails of a historical figure."

After chatting for a few minutes, the bell rang for the next class, and the two got up to say goodbye and return to their classrooms. But before leaving, Zhu Wenyun turned back and gave them this final word of advice:

"When the new issue is published next January, you don't need to buy it. The editorial department will send me two sample copies, and we'll give you one then."

"Can I sign this? If Wenyun really becomes a great writer in the future, this book will definitely appreciate in value... Hmm, how about you give me all your textbooks when you graduate?"

Faced with Chen Junqian's joke, Zhu Wenyun vaguely recalled their first real one-on-one encounter, which actually started with borrowing a book. She remembered that she was nervous for the whole class, wondering if this boy would mess up her textbook.

But now it's completely different, because even her thoughts have been messed up by the other party, and it's obvious that her future life seems to be the same, at least in Zhu Wenyun's mind.

Along with physical growth, psychological growth also occurs.

If she were to get her hands on those props she had once fantasized about, including the remote control that could control people's behavior, she would probably act in a completely different way than before.

Zhu Wenyun recalled how, with the editor's friendly suggestion, she had imitated a more mature style of writing to write the story's opening:

My youth was artistic, and the boys I met were also artistic. They say you can't have your cake and eat it too, but I just wanted to have it all at least once.

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On the day of the autumn track and field meet, the whole school was filled with the sounds of gongs and drums, the crackling of firecrackers, the waving of red flags, and a sea of ​​people.

Of course, the above is just an exaggerated description, but the total number of teachers and students in all six grades of the school is indeed quite large. The stands on both sides of the playground were full, and the students were all filled with the joy of being on holiday.

After all, for students who don't participate in any events, apart from having to come to school, the sports meet is practically no different from a holiday, since they don't have to attend classes.

Zhong Yu was one of them. Before the sports meet started, he took the small basin that was originally placed at the back of the classroom to put rags and moved it to the vicinity of the stands. Then he used it as a battle platform and started playing a spinning top battle with the boys.

In fact, not every child had enough pocket money to buy a fancy spinning top like the ones in cartoons, with multiple layers of armor and requiring a launcher to fire. Besides, those things were hard to carry around, and if they were confiscated, the boy would feel bad for a long time. So, the boys in the class played with spinning tops that cost five cents each, made of metal or plastic, from the small shop near the school gate.

This thing is smaller and can be launched by hand. The only drawback is that it's not very easy to identify. When several people are going in together, they have to keep a close eye on their own one from the beginning, otherwise they won't be able to tell who is who after a while.

Chen Junqian had just gone to the front to get his number bib and hung it around his neck when Zhong Yu pulled him into the spinning circle. Zhong Yu even gave him a spinning top, and a group of boys gathered around to start a cricket fighting game until one of the spinning tops flew out of the fighting circle and landed on the head of a girl in front of them.

Seeing that the other side looked like they were going to tell the teacher, Zhong Yu had no choice but to remove the battle board in a bit of a mess. The boys scattered like birds and beasts without any sense of loyalty, thus forcibly announcing the end of this temporary spinning top competition. Chen Junqian then sat down a few steps and was pulled over by Lin Mu to sit next to him.

Although they were all the same size bib numbers, because of Mu Mu's small size, they felt a bit wobbly hanging on her. However, since the child had only signed up for the three-legged race, Chen Junqian was afraid that the bib number would fly off while she was running.

"Does Qianqian want some water? He has to run a kilometer in a bit."

"Hmm, what about Youwei? I think she also signed up for the girls' 800."

"They're checking in over there; the girls' competition starts earlier than the boys'."

Pointing in a certain direction below the stands, Lin Mu enthusiastically offered his suggestion: