I turned reality into a romantic comedy

I didn't see that mysterious girl lurking in front of the braised food shop today. However, probably because the Dahai Vegetable Market is nearby, the street was packed with housewives and vendors during the evening market.

At that time, most vegetable vendors still used non-electric human-powered tricycles. Electric vehicles and electric tricycles were not yet widely used. In fact, this was the first mode of transportation that Chen Junqian had mastered in both his lives, after the rocking horse in his childhood. Even later, when he was learning to ride a bicycle, he was quite frustrated on it for a while because he had become accustomed to the balance and feel of the tricycle before he could adjust.

But in reality, for elementary and middle school students who are still developing their self-esteem, whether it is a human-powered or electric tricycle, riding in one feels like a rather embarrassing mode of transportation. Chen Junqian himself had seen a classmate get angry at her because she didn't like her grandmother riding a tricycle to pick her up. In the end, the grandmother insisted that the grandmother park the tricycle far away outside the school and that the grandmother walk over there herself so that no one would see her.

In fact, it's not hard for Chen Junqian himself to understand this strange sense of pride. After all, compared to enclosed four-wheeled cars or cool motorcycles, tricycles don't look very appealing, and the seats for children are usually in the exposed rear canopy, making them easy targets for stares from other children passing by.

While waiting for the bus, Chen Junqian's thoughts drifted as he watched the tricycles that were still the mainstream vehicles on the street. His vision cleared up when he saw the same blue and white school uniform he was wearing, and he snapped out of his reverie.

He saw Zhu Wenyun, whom he had met briefly the day before.

The other person was sitting in the back of the tricycle, with a small stool under their bottom and bundles of vegetables tied with thin rope next to their feet. They had their schoolbag tucked into their chest and were holding a book with an illegible cover in their hand, engrossed in reading.

The chatter of passersby and the noise of car horns seemed to have no effect on her; they couldn't even make her lift her head for a moment.

She seemed to be completely immersed in another world in the book, yet she also seemed simply unwilling to look at the world she was in.

...I don't want to make eye contact with anyone around me, whether I know them or not.

Chapter 10: The disciplinary committee member is always the one who breaks the rules the most.

Although their class's discipline committee members will not officially take office until the beginning of next week, they will have to undergo a short period of pre-training starting this week. Therefore, Chen Junqian arrived at school a little earlier than usual the next morning and met up with his classmate Xu Youwei near the guardhouse at the school gate.

After the head of teaching explained and the senior students gave a simple demonstration, the two of them had a clearer understanding of their responsibilities and behavior. Since this was the first time Chen Junqian had done this in both his life and his life, the experience was quite novel. In a sense, it made him feel even more proud of the red scarf fluttering on his chest.

Actually, Zhong Yu's statement yesterday that it was a physically demanding job is not wrong. Apart from standing at the school gate for about half an hour in the morning, the discipline committee members also have to inspect the cleaning areas of each class after the morning reading class. These cleaning areas are usually located in front of and behind the teaching building and are the responsibility of the students on duty in each class on weekdays, which will also affect the class's score.

When it's time for eye exercises, they have to complete the inspection of almost all eight classes in the entire grade within the few minutes of the eye exercises, record the specific scores of each class on a form, and submit it after school.

What he and Xu Youwei need to do now is to preview the sanitation area and the corresponding class that they will be responsible for inspecting and patrolling, so as to avoid any mistakes when they start working.

Just like his system, which hadn't fully replenished its energy yet and only occasionally muttered a few words in his head that he couldn't understand, said, "Disciplinary committee members are often the ones who break the rules the most," Chen Junqian felt that it was quite fitting to describe Xu Youwei, because the two of them had only been away from the head of the teaching department for a short while when she had already taken out a small toy from her pocket.

"Come on—reach out your hand."

Before he could react, Chen Junqian felt his right hand being pulled by the other person. The next second, accompanied by a crisp 'snap' sound, a bracelet-like thing appeared on his wrist, with the logo of the children's channel on it.

This is a "slap ring" that's been quite popular at their school lately. The game is actually very simple: you stretch out a stiff band that looks like a long ruler and hit your wrist with a little force. Then, with a "slap," the other person will shrink into a bracelet on their wrist, kind of like a magic trick.

Seeing that Chen Junqian showed no sign of being frightened, Xu Youwei smiled and first showed him the yellow slapstick mark on her right wrist, then pointed to the blue slapstick mark on Chen Junqian's hand:

"Here you go. We'll be partners from now on, this is our symbol. What do you think? Doesn't it give you that main characters vibe?"

"...This should be considered a toy, right?"

"It's no big deal. We're already wearing long sleeves. Just pull the sleeves down a little to cover it up."

Xu Youwei nonchalantly shook her wrist:

"That's what makes it exciting, and it's not a big deal if we get caught."

To be honest, this seems to be the first time Chen Junqian has spoken to Xu Youwei like this alone.

Seeing him suddenly look at her face, the girl defiantly flashed her little fangs at him:

"You wouldn't want to tell the teacher, would you? Mu Mu would be sad if you did. You two have been getting along quite well lately, right? You even went home together yesterday, even though you used to take the bus home alone."

Whether he was intentionally imitating a certain elementary school student who was a death god, Chen Junqian watched as the other person deliberately adjusted his glasses, which were not actually on the bridge of his nose, and then reached out his right hand to press the clasp on his left wrist, as if it were a special watch that could fire an anesthetic needle at any moment.

"Of course not. Seriously, you're really free after school. You were just telling Mu... cough, Lin Mu yesterday that your two houses aren't on the same route, but the day before yesterday you even went to the entrance of her neighborhood to buy something to eat. So, don't you find it too salty to eat braised food on its own?"

Chen Junqian, who was almost led astray by the other person's repeated use of "Mu Mu" to refer to Lin Mu, quickly corrected himself. He rolled down the pajamas on his wrist and tucked them into the sleeve of his school uniform jacket while verbally retaliating.

"Tch—I can go wherever I want and eat whatever I want after school."

Although she said that, it wasn't hard to tell that Xu Youwei subconsciously looked away after Chen Junqian pointed out that she was also lying to Lin Mu and that someone had discovered one of her little secrets. She was clearly a little guilty.

However, perhaps noticing that Chen Junqian hadn't removed his slapstick, Xu Youwei seemed quite pleased with this, skipping ahead as she continued talking to him:

"And aren't you just as free after school as I am? Neither of us goes to after-school care nor goes home, which is quite rare among elementary school students, isn't it?"

"Anyway, Lin Mu is already wondering if you have some kind of secret base outside, just like the main characters in the Adventure Tigers."

"Yes, there are, and not just one place, hehe, do you believe me?"

If Lin Mu mostly acted like a harmless little animal, then Xu Youwei was undoubtedly more like a little wild beast that had begun to show aggression in some ways. Not only did her smile give people a completely different feeling from Lin Mu, but even her words were hard to tell from truth. She seemed to be too skilled at lying. It was hard to know how the two of them became friends.

"If you're all alone, you can even sit in the little shop near the school gate and have a snack. You can call that your secret base. The Adventure Tigers are a team of three, after all."

"...Gu."

It can only be said that Chen Junqian is quite adept at handling elementary school students. In fact, if you observe the class a little, you will know that this child does not have any other friends besides Lin Mu. Boys generally do not play with girls, and girls feel that she sometimes likes to be too conspicuous.

Of course, I also need to thank Lin Mu for our chat on the space walker last night.

In short, after being thoroughly humiliated by the revelation that she actually had no friends, Xu Youwei fell silent for the rest of the journey, not uttering a single word until the two returned to their classroom for morning reading.

Zhong Yu didn't seem that sleepy this morning, probably because he didn't stay up late playing games last night. Right now, he was covering a one-yuan coin with a piece of white paper and tracing it with a pencil, while humming a quirky children's song: "The sun shines brightly, the flowers smile at me, the little birds say 'Good morning, good morning, why are they carrying explosives?'"

"Morning."

"Good morning, here's your homework, thanks."

After Zhong Yu handed back the notebook he had taken from Chen Junqian yesterday from his schoolbag, he started daydreaming again, staring at the one-yuan coin traced on the white paper:

"If everyone in the country could give me a dollar, I would become a billionaire instantly."

"Should we be having such unrealistic dreams first thing in the morning?"

"Tch, it's only good to dream early in the morning. By the way, how did your training with Xu Youwei go today?"

"There's not much training. Basically, you just walk around to get familiar with the place and make sure you don't stand slouching or looking awkward when you're at the school gate."

Speaking of Xu Youwei, Chen Junqian subconsciously glanced in the direction of her seat. She seemed to be talking to Lin Mu, who was sitting in the front row. When he looked over, although he could only see Xu Youwei's back, his eyes met those of Lin Mu, who was turning around and looking back.

She seemed to be taking something from Xu Youwei, and when she saw Chen Junqian suddenly looking over, she subconsciously tucked the thing into her bosom, as if afraid he would see what it was.

Before long, with the arrival of the homeroom teacher, the atmosphere of the morning reading class returned to the lively atmosphere of everyone reading and reciting together.

Since the addition of English classes, in order to prevent the morning reading sessions from turning into a mix of Chinese and Western styles, with students on the left reciting 300 Tang poems and students on the right reciting "See You," the homeroom teacher has specifically stipulated that the first half of each morning reading session should be dedicated to Chinese recitation, and the last twenty minutes to English recitation.

Even though so many years have passed, Chen Junqian still felt a little uneasy watching his deskmate Zhong Yu pronounce words in the English textbook with Chinese characters and phonetic symbols, such as "bus" (ba si) and "school" (si gu er), in such a strange way.

In the first Chinese class after the morning reading session, the homeroom teacher announced two more things.

First of all, in October, the school will organize an autumn outing, which is a tradition of their Experimental Primary School. They organize an outing in spring and autumn. Although it will eventually turn into a scene where everyone uses this as an excuse to ask their parents for money to buy a bunch of snacks and then eat them together, it is definitely a good experience for primary school students.

Of course, it would be even better if I didn't have to write a travelogue every time I came back.

This autumn, their destination is Taohuatan in the neighboring Jing County.

At this point, their teacher, who was nearly fifty and whose receding hairline was becoming increasingly pronounced, unusually complained like a disgruntled elementary school student:

"You know, when the poet Li Bai came to visit our area, he went to Xuancheng and wrote 'Farewell to Uncle Yun at Xie Tiao Tower in Xuanzhou,' and he also went to Jing County and wrote 'A Gift to Wang Lun.' As a result, the latter relied on this to develop the Taohuatan scenic spot. Why didn't he take a trip around Guoning and leave behind a few more poems that will be passed down through the ages?"

After briefly criticizing Wang Lun, this "easy-winner" who gained a thousand years of online popularity with just the line "The Peach Blossom Pool is a thousand feet deep, but it cannot compare to the affection Wang Lun showed me," the homeroom teacher continued to announce:

"Then, the autumn sports meet is coming soon. The registration process is the same as in previous years. Find the sports committee member to fill out the form. We also need to hurry up and finish the blackboard bulletin board on the relevant theme in the next two weeks. Hmm... Has anyone volunteered for the blackboard bulletin board? It will give extra points when evaluating outstanding students at the end of the year."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Youwei, who never missed an opportunity like this, was the first to raise her hand, and the homeroom teacher, as usual, called on her:

"Okay, then you can get a few people to clean up the old blackboard in the back over the next couple of days and then we can get started."

After explaining these two things, the Chinese teacher began today's lesson.

It has to be said that Zhong Yu has a very rich collection of stationery or toys. Yesterday he was playing with rulers, and today he switched to fighter jet pencils, assembling pencils section by section into all sorts of fighter jet shapes. He had a great time playing with them throughout the class.

Before he knew it, it was time for get out of class to end. Lu Cheng, the class monitor sitting in front of him, turned around and spoke to Chen Junqian with a worried expression:

"Is Xu Youwei doing too much lately? She'll definitely be signing up for all the events at the sports meet at the end of this month. Now she's also serving as the discipline monitor and preparing the blackboard newspaper. I'm worried that she won't be able to do anything properly and it will just affect the class."

If this happened in college, people would probably say to a student who's always eager to do and show off, "Can you stop being so competitive, girl?" But since the term "involution" hadn't even been coined yet, girls usually call her a show-off or someone who's all talk and no action.

In fact, judging from the results alone, Lu Cheng's concerns were not without reason, because Xu Youwei often emphasized participation. She was always the first to raise her hand when signing up, but the final results were always just mediocre.

However, in Chen Junqian's opinion, compared to the other students in the class who only chatted afterward, Xu Youwei was at least the one who was genuinely willing to participate. Moreover, many times it was not intentional but due to a lack of ability. At least every year at the sports meet, she was the only one running all the long-distance running events in the women's group. This time, it was the same. No one else in the class raised their hand to take on the task of making the blackboard newspaper.

"Then why don't you come and help too, class monitor? If you're really worried, I remember you have pretty good handwriting on the chalk, we need you to help with the blackboard bulletin."

“I’d be happy to help, but I’m not close to Xu Youwei. She’ll definitely need Lin Mu’s help with the blackboard bulletin this time. Aren’t you and Lin Mu getting along really well these past few days? Could you go and tell her for me, so we can do it together?”

"...Why are you starting to say that Lin Mu and I have a good relationship?"

Faced with Chen Junqian's question, Lu Cheng glanced at his desk drawer and whispered to him:

"I didn't tell anyone, I just came early this morning and happened to see Lin Mu sneaking around your seat."

Following Lu Cheng's instructions, Chen Junqian subconsciously reached into the deepest part of his desk drawer and groped around for a bit.

The bottled beverage was lying there quietly.

It wasn't the Weigang milk that the other party gave him at the tutoring class yesterday noon, but the Miaolian Xiaoyangren milk that he gulped down quickly the night before and last night, which led the other party to believe that it was the milk he preferred.

Chapter 11: What is the most desired talisman?

However, before Lu Cheng and Chen Junqian could approach Xu Youwei, Lin Mu had already dragged her to their seats.

"This time, could you please help us with the blackboard bulletin board?"

Perhaps after being nudged twice by Lin Mu from behind, Xu Youwei awkwardly extended the invitation. She seemed to subconsciously dislike such weak words that sounded like she was asking for help, and her lips remained tightly pursed as she spoke.

"It's alright, it's alright. I was just discussing with Chen Junqian about joining you guys. Four people should be enough. How about we divide up the tasks first?"

As the class monitor from first grade to now, Lu Cheng has always been impeccable in his interpersonal skills. He is not only well-liked by teachers, but also highly regarded by other students in the class. He has a firm grasp on emotional intelligence.

"Well, class monitor, you write well with chalk, so you can write on the blackboard with me. Weiwei can draw, so she'll be in charge of the drawings. Chen Junqian... Chen Junqian will be in charge of helping us with... the design work?"

It can only be said that Lin Mu's emotional intelligence is indeed not a problem. Chen Junqian is sure that the first thing the other party would say was "help out", but he immediately changed it to a more sophisticated design.

In fact, there is no design work involved in blackboard bulletins. For elementary school students of this age, whether it is a large blackboard bulletin or a small handwritten newspaper, it is basically just a ready-made template found on the Internet. After all, it is indeed a bit difficult for them to design a bulletin from scratch.

"I have no objection. I can also help with other miscellaneous tasks, such as erasing the blackboard."

When the topic of erasing the blackboard came up, Chen Junqian unconsciously glanced at Lin Mu, only to be immediately glared at by the other man. It seemed that they had both thought of the height issue at the same time, since they had talked about this topic for a long time just yesterday.

"Okay, it's settled then. Chen Junqian, can you find and print out all the necessary documents tonight?"

"No problem, I can bring it to school tomorrow."

After the four-person team for creating the blackboard newspaper was fully formed, Xu Youwei became much more natural and returned to her usual self. It was a bit hard to understand what this child was thinking. Sure enough, she couldn't compare to Mu Mu, who always wore her heart on her sleeve.

After going through the details and reaching a consensus, the group walked out of the classroom together.

The second period this morning was pottery class, which is held once a week. Apart from PE class, which the PE teacher often misses, this is probably everyone's favorite class. After all, they haven't completely outgrown the age of playing with mud, and they certainly can't refuse the opportunity to openly play with mud, well, do pottery during class time.

There are no assigned seats in the pottery classroom; basically, everyone sits wherever they like, with students sitting in pairs around several rows of long tables. After assigning the day's tasks, the teacher walks around in front of the children to provide guidance or answer their questions.

Since the four of them came together, they naturally sat in a row. Chen Junqian sat next to Lu Cheng, while Xu Youwei and Lin Mu sat opposite the two boys.

Although Chen Junqian had seen pottery-related projects in various tourist attractions or DIY experience centers in his previous life, he had basically never been exposed to it again after elementary school.

Fortunately, since this was just an extracurricular activity, the teachers didn't particularly care whether the students were completing the tasks. As long as they weren't starting to knead mud balls and throw them at each other, it didn't matter. So Chen Junqian was able to continue slacking off with peace of mind.

Sitting next to him, Class Monitor Lu, who aspired to be a pillar of society, was diligently kneading the clay pot according to the steps taught by the teacher. Meanwhile, Lin Mu and Xu Youwei opposite them had already let loose and started treating the clay in their hands as larger and better clay, sculpting all sorts of little things.

It must be admitted that Xu Youwei's talent in sculpting clay is indeed quite remarkable, as Lin Mu described her as someone who could practice dessert-making skills with clay. Compared to Chen Junqian's crude technique of putting two clay balls of different sizes together to pretend to be a snowman or placing a small cube on top of a large cuboid and attaching a long tube to pretend to be a tank, Xu Youwei's clay figures and food all look quite presentable.

In a sense, the other person is more suitable to be Nuwa than him.

Perhaps feeling that such small gadgets were no longer challenging, Xu Youwei soon began to study a large-scale project called a castle. By the time get out of class was about to end, she had actually created a respectable piece, which attracted the attention of the teacher and students from other nearby classes.

But to everyone's surprise, the moment the bell rang, Xu Youwei reached out and flattened the castle she had been building for almost the entire class from top to bottom. Then she crumpled it into a mess with both hands, and without a care, got up from her seat and went to wash her hands at the row of sinks in front of the classroom.

Seeing this, Lin Mu quickly followed, washing his hands beside her while asking Xu Youwei in a low voice, a mix of concern and confusion:

"Why did you ruin that? It was so hard to make, it's such a waste."

"No matter how regrettable it is, it's something I made myself. Of course, I can treat my own things however I want. Besides, the pottery class is over. If I leave it there, the students from other grades and classes who come to class next time will turn it back into the original lump of clay."

"No, I think the pottery teacher likes it too. We can ask him to keep your castle separately, Weiwei. We can make it into pottery, paint it, and keep it for many, many years without it ever changing... Weiwei, don't you remember the text 'The Clay Pot and the Iron Pot' that we learned in Chinese class last semester? Even after many, many years, when the defiant iron pot is completely rusted and oxidized, the clay pot can still be dug out intact."

"...Nothing in this world will never change."

After saying that, Xu Youwei seemed to realize that there was no need to say these things to Lin Mu, who was trying to comfort her, so she immediately changed the subject with her usual smile: