I turned reality into a romantic comedy

"But if we don't try, even the first step won't happen. After all, not being able to do it is one thing, and not doing it at all is another. And before I met you, I never dared to do it myself. Two people always have more courage than one person."

In the years since his rebirth, Chen Junqian had been using opportunistic methods to cheat the system's achievement review mechanism. However, after meeting Gu Lingguo, he genuinely wanted to replicate those achievements exactly, because in his opinion, the other party truly possessed excellent aptitude in this area and was the most suitable candidate.

Moreover, just like his attitude and thoughts towards Chen Xi, even setting aside the so-called system and achievements, Chen Junqian would be willing to build a relationship and interact with this girl. After all, as she said, there was no other student in the entire school who was like them.

"If we were to compare reality to a two-dimensional work, we're currently only in the childhood and growth stage of the characters. We're still a long way from the beginning of the story and the first episode that the audience will see. Even if Lin Guo doesn't believe in herself, at least she should believe in me and my judgment, okay?"

He is the male protagonist of the romantic comedy as designated by the system, so the girl he chooses must be the female lead of this romantic comedy.

Even in the real world, one must have this awareness.

Or rather, if we lose this awareness of 'making a story happen if there is no story, creating an event if there is no event,' then romantic comedies in reality would be impossible from the very beginning.

Of course, this was also because he was facing Gu Lingguo, so Chen Junqian used such a cringeworthy and childish argument. But as it turned out, it worked quite well because he could feel that the other party was persuaded by him.

"...So what should we do?"

"The first step, of course, is to be optimistic."

"optimism?"

"Yes, believe that romantic comedies will always end happily, and all the characters will find happiness at the end. All difficulties and setbacks will be overcome as tests. Believe in yourself, and believe in your friends and me."

After thinking for a moment, Chen Junqian asked Gu Linguo again:

"Has Lin Guo watched this season's Fate/Zero?"

"Yes, I'm watching."

“That makes things easier. Actually, I was planning to give you a ‘wish-granting’ coupon for your birthday today, but since you’ve already seen it, I’ll give you a Command Seal instead. However, since it’s also my birthday today, you have to give me a Command Seal as well.”

As he spoke, Chen Junqian reached out and traced the back of her hand with his fingertips, pretending to draw a Command Seal symbol from an anime that could command Heroic Spirits to do anything. Then he extended his own hand towards Gu Lingguo, gesturing for her to draw the same symbol on it as well.

"You can use it now, or you can keep it and use it whenever you want."

This is probably the most special gift Gu Lingguo has ever received since birth, so of course she doesn't plan to use it now, and her mind is already a mess.

Just as she subconsciously reached out her fingertips to touch it, Chen Junqian once again thought of the other person.

After returning home a few days ago, he finally recalled the source of his familiarity with the name of the neighborhood, 'Yunqi Jinyuan,' which he had never lived in, in his previous life.

That must have been during his high school years.

A girl a year below him committed suicide by jumping off a building there. Because Guoning is such a small county town, the news spread throughout the town by nightfall, and even Chen Junqian heard about it.

However, because the building was not tall, only three stories high, and because she did not land directly on the ground but first fell onto the roof of the electric vehicle shed below, she survived, but at the cost of paralysis of her lower body and permanent facial scars.

In the most widely circulated version, it was an ordinary evening after evening self-study, and before doing this, she politely said goodbye to her mother:

Goodbye, Mom.

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During the winter break of 2012, with Chen Jun's return from Tangshan after nearly a year, Chen Junqian's family began the final stages of their move.

Chen Junqian originally thought the move would end after the Lunar New Year, specifically after the tenth day of the first lunar month. However, he underestimated his parents' enthusiasm for finally owning their own new house after working hard for over a decade or two. As a result, the move was completed before the Lunar New Year.

Before officially leaving, the family turned back for one last look at the staff dormitory where they had lived for almost twenty years, a place that, though not theirs, felt no different from home.

Most of the furniture has been moved or recycled, leaving each small room empty. When you step out of the building and see the faded characters "Talented Scholar Building" still shining in the sunset on the facade, you can't help but feel a little sentimental.

"So what will happen to this house afterward?"

"They'll be taken back by the factory and then turned into dormitories for new employees. Maybe someone will be moving in tomorrow."

However, neither the father nor the son, who were chatting at that moment, expected that the residents of their old house would open the door a few hours later.

Lying on the bed in what used to be the other person's room, a bed now devoid of pillows, blankets, and everything else, just a cold, hard board, Xu Youwei pressed the button on the ultraviolet lamp in her hand.

The walls were covered with words and patterns, revealing their true form in the darkness. Even Xu Youwei herself suddenly realized at this moment that she had actually written so much, and in some places she had even forgotten that she had written them. The sentences and patterns were densely overlapping, like the scribbles and scribbles of a child.

She lay on the bed where Chen Junqian had slept for more than ten years, examining it bit by bit, trying to identify the words and patterns that were either blurred or still clear, like a great detective carefully investigating the truth.

But to be honest, I might be more like the kind of murderer in a detective story who has to go back to the crime scene afterward.

After all, the entire room was filled with her handwriting.

No one will be staying here anymore; she has already told her father.

After establishing a secret base for two, Hsu Yu-Wei once again had her own genuine secret base for one person.

But I felt completely unsettled.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that the impulse deep in my chest never disappeared after a certain period of time.

Whether sleeping or eating, this feeling is always present and gets stronger every day, to the point that it makes one wonder if they are sick.

However, Xu Youwei still didn't know the name of that impulse.

A powerful, nameless force, like a magnet, drew all her thoughts and actions in the same direction.

For the first time, Xu Youwei even had the thought that it would be great if Chen Junqian could just lie quietly in her arms like the teddy bear she hugged every night, and never leave.

Chapter 47: People Will Always Save Themselves Once Before the End of the World (Part 2)

The Spring Festival in 2012 was on January 23rd, and it was a leap year. However, Chen Junqian did not have any friends or classmates who were born on February 29th, a birthday that only comes once every four years. So the extra day in February had nothing to do with him.

In the early days of winter break, besides moving, Chen Junqian had three other things on his mind.

First, let's talk about Zhu Wenyun's novels.

Fireworks is published in January in two separate issues, A and B, with different styles. Zhu Wenyun's work was published in issue A, which was issued in the first half of the month.

Although Zhu Wenyun herself said there was no need for her to spend money, as she had a sample copy sent by the editorial department, Chen Junqian still went to the newsstand to buy a copy himself out of sentiment and support.

At this time, the print media industry was still in its last peak period, and newsstands had not completely died out. In Chen Junqian's memory, after Guoning began to apply for the title of National Civilized City, the first thing it faced was the standardization and rectification of the style of newsstands and breakfast stalls. As a result, the former became fewer and fewer as the changes were made, and eventually almost disappeared completely, leaving only a few.

To be honest, even though Chen Junqian had heard about the magazine "Fireworks" from Shen Nianqiu a long time ago, this was the first time he had spent money to buy and read it. Then he saw the promotional slogans on the cover, such as "No.1 Brand of Youth Literature" and "Designated Reading Publication of Hundreds of Key Middle School Literary Societies".

Compared to the former, Chen Junqian actually noticed the slogan "Literary Societies of 100 Key Middle Schools" immediately.

In fact, the Guoning Middle School he will be attending this year, as well as the senior high school section of Guoning Middle School, are both provincial key middle schools. The latter's undergraduate admission rate is almost 98% or 99%, and its first-tier university admission rate has been maintained at over 60% for many years. It can indeed be considered the second most impressive achievement of a small county like Guoning, besides walnuts.

Even so, Chen Junqian had never heard of any literary club in his junior high or high school in his previous life, so he had no thoughts or feelings about the system's words 'club activities' and 'ghost members' at first.

Besides these two promotional slogans, there's a whole bunch of long titles. In an era when Japanese light novels hadn't yet seen such a dramatic increase in title length, domestic youth magazines had already achieved this.

Chen Junqian glanced over and saw long titles like "What if we were still together now?" and "Those years of youth and us later." It took him a while to finally see the one signed "Wen Yun".

Likely a revision suggested by the editor, Zhu Wenyun once again chose a long title that perfectly matches the style of the magazine "Fireworks":

Overripe plums become bitter, and unrequited love for too long turns sour.

However, just as if he had anticipated that Chen Junqian would buy a magazine, Zhu Wenyun called him after he had only hastily flipped through the long serialized work twice, inviting him to her home.

"So you've already seen it, haven't you..."

The moment Zhu Wenyun saw the fireworks magazine in Chen Junqian's hand, she slumped weakly onto the table and muttered something under her breath. Then, she immediately sat up straight and confidently raised her chin at him.

"how do you feel?"

"At least the first chapter is fine. It happens to be about things from elementary school, which feels right in Wen Yun's comfort zone. If you just slightly modified the writing style of your previous book, it would be very relatable to readers. I also really like the narrative method. The switching between several perspectives is also very interesting. It's a good work that children of this age can empathize with, and older readers can also appreciate the emotions in it."

He looked at it carefully twice more on the way. Chen Junqian was quite satisfied with his magazine debut, which was only thirteen years old this year.

"So, have you figured out the outline and ending?"

As a writer himself, Chen Junqian knew very well that most authors in the world had very attractive initial ideas and concepts, but once the story went on for a while, they would start to fumble and add unnecessary details. So after praising her for a long time, he sat down directly opposite Zhu Wenyun and asked her this question.

"Yes, it's planned to be serialized in ten installments, with each installment around five to six thousand words. The outline and ending have already been written, but I can't show them to you yet."

"As long as Wenjun knows what she's doing, that's fine. But judging from the style of your first chapter, it seems to have a sweet tone?"

Faced with Chen Junqian's guess, Zhu Wenyun simply smiled and shook her head:

"It's clear that Junqian hasn't read much of the A-magazine of 'Fireworks' before. Each column here has a corresponding style. For example, even though they are all youth campus romance stories, they are divided into three. The kind of pure and warm sweet stories you mentioned would probably be in the column 'Peach Box,' while sad and painful youth stories would be submitted to the column 'These Young Men.' However, I submitted to 'Wings Against the Wind.' This column actually focuses more on growth and is not specifically about love. After all, I myself still don't understand what love is."

"What about the royalties?"

"The payment will be sent a month after publication. I currently receive 120 yuan per thousand words, which is about 600 to 700 yuan a month. If I can rank in the top three in the readers' vote each issue, I will receive an extra bonus. If I continue to do well, I will have the opportunity to publish a physical book."

"Wow, that's impressive. What do you plan to do with this money?"

Although an income of six or seven hundred yuan a month may not seem like a lot at first glance, considering that Zhu Wenyun is only a junior high school student, this royalties are particularly valuable. Putting aside the purchasing power of six or seven hundred yuan for a junior high school student, the fact that she can achieve a stable income every month is absolutely unique among her peers.

However, Chen Junqian himself is now a pioneer in entrepreneurship.

"Buy some furniture and home appliances for the house, and save the rest for when we need to get materials later."

"Source?"

“Yeah, we can’t just keep hanging around Guoning like this. Once we’ve saved up a certain amount, Junqian and I can go on a trip together, how about that?”

Compared to Xu, who was still agonizing over the fact that Lin Mu and Chen Junqian had already gone on two summer trips together, Zhu Wenyun's idea was actually quite simple. After all, the other party was just relying on the good relationship between the two families to get the excuse of a family trip. So why not just save up enough money for the two of them to go on a trip together?

"Sure, is there anywhere you particularly want to go, Yun?"

"Rather than talking about places I want to go, it's more about things I want to do and scenes I want to experience firsthand. Just like when I was writing my last book, I couldn't write about the cooking scene before I learned how to cook. The same applies to this book. I'm still in the preparatory stage of my childhood, so I'm doing it relatively well. But later on, I'll definitely need more relevant experience."

"That's true."

Chen Junqian also agreed with Zhu Wenyun's words. After all, an author can only write about things within the scope of their experience and imagination. If they go beyond that, there will be obvious distortion, or even some ridiculous situations.

"But I see that this story you wrote is still about childhood sweethearts?"

"Because I feel that childhood sweethearts should be together, and the time spent growing up together can never be replaced."

Although he wanted to subconsciously retort to the previous comment, "Mu Mu would definitely like to hear you say that," Chen Junqian only then belatedly realized another fact.

The fact that Lin Mu is a childhood sweetheart only exists in the system's definition and achievements. However, Chen Junqian had almost forgotten this fact because only Lin Mu could trigger this achievement.

Logically speaking, Lin Mu, Xu Youwei, and Zhu Wenyun, who met him around the same time, should all naturally consider themselves childhood sweethearts.

After all, reality isn't like a system where people get caught up in things like classic fiction or romantic comedy. Xu Youwei and Zhu Wenyun don't know any of these complicated things.

Moreover, even in the eyes of others, including Zhong Yu, this should be the case.

"Actually, I did design a character who appeared out of nowhere, but this kind of character who suddenly appears is ultimately just to drive the plot forward, so that the male and female protagonists can better understand each other's relationship and take their feelings to the next level."

"What about Junqian? What do you think?"

Faced with Zhu Wenyun's somewhat nervous question, Chen Junqian simply nodded and offered his thoughts:

"Indeed, childhood sweethearts are the best."

He could see the smile that naturally bloomed on the girl's face because of the answer, and then she lowered her head and turned to that page of the magazine in her hand.

They first met in a noisy farmers' market.

In this story, however, there is no longer the other girl who hid behind the boy, trying to deceive herself by covering her face with tofu.

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The second thing is about Mu Mu's grades.

It seems that Lin Mu has lost the motivation she had last summer—the drive to go on a trip with Chen Junqian if she made progress—or perhaps she was affected by other factors. This time, Lin Mu has once again slunk back to her previous position in the final exam rankings.

However, just like last time, this time her good friend Xu Youwei stood by her side through thick and thin. Her own grades also declined a bit, and she even wanted to take this opportunity to reorganize a study group consisting only of her and Chen Junqian. Unfortunately, the business failed halfway through because Chen Junqian was busy moving.

After finally finishing the move, when Xu Youwei arrived at Chen Junqian's house, she found that Lin Mu was already waiting there. What annoyed her even more was that Chen Junqian's new bedroom had been completely furnished by him, making it hard for Xu Youwei not to think of the empty, cramped room she could only face, with only those words and patterns written on the walls.

But that doesn't mean all traces were erased or left behind.

Xu Youwei secretly cast her gaze toward the glass bottle containing origami cranes and little stars on Chen Junqian's desk, where traces of her writing with an invisible pen still remained.

In fact, when she first started doing these things, she already knew that the bottle of origami cranes and little stars must be a gift from Lin Mu to Chen Junqian.

But a long time has passed, and even Xu Youwei herself can't quite recall her feelings and specific thoughts when she did it, since she doesn't have the habit of writing a diary.

However, at this very moment, she felt a subtle sense of peace and pleasure upon seeing the bottle again. Although she quickly felt guilty and ashamed for having such feelings, Xu Youwei had to admit that this was the only mark she had left in Chen Junqian's new bedroom, and it was on Lin Mu's gift.

Seeing Lin Mu walk into the room and sit directly on Chen Junqian's bed, Xu Youwei simply looked away, then sat down on the chair next to him, assuming a posture of preparing to study hard, and began taking her homework out of her schoolbag.

Sure enough, as soon as she made that feigned move, Lin Mu felt a little embarrassed to continue sitting there slacking off. He immediately sat up from the bed, moved a chair to sit next to Xu Youwei, and started doing his homework with her.

As for Chen Junqian, he was cooking two dishes for the two kids in the kitchen outside. He had no choice but to play the role of chef again, mainly because Lin Mu kept pestering him to eat his cooking. However, since both of them were there, he probably wouldn't be able to grind for the almost perfect feeding play achievement again.

Thinking of this, Chen Junqian glanced at the system in his mind again.

Not long after his rebirth, it started flashing light from time to time to tease him, but the "Shura Field in Progress" event has never been triggered even once. It still flickers on and off like a broken hallway light. However, Chen Junqian has gotten used to it, so after glancing at it, he put his attention back on the pot.

However, what he didn't know was that after being stimulated once again by accidentally discovering three Christmas cards stacked together in the desk drawer, Xu Youwei, who had been bombarded with these thoughts during this period and was completely unable to calm down, glanced at Mu Mu next to her and then silently made a decision in her heart.

And so, a request that cannot be heard, but which can be understood immediately upon being triggered, the most darkly humorous un-unlocked achievement, first shone faintly in Chen Junqian's mind.

A fireworks festival where sound disappeared.