I turned reality into a romantic comedy

【……………………………】

[Condition for success: After the confession of any female protagonist with romantic comedy potential is drowned out by the sound of wind, fireworks, engine noise, etc., she quickly regroups and completes a second confession.]

But in the end, it faded away, like a fleeting firework in the sky.

Chapter Sixty-One: The Reason for Writing (Part Two)

A fireworks festival where sound disappeared.

Although Chen Junqian could indeed deduce what Xu Youwei had just done through the newly triggered achievement in his mind, to be honest, he didn't hear a single sound or hear a single word clearly.

This is normal, since if he had actually heard it, the achievement wouldn't have been triggered in the first place.

[He was confessed to by the female lead while setting off fireworks.]

Even after reading the description of the achievement several times, Chen Junqian still had no idea what Xu Youwei had said. After all, the concept of confession is quite vague, and considering the system's stupid review mechanism that he had fooled countless times, there was a possibility of 'misjudgment' again.

'I like you,' 'Please stay with me forever,' 'I want to be your girlfriend,' 'Want to try dating me?', or even just 'Can we watch the fireworks together next year?'

Having no way of knowing what Xu Youwei had just said, Chen Junqian was equally unsure how to react or what specific answer to give at this moment.

But one thing is certain: even if Xu Youwei's confession to him just now perfectly met the system's achievement review standards, he wouldn't agree to it here at this moment.

This has nothing to do with the male protagonist's identity in a romantic comedy; it's just Chen Junqian's own heartfelt thought.

Of course, a primary school student can like someone, but he would never like another primary school student. Even if a primary school student's definition of a boyfriend/girlfriend and a relationship is limited to playing together, holding hands, having matching online names, and at most calling each other "husband" and "wife" affectionately, it is essentially an imitation of adult relationships.

However, even if there was no such relationship between the two, what Chen Junqian and Xu Youwei did was no different. Especially after the two became deskmates at school, even if not everyone could see more details like Zhong Yu, who sat behind them, other classmates who only watched from afar would naturally feel that they had a good relationship.

Chen Junqian didn't think that Xu Youwei's so-called confession had any deeper meaning. Nearly three years of observation experience had made him very clear about one fact: the precociousness of his classmate Youyou was always superficial. In essence, she was still just a child who was more prone to daydreaming than Mumu.

So this confession was just one of her methods, just like the diary trick she used on Xu Zhiling before. What she wanted to pursue was just the elementary school-level romantic idea of ​​"playing only with me from now on." In fact, before she even opened her mouth to confess, he had already said something similar.

All she wanted was companionship. She felt that a stable, confirmed relationship would naturally provide a layer of security, which is why she chose to pursue it. Rather, in Chen Junqian's eyes, Xu Youwei's views on love were probably not as profound as Zhu Wenyun's, who, despite saying she "didn't understand" it, was actually already serializing a youth romance novel in "Fireworks."

Thinking back along the timeline, Chen Junqian could understand why Xu Youwei would do something like this at this particular time. It was just that her moving this year had really upset Youyou a lot, mainly because the fact that she was completely unaware of it was the most outrageous thing, and then there was the sudden appearance of Gu Linguo, her new neighbor.

According to Mu Mu herself, Xu Youwei's first impression of Gu Lingguo was just "She said she saved him, so she saved him?", which perfectly embodies a child's self-centeredness and possessiveness.

After all, even among so many children, Xu Youwei always felt the most insecure. Shen Nianqiu didn't even count, because she had already left childhood behind.

That's why, rather than responding to a confession he couldn't hear clearly and had no idea what was said, Chen Junqian felt that what he needed to address now was the other person's deeper needs, in order to dispel Xu Youwei's hesitation and unease. That was the more important thing.

Moreover, Chen Junqian has always been concerned that Xu Youwei may not actually be pursuing a romantic relationship. After all, judging from her past experiences and attitude towards family, the so-called romantic relationship or even marriage, the kind of common-sense relationship where one person is the father and the other is the mother, is not stable at all and could be betrayed by one of them at any time.

Therefore, it's probably best to ignore that ambiguous confession for now.

Within a minute, Chen Junqian's mind raced, considering every possible scenario. Then, he turned to the side, put his arm around the girl sitting next to him, looked into her eyes, and earnestly replied:

"Okay, I promise you."

"If Youyou wants to be a comic artist in the future, I will be your screenwriter. If you want to be a game illustrator, I will be your copywriter. Any other profession is fine, as long as I can help. But if I need Youyou's help in the future, you are not allowed to refuse me."

To be honest, when Chen Junqian said the first sentence, "Okay, I promise you," Xu Youwei's heart almost stopped beating in her chest. Even the air around her seemed to thicken instantly, but she quickly came to her senses.

After all, even Xu Youwei herself knew that she hadn't even heard the faint, almost inaudible words she had just uttered, let alone Chen Junqian, who was looking up at the fireworks amidst the background noise.

It was neither a success nor a failure.

It's like a coin tossed out isn't the coin itself, but rather stuck in a crack in the floor, standing upright.

But such a promise can still be considered a gain.

Completely oblivious to her own feelings, Xu Youwei didn't even know what expression was on her face. So she simply threw herself onto Chen Junqian's chest, burying her head in it, letting out a muffled "hmm." Then she hooked her little finger around Chen Junqian's, her mind still replaying the words she had just said that he hadn't heard.

Xu Youwei was quite certain that the boy she was holding hadn't heard her, because given his personality, if he had heard her, he definitely wouldn't have reacted that way.

Just as Chen Junqian had predicted, Xu Youwei, who had a deeper understanding and awareness of life and death than lovers or spouses, was not expressing anything simple and beautiful from the beginning, but rather something heavier and darker.

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

In early February, during the last days of winter vacation, Chen Junqian went to the newsstand near his home and bought the latest issue of "Fireworks". The first thing he did after returning home was to cut out the reader survey form on the last page, intending to fill it out in the afternoon and mail it to the editorial department.

Before the full arrival of the internet, comics and literary magazines of this era used a survey-based reader feedback collection method similar to that in Japan. Readers had to cut out and fill out the questionnaire included with the magazine and mail it back to collect their opinions. The magazines then ranked the works to decide whether to cancel or support them. Many authors also used this channel to understand readers' feelings in real time.

However, the biggest problem with this format is that the questionnaires and reader opinions collected through this method are often not entirely accurate. Just like the saying "ten percent of people can always make ninety percent of the noise," the vast majority of people willing to do this kind of thing are girls.

In any case, Chen Junqian had never done such a thing before his rebirth, and in his memory, Zhong Yu, who bought every issue of "Zhiyin Manke", had never done it either.

This is precisely why many comic artists and authors ultimately receive the majority of advice from women, which unconsciously influences many of them and even leads them astray from their entire work. This is partly the reason why a large number of well-known works published in "Zhiyin Manke," including "Stealing the Stars in September," underwent a sudden change in art style after the middle period.

Chen Junqian was doing this mainly to support Zhu Wenyun. So after cutting out the survey form, he didn't even look at it before directly checking the box for the second installment of Zhu Wenyun's "Plums Too Ripe Are Bitter, Unrequited Love Too Long Is Sour" in the "Choose Your Favorite This Issue" section. Only then did he put the survey form in the book and start reading the contents.

Just like last month, Chen Junqian had just finished reading when Zhu Wenyun called, asking him to come to her house.

Similar to Lin Mu's situation, Zhu Wenyun is also the type who is forced to cut off contact with Chen Junqian during winter vacation and Chinese New Year. After all, both of them have to go back to their hometown in the mountains to spend the New Year with their elders. This is completely different from Xu Youwei, because apart from her grandmother, Youyou has no other close elders. Therefore, she can easily ask Chen Junqian out during winter vacation and Chinese New Year.

However, it is already the end of the winter vacation, and there is only the Lantern Festival left in the New Year celebrations. Therefore, Zhu Wenyun returned to the city from her hometown in the mountains and made this call to Chen Junqian today.

Unlike last time, this time Zhu Wenyun received not only a sample copy of this issue from the editorial department, but also the payment for the previous issue's manuscript and several selected reader letters, all of which were sent to Zhu Wenyun together.

Fireworks magazine doesn't publish specific reader rankings for each issue. After all, there are many short stories published, and there's no need to cancel any works based on reader feedback. They only announce the top three each issue and then give the authors corresponding bonuses.

However, since it was the first issue and she still needed to build up her popularity, although the feedback from readers seemed pretty good, Zhu Wenyun was still unable to take the top three spots in one go. This time, she only received the basic manuscript fee, excluding the prize money, which was a total of 600 yuan.

"It's a bit of a pity that we came in fourth, since the third place would have won a prize of two hundred yuan."

As she and Chen Junqian looked through the reader letters sent by the editorial department, Zhu Wenyun muttered something to herself, still looking a little regretful. After all, two hundred yuan was definitely not a small amount for her, and she needed to use these royalties to prove herself to her family little by little, and she wanted to save up enough money to go on a trip with Chen Junqian as soon as possible.

"If you can get fourth place the first time, you should be able to easily get into the top three this time. I've already watched the second episode, and the quality hasn't dropped at all. The transition between the first and second parts is very well done, so there shouldn't be any problems. Long novels are the kind of works that get more popular as they get written, and the reader feedback has been pretty good, hasn't it?"

Chen Junqian waved the reader's letter in his hand at Zhu Wenyun and encouraged her with a smile:

"Even students who are about to take the college entrance examination this year were moved by your words and were reminded of their childhood sweethearts. They said they would confess to them without any regrets after graduation. If they succeed, Wenjun will have played the role of matchmaker."

"Um……"

Zhu Wenyun seemed a bit absent-minded today, as if she was hesitating about something. After counting the six hundred yuan in royalties in her hand again, she suddenly looked up and talked to Chen Junqian about something else.

"Junqian, do you still remember the various columns in 'Fireworks' that I explained to you last time?"

"I remember, something about Peach Box and Young Man of This Place. Wen Yun chose Wings of Adversity, which had a greater emphasis on growth, right?"

"Yes, but recently Lulu, who is my editor, told me about another column called 'This Season's Fireworks'."

"Fireworks this season?"

"Well, when I want to receive payment for my writing, I have to fill in my home address and real information. Then Sister Lulu found out that I was the first prize winner in the provincial essay competition. She even dug up the news reports from that time and then came over to ask me if I was interested in participating in this 'Fireworks of the Season' column."

"So what exactly is this segment?"

"According to Sister Lulu, it is a column and platform used by their magazine to cultivate teenage idol writers. The initial requirements are that the writer has serialized works in the magazine and received positive reviews from readers, and then the writer must be good-looking."

I felt that Zhu Wenyun herself was a little embarrassed when she said this. She was indeed the kind of child who was quite precocious both physically and mentally. Judging from the photos, she could easily be mistaken for a junior high school student or a high school student.

"Teenagers, idols, writers?"

Completely surprised that these three words could be connected, Chen Junqian was also a little confused.

"If I had to give an analogy, it would probably be like Han Han and Guo Jingming, right? But they just told me that I have to wait until I finish serializing this novel I have on hand this year and build up some popularity first."

"So, does Wen Yun mean you plan to participate?"

"Ah."

Faced with Chen Junqian's question, Zhu Wenyun simply nodded firmly.

She wanted to become a more famous writer, but not simply for fame or income.

The deepest reason lies hidden in these letters from readers.

Before Chen Junqian arrived, Zhu Wenyun had already read several of the letters countless times, repeatedly reading the passages where readers excitedly expressed their feelings about the pure emotions between the male and female protagonists in the story.

Because the male and female protagonists in the story are her and Chen Junqian.

What she wanted was the feeling that hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of millions of people in the world genuinely wanted the two people in the story to be together and sincerely cheered for their story.

Chapter 62: Time, please slow down.

With the school officially starting in mid-February, Chen Junqian's primary school life entered its final countdown. His father, Chen Jun, went to Tangshan again, while he and his mother moved to their new home in Yunqi Jinyuan.

This place is very close to Guoning Middle School, which he will attend in junior high school, but it is farther away from the Experimental Primary School, which he is currently attending. That is why Gu Lingguo, who lives next door to him, has not moved in yet, but has temporarily stayed in the old house that is closer to the primary school.

It was the last semester, and the homeroom teacher still didn't plan to change the seating arrangement, so Chen Junqian continued to sit next to Xu Youwei. What happened during the fireworks display in winter break didn't seem to have any impact on their relationship or atmosphere. They still played around as usual, wandered around after school as usual, and gathered at their secret base in the countryside on weekends to continue discussing how to deal with the ever-approaching apocalypse.

As soon as Chen Junqian entered the classroom that day, he heard Zhong Yu, who was sitting in the back seat, complaining to his deskmate Lu Cheng about some things that happened during the recent winter vacation. Lu Cheng was as carefree as ever, with his legs crossed and a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Oh, it was a cigarette candy. He even had another one hanging behind his ear, just like his father. When he saw Chen Junqian coming over, he waved to him, signaling him to come and talk to him.

"This year, my parents threw me over to take care of their kids again during the Lunar New Year. I was definitely not as stupid as my younger cousins ​​when I was a kid. One or two of them would actually want to call those stupid quiz ads that were playing in the middle of the cartoon channel to win big prizes. If I hadn't stopped them from touching the landline beforehand, my family's phone bill would probably have been gone by the day, and I would have been the one who got scolded in the end."

At this point, Zhong Yu also adopted the demeanor of a mature man, pretending to be world-weary as he took out the cigarette candy from his mouth, blew a smoke ring that didn't actually exist, and looked quite tired.

"Indeed, so in the end I just let them play on the computer, at least that way it's quieter."

Lu Cheng seemed to agree wholeheartedly, and then the two of them turned to look at Chen Junqian, only to receive the reply, "It's alright, my sister is a pretty well-behaved child." Lu Cheng's eyes immediately showed a hint of resentment.

"But I remember you don't have a younger sister, Qian'er, right? Cousin..."

Just as Zhong Yu was about to ask a question with some doubt, he caught a glimpse of Xu Youwei walking in from the classroom door out of the corner of his eye. He shrugged and shut up, then pretended to look at the magazine in his hand.

There was no way around it. Ever since he found out that his good buddy Chen Junqian had secretly gone to Lin'an during the winter break to meet a beautiful older sister he met online, Zhong Yu had been too afraid to make eye contact with Xu Youwei. He was mainly afraid that he would be unable to help but laugh out loud, and then she would notice something was wrong and eventually reveal the truth. So it was better to stay away from her.

"There's a spring outing next month."

As soon as she sat down next to Chen Junqian, Xu Youwei put down her schoolbag and began to explain things to him directly.

"Yes, let's go to Jingting Mountain."

Chen Junqian still vividly remembers this last spring outing during his primary school years. Jingting Mountain is located in the northern suburbs of Xuancheng, not far from their home in Guoning. Like Taohuatan in neighboring Jingxian County, it has been heavily associated with Li Bai, most famously for his poem "Sitting Alone on Jingting Mountain," which reads: "All the birds have flown high and far, a lone cloud drifts leisurely by. We gaze at each other without weariness, only Jingting Mountain and I."

Therefore, Chen Junqian could understand why his homeroom teacher and Chinese teacher always felt uneasy whenever Li Bai was mentioned. After all, this poet had traveled all over Anhui, writing poems and promoting local products everywhere, but he just couldn't write a single poem in Guoning, which made the residents of Guoning in later generations quite depressed.

However, before Xu Youwei could speak, Chen Junqian already knew her purpose, so he preemptively explained his thoughts:

"I'll climb with Mumu, but Youwei, if you want to come too, that's fine too. She's a bit weaker, so we'll have to match Mumu's pace."

From the very first autumn outing to Jing County, every spring and autumn outing has been Mu Mu's private domain, while Xu Youwei mostly just watches from the sidelines, occasionally coming over to say a few words, just like the first time.

"Then the three of us will go together."

Xu Youwei was already aware of this, and her speaking up this time was essentially just a gamble. After all, maybe her good friend didn't intend to be with Chen Junqian this time. The other party was never the type to be overly guarded, which was something everyone could see.

However, after the events of the winter break, Xu Youwei sometimes wondered if it was because of Mu Mu's personality that Chen Junqian unconsciously accommodated and favored her in many things, instead of having the feeling that the more he wanted to hold on to something, the more it seemed to slip through his fingers.

Even so, Xu Youwei still wouldn't change her thoughts and attitude, because at least doing so would prevent her from having feelings of regret later. The scenario of suddenly losing an important relationship without any prior warning would be much harder for her to accept.

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

At lunchtime at the after-school care center, Lin Mu brought up the same topic with Chen Junqian.

"It's spring outing again! Our homeroom teacher said we're going to Jingting Mountain this time. I wonder if we'll be able to climb it. I've been to Huangshan Mountain with my parents several times before, but I've never been able to climb it. We always turned back halfway."

"Jingting Mountain is much easier to climb than Huangshan Mountain. It's much lower in altitude, and I'll help Mumu with that too, so it should be fine."

After briefly recalling his spring outing to Mount Jingting in his previous life, Chen Junqian's only memory was that after reaching the summit, he counted the number of people and realized that not all of them were present.

As for whether Mu Mu was one of the students who didn't make it up, Chen Junqian couldn't really remember. Anyway, he, Zhong Yu, and Lu Cheng climbed up together. They even bought a glowing plastic golden cudgel on the platform square in the middle and danced around it happily the whole way.

Lin Mu glanced at the TV in front of him. The animated series airing in February 2012 was Marvel's superhero series, which was more interesting to boys but didn't resonate much with girls. Lin Mu seemed equally uninterested and had no intention of watching it, so he simply focused on eating the braised pork in his bowl.

For Mumu, who could easily chew and swallow green vegetables, including bitter melon, without batting an eye, the fatty part of braised pork was the kind of food that was harder to accept. So, she only bit the lean part of each piece in her bowl, and naturally put the fatty part into Chen Junqian's bowl. This had been their daily routine at the daycare for the past few years.

In fact, from a common sense perspective, indirect kissing is definitely one of the most classic elements in romantic comedies. However, the system has broken this category into countless subcategories. For example, the "drinking through straws together" event that Chen Junqian and Lin Mu triggered is one of them. For this kind of indirect kissing in the most basic sense, there are actually no achievements that can be triggered.

"Uh-huh--"

Chen Junqian noticed that Mu Mu seemed particularly happy, so he asked her out of curiosity why, and received this answer.

"Because I was thinking that if I really couldn't climb anymore, Qianqian would just pick me up and carry me on his back. Don't worry, Qianqian, I'm shorter than Weiwei... oops, I'm much lighter, so it will definitely be easier for him to carry me."

It can only be said that Xu Youwei has never been stingy in sharing all sorts of things between herself and Chen Junqian with Mu Mu. However, Chen Junqian has always felt that her behavior, which is like showing off, will only run into obstacles with Mu Mu. After all, whether it is the richness of her experience or Mu Mu's personality and mentality, Xu Youwei's behavior cannot make her childhood sweetheart have any emotional changes. At most, she can only think things like, "Qianqian is really amazing."

[Although I can carry Mumu on my back, starting with that in mind feels like I have no intention of reaching the summit at all, and that's not a good mindset.]

Although he had these thoughts in his mind, Chen Junqian ultimately did not say them aloud. After all, he always felt that it didn't matter if Mumu thought that way. Reality was not an environment where difficulties were created and challenges were overcome, just like with his sister. If Mumu could continue to be carefree like a child, Chen Junqian would definitely be willing to accept that fact.

Especially after experiencing the double attack from Shen Nianqiu and Xu Youwei during the winter vacation, sitting in the after-school care and eating and chatting with Mu Mu so freely, Chen Junqian almost felt a sense of being isolated from the world. It's obvious that the other party and Youyou are completely the same age, right?

"But if I graduate soon, I won't be able to eat and chat with Qianqian like this in the after-school care anymore. Thinking about it, I wish I could stay in school forever."

Compared to the older sister who was still hung up on Mu Mu and wished time would pass faster, Lin Mu was clearly the complete opposite. Her words and actions implied that she wished time would slow down, as if she wished time could stay at this moment forever and never move forward.

However, time will not speed up because of one person's wish, nor will it speed up because of another person's wish; feelings and relationships will change subtly day by day.