I turned reality into a romantic comedy

Chapter 63: I'm Not an Stupid Person (Part 2)

Early spring in March is always bright and beautiful. After shedding the bulky winter clothes and putting on spring clothes again, I feel much lighter. Today is also a beautiful sunny day.

As Chen Junqian walked along the road, he tilted his head back slightly and squinted at the sky. The sun was wearing a simple coat of light, and the white clouds were draped in a splendid skirt. Even two years later, after the concept of PM2.5 was officially popularized, the air quality of Guoning, this small mountain town, has always been at the level of good to excellent. It is the hometown that Chen Junqian has always been proud of.

"The wind is a bit noisy today."

"Ah, even if my brother says that, there's no supermarket nearby having a half-price potato chip promotion."

She understood perfectly and seamlessly echoed Chen Junqian's sentiments. Walking beside him, Gu Lingguo muttered to herself:

"Compared to potato chips, I wish magazines could have a half-price sale someday. They're just too expensive."

That's right, Chen Junqian accompanied Gu Lingguo out today to buy magazines, but the reason given to Gu Lingguo's family was, of course, studying. Who says studying anime and manga doesn't count as studying?

"Are you planning to buy two units this time?"

"Well, I forgot to buy it last month because of something, so I bought the February and March issues together today. But the free gift is still with my brother, just like before. I wonder what the free gift will be this time. I'm quite looking forward to it."

Chen Junqian had no objection to Gu Lingguo starting to stuff small CDs and anime posters under her bed. After all, if her mother found out that Gu Lingguo had these things at home, the consequences would probably be quite serious. In the past, they had no choice but to take temporary measures, but now that he was helping, it was much safer.

Secondly, Chen Junqian also felt that this was indeed a good opportunity to trigger the achievement of "Soundness Check". After all, theoretically those things did look a bit unsound, which was much better than him actually stuffing some mysterious Liu Bei under the bed or asking Zhong Yu for some strange CDs.

It was only after getting to know Gu Lingguo that Chen Junqian realized his own level of understanding of anime and manga was just so-so, or rather, he was more like someone who "watches anime." He was completely clueless about other aspects of ACGN, including light novels, comics, visual novels, and derivative elements such as cosplay, fan art, and sorcery. Gu Lingguo, on the other hand, was completely different. She was the kind of girl who would explore all aspects of anime and manga with great interest and then get him involved in the hobby together.

Of course, since Xiao Gu's financial resources are far from reaching the point of making three copies—one for personal use, one for collection, and one for spreading the word—she can only buy one copy each time, and the two of them can watch it together. It's a bit like the way Xu Youwei and Chen Junqian watched "Happy Detective" together before. However, Gu Linguo's desire to express herself is much stronger. In addition, the thickness of this monthly magazine, "Anime Fanatics," is truly astonishing. With the free gifts, it's common for the two of them to spend an afternoon watching and playing together.

"This store should be the only newsstand in Guoning where you can buy 'Anime Mania'. I searched for it for a long time back then, and now the owner knows me."

Taking Chen Junqian to a newsstand in Guoning city, Gu Lingguo tiptoed and handed over several ten-yuan and five-yuan bills, along with a few coins—a total of forty yuan—from her pocket.

"Good afternoon, Grandma. Please bring me two issues of 'Anime Fever,' the latest one from last month and the latest one from this month."

"Okay, I've saved it for you."

It was clear she was a regular customer. The old lady who had been listening to Huangmei Opera on the radio at the newsstand chuckled and sat up from her reclining chair. She rummaged through the items on the counter, then took the money, counted it, and handed over two thick magazines.

"Drive carefully."

"Yeah, thank you, grandma."

After receiving the magazine, Gu Lingguo didn't feel comfortable opening it on the way because it contained freebies such as CDs and posters. Instead, she and Chen Junqian looked at the headlines on the cover.

First, there was the February 2012 issue, with the most eye-catching headline being: "[The Fastest Review of the Strongest 'Primary School Drama' of 2011: Snowflakes Fall Silently, Winter Passes Without a Trace, 'White Album 2' Sings for Tomorrow]".

"This game was reported in the January issue, and it was also featured here in March. Is it that popular? It's a pity I haven't had time to play it lately, even though the game was included in this issue's disc."

"It seems to be quite famous, and there's a lot of discussion about it online."

Chen Junqian was also very familiar with the name White Album 2, not because he had played the galgame, but because many of the romantic comedy achievements in his mind were related to this mysterious game. Most of the achievements closely related to winter would include the phrase "It's White Album season again".

I remember when he first saw these, he searched online and found White Album 1, which already had an anime adaptation. But after watching all of them, he realized that they didn't match up at all. Now, if he looks at them again, they should correspond to White Album 2.

Just looking at the achievements, including but not limited to "Why are you so skilled?", "Unattainable Love", "Airport Chase", "I Was Here First", "Double the Happiness", "I Can't Lie to XXX", and so on, Chen Junqian could already get a pretty good idea of ​​what kind of work this was. What happened to the romantic comedy?

Besides the content of White Album 2, what attracted Gu Lingguo the most was another article titled "[A once-a-year review of Japanese light novels, this light novel is amazing! 2012]". After all, this child actually reads light novels. Compared to Chen Junqian, who only reads anime, she would also explain to him which anime are original works, which are light novel adaptations, and which are manga adaptations.

"I don't think 'A Certain Magical Index' will necessarily be number one this year, because I think the two series I'm currently watching could surpass it, and that's before the anime adaptation. It will definitely be more popular after the anime officially airs."

"Is it the Sword Art Online and My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected that Lin Guo mentioned to me before?"

"Yeah, Sword Art Online is going to start airing its anime this July. I hope they can announce an anime adaptation of Oregairu soon too, that would boost its popularity. You've probably seen the resources I sent you, right? What did you think?"

"Not bad. If the animation is well done, I feel its popularity will definitely be high."

Rather, it's more accurate to say that the former's "Sword Art Online" can be considered one of the most popular works of 2012. Chen Junqian himself had heard of it when he was a complete outsider in his previous life. At that time, he was curious as to why the male protagonist was named Kirito (Bronze Man), which has a Shaolin Temple style, while the female protagonist was named Asuna, which has a Western style. He only understood the reason after reading the first few volumes of the novel published by Gu Lingguo.

"I wonder if virtual reality technology will actually be developed by 2022, ten years from now... I really want to play those immersive games."

Of course not.

As a reborn person who returned from 2025, Chen Junqian was well aware that technological development had not reached that level. It was mainly because the first decade of the 21st century did indeed give people a sense of rapid change, making them involuntarily have higher expectations for the future.

"It's not impossible."

After casually agreeing, Chen Junqian turned his gaze to the latest March issue that Gu Lingguo had shoved into his hands. Sure enough, he saw the column analysis title for White Album 2 again, followed by "[2011 Galgame Roundup]" and "[The Idolmaster Anime Ending Commemoration]". The accompanying bonus disc also contained the complete contents of the first volume of the Idolmaster Blu-ray.

As a half-year anime series that started airing last July, The Idolmaster didn't end until the end of last year. Chen Junqian himself also gained some understanding of the Japanese idol profession through this series. However, considering his current location, he felt that he would probably have to try to get by with something like the 'Top Ten Campus Singers Competition', just like when he first met the system.

They finally made it home after a long journey. Their official tutoring location was in Gu Lingguo's new house, which hadn't been moved into yet. However, since it was just a wall away from where Chen Junqian was living, they ended up spending most of their time in his room.

It can only be said that with Gu Linguo's frequent visits, Chen Junqian's room has slowly begun to be divided into two worlds, the inner and outer ones.

The surface world is entirely Mu Mu's domain, filled with various decorations and trinkets meticulously arranged by her. However, in the inner world, such as under the bed and inside the wardrobe, it has completely transformed into Gu Lingguo's shape, crammed with various merchandise that she has temporarily stored there. It's just unknown who will trigger that mysterious achievement called "Health Check" in the future.

However, unlike Mu Mu, who would always effortlessly sit or lie on his bed whenever she came in, Gu Lingguo was always a very well-behaved child. She sat upright at the desk and began to open the two magazines together, heading straight for the ranking of the magazine she had been longing for, "This Light Novel is Amazing! 2012".

"First is Sword Art Online, second is A Certain Magical Index, third is Bento, what's that, Oregairu is only ranked fifteenth."

"Because it was the first volume released last year, it's already quite impressive that it made the list in the first selection this year. I don't know where you found it. At that time, there wasn't even a Chinese translation available in China, so you sent me the original Japanese version directly... The translation work was exhausting."

"This can also be considered a kind of training for my brother. Yes, that's right. And my brother's translation is really amazing. After I posted it on the forum for free, all the comments below were 'May good people live in peace and happiness'."

"Thank you very much."

Actually, Chen Junqian still had some impression of the anime "My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU" that Gu Linguo liked. Although the most popular anime of 2013 was definitely "Attack on Titan," Chen Junqian had heard some mysterious talk about "Hachiman" from somewhere. After translating the original light novel himself, he became even more convinced that this work did have a considerable appeal to teenagers of a certain age. He felt that they might unconsciously have the thought, "Oh my god, this is exactly me."

Incidentally, Chen Junqian first learned about the anime "Attack on Titan" from watching Teacher Xu's funny edits related to League of Legends called "Attack on the Elementary School Students". When he was in junior high school, the popularity of CF had gradually declined, and "League of Legends" had taken its place. Chen Junqian himself played with Zhong Yu for quite a long time, so he would watch various fan-made videos of LOL just like he does now when watching CF fan creations such as Chen Zihao, Weisuo Niu, and Danteng Wuxia on platforms like Aipai.

Gu Linguo and I read the brief reviews of various light novels in the Anime Fever magazine. At this time, the comparison of Oregairu was still with "Haganai," which had just finished its first anime the previous year and was considered a school-based work with a regrettable male protagonist.

"It depicts the lives of students from different social classes on campus from different perspectives. Even if others see it as a bleak youth, it definitely has its value... I always feel that this statement is a bit strange. Does it mean that people will become like that after high school? It deliberately separates people according to the standard of 'this is a popular person' and 'this is a dead fish eye'."

Chen Junqian pondered Gu Linguo's question for a while, and then sadly realized that he was a well-behaved student with virtually no social life in high school. Perhaps if he had read this light novel back then, he would have naturally had the subtle thought, "Oh my god, this is totally me."

Even though Chen Junqian had never encountered a similar incident himself, he was well aware that while school life in China and Japan were different, some things were still common. Otherwise, school bullying wouldn't be part of those three words and twelve characters. So, he still spoke to Gu Lingguo in this way:

"Although Lin Guo might think this idea is naive and stupid, there really are people who think this way. There are indeed people who, for reasons you can't understand, will think we're not in the same social class, or even worse, want to mock or bully you. It's best if you don't encounter them, but if you do..."

"Then I'll go find my brother."

Having completely guessed what Chen Junqian was going to say, Gu Lingguo naturally picked up the conversation. As if she didn't think such a thing would happen to her at all, or as if she simply felt that as long as Chen Junqian was there, everything would be fine, she just continued flipping through the magazine and casually poked at a small paper model of Cirno from an Eastern series that was included next to her.

"I'm not stupid."

Chapter 64: April Fool's Day is also a Western holiday (Part 2)

April 1st is April Fool's Day.

As a Western holiday, children who love celebrating Western holidays will naturally not miss this so-called 'festival' that can be easily deceived.

Of course, accidents happen all the time. For example, there was a student named Zhong Yu who said with a mischievous grin the day before, "The teacher wants you to go to the office." Then, when Chen Junqian returned, equally bewildered, he belatedly scratched his head and exclaimed, "So March actually has thirty-one days?"

However, not everyone is as clueless as Zhong Yu. Rather, as students grow older, more and more of them have evolved their April Fool's Day pranks from simply tricking classmates into going to the office to playing Truth or Dare with their own ulterior motives, using this day when they can freely tell lies to do some kind of test.

"So, I designed a set of automatic reply lines specifically for Qinqin. Not only can they be used directly as automatic replies for busy status on QQ, but they can also be used directly in real life without any problems."

On March 31st, after school, Xu Youwei took the initiative to talk to Chen Junqian about this topic.

In less than three months, they will become junior high school students and officially leave the elementary school campus where they have spent six years. The various behaviors of the sixth graders last year are still vivid in their minds. At this sensitive time before graduation, Xu Youwei naturally feels that other girls will try to take advantage of the situation.

What automatic reply?

"You'll understand once you practice with Qinqin. Here's what we'll do: I'll play Qinqin, and Qinqin will play the girl who might confess her feelings to you online or in real life tomorrow."

"Is confessing your feelings... just like saying 'I like you'?"

After all, he had already experienced being courted by other girls last year, so Chen Junqian wouldn't deliberately put on a 'how could such a thing happen' oblivious look. Reality isn't a two-dimensional romantic comedy world where everyone is good-looking. Kids with an advantage in appearance will naturally be noticed, not to mention that he has shown his face countless times in other ways as well.

According to Xu Youwei herself, Mu Mu may not be the only one writing about him in her diary.

"Yes, that's it. Okay, you can talk now."

I love you.

"You spoke so fast?!"

"Because I feel like Youyou is taking advantage of me."

"Tch, but this will work too."

With a slightly disappointed pout, Xu Youwei mimicked a fierce expression, seemingly already playing the role of Chen Junqian, who was being confessed to by a girl, just as she had said earlier.

"Hey, I'm saying, is it that as soon as I reject you, you're going to immediately wish me a Happy April Fool's Day? I don't even know you, and I don't celebrate April Fool's Day. This kind of joke isn't funny at all. Goodbye."

"...Wouldn't saying that be too hurtful to others?"

"If Qinqin doesn't say that, then she will break my and Mumu's hearts."

"There's even Mu Mu here?"

"Hmm? Does Qinqin think that Mumu shouldn't exist?"

"No, no, no, I just thought Mumu wouldn't care too much about this kind of thing. She's never played any April Fool's jokes on me."

"Mu Mu really doesn't care about April Fool's Day. What she cares about is whether or not someone confessed their feelings to Qin Qin."

Looking at Xu Youwei, who effortlessly uttered those words without batting an eye, and glancing at the achievement in his mind called "The Fireworks Festival Where Sounds Disappear," Chen Junqian could only admit that Youyou was right. At least when it came to lying without batting an eye, Xu Youwei was indeed an expert, making Chen Junqian want to buy her a couple of chewing gum.

However, Extra gum is a bit of a luxury for children, so what the two of them are chewing now is just watermelon bubble gum bought from the small shop. Unlike the type that Lin Mu likes to eat with a piece of jelly in the middle, Chen Junqian and Xu Youwei bought a different kind of bubble gum today, which is shaped like a small watermelon.

The main issue is that Xu Youwei is the kind of person who deliberately avoids doing things or eating things with Lin Mu, but their relationship is indeed that of friends. It's just that Chen Junqian sometimes really has a hard time understanding this kind of relationship between girls.

"Okay, if Yoyo and Mumu will be sad, then if I really encounter this situation tomorrow, I will definitely refuse them decisively."

"Yeah, but actually a better approach would be to just stay with me or Mumu the whole time. Many girls would back down if they saw that, because they would feel embarrassed too. Confessing your feelings is something that really takes a lot of courage."

He spoke with the tone of someone who's been there, seriously.

Chewing on his bubble gum, Chen Junqian suddenly felt that Xu Youwei was the most suitable girl to confess to on April Fool's Day. After all, he could really imagine the scene where she confessed but didn't get a response for a long time, and then she turned the tables and smiled at him with a prankster's expression, saying, "Qinqin fell for it, it's April Fool's Day."

If you get used to lying, even the truth will eventually sound like a lie.

This is probably the biggest reason why my friend Yoyo didn't follow up with a second offensive at that time and achieve the "Love Rampage Motorcycle" achievement.

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On the very night after parting ways with Xu Youwei, Chen Junqian was summoned by Zhu Wenyun again.

If there's any advantage to him moving to the city center, it's probably that he's closer to the girls' homes. And besides Lin Mu, who started calculating the distance and route from the moment he confirmed the address, Zhu Wenyun did the same. In fact, in terms of shortened distance, hers is even closer, which is why she can now just make a phone call to bring Chen Junqian over.

I arrived at Zhu Wenjun's house with ease. Grandma Zhu was still out dancing in the square and hadn't returned yet. Zhu Wenjun was the only one at home, which was her daily writing time. Small spaces always cause this problem, but fortunately, Grandma Zhu herself has a hobby and habit of square dancing, so she can still squeeze out some time and space for her granddaughter.

"There's a plot point that just doesn't feel right no matter how I write it."

After more than three months of serialization, Zhu Wenyun's novel has gained considerable popularity in "Fireworks". Since February, it has consistently ranked among the top three in readers' polls, earning her an extra 200 to 500 yuan in bonuses each month. However, this has also brought considerable pressure to Zhu Wenyun herself.

After all, this creation was also her first time, and the word count and length were the longest she had ever written. In addition, Zhu Wenyun's personality was a bit of a perfectionist, so she could easily get caught up in doubts and struggles over some small details. Chen Junqian was already used to this.

"Where did we get stuck this time?"

Chen Junqian moved a chair and sat down next to Zhu Wenyun, curiously leaning over to look at the manuscript that the other person was writing halfway through.

"I want to write a scene where the male and female protagonists start eating Pocky from both sides, the kind of Pocky eating method that often appears in novels."

Zhu Wenyun gestured with her hands, trying to explain to Chen Junqian:

"But I've never done that with anyone, and I don't have any Pocky at home. This stuff is ridiculously expensive!"

In terms of thrift and frugality, Zhu has indeed fully inherited and carried forward the traditional Chinese virtues. Even with the income from her writing, she knew that the money was meant for a trip together later, and she wouldn't just squander it.

"I'll eat Pocky... Let me think."

Upon hearing the other person mention the Pocky incident, Chen Junqian's consciousness sank again, and he glanced at a certain achievement in his mind:

The Mysterious Game of Fate

As you bite into the Pocky stick from both ends at the same time, the distance between you gradually shrinks with each bite, and your heartbeats can be clearly heard in the quiet room—this sweet game of courage is more blush-inducing than any confession.

From ten centimeters to one centimeter, every kiss made my heart race. I dared not look directly at her but couldn't help stealing glances. When it came to the last centimeter, should I back down or kiss her lips together?

The sweetest part is never the chocolate coating, but when the Pocky stick was down to its last centimeter, you two both chose to keep going without hesitation.

Condition for completion: Play a Pocky game with any heroine who is suited for romantic comedy.

"If you're looking for a cheaper alternative, I do have an idea."

As a snack connoisseur who frequented the small shops near the school gate with Lin Mu, Chen Junqian quickly identified a plausible substitute in his mind. After saying this, he ran out to buy a pack from a nearby shop and placed it directly in front of Zhu Wenyun:

"Look, this only costs 50 cents, and it's more expensive than Pocky."