I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"After school every day, can Qianqian accompany me to exercise on the playground for a while? Just a simple jog of two laps, it shouldn't take long."

The change in environment overturned the established time allocation schemes formed during elementary school. Lin Mu, who had lost his special time at noon, naturally wanted to make up for it elsewhere.

She wants to become better.

Such a reason is simply impeccable.

It is the most honorable and aboveboard scheme for childhood sweethearts.

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To be honest, Xu Youwei felt that even if they weren't in the same class, but had to choose between the two classes next door, Class 6 would still be a better choice than Class 4.

After all, Class 5 and Class 6 are on the same floor. After class, they can easily stroll around the neighborhood by simply walking out of the classroom and into the corridor. They can also copy Zhu Wenyun's elementary school homework and recreate the "God of War" at the entrance of the corridor.

Secondly, if she were in Class 6, then when she ran exercises every morning, she would be in front of Class 5, where Chen Junqian was. In that case, at least during the fixed ten-minute long break for running exercises every day, she would be able to stay at the very front of the class and keep watching Chen Junqian's back, who was at the very back of the class.

It can only be said that the phenomenon of consumption downgrade does exist. When they were in elementary school, they could still do exercises in the same row during recess, and freely engage in physical contact and verbal communication with each other through various movements. But now, they have completely lost even the opportunity to focus their attention on a certain person and use their imagination to turn this long and boring ceremony into another exclusive memory that cannot be told to outsiders.

Even after the morning exercises were over, the other person would run to Mu Mu's side immediately. This was only natural, since her friend, whom she had known since elementary school, was quite weak in terms of physical strength and was completely different from her.

Back in class, Xu Youwei sat alone in her seat, lost in thought. It wasn't that there weren't any of her classmates from elementary school there, but she wasn't a very popular person in elementary school. She was labeled as a show-off, had an eccentric personality, and seemed like a troublemaker, which led to her becoming like this.

Theoretically speaking, in a new environment like junior high school where no one is familiar with each other, Xu Youwei could still change her image if she wanted to. After all, no one knows each other, and every relationship is a completely new start.

But Xu Youwei had no intention of doing so. Her mind was just filled with uncontrollable random thoughts. The girl, who couldn't even turn these thoughts into a diary or a novel, could only let them appear out of thin air like bubbles blown out of bubble solution and then suddenly burst, making her thoughts a complete mess.

Small circles can sometimes form much faster in a new environment.

She just hasn't realized it yet, or perhaps even if she did, she would remain indifferent.

For Xu Youwei, all her thoughts were currently drifting to the time after school in the evening.

Until Lin Mu stood there once again.

"Running... Sure, I'll join you too."

"Mumu really needs to exercise a bit. I saw you running around in the morning and you seemed a little out of breath."

Two laps, no matter what, would take at most ten minutes.

"Yes, I would be satisfied if I could train to a level similar to Weiwei's."

I felt like I couldn't hear what the other person was saying very well anymore.

When he came to his senses, he realized that he had somehow run far ahead of the two of them, and was mechanically running at a pace that was not like he was jogging with a friend, but more like he was participating in some kind of sports event. In no time, he had successfully lapped Lin Mu a whole time.

By the time Lin Mu had leisurely finished two laps, she had already sprinted four laps around the track as if she were tireless. She finally stopped beside the two of them, her eyes flashing with a contradictory mix of physical exhaustion and mental exhilaration. Then, she plopped down on the ground and declared matter-of-factly:

"I'm tired too!"

Well, how should I put it? It feels a bit like I won't get up unless you hug me.

The playground was actually quite crowded after school. The basketball court and ping-pong tables were packed. Although there were fewer people on the running track, there were still quite a few junior high students preparing for the physical fitness test for the high school entrance exam. So when Xu Youwei did this, it immediately attracted the attention of several other students passing by.

However, unlike Lin Mu, who never dared to show this 'shameful' side in front of outsiders, Xu Youwei was already used to it. After all, she wasn't labeled as 'show-off' or 'dramatic' when she was in elementary school. Other people's opinions didn't matter to her. Just like now, she was only staring at Chen Junqian, waiting for his reaction.

Faced with Youyou, who was about to cause a big stir at the start of the school year, Chen Junqian became even more convinced that she was essentially just a child. So, he simply adopted the attitude of coaxing a child, actually hugging her upper body and moving her from the track to a shady spot like a kitten, and then muttered a complaint:

"Aren't you hot sitting there? Your bottom is covered in asphalt and pebbles. Go ahead and pat yourself off, or Mumu, you can do it."

"……snort."

Still sulking, Hsu Yu-wei turned her face away, seemingly having forgotten her initial thought that she only needed to endure it for ten minutes, and seemed to want to vent all her emotions at once.

It has to be said that this is a conflict between the growing spiritual needs of the female protagonists and Chen Junqian's inability to turn a day into forty-eight hours. He just didn't expect that Xu Youwei would ignite it a few days after the start of the semester. He initially thought that Zhu Wenyun would make the first move.

Of course, Chen Junqian had also planned out countermeasures.

The best solution to this problem, which can only be caused by people having nothing better to do, is to find something for everyone to work together toward a common goal.

"Let's start a club."

"The first club since the founding of Guoning Middle School".

P.S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

Chapter Four: The Most Important Thing is Creating Pretexts

To be fair, if we go back ten years, when the word "gang" is mentioned, junior high school students of their age would probably first think of triad societies like the Wo Luen Shing from Hong Kong movies.

However, the influence of the Young and Dangerous craze on kids born after the millennium is far less than that on those born in the 1990s. It's fortunate that Chan Kwan-him's father wasn't a fan of the series, otherwise he might have named him Hao Nan and let him be a legend.

That's why, when Chen Junqian mentioned clubs, Xu Youwei and Lin Mu were momentarily stunned, but they quickly and correctly understood what he meant.

"It seems like there aren't any clubs at Ningzhong High School. I haven't heard of any in either the junior high or senior high school. They do recruit students to be broadcasters, but there isn't a dedicated broadcasting department or anything like that. It feels like they should be categorized under class officers, which is used to gain favor with teachers and get awards."

Faced with Xu Youwei's questioning, Chen Junqian nodded again:

"Yes, that's why we need to establish a school, and even the first student club in the entire Guoning."

Of course, even at this point, Xu Youwei still subconsciously felt that this was the same as the apocalyptic survival shelter plan they had previously devised, just an excuse to get everyone together for extracurricular activities. Lin Mu, on the other hand, curiously continued to ask:

"So, what kind of club does Qianqian want to start?"

"Although I have some ideas of my own, it's not something I can decide on my own, so I'd like to hear your opinions, preferably something that everyone can accept. But first of all, I want to make it clear that I don't intend to make it a small-scale squabble between us, so it's better to be serious."

As soon as Chen Junqian said this, Xu Youwei, who had originally intended to give a lighthearted reply, pouted and lowered her head to play with her fingers.

"All I can do is draw, but a manga club doesn't seem like something that can be made public in a big way, does it?"

"You don't necessarily need to start a comic book club to draw comics. Any industry related to text can use illustrations, so you can broaden your thinking."

After Chen Junqian gave that reminder, Lin Mu pondered for a long while longer:

"Hmm... I'm only really good at calligraphy. Calligraphy plus drawing equals a handwritten newspaper or a blackboard newspaper?"

"There's absolutely no need to form a club for this kind of thing. Are we going to have our club activities involve drawing blackboard bulletins for each class...?"

This time, it was Xu Youwei's turn to roll her eyes first. Her idea about the club that Chen Junqian mentioned was actually very simple: it had to be fun. Blackboard newspaper clubs were not fun at all. She didn't have the leisure to draw blackboard newspapers for other classes, and she wasn't even interested in her own class, since she wasn't in the same class as Chen Junqian and Lin Mu.

As it turned out, Chen Junqian's suggestion, which was still far from being finalized, effectively distracted the two girls. By the time the three of them finished their discussion and came back to their senses, Lin Mu belatedly remembered that her mother was waiting for her at the school gate in her car. She quickly slung her backpack over her shoulder and said goodbye to the two girls in a very fast manner.

"We'll talk about this tomorrow. I'm going home now, otherwise my mom will be getting impatient waiting outside."

Before he could finish speaking, the little boy darted out with his schoolbag on his back.

With one person gone, the lively discussion that had been going on visibly faded from Xu Youwei's mind. After a moment of silence, she turned to look at Chen Junqian again:

Is Qinqin's idea really feasible?

"How will we know if we don't try? Besides, even if we fail, we won't lose anything; we can just treat it as an experiment."

Chen Junqian could understand Xu Youwei's concerns.

After all, it's entirely possible for middle schools in China to have clubs, but it's unlikely that a small, third-tier county like Guoning would have clubs. At least Chen Junqian himself had never heard of such a thing until he graduated from high school in his previous life and went to university in another city. His entire middle school years consisted of nothing but studying and taking exams.

In most common anime-style romantic comedies, the establishment of a club usually requires an instructor and at least five initial members. Moreover, there is often a setting where a club has to be disbanded if the number of members falls below a certain threshold. This has given rise to the classic 'ghost members,' which are students who only have their names on the club's roster but do not participate in any club activities.

However, Chen Junqian knew very well that these conventions in the world of anime and manga could not be directly applied to reality. After all, the clubs in Japanese romantic comedies were part of the background setting. The protagonists only needed to create all sorts of bizarre clubs such as the 'Service Club,' 'Far East Magic Club,' and 'Neighbor Club' within the prescribed framework, and then perform romantic comedies in them. In reality, male protagonists would have to consider many more things.

"The teacher's support is definitely necessary. Our homeroom teacher is a very nice person, and it shouldn't be difficult to build a good relationship with her."

"...It's only been two days since school started."

"Cough cough, I can feel it."

"Okay, so what's next?"

"Then, we need to come up with a clever pretext."

"Teachers' money will be returned in full, while students' money will be split 30/70?"

"It's not that kind of name, it's the kind of name that has a legitimate reason for doing so."

Living in the real world, Chen Junqian knows very well that if you want to put something on the table, it must at least be presentable and acceptable to the eye. Now, let's just say it has passed the review on the surface.

To put it bluntly, even if Gu Lingguo wanted him to create an anime club, Chen Junqian would at least have to package it on the surface as "a dimensional art and narrative research club with the main goal of exploring the boundaries of visual narrative and building a cultural creative community for teenagers." He would then replace Cosplay with immersive character experiences, fan creation with IP derivative development, and finally embellish it with a few high-end terms like cel animation aesthetics and sound and image montage.

"So this title either has to be positively related to learning or serve as excellent publicity material for the school, like that stampede incident in elementary school. But before that, we need to prove our abilities and demonstrate our value. In the end, it's not impossible to make it official on the spot without prior notice."

"To give a simple example, if there were a comic contest on the internet at this time, and we submitted a comic about Guoning and Guoning Middle School under the name of Guoning Middle School XX Comic Club, and won an award, then the above-mentioned scenario could very well happen."

"Similarly, the same applies to the literary society for Chinese, the math Olympiad for mathematics, and the oral speech competition for English. As long as we find a name and establish the organization of the club, how it evolves and develops afterward is our own business. It's perfectly reasonable for my literary society to solicit articles and publish them on campus, and also print a couple of short comics, right?"

If Xu Youwei spent the entire elementary school period taking Chen Junqian around to play, then Chen Junqian's confident words to her now have undoubtedly completely reversed the relationship between the two.

But Hsu Yu-Wei doesn't dislike this feeling.

On the contrary, she even genuinely enjoyed the scenario of the two of them planning an uncertain future together and placing great hopes on it, to the point that she couldn't help but rekindle a special expectation for her high school life, which had previously seemed hopeless.

"Oh, right."

As Chen Junqian walked to the school gate and saw students riding their bicycles back and forth leaving school, he belatedly remembered this incident.

"I'm also planning to buy a bicycle. I'll go buy one this weekend."

Xu Youwei simply blinked, and then reacted instantly:

"Will there be a seat for me?"

"Youyou has ridden in my tricycle before, it's just that this time it has two wheels."

"Uh-huh!"

The girl nodded vigorously.

She was the first one.

P.S.: Thank you for reading and subscribing.

Please take one day off.

My rented apartment suddenly called to say it was going to be renovated and they wouldn't be offering to renew the lease. Now I'm forced to find a new place and prepare to move...

I wish you a nice weekend.

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