I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Childhood Sweethearts Can Win Too (Part Two)

As for visiting Mu Mu's hometown, Chen Junqian felt that he didn't even need to consult his parents' opinions, let alone think about making a show of it and then secretly doing it like he did when he went to Lin'an last year. It was just like telling him that he wouldn't be eating at home that night and that he was going to Lin Mu's house for dinner; it was something that could be done simply by informing him.

Moreover, Chen Junqian had reason to suspect that, given the familiarity between Lin Mu and his parents, they probably already knew about this without him even having to tell them first.

After all, it was a promise that had been made a full year ago. Even over the phone, Chen Junqian could clearly feel his childhood sweetheart's joy and anticipation.

What time is tomorrow?

"Qianqian should be visiting relatives this morning. We'll set off this afternoon and have dinner at our place. My dad will drive us up the mountain."

"Okay, then I'll wait for you at the entrance of your neighborhood this afternoon."

In terms of being understanding, Mu Mu was indeed fine. After all, if she really wanted to forcibly requisition him for the entire day, Chen Junqian would have to seriously consider how to explain it to Xu Youwei, since he still had to visit her family every year on the first day of the Lunar New Year. So after hearing what Lin Mu said, he readily agreed, chatted for a few more minutes to wish her a happy new year in advance, and then hung up the phone.

Are we going to the mountains tomorrow?

"Yes, I promised Mumu before."

How long do you plan to stay?

"I'll probably only stay for one night, I have things to do on both sides."

Unlike last year, Lin Mu invited Chen Junqian on the first day of the Lunar New Year, which is the busiest time of the year. So naturally, he couldn't stay for two or three days like last year. After all, he and Mu Mu had to visit relatives, and the busiest time during the New Year was definitely those two days. After that, things would be much more relaxed.

After asking a few questions, Chen Xi continued to silently tap on her phone screen, but this time she wasn't playing a game; it seemed she was chatting with someone.

I asked, and my brother is going to Lin Mu's place tomorrow and staying overnight.

[Further Investigation and Report]

[...How else can we investigate and report back?]

Of course! For example, you could ask him where he'll be sleeping. You could even follow up by asking him what he thinks of Lin Mu, since the second day of the Lunar New Year is the day to visit one's maternal grandparents.

[This is just a coincidence, because my brother said Lin Mu invited him over tomorrow because most of her relatives will be having dinner at her house on the first day of the Lunar New Year.]

Introducing her to all the relatives at once... Is this what they call being naturally good at dealing with cunning people? Childhood sweethearts are such a troublesome character.

Although she had absolutely no idea what her best friend was posting, Chen Xi had already gotten used to the fact that her friend, like her brother, was a mysterious anime/manga fan.

Don't you like Lin Mu?

【Of course not. Rather, I hope everyone has a personality like Sister Lin Mu's. That way, the world would definitely be a better place. Love & Peace】

【don't know】

Gu Lingguo, who was finally able to openly play on her phone on New Year's Eve in her own bed at home, turned over with a bit of helplessness.

What happened to the idea that younger sister characters and childhood friend characters are always enemies?

No, no, reality isn't an anime. Sisters are never romanceable characters, so it's normal that the above relationship doesn't hold true.

However, childhood sweetheart characters can never stay together in the end.

On her phone screen, Gu Lingguo tapped on the graphic guide to the new anime series that premiered in January, created by Chen Junqian himself. Her fingertips swept over her favorite anime of the month, "Tamako Market" produced by Kyoto Animation, and then stopped on another anime translated as "My Girlfriend and Childhood Friend's Tragic Love Triangle".

Just like the setting of this anime, the so-called childhood friend characters are often just stepping stones for the new characters who appear out of nowhere, used to build a stage called a "battleground".

Naturally, she has no idea that her favorite show of the season, "Tamako Market," and that Kyoto Animation, which barely touches on romance in the main story, will release a theatrical anime called "Tamako Love Story" a year later, which will fill in all the love stories between the female and male protagonists from childhood to adulthood, connected by paper cup telephones.

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If life is a save game, then the first day of the Lunar New Year every year is probably a crucial autosave point. However, for Chen Junqian, every time he wakes up at this save point, he doesn't see the familiar ceiling, but his sister whose posture changes every year.

The red socks, a color associated with his birth year, and the matching underwear peeking out from his rolled-up waist gave Chen Junqian a vibrant and festive visual experience early in the morning. It has to be said that they were more effective than coffee in waking him up; at least he immediately sat up straight in bed.

First, he helped his younger sister pull her clothes down to prevent her stomach from getting cold. Then he moved her feet away, and carefully pulled his own feet away from her hands. Finally, he covered her with a blanket and tucked the corners in. Satisfied with completing his annual task, Chen Junqian changed his clothes and greeted Xiao Guai in the early morning chill, who hadn't been kept awake by the continuous sounds of fireworks and firecrackers all night long.

The process was the same as in previous years. After breakfast, Chen Junqian and his father started visiting relatives. After visiting two families and estimating that it was about time, they dragged his sleepy younger sister out of bed.

"Raise your hand."

Facing his younger sister, who was still keeping her eyes closed and was simply raising her hands as he had instructed, Chen Junqian quickly pulled the sweater over her head.

"Lift your foot."

Beforehand, fold the thermal underwear and the outermost pants together, squat down next to your sister's feet and instruct her to lift her feet. After aligning them, lift them up to the knees, then stand up and lift your sister up. With a little force, pull both pants up to her waist. After patting and smoothing them out, put on the outermost cotton-padded coat. The brand new sister for the new year is now complete. Then push her to the back to wash up and eat.

After completing this series of actions, Chen Junqian hurriedly picked up the gifts he had prepared in advance. He exchanged a few pleasantries with the relatives who had come to his house to pay their respects for the New Year before setting off again. After all, there was a girl waiting for him who was obviously still in bed.

Because of the production accident last September, Chen Junqian has seen Xu Zhiling much more often in the past six months. After exchanging greetings with him, he went straight to Xu Youwei's room. However, he didn't expect that when he pushed the door open, he would not see Xu Youwei lying in bed.

The other person was sitting at the desk, seemingly writing or drawing something, looking very focused. He didn't even seem to hear the sound of Chen Junqian pushing the door open. Curious, Chen Junqian went over to take a look and could see the pen tip moving, but there were no corresponding words left under the pen strokes; it was still a blank space.

"What are you doing?"

"Testing a scene from Detective Conan."

As expected, she had heard him enter the room long ago. Faced with Chen Junqian's sudden question, Xu Youwei showed no surprise at all, leisurely turning her chair around to sit facing him.

"Qianqian, do you still remember the episode where the art museum director killed someone with armor?"

"Yes, I remember."

As the girl Chen Junqian knew who was most enthusiastic about detective and mystery elements, Xu Youwei had shared almost all of "Detective Conan" with him, and had watched many episodes countless times. So when she mentioned it, Chen Junqian immediately remembered which episode she was referring to.

"The method in that episode was to deliberately leave paper and pen for the victim at the scene, making him think that he could leave a death message to identify the murderer. But in fact, the paper already contained misleading information about the murderer, and the pen could not write. This way, the police investigation was misled, making them believe that the words on it were the death message left by the victim before he died to identify the murderer."

It can only be said that even in terms of subtle hints, Xu Youwei was clearly not as adept as Zhu Wenyun, who had a rich literary background. She clearly wanted to remind Chen Junqian about the invisible pen so that her future actions would go more smoothly, but she always felt that it was a bit too obvious. She spent the whole night thinking before coming up with this roundabout topic.

"But actually, this technique is quite easy to spot, since even if you can't write anything, you can still see obvious traces of brushstrokes. Look, like this."

As she spoke, Xu Youwei showed Chen Junqian the piece of paper she had just written on, and indeed, traces of brushstrokes could be seen.

"So, wouldn't it have been better to use an invisible pen refill back then? What does Qinqin think?"

"That would assume the police forensics department inside are all idiots, since both pen marks and invisible pen marks should be easy to detect."

Completely unaware of what Xu Youwei was trying to express, Chen Junqian, who was simply chatting with her as innocently as before, glanced at the table setting again:

"But Yoyo, you really like invisible ink pens. I saw a whole bunch of them here when I came last year. Are they really that fun?"

"Ha...yes, that's right."

Chen Junqian sensed something was off about the other person's expression and her subtle movements, but he was still focused on how to talk to her about Mu Mu, so despite his odd behavior, he got to the point first:

"I'm going to Mumu's place to celebrate the New Year this afternoon."

Just like a well-prepared combo being interrupted and rendered helpless after only the first part, Chen Junqian's words left Xu Youwei stunned. She completely forgot what she had planned to say. She had already asked her father to casually mention the old house at the wear-resistant factory while chatting with Chen Junqian's father downstairs, acting as a wingman and wingman. But now, she, the ace pilot, had encountered an unexpected situation.

"...I don't think I've heard you mention this before?"

"Because it was something that was agreed upon around this time last year, and Mu Mu, you know she has a very bad memory, she probably only remembered it these past few days because of the New Year."

"Oh."

It seems like the moment has come when she could suggest going along and turn the situation into a threesome. But the thought that they're going to Lin Mu's hometown, his territory, makes Xu Youwei feel awkward.

She was certainly not the kind of girl who would be jealous of even her friends' family happiness, but she wouldn't actively seek out such a scene, just like Caron in "Heart" wouldn't want to see his classmates being close to their mothers.

When are you going?

"In the afternoon, since it's in the mountains and it takes a while to drive up."

"Come back?"

"Probably tomorrow? Staying one night."

"Okay, then I'll come see you again tomorrow night."

"But it seems that Guoning can't set off fireworks now."

"Does Qinqin think I contacted you just to play with fireworks?"

As she spoke, Xu Youwei stood there and sniffed again:

"You've already spent time with Mu Mu, can't you spend some time with me?"

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Meanwhile, at Lin Mu's home, the Lin family, preparing to return to the mountains for the Spring Festival, were also packing their necessary belongings.

"Have you packed everything up, Mu Mu?"

"Okay, I'll put it away right away, Mom."

"Could you go to my room and get that scarf for me? I forgot to bring it."

Lin Mu's mother, who had already changed her shoes at the door, suddenly remembered something and called out to her daughter who was still in the room.

"it is good--"

Entering her mother's room, Lin Mu immediately saw the scarf on the table. In a hurry, she reached out and grabbed it, but failed to notice a glass bottle underneath. The scarf and bottle fell to the ground with a loud thud.

"What's wrong?"

Hearing the noise at the door, the mother quickly asked another question.

"I broke the glass bottle, I'm sorry."

"It's all good to have some broken pieces, Mu Mu. Are you hurt? Don't move. I'll change my shoes and come in to sweep up the shards. It's a glass bottle in my room, the one with the origami cranes and little stars."

"Yes, that's it."

Watching the origami cranes and little stars roll onto the ground as the bottle shattered, Lin Mu didn't dare to move, afraid of touching the glass shards. She was going to see Qianqian soon, and it would be too unsightly to suddenly have a band-aid on her hand.

"Let's find another bottle to put it in later. I think Mumu gave it to me a few years ago when it was my birthday?"

"Yes, that's when it was given as a gift. I gave the extra to Qianqian."

After his mother swept up all the broken glass, Lin Mu squatted down and picked up the origami cranes that had fallen to the ground. Some of them were crooked and almost fell apart, revealing the words inside.

"Oh yeah, I think I even wrote something in there back then."

After all, it had happened several years ago, and Lin Mu, who had completely forgotten about it, belatedly remembered a few things. He excitedly separated a few of them, looked at his own childish handwriting from years ago, and read the contents aloud:

"Mom, you've worked so hard."

"Happy birthday."

May you always be healthy.