I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"There's one more..."

"Yes, I love you!"

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Chapter Twenty-Three: Letting the Wolf In 2.0 (Two-in-One)

For some reason, Chen Junqian felt that his childhood sweetheart, Mu Mu, was acting a little strange today.

He seemed incredibly excited about the New Year's trip when he called last night, but when he came to meet Lin Mu's family today, the other party kept looking hesitant and conflicted. Sitting in the back seat of the car, he would steal glances at him from time to time, and he was even a little distracted from the tower defense game he was playing on his tablet. He clearly had something on his mind.

"What's wrong? Mu Mu's radish is almost eaten to death."

Pointing to the crumbling defense line on the screen Lin Mu was holding, Chen Junqian unceremoniously took the tablet, started operating it himself, and casually asked this question.

As a classic title that won the annual mobile single-player game award when it was released last year, the art style and gameplay of "Protect the Carrot" are undoubtedly very much in line with the personality and preferences of a child like Mu Mu. However, she was obviously not in the right state of mind today. The carrot in this level had already been bitten several times by the monsters that broke through the defense line, and it was pitifully swaying there with a piece missing.

"No, no, I'm fine."

He shook his head quickly twice. Although he said that, Lin Mu was indeed a child who was not good at lying, so he simply avoided Chen Junqian's probing gaze, put on a "I'm hiding something" attitude, and turned his gaze to the scenery rushing past the car window.

Before officially setting off today, she accidentally broke a glass bottle in her mother's room. Inside were origami cranes and little stars that she had given to her mother for her birthday a few years ago.

Actually, this matter had nothing to do with Chen Junqian, but she accidentally opened a few of them and then remembered that she had written words in them back then. Words with clear personal references, such as "Mom, you've worked hard," were fine, but judging from the ones she opened, there were still some that had no personal references at all, just simple words like "I love you."

These kinds of things are really easy to misunderstand!

Even though Chen Junqian's glass bottle had been sitting obediently and perfectly on the bookshelf in the other person's room for so many years, after this incident, Lin Mu always felt that the bottle would one day be smashed for some reason, and then, like today, someone would discover the secret inside, thus causing an even bigger misunderstanding.

Actually, it's not entirely Lin Mu's fault for overthinking. The main issue is that there are indeed too many girls coming and going from someone's room. Moreover, thanks to her own boasting, everyone knows that everything there was arranged by her childhood sweetheart. This creates a slightly complicated situation where she can't clear her name no matter what.

Moreover, if this were truly her own idea and clever thought, that would be one thing, but ultimately it is something she herself has forgotten about.

Most importantly, Lin Mu herself was unsure how Chen Junqian would react after seeing it, because she had given him the bottle a long time ago, when they were just children and had only known each other for a short time.

Even in fairy tales, princes and princesses have to go through many trials and tribulations before they can live happily ever after.

Just like the numerous diaries Lin Mu has written so far, as the person who cherishes all the memories between the two of them the most, she certainly doesn't want these things to become cheap or even feel unnecessary.

...She's not the kind of girl who would easily fall for someone.

From this perspective alone, Lin Mu and Xu Youwei are indeed two completely opposite personalities and thoughts. One desperately wants to verify the fact that "I have liked you for a long time", while the other subconsciously feels that those irreplaceable memories are the treasures, vaguely and unknowingly holding the thought that "if things continue like this, maybe one day I will find out that I like you".

Of course, Lin Mu's little brain wasn't yet capable of thinking about emotional issues to that extent. Right now, she simply felt that this matter should be dealt with as soon as possible, because it would cause misunderstandings if others found out, and it wouldn't be good if Chen Junqian himself found out either. In short, neither would be good.

Thinking this, she couldn't help but tentatively ask again:

"Qianqian has been staying at his hometown these past few days, right?"

"Yes, I've been staying with my grandma for the past few days of the Chinese New Year. Why is that?"

"Nothing... with my sister?"

"Yes, but I'll have to stay at your place tonight."

"Don't worry, Qianqian. My grandma's house is huge, with lots of rooms that people can live in."

While pretending to be nonchalant and chatting casually with Chen Junqian, Lin Mu began to think with her clever little brain.

If Qianqian is staying at her grandma's house these days, then her usual home in the city should be empty. Also, she has a spare key to that house, and only she has it.

No, no, no, now is not the time to be proud of this.

After considering Chen Junqian's situation, Lin Mu nervously continued to think about his own situation.

She was going to be staying at her old home in the mountains for several days during the Lunar New Year, so it was definitely not reliable for her to secretly go to Chen Junqian's house and check the origami cranes in his glass bottle. Therefore, she could only ask someone for help.

In Guo Ning's childhood sweetheart alliance, Zhu Wenyun, like her, had to go back to her hometown in the mountains to stay with her elders for a few days during the Spring Festival. So the only one left was Xu Youwei, who didn't have to go around visiting relatives during the Spring Festival and had plenty of free time.

How about I ask Weiwei to help me get checked out?

Although it seemed like a good idea, after all, she and Xu Youwei were best friends, and explaining the situation beforehand should not cause any misunderstandings, Lin Mu always felt that, given Xu Youwei's personality, she might accidentally let it slip to Chen Junqian one day.

Are there any other suitable candidates...?

However, you can't just go to any classmate's room. After all, it's your childhood friend's room, and not just anyone can walk in. Doing so is also unsafe.

Thinking this way, a candidate who seemed more suitable than Xu Youwei quickly appeared in Lin Mu's mind.

She had a good relationship with him, seemed very well-behaved, and was quite familiar with Qianqian, even frequently entering his room. She was, after all, Qianqian's neighbor...

Gu Lingguo, it's you!

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

Mu Mu's emotions always come and go quickly. Chen Junqian hadn't even figured out why she had been so downcast just now. As if she had figured something out, Lin Mu suddenly brightened up again and returned to her usual lively self. She started to come to his side with the same energy as before, and they played games together to pass the time on the journey.

Unlike two or three years ago when they could only play a handful of newly released games, in 2013, with the development and popularization of smartphones, the mobile game market has become a blue ocean, and a large number of classic works have begun to emerge one after another. It is difficult to see examples like "Talking Tom" which can take off with the help of the Internet with very simple gameplay that can hardly be called a game mechanism. At this time, the games that can break through the encirclement are basically those that have some skills in some aspect.

However, just like the saying goes, "A big forest has all kinds of birds," with the expansion of the mobile game market, some unscrupulous games have also begun to enter the market and stir up trouble in this era when the supervision is not particularly strict. For example, the game that Chen Junqian and Lin Mu are currently playing, "Fishing Master 2".

Actually, the original fishing game type of game came from the fishing machines in the arcades next door in Japan. After domestic game companies noticed that this gameplay was very suitable for porting to mobile phones, they made localized adaptations. The first generation was released in 2011 and became a hit for a while, so they launched the second generation last year, which is the generation on their screens.

Although it still looks like a casual fishing game, Chen Junqian knew very well that in the subsequent generations the company made, they gradually incorporated all the gambling-style gameplay from the original arcades. In the end, they even went so far as to introduce a gambling function where in-game coins could be withdrawn as RMB. He himself had a distant relative who lost hundreds of thousands of yuan of his family's savings by playing this game. The speed at which he lost money was several times more terrifying than when he actually sat down at a card table.

As for why Chan Kwan-him suddenly brought up the topic of gambling, the reason is quite simple: it's Chinese New Year right now.

His childhood memories of the Lunar New Year, besides the New Year's Eve dinner, lucky money, the Spring Festival Gala, and fireworks, were filled with endless gambling among adults. Especially in the mountains he was going to, there were no other entertainment facilities, and the remote location meant that no one cared. The energetic adults, who had earned money all year, would always set up several long gambling dens, with a dozen or twenty people sitting around a table betting and collecting money. This left a very deep impression on Chen Junqian.

Actually, he often liked to squeeze in and watch, mainly because if he ran into an uncle or other person who had won money, he could also get a few coins as a reward, and then he could happily go to the nearby convenience store to buy snacks.

However, not every child has such simple thoughts. Chen Junqian himself has seen his cousins ​​see their parents winning money, or after understanding how to gamble, they want to join in, waving their New Year's money. However, they are usually chased away by adults who say, "Go away, what are you kids doing gambling?" In the end, they get itchy and find their peers to gamble together without any instruction.

Chen Junqian and his group set off in the afternoon. Because there was no traffic, they arrived earlier than expected, around 3 p.m. The car stopped in front of a typical two-story villa in the countryside. The yard was already bustling with activity. Looking up, they saw a group of adults gambling with banknotes in their hands, while the elderly sat on chairs by the yard, chatting and eating sunflower seeds.

Taking the gifts he had prepared in advance from the trunk of the car, Chen Junqian, who had seen photos and knew the identities of Lin Mu's elders beforehand, didn't even need to be taught. He immediately walked over and greeted them one by one, calling out to them:

"Hello Grandpa, hello Grandma, hello Grandpa on your mother's side, hello Grandma on your mother's side, hello Aunt, hello Great-Aunt, hello Great-Great-Grandma, hello Great-Uncle on your great-great-aunt's side—"

The elderly people, who had already learned from Lin Mu that Chen Junqian would be coming today, were equally enthusiastic in their greetings to him. Some accepted gifts, some moved chairs, some carried trays, and some moved to different places. Before long, they surrounded him. Lin Mu, who was afraid that his childhood sweetheart would be frightened, quickly ran over to take care of him.

This time, Mu Mu didn't have to act like a master of pantomime to describe a childhood sweetheart who wasn't even there to her relatives, just like she had done in the previous two years. After all, Chen Junqian had finally come here as she wished, to the point that she even wanted to go to the scene and record a special entrance introduction sound effect.

"This is the Qianqian I've been telling you guys about before. What do you think? I wasn't wrong at all, was I? He's even more handsome in person than in photos. And I just talked to him for a little while in the car, and he remembered all of you."

It was almost as if Lin Mu was showing off some treasured possession. He even exaggeratedly pulled Chen Junqian around in place to show off, and then proudly listened to the praise from his elders.

However, since both of them were only middle school students, and Mu Mu looked even more like a child in this state, there weren't any romantic comedic scenes that older people would enjoy. After feeling like a giant panda being examined in amazement, Chen Junqian was finally led out by Lin Mu and taken into the house hand in hand.

"Take Qianqian to see where you'll be sleeping tonight."

A clean room that looks like it has been tidied up in advance.

"The restroom is to the right after you go down the hallway, and the shower is over there too. I'll take you there tonight when Qianqian needs to use it. And then—"

The girl, holding his hand and walking ahead, skipped and hopped around introducing him to Chen Junqian. Then, she suddenly turned halfway around and earnestly gave him some instructions:

"But they gamble outside until midnight, which can be a bit noisy. If you can't sleep, you can come to me! I live next door to you. Just don't go outside to watch them gamble, even if I know you're rich now."

"If you really want to play, I can play with you, but gambling is absolutely forbidden. Sticking stickers on your nose, flicking your nose, or giving you a flick on the head are all allowed."

...I feel like it's you, Mumu, who really wants to play these games, right?

Chapter Twenty-Four: How Lucky I Was to Meet You (Part Two)

To be honest, a large number of children don't like their hometowns.

The countryside, mountains, villages... these words associated with grandparents' homes are almost synonymous with no Wi-Fi, no computers, and no fun things to do. Adults can play cards, mahjong, and gamble, but these are things that are strictly forbidden for children who are already bored. So, they either follow Chen Xi's example and run into a room after arriving at someone's house and don't come out until it's time to eat or go home, or they have to fully develop their spirit of self-entertainment.

Just like what Chen Junqian and Lin Mu are doing right now.

After charging his tablet, which had been almost completely drained of battery from playing all the way, at an empty socket, Lin Mu, who was more familiar with the area since it was his home turf, enthusiastically led Chen Junqian towards the back of the mountain, where one of their family's hickory tree plantations was located.

Although everyone in Guoning knows about hickory nuts, not many people have actually seen a hickory nut tree or a tree with walnuts. After all, not every household has one. So today is the first time Chen Junqian has seen this plant variety that is now called the "money tree" and "wealth tree" in Guoning and will later be called the "wealth tree" in Lin'an.

The hickory trees, past harvest season, looked rather unremarkable. Lin Mu seemed to sense that Chen Junqian would be somewhat disappointed, so after taking a few steps, he turned back to explain:

"Actually, the pecan harvest season in September and October is particularly lively here, with people everywhere. Have you ever seen the scene of picking pecans? People in Guoning talk about picking pecans every day because the pecans are indeed picked."

As he spoke, Lin Mu then snatched a smooth branch that Chen Junqian had found by the roadside on the way up the mountain, a branch he couldn't suppress his primal urges for. Standing there, he stood on tiptoe and jumped a little, waving it a couple of times at the now empty walnut branch. After giving a proper demonstration, he proudly addressed his childhood sweetheart:

"It's like this, knocking the hickory nuts off the tree and then collecting them from the ground. This kind of work is not very easy to do with machines, so it is mostly done by hand. A few years ago, there was a very formal opening ceremony, but I only saw it twice when I was a child, mainly because we both had to go to school in September."

"Otherwise, I would also like to pick walnuts with Qianqian. It would be quite fun. Qianqian would knock the walnuts down from the tree, and I would catch them with a basket below... It sounds like fun."

"Hmm, I might try it if I have the chance in the future."

Slightly intrigued by Lin Mu's words, Chen Junqian looked up and examined the hickory tree in front of him. After finding two footholds and estimating its weight-bearing capacity, he nimbly climbed up the tree, landing on one of its branches amidst Lin Mu's exclamations.

"Qianqian can even climb trees?"

Looking up at her childhood sweetheart, who had suddenly grown much taller than her, from under the tree, Lin Mu had just finished remarking when Chen Junqian in the tree reached out his hand to her:

"Does Mumu want to come up? I've checked, it should be fine."

"Me? That might be a bit difficult."

Lin Mu was clearly not the kind of girl like Xu Youwei who was skilled at everything from scaling walls to climbing trees, so she was subconsciously a little timid. Chen Junqian smiled and encouraged her again, then moved down a little, indicating that Lin Mu should take his hand for leverage to get up a bit. After confirming that her feet had landed on the foothold he indicated, he nimbly jumped down, supporting Lin Mu's thighs from below. With a push of his shoulders and upper arms, he easily lifted the petite girl up.

"Just stay there and hang there for a little while, I'll be right back."

After giving this instruction, Chen Junqian moved around to the other end of the tree without stopping. After climbing up the tree again from a different angle in a few quick movements, he pulled his childhood sweetheart up in three sections and helped her sit down beside him.

"Will the view be excellent?"

Although Mu Mu's fear of heights wasn't that severe, it was still her first time sitting in a tree, so she was noticeably nervous. Therefore, Chen Junqian reached out and placed his hand on her back to help her maintain her balance, while using words to guide her to look into the distance instead of down at her feet.

With this two-pronged approach, Mu Mu's tension quickly eased. After all, sitting next to her was one of the three people she trusted most in the world. Her tense nerves gradually relaxed, and she turned her gaze to the winter forest with Chen Junqian.

Perhaps when she writes her diary again tonight, she will be able to think of more suitable and beautiful words to describe it, but for Lin Mu right now, all she can say is the simple three words, "So beautiful."

After gradually mastering her balance, the girl sitting there seemed to dare to make some small movements on her own. Her two little legs dangled there, swaying slightly back and forth, while she began to look around. As a result, she actually found something treasure in the crevice between a branch and the trunk. She reached out and took a look, and found it was a dried walnut shell with the fruit inside eaten.

"It must have been eaten by a squirrel."

"Hmm, you can even see the bite marks here, the teeth are really strong."

Holding the dried, dark shell in her hand, Mu Mu seemed to have a strong desire to collect such things, just like any other child.

Although this winter wasn't very cold, sitting in the tree and feeling the wind for too long wasn't a good idea. After experiencing it for a while, Chen Junqian lightly jumped back to the ground, then directed Mu Mu to come down a little before opening his arms and catching his childhood sweetheart, who was still a bit off the ground, steadily in his embrace.

However, Lin Mu did not let go immediately after getting off. Instead, she held him and buried her head in his arms for a while before reluctantly taking a step back. Her little face was red from the wind, and Chen Junqian reached out with both hands to hold her on the left and right sides to warm her up a little.