I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"Is it a holiday today? I just saw a lot of students over there."

"Oh, it is indeed a holiday today, but our school does not illegally make up classes during the holidays. Those students are here to participate in the preliminary selection of the 'Chinese Character Dictation Competition'. Our school is honored to be selected as the school to represent Anhui Province in this competition. This preliminary selection is also to select the five most suitable team members."

"The Chinese Character Dictation Competition?"

Upon hearing this somewhat unfamiliar term, Zhu Wenyun also asked curiously:

"what is this?"

"CCTV is going to create an original cultural program this summer, which will be mostly for junior high school students. As the name suggests, it will test their ability to dictate Chinese characters. However, it will be different from the dictation of basic words and phrases in the textbook. It will be more obscure. I happen to be one of the teachers in charge of this event. I have to go over there to see how things are going."

"Uncommon characters?"

"It's not entirely about using obscure and difficult characters. It also includes common words in daily life, but the kind that you forget as soon as you pick up a pen. In the first round of auditions, a lot of people failed because of the words 'yini' and 'hanxuan'. After all, people are increasingly using computer keyboards to type these days."

Before Teacher Zhang could finish speaking, Zhu Wenyun had already meticulously written down all the words the other person had mentioned, including 'difficult to pronounce,' 'beautiful,' and 'warm greetings,' in her notebook without a single mistake. Then, she looked at her seriously and said:

"Can I go take a look, Teacher Zhang?"

"Wenyun's literary skills are so good! If you're interested, let's go take a look together. Consider it a test of your Chinese character knowledge. Chen, would you like to come too?"

"Yes, Junqian is even more capable than me."

Before Chen Junqian could even speak, Zhu Wenyun had already put him on the receiving end. However, this wasn't out of any malicious intent; it was simply the girl's naive opinion. So, Teacher Zhang's gaze lingered on his face with interest for a moment.

"Then let's go -"

Having already gone through the first round of auditions, there are now fewer than 100 students left to participate in the second round. According to Teacher Zhang, the final list of candidates will be submitted to the program team in about two months. Then, when the summer vacation arrives in July, they will need to go straight to Beijing to participate in the live recording of the program. The program will be officially edited and broadcast in August.

In his previous life, Chen Junqian had seen reports about this year's "Chinese Character Dictation Competition" more than once. He himself had also seen it and clearly remembered that the Anhui team from his province had performed well and made it into the top eight out of thirty-two teams.

Related reports naturally followed, even overwhelmingly so. So even though Chen Junqian could no longer remember which five people they were, he still remembered their experiences and abilities very clearly. The reason for this was what he had just seen outside the school.

Good grades were just the simplest label. Some were members of the school handball team, some were going to participate in the global English number competition... All of these were things that Chen Junqian, who was writing in his palm in front of the TV at that time, following the host's words, had never heard of.

When he came to his senses, Zhu Wenyun had already forcefully pulled him over. Paper and pen were already placed in front of him, and the teacher not far away was reading out the latest question in a clear and melodious announcer's voice:

“Sexual intercourse”.

It means a secret rendezvous or affair between a man and a woman.

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Chapter Thirty-Eight: He's Still on My Mind (Part Two)

In fact, the sudden addition of Zhu Wenyun and Chen Junqian did not attract much attention. Firstly, most students' attention was focused on the host who was announcing the questions. Secondly, the two of them were brought over by Teacher Zhang. Even if someone saw them, they would only think that they were students from their own school who had just arrived a little late to participate in the second round of auditions. After glancing at them, they would lower their heads again and start to rack their brains over the words that the host had just read out.

Generally speaking, the words in the Chinese Character Dictation Competition are mostly composed of a common character and a less common character. The preliminary selection questions prepared by Hefei No. 50 Middle School were also like this. The word "幽媾" does sound quite obscure at first glance, but as long as you break it down according to the definition, you can quickly associate it with the first character "幽" through the word "隐秘", and then it is naturally stuck on the second character "gou" (fourth tone).

However, association is also an important method for recognizing and writing Chinese characters. Although Zhu Wenyun had never heard of "幽媾" before, he had seen the term "交媾" which generally refers to the union of yin and yang between men and women. After combining the meaning with the definition, he instantly determined that the character "媾" was the same as "幽媾". He wrote down the answer accurately on the manuscript in front of him in a few strokes.

The second word is 'rime', and the mistake is that the character '凇' is easily written as the water radical (氵).

The third word is "Tumen River". Compared to simply being an obscure character, this question tests students' knowledge of general knowledge. It requires them to be able to easily write down the name if they have seen it before, but if they don't know it, they will make all sorts of mistakes.

The subsequent words 'nucleotides', 'chapped skin', 'rushing to it', and 'beheading' did not pose any difficulty for Zhu Wenyun. On the contrary, she became more and more proficient and excited as she wrote, and she was completely immersed in the preliminary round of this dictation competition.

The last word is '姽婳', which comes from Song Yu's "Goddess Fu". It means to describe the graceful and beautiful appearance of a woman. The word '婆娑' in the original line "既姽婳于幽静兮，又婆娑乎人间" is also easy to be tested.

As Chen Junqian picked up his pen and finished writing those two characters, he even unconsciously thought about applying the same principle to other situations in his mind.

In the years since his rebirth, he has never given up on learning from others. After all, what the system gave him was only extraordinary learning ability, not knowledge itself. This kind of Chinese classical learning and writing was not included in the "multi-talented" reward that the system prepared for the male protagonist of the two-dimensional romantic comedy. So it was basically all the accumulation of Chen Junqian's past and present lives. After finishing writing, he would feel a long-lost sense of heartfelt satisfaction.

After the papers in front of them were taken away, the host on stage soon announced the selection criteria for the second round of auditions. To pass this round, candidates had to achieve a correct answer rate of over 80% on the ten questions they had just answered. After a few minutes of grading, only ten people remained on stage, including Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun.

At this point, another teacher in charge finally noticed them, adjusted his glasses, and asked with some confusion:

"You two, you're not students of our school, are you?"

Teacher Zhang, who had been watching the drama unfold from the sidelines, chuckled and came over to explain to the elderly teacher before patting both of them on the shoulder:

"Amazing! I never expected that a middle school in such a small place as Guoning could produce two such promising talents like you. Your accuracy rate was 100% for both of you. If you weren't students of our No. 50 Middle School, I would have liked to add you directly to the main selection list for this dictation competition."

Although CCTV's intention in creating an original cultural program like the "Chinese Character Dictation Competition" is to promote traditional Chinese culture and characters in this era of increasingly developed internet and convenient mobile phone typing, in reality, for the provincial teams, it's no different from the competitions posted on the honor roll outside their doors—it's all about promoting their schools.

Furthermore, since this program is entirely produced by CCTV and will be broadcast during the prime time of summer, there will be a massive amount of publicity, which will even outweigh the honor. Teacher Zhang's instructions from the school are to select students who can better showcase the style of middle school students in the new era and the school's image, when the grades are similar.

To put it simply, it's about having a good image, a great temperament, and being photogenic.

In this respect, the two people in front of her can indeed be considered outstanding among their peers, not to mention that they have shown such strong abilities, which is indeed a level that makes Teacher Zhang feel quite sorry for them.

Sigh, why aren't those two kids students from our No. 50 Middle School?

"The other eight students besides you two will undergo a period of training first. Our school's final selection will probably take place after the end of June, after the final exams. If you two are on summer vacation then, you can come and take a look. It will be even more exciting than today."

"Will it be even more exciting than today?"

"Well, compared to literary accumulation and knowledge reserves, psychological quality is also an important criterion for participating in this competition. Therefore, we will try our best to build the stage for the final selection to be the same as the one on the show. You two will know when you come. Of course, we also welcome Chen and Zhu to come on stage again on that day to take on the challenge."

"On the set of the show... I understand, I will come."

Zhu Wenyun nodded vigorously in agreement.

She does need to work on her mental fortitude, since she has decided to become an idol-style teenage writer, and facing the camera is a fundamental skill.

Thinking of this, the girl unconsciously pursed her lips again, still feeling nervous.

She had never faced such a scene before, and she would deliberately avoid even being interviewed by local television cameras. Even if she could accept it, she needed someone else with her.

Chen Junqian had just retrieved his and Zhu Wenyun's papers from the teacher who graded them. His gaze had barely left the first word, "幽媾" (you gou), when he looked up and met the girl's eyes looking in his direction.

It was an emotion that couldn't be more complex than any other. If I had to describe it, it would probably be...

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“笱绻 (qian, quan)”.

"It means a deep, lingering, and inseparable feeling or state of being. This feeling usually refers specifically to the affection between lovers, but it can also be used to describe other strong and intimate relationships."

The school's gymnasium, usually used for large-scale events, was packed to capacity. The school's internal selection process for the Chinese Character Dictation Competition was nearing its end, with seven people remaining just one step away from the final five spots. Even the students and parents invited to the audience held their breath, and the only sound in the venue was the host's clear and articulate voice reading the questions.

Standing in front of the electronic answer board, Shen Nianqiu nodded to the host to indicate that she had heard every word of the question and had no objections, and then picked up the pen that was placed next to her.

Similar to the approach taken by Hefei No. 50 Middle School, the selection process for the Zhejiang team also adopted the same format as the live program in the final selection stage. Not only did it change from a competitive model where everyone took turns dictating and scoring to an elimination model where those who made mistakes were eliminated, but it also invited a large number of live audience members.

After all, sitting in a seat listening to the teacher and spelling Chinese characters is completely different from standing in front of a large audience to dictate Chinese characters. Every stroke is seen by the audience and judges. There are always students in the exam room who perform well in mid-term and final exams, but are completely lost when it comes to the big exam. Not to mention this kind of program that will be shown in front of a national audience.

If you can't even handle the pressure of being on the field, then you're really not suited to represent your school or even the entire Zhejiang province in a competition.

However, compared to a certain anxious young literary girl who wished she could hide her younger brother away and keep him clutched in her pocket to feel at ease, Shen Nianqiu was indeed completely without any problem in terms of mental fortitude.

Even setting aside the fact that she has performed on stage countless times since she started learning to sing and dance, her family situation, which is unbearable for most people, is enough to cultivate her indifferent personality that is unmoved by anything. So it doesn't matter to her whether there are many or few audience members or what their reactions are, even if many of them are cheering for her.

It's perfectly normal that Shen Nianqiu's approval rating remains high among the students participating in the final selection. At an age when most people go out without makeup and have hardly ever used cosmetics, it's very easy to tell whether a girl is pretty or not, especially with the added advantage of her academic achievements.

Students with good grades always have a filter on them in a school setting. Even ordinary boys and girls will have an extra charm under this filter, not to mention a girl like Shen Nianqiu who is already very beautiful. Especially after she fought her way through the rounds to the final selection stage and became known to more students in the school, she has almost formed a support group.

“Tenderly…”

The girl standing there silently recited the word, but involuntarily thought of Chen Junqian because of the interpretation the host had just read out.

The radicals and components of Chinese characters have always been a way to learn and become familiar with them. Just like the saying "If you can't read a character, read half of it," their most important functions are to represent sound and meaning. By using this as a starting point, it becomes easier to guess and write these words.

However, this question doesn't require these details, because this word was originally an adjective that the female authors in "Fireworks," which Shen Nianqiu read most often, liked to use. It's just that after reviewing the knowledge of radicals and components during this period, when she looks at these two characters again, she pays extra attention to their shared silk radical.

The radical for silk, as its name suggests, is related to silk, textiles, cloth, and cotton. However, in Chinese characters, it is also associated with thoughts and feelings, such as in the characters for entanglement, entanglement, and tenderness.

It's like a thread tugging at the most itchy spot in your heart, suspended in mid-air yet unable to fall. This is probably the best description of the "silk" radical in Chinese to describe one's innermost thoughts.

"Qianqian... spelled correctly!"

The large screen overhead lit up with a green light, indicating the correct answer. As the host announced it, the audience erupted in applause. Many students even jumped up from their seats, waving their arms and shouting the name 'Shen Nianqiu' until their faces turned red. They seemed even more excited than if they had passed the round themselves.

However, she naturally ignored all those who tried to impress her and leave a lasting impression. She calmly returned to her seat, sitting up straight and waiting for the next round. Her poised and graceful demeanor earned nods of approval from the school staff and teachers on the other side who were in charge of the selection process.

In fact, when only seven people remained in the final selection, the school was already willing to provide her with a spot regardless of whether Shen Nianqiu could make it into the final five.

As I said before, academic performance is one aspect, and publicity is another. Their educational level and student quality are significantly higher than most parts of the country. As long as Shen Nianqiu's performance reaches that average standard, it will be enough for her to be selected based on other aspects.

Of course, it would be even better if the other party could genuinely earn a place on the final list through their own performance. The school has already started to imagine what kind of press release they should issue during the summer vacation and what kind of title they should give to Shen Nianqiu.

It's just hype, nothing shameful about it.

The flashing red light signaled the departure of another student, and with only six people remaining, it was Shen Nianqiu's turn once again.

Once again, amidst applause and cheers much louder than those of the previous students, she walked to the electronic answer board on stage, nodded slightly to the host, and then obtained the vocabulary for the dictation question from the host:

"Forbidden meat".

The pronunciation of nasal sounds is quite accurate and will not be misheard as spasm.

Moreover, it is followed by a specific explanation of the meaning of this word.

During the competition preparation, Shen Nianqiu personally copied the Modern Chinese Dictionary by hand. Almost simultaneously, she recited the definition of this term, which had impressed her when she first saw it, in her mind, and then wrote down the not-so-difficult word correctly by hand.

"A metaphor for something precious and rare, which one can only possess and not allow others to touch."

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Chapter Thirty-Nine: I Will Always Be Watching You (Part Two)

Chen Junqian learned of Shen Nianqiu's selection as one of the main members of the Zhejiang Provincial Team immediately, and he was also a little confused.

It's not that he was surprised by this change in the timeline, after all, the life trajectories of himself and the girls around him had changed countless times because of his rebirth. What Chen Junqian found very subtle was actually another point.

If his memory serves him correctly, the final champion of the first Chinese Character Dictation Competition was the Zhejiang team, and their Anhui team was eliminated by Zhejiang in the semi-finals. They even contributed a memorable scene of being completely defeated in a three-on-one battle, which left a deep impression on Chen Junqian.

At that time, the game had been down to five players: three from Anhui, one from Guangdong, and one from Zhejiang. With Guangdong eliminated first and Anhui facing a three-on-one situation, Zhejiang's star player managed to hold on until the very end and turn the tide, helping Zhejiang advance to the final and win the championship.

It's just a matter of whether the outcome of this competition will change because of Shen Nianqiu's participation. But then again, if he weren't a student of Hefei No. 50 Middle School and couldn't participate through normal channels, Chen Junqian himself would have wanted to personally go on stage and compete against the representatives from these provinces in the Chinese character dictation event.

When Chen Junqian told Zhu Wenyun about Shen Nianqiu's successful selection, the latter's reaction seemed even more intense than his. After secretly discussing it with Teacher Zhang, she announced another piece of news to him:

“I’ve spoken with Teacher Zhang. If the two of us can beat the five finalists selected by her school in the final selection, she’s willing to take us to Beijing to participate in the recording of the show as sparring partners for the team.”

Although the number of spots for the competition was fixed and only students from No. 50 Middle School could participate, the program team couldn't really control internal matters like sparring partners. Of course, the prerequisite for making this happen was that the two of them could demonstrate their abilities in this area, so that Teacher Zhang could then make the request and submit a report to the school.

"Then let's go and take a look."

This time, Chen Junqian did not refuse as he had done with the New Concept Writing Competition. Firstly, he was indeed interested in the matter, and secondly, he had not seen Shen Nianqiu for a long time, so this was a good opportunity to meet her.

Even though Shen Nianqiu said something like, "You'll just have to watch your sister perform on TV then—", Chen Junqian could still clearly sense that compared to this meeting across the screen, she definitely preferred to meet him in person offline.

However, since he was not yet entirely certain whether he could make it to Beijing, Chen Junqian did not immediately tell his sister about it with certainty, but planned to give her a surprise later.

While Zhu Wenyun was putting all her effort into getting a chance to go to Beijing, Chen Junqian had to divert some of his energy to another matter... or more precisely, to another person.

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