I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

Just yesterday, she and Gu Linguo's team made another major breakthrough at the wear-resistant factory.

It seems that some people do indeed think that way.

They've even already cut it off.

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Chapter 42: The Literary Girl's Ambition (Part 2)

Before officially heading to Beijing to compete, Chen Junqian was dragged by Zhu Wenyun to a movie theater in the city.

This was actually the first time he had gone to the movies with Zhu Wenjun. Before, he would either bring his sister and Gu Linguo or go with Lin Mu. In fact, all the movie theater-related achievements were accomplished with Mu Mu.

However, the reason why Zhu Wenyun would take the initiative to invite Chen Junqian to the cinema was not because a masterpiece that was released this summer would attract even someone like her who never goes to the movies, but simply because it was a task assigned to her by the editorial department, or rather, a suggestion.

Without a doubt, the editorial department of "Fireworks" has been aiming from the very beginning to mold Zhu Wenyun into a new generation of idol-style teenage writers following in the footsteps of Han Han and Guo Jingming. This includes training her to participate in this year's New Concept Writing Competition, and this trip to the cinema is no exception.

Without a doubt, in 2013, among the twin star writers who emerged from the New Concept Writing Competition, Guo Jingming was far more popular than Han Han. The reason for this was the legendary masterpiece that Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun were going to see in the cinema, a masterpiece that would leave its mark on Chinese film history on another level:

Tiny Times.

It must be said that domestic moviegoers in June 2013 were indeed very fortunate in a sense. From the beginning to the end of the month, they were able to see three blockbuster films, collectively known as the "second generation of rich kids": "Switch," "Badges of Fury," and "Tiny Times." Moreover, the box office performance of the three films was quite good, which fully demonstrated that the domestic film market is indeed a vast blue ocean worth exploring.

In particular, the movie "Tiny Times" that the two of them were about to watch not only easily broke the record for the opening screening of a domestic film held by "Painted Skin 2" during the preview screening, but also raked in 73 million RMB at the box office on its opening day, breaking the record for the opening day of a domestic 2D film once again. In terms of box office and commercial performance, it was outstanding. It was no wonder that the editorial department directly asked Zhu Wenyun to learn from her predecessors, or rather, to use such an example to paint a bright future for her.

Chen Junqian had never seen "Tiny Times" in his previous life. His only impression of the domestic film market in 2013 and 2014 was that youth films had reached a point of rampant proliferation. From "So Young" at the beginning of 2013 to "Fleet of Time" at the end of 2014, including "Tiny Times" where the main characters were college students, it officially ushered in a great era in which domestic youth films had to have all the elements of love triangles, catfights, abortions, and car accidents. Chen Junqian, who was indeed in middle school at the time, was completely stunned when he saw it.

Haha, I fell asleep while studying. So everyone's youth is this rich? Or do we not live in the same country?

In short, faced with such a legendary masterpiece that he had never seen before but had heard of in the film industry, Chen Junqian even felt that it was a bit strange for Zhu Wenyun to watch this thing on her first time in a movie theater. However, upon closer inspection, he realized that she didn't seem to be particularly looking forward to it; she was just sitting there popping popcorn into her mouth one after another.

If she had a choice, Zhu Wenyun would certainly prefer to bring some sunflower seeds and peanuts from home, but unfortunately, the cinemas here have relevant regulations. Although she has seen some elderly people ignore the rules and do as they please, Zhu Wenyun still couldn't bring herself to do such a thing. Besides, it was her first time at a cinema, so she decided to follow local customs and buy a bucket of popcorn, which she considered to be extremely overpriced.

"I've read the original novel before, and how should I put it? It's all stuff that I definitely couldn't write now."

During the wait before the movie officially started, Zhu Wenyun took the initiative to bring up related topics.

"However, many girls in my class really enjoy watching it. Even though there's nothing here in Guoning, and it would have been impossible to see anything like this before, after watching it, they suddenly know all kinds of luxury brands by heart, and even develop a certain beautiful imagination about Shanghai. You can't make up those brands even if you ask me to."

"That's just his writing style. Wenjun has her own writing style."

"But his writing style is very popular, isn't it? Otherwise, the movie wouldn't have sold so well."

As she spoke, Zhu Wenyun straightened up and glanced around the theater, which was more than 70% full and mostly occupied by middle school students who had just started their summer vacation. She seemed a little discouraged.

After all, her writing style is completely opposite to Guo Jingming's in its simplicity, so seeing how popular his work is, she is indeed a little worried about her future writing career.

"But on the other hand, aren't the images that appear in Wen Yun's writing also things that Guo Jingming himself couldn't have made up? They are simply each having their own strengths and weaknesses, so there's no need to worry about that. Wen Yun just needs to write her own things well and express the emotions she wants to convey. Aren't the reader feedback for your short stories pretty good?"

In the six months since the serialization ended last year, Zhu Wenyun has not been solely preparing for the New Concept Writing Competition. She has continued to serialize short stories in "Fireworks". After all, popularity is something that cannot be maintained through long-term and stable exposure. It is easy for it to be a flash in the pan and then be forgotten by readers.

"Um...I know."

"Wenyun has been quite busy lately, but don't let it bother you. Just deal with things one by one, and I'll be there to help you as much as I can."

After offering words of comfort and encouragement to Zhu Wenyun, who seemed to be quite busy and emotionally unstable lately, Chen Junqian turned his attention back to the film that had begun playing on the screen. He then personally experienced the power of this terrible movie that he had only heard of before. After watching it, he even felt that this should be considered a work injury.

Besides the film itself being exceptionally bad in every aspect, what also ruined Chen Junqian's viewing experience was the atmosphere at the venue. Whenever the male characters appeared, the female audience members would unabashedly give the most enthusiastic screams and responses in this public place. Some even took out their phones to take pictures of the screen, stimulating Chen Junqian's audiovisual nerves in every way. By the end of the movie, he was almost mentally and physically exhausted.

It's fair to say that the entertainment market has been like this for the past two years. The domestic entertainment industry and the Korean wave are locked in a fierce battle, and everything from movies to variety shows to TV dramas is shifting towards the "traffic king" model. As a result, the age range of fans is also starting to drop. Right now, they are middle school students, but in two years, even elementary school students will be proficient in combo attacks starting with battle cries in the wave of the internet. Just thinking about it gives me a headache.

Zhu Wenyun's reaction didn't seem much better than Chen Junqian's. As soon as she left the theater, she started rubbing her temples and the area between her eyebrows. The main reason was that she wasn't as simple as Chen Junqian, who could forget about a bad movie after watching it. She still had to go back and chat with her screenwriter. Although it wasn't time to write a formal review of the movie, she still had to try to find some bright spots in it.

"To be honest, the cast is quite impressive? The actors playing the male and female leads are all very popular. Many people here haven't read the original work and are just here to see their idols."

"That's certainly one of the reasons. I'll think about it when I get back."

It's clear that Zhu Wenyun was initially quite looking forward to watching a movie with Chen Junqian. However, the film's subpar quality and the terrible atmosphere at the theater significantly diminished their first cinematic experience. It wasn't until they stepped out of the theater and were greeted by the evening breeze that they finally felt a bit more awake from their chaotic thoughts.

"We will be second-year junior high school students after the start of the next semester."

After mentioning that question somewhat out of the blue, Chen Junqian then heard Zhu Wenyun seemingly casually ask him another question:

"Will you want to date when you're in high school?"

Including the movie "Tiny Times" that they watched today, most of the domestic youth films released in China in the past two years always start their romance in high school, then go through ups and downs in the following college years, and finally either end up together or miss each other. For example, "So Young" which was released in April, and "You Are the Apple of My Eye" which made Kai Ko, the male lead of "Tiny Times" who has not yet been exposed for drug use, famous.

However, for Zhu Wenyun, it wasn't because of this custom that she asked Chen Junqian at this moment; her reason was actually much simpler.

That is, she and Chen Junqian are not in the same junior high school now, but they will definitely be in the same high school later, and there is a high probability that they will be in the same class. The special class set up specifically for top students is a field that Lin Mu and Xu Youwei can never touch.

It was precisely because of this that Zhu Wenyun was now slowly beginning to accept the fact that the two of them were not in the same junior high school. After all, if she had to choose between the two, not being in the same junior high school was always better than not being in the same high school.

After all, most romances begin in high school.

"No one can say for sure about these things. When the time is right, you might want to talk about it."

He didn't adopt the wooden attitude of "women only affect my studies," but he also didn't give a direct, definite answer. Chen Junqian was quite certain that Zhu Wenyun's abrupt question was simply due to her mind being temporarily clouded by the "Tiny Times" movie she had just watched, so he proactively changed the subject again:

"Has Wenyun packed all her luggage? We're going to Hefei tomorrow, and then to Beijing. Is this Wenyun's first time going to Beijing?"

"Yes, and it's also the first time I've gone so far from home."

For Zhu Wenyun, who had never left Anhui Province before and whose furthest trip had been to Hefei, this summer trip to Beijing was truly an unprecedented experience. It would be a lie to say she wasn't nervous, but the thought of Chen Junqian accompanying her calmed her down.

"I heard we have to take a plane there."

"Yes, Teacher Zhang said we'll be going to the airport in Nanjing. By the way, did you hear the joke that Nanjing is actually the capital of three provinces?"

"Three provinces? Jiangsu... Anhui, which one else?"

"Taiwan."

Zhu Wenyun smiled at Chen Junqian's little joke.

"Has Junqian ever flown on a plane before?"

"Just like you, it's my first time."

"I wonder what the experience will be like..."

"According to Mu Mu and You Wei, apart from the few minutes of takeoff and landing, there was nothing special to experience. After watching the clouds outside the window for a while, they could go to sleep, and when they woke up, they had arrived at their destination."

Among the girls in Guoning, quite a few have actually flown before. Lin Mu and Xu Youwei both flew when their families took them on trips when they were young.

"I have a feeling that Wenyun doesn't particularly want to fly there?"

"Because it's a bit scary, I heard that the survival rate of plane crashes is very, very low."

"But in terms of the probability of accidents, air crashes are among the lowest of all modes of transportation, so there's no need to overthink it."

Even though Chen Junqian said that, Zhu Wenyun still looked a little uneasy.

"But on the other hand, if something happens, there is basically no chance of survival."

However, Chen Junqian soon realized from the other party's subsequent remarks that she had the real purpose behind those words.

"I heard that if something really happens, the crew will ask the passengers to write their wills in advance as a precaution? What should I write? What should I say to my parents and grandma? Junqian, you don't need to write anything, because you're right here with me. I can just tell you whatever I want to say."

Seeing Zhu Wenyun's interest in these anecdotes and rumors, Chen Junqian quickly concluded that this was another of her typical literary girl tendencies acting up, just like Guo Jingming, who always fantasizes about getting a terminal illness or encountering an accident and actually writes such plots into his books. So he immediately prepared to give the girl a flick on the head to bring her to her senses.

However, before he could take action himself, Zhu Wenyun had already dismissed this fantasy.

"But it doesn't seem necessary. I saw the word '窅冥' (yǎo mínɡ) when I was reviewing Chinese vocabulary the other day. It means dark and gloomy. Actually, I had seen it before in Yuan Zhen's poem mourning his deceased wife."

“Wenyun was referring to the line from the poem ‘Three Poems of Lament’: ‘What hope is there in the dark and desolate grave? And the chance of meeting again in the next life is even more uncertain.’”

"Hmm, so it means that even if we can be buried together in a dark tomb, we can't express our true feelings. The hope of being together in the next life is such a pipe dream. So, living well in this life is the most important thing, right?"

Zhu Wenyun has always been the kind of girl who subtly hides all sorts of thoughts and feelings in her writing, and this time is no exception.

To be honest, what she really wanted to share with Chen Junqian at this moment was the last line of the first poem in "Three Poems of Lamentation," which was also a thought that she had reaffirmed in her heart after watching "Tiny Times."

It is true that everyone has this kind of sorrow, but for poor and lowly couples, everything is more painful.

Whether the poet himself intended to express that it was because he had shared impoverished years with her that, even knowing the pain of separation is common to all, he still felt sorrow for everything related to her after her departure, or whether the interpretation that the first half of the line was removed after it was passed down to the common people, leaving only the second half to express that poverty and hardship between husband and wife naturally lead to sorrow in everything, Zhu Wenyun believed that both interpretations were essentially appropriate and could even be aptly applied to her relationship with Chen Junqian.

What she wanted wasn't some romantic novel scenario where, years later, someone says, "If we're both still single at thirty, let's just get together," like in the story of "I'm still unknown and you're still unmarried, we're probably both inferior to others."

She wanted to write both of their names on the same line in the book of destiny.

Let's start with this Chinese character dictation competition.

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Chapter 43: The Spine, Perched in the Bag, Will Emerge Profoundly (Part Two)

Before Chen Junqian's trip to Beijing this summer, not only his younger sister but also all the other girls gave him their blessings. After all, in a small place like Guoning, the opportunity to appear on television, especially on CCTV, is practically a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Coincidentally, the last time Guoning appeared on a CCTV news program was also somewhat related to Chen Junqian. It was during last year's Double Eleven shopping festival when they were reporting on the online shopping and e-commerce boom. The three fierce Xu brothers were also mentioned and received a few seconds of screen time as a prominent representative.

"Actually, it's not guaranteed that it will be broadcast on TV. Also, these kinds of programs are usually edited, so it depends on how the production team edits it."

The night before Chen Junqian left, his sister and Gu Linguo, who were close by, came to his room to help him pack. He gave them a heads-up beforehand, and then reached out to grab the glass bottle containing origami cranes and little stars on the bookshelf.

To his surprise, the two little ones, who had been diligently folding his clothes and putting them in his suitcase, stopped what they were doing at the same time and looked up at him, asking in unison:

"What is brother going to do with that?"

"Which one are you going to bring?"

Startled by their sudden, simultaneous reaction, Chen Junqian was also a little confused and turned to ask in bewilderment:

"Huh? What's wrong? Why are one or two people reacting so strongly?"

Faced with his question, the two children fell silent again. After a while, Gu Lingguo finally spoke up:

"It's nothing, I'm just a little curious why my brother brought this with him on his trip to Beijing."

"Mumu asked me to bring it, saying it would bring me good luck."

After shaking the glass bottle, which had been on his bookshelf for quite some time, a couple of times and listening to the rustling sounds of origami cranes and little stars inside, Chen Junqian tucked it back into his soft clothes to prevent it from breaking during the journey.

Hearing Chen Junqian say this, Gu Lingguo blinked her mischievous eyes twice, then pulled out a badge that came with her anime magazine from under the bed and solemnly handed it to him:

"Then brother, please take mine with you too."

"Oh."

Following Gu Lingguo's example, Chen Xi did the same. Although she couldn't find her things in Chen Junqian's room, her home was just downstairs. So she immediately ran out of her room, went to her own home, and grabbed a small bracelet, handing it to her brother.

"This is mine."

Hmm, looking at the scene before him and the little ornaments in his left and right hands, Chen Junqian suddenly remembered a long-ago joke.

Warrior: I will kill you, you monster, to avenge my brother!

Ranger: My bow and arrows will be of assistance to you!