I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

Just as Shen Nianqiu said when she came in, Chen Junqian would not know immediately whether she was involved in such a thing, but Zhu Wenyun must have been the one who switched or stole the phone, because she was the only one who had the same phone as Chen Junqian and the opportunity to do so, making her the undisputed primary person responsible for the incident.

At this point, Zhu Wenyun could only place her fingertips on the phone screen and slowly move the green call button, which indicated answering the call, from left to right.

Since buying these two phones, she and Chen Junqian have talked on the phone countless times over the past few years, but never before has the conversation been so slow and frustrating, as if the other party would hang up if she delayed even a second longer.

But the ringtone was still ringing, and it had even finished the first chorus of the song, singing the part about "give me the courage to believe again, oh, to embrace you beyond the lies".

Just as Zhu Wenyun painstakingly pushed the boulder from the bottom of the mountain to the top, like Sisyphus, she heard a sound from the earpiece beside her ear, like a boulder rolling down from top to bottom, all the way to the bottom of her heart, and then crashing into the deepest well with a thud. But it didn't go down; instead, it stuck there like a fishbone stuck in her throat.

"Why did you steal my phone? Zhu Wenyun, are you out of your mind?"

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Zhu Wenyun originally thought she could withstand any evaluation or words. After all, she had just recently gone to the cinema with Chen Junqian to watch "Tiny Times," a masterpiece by a well-known author surnamed Guo, which her editor had told her to watch, study, and research carefully. In it, there was no shortage of all kinds of vicious words used to attack others. This should prove that teenagers, as its main audience, are capable of withstanding and even accepting such words.

But the truth is, Chen Junqian only used such a simple sentence, only uttered the word 'steal' and the slightly harsh word 'sick,' to completely shatter Zhu Wenyun's psychological defenses, turning her into a completely soft-bodied creature in an instant, without a shell, the kind that anyone could hurt.

Her previously drowsy and confused state of mind suddenly cleared up. The first thing to wake up was her ears, which had become a breach. Only one sentence poured in from the outside, but it triggered a chain reaction that caused the entire system to collapse. More things surged out from there without reservation, and then drowned her. Even the words she subconsciously uttered became a little wet and tasted salty when they came out of her mouth.

Tears that have been traveling a long way since childhood have finally reached the sea, naturally carrying a bitter saltiness like salt from ancient times.

"You can look at mine too. My phone is with you, and it doesn't even have a password."

In fact, the moment Chen Junqian heard Zhu Wenyun say those words, he almost laughed in anger. However, he was also glad that the two of them were not communicating face-to-face, but talking to each other over the phone, because he knew he couldn't bear to see Zhu Wenyun, who was already crying on the other end, say anything harsh.

"That's just your own wishful thinking, and you've taken the liberty of projecting it onto me. I never wanted to look at your phone, nor did I ever want to see what was on it. So I don't want anyone else to see what's on my phone without my permission, let alone have it stolen like you did today."

Even though Zhu Wenyun wasn't on speakerphone, Shen Nianqiu, who was sitting next to Chen Junqian, could hear every word he said clearly. Along with Xu Youwei, who was also sitting next to Chen Junqian, the three of them were almost completely stunned, looking at and listening to this Chen Junqian they had never seen or heard of before.

"I only looked at some of your previous chat logs with Shen Nianqiu."

"There is no such thing as 'just' or 'nothing' when it comes to this kind of thing."

For the first time since his rebirth, Chen Junqian began to gradually understand the terrible personality of a certain atypical literary girl. Because until now, she had not said the simplest apology, and was still trying to justify everything that happened today. He even suspected that Zhu Wenyun was already thinking about how to write this passage into her next novel while saying these words, just like the daily routine they had spent together before.

"Apologize."

"I can show you anything you want to see. It's fine if you have my phone or check it every day. If you want to know what I do every day, I can write you a diary or a report..."

She seemed completely absorbed in her own little world, no longer paying attention to what Chen Junqian was saying. Even Shen Nianqiu, who was standing right next to her, subconsciously felt that this child seemed completely unable to speak, and that every word he uttered was on the wrong path. However, the heavy emotion revealed in each word was impossible to ignore, and she couldn't help but look away, not wanting to watch this scene that resembled a dark history unfolding any longer.

On the other side of the hotel, Chen Junqian, holding his phone, also had mixed feelings. He didn't know whether to say that Zhu Wenyun's psychological problems over the years had never been resolved and had always been covered up, or that it was his own past actions that had turned Zhu Wenyun into what she was now. So, in the end, he could only speak to her on the other end of the phone in an almost threatening, even naming tone:

"Don't belittle yourself, okay? Your grandma would be upset if she knew you were saying that."

The effect of these words was undoubtedly immediate. Chen Junqian soon heard a loud sniffling sound, followed by several hoarse coughs, and finally two very soft, repeated apologies.

"Okay, then you can leave your phone there now. I'll go back to the hotel tomorrow, and then we'll switch phones back. Let me say it again, if you, Zhu Wenjun, are thinking of peeking at what's inside tonight or after, then there's no need for us to be friends anymore."

There was no intention to loosen his grip at the last minute, nor was he deliberately playing the bad cop. Chen Junqian, who was genuinely angry, brought the matter to a temporary close with an absolutely firm stance, and then continued:

"But I won't be using this phone anymore, it's easy to confuse it with yours."

"That's all for now, goodbye."

After saying this, Chen Junqian proactively ended the call with Zhu Wenyun, casually placed her phone on the bedside table, and then reached out to Xu Youwei:

"Can I borrow Youyou's phone for a moment? I need to send a message to Mumu and the others, telling them not to message me tonight and tomorrow, and also to ask them if I've sent them any strange messages."

"Oh... Qinqin was so scary just now."

Taking her phone out of her pocket, which was turned off, Xu Youwei pressed and held the power button to turn it on, while offering a brief explanation for her earlier actions:

"Actually, I just wanted to scare them, otherwise I wouldn't have just been playing on my phone here with Qinqin. I was planning to tell you when you came back... Besides, I was also wondering if I had accidentally mixed them up, since your two phones are exactly the same."

It can only be said that stealing a phone is something not everyone would think of, after all, not everyone's personality would get a D rating from the system, and Xu Youwei was no exception.

"I know... Hmm? Your dad called you several times recently, was it urgent?"

"If it's really urgent and I can't get through to you, I'll definitely call you or Uncle Chen. Since Uncle Chen didn't receive it, it probably isn't anything serious. He's probably just wishing me a happy birthday tomorrow."

"Then I'll reply to him."

Chen Junqian does care a lot about his parents' empathy. Moreover, in his eyes, Xu Youwei's family relationships are much better than those of Shen Nianqiu and Gu Lingguo. He himself is trying his best to promote progress in this area. Only a good family can raise a psychologically healthy child, and this is clearly reflected in Lin Mu.

As soon as the call was made, Xu Zhiling's voice came from the other end.

"Hey, yo-yo?"

"Uncle Xu, it's me."

Xu Zhiling was not surprised to hear a male voice on the other end of his daughter's phone call. After all, it was clearly Chen Junqian. It would be strange if the two of them weren't together. His daughter had traveled all the way from Guoning to Beijing, and it was her birthday tomorrow. If he wasn't willing to spend this little bit of time with her, he would probably rush over there immediately.

"Hmm, Junqian, what's wrong?"

"I was having dinner with Youyou earlier, so I turned off my phone. Now that I'm back at the hotel and have turned it back on, I saw that you called me several times. I wanted to ask if you had any urgent matters to discuss."

"Well, it's nothing really. It's just that your sister and Lin Guo, those two girls, want to go back to the old house you used to live in at the wear-resistant factory to take a look and take a couple of photos. They said there have been a lot of attacks against you online lately, and they want to get some justice for you."

"The house is still standing?"

“Yeah, didn’t Youyou tell you? It’s been kept all this time. But there aren’t as many employees in the factory as there were in the past ten years or so, so it’s fine to leave it empty. Just keep it as a memento. And who knows, maybe one day when you really become a big star, I can put up a sign there that says ‘Chen Junqian’s Childhood Residence’ and charge your fans for admission. Talented Scholar’s ​​Residence, haha, that name was so fitting back then.”

Listening to Xu Zhiling's jokes, Chen Junqian's mood, which had been somewhat depressed and irritable because of Zhu Wenyun's matter, improved a bit. After exchanging a few more pleasantries with the other party, he hung up the phone and then noticed Xu Youwei standing next to him, looking conflicted and hesitant.

"What's wrong?"

"My dad said Chen Xi and Gu Linguo are going to your old house? When?"

"It should be today, but from what he said earlier, he hasn't gone there yet. Is there anything there? I remember I emptied that place before I moved."

To be honest, if she hadn't witnessed such a dramatic scene between Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun tonight, given Xu Youwei's cautious nature, she would have tried to pretend to be deaf and dumb, especially in situations like this. But as soon as such a thought appeared, she immediately suppressed it, because Zhu Wenyun had already set a bad example for her.

Therefore, Xu Youwei quickly spoke up:

"Qinqin, could you call and tell them not to go in? It's not an empty house. I use it regularly; it's 100% my private space."

She was certain that she was perfectly calm at this moment, and even her tone of voice was completely devoid of emotion, even though this situation and scenario had never occurred in any of her previous imaginations.

Perhaps it's the other person's next birthday, perhaps it's December 21st of this year, or perhaps it's sometime when she truly decides to confess again, but this opportunity came earlier and faster than any of these.

In that instant, Xu Youwei even had a hallucination, as if the scene before her eyes had been resurrected from her imagination over the past two years. She could see her own body sitting there, calmly saying these words to Chen Junqian, as if her soul had left her body.

"Anyway, we're going back to Guoning in a couple of days. If we really want to take any photos, Qinqin and I can just go in and take them together."

Yes, it does indeed hold all her little secrets and thoughts that she doesn't want others to know, but conversely, it also holds all her likes and aspirations, like a princess's secret garden. Of course, it can be accidentally entered by others, and Xu Youwei herself has even thought about having someone else help her to break through this last layer of paper.

But now she's changed her mind, or rather, suddenly realized it.

That means she was indeed the first one to go in and see those things.

It has to be Chan Kwan-him.

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

Chapter 57: Emergency Contact (Two-in-One)

After hearing Xu Youwei speak, Chen Junqian nodded in agreement and then used her phone to call his sister. She and Gu Linguo had just received the spare key and hadn't gone inside yet. Although she was a little confused as to why Chen Junqian was using Xu Youwei's phone today, she obediently said that she understood.

Chen Junqian knew his younger sister's temperament and personality quite well, so after saying a few words to her, he asked her to hand the phone to Gu Linguo, who was standing next to her, and emphasized it to her again separately. Then he asked the two of them to return the spare key they had just received, and said that he would be back around the day after tomorrow or the day after that before hanging up the phone.

Even though Xu Youwei was being vague about what was going on in that old house, Chen Junqian didn't believe that Gu Linguo and Chen Xi would suddenly go there just to take photos. Come to think of it, the three of them, who had actually lived in that tenement building for over ten years, had never gone back or even mentioned it twice. The two kids must have heard some rumors or noticed something unusual before they ran there, and Gu Linguo was definitely the one leading them.

However, since Xu Youwei had already openly stated that she would take him inside to see it after they returned to Guoning, Chen Junqian didn't press the matter further. After all, in his mind, it would be something like the secret base they had set up in the countryside for two years. Moreover, given Zhu Wenyun's recent act of stealing his phone, Chen Junqian's psychological threshold seemed to have risen considerably.

After Chen Junqian finished his call, Xu Youwei seemed to have come to her senses and calmed down. However, since things had already come to this, they could only wait until the two of them returned to Guoning to test each other's mental fortitude.

Well... how should I put it? From Xu Youwei's own perspective, she felt that the scene she set up there shouldn't be that exaggerated or that easy to scare the person in question, right?

After the initial surge of energy from a few minutes ago subsided, Xu Youwei also began to feel inexplicably guilty. After all, Chen Junqian had just lost his temper in front of her. Even though the target of his anger wasn't her, the pressure he felt was considerable. She herself had also received a super, super strong glare from Qinqin when her phone was taken away, but it wasn't her defense that decreased, but rather all her attributes.

"It's been over a year since I moved here. Has Yoyo been guarding that place as a secret base ever since then?"

"Yeah, because I don't want it to be rented out by someone else... After all, it's the house that you've lived in for over ten years, and I've been playing there for two years."

"The place we spend the most time in is clearly the countryside, okay?"

Chen Junqian didn't hesitate to correct Xu Youwei's behavior of writing a history book about the past. After all, it should have been Mu Mu who had been frequently visiting his house a few years ago. He and Xu Youwei's activities were mostly concentrated in the countryside.

However, even under these circumstances, Mu Mu did not show any particularly extreme emotions about his move. She even accompanied them to look at houses, not to mention the subsequent decoration process. It can be said that she and Chen Junqian personally decorated his current bedroom. It's almost as if Chen Junqian should award her a certificate of 'childhood sweethearts'.

If you count the time, with summer vacation almost over, his childhood sweetheart Jian should be frantically rushing to finish her summer homework. This is a tradition she has every year at this time, something he can see every year.

"But Qinqin's old house is right next to the wear-resistant factory. You know my family situation. Before, I had to wait for my dad in his office every time, which was inconvenient in many ways. Now I can wait for him at your house, which is much more convenient."

Well, Xu Youwei certainly didn't lack plausible reasons, and Chen Junqian couldn't really find fault with her explanation. After all, ever since they became acquainted, Xu Youwei had always been the kind of child who preferred to linger on her way home from school rather than go home too early. She would always wait until Xu Zhiling got off work before going home with him. So, she did need to go to the wear-resistant factory, and using her old house as a temporary base didn't seem like a problem.

"Okay, but you could have told me sooner. It's not a big deal."

"Actually, I wanted to tell Qinqin during the Chinese New Year this year, but Qinqin was preoccupied with the idea of ​​spending the New Year at Mumu's house, and I was also thinking about it, so I forgot."

Facing the girl with her lips trembling in a wronged expression, Chen Junqian was once again certain that a large part of the reason he was able to say those things to Zhu Wenyun earlier was indeed because hearing the girl he cared about cry over the phone and actually seeing her cry in front of him were two completely different feelings. So much so that even the system in his mind, which was supposed to be related to romantic comedies, would specifically award him a separate achievement in this regard.

If there were a heroine in front of me who would shed tears for me...

How would I feel if there was a female protagonist in front of me who would shed tears for me?

Tears are the smallest ocean that humans can create. Even in romantic comedies, tears are often an indispensable element. Many things can only be said clearly after crying, and many things can only be done after crying.

That's how it is when you like someone. One second you want to tear them to pieces, and the next you're squatting there crying and picking them up, not knowing how to put them back together.

Conditions for achieving this: Witness any female lead with romantic comedy potential cry in front of you. Unexpected events such as yawning from lack of sleep or getting wind in your eyes do not count.

This was an achievement that Chen Junqian had never triggered since his rebirth, because no girl had ever truly cried in front of him. Zhu Wenyun was the first, but not in front of him; all he could hear was her sobbing and heavy nasal tone coming through the phone.

For children, tears are the cheapest, most worthless thing that can be used as a bargaining chip, but this achievement has been lingering until now. In Chen Junqian's mind, it has become like the achievement of someone else next to him who is in the midst of a "battlefield"—something he doesn't really want to actively trigger anymore.

It has to be said that Youyou, who was chosen by the CCTV program's cameramen, is indeed incredibly skilled at managing her expressions. She's adept at using her charm, cuteness, and pitifulness, and with the added bonus of her birthday, she skillfully deflected the topic—which is better left unsaid—by simply saying a few words, and even started speaking to Zhu Wenyun herself.

"Qinqin, don't be angry. Actually, if we really want to talk about it, Mumu and I were also at fault."

"What, is this about you and Mumu?"

"Because after Sister Shen came to Guoning last year, Wenyun told the two of us that she wanted to investigate the chat history between Qinqin and Sister Shen. However, at the time, Mumu and I thought that she was just saying it in a fit of anger. In fact, she should have told Qinqin about this a long time ago."

While she was talking, Xu Youwei's hands were also busy. Sitting behind Chen Junqian, she massaged his shoulders and rubbed his back. Anyone who didn't know better would think that it was Chen Junqian's birthday tomorrow.

Xu Youwei's thoughts were actually quite simple. First, the three of them were a genuine trio, and compared to kicking each other while she was down, she would definitely want to help each other out if possible. Second, she herself had done quite a few outrageous things in the past, so she had a feeling that if she helped her sister now, she should remember to help her out in the future. After all, they weren't actually acting out some movie called "Tiny Times," and there was absolutely no reason or motive to kick each other while she was down, pouring red wine on each other's heads while saying some ridiculous line like "May our future be rotten and stinky."

"It's not your fault, after all, it happened a year ago. And even if I had been there or you two had told me, I probably would have just thought she was joking."

By this time, Chen Junqian's mood had also calmed down considerably, and his tone when he spoke again was the same. He sat there, holding Zhu Wenyun's phone, which was the same model as his own, unconsciously and irregularly pressing the power button on the side of the phone, watching the screen light up and turn off as time passed.

Zhu Wenyun's screen saver was a photo of the two of them that appeared in a report after the second episode of the "Chinese Character Dictation Competition" aired this year. He had also asked Xu Youwei for the phone's password, which was his specific birthday. However, Chen Junqian was no longer surprised at this point. If the phone password wasn't only six digits, he wouldn't have doubted that Zhu Wenyun could come up with a password that was the most popular initials of the time plus 5201314.

Just as Gu Linguo himself had predicted before this summer vacation, Chen Junqian never disliked the feeling of being liked by girls. In fact, as the male protagonist of a romantic comedy, he needed to adapt to and even get used to this feeling as soon as possible, because the real world was even more exaggerated in this respect than the world of romantic comedies. There was no shortage of passersby who appeared only as background characters or were simply there to supplement the character settings in romantic comedies, but one after another, they launched confession offensives against the male and female protagonists. Moreover, they would visibly increase as he got older. This time, the "Chinese Character Dictation Competition" had already shown Chen Junqian this once.

However, there are different types and degrees of liking someone. At least, Chen Junqian can only politely decline the way Zhu Wenyun has shown liking someone so far. Even if he is not the male protagonist of a romantic comedy who is determined to create happy endings for all the female protagonists, he would probably not be able to accept Zhu Wenyun in this way.