I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

Watching Shen Nianqiu on the answering table, deep in thought, and asking the judges for the explanation of the word '瘗' (yī), ultimately receiving the answer 'to bury', Chen Xi on Guo Ning's side munched on her crispy fruit, wiping her mouth and fingertips with a tissue.

“I’ve seen this character before. It’s in the biography of Zhang Tang in the Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Cruel Officials.”

Who is Zhang Tang?

Lin Mu, who had absolutely no prior knowledge in this area, asked this question instinctively.

"There was a very famous official during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the one who interrogated rats when he was young. In his biography, there is a line that says, 'Someone stole the money buried in Emperor Wen's burial garden.' The 'burial' here refers to the money used for burial. And then, this incident became the fuse that ultimately led to Zhang Tang's downfall. However, he also took away the then prime minister Zhuang Qingzhai in exchange for the career advancement of his son Zhang Anshi..."

Halfway through her long and rambling speech, Chen Xi belatedly realized that Chen Junqian, the person she could talk to most about this kind of topic, wasn't there. Lin Mu and Gu Lingguo in front of her could only respond with awkward but polite smiles to this sudden historical topic, making her feel a little disappointed and dejected. She hugged her knees and turned to the side, feeling that she was already starting to miss Chen Junqian, whom she had only been separated from for a few days.

It's strange, really. Before, they could only see each other on weekends or during winter and summer vacations, but now they can see each other almost every day. Yet, the longing she feels for him is far greater than before. It's almost like she wants to examine her own feelings like Zhang Tang did when he interrogated the rat.

Although the commentator said that any girl who had read "Dream of the Red Chamber" should be able to write this word, in fact, this word does not appear in "Dream of the Red Chamber". It may be confused with the passages in "Daiyu Buries Flowers" or "The Five Beauties' Ode". Moreover, Shen Nianqiu is not a proper literary girl like Zhu Wenyun. Therefore, after writing the last three characters, she began to think about the first character, "瘗".

Unfortunately, she still couldn't think of the word until the very end. In the last few seconds, she hastily wrote down the character "肄" (yi), meaning "dismissed from school," and then stood there anxiously waiting for the result. What she finally saw were three green lights that didn't light up, highlighting the cold fact that she had answered incorrectly.

The trio, which had lasted for almost ten rounds, came to an end with Shen Nianqiu's mistake. However, this did not mean that she would be eliminated immediately. If Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun also answered the questions incorrectly in the next round, then the three of them would be back on the same starting line. Therefore, Shen Nianqiu, who could not return to her seat and whose fate was now in the hands of others, could only stand on the right side of the answer board with a somewhat uneasy expression, waiting for the results of Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun.

Following Shen Nianqiu in order, Zhu Wenyun took the stage. Seemingly affected by Shen Nianqiu's recent defeat, her mentality seemed to have undergone a subtle change. The expression on her face showed a mix of excitement and nervousness. After all, if she wrote the word correctly, regardless of Chen Junqian who followed her, at least between her and Shen Nianqiu, a winner could be decided.

"干戈载戢 (ji, second tone) means no longer resorting to force. 干戈 is the name of an ancient weapon, and 载戢 means to collect or store away."

But having reached this later stage, the words in the vocabulary list naturally became more obscure. As soon as the examiner announced the word, the numerous friends and family members backstage, who had also nervously risen from their seats following Shen Nianqiu's temporary elimination, began discussing it. The Anhui team was no exception; after all, if Zhu Wenyun answered correctly, it would at least guarantee that the overall champion of this dictation competition would be from Anhui. So, someone immediately asked:

"Teacher Zhang, you're a professional, do you know which word this is?"

"I think I've seen her in the Book of Songs, but I've forgotten. Where's Youwei?"

"I do have a vague recollection... but I can't quite remember it."

Xu Youwei, after all, wasn't a true encyclopedia of the Book of Songs, especially now that she had gone through so many rounds and her thinking was starting to dull and tire. She glanced upwards thoughtfully and said:

"I remember the fourth character was the hardest to write; I always made mistakes with it."

It can only be said that she read a lot of the Book of Songs, entirely because her mother started picking out words and phrases from various sentences in it to come up with a nickname for her before she was born. But obviously, this sentence comes from the "Zhou Song" and the original sentence is "Zai she gan ge, Zai ku gong shi". You can't come up with a nickname from the poem, after all, you can't just call her Ji Ji.

Since Xu Youwei had solved many questions from the Book of Songs backstage, the camera focused on her this time. She looked puzzled and muttered something like "This is so weird." The camera quickly switched back to the stage. Chen Xi, on the other hand, seemed to have suddenly gotten the funny point and laughed without any tension.

Because Xu Youwei no longer hesitates to call Chen Junqian "Qinqin" in front of others, Chen Xi naturally knows about her and Chen Junqian's nicknames and the story about the Book of Songs, and cares about it quite a bit. So, compared to Gu Lingguo and Lin Mu, whose attention was mainly focused on Zhu Wenyun answering questions on stage, she immediately noticed the reason for Xu Youwei's conflicted expression.

However, the pun alone wouldn't have made her laugh this much. The main reason was that the mysterious nickname "Jiji" reminded Chen Xi of a joke she'd seen recently. This time, it wasn't from *Xiaolin Guangji*, but from the humor section of *Qingbai Leichao*, a collection of anecdotes. Many scenes related to Ji Xiaolan in the famous TV series *Iron Teeth and Bronze Teeth Ji Xiaolan* originated from there. This time, she was also reminded of a joke about names:

The story goes that a junior named Lin Fengwu went to visit Ji Xiaolan. Ji Xiaolan asked him about the origin of his name, and he explained that when he was born, his mother dreamed of a phoenix perched on a paulownia branch, so he was named Fengwu. Ji Xiaolan replied: "Fortunately, your mother did not dream of a chicken lingering among the banana leaves."

It can only be said that reality is sometimes a "boring world without dirty jokes." Explaining the jokes becomes very boring once they are said. So after laughing to herself for a while, Chen Xi rested her chin on her hand and prepared to tell the joke to her brother, who understands her best, when Chen Junqian came back.

However, unlike Chen Xi, who was amusing herself and in a relaxed mood, Zhu Wenyun on the stage was undoubtedly also struggling. She hadn't even reached the last character that stumped many people, "戢". She had already written the third character "载" as "在" on her first attempt.

"干戈载戢" means to put away weapons and no longer resort to force.

Therefore, Zhu Wenjun subconsciously thought of similar phrases such as "swords and spears put away and horses graze on the southern mountain," and began to understand the two characters "zai ji" as "stored in a warehouse." So after writing the character "zai," he immediately began to think about whether there were any characters with the pinyin "ji" that were related to the meanings of warehouse, storage, etc.

Following this line of thought, she quickly wrote down the character '笈', which does indeed have the meaning of storage. After hesitating for a moment, she chose to submit the answer '干戈在笈', but soon received the same result as Shen Nianqiu from before: the three green lights that did not light up said it all.

She also failed to answer.

Now all the pressure falls on Chen Junqian alone.

If he answers incorrectly, the three of them will be back on the same starting line and start over.

If he can write it correctly, the final champion of this dictation competition will be born.

As a result, all the spotlights and the audience's attention were focused on Chen Junqian, including Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenyun, who were both a little unwilling and were glaring at each other. They were all waiting for what might be the last question of this Chinese character dictation competition.

"Is this student ready?"

Even the chief examiner realized that this might be the moment when the outcome was already decided, and asked with a strong smile.

"Ready."

The boy stood straight in front of the answer board, nodding gently to the gaze of the entire audience and the camera lens.

"Please listen to the question: po (second tone) fu (fourth tone)."

Unlike Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenyun, who fell one after another, Chen Junqian received a two-character word this time, not a four-character word.

"The word means 'big belly,' and the example sentence is from the poem 'Wenchuan Village Residence' by the Tang Dynasty poet Teng Bai: 'The old man's eyebrows are like snow, and he plays with his children and grandchildren under the crabapple blossoms.' Does this student have any further questions?"

Could you explain the meaning of "po" separately?

"The word 'po fu' in this context means 'big belly'."

The judge next to him took the microphone and gave a somewhat rambling explanation.

Are there any other questions?

"that's all, thanks."

Standing in front of the answer board, Chen Junqian quickly began to think. The judge's answer was clearly avoiding his question, which meant that the answer to the riddle was on the surface of the riddle. If it were explained separately, it would be immediately exposed. That's why the other party wasted time by repeating the point that the two characters together meant "big belly".

Thinking this way, Chen Junqian first wrote the second character he was sure of, the "abdomen" in "abdomen," on the answer board, since it had already been said that it was the belly.

Then, he recalled the example sentence that the examiner had just given.

An old man with a belly and eyebrows like snow plays with his children and grandchildren under the crabapple blossoms.

Is this describing an elderly person?

po... is related to the elderly.

Feeling as if he had found a close word in his mind, Chen Junqian tentatively wrote it down little by little on the answer board.

First, the radical, the character '白' (white).

Completely unaware of the correct answer, the trio from Guoning could only wait for the reactions and explanations from the commentators on TV to see if Chen Junqian's answer was correct. Meanwhile, the teachers and friends backstage had already begun using their electronic devices to search for the term.

"Yo! Yo! Yo! Correct direction!"

But the commentators backstage seemed even more nervous than they were. One elderly professor started clapping as soon as he saw the white radical, while another looked astonished and asked, "Really?" The former immediately replied, "Really! It feels like he's already written it out."

As the two of them engaged in a question-and-answer exchange that resembled a comedy routine, Chen Junqian had already written out the right half of the character, which was the "fan" of "tomato." When the two were combined, it became the character "po."

"Po Ran" describes an elderly person with white hair.

Considering the context and meaning, this was the most appropriate answer Chen Junqian could come up with in the short one-minute time limit.

Backstage, the Anhui team's supporters, who had already found the correct answer, all stood up. Even though they knew Chen Junqian on stage couldn't hear them, they still shouted in unison, "Submit! Submit!" Xu Youwei, standing next to them, closed her eyes and clasped her hands together, continuing her girlish prayer, muttering, "Don't change it, don't change it, don't change it," as if afraid that if she opened her eyes, she would see that Chen Junqian had changed the correct answer to the wrong one.

However, Chen Junqian himself did not keep so many people waiting anxiously for too long. After confirming, he chose to submit.

All three green lights lit up at the same time.

Congratulations, you answered correctly.

As the examiner's voice rang out, the stage equipment that had been prepared on both sides of the stage began to operate simultaneously. Confetti and confetti rained down from the sky, and the entire audience stood up to give him the warmest applause and cheers. In front of Guo Ning's television, the three people waiting there jumped and hugged each other as they celebrated Chen Junqian's victory. However, if they knew about the bet Chen Junqian made after winning, they probably wouldn't be able to laugh so much.

"The champion of the first Chinese Character Dictation Competition has been decided. He is Chen Junqian from the junior high school of Guoning Middle School in Guoning City, Anhui Province. Let's congratulate him!"

Backstage, Xu Youwei almost immediately began sprinting towards the stage as part of her support group after Chen Junqian answered correctly. However, it was clear that no matter how fast she was, she couldn't outrun the two people who were already waiting on stage.

Smiling and waving to the audience and cameras, Chen Junqian, who had fulfilled a dream from his past life, childlikely caught some of the fluttering ribbons. Then he went up and held the hands of Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenyun, raising their arms and his own high, standing together in the center of the stage to welcome the grand cheers and share the honor of the moment.

"I won!"

He gave the two defeated girls a smug smile.

The meaning couldn't be clearer.

Remember the promise.

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

PS2: "Po Fu" was the winning word in the second Chinese Character Dictation Competition.

Chapter 86: Kissing Tutorial (Two-in-One)

The awards ceremony was, of course, indispensable. After shaking hands and bowing to a group of adults who came up on stage, including the deputy editor-in-chief of CCTV, the vice chairman of the State Language Commission, the director of the Department of Language and Writing Application Management of the Ministry of Education, and the vice president of Noah Education Development Co., Ltd., and receiving trophies and flowers from them, all the finalists also went up on stage together for a final group photo.

After the TV broadcast ended and the program's live stream was cut off, Chen Junqian's family and friends, who had been waiting in the audience, were finally allowed to go on stage and pose for photos in various ways.

Xu Youwei, who had somehow acquired a bouquet of flowers, rushed onto the stage at that moment. So Chen Junqian temporarily handed over the flowers and trophy he was holding to Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenjun, who were standing next to him, before freeing his hands to accept the flowers from his classmate Youyou. He then gave a peace sign to his father, who had already taken out his camera and stood a little further away to take a picture, and snapped two photos of the two of them together without anyone having to bother with cropping or editing.

Taking photos in CCTV's studio is indeed a rare opportunity, so after taking photos of Xu Youwei, Chen Junqian pulled others to take many more. Photos are often a better tool for freezing time than real-time text. Chen Junqian can't remember what he did during the National Day holiday in 2013 in his previous life, but he will never forget this National Day holiday, no matter how many years pass. Just looking at this photo, he believes that the feelings he had at this moment will instantly resurface at some point in the future.

Undoubtedly, the first "Chinese Character Dictation Competition" was a great success. The attention it garnered was even greater than that of Chen Junqian's previous life, thanks to the gentle flapping of his butterfly wings. Naturally, the second dictation competition was put on the agenda for preparation. Unlike the competition model of this year, which directly designated schools in various provinces and cities to conduct internal selections, next year's competition will be a larger-scale open selection, ultimately selecting representative teams from each province from the bottom up.

In this respect, the process of next year's Chinese Character Dictation Competition will be closer to the description in his achievements of the "National Competition", from the regional preliminary selection to the battle to determine the qualifying spots and then to the national competition. However, Chen Junqian will definitely not participate next year. After all, youth is only so long. Once a dream has been realized, there is no need to repeat it. There are so many new things waiting for him to try.

Because it is essentially a cultural and educational program with a mainstream theme, the overall champion of this dictation competition, while not entirely without a prize, will not receive any huge sum of money. In the end, Chen Junqian will only receive a complete set of electronic products as a gift from the sponsor, Noah's Ark Youxuepai. However, he is past the age of being able to just tap on anything he doesn't understand. He can give something like a learning tablet to his sister or Lin Guo when he has the chance.

In fact, when it comes to rewards, his current dictation competition victory is definitely not as good as the New Concept Writing Competition that Zhu Wenyun is about to participate in. After all, winning this competition can genuinely secure admission benefits from many top universities in China, and it's even possible to be admitted early. Such tangible rewards related to the college entrance examination and university are undoubtedly more important than anything else for students like them. After all, it takes several years for a small county like Guoning to produce one student who gets into Tsinghua or Peking University, and even if one does, the locals will remember it for a very long time.

Perhaps because of their loss in the finals, or perhaps because they were still thinking about Chen Junqian's bet, Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenyun remained remarkably silent as the group left the studio to return to their hotel. Xu Youwei, on the other hand, kept chattering away, asking Chen Junqian all sorts of questions, like a reporter constantly interviewing him about his feelings.

However, since the two were not staying in the same hotel, they had to separate temporarily. Moreover, this fake reporter was actually followed by a real reporter. She could decline other interviews, but she had to accept the program team's exclusive interview so that they could release the latest press release tonight.

When Chen Junqian finished his post-victory interview with the Chinese Character Dictation Competition team and returned to his room somewhat tired, there were already two girls standing at his door. However, unlike the scene more than a month ago when the two girls seemed to be blocking him from leaving, this time they looked more like they were waiting for him to come back.

"Just arrived?"

After yawning softly, Chen Junqian took out his room card from his pocket, swiped it to open the door, and then walked in first. He lay down on the sofa, curled up in the soft cushions, and closed his eyes slightly, pretending to take a nap.

"No, I didn't. I did stand at the door for a while, and my legs were a little sore."

As if to prove her point, Shen Nianqiu, who followed him into the room, sat on the sofa next to Chen Junqian and promptly kicked off her shoes, raising both legs and placing them on his thighs, as if asking him to massage her.

"Your legs are already sore after just three minutes of standing? Why didn't you collapse on stage?"

Zhu Wenyun's mouth was indeed utterly merciless; she immediately exposed Shen Nianqiu's true colors, and then reached out to try and push her leg down again.

"Junqian is much more tired than you, okay? Move your legs away."

"It's okay, he's more tired than me, so I'll give him a massage."

As she spoke, Shen Nianqiu slightly bent her knees, curled her toes, and repeatedly gripped Chen Junqian's thigh muscles. Her powerful foot strength and control fully demonstrated the essence of a dancer. If it weren't for the tendency to sneakily move towards his groin, Chen Junqian would probably have already closed his eyes and started to enjoy it.

He reached out and pressed down on the foot that was trying to cause trouble. Although the system's achievements listed many types of socks, including ankle socks, folded socks, knee-high and over-the-knee pantyhose, and long black and white stockings, and he had a general understanding of what these socks looked like through his years of appreciating anime, the socks he could see in reality were still the most ordinary kind. The most special ones were probably the little red socks his sister would wear this year for her birth year. Shen Nianqiu's socks today were just plain white socks.

Seemingly noticing that Chen Junqian's gaze lingered on her socks for a moment, Shen Nianqiu immediately wriggled restlessly in his palm, her tone slightly provocative:

"It's a little itchy—please don't suddenly scratch my feet, okay?"

Zhu Wenjun, who was standing next to her, had probably reached her limit with the blatant flirting tone and atmosphere in front of her. She immediately stood up and, without any politeness, lifted one of the man's legs down with each hand.

“What kind of older sister talks like that?”

Before tonight, Zhu Wenyun had even intentionally wanted the two of them to spend some time alone. For example, when Shen Nianqiu came over two days ago, she didn't go to pick her up with Chen Junqian.