I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

This wasn't because she suddenly developed some strange fetish during a bout of her artsy obsession, but because when she went back and reviewed the events of that summer vacation, she discovered that Shen Nianqiu's personality was actually very similar to hers in some ways.

In other words, she will make the same mistakes as me. Just like the saying goes, offense wins the audience, defense wins the championship. If these two are left to their own devices, sooner or later the other person will do something just like I did during the summer vacation.

But now Zhu Wenyun feels that she should re-examine the feasibility of this idea. After all, judging from the romantic atmosphere between the two, it feels like the other party is planning something a bit too big.

As someone who writes youth campus novels, Zhu Wenyun naturally knows what kind of strange plots are in youth films these days. You can't even get on the table without puppy love, abortion, or love triangles. Therefore, she was very vigilant about this from beginning to end. While some people were still thinking about Qinqin and kissing, she had already started preparing for the next season. After all, she and Chen Junqian never hid their discussions about this, which was completely different from her childhood sweetheart who mentioned the passages in the biology book.

Shen Nianqiu was originally her main target of surveillance, after all, she was two years older than them and was already a first-year high school student. According to the rumors in their vocational high school in Guoning, she was already old enough to prepare for childbirth in the bathroom. Her sexual awareness could no longer be called awakening, but rather she was moving towards maturity.

It's not just a matter of leaping your imagination from a bare arm anymore. After all, Shen Nianqiu doesn't seem to want to just show her bare arms. Her overall temperament and behavior are even more exaggerated and proactive than they were a month ago during summer vacation. Are high school students really this repressed?

Feeling that the atmosphere between the two girls was about to turn hostile, Chen Junqian brought up the old agreement again, immediately drawing their attention.

"Hmm... I thought you two came over tonight to fulfill your bet."

Since Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenyun were essentially eliminated in the same round, it's impossible to determine a clear winner between them. However, the winner among the three is undoubtedly Chen Junqian, based on their initial bet—

"You two should each give me a kiss."

Humans are indeed highly adaptable creatures. Just a few months ago, Chen Junqian would have been so ashamed of saying such things that he would roll around on his bed alone. But now, when he says it in front of two people, he is calm and composed. After all, what the other person just said was much more extreme than kissing, which has greatly raised his psychological threshold.

It has to be said that, in terms of training, Shen Nianqiu, as a stable trigger for fan service achievements, has made great contributions to Chen Junqian's psychological endurance and control. If it weren't for the inappropriate occasion, he would even want to use the line from Yuan Zhen's poem, "Having seen the vast ocean, other waters are nothing; having seen the clouds of Wushan, other clouds are nothing." At least after sleeping in the same bed with her for a few nights, he felt that he wouldn't have any reaction to sleeping with any girl other than Zhu Wenjun.

"Isn't just kissing on the cheek a bit boring?"

But clearly, Chen Junqian underestimated the extent of his sister's depression during this period.

Shen Nianqiu showed no embarrassment at his renewed bet; instead, she seemed eager to push her luck, inching closer to him as she spoke.

"Or could the two of us practice first?"

However, as if she were deliberately provoking Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun, she immediately stood up again, creating some distance between them. She looked up at the hand the latter had placed between them and smiled as she spoke:

"Wen Yun also wrote 'Fireworks,' so she should know the little tricks for writing kisses between the male and female leads. It's the kind of thing where they could kiss right here, but the plot doesn't allow them to actually kiss right here, so they need to create all sorts of accidents or achieve a similar result through other means. For example, all sorts of indirect kisses are like that."

As she spoke, she reached out and poked Zhu Wenyun's palm, which was still blocking the way.

"Using your palm as a barrier is actually a common technique. Similar methods include kissing your own palm first and then pressing your palm to the other person's lips, or using a book page instead of your palm. In short, there must be a layer of something between you, like a window paper."

To be honest, Shen Nianqiu no longer had any particular thoughts or feelings about kissing Chen Junqian's face. After all, she had already kissed his side of the neck, which was more private and intimate than the cheek, a place where vampires in stories would kiss during the Embrace.

That is why she would naturally want to pursue more intimate and private parts.

"But then I thought of a better cushion than my palm and the pages of the book."

Before Zhu Wenjun had a moment to react, Shen Nianqiu's face, carrying a fresh scent, moved closer as she spoke. However, instead of stopping at Chen Junqian's lips, her lips landed on the tip of her own outstretched thumb.

But this is not a kiss on the fingers; it is still a kiss with a clear direction, only gently buffered by this delicate obstacle.

The sensations became incredibly peculiar. Her fingertips could clearly feel the softness and warmth of his lips, even the subtle, rhythmic pulse. And his lips, in turn, tasted the cool, delicate texture of her fingertips, and an indescribable scent that belonged to her.

This finger became the most delicate bridge, the gentlest line of defense. It did not reject, but rather extended and sublimated this intimacy. All the longing, the tentative, the shy, and the passionate were transmitted through this insignificant yet incredibly heavy point of contact, like the last bit of Pocky that two people shared but dared not eat any more of.

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Chapter 87: A Promise to You (Part Two)

Undoubtedly, this was an extremely ambiguous act, to the point that Chen Junqian almost thought for a moment that Shen Nianqiu would quietly remove the only barrier, that slender finger, and truly unlock the achievement that had been flashing in his mind: "kiss her and make her blush."

But in the end, the other party did not choose to do so. Perhaps it was because they felt that the moment was not a good time, after all, there was another girl standing next to them. Or perhaps they wanted a more romantic occasion and background. Shen Nianqiu has always been a girl who yearns for the kind of love scenes depicted in books. People always need something to live for in this world, and love has always been the most widely publicized one.

It should be a moonlit stroll for two on a university campus, amidst the spectacular fireworks display in the night sky, or after a candlelight dinner. The image of love in her mind should be the fragrance of a girl's long dress and hair, the warmth of a boy's profile and palm, the two of them walking hand in hand along a tree-lined path, whispering sweet nothings to each other with their foreheads pressed together, and only then can one close the book with complete satisfaction.

Chen Junqian could feel the other person's emotions surging towards him across that short distance, as if answering the question that had been on his mind a few days ago.

If it takes a quarter of a person's life to keep them from dying, then how much would it take to let them live a good life in this world?

Perhaps the answer to this question has already been hidden in the questions asked by the wedding officiant, telling each couple that all they need is their entire remaining life together, whether in poverty or wealth, in health or sickness, until death do them part.

But just as there is no such thing as a "word of truth" in reality, this vow of unwavering loyalty is merely a beautiful expectation. After all, if we were to truly consider reality, all newlyweds shouldn't place their hands on the Bible, but rather on works like "The Selfish Gene" and "Evolutionary Psychology." The format of the declaration would also need to be changed, ideally to:

"I will go against my nature, defy my instincts, and suppress my desires to love you as long as possible."

Liking is about letting go, love is about restraint. Everyone has seen enough of these kinds of sentences, but these definitions are not that important or absolute. Neither emotion is inherently superior to the other, especially since they are in the adolescent stage, which is sometimes like a child and sometimes like an adult.

This delicate kiss, caught between release and restraint, finally ended after a while. Shen Nianqiu, who had used this gesture instead of a kiss on the cheek, took a step back slightly, her cheeks flushed, feeling her heart pounding. However, she maintained a smiling expression and stared at Chen Junqian not far away, as if he could easily initiate a second round if he just nodded.

But Chen Junqian clearly wouldn't give her that chance again.

If the real world could have a way of presenting inner monologues, he and Shen Nianqiu, the two protagonists with high aggression and low defense, would probably be blushing and banging their heads against the wall inside. But on the surface, he could only keep a straight face and pretend to be nonchalant as he spoke:

"Then that means you've fulfilled your bet, sister. Now, Wen Jun, it's your turn."

Zhu Wenyun simply nodded slightly.

To be honest, from the moment Shen Nianqiu started rambling on and on, she already knew that the other party didn't dare to actually do anything. After all, actions are always more likely to be taken than words or even thoughts, and the more one talks, the less likely one is to actually do it.

If it weren't for the fact that less than two months had passed since the cell phone incident, Zhu Wenyun felt that she would probably have given Shen Nianqiu a real kissing lesson right in front of him by now. But the scene and feelings from that time were still vivid in her mind. Reality is not some romance novel where a domineering CEO falls in love with me. Forcibly kissing someone against their will often only widen the rift between them.

From this perspective, Shen Nianqiu's actions just now might have been correct. After all, Chen Junqian is indeed a guy who is, no, rather, quite resistant to gentleness but not to force. Zhu Wenyun always felt that he had the best relationship with Lin Mu because the latter was the softest-natured among the girls in their group. Xu Youwei also grasped this point, which allowed her to switch freely between two seemingly opposite personalities. She seemed to be making a fuss, but she didn't actually make the relationship between the two worse.

I wonder if the two of them have managed to go this far...

Holding onto this somewhat inexplicable thought that suddenly arose in his mind, the founder and initiator of the Guo Ning childhood sweetheart alliance stepped forward. Unlike Shen Nianqiu, he didn't make any fancy gestures or say anything. He simply imprinted his warm and gentle face on his profile.

She failed to win the Chinese character dictation competition, so it seems that the line she had prepared in advance, "From now on, the vast sky will be my azure crown adorned with the sun," will not be used for the time being.

But it didn't matter, Zhu Wenyun had already thought of another part in her mind, and just then...

Oaths are meant to tether a restless heart, but in the end they only tether emptiness.

The mountains and forests make no vows to the seasons, their flourishing and withering are left to fate; the ocean makes no promises to the sandy shore, they enjoy every encounter to the fullest.

Even language should be abandoned.

Between you and me, there is only pure silence, and existence.

She will get another chance in the New Concept Writing Competition, win, and then become an idol writer officially signed by "Fireworks" magazine, fulfilling the promise between the two of them, not the three of them.

Kissing is something like that.

It seems the man should take the initiative after all.

Anyway, she only knows how to greet and accept; she doesn't know how to dodge or avoid.

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

Although every time he turned on his phone, he would see countless reports about the championship night of the "Chinese Character Dictation Competition," Chen Junqian still turned off his phone and lay on his bed alone, pondering things related to the future.

Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenyun had already returned to their respective rooms. During this brief period of time alone, when it was uncertain whether the two would come back that night, Chen Junqian was already starting to consider his travel plans for the next winter vacation, which was in early 2014.

It can only be said that the male protagonist of every romantic comedy is destined to become a time management master in the end, and Chen Junqian is no exception, especially since this is a winter vacation that will be incredibly busy.

First, it is certain that if Zhu Wenyun passes the preliminary round of this year's New Concept Writing Competition, then I, who have already agreed to accompany her, will go to Shanghai with Zhu Wenyun to participate in the second round of the competition. This will likely take place during the winter break before the Lunar New Year.

Then, because she had a lot of fun at Lin Mu's house last year, Mu Mu will most likely invite her to visit her grandparents' house in the mountains again this year. However, the fact that he ran away on the first day of the Lunar New Year last year already made her younger sister, who had to stay at home alone, a little unhappy. If he comes again this year, she feels that she will throw a little tantrum. After all, spending the New Year with family seems to be the more natural thing to do.

Moreover, for Chen Junqian himself, compared to going to Lin Mu's house, which he had already visited, he was more interested in Zhu Wenjun's house, which he had not yet visited, especially Zhu Wenjun's parents, whom he had never met. He felt that he could not understand their personalities without getting to know them in person.

Besides these, what Chen Junqian was most concerned about was Shen Nianqiu's situation. After all, the policy related to the "second child for couples where one parent is an only child" will be officially released next month, and it may have already been implemented in Zhejiang during the winter vacation in January next year. Just imagining his sister's mental state and family environment under such circumstances would make him unconsciously want to rush to Lin'an to meet her, just like before.

The main problem is that if negative emotions cannot be released actively, they can easily be suppressed in the heart and become more and more extreme. It's just that in 2013 and 2014, there was no trend of 'depression' or 'knife modification', otherwise Chen Junqian would probably be sweating bullets again.

Just as she was thinking about the other person, her phone, which was next to her pillow, suddenly chimed. She unlocked the screen and saw a message from Shen Nianqiu, containing only four simple words:

"I'm at the door."

Since things had come to this point, there was no point in replying. Chen Junqian got up from the bed, put on his slippers, walked to the door, opened it, and was immediately embraced by his sister, who seemed to have just taken a shower, still covered in steam, and whose pajamas were unbuttoned.

Using her foot to hook the door shut, Shen Nianqiu seemed ready to push him to the ground in front of the door. However, perhaps because the entryway was always her sister's exclusive territory, she didn't succeed. Instead, Chen Junqian, who was stronger, held her down, muttering:

"Are they trying to crush me to death?"

"Don't say your sister is heavy."

Where did I say you're heavy?

"That's the meaning of the sentence above."

So, Chen Junqian really still couldn't handle dog-like girls.

If Xu Youwei, whom he faced during the summer vacation, was a little dog who mustered up the courage but only dared to confess through the door, then the one he was currently encountering was a golden retriever that clung to him, rubbed against him, and whose entire body part seemed to have turned into a tongue, wanting to lick him. At least in terms of size, they were completely similar.

As I said before, when a girl genuinely wants to be close to you, every part of her body will instantly become a weapon of attack, as if she wants to meld you into her body.

The system's ratings for each person are based solely on the worldview of romantic comedies. Shen Nianqiu's D rating for personality and C rating for actions only indicate that her personality and actions do not conform to the conventional definition of a female protagonist in a romantic comedy. After all, in those drawn-out and convoluted works, a female protagonist who is constantly pursuing physical relationships will only ruin the outline of the entire story and the character's image.

"Is your sister in a bad mood lately?"

However, Chen Junqian was still able to perceive the subtle changes, because just over a month ago during the summer vacation, Shen Nianqiu was not pursuing his time together, intimacy, and physical contact with such fervor as she is now. It was as if she had been stimulated by something.

"No."

Shen Nianqiu simply denied it. She was increasingly reluctant to bring up family-related topics in front of Chen Junqian. It made her seem like she was just like those masseuses who made up stories in foot massage parlors, which would also spoil the precious relationship between them.

"That's a lie."

Chen Junqian could understand Shen Nianqiu's strange pride in hiding what she already knew. After all, even in her darkest days in her past life, which was probably just a few months before her suicide, the girl in front of him could still successfully play the role of a kind and understanding older sister, just like when they were children. So it was even more true now, before the worst of the situation had even happened.

"I'd be a dog if I lied to you."

"You're pretty much there now."

Reaching out, he brushed aside the few strands of hair that were tickling his nose. Chen Junqian then wrapped his arms around her waist, letting Shen Nianqiu's upper body, which had been supporting her, rest against his chest. He pressed his face against hers and said:

"Don't I know my sister?"

"Hmm, that's true—"

Seemingly pleased with Chen Junqian's words, Shen Nianqiu propped herself up on one arm, her right fingertips tracing circles on his collarbone near his open collar, but her gaze began to wander:

"I'll be seventeen years old by the end of this year. In the past, wouldn't I already be old enough to be a mother?"

At first glance, it sounds like a rather intimidating statement, but given the way Shen Nianqiu said it at that moment, Chen Junqian didn't think of it that way at all, because he knew the other person too well.

As expected, Shen Nianqiu immediately spoke again:

“My brother and I are two years apart, so we don’t feel any distance between us. But if there’s a seventeen or eighteen-year age gap, the relationship is more like that of a mother and son than siblings. You have to take care of everything and watch over them. Or is that what they really think?”

At this point, she suddenly said to Chen Junqian as if out of nowhere:

"But I already have you."

"Ok, I know."

"If you're still worried, then I'll give you another promise."

In response to Shen Nianqiu's words, Chen Junqian simply responded with concrete actions.