I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

The director's smile was gentle, but it clearly carried a sense of calculation.

"Of course it's a promotional video."

Zhu Wenyun and Chen Junqian both paused upon hearing this.

"Didn't we agree before that we needed to shoot a concept promotional short film before the project was officially announced? Anyway, it won't be long, one and a half to two minutes. Of course, if you two don't want to shoot, you can come and be the male and female leads of the main film. To be honest, I had this idea when I saw you two in your school uniforms today."

"Neither Wenjun nor I have any plans to enter the entertainment industry. Let's just promote the short film as it is. So what are the production team's thoughts now?"

"It's very simple. Teacher Zhu will talk about the original intention and inspiration for writing the novel in the old library, corridor or playground of Guoning, such as why he wrote about Guoning and why he wrote such a pair of male and female protagonists. Then you, as a student, walk in from the school gate, pass the teaching building, the bulletin board, the playground, the senior building, and finally to the auditorium. The narration can be Teacher Zhu's text or post-production dubbing. Finally, you two can recreate the classic scenes in the novel."

The photography director next to him immediately added:

"I've seen the cover you shot when you were a book model for Fireworks magazine before. You're really photogenic. Have you never thought about debuting? You'd definitely be a hit."

"I really haven't thought about it. Oh well, when will filming start?"

Seeing Chen Junqian's distressed expression, Director Zhou gave up on trying to recruit anyone else into the trap.

"The filming time can be arranged around the time of the Top Ten Singers Competition. The crew will be coming to observe the scene, and the equipment will be there. You should be on vacation soon by then, so we can choose an evening or a weekend. Teacher Zhu should be fine with that, right?"

"Yes, no problem."

Hearing that Zhu Wenyun and Chen Junqian had both nodded in agreement, Director Zhou raised his glass again and smiled:

"Then I wish us a successful collaboration in advance."

"The cooperation went smoothly!"

"I can't wait any longer!"

Several people at the table raised their glasses, the rims of the glasses gently clinking together, producing a crisp sound.

The lights during evening self-study were so bright they were almost blinding, like a thin layer of frost covering the open test papers and densely packed notes. The only sound in the classroom was the scratching of pens on paper, and occasionally someone would turn a page, the sound so soft it was as if they were afraid of disturbing something.

Shen Nianqiu stared down at a function problem, but the words in front of her suddenly scattered, and black symbols floated on the paper, like the flickering light and shadow on a projection screen from long ago.

It wasn't that she was sleepy, or rather, sleepiness had long been a part of her senior year of high school, like the alarm clock that woke her up at five o'clock every morning. She was just suddenly a little dazed, as if someone had gently plucked a string of time from a very far place. The evening self-study, the test papers, and the countdown board in front of her all receded into the distance in that instant.

I suddenly remembered the time when our homeroom teacher showed them the documentary "College Entrance Examination".

It should be summer tutoring after the end of the second year of high school, or the beginning of the upcoming third year of high school.

The heat made everyone restless. The classroom windows were open, and the sound of cicadas outside poured in, like background noise that couldn't be turned off. At that time, they still had a whole year until the actual college entrance examination. There was no countdown board on the blackboard, or if there was, it was just a number of more than 300 days, which seemed unreal and distant.

Everyone says they're doomed, that senior year is here, but deep down they still have a sliver of hope. They think a year is long enough to understand all the questions they didn't know, long enough to make up for all the procrastination, and long enough to transform themselves into someone who is more hardworking, more stable, and closer to their ideal university.

Then that day, the homeroom teacher walked in with her laptop and said that instead of giving a lecture, she would show everyone a documentary, which she said was just released last year and that she thought it was very well made.

There was a quiet commotion in the classroom. Many students thought they could finally relax for a class and quietly leaned back in their chairs. Some whispered that it was an inspirational movie, while others were already guessing whether the homeroom teacher would make them write a reflection after watching it.

The documentary is called "College Entrance Examination", and the title of the first two episodes is "Day and Night in Maotanchang".

When the screen lit up, the scene showed a narrow street, crowded people, densely packed signs, buildings covered with banners, and tired but tense faces. The camera zoomed in from day to night and then back from night to day. The name of Maotanchang Middle School appeared on the screen again and again, like a place pushed into the spotlight by countless expectations, anxieties and fates.

At that time, Shen Nianqiu and her classmates watched very quietly.

At first, some people were quietly amazed, commenting as if they were watching a movie:

"This is way too exaggerated."

"Do they do this every day?"

"Looking at us, I feel like we're still too happy."

But as they talked, the classroom fell silent. The students on the screen got up early and went to bed late. The classrooms were brightly lit, and the corridors were crowded with people. Parents rented apartments near the school, cooked, and waited, folding almost their entire lives into their children's college entrance examination.

Three hundred days is a huge number, so huge that it makes people postpone their fears. She even remembers that when the documentary introduced Maotanchang Middle School as being located in Anhui Province, the first thing that came to her mind was not this school known as the largest college entrance examination factory in Asia, nor the words about repeating a year, accompanying students, and tens of thousands of people sending students off to take the exam.

She was thinking of Chen Junqian.

Anhui.

Chen Junqian is also in Anhui.

The thought appeared so quickly, almost as if it hadn't been thought through. It was like a light ray suddenly shining through a crack in a crowded and heavy scene. Shen Nianqiu stared at the unfamiliar street scene on the screen, but her heart briefly crossed over the classroom and the city, landing on another province and on the person who was always talking to her on the other end of the phone screen.

For Shen Nianqiu, the countdown sign that was posted there was never about how many days were left until the college entrance examination, but rather how many days were left before she could see him.

Now, that number is really nearing its end.

When Shen Nianqiu pulled herself out of her memories, the evening self-study session in the classroom was still quiet. The diagram on the math test was still there, and the auxiliary lines were only half drawn. She blinked and felt her eyes were a little sore, not knowing whether it was because of the light or because of the memory that had suddenly surged up.

It was completely dark outside the window, and the classroom shadows were reflected in the glass. She saw her own face, its outline faintly illuminated by the light, and her bangs were a little messy. In a few days, she would be entering the examination hall.

At the same time, she will also come of age, graduate, leave the classroom where she has sat for three years, leave the blackboard full of formulas and slogans, leave the life of being pushed along by the bell every day, and leave the city called Lin'an.

Thinking of this, a strange emotion welled up inside her.

Adulthood, graduation, college entrance exam, separation, reunion.

These words intertwined in her mind, creating a complex picture that made her feel as if she were standing on the bank of a river, with the days and nights behind her, the distant horizon indistinct before her, and the last few days under her feet as the last narrow bridge.

But she can't stay on the bridge forever.

Shen Nianqiu glanced down at the drawer. Her phone wasn't with her, of course, but she still wanted to see him.

Therefore, she still hopes that these few days will pass quickly.

Hurry up and finish the Chinese exam, the math exam, the comprehensive exam, and the English exam. Hurry up and walk out of the exam room. Hurry up and hear the bell ring to announce the end. Hurry up and let out the breath that has been pressing on your chest all year. Hurry up and get through the college entrance exam, get through graduation, and get through this long period of time that seems to have no end in sight.

Then she could go see Chen Junqian.

She gripped the pen again, her fingertips stiff from writing for so long. The math problems were still difficult, the countdown timer was still glaring, and evening self-study wasn't over yet. But after that moment of disorientation, Shen Nianqiu felt a sense of peace.

So the girl continued to complete the auxiliary lines and rewrote the steps on the draft paper.

The year began when she watched "The Day and Night of Maotanchang," when she thought of Chen Junqian as soon as she heard the word "Anhui," and when the countdown of more than 300 days finally came down to single digits. That's how she got through it.

For Shen Nianqiu, the past eighteen years may have started when she first saw a message on QQ on her computer, in which the other person unhesitatingly sent out their ID card to compare ages with her. Therefore, she also liked the second song called "Chasing the Light" that the other person wrote for her.

The words "graduation" and "coming of age" are indeed always captivating.

She's graduating soon.

...She's about to turn 18.

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

PS2: I saw everyone sharing in the posts, so I'll share mine too. The reason I wrote this is because it was the same when we were in our senior year of high school. Back then, we printed a big banner, and everyone signed it and wrote something on it. But after the college entrance exam, we never went back. We went back one last time when we went to fill out college applications during the summer vacation, and then we found that it was still hanging outside the classroom. It was a night at the end of June. I stood in the corridor outside the classroom and looked at the banner for a long time. And that's how it is now. In the end, the school moved and it's now an elementary school.

Chapter 218: What are those two going to... do?

In fact, even Xu Youwei herself didn't expect that it would be so easy for her relationship with Lin Mu to return to what it was before. After all, Lin Mu really looked very fierce and sickly on the night of the first day of the Lunar New Year. Although she didn't quite understand what Gu Lingguo meant by "yandere," she felt that Lin Mu had half of that feeling at that time.

As for why it's only half, it's mainly because she didn't feel any of the "charm" at all; she was completely sick, and then she discovered that all that "charm" was directed at Chen Junqian.

Then, one day in early June, Xu Youwei was suddenly visited by Lin Mu again at home after exactly six months. At first, she almost thought that he was coming to do some kind of inspection work, which was only once every six months. She almost compiled all the surveillance videos from the past six months and presented them to him for review.

However, Lin Mu certainly didn't come to see Xu Youwei for this matter.

There's nothing that can be done. No matter how much you hate summer, time won't really stop because of someone's thoughts. In June, when summer has already arrived, Lin Mu suddenly fell into the most serious anxiety about her appearance, or rather, her body shape, that she has ever experienced in her life.

Last summer, she was perfectly fine wearing a swimsuit and playing around on the beach.

Actually, half of the problem lies with the younger sister. After all, it was only after seeing Chen Xi's summer outfit at the school gate that Lin Mu's insecurity, which had always been there but had been suppressed, finally surfaced like a lemon slice soaked in hot water, its sourness slowly seeping out.

She clearly works out, you know. She does stretching exercises with videos every weekend morning, and secretly does crunches and planks after finishing her homework at night. She's even developed some abs, but they're usually covered by her school uniform, so it's not very noticeable.

The problem is, despite having defined abs, Lin Mu still looks quite small.

He's not very imposing, and his shoulders are narrow. Even when he wears his childhood sweetheart's clothes, he looks like he's wearing his parents' clothes. Even when he tries to put on a stern face when he's angry, he doesn't have any intimidating presence. At most, he looks like a cat with its fur standing up. He's even less imposing than the cat at Qianqian's house, since that cat actually has teeth and claws.

And so, Lin Mu finally found Xu Youwei after a long time. After all, it didn't feel right to talk to anyone about such a private matter, so it was best to talk to her best friend.

"Weiwei."

When Lin Mu suddenly called her name so seriously, Xu Youwei trembled involuntarily. If he had called her by her full name, she probably would have been even more startled. It can only be said that she had dug too many pits in the past, and this time she could be considered to pay off her debts from her childhood.

"Hmm, what's wrong with Mumu?"

Lin Mu held his water glass, his expression serious, which made Xu Youwei feel nervous.

"I have something very important to ask Weiwei."

"what's up?"

"Um, so, how exactly does Vivi train?"

Hearing Lin Mu suddenly start to stammer, Xu Youwei was also taken aback:

"exercise?"

"Yes, it's the kind of exercise that can improve your physique, make you look more elegant, healthier, and taller."

Xu Youwei blinked hesitantly; she probably hadn't expected Lin Mu to come all this way just to ask this.

"I don't have any special methods. I've just been used to exercising since I was a child. I always run around in the countryside and streets with Qin. I also do strength training, but I don't control my diet too much. That's about it."

Undoubtedly, Lin Mu was dissatisfied with this answer:

Is that all?

"Okay, that's settled."

"Does Vivi have any secret tricks up her sleeve?"

"Nothing else. If I had to say, it would probably be perseverance?"

Lin Mu's face immediately fell; the word she feared most was "persistence."

Because she also has her own persistence!

She angrily placed her water glass on the nearby steps, hands on her hips:

"But I've been exercising all along. I stretch every day, and I also train my core. I can hold a plank for a long time, and I can do a lot of crunches. Now I've even developed abs."

At this point, her voice lowered again, carrying a hint of grievance:

"But I'm still so short, and I'm still so skinny. I don't look imposing at all in my school uniform."

Xu Youwei looked at her sullen face and didn't know how to respond.

She always thought her best friend was actually very beautiful. She had fair skin, delicate features, round and bright eyes, and a very infectious smile. If you didn't consider her height, once her features matured and she shed her childishness, she actually had the look of a first love – a sweet and soft beauty that made people subconsciously want to take care of her.

But Xu Youwei also knew that if she said these words now, Lin Mu would most likely not listen.

Moreover, they made it very clear that they care about body shape, not face.