I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

Are you still feeling sore?

Chen Junqian grasped her hand that was clasped around his abdomen and turned around.

Shen Nianqiu was caught off guard by his sudden turn around. Her body swayed slightly, and she instinctively grabbed the hem of his clothes. When she heard his question, her cheeks turned red at a visible speed, her eyes darted away, and finally she gave him a coquettish glare.

"It's sour, it's all your fault."

The battle last night was indeed intense, and her standing posture was slightly awkward. Her center of gravity subconsciously leaned towards him, so Chen Junqian simply put his arm around Shen Nianqiu's waist and lifted her up, so that most of her body weight was on him.

The oil in the pan was already hot, with a faint wisp of white smoke rising from it. Chen Junqian held her with one arm, and with the other hand, he cracked an egg open. After a crisp cracking sound, the egg liquid slid into the hot oil, instantly creating a series of rapid popping sounds.

"Watch out for oil splashing."

Chen Junqian gently pushed the edge of the egg with a shovel while blocking her with his body.

Shen Nianqiu ignored him and even poked her head out from under his arm, looking at the single-sided fried egg that was quickly turning white in the pan and curling up with golden brown edges. The morning light shone on her face, and the fine downy hairs looked like a gentle mist in the halo of light.

After finishing the fried egg, Chen Junqian turned around again and pinned Shen Nianqiu against the edge of the kitchen counter.

The marble countertop was a little cool, and Shen Nianqiu shivered slightly, but the next second Chen Junqian's warm hands supported her thighs and lifted her onto the countertop.

Now, she was a little taller than him.

"Sister, you should just sit here and watch. It's good to keep up with us. Standing is too tiring."

Shen Nianqiu wanted to object, but then thought the arrangement was indeed good, so she reluctantly nodded.

"Then hurry up."

"it is good."

Because he received instructions from someone to hurry up, and also because he really wanted Shen Nianqiu to rest a little longer, Chen Junqian quickened his pace and soon placed 20,000 steaming bowls of noodles in front of her.

The dining table wasn't big, and the two sat facing each other, but their knees would occasionally touch under the table. Every time they touched, Shen Nianqiu would subconsciously pull back a little, but not long after, she would accidentally stick her knees out again. Later, Chen Junqian simply stretched out his foot and gently hooked her ankle to prevent her from dodging anymore.

"We're eating."

"Yes, I'm eating. My brother's noodles are still so delicious."

"I feel like this sentence is ambiguous."

"I don't care about that."

After slurping down a whole bowl of noodles, Shen Nianqiu finally composed herself and inquired about the important matter:

Is my younger brother going home today?

"Well, if we hurry, I think we can still make it during the morning break."

After all, the journey from Guoning to Lin'an is only about an hour and a half.

"What about you, sister? I would prefer you to rest at the hotel for another day or two. Besides, there are still graduation matters to take care of, so you can go to Guoning next week. There's no rush."

"Indeed... Yesterday a classmate asked me if I wanted to attend the graduation banquet. Although I don't have two close friends in the class, there are still a few teachers I want to thank. And then there's the recording of a song. I need to start preparing now that the college entrance exam is over."

Shen Nianqiu, who instantly switched into work mode, seemed to have the demeanor of a mature adult. It would have been even better if the other person hadn't continued her footwork while saying those words.

While Chen Junqian and Shen Nianqiu were experiencing this first morning of blissful marriage, the morning reading session for Class 1 of Guoning Middle School had already begun.

Naturally, that position remained empty.

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

Chapter 5: Could it be that the web series has already started filming?

On the morning of June 10th, when Lin Mu woke up, she once again felt melancholy about the fact that she wasn't Chen Junqian's childhood sweetheart, who lived next door. If that were the case, she could simply get out of bed, knock on the door of the next room, and quickly find out if he had returned. But now, she could only go through the motions of washing up, eating breakfast, and heading to school.

Although she had considered calling Wang Hongling to confirm, Mu Mu, who had been a good girl for over a decade, quickly gave up after glancing at the time. After all, if Chen Junqian hadn't returned, he was probably fast asleep right now, and a phone call would wake her godmother.

With this in mind, Lin Mu arrived at school earlier than usual. She walked from the school gate to the teaching building, her eyes constantly scanning her surroundings, looking for that familiar bicycle in the bike shed and that friendly figure in the corridor, but she found nothing.

The door to Class 1 was open, and quite a few people had already entered the classroom.

When Lin Mu stood at the door, his gaze first fell on an empty seat on the far right at the back.

Chen Junqian's desk was still excessively clean. After all, they had been required to clear their desks during the college entrance examination break a couple of days ago, so all that was left was an empty desk. Zhu Wenyun seemed to have arrived even earlier than her and was sitting there flipping through teaching materials.

The petite girl stood at the classroom door for two seconds before walking in with her backpack.

Her seat was always in the front row of the classroom. As soon as she sat down, the girl behind her gently patted her shoulder and asked with some concern:

"Lin Mu, Chen Junqian hasn't come back yet?"

Lin Mu, who already harbored a simmering anger, replied with unusually stiff tone upon hearing this:

"Can't you see?"

The girl who asked her the question was stunned for a moment, as if she hadn't realized such a reaction. After all, the whole class knew that Lin Mu was always the type to speak softly and gently, but today she seemed to have turned from cotton into stone all at once.

"I was just asking..."

"What's the point of asking me?"

Lin Mu shoved his schoolbag into the desk drawer with a soft, but firm, thud.

"He's not someone I can control."

The girl turned back awkwardly, and the people around her also fell silent.

Lin Mu lowered her eyes and took her books and pencil case out of her schoolbag. She knew she shouldn't have lost her temper with people, and she had indeed told someone yesterday that Chen Junqian would definitely be back today.

She spoke with such certainty, as if she truly understood him better than anyone else, as if her many years of friendship and relationship with Chen Junqian were enough for her to guarantee everything for him.

But now, more than half of the next morning has passed, and he still hasn't shown up.

Although the people in the classroom didn't press her for more questions, the subtle glances and pauses made Lin Mu feel extremely embarrassed. She didn't even know if she was overthinking things.

Perhaps no one cares what she said yesterday; everyone is simply worried about Chen Junqian. Perhaps those fleeting glances that fell on her meant nothing at all.

But Lin Mu still couldn't help wondering if they thought he was ridiculous.

Could it be that she always talks about growing up together, but in reality doesn't even know when Chen Junqian will be back, leading people to feel that her relationship with Chen Junqian isn't as close as she appears?

Thinking about this, Lin Mu suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.

After the morning reading session started, she couldn't absorb a single word.

The textbook lay open on the table, but I couldn't help but look past the front row towards the door, hoping that the most familiar figure would suddenly appear before me. Then I would repeatedly open and close the pen cap, making a soft, rhythmic clicking sound.

Until the bell rang for the first class, Ms. Shen walked into the classroom, glanced at Chen Junqian's seat, and then took the initiative to explain:

"Chen Junqian should be back today, at the latest after the long break between classes."

It has to be said that after hearing the homeroom teacher's words, many students, including Lin Mu, visibly breathed a sigh of relief. On the contrary, Zhu Wenyun, who was Chen Junqian's deskmate, showed a thoughtful expression.

They actually managed to come back in the morning. Could it be that these two didn't stay up too late last night? She didn't believe that these two would be like the ones described by Márquez in "One Hundred Years of Solitude," making only a very faint sound, at most like someone sighing softly while watching the distant twilight of April from an open window. These two should have quite strong needs, both physiologically and psychologically, and the substantial resources to fully satisfy those needs. She had originally prepared herself for Chen Junqian to return in the afternoon or even the evening.

Although she got a fairly accurate answer from Teacher Shen, Lin Mu barely listened to anything during the entire first math class. As the teacher explained the graphs of functions on the blackboard, she stared at the lines but couldn't help thinking about the phone notification sounds from yesterday.

Sorry, the number you dialed is currently switched off.

Sorry, the number you dialed is currently busy...

This was probably the day Lin Mu was most glad that she didn't have the rich imagination of a romance novelist like Zhu Wenyun. Just like the dreams she'd recently started having, they would always stop at the crucial moment because she'd run out of material and the dream would end abruptly. She only had a vague impression of those scenes, and in this respect, she was even less clear than her younger sister who had learned a lot from her experience on a certain online platform.

When the preparatory bell rings during the long break, all the students begin to assemble on the playground.

The students from Class One lined up to go downstairs. Lin Mu stood in the middle of the line, his face still not looking too good. The sun was shining brightly on the playground, and a familiar march was playing over the loudspeaker. On the red plastic track, dozens of classes were slowly returning to their positions, their blue and white school uniforms forming a sea of ​​color.

"Class 5, hurry up! Forward, forward, catch up with Class 4!"

The head of teaching stood on a platform on one side of the playground, loudly directing people through a megaphone.

Lin Mu stood in front of the girls, his gaze sweeping aimlessly across the noisy forest.

"Run—walk!"

As a loud whistle blew from the platform, the volume of the loudspeakers across the entire playground instantly increased to maximum, so deafening that Lin Mu instinctively started to take steps.

"One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four!"

Hundreds of shoes stepped onto the rubber track at the same time, making a dull but rhythmic rustling sound. The line began to move. Lin Mu mechanically took steps, his eyes blankly staring at the back of the girl's head in front of him.

However, just halfway through the first lap, as the team passed the concrete stands on the west side of the track, a commotion suddenly broke out at the edge of the track.

"Hey, isn't that Chen Junqian?"

"Who? It really is him! He's carrying a bag!"

"Why did he run over from the main gate?"

Students from several nearby classes turned to look.

"Chen Junqian?"

"He's back!"

"Holy crap, it really is him."

When did he arrive?

The sudden excitement forced the head of student affairs, who was in charge of directing the class on stage (which basically just called out which class was slower and which was faster), to pick up the megaphone and shout for silence.

Lin Mu paused slightly, then turned her head sharply in the direction from which the sound came.

Under the dappled shadows of the sycamore trees beside the stands, a tall figure was running against the wind toward the playground. He was holding the shoulder strap of a black backpack with one hand, the zipper of his school uniform jacket was open, and the hem was fluttering in the wind. He was running very fast, and his hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to his forehead. His handsome face showed the weariness that seemed to be undisguised after a long journey.

Even though he looked a bit disheveled, he still shone brightly in the crowd like a ray of light. Under the gaze of countless eyes, some fiery, some doubtful, and some inquiring, he stepped directly onto the red rubber track.

"Chen Junqian, over here!"

Lu Cheng subconsciously called out from the boys' line, even stepping aside to make room for him in the front row. However, Chen Junqian just smiled and shook his head at him. Then, under the gaze of the entire class, and even countless people from the neighboring classes two and three, he strode through the somewhat scattered pedestrians on the track and ran straight towards the girls' line of class one.

His gaze locked precisely on that slender, stiff figure amidst the chaotic sea of ​​blue and white. When Lin Mu turned around in surprise, his childhood sweetheart, whom he had been thinking about day and night for several days, had already joined him. Under the watchful eyes of all the girls in the class, she cut in line and stood beside him, running alongside him in step with the rhythm of the class's morning exercise, just like she had during the physical fitness test last year.

A collective gasp filled the air, and even the girl leading the race from the next class turned around in surprise. Lin Mu's steps faltered, and he nearly tripped.

"Why... why did you jump here and run around!"

Lin Mu blushed and glared at him through gritted teeth in a very low voice.

After all, the running formations for each class are fixed, with boys in one line and girls in another. Chen Junqian, the focus of attention for the entire school, openly cut into the girls' line in full view of everyone and ran alongside Lin Mu. In a way, it was no different from an official announcement. She could even imagine what kind of rumors would spread after the running exercise ended.

"Hmm? Mu Mu doesn't want to? Then I'll go back to the boys' side."

"……don't want."

Fortunately, his physical fitness had improved, so at least he didn't feel too tired to talk while running. Lin Mu quickly shook his head in denial and muttered something under his breath, as if to encourage himself.