I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"Does 'senior' refer to Sister Nianqiu?"

"Yes, she is a special guest and judge for this competition."

If it were a childhood sweetheart here, she would probably turn her head and say, "I don't want to be her family member." But Gu Linguo and Chen Xi obviously don't have that kind of thought. As the two female protagonists who are theoretically most adaptable to romantic comedies, jealousy and possessiveness, which often exist in reality but always become appendages of the special plot of a love triangle in romantic comedies, are very rare in the two of them. That's why Chen Junqian would make such a joke.

Incidentally, due to Lin Mu's 'friendship' behavior these past two days, the two female protagonists in front of us have naturally secured the bottom two positions on the intimacy ranking. Let's just hope they can maintain this relationship for a little longer.

After all, if we really look at it from a geographical perspective, if his sister and neighbors also start to change in the direction of those mysterious numbers, Chen Junqian would still feel a bit overwhelmed.

The day before the start of the campus's top ten singers competition, the stage setup in the auditorium was in its final stages. Black trusses spanned above the stage, and a dozen color-changing lights and spotlights were neatly suspended. The large screen in the center finally lit up, displaying several bright words on a deep blue main visual:

The 10th Top Ten Singers Competition of Guoning Middle School.

Two small screens were also hung on both sides of the stage to broadcast the contestants' performances in real time. The front row of the audience seats was marked with signs for the judges' seats and the guests' seats, while the back row was piled with glow sticks and support banners that had not yet been opened.

In terms of scale and equipment alone, this was undoubtedly the most luxurious campus top ten singers competition held by Guoning Middle School in all these years. Chen Junqian, who was in charge of the whole thing, was standing on the side of the stage, holding a program sheet and a walkie-talkie, and looking down to confirm the final playback settings with the sound engineer.

"Microphones numbered one through four for the lead singer, with two spares placed on the left side of the stage."

The sound engineer agreed while adjusting the control panel on the stage.

"Try one more time before each contestant comes up tomorrow. Don't rely entirely on the rehearsal performance."

"What about the in-ear monitor?"

"Both the band and the host wear them, but the regular contestants don't, so that some people won't feel uncomfortable wearing them."

Just then, the side door of the auditorium was pushed open from the outside, and the afternoon light streamed in through the crack. A girl dragged a silver-gray suitcase through the door, the wheels rolling softly on the floor.

She wore a baseball cap, a mask that covered most of her face, a simple white dress, and her long hair hung loosely over her shoulders. She had a very mature demeanor and looked like a college student.

The girl first stood at the door and looked around, as if confirming her location, when Chen Junqian came down from the side of the stage, and their eyes met across half the auditorium.

The next second, the other person raised their hand and took off their mask, revealing a delicate and beautiful face—it was Shen Nianqiu.

"Junqian, I'm here."

Chen Junqian walked over and took the handle of her suitcase.

"I thought my sister would go home first to put her luggage down."

"Because I missed you so much—"

If the morning of June 10th felt like the blissful atmosphere of newlyweds, then after more than a week apart, Shen Nianqiu now seemed to be experiencing a newfound sense of kinship. If it weren't for the other staff members around, she would have practically clung to him. Even so, she first gave Chen Junqian a big hug to properly express her longing.

The auditorium was not completely closed at the moment. Although the main stage area was cordoned off, there were still many students from the school's Youth League Committee, volunteers, and students who came early to help in and out of the side doors and corridors. Moreover, the news that the online singer Yi Qiu had been invited as a special guest and judge for the Top Ten Singers Final had already spread throughout the campus when the plan was first released.

No one expected her to appear so early, and even fewer people expected that Yi Qiu, the online singer who had always been extremely mysterious online and had never even appeared at a live event, only releasing songs on the radio, would actually be such a beautiful girl in real life.

The first person to recognize her was a girl who was in charge of carrying glow sticks. She was carrying a cardboard box and came in through the side door of the auditorium when she saw the two of them hugging. She subconsciously opened her eyes wide and stared for a full two seconds, almost causing the cardboard box to slip off her arms.

"Wait a moment……"

"What's wrong?"

Her companion, seeing that she had suddenly stopped, quickly asked her what was wrong.

"Was that a single autumn?"

"Who?"

"That Yiqiu who sang 'Fairy Tale Town' and 'The Light Chaser'!"

Her companion followed her gaze and saw Shen Nianqiu walking towards the control panel with Chen Junqian. She had already taken off her hat and mask, and her long hair was slightly lifted by the wind blowing in from the side door of the auditorium. Her delicate profile was particularly clear under the cold white stage lights, which made her stunned as well.

"...No way."

“Absolutely, I just heard her voice, it sounds so much like hers. And suddenly this girl appears so close to Chen Junqian. Was it because of Chen Junqian's relationship that Yiqiu was able to come over? The two of them must have a very good relationship.”

The two girls exchanged a glance, then looked at Chen Junqian at the same time.

Chen Junqian was explaining the various functions on the control panel to Shen Nianqiu, his expression as calm and focused as ever. Shen Nianqiu listened attentively, occasionally asking a question. The two were quite close, yet their conversation was natural, clearly indicating they were old acquaintances.

In just a few minutes, starting with the students from the school's Youth League Committee, a message began to spread throughout Ningzhong High School:

[Urgent! Ichikyu-sensei has arrived! She's incredibly beautiful in person!]

[Really? Wasn't she supposed to be very mysterious? A singer who's never appeared in public, and was even mocked for being a studio singer.]

Yes, I just saw it in the auditorium.

Do you have any photos?

[Who would dare bring a phone? And even if they do, please don't take pictures without permission. Respect the guests.]

[That's not the main point... the main point is that she and Chen Junqian seem to know each other very well.]

How well-ripened?

[The two hugged as soon as they met.]

Meanwhile, the two parties involved in the discussion inside the auditorium were completely unaware of the rapidly spreading conversation. Shen Nianqiu stood by the control panel, put on the listening earpiece handed to her by a staff member, and tried to say a few words.

"Hello, hello—let's test it out."

Shen Nianqiu didn't deliberately use her usual singing voice; she just spoke normally. However, when her voice came from the auditorium's sound system, it still made several members of the school's Youth League Committee who were nearby pause for a moment.

Clear yet not thin, gentle yet with a quiet quality, it's a voice that many people have heard countless times in their headphones. Many students in school have listened to her songs on repeat after evening self-study, when they were frustrated with doing problems, or when they were walking alone at night.

Now, this voice suddenly rang out from Guoning's auditorium, so real it almost seemed unreal.

The sound engineer made a gesture to her:

"You can sing a couple of lines and try listening to it on repeat."

Shen Nianqiu looked at Chen Junqian and asked naturally:

"Hmm, which song would you like me to sing, little brother?"

"Whatever you want. If it were me, I'd like to hear 'The Brightest Star in the Night Sky'."

"Then this one."

She took off one earphone and walked to the center of the stage. The large screen had not yet displayed the official visuals; it was just a dark blue background. The auditorium lights were only half on, and the audience seats were in darkness, with only a few rows of empty seats vaguely visible.

Shen Nianqiu stood in front of the microphone and took a soft breath.

The intro flowed from the speakers, and she only sang the very middle few lines:

"I pray to have a transparent heart and eyes that can shed tears..."

The moment the song started, all the students who were moving things, putting up seat signs, and adjusting lights stopped in their tracks.

The girl who recognized her at first stood by the aisle holding a cardboard box, her eyes lighting up.

"It really is her..."

Her companion whispered in agreement:

"I feel goosebumps."

Chen Junqian stood below the stage, not startled by the sudden singing like the others. He simply looked up at the stage and waited until Shen Nianqiu finished singing the last note of her audition before smiling and clapping twice. She gracefully stepped down from the stage and immediately put her hand on his shoulder.

"I've been singing the songs you wrote for me a lot lately, but I haven't sung this one in a long time."

The expressions of the school's Youth League Committee members nearby, who were listening intently, instantly became even more interesting, while Chen Junqian remained unfazed.

"There's no other way, we need to make money."

"No, I just really like singing the songs you wrote for me."

And so, campus rumors were updated in real time once again:

[Breaking News: Minister Chen not only knows Yi Qiu, he also participated in her song!]

What does it mean to have participated?

[This was said by Yi Qiu herself; she said the previous songs were written by Chen Junqian.]

So, Chen Junqian can also make music?

[You didn't know he could play the piano? He even played it in a promotional video, and he also played it during his performance at a New Year's Eve party in junior high school.]

Being able to play the piano doesn't mean you can write songs, that's really an exaggeration.

What if I like it even more?

So what is their relationship? From what you've said, they seem so close, and it seems like they've known each other for a long time.

[Couple?]

What about Lin Mu?

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

Chapter 8: I Can't Lie to Mu Mu

As it turns out, Lin Mu's tactics this semester have been quite effective. If you were to ask him two or three years ago in junior high, the names appearing here would have been either Zhu Wenyun or Xu Youwei. However, just as becoming a new king requires facing challenges from enemies, after Shen Nianqiu made her grand entrance at Guoning Middle School's senior high division, everyone naturally looked forward to Lin Mu's reaction.

After all, Xu Youwei has been artificially banned for half a year, while Zhu Wenyun is simply too deeply influenced by the perception of her as a literary girl. In addition, the concept promotional video released a few days ago also followed a pure and artistic, hazy style. Therefore, compared to the simplest and most straightforward question of whether they are girlfriends or not, people are more willing to believe that the relationship between the two is closer to that of soulmates or kindred spirits.

The main problem is that Huang Tao, who is promoting their relationship, will be chased by Zhu Wenyun's book fans. It's not that they disagree with the marriage, but rather that they use the same old arguments to say that people shouldn't view the two of them with such vulgar ideas. Every time Chen Junqian hears these things, he wants to complain about how Zhu Wenyun's public image has become such a cold and unapproachable aloof beauty. Back in junior high school, everyone was quite interested in each other's King of Fighters experiences.

However, even though news related to Chen Junqian and Shen Nianqiu had already swept through the campus, which was already not very interesting, and all news related to the former, including things like him being fed by Zhu Wenyun during class breaks, could make it to the top of the trending searches, a certain childhood friend who was not a member of the school's Youth League Committee and therefore could not even enter the auditorium could only keep the battlefield within the classroom for the time being.

Yeah, it looks a bit like one of those motivational speeches given to shareholders who have bought their company's stock, hoping to boost their confidence.

"Yiqiu? Of course I know her. As for her relationship with Qianqian, we're just good online friends. Her hometown is in Zhejiang."

In a few words, he first demonstrated his intelligence-gathering skills as a childhood friend, then casually mentioned that their relationship was merely online. He didn't even mention Lin'an, a place not far from Guoning, but instead chose Zhejiang, implying that they were far apart and creating the impression that they hadn't met much. Lin Mu was quite satisfied with his answer and then continued to inject more confidence into everyone:

“I know that Qianqian wrote songs for her. In fact, the recording studio where she recorded songs in Guoning is located in our company. I sometimes go there to hang out.”

Lin Mu, who was putting on an act of "don't panic, it's just a technical adjustment," was quite believable to the students of Class One, who had almost become one of the core supporters of their childhood friend. After all, she had indeed put on a show in front of the entire school not long ago. Didn't you see that the first thing Chen Junqian did after returning to school from leave was to go straight to Lin Mu's side? If that's not love, then...

Just when most people were about to be persuaded by Lin Mu, Zhu Wenyun, who was also asked for relevant information by the person in front of her, simply said:

"Yes, I know her too. Junqian didn't come to school last time because of her."

By the time Chen Junqian had finally finished most of the preparations, made an appointment with Shen Nianqiu to meet again after school, and returned to the classroom, it was already the second period of evening self-study. After politely reporting to the teacher, he returned to his seat under the gaze of the entire class.

This evening self-study session was history. When Chen Junqian arrived, the teacher had just finished explaining the questions and entered the stage where students could come to the podium to ask questions if they had any. Therefore, the overall atmosphere in the class was quite quiet. At the end of this first year of high school, because the classes would be divided next semester, there was a bit of a graduation season sadness to it. After all, some students in the special admission class chose humanities and some chose science, and they would be separated after this semester.

Incidentally, because the homeroom teacher was worried that Chen Junqian's presence would lead many students to make choices that did not reflect their true thoughts or potential, he had not yet announced whether Chen Junqian had chosen arts or sciences. However, Chen Junqian felt that this was just burying his head in the sand, since Lin Mu and Zhu Wenyun had both chosen arts, and it was easy to deduce that he must have chosen arts as well. Besides, there were more girls choosing arts anyway, so how could it be said that he was the one who led them?

Regarding Chen Junqian's idea, Teacher Shen only said that so far, several boys in the class who had better science grades wanted to apply for humanities, but she had persuaded them to go back. Don't ask, the answer is that she will not give up until her grades in the three years of high school are better than yours even once. This made Chen Junqian a little ashamed.

Of course, most of the students in Chen Junqian's class, who had been suppressed by him from elementary school to high school, wisely gave up on humanities. Just like the emperors in fantasy novels who sealed themselves away because of the birth of a genius and waited for the next great era, they turned to science. After all, let alone Chen Junqian, they haven't even surpassed Zhu Wenyun yet. So what's there to say? I will bring my talent to science, not only to taste the flavor of first place again after a long time, but also to force a double crown.