I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"Qinqin's logic is so strange!"

Coming to his senses, Lin Mu glared at him as well, but couldn't help but smile.

"When did Qianqian become so bold?"

"It's probably what you taught me just now."

"Who taught you that?"

"Yeah, who kissed you?"

"Alright, then consider it my own decision. Here, the cake."

Reaching out to take the cake from Chen Junqian's hand, Xu Youwei glanced at Lin Mu beside her, and the two exchanged knowing smiles, as if they had successfully confirmed a certain outcome.

In that case, she might be the most successful centenarian in history.

After all, one's birthday wish should have already come true before the candles are officially blown out.

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

[Transition Back]

I haven't felt well all day, I need to get a good night's sleep.

Thank you all for your continued support. I wish you all good health.

Chapter 22: What to do if you want to go home on your first day of university?

At the end of August, Guoning still carried the lingering warmth of midsummer, but the overall temperature had dropped considerably, and it already felt somewhat like the crisp autumn air. Because the high-speed rail station dedicated to this small county will not be completed for another ten years, most of the time, Guoning residents still have to rely on the local old train station when traveling far away. If they are traveling by plane, they have to go to Nanjing, the actual capital city of Anhui Province, to report for duty.

As expected, the waiting hall was already packed with new students dragging their luggage and their parents seeing them off when they arrived at the station at this time. Some people repeatedly told their children to be careful, while others hugged each other reluctantly at the gate. The announcements reminded passengers to check their tickets over and over again, the sound echoing in the high and spacious hall, carrying a kind of busyness that made people feel inexplicably uneasy.

Shen Nianqiu stood in front of the ticket gate and subconsciously touched the document bag, which contained her admission notice, ID card, examination admission ticket copies, and the registration materials she had repeatedly checked last night.

"Have you packed everything?"

Chen Junqian, who had gone to pick up the train tickets, came back and asked this question. Zhu Wenyun was with him. Today was the day Shen Nianqiu was going to Fudan University to register, and he and Zhu Wenyun also planned to go to see him off, acting as his guardians.

"Okay, I've got it."

"Where's the notification letter?"

"Here I am."

"ID card?"

"Also there."

At this point, Shen Nianqiu laughed out loud again:

"I have a feeling that this conversation happened two or three months ago."

"That time it was the college entrance exam, this time it's the job application, it feels pretty similar, but my sister's feelings must be quite different."

"Indeed, I'm a little reluctant to leave now. It doesn't feel like this summer vacation was as long as everyone said. Instead, it passed by in the blink of an eye."

"It's alright. I feel like Nianqiu did a lot this summer. She got her driver's license and can now be considered a barely qualified apprentice under my tutelage."

As Shen Nianqiu's kitchen teacher this summer, Zhu Wenyun has been quite tormented over the past two months, fully experiencing what it was like for Chen Junqian to teach her.

"But in college, I'll definitely eat in the cafeteria. It's a bit of a shame that you can't cook in the dorm."

After making this remark, Shen Nianqiu heard the announcement to check tickets. The three of them were seated in the same row. Shen Nianqiu sat by the window, Chen Junqian sat in the middle, and Zhu Wenyun sat on the aisle side. As the train pulled out of the station, the familiar city outside the window receded little by little, and the morning light fell on the train's glass like a layer of flowing gold.

Shen Nianqiu was initially looking at the registration process on her phone, but after flipping through a couple of pages, her gaze gradually stopped. Watching the buildings, roads, and tree shadows rushing by in the distance, she suddenly had a very unreal feeling.

She's really going to Shanghai, she's really going to Fudan University.

Mingming was initially very excited when she found out her college entrance examination scores and rankings and received her official admission notice. She thought that excitement would last a long time. However, as the train passed one unfamiliar station after another, the first emotion that rose in her heart was a kind of reluctance to leave or part.

This should be the longest period of time she has spent with Chen Junqian since they met, and unlike before, the two have also had close physical contact. So if possible, Shen Nianqiu wished that this August would never end, but in the blink of an eye, she was already on a train to Shanghai.

"What are you thinking about?"

Seeing Shen Nianqiu looking lost in thought, Chen Junqian asked her in a low voice.

"nothing."

"The way my sister looks right now makes it look like she's about to be sent to another planet."

"Shanghai isn't that far away, is it...?"

"At least farther than Lin'an."

"But in terms of time, it's much more flexible than when my sister lived in Lin'an."

"Yes, that's true."

Shen Nianqiu smiled upon hearing this, but she still felt a little reluctant. After a while, Chen Junqian took out a bottle of water from his backpack, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to her.

"Have some water."

As she took the water, Shen Nianqiu's fingertips lightly touched the back of his hand. The train was passing through a brightly lit viaduct, and sunlight suddenly streamed into the carriage, making Chen Junqian's profile exceptionally clear. She instinctively took his hand, and after a while, she took a sip of water, but immediately leaned closer again, which made Zhu Wenjun next to her look at her with some surprise.

Yes, these two are definitely the opposite of Camus; perhaps it could be revised to:

The young couple on the train were both very good-looking. She held his hand, smiling and flirting, and he responded in kind. They both felt happy to be with someone they were so proud of in public.

As for her, all I can say is, didn't you see that Shen Nianqiu is about to go to university?

I've heard that zoos kill wild animals that have harmed or even killed humans, because once they know what human flesh tastes like, they're more likely to commit the same crime again. That's roughly the idea.

Moreover, Zhu Wenyun didn't think there was anything wrong or bad about this. On the contrary, Shen Nianqiu felt the same way. The two of them were always progressing at the same pace. Now that you've come this far, it's only natural that it's my turn next. In fact, during the two months of teaching each other to cook, Zhu Wenyun had already fully absorbed the necessary experience from the perspective of a listener.

A few hours later, the train slowly pulled into Shanghai. As the doors opened, a warm breeze rushed in from the platform. People dragged their luggage forward, and announcements in unfamiliar yet clear Mandarin came over the loudspeaker. Outside the station, tall buildings and crisscrossing roads unfolded in the view.

Shen Nianqiu stood on the platform, looking up at the city. Suddenly, she gripped her backpack strap tightly. Chen Junqian had already picked up her largest suitcase, while Zhu Wenyun, carrying bedding and a bag of odds and ends, walked on her other side.

"Let's go, let's go to school to register and put our luggage away first."

"Well, let's go."

The three of them followed the flow of people out of the station and headed towards the campus that would soon accept Shen Nianqiu. As they got closer, the number of vehicles on the road gradually increased. Many young people were dragging suitcases of different colors, accompanied by their parents or even their whole families, with similar excitement and trepidation on their faces.

Outside the school gate, volunteers held up signs and enthusiastically guided new students to their registration points. Red banners fluttered slightly in the wind, and the shadows of trees covered the sidewalk.

"Welcome to the Class of 2016."

The registration process went more smoothly than expected. Verifying his identity, receiving materials, getting a campus card, and finally registering for the dormitory, senior students patiently guided him at every step. At first, Chen Junqian was wondering if there would be any of those classic senior students in campus romance novels who wanted to chat up pretty new female students and ask for their contact information. But instead, he encountered a senior student who took the initiative to ask him questions.

Because all three looked quite young, the other person couldn't immediately tell which one was the new student who had come to register, so they simply asked Chen Junqian directly:

"Are you a freshman here to register?"

"It wasn't him, it was me."

"It wasn't him, it was her."

Why does this scene of two girls suddenly flanking me and answering for me feel strangely familiar? However, compared to Lin Mu and Xu Youwei, the two guardians, Zhu Wenyun and Shen Nianqiu are obviously more intimidating, at least in terms of height.

"Oh, I see. Are those two your junior's younger brother or sister?"

"My boyfriend."

"Her boyfriend."

These were two answers given almost simultaneously. As for why Zhu Wenyun also said the same thing, it was probably for some reason that she needed to increase her attack speed. The literary and artistic syndrome is indeed terrible.

"Oh, I see. That's great, junior. You have your boyfriend and best friend who came to see you off. Come on, register."

After registering, the three of them went to the dormitory under the guidance of the other party. Perhaps because she had already realized that the girl was taken, the senior student then dutifully introduced the school to Shen Nianqiu, the freshman.

When the three arrived at Shen Nianqiu's dormitory, one of her roommates, a girl with a high ponytail, was already there, making her bed with her parents. Upon seeing the three of them, she greeted them politely, then her gaze lingered between Chen Junqian and Shen Nianqiu before she smiled and asked:

"Is this your boyfriend?"

"Hello, nice to meet you."

It's clear that Shen Nianqiu has already gained considerable favorability from this one question alone. She probably wanted to answer that way for a while, as she was packing her luggage, she even took out a bag of pecan kernels that she had brought with her and handed it to him.

"A gift for you, a specialty of my hometown, Guoning walnut kernels, a type of nut, which are very delicious."

"Oh, thank you, Three Fierce Xu! I often eat their nuts and snacks too."

Shen Nianqiu now feels that he can indeed say, "I've been a Guoning native for a long time." However, considering that Lin'an is one of the few original producing areas of hickory nuts, it doesn't seem wrong.

While listening to the two chatting about snacks, one of the original major shareholders of the three fierce-looking dogs continued to help carry the heaviest bedding out of the suitcase and began to make the bed with ease and expertise, while Shen Nianqiu and Zhu Wenyun set up the table on the other side.

After tidying up for a while, the dormitory, which was originally empty, finally looked somewhat habitable. The bed was made, the desk was wiped clean, and the books were neatly arranged in the cabinet. My roommate even brought a potted plant and placed it on the windowsill. The leaves faced the light and showed a bit of vitality.

Shen Nianqiu stood by the window, looking at the unfamiliar yet bustling campus outside. For a moment, she felt a strange sense of disorientation, knowing that this would be the place where she would live for the next four years.

She would attend classes, take exams, and stay up all night working on her papers here. She would make new friends, walk along a path covered with fallen ginkgo leaves on a winter morning, and come out of the library on a summer night to see a sky full of stars that were not clearly illuminated by the city lights.

Those days had not yet begun, but they were already slowly unfolding before her.

"Let's go."

Chen Junqian's voice rang out from behind.

"Ok?"

"Shall I take you out to eat, and maybe we can check out the cafeteria while we're at it?"

Shen Nianqiu snapped out of her daze and nodded. The three of them then went to the cafeteria together. It was lunchtime, and the cafeteria was bustling with people. Long queues stretched out in front of the windows. Zhu Wenyun, carrying her tray, weaved between the seats and finally found a window seat. As soon as she sat down, she announced:

"I feel that the food at Fudan University is pretty good. I wish I hadn't asked Nianqiu to have special meals prepared for her."

“Wenyun can also get in through the exam later, and so can my younger brother.”

"Yes, I will try my best."

"You definitely can, and if you can, you can ask Yun too, so see you here again in two years!"

People came and went around them, and the sunlight outside the window was dappled by the leaves and fell on the table. Zhu Wenyun listened to Shen Nianqiu's words while biting her chopsticks. She suddenly felt that time was a strange thing. After all, it seemed that they were still living and chatting together in the same small town just yesterday. Today, Shen Nianqiu was already sitting in the university cafeteria, and they would still have to go back to their respective high schools to continue doing exercises and listening to lectures, preparing for the exam two years later.

After lunch, they took a slow walk around the campus.

The sun was still shining brightly, and the shade of the trees was thick. Various club recruitment posters were posted on the bulletin boards along the road. The sound of sneakers rubbing against the ground came from the playground. Not far away, someone was sitting on the grass with a guitar and singing. Shen Nianqiu walked very slowly, stopping from time to time to look at a certain teaching building or a certain path, as if he wanted to memorize everything here first.

"The library is over there."

"My sister is already thinking about the library before school even starts... I'm scared."

"Of course, and I don't need to say anything about myself. At least I'm focused on studying. Some people study everything. I really don't know where they get so much time and energy. You must be very hardworking."

"Yeah, sister too, don't overwork yourself in college."