I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

It can only be said that this was completely opposite to the lines spoken at other parents' meetings, and Shen Nianqiu also replied with a smile to Chen Junqian's admonition:

"Then you can come here the year after next to take the exam and keep an eye on me. You can also be responsible for dragging me out of the library to eat."

"Okay, sure."

Chen Junqian stood under the shade of a tree, sunlight filtering through the leaves and falling on his shoulders, like a faint golden edge gilding the hem of his white shirt. Without hesitation, he gave a definite answer. Other freshmen passing by, seeing this scene, subconsciously stopped or turned around. The protagonist, unaware that he would be entering the campus in three minutes, and the ensuing discussion about who this freshman was, repeated his answer:

"I will definitely come looking for you."

Zhu Wenyun also raised her chin in response:

“I will too, I will come and watch.”

"Yes, yes, come on, come on, everyone is welcome."

They wandered around the entire campus until nearly evening before finally returning to their dormitory. The sun was already setting, and the clouds on the horizon were tinged with a gentle orange-red. Parents who had come to drop off their children for registration gradually left, and the new students walked in twos and threes along the roads, giving the campus a quiet and refreshing atmosphere.

Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun have to go back to class tomorrow, so they booked their train tickets for tonight.

Shen Nianqiu escorted them to the school gate, clutching the two bottles of drinks she had just bought at the campus supermarket. She had wanted to say a lot—thank you, tell them to take care on their journey, and to keep in touch—but when they actually stood at the place of parting, she suddenly didn't know what to say.

Zhu Wenyun took the drink first, then casually patted her shoulder:

"I feel that Nianqiu should have gotten used to the long-distance relationship by now. Don't worry, I will take good care of Junqian for you."

She originally thought Shen Nianqiu would laugh and retort, but instead, the other party nodded seriously and gave instructions:

"Okay, please take good care of him for me."

Do you two think I'm a child?

"Isn't that what happens sometimes in bed?"

This kind of conversation could probably only happen between the three of them. Chen Junqian could only twitch his lips and stop arguing. Perhaps feeling that the more she talked to Chen Junqian, the more reluctant she would be to part, Shen Nianqiu simply said goodbye to Zhu Wenyun and finally looked up at the two people in front of her.

The setting sun cast its glow behind them, and the crowds at the school gate mingled with the sounds of car horns, suitcase wheels, and distant laughter, making her suddenly want to remember this scene forever.

"Junqian, ask about Yun."

"Ok?"

"The year after next..."

Shen Nianqiu paused, a bright smile slowly appearing in her eyes:

"You must come find me!"

"I'll help you carry your luggage, show you around campus, treat you to meals in the cafeteria, and take you to the library, okay?"

This topic has been brought up countless times today, but just like every time before, Chen Junqian still gave the most affirmative answer:

"They will definitely come."

Then Zhu Wenyun echoed in affirmation:

See you the year after next.

However, they eventually turned and walked towards the station. Zhu Wenyun took a few steps and then turned back to wave at her. Chen Junqian, dragging his much-emptier suitcase, walked a little slower than usual. He also turned back once and, through the gentle evening light, exchanged a glance with Shen Nianqiu, who was still standing at the school gate.

The lights along the school road lit up one by one, and a new life awaited her... So what if she wanted to go home on her first day of university?

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

Chapter 23: What to do if you're already looking forward to the first day of high school?

At the same time that Chen Junqian and Zhu Wenyun went to Shanghai to send Shen Nianqiu to university, the military training of the new batch of high school students in Guoning was also in full swing. However, compared with the other freshmen who were enduring the scorching sun, Gu Lingguo was obviously more depressed, after all, her best friend Chen Xi had once again deserted.

The reason it's described as "once again" is that the other party had already evaded the physical test a few months ago. After calmly analyzing the score she could get if she had participated in the physical test normally, Chen Xi decisively chose to cut her losses. By submitting a sick leave certificate, she directly secured the 60% passing score and the minimum guarantee. According to her own reasoning, she couldn't even get that score in the past, so it was better to choose a more efficient and profitable approach. This can be considered a wise person not to stand under a wall.

It has to be said that, despite being a dozen or twenty points behind in the physical fitness test, she still managed to get the top score in the city's high school entrance exam. Chen Junqian has never had to worry about his sister's academic performance. And when it came to the military training before entering high school, Chen Xi once again relied on her usual approach and chose, "Haha, I'm not going."

Her reasons this time were even more compelling than during the physical fitness test. After all, her application to skip a grade had been approved, and the school was certain that Chen Xi could skip the first year of high school and directly enter the second year. So, the question was which class she would be assigned to during military training, since students were supposed to report directly to the second year's special liberal arts class when school started.

In addition, Chen Xi herself had recently been unwell and had submitted a sick leave certificate stating that she should rest and recuperate. So the school simply went along with it and exempted her from this military training, allowing her to enroll with the second-year high school students. This is why Gu Lingguo was left all alone to endure the military training.

Sure enough, thinking about the other person while standing at attention seemed to speed up time a little. The late August sun was like a scorching white iron plate, pressing down directly on the parade ground. The sycamore leaves by the track drooped, and even the wind felt like it was being poured from a kettle, carrying a dry and scalding breath. Gu Lingguo could only use this method to hypnotize herself.

"stand at attention!"

The instructor's voice rang out, short and forceful.

The entire formation immediately tensed up. Gu Lingguo straightened her back, heels together, hands pressed against the seams of her trousers. She had never been a particularly delicate person since childhood, especially compared to Chen Xi, her physical fitness was definitely above average. However, after standing at attention for forty minutes, her legs began to tremble uncontrollably. Just then, the instructor patrolled back and forth in front of the formation, his leather shoes making a regular, muffled sound as they stepped on the rubber track, as if to remind everyone that no one should try to slack off.

Finally, the whistle blew.

"Rest here for ten minutes!"

Almost as soon as the instructor finished speaking, the entire drill ground stirred. Some people plopped down on the ground, some couldn't wait to take off their hats to fan themselves, and others dragged their numb legs toward the shade of the trees. Gu Lingguo also slowly sat down, first stretching out her legs, then placing her hat on her knees, and raising her hand to unscrew the water bottle.

The water in the bottle had been warmed by the sun and didn't taste very good. She tilted her head back and took two gulps. Just as she was about to close her eyes and rest for a while, she heard a series of hushed but still excited chatter behind her.

"Do you guys know that there really is a Chen Junqian at our school?"

What nonsense! It sounds like an urban legend or a story about protected animals.

Gu Lingguo, who was drinking water, almost choked on her drink, but she still perked up her ears:

"Of course I know! Didn't the school's official WeChat account post it before the start of the semester? It was about Chen Junqian, the student secretary of the school's Youth League Committee, from Class 1 of Grade 11. My goodness, my mom forwarded the article to me, and I thought those photos were all edited by choosing the right angles."

"The photos are already great, but aren't you even more amazing in person?"

"I heard that Chen Junqian is taller in person than in photos. He has fair skin, beautiful eyes, and isn't the kind of handsome that's deliberately trying to look cool. He seems to be always busy with school activities and seems quite gentle and easy to get along with."

"And his grades are exceptionally good, first in the whole school or even the whole city. It's not just once or twice or for a year or two, it seems like he's been like this since elementary school. I knew his name back then, and people said that Guo Ning was the most likely candidate to go to Tsinghua or Peking University in the past ten years."

“I’ve also heard my dad say that he was first in the city in the high school entrance exam, and he was still first in high school.”

"Then why does he participate in so many activities? Shouldn't top students only know how to do practice problems?"

What activity?

"Hmm? You didn't know? Last year, Ningzhong High School actually held a lot of interesting activities, and it seems that he organized and planned them all. In June, there was a graduation farewell ceremony and a campus top ten singers competition, right? I remember that a very famous singer was invited as a guest."

"I know that one, it's Yi Qiu. I think he even performed in a stage play for publicity back then? Speaking of which, this playground where we're standing was filming just a few days ago. Maybe there were celebrities sitting here back then. I think he was the one who planned this."

"I just passed by the bulletin board and saw the announcement for this year's campus activities registration. I'm so excited! I'm finally in! I can participate now!"

"It would be even better if I could be selected for the school's Youth League Committee, but I heard that their requirements are very high."

“It’s normal for the standards to be high. With Chen Junqian around, the standards are bound to be very high.”

Gu Lingguo couldn't help but purse her lips slightly. Of course she knew about those activities. In fact, she knew about many of them during the planning stage. Moreover, in her opinion, activities like the sports festival and study tours were essentially meant to be done with her, the female lead who knew romantic comedies best. Sigh, consider it as paving the way for my official debut. Forgive me, senior.

Just as Gu Lingguo was resting her chin on her hand and thinking like this, the girl behind her suddenly threw out another question:

"By the way, does he have a girlfriend?"

When this question was raised, there seemed to be a half-second of silence around us.

If this were at a comic convention in another city, Gu Lin was certain that she would have proudly raised her hand by now, after all, it wasn't the first time she had taken on this role. But it just didn't work out at school, so she had to remain silent.

"I don't think so?"

"I've never heard of it."

"I seem to remember that he was confessed to in public by two girls this year, and he accepted both of them."

"It's a stage play script, I think it's for promotional purposes? You said it's about two girls confessing their love to each other, how could they both accept? I heard it's supposed to be a recreation of the ending of a romance novel."

"Oh, so I have a chance now?"

Someone said that, and then laughter rang out again, crisp like the bubbles of soda warmed by the sun. Gu Lingguo put the water bottle at her feet and began to seriously think about the question as well.

Compared to asking "Does the other person have a girlfriend?", she could actually answer "How many girlfriends does the other person have?" As for herself, of course she would count, since Chen Junqian didn't have any new ideas that day.

"Hey, are you talking about Chen Junqian?"

Perhaps because the girls' discussion was getting louder and louder, the boys nearby also heard it and enthusiastically joined in the conversation:

"I heard he's really good at League of Legends."

As soon as he said that, the girls immediately showed very subtle expressions. So at this time, don't use such mysterious English abbreviations. Why not just say League of Legends honestly?

But does the senior feel that there's no need to play League of Legends anymore?

Thanks to the influence of countless comics and anime from the alternate world, Gu Lingguo never considered herself a particularly pure and naive girl. Rather, if she weren't interested in these things, she wouldn't always be studying things like "absolute territory" or "sock cuffs." If only she were a little bit fatter...

But the boys clearly didn't care; as soon as they heard the familiar game name, they immediately crowded around:

"Ah? Really fake?"

“It’s true, my brother knows one of his friends and said that Chen Junqian seems to be a Challenger player in the Korean server.”

What is the Korean server's Challenger rank?

"It's one of the highest ranks on the Korean server of League of Legends. You know the Korean server, right? There are a lot of top players there, and professional players all play there. The fact that he can reach Challenger means he's definitely not just ordinary. I think some domestic youth training programs have even contacted him to ask if he's ever played professionally."

"Is it just hype?"

"It shouldn't be. He even played in Douyu competitions; you can find the videos online."

What champion does he play? Which lane?

"Mid lane, I heard that assassins and mages can all play it, such as Orianna, Azir, Akali, and even Graves and Lee Sin. They can kill a dozen or twenty people every game."

"Isn't this kind of behavior a bit unreasonable? Does it mean that those who excel academically are also better at video games?"

"What I'm actually more curious about is where he finds the time to play games."

"Maybe they are more efficient."

“I have to do my homework until 11 o’clock every day, and I get scolded by my mom if I play for half an hour.”

"Are you doing homework? You're just spacing out."

"roll."

The boys started laughing and teasing, and Gu Linguo couldn't help but smile slightly.

Of course she knew the boys were right, and she even knew who the other four regular members of Chen Junqian's team were. It was just a pity that she wasn't like Xu Youwei, who was both interested in games and had some talent. Otherwise, she would have liked to join the team and play together.

"Stand up!"

The instructor's voice pulled Gu Linguo back from her reverie. She snapped back to reality, grabbed her hat in a fluster, and stood up. The people around her also stood up, and the previously messy area under the trees was reorganized into a line.

"Right dress!"

The team began to adjust, and Gu Lingguo raised her hand in response to the commands, but the voices were still echoing in her mind.