I turned reality into a romantic comedy.

"I know."

"Then why did you only realize it now?"

"Because she always wore school uniforms before, now that she's wearing her own clothes, I realize that my sister has really grown up and become an adult."

You have received a new chapter update: Chapter 1067.

The store was bustling with people, and the loudspeaker was broadcasting promotional information for New Year's goods. The sound came down intermittently from above. Chen Junqian reached out and turned up the collar of her coat for her, his movements so gentle that it was as if he was afraid of messing up her freshly styled hair.

“I always feel like my younger brother is two years older than me, it’s so strange.”

While enjoying the other person's intimate gesture, Shen Nianqiu puffed out her cheeks and complained.

"Doesn't your sister like this?"

"I love you, I love everything about you."

After muttering this to himself, Shen Nianqiu rallied his spirits once more:

"Since my brother bought me clothes, I should buy you something too."

"I've already bought the clothes I'll be wearing for Chinese New Year."

"It's not clothes."

Just then, she heard a shop nearby playing her recently released song. Shen Nianqiu intertwined her fingers with his, leaned closer, and whispered:

"It's a ring, a ring."

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PS2: Ah, the timeline jumps in the last year and a half will be much faster than before, since it's time to wrap things up.

Chapter 45: Anime Helps Anime!

Chen Junqian knew why Shen Nianqiu suddenly wanted to buy him a ring. After all, there was a line in the lyrics, "Exchanging golden vows on our ring fingers for each other's years." So he let his sister take his hand and they started looking for jewelry stores on the roadside.

Although her economic situation was already better than most of her peers, Shen Nianqiu really didn't plan to buy Chen Junqian a sparkling diamond ring or gold ring. After all, for teenagers of their age, such things would be cliché, and the relationship between the two of them didn't need to be defined by anything like eternity or forever.

Soon, Shen Nianqiu found her target. The small shop had a light pink signboard hanging above its entrance, and the window was filled with hair clips, earrings, necklaces and all kinds of rings. The shop was brightly lit, and the glass counter reflected tiny specks of light. There was also a poster at the door offering discounts on New Year's decorations.

The two crossed the street and pushed open the glass door of the jewelry store. The wind chimes on the door rang softly, and a wave of warmth wafted out, mixed with a faint scent of aromatherapy. There weren't many people in the store. The shelves near the entrance were filled with fluffy hair ties and winter hats. Further inside, there was a row of glass counters displaying various jewelry items: thin silver chains, earrings inlaid with colorful crystals, and of course, all kinds of rings.

Some rings are simple silver bands, some are decorated with tiny stars and moons, and others are shaped like vines, feathers, or small flowers. Price tags are attached to the side, ranging from ten to several tens of yuan, with even the most expensive ones costing no more than a hundred yuan. It seems that this business is indeed targeting students.

Shen Nianqiu slowly walked to the counter where the rings were displayed. The saleswoman, a woman in her early twenties, smiled and came over to ask them as they stood in front of the counter:

"Would you two like to see couple rings? We have many styles available for you to try on."

"I'd like to take a look at the men's version first."

The shop assistant's smile widened as she pulled open a drawer:

"You can take a look at these. They are all relatively simple styles. This one is made of titanium steel, so it is not easy to fade. This one is pure silver, which will oxidize a little after wearing it for a long time, but you can wipe it clean. There is also this one, which is made of double layers. The outside is black and the inside is silver."

Shen Nianqiu first picked up a thin silver ring, examined it for a while, and then put it down again.

"This is too bright."

"What about this one with a darker tone?"

"What does your younger brother think?"

As she spoke, Shen Nianqiu showed Chen Junqian a black and silver ring with fine patterns.

"Hmm...it looks pretty good?"

"You said it looks good."

"Because I really don't wear rings much."

Shen Nianqiu pursed her lips, her eyes crinkling into a smile:

"Then let's give it a try."

The shop assistant took out a ring size chart and asked Chen Junqian to extend his hand. After confirming the size, the assistant took out the corresponding ring. However, Shen Nianqiu took the ring with a smile and prepared to put it on him herself.

Chen Junqian's fingers were long and slender with distinct knuckles. The size he finally chose was a little larger, which fit perfectly on his left ring finger. It wasn't too tight, nor would it slip off easily. The moment Shen Nianqiu saw the ring slip onto his finger, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

University and adulthood have brought her so much: a new city, new classmates, a new lifestyle, and questions she had never seriously considered before. She has also come to understand once again that relationships between people don't remain unchanged just because of the phrase "we'll always be like this." People get busy, grow, make new friends and have new goals, and face different choices at different stages. Even she, who had vowed before university to come back to visit her younger brother often, had to give up several opportunities during this period because she was busy with other things.

But that's precisely why she wants to cherish this relationship so much.

It wasn't about binding anyone, nor was it about proving anything to anyone. If I had to say, it was that I suddenly thought of this scene while singing the song the other person wrote for me.

Chen Junqian reached out and turned the ring he was trying on. The black and silver metal gleamed under the light without being ostentatious. There was a mirror on the counter, and he glanced at himself, feeling that his ring-wearing style was indeed quite novel. Then, for some reason, he thought of the fact that the male protagonists of romantic comedies are mostly Lord of the Rings, and he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.

"It seems quite suitable."

"Okay, let's buy this one then."

Although Shen Nianqiu intended to have Chen Junqian wear it on his wrist as soon as he left, he couldn't keep it on forever. After all, the school always strongly disapproved of and strictly prohibited such accessories. So Shen Nianqiu asked the shopkeeper for a box and then paid the bill without hesitation.

After payment, the shop assistant put the box into a bag and handed it to Shen Nianqiu with both hands:

Wishing you a happy new year and a long and prosperous life together.

"Thank you."

Shen Nianqiu took the box and walked out of the jewelry store. Night had already fallen completely.

The lanterns on the street swayed slightly in the wind, and the music playing in front of the shops changed one song after another. It was indeed one of the most popular songs this winter, so as you walked from one end of the street to the other, you could always hear someone's voice playing from a speaker.

We promised to hold hands from now on, because we're going to go a long way.

Compared to last year's turbulent Spring Festival, when everyone felt like they were about to switch to battle mode at any moment, this year's Spring Festival was undoubtedly much more peaceful. Although some people still had to switch to battle mode, it was the kind of battle mode where fighting started five seconds after meeting. If I had to name one, it would probably be that a certain childhood friend achieved the mysterious feat of hosting a banquet for everyone. Just like Chen Junqian at the same time last year, she chose to invite everyone to her house to play together on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

The atmosphere was quite harmonious. Even though fate had been forcibly shut down by someone, and even though they went up the mountain to see the walnut trees and down to set off fireworks and firecrackers in the dark again, they didn't encounter any more mysterious situations. Everyone spent the New Year quite comfortably and then welcomed the start of the new school year.

Although he could tell a newly enrolled college student who asked, "Do I need to print out my college entrance exam papers and have the questions explained when I go to college?", "The war is over, Rambo," Chen Junqian, now in the second semester of his junior year, still had to obediently bring his final exam papers from a month ago and listen to the teacher explain the questions during evening self-study on the first day of school.

The ranking results of the last final exam actually exceeded many people's expectations, and it could even be said that it caused quite a stir in Ningzhong High School. This is not to say that a certain top student who has been at the top of the grade for many years has finally fallen from grace, but in fact it is not much different, because the position of second place in the grade, which has remained unchanged for a long time, has actually changed.

The fact that his younger sister, who skipped a grade upon entering high school, surpassed Zhu Wenyun, who had always been second only to him, was something that Chen Junqian found somewhat unexpected yet reasonable. After all, he wouldn't be clinging to the outdated notion that Chen Xi's grades in his previous life weren't so ridiculously good; the fates of countless people had already been altered by his rebirth.

As for Zhu Wenyun herself, she didn't care much about the result either. After all, since becoming a novelist, she had never devoted all her time and energy to studying. Especially recently, she had spent a lot of personal energy researching for that new book that was the most difficult to write in history. All she could say was that as long as she could go to the same university as Chen Junqian, that would be enough for her.

However, the younger sister was quite proud of this achievement, so much so that on the morning after the exam results came out, she proudly asked Chen Junqian for a reward. Chen Junqian's reply was, "How about I take you to Beijing for your birthday?"

Chen Xi subconsciously replied with an "okay," but quickly noticed something else: her birthday was on the second day of the second lunar month every year, which was after school had already started. Moreover, glancing at the calendar, she saw that it was a Monday when she had to go to school.

When will a new regulation be introduced that includes the Dragon Head Raising Festival as a holiday?

Soon, Chen Xi received the specific itinerary from her brother.

"I'm planning to go to Beijing to discuss a project. It will take about three days, which is Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. If I need to take leave, I only need to ask for Monday. Lin Guo has already agreed to come with me. What do you think, Xiao Xi? Do you want to come along?"

Although Chen Junqian said it was for work, when you think about the work he did with Zhu Wenyun, Shen Nianqiu, and Gu Linguo, it does seem like he was actually just going out to have fun.

"I'm going."

After all, it's impossible to just watch Gu Lingguo and her brother go on a long trip together.

And so, at the end of February 2017, Chen Junqian once again took Gu Linguo and Chen Xi on a flight to Beijing.

Chen Xi wasn't really sure what Chen Junqian's purpose was for this trip, but since he brought Gu Lingguo along, it was probably related to anime and manga. So, on the plane, seeing her brother leaning back and taking a nap, she decided to whisper to her best friend, wanting to know what he was going to do in Beijing.

"Xiao Xi, do you still remember Sword Art Online?"

"Yeah, it's the character my brother cosplayed when we first went to the anime convention. I think his name was Kirito, and he's the male protagonist of Sword Art Online."

"Oh yeah, Sword Art Online is getting a movie now. It premiered in Japan a week ago. And this time, it seems like my brother is going to talk about importing it, but it's not my brother... well, I'm not really sure, because this kind of thing is too big of a deal..."

As a Bilibili animation content creator who essentially relies on Chen Junqian's planning, post-production, and promotion to create content based solely on his own interests, Gu Lingguo, despite having amassed nearly a million followers, is not exactly a mature professional. He is completely clueless about business matters, so after stammering for a while, Chen Xi could only vaguely understand that it was related to the import of Japanese animated films.

Meanwhile, Chen Junqian, who was sitting next to them with his eyes closed and resting, was also thinking about related matters.

In one of his past lives, he had met someone working in the Chinese animation industry who repeatedly stated that, in terms of box office appeal alone, domestic animated films significantly outperform foreign films. For example, 2015's *Monkey King: Hero Is Back* and last year's *Big Fish & Begonia* both surpassed the recently released *Your Name* and Disney animated films in terms of box office revenue. Ultimately, the anime/manga/cartoon (ACG) community is a relatively small niche, especially in terms of box office support, making it difficult to attract casual viewers to theaters.

I remember the example the other party used back in 2017 was swords.

However, he had no idea about anime and manga back then. Now, back in 2017, Chen Junqian suddenly realized that the movie the other person was talking about must be the Sword Art Online theatrical film "Ordinal Scale" which was released this year.

"Back then, the boss of the company that imported Sword Art Online was a fan of the series, and he was too young. He had only been in business for two years. As a result, he was cheated by the distributor. In the end, even though the movie was profitable, he didn't get a penny of the money he was supposed to receive, and he almost went bankrupt."

Following the clues from his past life, and coincidentally, Chen Junqian, who was also researching the introduction of Japanese films, quickly found the possible party involved: Beijing Dimensional Matrix Culture Co., Ltd. It seemed that they really intended to introduce Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale to China, which was the real reason for Chen Junqian's trip to Beijing.

Even if it's just out of mutual appreciation between people in the world of anime and manga, he doesn't want to see things like "not anime and manga at all," "the darkness of the film industry," or "wow, how can capitalists be so evil" happen again on his timeline.

Fortunately, he now has both financial backing and divine assistance, so he can indeed participate in this matter.

Because it was indeed a very serious work-related matter, Chen Junqian dropped the two girls off at their hotel as soon as he got off the plane, and went straight to the other party's company. He had contacted the company's boss, Mr. Cao, in advance, but Mr. Cao was still taken aback when he saw him.

"...Young and promising, young and promising indeed."

But soon, Mr. Cao realized what was going on.

That's true; it's probably only young, rich kids like this who are into anime and manga and willing to do things that aren't even guaranteed to make money.

"No, no, let's get down to business."

With the introduction of Mr. Cao, who had already bought the rights to Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale and learned about the relevant matters, Chen Junqian gradually learned that there are two types of imported films in China. Generally speaking, blockbusters are imported in the form of revenue-sharing films, where the production company, distributor and screening unit share the profits according to a pre-agreed ratio. The annual quota of 34 films is almost monopolized by the six major Hollywood film companies.

Another type is the wholesale film. In the early years, most of these films were bought out by domestic copyright holders, and foreign film distributors did not participate in the revenue sharing. Therefore, they were also called buyout films. In recent years, the wholesale film business has become increasingly popular, and for some sought-after films, the film distributors also have to participate in the revenue sharing.

Currently, only two companies, China Film Group Corporation and Huaxia Film Distribution Co., Ltd., have the right to import films.

"I've already asked around with my friends, and the quota allocated to Japanese anime is only about ten or eleven titles a year. That's already considered a lot; it was even less in the past two years."

Mr. Cao sat there, sipping tea and sighing. Although he was a fan of the Sword Art Online series, he knew that the Sword Art Online IP was not as mainstream as Doraemon. So he was worried about not being able to secure the quota, but he also wanted to push the movie to meet the fans. After all, he had seen it in Japan and thought that the quality of this theatrical version was acceptable.

"The company I'm currently contacting was introduced by a friend. The main reason is to get import quotas from China Film Group and Huaxia Film Distribution. Otherwise, even if I buy the copyright, I can't import it. It's driving me crazy."

"So what's the name of that company? I think it's called Juhe Pictures, right?"

"Well, I heard that the other party's boss came from China Film Group and has some connections. After reviewing the film, he said he could participate in the investment, but also said he would only handle the publicity and distribution. He promised that he could definitely get the import quota, but the fee would be three million. However, the market rate I found out is that the quota fee for American films is five million, and for non-American films it is three million. It doesn't seem like they are deliberately raising the price."

"But I feel that Mr. Cao is still very conflicted."

"After talking to them in detail, I realized something was wrong. They said they were only responsible for publicity and distribution, but the company's publicity and distribution strategy was too unprofessional. Mr. Chen, you know you're a fan of anime and you've even cosplayed Kirito. The publicity and distribution of this kind of anime IP derivative theatrical version can't be the same as a normal film. But they didn't have a clear publicity schedule at all. For example, for the test screening of the anime film, on which media will it be exposed and promoted, and what will the future box office be? There was no concrete content. They just used the old model. It felt like they were just treating it as an ordinary Japanese import film. So it felt unreliable."

At this point, Mr. Cao kept sighing. He didn't look that old, after all, he had only founded the company last year. It was all about online and offline businesses related to anime and manga. It is said that next year they will bring Wonder Festival, the world's largest figure and model exhibition, to Shanghai. Bringing swords to Shanghai is indeed a first attempt for which they have never had any relevant experience before.

"Leave the import to me, I can handle it, and I'll guarantee transparency in the contract."

Then he saw the boy in front of him, who looked to be no more than a college student, make such a promise in a firm and confident tone.

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