I turned reality into a romantic comedy

“You said you wanted a chicken the most because you wanted to see what it felt like to fly, but I wanted a dog.”

"But this morning I actually talked to Weiwei about this issue again, and she told me without hesitation that what she wanted most was a sheep, the sheep talisman that allows the soul to leave the body."

"At first I thought it was because Vivi wanted to use this to travel to all sorts of places around the world from home, but she actually told me that."

"...She said she wanted to use this to make herself look like she was dead, and then use her soul to see how her family would react, whether they would cry or laugh, or think it was really great?"

For Lin Mu, who has been truly pampered and cherished by her family since childhood, these kinds of topics and thoughts are probably completely incomprehensible to her. As a result, when she was just repeating these few words, she seemed to have tears in her eyes.

"This idea does seem a bit extreme, but the main problem is that we have absolutely no idea what her family situation is like."

Although Chen Junqian had long guessed that Xu Youwei's various awkwardnesses were definitely due to family issues, he still felt it was a bit much to hear her say such things without changing her expression. After all, this is not the era when children can be exposed to a large amount of mixed information bombardment on the Internet at a young age. Elementary school students are generally quite innocent and don't even think about things like life and death.

"Oh yeah, I don't even know where she lives."

"Actually, I'm more curious about what she does on her way home from school and where she goes than where she lives."

In reality, the only reason why children choose to wander the streets after school is that they don't want to go home. However, the reasons why they don't want to go home can lead to all sorts of speculations.

But based on the information Chen Junqian has gathered so far, he doesn't think Xu Youwei has really reached the point where Lin Mu is worried about her wanting to commit suicide. After all, based on his interactions with her and his own observations, he feels that Xu Youwei is essentially still a child at heart, and everything she does is to want attention and to be cared for, whether in class or at home.

In a sense, this can be considered a positive self-rescue behavior. After all, if the above behavior is repeated for a long time without receiving positive feedback, this string may suddenly snap at some point.

Even as a mediocre children's literature creator, Chen Junqian has had extensive exposure to child psychology. Children, no, not just children, all humans send out some kind of message when they are troubled and want help from others. It's just that children's messages are often more obscure and awkward, and each person has their own unique behavior.

Suddenly becoming cheerful or suddenly becoming silent, suddenly expressing a desire not to go to school, or simply muttering something else.

But what if you send out these messages and no one helps you? Then all that remains are anger and hatred about why no one wants to help you, followed by despair and giving up on everything.

From another person's perspective, this behavior can be considered a form of arrogance. Because no matter what, the recipient of the message will feel like, "Even if you say this, I still don't understand what you're thinking."

However, children are unconsciously self-centered, so the two sides often cannot understand each other. They are just more likely to make mistakes than more mature adults.

In fact, when Chen Junqian entered the children's literature industry with great enthusiasm in his previous life and began to survey his audience, primary and junior high school students born after 2010, he was deeply aware of this and sincerely felt a sense of powerlessness.

Some people have been smoking for three years by the age of twelve; some people meet the person they want to protect most at the age when they are most helpless; some people cry when they think of their ex-boyfriend from kindergarten; every elementary school student can tell a heartbreaking story; and when they hear various DJ love songs, they think of their ex-wife and ex-husband.

Fourth graders might be melancholic literary geniuses who have read anime, movies, and TV shows but never read a book; eight-year-old girls can become internet celebrities with false eyelashes and big eye bags; kindergarten kids can pose for photos like tough guys; fifth-grade girls wear sexy dresses and hold cigarettes; third-grade boys can simultaneously date five girls and solemnly add "I already have a wife, please do not disturb" to their personal profiles; at an age when they haven't even finished paying off their teeth, they already call themselves qualified old smokers and old drinkers.

If the youth-angst literature of their generation was still confined to QQ Space, then the audience that Chen Junqian had to face after growing up could now lie down in sewage and cosplay as a jellyfish without any psychological burden, and smoothly post it to short video platforms with the caption "I'll be a jellyfish in my next life, because it doesn't have a heart and doesn't feel pain."

"Hello... Chen Junqian?"

However, Lin Mu's small hand waving in front of his field of vision quickly pulled Chen Junqian out of the vortex of memories.

Oh, it's still 2009.

Therefore, even children's problems may be easier to solve than those of their peers a decade or more later.

Chapter Fifteen: The Tracking Operation in Progress

Without further ado, after the four-person team on the blackboard newspaper successfully completed their task for the day, Chen Junqian and Lin Mu began their plan to track Xu Youwei.

To minimize the chances of being discovered, the two of them took off their conspicuous school uniform jackets and put them in their backpacks. They each wore only a short-sleeved shirt underneath and followed behind Xu Youwei at a distance.

However, the other party seemed completely unaware of their two sneaky followers, because as soon as they stepped out of the school gate, the disciplinary committee member who would take office next Monday had already taken the lead in pulling out a bottle of green-packaged bubble solution from the inner pocket of his backpack and started blowing bubbles for his own amusement.

Bubbles of all sizes shimmered with iridescent colors in the afterglow of the setting sun. Not only Xu Youwei, but even the younger children walking along the roadside couldn't help but tiptoe and turn around to catch them with their hands, watching them burst one by one on their fingertips and palms.

Seemingly finding the bubbles, which would disappear into the air in no time, a bit unsatisfying, Xu Youwei quickly put away the bubble solution and instead took out a tube of bubble gum and a blowpipe from the outer pocket of her backpack. She skillfully kneaded the squeezed bubble gum into a suitable shape and then held it to one end of the blowpipe, gently blowing bubbles at her lips.

Once it reached about the size of a ping-pong ball, she was satisfied and gently removed the bubble from near the mouth of the blowpipe. After quickly tying the opening shut, she tossed the bubble back and forth between her two hands like a marble. If she added two more, it would look a bit like an acrobatic performance.

Not only was Xu Youwei playing with bubbles in her hands, but she was also blowing bubbles from time to time, having somehow popped a large piece of bubble gum into her mouth. Lin Mu, who was following behind her, even wanted to ask her for tips on how to do it.

"I just can't blow bubbles at all..."

"It's okay, I don't know how either."

The two followed Xu Youwei all the way to the Jingyuan Square area in the city center. This area has always been a good place for a stroll, with vendors selling snacks everywhere. The city's few remaining off-the-beaten-path burger and fried chicken restaurants are also nearby. Since they sell chicken legs, burgers, spicy chicken wings, fried chicken, and the like, they are considered KFC and McDonald's substitutes for the children in Guoning City.

However, Xu Youwei did not stop at these locations. Instead, she walked directly to the center of the square, which was mainly a gathering place for skateboarders, roller skaters, and some amusement facilities. Of course, after the wave of square dancing swept the country two or three years later, this place naturally became one of the gathering places for square dancing aunties.

There aren't many people who come here specifically at this time, since today isn't a rest day but a workday. Apart from the elderly and the children they bring, who are generally only three or four years old and have just come back from kindergarten, there are basically no adults or students to be seen. At most, they will buy some snacks on the outskirts of the square and won't actually come inside.

Just as Chen Junqian and Lin Mu were wondering where the other was going and what she was doing, Xu Youwei took out five yuan from her pocket and handed it to a staff member next to her in front of them. Then, she kicked off her shoes, grabbed her backpack, and jumped into an inflatable trampoline that looked like a castle in the center of the square.

In fact, Chen Junqian and Lin Mu themselves had played on these trampolines, which are usually equipped with slides, soft balls and other amusement facilities and are designed in various themes. In fact, in 2025, before the former's rebirth, they could occasionally see similar facilities on the first floor of a large shopping mall.

Their main purpose is to help parents who are shopping find a place where they can keep an eye on their children while allowing them to run wild and play freely. After all, the price of five yuan is fair and there is no time limit. It is also in a public place, and the staff just stands at the entrance and exit, so the safety level is definitely not low.

But for a fourth-grade elementary school student to play this would seem like a max-level player accidentally wandering into a newbie village. In the end, the main audience for this thing is kindergarten children. The few customers that the two of them can see right now are basically human children around four or five years old.

However, Hsu Yu-Wei didn't seem like someone her age would really be so eager for such amusement park rides. After climbing to the top of the trampoline castle, she didn't go down the slide or jump into the ball pit to actually kick Beihai Kindergarten like the other kids. Instead, she simply sat there with her knees drawn up to her chest. Later, she even took her homework out of her bag and put it on her lap to start writing.

Because the other party was in a superior position, and there weren't many tourists around at the moment, Chen Junqian and Lin Mu quietly slipped away after learning about the other party's whereabouts for the day.

"...So this is one of Vivi's secret bases? That's quite unexpected."

"I think she just doesn't want to go home. For her, going anywhere or doing anything on her way home from school is probably better than going home."

As he said this, Chen Junqian began to have a series of guesses in his mind, but as the saying goes, happy families are all alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. He couldn't make a judgment before he truly understood the other person's family situation.

After all, he had almost no contact with Xu Youwei in his previous life. If Lin Mu was at least an acquaintance from the same boarding school, then he, who basically never participated in any activities in his previous life, and Xu Youwei, who would rush to participate in any activity, were two completely opposite extremes, and naturally had no interaction with each other.

However, the fact that the other party could linger on the way home from school for so long without going home already reveals a lot of problems. After all, responsible parents would not just let their children wander around after school without going home. Chen Junqian's family environment is relatively relaxed and he is quite sensible, so he has a high credit score with his parents. Lin Mu's problem is simply that his parents were not home during this period.

"Let's follow up on this later when we have the chance, since it's not something that can be resolved in a day or two."

"But my parents will be back this week, which means they will drive to the school gate to pick me up after school."

Just a few days ago, when he lost the money, he was counting down the days until his parents would be back. But now, Lin Mu suddenly felt a little reluctant. It wasn't because of any grand gesture of filial piety; he simply wanted to prolong their time together.

"Then I'll follow them by myself. Lin Mu, you can just subtly inquire around the school during the day, asking around and finding out as much as you can."

"Well, I see."

After finishing talking about Xu Youwei, Lin Mu, who had originally said that she could cook for herself and heat up her own food today, suddenly wanted Chen Junqian to come to her house again. However, she felt that it was too late today, so after hesitating for a while, she made an appointment for tomorrow.

"Tomorrow is Friday, and there's no school on the weekend, so I don't think it'll be a problem to go home a little late."

"Well, you're going back to your grandparents' house this weekend, right? And my parents are coming back next Monday, so I thought we could play games together while I can still use the home computer freely."

"I asked you about this just two days ago. Actually, the two-player games we like to play are quite similar... If I don't know them, I can learn them on the spot."

"Okay, Friday is definitely no problem."

Seeing Chen Junqian readily agree, Lin Mu was quite happy. After all, this was her first time playing a two-player game at home with someone else. But Chen Junqian was the first friend to come to her house, so it was only natural.

Actually, if her computer wasn't in a dedicated study, the other person might have become the first friend to enter her room. But that's definitely not an option, since she's been living alone all week, and her room is a complete mess, not at all like a girl's room. If Chen Junqian saw it, he might laugh at her about it when they're in middle or high school.

At least wait until Mom comes back, and together we'll tidy up the room until Chen Junqian thinks, 'Wow, so this is what a girl's room looks like.' That way, even if she goes to other people's rooms later, she'll subconsciously feel that none of them are as nice as hers.

Unaware that the little girl he had just parted ways with had already been thinking about him in such a long and complicated way, Chen Junqian embarked on his journey home as usual. However, this time he finally had a chance to score points in the competition of public morality. When faced with an elderly person boarding the bus at a certain stop, he immediately gave up his seat in a swift motion, and felt that the red scarf on his chest was even brighter.

Knowing he would be going back to his hometown for the weekend, Chen Junqian immediately called his grandmother's house using the landline after putting down his schoolbag.

In his past life, he once wanted to surprise his grandparents, so he secretly went back home without telling them in advance. However, she said she hoped he could contact her in advance next time.

Chen Junqian remembers clearly what his grandmother said when she hurriedly picked out a chicken from the house and killed it on the spot.

If he suddenly comes back, the surprise will only last for a moment, but if they are told in advance, the waiting period from when they hear the news until he officially returns will actually be very happy.

And so, he developed the habit of calling them as soon as he was sure he could go back.

To be honest, in the days before smartphones were widespread, Chen Junqian sometimes felt that his hometown in the countryside was more fun than the city.

He could ride his family's tricycle aimlessly along the country roads, or try fishing for crayfish by the pond, although sometimes he would catch a water snake that terrified him.

In March and April of the first half of the year, you can see rapeseed flowers covering the mountains and fields like golden armor. In the second half of the year, it is the season when the late rice is about to ripen. His family still has a manual threshing machine. When he was a child, Chen Junqian would often playfully spin the wheel a few times.

Grandma was also very happy to hear that he was coming back, and said she hoped he would come next weekend as well, because her goddaughter, Chen Junqian, was about to visit her.

There is a custom of adopting godparents in their area, but it usually only applies to the previous generation and the generation before that. Chen Junqian's generation has not heard of it much. His aunt is the goddaughter that his grandmother adopted decades ago, apparently because of the good relationship between her and her parents.

After hanging up the phone with his grandmother, Chen Junqian suddenly remembered something.

Although he kept telling the system that only children of his generation absolutely did not have brothers or sisters, and that he himself did not even have cousins ​​or sisters, and that his peers were mostly brothers, it seemed that his godmother had only given birth to a daughter, so he could indeed call her his sister. However, the two of them had no blood relation and no interaction, and only met occasionally during holidays because of the interaction between the elders.

However, it's quite a coincidence that because his god-aunt's husband also had the surname Chen, the child born took the father's surname and also had the surname Chen. When introduced, they were just like real siblings.

As for the full name, Chen Junqian remembered that the other person's single name was the character 'Xi', which is extremely difficult for a child to write.

Other impressions are quite faint. After all, there is no saying that a deep friendship between elders will necessarily continue into their children's relationship. It might be possible for one or two generations, but by the third generation, it will definitely be much worse.

Aside from their childhood interactions, the last time Chen Junqian saw her before his rebirth was at her college entrance banquet. He remembered it was at a pretty good school in another province. She was originally a liberal arts student and ended up majoring in history. After graduation, she went on to work in the museum industry.

However, it was precisely because of the other person's profession that Chen Junqian had a brief encounter with them again when he helped write copy for a museum's cultural and creative products.

At that time, he was standing in front of the display case of the Zhuke Ding, the treasure of the Anhui Museum, and casually asked the other party why he chose this job. The other party then threw the same question back at him.

Then Chen Junqian answered with the various children's literature works that had a profound influence on him during his childhood, but he did not expect that the other party held almost the same reason as him.

In her own words, her earliest interest in history and the cultural heritage industry stemmed from another fantasy novel that would begin serialization in a novel magazine a year later and be officially published in 2011:

The Silent Shop.

Chapter Sixteen: Time for a Two-Player Game (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets)

For elementary school students, Friday's sunshine is always exceptionally bright, and even their steps on the way to school feel much lighter than usual.

Chen Junqian ate rice noodles this morning. The smooth rice noodles were cooked by scalding them in the bone broth, then sprinkled with fried soybeans, chopped green onions, and pickled vegetables, and drizzled with a spoonful of cooked meat sauce. He was quite satisfied with the meal, and most importantly, it only cost three yuan, making it excellent value for money.

When Chen Junqian strolled leisurely into the classroom, he was surprised to find that his good deskmate, Zhong Yu, was actually copying something on the desk, which was quite unusual for him. When he went over to take a look, he found that it was a string of English words.

But upon closer inspection, Chen Junqian revealed an expression of "I knew it," because he recognized all the English words the other person was currently copying down, and could even say he was quite familiar with them:

THUGSTOOLS (Acquire thug weapons)

PROFESSIONALTOOLS (Acquire professional weapons)

NUTTERTOOLS (obtain advanced weapons)

Oh, and there was also the PANZER, which he remembered best back then, because it had few letters and was easy to use.

...Isn't this the cheat code for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City?

Too lazy to expose Zhong Yu's feigned diligence, Chen Junqian put his schoolbag away and took out a copy of "Guwen Guanzhi" that he had found at home to read.

Since the system gave him a buff to his intelligence and learning efficiency a couple of days ago, he could clearly feel that his memory and other learning abilities had improved significantly. Elementary school courses, which were not difficult for him to begin with, were now practically a freebie. So, he started to slowly preview or review the material for junior high and high school in order these past two days.

However, the good mood that the upcoming weekend brought to the elementary school students quickly vanished, because the math teacher who came to class soon announced that there would be a pop quiz today, which immediately caused the whole class to groan in despair.

Since it was just a short quiz, the teacher didn't collect the papers for grading after they were finished. Instead, the teacher simply had students exchange papers and check their answers against the blackboard.

Fortunately, Chen Junqian's grades were usually among the best, and Zhong Yu had always been a poor student, so there wasn't any scene like the one in the online novels where "this kid can actually use his knowledge of equations to solve a math problem like the chicken and rabbit problem at this age, making people gasp in amazement." After finishing the corrections, he casually remarked, "Another 100 points today," and then, with a grin, he picked up his pen and secretly corrected a few of the multiple-choice questions he got wrong on his test, trying to make his score look a little better.

There was no other way. Zhong Yu's family, like Lin Mu's family, also owned a large number of hickory nuts. At this moment, Guoning was experiencing a period of great prosperity for the hickory nut industry and other economic developments. If Chen Junqian remembered correctly, for the next hickory nut festival a year later, their small, third-tier county with only 300,000 permanent residents would even spend a huge sum of money to invite a luxurious lineup of performers, including Jay Chou and Wu Ke-qun.

However, unlike Lin Mu's family's upbringing, Zhong Yu's family was overly lenient with him. After all, given the current understanding, the other party's parents might really think that as long as they guard the pecan tree at home, they can ensure that their child will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of his life. Therefore, Zhong Yu was also filled with a certain sense of relaxation.

However, it must be said that, from the perspective of friendship alone, Zhong Yu is indeed a very comfortable friend to be around and very generous.

Having endured the most difficult exam of the day, when the school bell finally rang in the afternoon, all the students, eager to go home, rushed out of the classroom with their pre-packed schoolbags on their backs. Chen Junqian, who had made an appointment with Lin Mu yesterday, also met her again after taking a familiar detour, and once again embarked on another route home from school that he had gradually become familiar with over the past few days.

But just as they were getting to know each other, it all came to an end. As Lin Mu's parents finished their busy work during the pecan harvest season, the journey home for Lin Mu would once again involve his parents driving him there.

Perhaps realizing this, Chen Junqian noticed that Lin Mu wasn't in particularly high spirits today. Unlike the previous two days, he didn't take out any homemade toys from his pocket, nor did he excitedly share the interesting things he had seen and heard that day. Instead, he deliberately slowed down, suddenly becoming interested in every blade of grass, every flower, and every cloud by the roadside, frequently pulling Chen Junqian to stop and stare at them in a daze.

"From now on, Chen Junqian will be going home alone again..."

"So this is what you were thinking all along?"

Faced with Lin Mu's words, which he stammered out after a long pause, Chen Junqian found himself both amused and touched:

"Don't I still have the mission of tracking down Xu Youwei?"

"But stalking is done by one person too."

As he spoke, Lin Mu thought for a moment, then clapped his hands as if he had suddenly come up with a good idea, and put forward his idea:

"Why don't you just stop following her? We can explain things to Weiwei and then have the two of you walk home together after school. You see, Weiwei is so fun-loving, she definitely won't let you get bored on the way. And with you by her side, Weiwei won't be so lonely either. That way, there won't be any problem."

"I'm really not that close to her now."

"But you two will be working together on patrol and inspection starting next week, so your relationship will definitely be closer than it is now. Besides, you both have a mutual friend, which is me, so that's a natural common topic."