I turned reality into a romantic comedy

"Uh-huh!"

She had a premonition that this was something even Lin Mu and Xu Youwei didn't know or couldn't do.

Just this is enough.

He stuffed the last small steamed bun, which had been squeezed out of shape, into his mouth.

Today's red bean paste is sweeter than ever, so sweet it's almost maddening.

Chapter 46: Kids Love Celebrating Western Holidays (Part 2)

The end of December is undoubtedly one of the best times of the year for children. After all, on the one hand, winter vacation and the Chinese New Year are coming soon, and on the other hand, they can have a preview of the New Year's Day holiday before the real long holiday arrives.

Of course, if we go back a few days, it would be another Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that, although not of local origin, are still very popular among children.

As soon as Lin Mu entered the classroom today, he could hear his classmates excitedly discussing the story of Santa Claus. The old man with the white beard, wearing a red hat, rode in a sleigh and climbed down the chimney with all kinds of gifts, putting the gifts into the red stockings hanging at the head of the bed.

From their expectant tone, one can imagine that the children are looking forward to the arrival of the sleigh pulled by the reindeer, even though their homes in the city don't have chimneys or red socks by their beds, and their parents would most likely just say, "Why celebrate a foreign holiday?"

But children also have their own way of celebrating the holiday. From the moment they arrive at school in the morning, familiar classmates and friends exchange greeting cards. These are seasonal specials from the small shops near the school gate these days. They are the cheapest, and you can buy a whole pack for just one yuan. They are perfect for writing a few words of blessing and giving them to friends.

Of course, if you're willing to spend a fortune, you can choose the most expensive e-card. The thick, folded card unfolds layer by layer, revealing a three-dimensional shape, like a magnificent castle rising from the ground on your table. When it's fully completed, it plays pre-set electronic music, usually "Jingle Bells" or "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".

However, for a child whose English is on the verge of failing, this level of English song is untouchable. So, he can only settle for second best, humming the Chinese lyrics of "Jingle Bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way" while going to the convenience store near the school gate to buy the most expensive greeting card.

Actually, she didn't particularly care how many stories the castle inside had, or whether the music sound quality was a little clearer; the main thing was that it was the most expensive and the biggest.

In other words, there are more places for her to put her pen to paper.

Unlike his relatively poor English skills, after diligently writing a diary for a whole semester, Lin Mu could now confidently dismiss the 400-word essay requirement as a piece of cake.

That's why she wanted to write more on this year's Christmas card.

Or rather, even just excerpting a portion of her diary entries from these past few months that relate to Chen Junqian would be enough to fill several castles.

So, on Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas, Lin Mu solemnly placed the large greeting card, almost the size of a book, on the table after returning home. As soon as she washed her hands and came back, she saw her mother looking at her with a smile.

"Is this for Junqian?"

"Yes, Mom won't let me see it."

Lin Mu reluctantly pushed his mother out of his room before pulling out a chair and sitting down at his desk.

Still feeling uneasy, she thought for a moment, then stood up and locked the door from the inside before finally opening the e-card. As the 3D castle rose up on the desk, the card began to play the jingle bells melody loudly.

Unconsciously, Lin Mu touched the Merry Christmas word and picture on the greeting card with the tip of her pen. Feeling that she would never be able to memorize such a long word in her life, she quietly read the Chinese words "Merry Christmas" several times. In the end, she decided with some frustration that she would just say "Merry Christmas" to Chen Junqian in Chinese tomorrow.

Before buying it, she was confident that she could finish writing the greeting card quickly.

But the actual speed was slower than she had imagined. To be precise, after half an hour of the clock on the wall ticking away, Lin Mu still hadn't been able to write a complete sentence. Her posture at the desk went from sitting upright to slumping down in despair. The simple electronic music had been playing for half an hour, and she almost knew it by heart.

So I guess I should check my diary first.

As if seeking inspiration from elsewhere, Lin Mu carefully took out the coded diary that Xu Youwei had given him from his desk drawer.

After glancing at two pages, she suddenly felt she had something to write about, so Lin Mu once again spread out the greeting cards and seriously picked up her pen.

Just like on Christmas Day, people hang many decorations on the Christmas tree, such as the star at the top representing the source of light, Christmas ornaments symbolizing completeness and harmony, small bells that can drive away evil spirits, candles and lights that symbolize human warmth and hope, bows that symbolize the bonds between people, gingerbread men and candies that mean generosity and sharing.

She also wanted to give all the blessings to the tree and the person who would accompany her as she grew up.

It has to be said that writing this Christmas card took longer than Lin Mu had imagined.

But she felt it didn't matter.

After all, this was only her first Christmas with Chen Junqian, and the first Christmas card she had ever written for him.

There will be many more Christmases between them, enough for the two of them to experience all the firsts and nexts.

----------------------------------

Zhu Wenyun clasped her hands together and breathed on them. As night approached, the crowds on the street visibly thinned out, and the temperature dropped.

Because the vegetables sold exceptionally well today, Grandma stayed at the market until very late. After finishing her homework at home, she came over to help out, and they finally finished selling all the plump white radishes and carrots before calling it a day.

However, unlike her grandmother who was busy going home to eat and take a bath, Zhu Wenjun did not go home immediately after helping to take care of everything. Instead, she wandered aimlessly around the streets near her home.

Because of its remote location, even on the nights leading up to Christmas, there was hardly anyone around. All that could be seen was a starry sky and bicycles and tricycles haphazardly crammed along the roadside. The quiet was almost enough to make one feel sleepy.

Guoning hasn't had any snowfall this year, but because of a light rain in the afternoon, the slightly icy ground is still a bit slippery, and you can see the marks that look like a motorcycle slipped and fell not far away.

Wrapped in thick winter clothes, Zhu Wenyun carefully stepped on the curb, like a clumsy penguin playing a game of balancing.

If you walk a little further ahead, you'll reach the city center.

The shops on both sides of the street were still open at this time, and colorful Christmas trees adorned with small gifts lined up in front of each shop, almost forming a forest of Christmas trees.

The glass windows are painted with colorful paint and spray paint, and occasionally you can see shop assistants dressed as Santa Claus with white beards sticking on their sleeves, trying their best to attract customers, or rather, children.

After all, it seems that only children are truly enthusiastic about this so-called Western holiday, whether it's Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

However, Zhu Wenyun did not participate in the activity of exchanging greeting cards among the students in her class. Firstly, she didn't have anyone in the class she wanted to write a greeting card for. Secondly, her consumption habits, which she had developed since childhood, made it difficult for her to accept spending one yuan to buy something that could only be used for writing.

If you really want to write something on something and give it as a gift, Zhu Wenyun has a lot of handmade bookmarks at home, one of which was the one she gave to Chen Junqian by tucking it into a book.

Moreover, one yuan is enough to buy a bag of ten red bean paste buns.

The same principle applies to greeting cards, and so does the "peace apple".

As a child who had read many books, Zhu Wenyun knew very well that it was actually just a magical custom popular in China. But because of a simple homonym and its connection to a Western holiday, ordinary apples could be transformed on this day, with their packaging and price doubling, and as a result, so many children flocked to them.

Zhu Wenyun doesn't actually dislike apples. Rather, because of Zheng Yuanjie's fairy tale "Five Apples Trouble the Earth," she once fantasized about gaining superpowers and ate apples like crazy. But on this day when apples have become "peace apples" and their prices have risen, she feels a bit disgusted.

In fact, judging solely from her food preferences and eating habits, she is actually the most down-to-earth type. After all, she grew up with her grandmother and basically ate whatever her grandmother ate. As a result, she had no particular interest in spicy snacks that children love or so-called hamburgers, fried chicken, and McDonald's.

In Grandma's words, Coke is nothing more than carbonated sweet water that leaves your throat sticky and your tongue numb; a hamburger is just two slices of bread with a piece of meat in between; and French fries are just fried potato strips. She dares to sell these three things together for ten or twenty yuan? No way!

She would rather buy Zhu Wenyun a big bag of glutinous rice strips or rice popcorn sticks from the roadside, or even melon seeds, peanuts, and popcorn, and then go home and munch on them while watching TV, with a pot of strong tea. She wouldn't trade this life for anything, not even the emperor himself.

Even so, Zhu Wenyun still wanted to give Chen Junqian a gift on this day, or rather, on this day when everyone was giving gifts, so that giving one wouldn't raise any suspicions.

So, if Christmas cards and apples are ruled out, what should she give as a gift?

With these questions in mind, Zhu Wenyun, whose face was slightly flushed from the cold wind outside, returned home.

Grandma had finished eating and taking a bath by then, and was sitting in her room knitting. She always had this restless personality, and even at home, her hands could never be idle.

However, Zhu Wenjun's eyes lit up at this, and she quickly ran over and squatted down in front of her, watching her grandmother's nimble hands while coaxing her:

"Grandma, Grandma, can you teach me how to make a glove?"

She initially wanted to choose a scarf, but considering that she had absolutely no prior experience in this area and didn't seem to have enough time, she opted for gloves instead.

"Huh? Why do you want to learn this?"

“I want to give this to Chen Junqian as a gift. Grandma, haven’t you met him before? He’s the boy I always play with.”

"Oh, giving it away? When?"

"tomorrow."

Hearing her granddaughter's answer, the grandmother reached out and tapped the girl on the forehead:

"Tomorrow? What do you think this is? You think you can finish it in one night? I never heard you say you wanted to learn when I was playing here before. Now you suddenly have this idea. What kind of nonsense is this?"

"Ugh... Is it too late?"

"If it were me, that would be more likely; you're just a nobody."

As if to convince Zhu Wenjun, she briefly taught her granddaughter how to start a needlework, and then she produced a whole row of crooked, twisted stitches that looked like drunken little ants.

"Look at you, you're not even qualified to wear gloves. You'd be better off knitting a ball of yarn and giving it to someone to play with their cat or dog."

Although her confidence was somewhat shaken, Zhu Wenyun realized after getting started that it was indeed a skill-based job. So even after being tapped on the forehead and given a lecture, she obediently squatted there and continued to watch her grandmother's technique, watching the bamboo needles and yarn fly like obedient little birds at her fingertips.

"Hey, I'll leave you a finger so you can fix it when you knit it crookedly again. That way, it'll count as you helping me knit it, okay?"

After thinking for a while, Grandma took the initiative to make another suggestion.

"Uh-huh."

Although in the following hours, Zhu Wenyun herself experienced a series of soul-searching questions: "Are you weaving a fishing net? The kind that fish can swim through?" "I could put a handful of rice here and a chicken could peck it better than you." "How could your little finger be woven longer than your middle finger?" "Dismissed, dismissed, let's start over." But in the end, she finally managed to finish the job.

Holding the gloves that were essentially made by her own hand on only one finger, Zhu Wenyun lay on the bed and slept soundly.

She dreamt that she led Chen Junqian, who was wearing those gloves, to her home. Clean bowls and chopsticks were laid out on the stove, firewood was burning under the stove, meat was stewing in a plump earthenware pot, rice was simmering, and white steamed buns were being cooked, steaming hot. Her grandmother was sitting outside in the sunshine listening to opera, and he was sitting at the table smiling at her, saying:

“It’s really warm.”

Yes, she felt warm too.

Chapter 47: I Want to Hold You in the Palm of My Hands (Part 2)

If it weren't for her father being pestered by the child that woman brought over and buying a whole case of U-Love-Me milk tea, Xu Youwei probably would never have been interested in this kind of milk tea.

At the turn of 2009 and 2010, before milk tea shops had even spread to small county towns like Guoning, children's impressions of milk tea were still limited to the types they saw on TV that they brewed themselves.

Among them, the most popular are U-Love-Me, which featured Jay Chou in its commercials and contributed famous lines or cheesy pick-up lines such as "You are my U-Love-Me, so I can hold you in my hands," and Xiangpiaopiao, which boasts "leading sales for six consecutive years, selling more than 300 million cups a year, enough to circle the earth if the cups were lined up."

Of course, for most elementary school students, these two drinks, which are priced as high as Magic Ice, are often out of reach. If someone in the class can afford to have a cup on their desk during winter, it will definitely attract the attention of the whole class immediately.

However, Xu Youwei's actions were not for the purpose of attracting any attention. She simply received her share from her father out of fairness. This was merely to show that he did not favor any of the children in this reconstituted family, and had nothing to do with anything else.

While the two finished inspecting the sanitation area and the other students were still doing morning exercises on the playground, Xu Youwei took out the two cups of milk tea she had brought from her schoolbag and opened them.

Milk tea powder, coconut jelly, and a straw that you need to pull out yourself.

After pouring hot water from the water dispenser at the end of the corridor, Xu Youwei walked directly to Chen Junqian's seat as if no one else was there, placed one of the cups on his desk, and then, as if suddenly remembering that it was Christmas Day, casually remarked:

"Merry Chrismas."

"Yes, Merry Christmas to you too."

Chen Junqian casually took out a handwritten Christmas card from his bag and handed it over, then glanced at the cup of U-Love-Me that the other person had placed on his desk:

"For me?"

"Hmm, but I don't know what flavor you like. One of these is taro flavor, and the other is strawberry flavor. I haven't tried either of them before. Which one do you want?"

"I'll have the taro flavor."

"It's freshly brewed, stir it yourself, and it's a bit hot."

"Okay, thank you."

Having accepted the other party's kindness, Chen Junqian stirred the contents of the cup a few times with the straw before carefully bringing his lips to it and slowly taking a small sip.

“It’s quite delicious.”

If you think about it carefully, this seems to be the first time in both his lives that a girl has given him milk tea. Although it's not the first official milk tea shop in their small county town, Subway or Typhoon Shelter, which will officially open a year later, it seems to be about the same price.

After all, U-Love-Me and Xiangpiaopiao are indeed very expensive. Four or five yuan can buy a cup of lemonade at Mixue Ice Cream in ten or more years.

Perhaps because there was no one else in the classroom, Xu Youwei showed no intention of returning to her own seat. Instead, she sat down in the seat in front of Lu Cheng, Chen Junqian, facing him as they drank milk tea together. It almost gave Chen Junqian the illusion that they were filming a U-Love-Me commercial.

After all, the other person was genuinely humming the background music from Jay Chou's U-Love-Me commercial, which was also Jay Chou's new song "Dandelion's Promise" released in 2007.

"The promise we made growing up together, so clear, I believed it from the pinky swear we made..."

As she hummed this line, Xu Youwei suddenly stopped, then looked up at Chen Junqian, as if she had remembered something, and asked him:

"Did you and Mumu ever make a pinky promise?"

"Hmm? Pull it over."

Chen Junqian was a little stunned at first and didn't react, but he quickly nodded and admitted it. After all, he and Lin Mu had indeed made a promise to each other a few months ago in the after-school care program, saying "pinky promise, never to change for a hundred years".

"That's it..."

I felt like she gave a somewhat meaningful look for a moment after hearing the answer, but Xu Youwei lowered her head again the next second and continued to focus on the strawberry-flavored U-Love-Me in her hand.

"After school today, I'd like to spend a little longer outside with you, is that okay?"