The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 05: Dreaming of Midsummer (1)

lilacblue11-14 minutes 23.01.2022

Zhou Yanqing liked Song Yu. This was a fact that several college roommates know. The dormitory boss, Peng Bingbing, even spent a lot of money to find a poster signed by Song Yu to give to Zhou Yanqing as a birthday present. But he didn’t have any crazy star chasing behavior; he just watched Song Yu's past movies and TV works repeatedly in the dormitory.

Therefore, Jiang Cheng was very puzzled about Zhou Yanqing applying for a job assistant in Song Yu's studio. He pressed Zhou Yanqing on the stool with a firm expression of ‘I won't let you go unless you make it clear’.

Zhou Yanqing smiled helplessly, this scene had also appeared in the previous life. At that time Zhou Yanqing saw Song Yu Studio's recruitment information on the Internet and was very excited, so he discussed the matter with Jiang Cheng. At that time, they were on the same page and would not joke about their future for an actor they liked.

But today was different from the past. Zhou Yanqing couldn't explain the reason why he wanted to do this with the truth, so he lied and cited his reasons for wanting to apply for the job. It was nothing more than that he wanted to stay on the set for a long time through Song Yu's relationship, to feel the atmosphere of the film and television drama to inspire the writing, and so on.

Jiang Cheng was eventually convinced. In the end, he was worried about Zhou Yanqing's future, but he also respected the other party's own choice.

After washing up, Zhou Yanqing found a small piece of bread to fill his hunger and hurried out of school.

He first went to the bank's ATM to withdraw money. Looking at the available balance of 4482.12 displayed on the screen, Zhou Yanqing sighed and took out 4,400 yuan before withdrawing the card.

After hesitating for a while, he took another card from his wallet and inserted it into the ATM. The total balance of this card excluding the interest was 75,000 yuan.

The money in this card was the donation that Zhou Yanqing received from a caring person since his sophomore year of high school. When he was in high school, he received a transfer of 10,000 yuan every year, and it became 25,000 when he entered college. These money were his tuition fees, which would be credited to his bank card one month before the start of the school year. It had been more than a month since the senior year started, but he had not received the tuition fees for this academic year.

After college, Zhou Yanqing started working part-time to earn money. He had a scholarship and applied for a student loan, so he no longer used the money in this card to pay tuition fees.

He checked the transaction of this card; after he went to college, there was only one withdrawal record aside from today. In the second semester of his sophomore year, he withdrew 20,000 yuan from this card. At that time, his grandfather was seriously ill and needed 20,000 yuan in emergency. The 20,000 yuan could not save his grandfather's life, and Zhou Yanqing also deposited the 20,000 yuan backusing his part time job pay.

For several years, the money was not his coffers, but his beliefs that supported his loneliness.

Gathering his thoughts, Zhou Yanqing withdrew 10,000 yuan. In his last life, the money remained untouched until he was hit by a car, but now he had to withdraw some for an emergency. He already had a plan in his mind; when he earned the money, he would deposit it as soon as possible.

After withdrawing the money, Zhou Yanqing immediately went to buy a relatively high-end smartphone. He could no longer use that second-hand phone that made people lose their temper. Then he went to the mall to buy a relatively moderately priced suit, and finally went to the hairdresser to get a haircut. Zhou Yanqing planned to buy a laptop with the remaining money, which he would use later.

It was noon after finishing all this. Zhou Yanqing took a look at himself through a huge window in the shopping mall and was satisfied with his image before walking out of the shopping mall.

Although it was already October, the summer in the south was not over yet. In order to maintain the freshness and pleasantness, Zhou Yanqing, in a rare luxury, chose to take a taxi.

Song Yu Studio’s office was located on the 23rd floor of the Twin Towers in the city center. Zhou Yanqing arrived half an hour earlier. He gently pushed open the glass door, and as soon as he entered, he was in the spacious reception hall, with a cool, air-conditioned breeze blowing in his face. The receptionist at the front desk, who was sitting with only a head sticking out, immediately stood up and bowed to greet him: "Hello, who are you looking for? Do you have an appointment?"

The voice was soft and pleasant. It was the young woman who called Zhou Yanqing in the morning to inform him to come for an interview.

Zhou Yanqing handed over a handwritten paper resume, saying that he was here for an interview.

The woman showed a surprised expression and introduced herself: "Hello, my name is Monica."

Monica arranged for Zhou Yanqing to sit down on the sofa in the lobby and told him to sit for a while before pouring him a glass of water.

Zhou Yanqing politely thanked her.

Monica went back to work. First, she notified her immediate boss that the applicant had arrived, and then opened QQ to contact her little sister.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah! Our company has a very refreshing and handsome little brother come for an interview, I wish that he can pass the interview!"

The little sister on the other end of QQ said indifferently that there must be a picture of the truth. Monica carefully raised her mobile phone behind the desk, only sticking out the camera, and quickly took a photo of Zhou Yanqing’s profile and sent it. Then, the two began to whisper together on QQ.

Zhou Yanqing didn't notice these movements, and sat upright with his back straight. After a while, he got a little bored. He picked up the fashion magazines on the table and flipped through them casually.

Until he was interrupted by the sound of far and near footsteps.

Zhou Yanqing turned his head and two tall and straight men walked towards him. The man walking in front of him had black hair and a delicate appearance. Although he was wearing the simplest white shirt and black trousers, there was a walking down a runaway atmosphere.

It was Song Yu.

Zhou Yanqing stared at Song Yu with wide eyes, until Song Yu passed him and a scented breeze blew up.

This fragrance was light and sultry. It took five years, no, it should be seven years, to bring Zhou Yanqing back to the midsummer surrounded by cicadas.

In early September, the sun was scorching hot, and the summer was in full swing.

One week after the start of school, it was a day of rest on Saturday, but Qingyang High School did not have a break on this day[1]. The entire school was gathered in the playground. They were holding an important event. There were several cameras and staff following the whole event, and the class teachers of each class were actively maintaining order.

1: basically there are weeks where they have school on Sat in China

Before the event started, the students were chattering and complaining about the hot weather and the hot sun in their crooked line as the cicadas’ chirping came and went one after another.

The line of Grade 2 Class 3 was near the hedgerow next to the playground. Zhou Yanqing was at the end of the line. While the class teacher was inspecting the front, he quickly bowed over the hedgerow and ran in the direction of the classroom.

The previous week, Zhou Yanqing made an appointment with the owner of the small restaurant on Guanghe Road to wash dishes for him on these two days of weekends this week, and he would get a salary of 150 yuan. As a result, on Friday, the teacher suddenly announced that there was going to be a large-scale event in the school, and everyone had to be present, especially Zhou Yanqing.

Zhou Yanqing thought it was some kind of commendation event, but only after he arrived did he learn from his classmates what was going on. It was a waste of his precious time, he might as well skip class and go to work.

With a ‘bang’, the back door of the classroom opened. Before Zhou Yanqing stepped in, he saw a person lying on his seat. He returned to the door and looked up at the sign. Grade 2 Class 3; it was indeed his own classroom. Could it be that someone skipped the event like him?

He tiptoed to his seat, bent down to take a look, and was suddenly stunned.

The man's face was buried in his arms. Although he could only see a little of his side face, Zhou Yanqing was sure that he didn't know him, and looking at the body shape, he definitely wasn't a high school student.

Zhou Yanqing was in a hurry to get his bag, but this person was sitting soundly asleep in his seat. He helplessly pouted and sat down at the front table and decided to wait for five minutes. If the person didn't wake up after five minutes, he would wake him up.

The summer wind poured in from the open window, and a light fragrance lingered into the tip of Zhou Yanqing's nose. Zhou Yanqing grabbed the collar of his T-shirt in doubt, took two breaths, almost retching because of the smell of sweat.

When he loosened his collar, he took another deep breath and finally realized that the scent seemed to come from the young man who was occupying his table in front of him. Probably because this scent could deceive people, probably wanting to confirm his guess, Zhou Yanqing couldn't help but lean closer to the head with smooth black hair and took a deep breath.

Before he could realize what kind of scent that smelled so good, with a ‘bang’ Zhou Yanqing suddenly covered his chin as he said ‘ouch’.

The man lying on the table woke up at a very coincidental time. He looked up and bumped into Zhou Yanqing's pointed chin.

"I'm sorry, did I bump into you?"

Zhou Yanqing had not yet attacked[2], but the other party had first opened his mouth to apologize. The clear voice had a little lazy nasal sound.

2: As in attacked with word, getting angry.

Zhou Yanqing covered his jaw in pain, with tears in his eyes. After all, he deserved it. After rubbing it, he made sure there was no dislocation before he was relieved. He wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes before looking at the man in front of him, and suddenly his breath choked.

It stood to reason that a man's definition of a person's beauty and ugliness should be aimed at the opposite sex, and rarely would a normal male say to another man that they were good looking. But when Zhou Yanqing faced the young men occupying his seat, there was only one word in his head——good-looking.

His eyes were dark and deep, his lips were slightly pursed, and he had an innocent expression of being disturbed in his sleep. He suddenly smiled and his eyebrows curved, like the bright waning moon in the night sky.

This would be the kind of thing that made you feel good, right?

The young man saw that Zhou Yanqing didn't speak and that his eyes were still a little red. He felt a little guilty and reached out to look at the other party's chin.

Zhou Yanqing woke up, squirmed and dodged a bit. He questioned: "Who are you? What are you doing in our class?”

The young man was stunned for a moment, then asked with a smile, "You are in this class?"

"Otherwise? The seat you're sitting in is even mine."

The young man raised his eyebrows: "Your name is Zhou Yanqing? It seems that your grade in science is not very good."

Zhou Yanqing suddenly remembered that the test papers of last semester's final exam were just handed out yesterday, and he said angrily: "You peeked at my test papers!"

The young man shrugged and explained innocently: "You just laid it on the table, or I put it in the drawer for you."

Zhou Yanqing lost his words. He curled his lips and said: "Then you get up, I have to pack. You can leave now while no one is around, later you will be found trespassing on campus, be careful of being caught by security guards."

The young man was amused but did not step aside. Instead he asked him, "Why don't you go to the field to participate in the event?"