The Butterfly Effect

 Zhou Yanqing frowned, thinking of this activity, he was full of anger.

At the end of last semester, he won the first place in an essay competition held in the city. Not only did he add glory to the school, but he also got a thousand yuan prize money. The teacher said the award ceremony will be held this semester.

Zhou Yanqing slept in a daze during self-study last night. He only heard that before class ended, the head teacher said that there was an activity in the school today, and all of them had to be present. He pointed out Zhou Yanqing specifically. He thought it was the award ceremony of the composition competition.

Today, he went to school with great joy. After standing in the field for an hour, he learned from his classmates that a celebrity was participating in a talk show on the city TV station, and that the location part would be filmed at their school. Because this star once studied at Qingyang High School for a year in high school, he had a deep friendship with this school. 

The old principal attached great importance to this program and thought it was a wonderful opportunity to promote the good school spirit of this school, so he gave his full cooperation. No, the teachers and students of the whole school had been standing stupidly on the playground for nearly two hours.

The reason why Zhou Yanqing was there was because one of the most important parts of the program was to support the poor students. The big star intended to sponsor all tuition fees from high school to college for twenty poor students from Qingyang High School.

Zhou Yanqing was one of the 20 extremely poor students. His parents had a bad relationship. They divorced when he was young, and his mother went abroad and never came back. His father was an alcoholic and gambler. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for intentional assault two years ago and was now in prison. Zhou Yanqing was dependent on his grandfather, who was in poor health and incapable of working, and he was still a minor in high school. After the school knew his situation, his tuition fee was waived, but he still had to earn his own living expenses. He was a veritable poor student. 

"Cut it. It’s superficial, I'm not going!" Zhou Yanqing mumbled.

The young man laughed softly, "What superficial work?"

Zhou Yanqing has a belly full of grievances to vent, so he told the youth about the big star filming the show.

After he finished speaking, he expressed his own opinion: "One movie is worth millions, tens of millions. He is here to sprinkle a little rain and dew and give us some small favors just to get on the entertainment news headlines on TV. Turn around and he can make a lot of money. In the end, it is still for their own benefit and using us. I don't want this kind of food in contempt!"

After speaking, Zhou Yanqing realized that he had let his mouth slip. He looked down and flipped through his exercise book, praying that the other party would not pay attention to his words.

Contrary to his wishes, the young man gave an "oh" and asked with a raised eyebrow, "Are you one of the poor students?"

Zhou Yanqing gave a tsk with an annoyed expression because it touched the soft spot. He did not answer, and instead pushed the young man’s elbow: "Get out of the way, I have to pack."

The young man got up and changed his position. He continued, "Maybe the person really wants to help students with difficult families?"

"Maybe, but I don't care." Zhou Yanqing buried his head in sorting out his bag and said perfunctorily.

The young man tilted his head, glanced at the expression on Zhou Yanqing's face, and suddenly leaned in front of him and asked, "You're ashamed because you're going to stand on the stage later and receive the sympathetic gaze of the whole school. So you want to run away early, right?"

Zhou Yanqing's face sank as his hands stopped. He was indeed poor, and he did need help, but rather than accepting charity and those glances, he would rather go to a restaurant to help people wash dishes and exchange his labor for what he deserved.

Zhou Yanqing was at the age of the most serious chuunibyou disease. He was too self-conscious. He was arrogant, felt not understood, felt unfortunate, and useless self-esteem trumped everything. He blushed and glared at the young man viciously, shouting, "It's none of your business!"

The young man was not angry. Sighing, he reached out and rubbed a handful of Zhou Yanqing's sweat-sheen hair and said meaningfully. "Kid, study hard at the right time. Try to change your fate and win the respect of others and society. This is high self-esteem, do not mistake the glass heart as self-esteem oh."

Without a father or mother, Zhou Yanqing, who grew up savagely like a weed from a young age, was educated for the first time. He was not even a few years older than him.

Zhou Yanqing's hand holding the strap of bag was so tight that his knuckles turned white. This bag had been used and repaired for four years. The blue cotton thread was twisted and twisted on the bag like a centipede.

If any student looks at his school bag twice, he will howl a fierce ‘what are you looking at?’ 

The papery self-esteem was pierced, and Zhou Yanqing had nothing to hide. The ugly patches on the bag seemed to transform into a mouth that emitted a mocking sound. 

Zhou Yanqing did not explain, he stared at the corner of the desk in silence.

When the young man saw Zhou Yanqing's eyes were red with fury, he was a little confused. He thought the child's pretentious appearance was a little amusing, so he teased him a few times, but he didn't think he would make him cry.

He found two chocolates from his pocket and carefully handed them to Zhou Yanqing: "Are you angry? I apologize to you, okay?" 

Zhou Yanqing touched the corners of his eyes, stuffed his school bag into a drawer and muttered, "You're right." He grabbed a chocolate from the young man's hand, peeled off the outer layer of aluminum foil and stuffed it into his mouth. After chewing it twice, he spat it out.

It was only then that the young man remembered that this was a dark chocolate, the kind that was bitter that it made people cry. He was embarrassed and scratched his hair, saying, "Forget it, I will give you something sweet later." 

Zhou Yanqing stuck his tongue out, with a face that said, ‘I don't believe you’. 

At this moment, the sound of music came from the direction of the playground, the young man swept a glance at the wall clock above the blackboard and shouted "Oh no".

He patted Zhou Yanqing's head and said quickly, "Gege is going to be late, so I won't talk to you for now." After saying that, he dashed out of the classroom.

Zhou Yanqing was stunned for a moment before chasing after him and shouted towards his back, "You still haven't told me your name!"

The young man turned his head; the corners of his mouth curled, and he replied with a light smile, "You'll know who I am when you go to the field!" 

That smile was even brighter than the summer sun.

Zhou Yanqing stood at the door of the classroom, his heart pounding. He hesitated for a moment, then took a step towards the playground.

Soon, Zhou Yanqing knew who the young man was.

The poor students standing in a row on the podium were waiting for the big star to issue them a certificate of sponsorship. Zhou Yanqing was at the very end of the line. He was a little uncomfortable with all the attention he was getting, so he bowed his head and looked down. 

Until a pair of white sneakers appeared in his line of sight, he raised his head to meet the bright smile of the young man, who stretched out his right hand: "Hello, my name is Song Yu."

Zhou Yanqing looked at him blankly, somewhat at a loss for words. It was only when Song Yu gave him a wink that he came back to his senses and nervously took the other man's hand, feeling warm to the touch.

Song Yu patted his shoulder and added, "People walk alone most of the time, but occasionally they need the support of others."

Zhou Yanqing's Adam's apple twitched and he nodded his head gently.

When Song Yu was far away, Zhou Yanqing opened his palm,  and in his palm lay two chocolates. Song Yu gave it to him when they shook hands just now.

He peeled one and stuffed it in his mouth. This time it was sweet.

Later, Zhou Yanqing saw this episode on TV and got to know Song Yu.

Song Yu, 25 years old, a native of S city. After graduation last year, he starred in a TV series and became famous, but he was not a big star. He was filming the program for City B TV station to promote the new TV series filmed this year. 

In this episode, the program did not show the segment about supporting poor students. It only showed Song Yu visiting the campus of Qingyang High School, going back to the classroom where he used to sit and experiencing life in high school.

Only after watching the program did Zhou Yanqing understand why Song Yu was lying on his seat that day, because that was also the seat where Song Yu used to sit.

He was surprised by such a small overlap in his life.

Since then, over the years, the name Song Yu had never left Zhou Yanqing's life again. 

"Cough cough, looking at him so much?"[1]

1: Literally, it is ‘looking silly?’ Monica implies that he looks at Song Yu so much he turns silly.

Zhou Yanqing turned sideways, Monica had stood beside him at some point, and he said he was sorry.

Monica waved her hand: "Don't worry, I'm just kidding. After all, Monica waved her hand: "Don't worry, I'm just kidding. After all, Teacher Song is so handsome that my heart still flutters after being up close and personal for so long."

Zhou Yanqing was amused by her. Monica was very beautiful, with shoulder-length chestnut short hair and a small melon face. With her exaggerated expression, she was both playful and cute.

Monica’s eyes were dazzled by Zhou Yanqing's smile. She returned to her lovely and pleasant state with red ears and said, "Meng ge is here. I'll take you to the meeting room."

Zhou Yanqing sat in the conference room for a while, and soon a tall man pushed the door and walked in. It was the man who just walked behind Song Yu. 

He had the appearance of a middle-aged man, but he was tall and straight, with a gentle and noble temperament. Zhou Yanqing saw his profile on the Internet in his last life. This person was Song Yu's classmate and manager, Meng Shiping. The two had known each other for a long time and were said to be close as brothers.

Zhou Yanqing bent down and bowed: "Hello, my name is Zhou Yanqing, a student majoring in drama, film and television literature at S City Film Academy."

Meng Shiping waved his hand to let him sit down and introduced himself. After a few polite remarks, he officially asked. 

"You haven't graduated yet, you're just looking for an internship, right?"

"Yes."

"We don't recruit fresh graduates or interns. Work assistants can only be competent for this job after long-term running-in with artists. Frequent replacements are not good for artists. But you and Mr. Song are alumni, and I'm very interested in the two pieces of work you attached to your resume, so I'd like to talk to you in person. Your major and the position of artist work assistant don't match at all, so why did you submit your resume to us?"

Zhou Yanqing carried with him the memory of the latter two years. So he actually had a lot of interview experience and could easily handle it, but at this time he was just a college student who hadn't graduated yet. On the way here, he had been thinking about how to make himself look both youthful and not timid.

He thought for a moment before answering: "My job search direction is film and television scriptwriting. The reason why I applied for this position during the internship period is that I hope to use this job to go to the set to fully experience the atmosphere of film and television production. I personally believe that for a good screenwriter who wants to improve their own quality, it is necessary to go to the set to study and learn. If you hire me, I can do it without any salary."

Meng Shiping lowered his eyes and smiled, he saw Zhou Yanqing's sense of urgency to find a job.

He glanced at his resume again, and he couldn't pick out a single fault. He wrote handsomely and unrestrainedly. He continued to ask: "If you pass the interview, will you consider staying at our company for a long time after the internship period? The treatment here is the best among all other stars’ studios. You should know very well the weight of Mr. Song in the circle." 

Zhou Yanqing nodded: "I will seriously consider it. Of course, if the studio also signs screenwriters, I can immediately sign a three-year labor contract." 

He was not going to lie, he wouldn’t give up the path of being a screenwriter, he was just temporarily embarking on this path called ‘Song Yu’.

Meng Shiping raised his eyebrows and seemed very satisfied. He said, "To be honest, our studio is indeed considering slowly transforming into a media company, and perhaps signing screenwriters."

Next, Meng Shiping asked a few more questions, and Zhou Yanqing answered them all without missing a beat. The interview experience from previous life came in handy.

After the chat, Meng Shiping asked him to go back and wait for the notice.

Zhou Yanqing came out of the conference room and took a quick glance at the surroundings. Except for a cleaning aunt cleaning the lobby, there was no one there, let alone Song Yu.

He didn't dare to be too reckless and walked back to the front desk.

Monica was looking down to sort out her documents when Zhou Yanqing took some chocolates out of his pocket and handed them to her. Monica was flattered and thanked him before asking about Zhou Yanqing's interview. She said with a positive face, "You will definitely pass!"

Zhou Yanqing smiled and replied, “Borrow your blessing words"[2], and then walked out of the Twin Towers.

2: 借你吉言 : literally borrow your blessing words, If I were to find something that is equivalent to that in English, it is something like ‘Finger crossed I hope so.’