After eating breakfast, Jiang Cheng began to get himself ready; he changed into an affordable black suit before turning around a little and asked Zhou Yanqing: “How is it?”
Zhou Yanqing glanced at him up and down, gave a thumbs-up, and asked: “Dressed so formally, where are you going?”
Jiang Cheng was tying his tie in front of the mirror and replied: “Today I am going to a media company for a second interview. I told you yesterday.”
Zhou Yanqing immediately put down the soy milk in his hand and flipped open the desk calendar on the table. The events from the past two years were already completely blurry in his memory, but the brain is a very wonderful organ. The memo he had written on the calendar instantly brought back the memory of this day two years ago.
On this day, Jiang Cheng had gotten into this media company through an interview. Later, in this company, he met a female internet celebrity. Not only did his career make no progress, but he was also deceived by this woman out of his feelings and work savings. Half a year later, Jiang Cheng returned to his hometown in sorrow.
Zhou Yanqing rubbed that page of the calendar: “I remember now, is it that ‘Binrui’ media company?”
Jiang Cheng was tying his tie and gave a vague sound in response.
Seeing that he had been struggling with the tie for a long time and still hadn’t tied it, Zhou Yanqing stood up to help him tie it.
“Jiang Cheng, I have roughly learned about that media company. They mainly focus on creating short video internet celebrities, mostly some female streamers filming some hip-twisting dance moves[footnote]literal translation; refers to provocative dance content[/footnote], and then mass distributing them to various social platforms. No script or technical skills are needed, even just a single mobile phone can handle it. You have studied film and television photography and production for several years. Entering this company is a bit of wasting your talent.”
After finishing speaking, the tie was also tied. Zhou Yanqing patted Jiang Cheng’s chest.
Hearing Zhou Yanqing’s words, Jiang Cheng frowned slightly. Recently, he had interviewed at more than a dozen companies, and Binrui was one of the relatively more satisfying ones. Seeing that two of his roommates had successfully found internship placement and moved out, he had also been a bit anxious lately. He had originally planned that if today’s second interview went well, he would settle it. Just now, hearing Zhou Yanqing’s soft and gentle analysis made him feel as if a pail of cold water had been poured over his head, waking him up.
He relaxed his brows and reached out to flick Zhou Yanqing’s forehead: “What you said makes sense, it really is not quite suitable for me. But since I’ve already made the appointment, I’ll just go through the formality. By the way, when did you learn to tie a tie?”
Zhou Yanqing slightly raised his eyebrows. For a moment, he forgot himself and used a skill he had honed two years later. He vaguely answered that he learned it online.
Jiang Cheng smiled, picked up his backpack, and went out the door.
With only himself left in the dorm, Zhou Yanqing finally had time to carefully sort out his own matters. He still didn’t dare to be sure whether going back two years could change the things that had happened in the previous life, so he didn’t dare to act rashly. Advising Jiang Cheng not to take the job at Binrui was both out of genuine heartache for Jiang Cheng’s situation and also a selfish probe.
But whether it could be changed or not, Zhou Yanqing had already decided—he must at least try. He took a very thick notebook from the desk. This notebook usually recorded some of his creative inspirations as well as some reading notes.
Zhou Yanqing turned to the last page of the notebook and began to record, in every detail, all the information related to Song Yu from the previous life.
After writing a full three pages, Zhou Yanqing rubbed his stiff shoulders and turned on his laptop.
This laptop was a second-hand one he had bought from a senior student with the money he earned from part-time jobs during his freshman year. It was already an old laptop to begin with, and after using it for several years, it was extremely slow. Just starting it up took more than a minute.
Zhou Yanqing opened the browser and let it load slowly. He picked up the phone on the table and pressed it; it was also second-hand, lagging as if it had rusted.
At this time, the web page on the computer popped up. Zhou Yanqing opened the bookmarks, and inside was a familiar URL. This was the job posting from Song Yu’s studio’s Weibo account, one he had clicked on countless times in his previous life.
In the previous life, Zhou Yanqing had the opportunity to get close to Song Yu. At that time, which was also now, he was looking for an internship placement and happened to see a public recruitment post on Weibo from Song Yu’s studio for the position of personal assistant to Song Yu.
So, Zhou Yanqing bookmarked that Weibo post.
The assistant position had nothing to do with his major. Back then, for the sake of the future development of his screenwriting career, he only felt a moment of interest and did not send out his resume.
In those muddled days after Song Yu’s death was confirmed, Zhou Yanqing would always think of this matter and kept brooding about it. If back then he had sent his resume, and was lucky enough to pass the interview and become Song Yu’s assistant, then perhaps he could have discovered Song Yu’s abnormal state in time and prevented his suicide.
Pulling himself out of the memories, this time Zhou Yanqing decisively copied the email address from the recruitment information and sent his resume; taking the first step.
After submitting his resume, Zhou Yanqing rubbed the swelling on his head. The pain made him hiss, but the expression on his face was pure joy.
Just thinking that Song Yu was now safe and sound on some film set somewhere, that the self who had once been shattered in an accident was now sitting perfectly fine in a college dorm room, that he’d somehow been given two more years out of nowhere—he couldn’t keep the corners of his mouth from curling upward. His shoulders trembled as he broke into a foolish grin.
That afternoon, Jiang Cheng pushed open the dorm door with a beaming smile.
Zhou Yanqing’s heart skipped a beat, though his face stayed calm. “How’d it go? You got in?”
Jiang Cheng laughed heartily. He first pulled a few cans of beer from his bag and set them on the small table before replying, “I passed Binrui second-round interview, but I told them I want to think about it. And guess what? On my way back, I got a call from ‘Haipai Film and Television Production Company’, the company I sent my resume to ages ago and never heard back from. They suddenly want me to go to an interview tomorrow!”
It took Zhou Yanqing a moment to process the words before his joy caught up. ‘Haipai Film and Television Production Company’ was one of the top ten film production companies in the country. For students majoring in film and television production, it was the kind of place they’d be willing to work at even if they had to pay for the opportunity. If Jiang Cheng was accepted for this internship, the possibility of him staying at Haipai in the future would be very high, and his career afterwards would be absolutely predictable and bright.
Zhou Yanqing was genuinely happy for Jiang Cheng, and also leapt for joy that he could change the ending two years later. He wrapped his arms around Jiang Cheng’s neck with his eyes reddened
Although Jiang Cheng, who had embarked on another avenue of life, might encounter other trials and tribulations in the future, Zhou Yanqing was sincerely happy and heaved a sigh of relief at the thought that Jiang Cheng would never again encounter that scum who cheated and deceived people.
Jiang Cheng was half a head taller than Zhou Yanqing, he helplessly bent his legs to match with each other. His always cheerful roommate suddenly became emotional. He guessed that he might have been frightened by the fall in the bathroom yesterday, so he reached out and patted the other side of his back to soothe Zhou Yanqing.
Only then did Zhou Yanqing sheepishly let go, because the memories of his past life inevitably made him a little sentimental. He secretly admonished himself to try to change back to his college self in the future, so Jiang Cheng wouldn’t notice anything off.
Jiang Cheng, being easygoing, didn’t overthink it. He patted the beer on the table and said, “Although I may not necessarily pass the interview, we can still celebrate. I ordered a barbecue takeaway. Let’s drink two bottles later.”
Zhou Yanqing readily agreed, opened a bottle of beer and held it in front of him, saying firmly: “You’ll definitely pass the interview!”
That night, the two of them got drunk on beer and barbecue. Zhou Yanqing was never good at drinking to begin with; three cans of beer and he was dizzy. He did not remember how he took a shower and lay down on the bed, but only remembered that he lay in bed and giggling for a long time.
The next day, Zhou Yanqing was awakened by an annoying cell phone vibrating in his ear. He lifted the phone with a dizzy head. It was an unfamiliar number. He cleared his dry throat before speaking.
“Hello,[footnote]喂 (wei) – basically informal telephone greeting[/footnote] hello.”[footnote]您好 (nin hao) – the formal one[/footnote]
“Hello, is this Mr. Zhou Yanqing? I’m a staff member of Song Yu Studio. We received your resume yesterday…”
There was a gentle and soft female voice on the phone. The moment Zhou Yanqing heard the words ‘Song Yu Studio’, Zhou Yanqing sat up straight, the sleepiness was all gone.
The female voice on the phone continued to speak. Zhou Yanqing pressed his clamoring chest and replied calmly from time to time. The other party’s meaning was very clear; they were very satisfied with the resume submitted by Zhou Yanqing and hoped that he could go to their company for an interview in the afternoon.
Zhou Yanqing looked at the time, it was only ten in the morning, so he made an appointment with the other party for three in the evening.
Even after hanging up, the whole thing felt surreal. He had been preparing his resume to sink into the sea. Just yesterday, he had bookmarked several job posts from film bases and planned to apply broadly today. In short, he was looking for an internship placement with the goal of being able to get close to Song Yu, but he didn’t expect to receive an interview invitation so smoothly.
Jiang Cheng was also woken up at this time, and with his sleepy eyes, he asked, “What’s the matter?”
Zhou Yanqing couldn’t hide the smile at the corner of his mouth and replied, “I’m going to Song Yu Studio for an interview this afternoon.”
“Song Yu Studio? Song Yu Studio!”
Song Yu two years ago had not yet become a movie emperor, but the works he starred in were all well-received and very popular, and he was already a super first-line actor.
Jiang Cheng was a little excited before he sobered up in an instant and asked confusedly: “Song Yu Studio signs a screenwriter? It can’t be, I haven’t heard that he has the intention to invest in film and television dramas.”
Zhou Yanqing answered while folding the quilt, “I’m applying for the position of personal assistant.”
“What? Yanqing, you can’t be confused just because you chase stars. Don’t you want to be a screenwriter with all your heart?” Jiang Cheng shouted, jumping out of bed in disbelief.
