Although Zhou Yanqing in his previous life only worked for two years, he moved back and forth four times due to various reasons. He has rich experience in finding and renting a house.
If it was in his previous life, he would rather travel a few more days to find a house by himself and sign the contract directly with the landlord, saving a lot of agency fees, but today he only has one morning to look at the house, so he can only find an agency.
Early in the morning, he rushed to the vicinity of the Twin Towers and found a formal intermediary company. His rental requirements are very simple, a single room with a private bathroom, as long as it is close to the Twin Towers.
The Twin Towers are located in the city center, so the rent is definitely not cheap. Zhou Yanqing also thought about renting farther away, but the nature of the work of an artist is special, and the working hours are not as fixed as nine to five. He doesn't have a car, so it will be very inconvenient if he needs to travel temporarily for work. Even if you have a car, you have to consider traffic jams and traffic restrictions. After thinking about it, Zhou Yanqing still thinks that it is better to live as close to the company as possible, and Monica said that Song Yu's residence is also in the downtown area.
The person who received Zhou Yanqing was a short, fat middle-aged man. Seeing that he was a student, he was a little impatient, and reluctantly led Zhou Yanqing to see two houses. They are all 20 to 30 years old residential quarters. The houses are old. The original layout of three bedrooms and one living room has been divided into seven or eight rooms, which are disorganized and have great potential safety hazards.
It's not that Zhou Yanqing didn't rent such a house when he just graduated. It's not that he can't live in a group rented house. What worries him is the rent. Because even this kind of dirty and messy group rents a house, the rent is very expensive. Not only does he pay three for one deposit, but he also has to pay an extra month's rent as an intermediary fee. Although Meng Shiping said that after the one-month probationary period, he will be paid according to the standard of a full-time employee, but it is a big expense for him at present. If he wants to rent, he will have to borrow money from the small treasury.
Seeing Zhou Yanqing's perplexed face, the intermediary said coldly, "This is the city center, where every inch of land is expensive. You see, no matter how many houses there are, it's useless. I'll tell you clearly, the price you can accept is in the market. You can only rent this kind of house in a place like the center. You really want a new community. I also have a good house with three bedrooms and one living room here. You can rent it by adding 1,500 yuan to the rent you just quoted. You fresh graduates College students just don’t know the heights of the sky and the earth, honestly rent a place that is a little bit off, get up early in the morning and catch the subway.”
Zhou Yanqing was not angry either, he had seen this kind of person a lot and was used to it. He looked at the time, hesitating whether to find another agency, or ask for leave in two days to find a house by himself.
It just so happened that there was a "buzzing" vibration sound from the backpack behind her back, Zhou Yanqing felt a chill in her heart, cut off the intermediary's chatter and said to answer the phone, and quickly walked to the corner.
Zhou Yanqing took out the old mobile phone that was so slow and annoying from the bag, and the word "Gao Lei" flashed on the screen.
When he changed his mobile phone a few days ago, he also changed his mobile phone number. The reason why he kept the old number and kept the old mobile phone with him at all times was to wait for this call. He did not expect to make him wait.
Zhou Yan cleared his throat lightly to relieve the tension. He suppressed his original voice and answered the phone in a low voice.
"Hi, hello."
"Hello, is this Mr. Zhou Ming? I'm Gao Lei, a staff member of Mr. Song Yu's studio."
Zhou Yan's eyelids twitched lightly, and it was Gao Lei's familiar voice. Even after two months, he recognized the first syllable when the phone receiver heard the first syllable through the communication signal.
Zhou Yan lightly pressed his thumping chest, moved his Adam's apple to suppress his trembling voice: "Yes, what's the matter?"
Gao Lei explained: "It's like this. Since your sophomore year in high school, Mr. Song Yu has made a student donation to you. You should remember. The student donation will be deposited into your account one week before your school starts every year. This money has always been It was transferred from his personal account. It was Mr. Song’s former assistant who was in charge of transferring money to you on a regular basis. He left the job some time ago, so the funding for this academic year has not reached your account on time. I am a new assistant , I have already arranged for the money to be credited into your account today, I just called you to explain the reason for the delay in the arrival of the funding, and I hope to get your understanding."
"Okay, I see. Thank you for calling to let me know." Zhou Yan listened to Gao Lei's explanation lightly, and replied politely.
"You're welcome. The main reason is that Mr. Song has a special status. We don't want to affect him in any way because of this matter."
Gao Lei politely explained a few more words on the phone, Zhou Yanqing responded from time to time, and Gao Lei hung up the phone after explaining the reason.
Zhou Yanqing pinched the old mobile phone in his hand lightly, a little absent-minded. In his previous life, shortly after the start of his senior year, he received the same call. It was also Gao Lei who called to explain the reason why the money did not arrive in time.
Gao Lei's wording, speech speed, and tone have not changed. The only thing that has changed is that Gao Lei's previous self-introduction was "I am Mr. Song Yu's work assistant", and now it has become "Mr. Song Yu's studio staff".
At this time in the previous life, Zhou Yanqing was busy looking for an internship unit, and was very busy every day. Moreover, after he went to college, he earned his tuition fees through part-time jobs, so he didn't realize that the money hadn't arrived at all at that time.
Until one day, a high school classmate who was also funded by Song Yu suddenly added him to WeChat to chat about this matter. The donation that Song Yu promised back then has not yet arrived.
Zhou Yanqing didn't care about the fact that the money didn't arrive in the account, and wanted to end the topic with a few perfunctory words. What he cared more about was whether Song Yu had encountered any difficulties.
The classmate was not reluctant, and forwarded to Zhou Yanqing the "fraudulent donation" news that a celebrity's donation had not been cashed in, insinuating that Song Yu might not want to continue funding. He expected to get the same indignant emotional feedback from Zhou Yanqing, and mobilized Zhou Yanqing to post the incident online.
Zhou Yan smiled coldly, a little speechless.
When getting it becomes a habit, it becomes a matter of course for others to give in good faith. The donation provided by Song Yu lasted for five years. Even though many of the students who were funded in the past few years had already taken off the label of "poverty", the donation promised at the beginning was still received on time, and now it is only because of the money Failure to arrive at the account on time before the start of school has attracted these malicious speculations and accusations.
Zhou Yanqing comforted his classmate on WeChat with a cold face, telling him to wait and see and ignore it. A few days later, the donation arrived. In addition to the donation, there was also an explanation call from Gao Lei, just like today.
In the previous life, because of this phone call, Zhou Yanqing had Gao Lei's mobile phone number.
Zhou Yanqing kept this number for two years, but he never contacted him. The 11 Arabic numerals connected him with Song Yu's inconspicuous one-way connection. It wasn't until ten days after Song Yu's death that Zhou Yan dialed Gao Lei's number lightly, and touched a little secret behind Song Yu's suicide.
With a "ding", the text message notification sounded.
Zhou Yanqing put away his memories and opened the text message interface of his mobile phone, which was the bank's arrival reminder. Song Yu was under 18 years old when he received the donation in high school, and he was also a student. According to the requirements, the donation should be transferred to the guardian's account. At that time, he filled in the account information of his grandfather, so Gao Lei would call him Zhou Ming just now.
Zhou Yanqing was a little thankful that he changed his mobile phone in time when he changed his mobile phone, and it happened that he had asked for leave this morning and was not in the company. Otherwise, if Gao Lei's call came to his mobile phone today, then he might not be able to hide the fact that he is the recipient of Song Yu's donation.
If it hadn't been two years later, Zhou Yanqing didn't think it was a problem that he was the recipient of the donation. But his deliberate approach had ulterior motives, so he didn't want Song Yu to know about it. Besides, Song Yu didn't recognize himself at all, one more thing is worse than one less thing.
"Is the house still available?"
Seeing that Zhou Yanqing had hung up the phone, the intermediary stood not far away and asked him impatiently.
"Sorry, just now the company called me and asked me to go back as soon as possible. You can give me a business card. Can I contact you when I am free?"
Zhou Yanqing had no intention of looking at the house at all. Since Gao Lei made this call, it means that he has joined the job today. Meng Shiping has arranged a job for him. Zhou Yanqing just wants to go back to the company as soon as possible.
When the intermediary heard Zhou Yanqing say this, his face turned livid, and he cursed angrily: "It's fucking unlucky, I wasted my time."
Zhou Yanqing took it calmly, if it was the Zhou Yanqing who hadn't graduated before rebirth, maybe he would really press the agency against the wall and beat him up.
It's not like he hasn't done this kind of thing before. In his previous life, when he just graduated, he was anxious to find a house to move out. In the end, he met a black intermediary who cheated him of two thousand yuan. He and Jiang Cheng blocked people in an alley and beat them up. , easily got the money back. But now Zhou Yanqing is pretending to be himself two years later, no longer acting impulsively, and starts to think twice before acting. Besides, he is no longer a reckless "stab" since the second year of high school.
Going downstairs from the dark and narrow corridor, the agent walked in front and was still complaining, Zhou Yanqing's ears were almost callused.
"Wait a minute." Zhou Yan paused lightly, and called out to the agent in a deep voice.
The intermediary turned around and saw Zhou Yanqing's gloomy expression. He felt a little flustered in his heart. His lips that had been constantly turning just now stopped immediately. He puffed out his chest and raised his voice, pretending to be calm: "What, what's wrong?"
The corner of Zhou Yan's mouth hooked lightly, his eyes fell on the agent's feet, and he said slowly, "You stepped on shit." After speaking, he bent his index finger to the tip of his nose and brushed past the agent.
A few seconds later, there was a gnashing of teeth from behind: "I'm fucking you!"
The corner of Zhou Yanqing's mouth curled up, evoking a mischievous smile, and his mood immediately improved. In fact, when he went upstairs, he saw the shit spread on the stairs. He wanted to remind the agent, but the other party walked in a hurry and didn't step on it, so he didn't make a sound. Just now when he went downstairs, he saw that the agent barely avoided him, so he called out to him, and as expected, he stepped on it.
This episode made Zhou Yanqing suddenly think of high school and Song Yu again.
In junior high school, because her father was in prison, Zhou Yanqing was ridiculed, isolated and bullied by her classmates. He once tried to ask the teacher to solve it, but the teacher obviously would not oppose most of the students in the class, and usually just criticized a few words to settle the matter.
In this depressive environment, Zhou Yanqing gradually learned to protect himself. When others scolded him, he would scold him back, and when others beat him, he would hit him back. Until high school, he had completely grown into a bastard in the eyes of his classmates and a thorn in the eyes of his teachers. Whether it's like today's secret poking and tricks to make the intermediary step on shit, or brazen fist fighting with people, he has done a lot.
Zhou Yanqing still remembered that in the empty classroom that day, Song Yu asked him: "You don't think you want to escape early because you feel ashamed because you have to stand on the stage to receive the sympathetic eyes of the teachers and students in the school."
He didn't deny or explain that day, but that wasn't the case. He doesn't feel inferior because of being poor, nor does he feel ashamed because of other people's sympathetic eyes. What he fears is precisely that other people don't sympathize with him, but hate him.
He didn't explain that it was selfishness, he couldn't explain the reason, at that moment he just simply didn't want Song Yu to know his humbleness, he would rather Song Yu sympathize with his poverty and laugh at his childishness.
But Song Yu didn't sympathize or sneer. Zhou Yanqing clearly remembered that day when Song Yu stroked his sweaty hair and said meaningfully: "Kids, study hard when you should study, work hard to change your destiny, win Respect from others and society is high self-esteem, don’t mistake a glassy heart for self-esteem.”
Song Yu comforted him and encouraged him.
Since childhood, no one has taught Zhou Yanqing how to behave. His parents don't care about him, and his grandfather has no time to care about him. Like a weed on the side of the road, he grew freely according to his instincts. When he was dry, no one watered him, and when he fell, no one helped him straighten up.
At this time Song Yu appeared, coaxing him to death with a few pieces of chocolate with a few pieces of life insights that he cobbled together.
Zhou Yanqing began to change since then, and Song Yu's words became his motto, maxim, and code of conduct. He learned how to grit his teeth and bear the anger of incompetence, he started to study hard, and he no longer mistaken his glassy heart for self-esteem.
The smiling young man with bright eyes is the North Star hanging in the sky, guiding him in the right direction at all times. Zhou Yanqing walked towards this star from City B to City S, from Qingyang Middle School to City S Film Academy, from the past life to the present life.
Walking down the last step, Zhou Yan let out a deep breath. He stretched out his hand and pushed open the old unit door, the sunlight blocked by the door let out, and the dark corridor suddenly brightened.
He raised his arm slightly and looked at his watch. It was 11 o'clock at noon. Zhou Yanqing didn't stay any longer, and walked into the sunshine of October. He was anxious to see Gao Lei from two years ago.