Chapter 18: The love letter saved her from a desperate situation.
Over the weekend, Zhou Yu spent her time reading in the library. With nothing new happening around her, she immersed herself in her own world and whiled away the time.
Occasionally, Zhou Yu would log onto Weibo to see what netizens thought of Chen Jingchi's three new songs, only to find that his comment section was already filled with fans, with words like "baby," "brother," and "husband" appearing frequently. Zhou Yu could hardly imagine what Chen Jingchi's expression would be if he saw fans calling him this.
It's also possible that he won't even look at it.
Clicking on the topic square revealed an even more exciting scene. Seeing the chaotic battle between passersby, trolls, haters, and fans, Zhou Yucai finally understood why there was such a thing as controlling comments. His discomfort subsided considerably, and he gradually began to understand.
Although Chen Jingchi was quite famous at school, he also had a lot of haters online. He was labeled as young and arrogant, and people who didn't know him well could easily draw such conclusions based on just a few videos and comments online. However, after actually getting to know him, Zhou Yu realized that he was not as unapproachable as netizens described.
Away from the camera, they are just ordinary people.
Chen Jingchi's debut album continues to be a hot topic, dominating the top of the charts on major music platforms for two days, and fans are sending out good news one after another.
Zhou Yu also received many private messages on Weibo. The doubts before the release of the new song disappeared, and in its place were collaboration invitations from various musicians and studios.
She clicked on the other party's profile picture and found that it wasn't an advertising scam, but a somewhat famous online singer who was very sincere and addressed her as "teacher" before asking about collaboration prices.
Zhou Yu dared not reply to them.
Zhou Yu's first foray into this industry was through a collaboration with Chen Jingchi, whose price far exceeded the market rate, leaving Zhou Yu unsure of his actual skill level or worth.
Ultimately, she is still a newcomer in the songwriting circle, with little experience. She writes entirely based on intuition. The three lyrics she wrote for Chen Jingchi can be said to be tailor-made for him. Zhou Yu is not sure if she can write works of the same quality when collaborating with others, and she doesn't know if she is cut out for this job.
If you don't want to let others down, it's best to prevent them from having any expectations from the start.
When I returned to the dorm on Sunday night, I heard a girl from my class singing Chen Jingchi's new song in the hallway. I saw her, smiled, and said, "Zhou Yu, could you write some simpler lyrics next time? This is too hard to remember!"
Aside from the unrhymed "Vulgar Monster," the lyrics of the other two songs are not easy to understand either, making it quite difficult to memorize them.
Although they had been classmates for almost two months, Zhou Yu and she weren't very close, and they hadn't exchanged more than a few words. She casually replied with "okay," but in her heart, she wondered if there would be a next time.
She had already written "Vulgar Monster" as her last song.
Student council affairs are busy, and An Kejia is almost always out on weekends, returning very late. Fan Xin is also out tonight attending a lecture in the auditorium, so she's alone in the dorm.
Just as Zhou Yu closed the door, his phone rang, and he saw that it was Chen Jingchi's profile picture.
Chen: Are you free tomorrow afternoon?
Chen: [Royalty sharing needs to be discussed with my agent in person]
Zhou Yu replied to his full schedule on Monday: "I have classes in the afternoon, but I'm free after class."
The other party replied "OK".
Zhou Yu pulled out a chair and sat down, then searched online for music royalties. She had never looked into this before and had no idea how much she would get from these three songs.
The available information is very limited, only approximate proportions are available, without specific figures, making it difficult to use as a reference. Chen Jingchi's digital debut album was released for free, and judging from the streaming popularity these past two days, Zhou Yu guessed that this must have been a very substantial source of income.
Exiting the browser and opening Weibo, Zhou intended to politely decline all collaboration inquiries at once. However, upon reaching the message page, the number of mentions and comments surged to over 99, and his private messages suddenly exploded.
She had cleared all unread messages in the afternoon, but within a few hours, the number of messages had increased even more dramatically, which was unusual.
Zhou Yu clicked on it with suspicion and found that all the messages came from the same Weibo post.
@CollectingACupOfMist: Does anyone know @ZhouYu, who wrote the lyrics for CJC's new song? I really love her lyrics.
The blogger is an ordinary person with only 8 followers. Logically speaking, a Weibo post with little content shouldn't have such a large number of views, but within three hours of posting, it received over 500 comments and reposts.
Top comment:
@WanderingWhiteRabbitPlanet: She's a freshman majoring in Chinese Literature at Jiangxi University of Media and Communications. She was selected by CJC from a word-writing contest. Her photo was circulated in the freshman group a while ago; she's a very low-key beauty.
The entire comment section is filled with requests for photos. The original poster replied: "I wouldn't dare. Someone from my school submitted her photo before and got warned by the police. Please don't message me."
Second most popular comment:
@月野氿桃: Wait a minute, is this Zhou Yu the famous Zhou Yu from Quanshan Affiliated High School?
Upon seeing the four characters "Quanshan Affiliated Middle School," Zhou Yu's heart skipped a beat, and a vague, uncontrollable sense of unease arose within him.
She thought that after so much time had passed, those things from back then would have gradually faded from people's memories, but things didn't go as planned.
Someone replied to this comment: 【What does this mean? Any juicy gossip? Let me know】
@月野氿桃: Many of the news articles from back then are gone. I only found one. You can see it yourselves.
[Web link][A daughter's award-winning essay that "betrayed" her father landed him in jail!]
Upon seeing the text in the link, Zhou Yu's mind went blank, and he lost the ability to think. His last bit of hope vanished.
Her worst fears came true.
Zhou Yu has been praised by many for his talent in writing.
The fairy tales I wrote in elementary school were displayed as excellent examples by my teacher in class; I developed beautiful handwriting from a young age, and the couplets I wrote were framed and hung in my study by my parents; and my answer sheet for the major exam in junior high school was posted on the school's wall of excellent essays by my teacher.
Of all her subjects, she liked Chinese the most. While other students were tormented by the words "memorize the whole text," she enjoyed it very much and even memorized the passages that she liked but were not required to memorize.
She has a special fondness for words.
Therefore, when her Chinese teacher asked her to participate in the provincial primary and secondary school students' essay competition, Zhou Yu signed up without any hesitation and full of confidence.
In Zhou Yu's previous essays and diaries, her mother was the most prominent protagonist. She was gentle and beautiful, and always dressed Zhou Yu up like a pampered little princess. In contrast, her father's presence was much less noticeable. He left early and returned late, and even on weekends he had all sorts of social engagements. In Zhou Yu's growing up process, he seemed to be a dispensable figure.
Having written extensively about maternal love, Zhou Yu has decided to focus this time on paternal love, which is rarely mentioned.
In this essay, Zhou Yu begins with her drunk father returning home, a typical example of starting with a negative and then building up to a positive tone. The first half describes the father's low level of involvement in his daughter's life, while the second half delves into seemingly insignificant details, revealing the unspoken love unique to fathers through their casual words and actions.
This essay, which was praised by the Chinese teacher for being well-written, won first prize in the essay competition as she wished, and was published on the official WeChat account.
But before she could be happy for long, on the same day the article was published on the public account, someone quickly noticed the author Zhou Yu's name and followed the clues to find that the father described in the article was Zhou Jinglong, a public official working in the government.
The essay mentioned that the father always came home late for social events and drank and ate with uncles he knew, which inevitably aroused suspicion of violating regulations on eating and drinking.
What started as a comment on a public account article asking whether it was compliant with regulations was quickly followed by an action by the account that plunged Zhou Yu and his daughter into a public opinion storm.
Perhaps fearing controversy, the official WeChat account deleted the article.
This, in turn, made more people feel that the public account was covering up the facts out of a guilty conscience, and Zhou Jinglong soon received an anonymous tip-off.
During her suspension from work and subsequent investigation, Zhou Yu was also suspended from teaching. At first, she didn't know what had happened until her mother picked her up and asked her about her essay. Only then did she realize that her award-winning essay praising fatherly love had actually pushed her father into a pit of fire.
At this moment, she firmly stood on her father's side. In her eyes, her hardworking and diligent father was definitely not a "bad person".
But the investigation revealed a completely different story. The father she respected and admired most was actually the corrupt official they had described.
The words "embezzlement of public funds," "2.2 million yuan," and "imprisonment" were like heavy blows, causing the life beliefs that she had just established at the young age of 13 to completely collapse.
"Is my dad Li Gang 2.0? Daughter's essay was so powerful that her own father fell from grace!"
"She's the ultimate anti-corruption expert! She's the best she can be!"
"The daughter's writing about her father's love as steadfast as a mountain turned into a whistleblower letter the moment she won an award!"
...
Her once most prized writing has become a sharp blade piercing her heart.
The day her father was taken away, the doorway of her house was crowded with reporters. Zhou Yu had never seen so many cameras before. The dark lenses seemed like eyes staring into people's hearts, exposing her to the public without any privacy. For the first time, she felt the fear of crowds.
The tug-of-war between her sense of morality and her family ties plunged her into a vortex of self-doubt and self-loathing. She couldn't forgive herself and couldn't wake up from the nightmare of that day.
For a long time after that, even after transferring schools and even though her classmates had no idea about her past, she always felt that the gazes others cast upon her were full of ridicule and sarcasm.
Her personality underwent a significant change. She closed herself off, refused to communicate with anyone, and avoided any acts of kindness. She trapped herself on a lonely, deserted island.
The day Zhou Jinglong's verdict was handed down, more than half a year had passed since the incident. The eight-year sentence was a huge mountain, pressing firmly on Zhou Yu's shoulders. She couldn't find meaning in life and couldn't see where the road ahead lay.
As dusk settled, she walked alone onto the bustling street, aimlessly watching the passersby.
In a corner that few people noticed, her gaze was drawn to a boy singing with a microphone in hand.
Only a handful of people were watching, but he sang with great passion and dedication, singing Mayday's "Stubborn".
You don't care about my past.
I saw my wings
You said it was burned by fire
Only then can the phoenix appear.
The direction against the wind is more suitable for flying.
I'm not afraid of thousands of people blocking me
I'm just afraid I'll surrender.
At that moment, Zhou Yu felt the power that the music conveyed.
So small, yet so deeply touching.
It gave her a chance to escape from a desperate situation.
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Author's Note: *Lyrics quoted from Mayday's "Stubborn"
Thank you reader "琪琪琪琪", +1 nutrient solution for watering! [pink heart][pink heart]
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