Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 158: Rich or poor, go home for the New Year (Part )
After returning from Luyuan, Zhang Chao slept at his home in Yanjing and then went to the company for a while.

Today is the last working day before the Spring Festival for Midnight Tide. Zhang Chao treated everyone to a hot pot meal at noon. In the afternoon, he bought a plane ticket to fly back to Fuhai to celebrate the Spring Festival.

During yesterday's conversation, Zhang Chao's attitude was still very clear. He was not interested in being a "bridge", nor was he interested in being the "you in me" or the "me in you".

How can it be so easy to be a cultural ambassador? How many people have been ruined and become cultural traitors by accident?

The past decade or so has been a period of easing relations between several major countries. They have visited each other, eaten, drank, lived and played, and then written some small articles to support each other. Against this backdrop, none of these have been a big deal.

But Zhang Chao had the memory of his rebirth, and he knew that when relations between major powers became tense, those who supported small articles would be put on the list.

Zhang Chao doesn’t lack this little money and exposure now anyway.

But Carlsen's move really disgusted Zhang Chao - of course, Zhang Chao couldn't blame him for this - he had to fight back.

Before Zhang Chao boarded the plane, he made a number of phone calls and sent a number of emails - all that was left was to wait for the results.

After getting off the plane, Zhang Chao took a taxi directly back to his home in Changfu County.

As soon as I entered the house, my mother asked me, "Are you and that female star named Song dating?"

Zhang Chao was confused and asked, "How did you figure that out?"

Zhang Chao and Song Jia did not deliberately hide their relationship, but they did not make it public either. Since they were rarely together and Zhang Chao was a writer and Song Jia was just a small star, there were no paparazzi tracking them.

So it is a situation where people in the circle basically know about it, but people outside the circle don’t understand it.

The attitude of the two is that if it is reported, they will admit it, and if it is not reported, it will be easier to just get along with it.

The mother said proudly, "At the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards ceremony two months ago, she walked the red carpet arm in arm with you, and when she and you went on stage to receive the awards, the look in your eyes was not right!"

Zhang Chao could only admire his mother's observation skills and nodded, "You guessed right."

The mother then changed her expression to one of worry and said, "She is so beautiful, and she is a female star..."

At this time, Zhang Chao's father sat on the sofa and said, "She is a female star, and my son is a great writer! Let me tell you, if a female star wants to date a great writer, she will pursue him.

Just like Li Ao from Taiwan, his first wife was the most beautiful woman in Taiwan at that time. Later, Li Ao even despised her..."

Zhang Chao said quickly: "Let's not talk about it in detail. We are getting along well now. Don't even talk about getting married. It's too early. I'm not even 22 years old yet!"

My mother grumbled, "What a shame this country is. You only need to be 18 to join the army, but you have to be 22 to get married."

My father sighed and said, "This shows that this woman is more difficult to deal with than the enemy..."

"Pah!" A rag was thrown at Zhang Chao's father - "You are the only one who talks too much! Go wipe the cabinet!"

In fact, the reason for the breakdown of the tragic marriage between Li Ao and Hu Yinmeng was not because Li Ao disliked Hu Yinmeng's hideous face when she was constipated as rumored by the outside world, but because Hu Yinmeng did not keep the promise between them and gave testimony against Li Ao when he was sued.

After staying at home for a day, Zhang Chao received a call from Chen Huan, asking him if he would attend the class reunion the next day. Zhang Chao thought about it and agreed since he had nothing else to do.

Then he received calls from Lan Ting and Song Shiyu, asking him if he was free to go shopping together in the evening. (It takes a lot of courage to write down these two names now...)
Zhang Chao also agreed.

After dinner, Zhang Chao saw that it was almost time, so he strolled to a familiar small park alone, and soon met two female classmates whom he hadn’t seen for a year.

Both of them look more mature than before; their eyebrows, makeup, and clothes are no longer as immature as they were in high school.

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "Lanting seems to be a little taller?"

Lan Ting said angrily, "Was I short before?"

Zhang Chao continued to joke, "Tall, very tall, you are the famous long legs in No. 3 Middle School."

Lanting pretended to hit him, but she raised her fist mid-air and then dropped it. All three of them laughed.

Song Shiyu said with emotion: "During the Chinese New Year last year, I already felt that you had already stood on a peak that others could not reach. I didn't expect that a year later, you would stand at an even higher place."

Lan Ting also sighed: "You are going to drive all the literary youth in the country to death. Last year I heard that someone in school wanted to target you, and now..."

Zhang Chao waved his hands and said, "Stop it, I'm not here to listen to your flattery. By the way, how was your year?"

Lan Ting said first: "Let me tell you, our literature club at Xiamen University is really fun..."

Amid Lan Ting's chattering and Song Shiyu's occasional interruptions, Zhang Chao, who had felt heavy for a long time, finally felt a little relaxed.

The feeling of youth seemed to return to him.

The next day, Zhang Chao helped clean the house. Climbing up and down, removing curtains, cleaning the ceiling, these jobs made his back ache, but they also brought back a little bit of the worldly life.

In the evening, he arrived at the door of the class reunion room on time. Before he pushed the door open, he heard his cell phone ding dong. He took it out and saw it was a text message from Chen Huan: "Don't come in when you arrive. Listen at the door."

Zhang Chao stopped and listened, only to hear Liu Xuyang, whom he hadn't seen for two years, shouting:
"I'm telling you, in the dormitory, Zhang Chao and I had to fight to get to the point of no return. If I hadn't asked the teacher for mercy, he would have..."

He couldn't help but sneer, pushed the door open, and said to Liu Xuyang, who was dancing with joy and spitting all over the place, "Tell me in detail, how did you plead for me in the beginning?"

Liu Xuyang's high-spirited face suddenly froze and he stood there at a loss.

At this moment, Chen Huan completely let out the laughter that he had been holding back for a long time, and his mischievous "Haha" sound echoed throughout the box.

In the next few days, Zhang Chao had New Year's Eve dinner with his parents, visited several relatives, and flew back to Yanjing quietly on the fifth day of the New Year.

It's not that he doesn't want to stay at home more, it's just that he has too many visitors since he became famous. Last year it was a big deal, this year it was even more exaggerated, some even brought their daughters to his house for blind dates, Zhang Chao was so scared that he ran away.

However, he was not without business when he returned to Yanjing. The arrangements he made a few years ago were now taking effect little by little, like a big net, quietly covering the heads of many people.

(End of this chapter)