Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 17 "Youth Like You"

"Mr. Butterfly" Zhang Chao had no idea how many people in Shanghai, thousands of miles away, were "thinking" about him, and he didn't even sneeze.

At this moment, he was sitting in the "excellent student's seat" in the teacher's preparation room, writing a self-criticism.

After being caught sneaking into the computer room to surf the Internet, he took all the responsibility and said that he had made his own key. Although his homeroom teacher, Lao Wang and Zhang Ting, pleaded for him, and he performed well in an interview two days ago and wrote a good song like "Your Answer", which made the school famous, the nature of this behavior was too bad, and the school finally decided to give him a serious warning.

And the parents must be called over next Monday for joint home-school education.

But Zhang Chao didn't feel much at the moment. It was just a letter of apology, a serious warning, and asking parents to come... Well, this is really annoying. Ordinary students may take the punishment as a big deal, but after entering society, they will know that it actually has no impact.

The only thing that was annoying was asking the parents. After Zhang Chao was reborn, his parents were the most important thing to him. The reason why he tried so hard to go to a decent university was not only because he didn't want to deviate too far from his previous life trajectory, but also because he didn't want to make his parents sad.

He thought he had made a good start towards his goal of going to college. The results of the three articles were basically as expected.

After those first prize winners get the opportunity for special admission or admission with reduced scores, he will surface as the "real writing genius" behind "Midnight Tide", which will surely trigger enough media effects.

At that time, he can express his desire to go to a good university in a timely and subtle way, and with the help of public opinion, I believe that a university will extend an olive branch to him.

Because this decade is the cusp of the performance art of "recruiting talents regardless of their background" by all top universities. The author who wrote "The Death of Red Hare" in the college entrance examination a few years ago was admitted to Nanjing University as an exception, even though his score was far below the first-tier line.

A few years later, in 2009, another college entrance examination candidate wrote his composition in oracle bone script in the examination room, which also caused a sensation. In the end, although his total score was only over 400, he was admitted to Sichuan University as an exception.

Not to mention many young writers who became famous at a young age. Shanghai's Fudan University once flirted with Han Han and said it was willing to admit him as an "auditor", but was slapped in the face and humiliated by the unruly Han Han.

So when he saw Pang Yun's face in the Xinlang News, he not only forgave Pang Yun in his heart, he even wanted to pounce on him and kiss him.

Pang Yun and he were classmates, so this would be another hot topic that could be made into news.

In one afternoon, he had written a thick stack of self-criticisms, which were so sincere, heartfelt, and touching that if Lao Wang had not been prepared for his laziness, he might have been really moved.

But this attitude can't be called perfunctory. As soon as Lao Wang nodded, Zhang Chao was freed.

It was just after school. The sun sets early in winter, and before five o'clock, the golden-red sunlight filled the campus, stretching the students' shadows long and weaving into a poem on the playground.

The school radio was still playing "Your Answer". This song had gone viral among the students these past two days, and almost everyone could hum a few lines. It was also the most requested song on the radio station, so much so that Lan Ting had to stipulate that it could only be played twice at noon and three times in the evening. The number of places was limited, and each class took turns.

If they don't do this, the radio station might as well just play "Your Answer" on repeat.

Of course, it is impossible for Song Shiyu to play and sing live now. She went to the county TV station to record the song on Wednesday afternoon and took a copy back in the evening. This time, she still played and sang by herself, but she made a simple arrangement according to the needs of the TV station, adding maracas and hand bells to make the melody more layered.

The TV station's professional recording equipment also maximized Song Shiyu's outstanding singing voice, which is as bright and graceful as her appearance. She performed the whole song more vividly, more inspiring and encouraging.

Although it is not as deep and unrestrained as the one sung by the original singer A Rong that Zhang Chao heard in his "previous life", it has more of a youthful and vigorous spirit.

After dinner in the cafeteria, Zhang Chao went to the radio station again when the song request period was over, but he did not meet Lan Ting and Song Shiyu. Today, a male classmate was on duty. Zhang Chao did not bother to pay attention to him because he was not an acquaintance. He just greeted him, explained his purpose, and started writing.

The boy didn't care. He told Zhang Chao not to touch the player and equipment. He would come up to change the song ten minutes before evening study and then go to the playground to play football.

Zhang Chao has written three articles this week. Together with the previous three, they are all current affairs commentaries and essays. Although they reflect his writing style, their literary quality cannot be considered very strong.

If one wants to prove to the world that one has the talent worthy of special admission to a top university, then one must have literary works of a certain weight and that can attract some social attention, preferably novels.

Unfortunately, the time gap between his previous life and this life is too close, only twenty years, which is even a bit too narrow, and the range of works to choose from is really thin.

After much deliberation, Zhang Chao decided to write a youth campus novel. This type of novel not only fits his current life experience, but is also easier to grasp in terms of writing style.

The only concern is the subject matter. If it is the usual campus romance with a little pain and sadness, it is easy to write, but it will fall into homogeneity and it will be difficult to stand out. After all, many novels of this type have been published in recent years. Whether it is Korea's Keai Tao or China's Guo Xiaosi, they all follow this route.

Even Han Han, who is known for his rebelliousness, his debut novel "Sancongmen" is essentially a campus romance story of this type.

After carefully sorting out his experiences in past and present lives, Zhang Chao thought of a youth film he had watched that was released in 2019.

The film tells the story of Cheng Nian, an introverted senior high school student who only wanted to study hard and get into her ideal university, but was unexpectedly involved in the suicide of her classmate Hu Xiaodie. Because Cheng Nian showed sympathy for Hu Xiaodie, she was bullied by a group of girls led by top student Wei Lai, who was the culprit behind Hu Xiaodie's suicide.

After experiencing the most lonely and helpless days, Cheng Nian met the gangster Xiao Bei by chance, and then got to know each other, and then received Xiao Bei's protection. The two teenagers decided to stand up and fight against the hidden "gray world" on campus. In a conflict, Cheng Nian accidentally killed Wei Lai, but Xiao Bei decided to take the blame alone, letting Cheng Nian pursue the light while he calmly walked into the darkness. The fate of both of them fell into uncertainty...

Youth campus novels do not write about love but bullying, which is definitely a precedent in China. At the same time, it also has considerable social value, and may draw public attention to campus bullying 20 years in advance.

Zhang Chao, who had been a class teacher for many years, had dealt with many such incidents and was more aware of how vicious, insidious, and creative teenagers with distorted thoughts and moral values ​​could be in bullying the weak...

After making up his mind, Zhang Chao opened the typing software and typed the title of the novel:
"Young Like You"

(End of this chapter)