Chapter 441: Hanging on the Wall by Name and Surname

Sun Yanzi's room was messy—messy in the literal, physical sense.

A kite was mounted in a brand-new picture frame and hung directly above the large bed; various animal plush toys were scattered haphazardly across the bed.

Fuzzy slippers lay one here and one there on the floor; one of them showed only half its length, covered by a sweater thrown on the ground.

The woman, having taken off her long socks, leaned against an upright pillow with her eyes closed, her teeth biting her lower lip; her slender neck stretched out from time to time, and as she raised her head, she let out a soft "hiss-hiss" moan—

"It hurts, it hurts a bit, Zhou Yi, go a little slower..."

"Just bear with it for now; it'll feel comfortable afterward."

"Hiss—ah~"

After the initial pain, as Zhou Yi's cotton swab, stained with medical iodine, rolled over and over again across Sun Yanzi's knee where the skin was clearly broken, the pain eventually gave way to an indescribable sense of relief that shot straight up from her tailbone and drilled into her brain.

"This is a sprain; broken skin isn't a problem, as long as the knee itself is fine."

Having been through this before, Zhou Yi tossed the cotton swab aside, tightened the cap on the diluted iodine bottle, rose from the edge of the bed, and instructed: "Don't use Honghua oil immediately; otherwise, it might swell up and hurt even more later."

"Oh."

Gently wiggling her toes twice, Sun Yanzi, who felt subjectively a bit better, pressed both hands against the bed edge, curiously bending her knees and moving her lower legs up and down: "So I've been using it wrong all along?"

"Not exactly; most people using it right away isn't a major issue, it just might intensify the pain."

Having tidied up briefly, Zhou Yi turned his head to glance at Sun Yanzi, who was still repeatedly stretching her legs back and forth as if she'd found some new toy, and teased: "Considering you kowtowed to me during the New Year, remember to come pay New Year's greetings to me again tomorrow; I might consider giving you a small red envelope."

"?"

Sun Yanzi looked up, blinked, and slowly typed out a question mark: "Who would want your red envelope? I fell accidentally; I fell, do you understand?"

"Then I don't care."

"You're going to die."

Sun Yanzi, who had forgotten the pain once the wound healed, lifted her leg to kick Zhou Yi, but the latter easily dodged. Moreover, her tender white ankle was instead grabbed firmly by Zhou Yi and pulled outward.

"Eh?? Eh eh eh!! I was wrong, I was wrong, let go, let go..." Sun Yanzi, transformed into a chameleon, watched helplessly as she was dragged a few centimeters outward, immediately opening her mouth to flatter and beg for mercy, yet her body continued to move uncontrollably toward the edge of the bed—

Until two-thirds of her body had been pulled off the bed, one foot planted on the floor, her waist suspended in midair; Sun Yanzi curled her arms and pressed them against the edge of the mattress. The expression on her face, somewhere between crying and laughing, made Zhou Yi proudly raise an eyebrow at her: "Know you were wrong?"

"Wishing you prosperity, wishing you prosperity, wishing you prosperity."

Forcing herself to squeeze out a brilliant smile, Sun Yanzi began playing the victim: "No more playing, no more playing; I want to sleep; it's too late; if I don't sleep now, I'll sleep all day tomorrow."

Chuckling softly, Zhou Yi released his right hand: "What a character. I'm leaving; go to sleep early."

"Mm."

With both feet on the ground, the woman finally regained a sense of stability; feeling the lingering warmth around her ankle, Sun Yanzi, watching the man turn and leave and close the door, dared only to mutter complaints at the tightly shut door, then casually grabbed a plush toy and rubbed it in her hand—

She didn't have the courage to lay a hand on Zhou Yi himself, but against a plush toy serving as Zhou Yi's substitute, she not only had courage, but plenty of it.

Though cursing under her breath, a brilliant smile that contradicted her words appeared on her face.

"Creak~"

The next second, the door was pushed open again...

"I came to get the iodine."

Zhou Yi reached out and grasped the iodine bottle, watching with interest the plush toy being ruthlessly tormented beneath the woman's hand: "What were you muttering about me behind my back?"

"Oh."

Guiltily, Sun Yanzi blinked, then, under Zhou Yi's playful gaze, cheekily raised a peace sign horizontally by her eye, stuck out her tongue in an attempt to bluff her way through: "I was praising how considerate you are, hehe."

"?"

"I'm going to sleep now; goodnight, Zhou Yi!"

Seeing that bluffing apparently wasn't working, Sun Yanzi whipped the quilt up at incredible speed, darted straight back into bed as if electrocuted, turned her back toward the doorway, curled herself into a ball, with not a trace of leg pain visible anywhere.

"..."

"In every street and alley, in everyone's mouth, the first words upon meeting are 'Happy New Year, Happy New Year'~

"Happy New Year to you, Happy New Year to you, Happy New Year to you~"

"Good luck comes~ and keeps coming~ Happy New Year, may you make a fortune~

"Guests arrive, hearts bloom, business thrives with joyful smiles~"

February 1, 2003, the first day of the Lunar New Year.

A lively New Year atmosphere filled the storefronts still open along the roadside; festival songs unique to the New Year continued blasting away.

The oldest song, "Happy New Year," dominated most of Jiangshan; next came "Prosperity and Fortune Chinese New Year" sung by the duo China Dolls; these two songs basically swept across the entire Chinese land.

The rest: in the capital and its surrounding areas, it was likely "Grand Opening" sung as a duet by Huo Feng and Tang Can; in Guangdong, Cantonese songs led by "Spring Flowers" held up half the sky.

In this era before "Wishing You Prosperity" and "Good Luck Comes" were born, Zhou Yi, who hadn't heard those two songs, always felt something was missing.

After all, these were things almost carved into one's DNA; even after more than twenty years, they were hard to quit.

After getting up early to wish his parents prosperity and shamelessly accepting the two red envelopes from his father and mother, Zhou Yi sat leisurely in the living room watching a replay of the Spring Festival Gala and casually asked: "Dad, when are you heading back to our hometown?"

"The third day; the fifth day is to welcome the God of Wealth; this must be attended."

Zhou Yaoguo, as head of the household, gave an unequivocal answer.

In his wife Zhao Ping's words, one must wholeheartedly welcome the God of Wealth to ensure their son's wealth rolls in abundantly throughout the new year.

"Fine then; after you return, pay extra attention to safety; don't listen to any rumors spreading from Guangdong about grabbing something that can cure strange diseases; just stay home honestly and don't wander around."

Regarding the matter of the two elders returning to their hometown after the New Year, Zhou Yi was one hundred percent in full agreement this year.

Thanks to the province's underdeveloped economy, many people left to work elsewhere after the New Year, and Shangrao's small-city location was even farther away; thus, when the SARS outbreak occurred in the future, Shangrao turned out to be a place so quiet it was far removed from the hustle and bustle.

Those who were supposed to go out to work had already left after the New Year; those who didn't leave had nowhere to go to come into contact with SARS patients, so naturally, it was safe.

"Hmm? Is that rumor true? Is there really a strange disease?"

Zhou Yaoguo immediately became alert.

As for Shangrao, since many people went out to work in places like Zhongshan and Xiaolan in Guangdong, news from Guangdong was always received relatively quickly.

"I already met Sun Yanzi when she was in Guangzhou before; you two just need to be careful..."

Zhou Yi briefly recounted the incidents Sun Yanzi encountered while promoting in Guangzhou, causing the elderly couple to nod repeatedly.

"There are too many people welcoming the God of Wealth; you can just prepare some things at home to welcome him. Treat special cases specially; the God of Wealth won't blame us."

"Yiyi, what about you? Aren't you still going to run around for promotions?"

"Don't worry, I have a handle on things."

Zhou Yi smiled and comforted his parents.

In fact, regarding the SARS situation, Guangdong had already experienced multiple cases, but they had not yet attracted much attention.

In February, there were friendly matches between the Chinese national football team and the Brazilian team, Luo Dayou's Guangzhou concert, and other events; none of them were cancelled.

Zhou Yi, who had a handle on things, also began to divide up his work schedule, after all, even with his incredible physique, he didn't dare to gamble on whether he would get infected.

Accompany his parents on the first and second days of the lunar new year; on the third day, arrange for someone to escort his parents home.

It can be said that for these three days after the Spring Festival without Qian Jiang's harassment, Zhou Yi lived very comfortably.

Every day, when there was nothing to do, he would tease Sun Yanzi, bully Xiao Yaxuan who hadn't returned to Taiwan yet, talk about life ideals with Cheng Hao, and occasionally take calls from the model Fan Xiaopang—

This king of the grind among grind kings basically didn't let herself rest at all; to not waste time, she was entering the set for "The Magnificent Concubine" on the sixth day to continue filming scenes left unfinished before the New Year, and after wrapping up, she would rush straight back to the Imperial Capital to record the song "That Couple Sitting at the Alley Entrance."

After finishing that, she would enter the set for the new movie "Left Walk, Right Walk," playing the female lead.

Under Chen Tai's operations, Fan Xiaopang successfully squeezed out all competitors, including Gigi Leung, by leveraging her own "effort," securing this Warner-invested art film role.

On the Hong Kong side, Cai Zuoyan called quite openly to wish a Happy New Year, didn't mention any messy demands, acting as if the chaos she and Zhou Yi caused in Hong Kong last year never happened, only occasionally hinting that she expected him to come support her new album.

Not to mention anything else, the tea flavor was definitely maxed out.

Unfortunately, such comfortable days lasted only three days—

On the fourth day of the lunar new year, while he was still sleeping in, he received a phone call he really didn't want to take.

"A-Yi, there's a business opportunity looking for you; I feel I don't have the right to refuse it for you."

"Didn't I say I don't want to take it?"

"It's from your alma mater, Peking University."

"I—"

"Taking it or not?"

On the other end of the phone, Qian Jiang used only three short sentences to leave Zhou Yi speechless.

Many people might have a misunderstanding about students from Tsinghua and Peking University, thinking they don't chase stars.

This is actually a mistaken perception.

Even college students who study very well are mostly just ordinary people; they also have their own hobbies.

Peking University is not some sacred place where entertainment circle stars are forbidden; the personal qualities of students are equally uneven.

In 2001, Zhou Xingchi went to Peking University to hold an event named a lecture, but was actually a fan meet-and-greet and movie promotion, where he even encountered several fans with a rather aggressive tone who seemed to have no manners.

And as a big star who graduated from Peking University, after Zhou Yi shone brilliantly for two and a half years, following this year's Spring Festival Gala, Peking University finally extended an invitation hand to the 22-year-old Zhou Yi, inviting him back to the school to hold an exchange meeting.

Zhou Yi, who had just joined the regular ranks of the Music Association and sung "Ode to the Young China," finally had a reason to break age boundaries, hanging his full name on the Honorary Alumni list.

Only 22 years old, a world-class superstar after two and a half years in the industry, appeared at the World Cup closing ceremony, selected for a Grammy nomination, and now became a regular member.

Of course, Zhou Yi felt that a report translated from Western media should not be missing from this—

"Miraculous Magic from the East, The Birth of Zhou Yi Day!"

The outstanding performance at the Spring Festival Gala, combined with the continuous fermentation of the single in the United States and even Europe, coupled with news of Westerners exclaiming it was incredible, directly exported and then sold back domestically, became the public opinion that sparked the first wave of the internet in early 2003...

"Ode to the Young China" went viral, completely and utterly viral!

Consequently, Zhou Yi's personal prestige shot up again!

(End of Chapter)