Chapter 8 I'm afraid of falling

Chen Jiashu learned golf in just one month back then.

"Before, social engagements were either spent smoking in nightclubs or fighting tooth and nail at the dinner table. Now we need to learn the ways of the rich."

As he spoke, Chen Jiashu gracefully twisted his body and swung his club, the clubhead striking the white ball. The white ball traced a beautiful arc on the ground, landing precisely in the center of the green, and then rolled into the hole.

Zhang Shuang clapped his hands, saying, "My two eyes aren't as accurate as your one eye." He deliberately squinted his left eye to measure the distance, "No, no, my eyes are playing tricks on me."

Zhang Shuang was always the only one who could casually tease him about his flaws. The two were so close that they were like the old saying, "They could share the same pants."

Chen Jiashu raised an eyebrow and smiled, walking up behind her and hugging her from behind. His hand, which was gripping the golf club, was gently enveloped in his embrace. His chin rested against her shoulder, and his deep, magnetic voice whispered in her ear: "Straighten your back, put your weight on the balls of your feet, rotate your shoulders 90 degrees on the backswing, and limit your hips to 45 degrees..."

Zhang Shuang chuckled beside him, "President Chen, do you even understand the concept of individualized instruction? You're just copying the coach's theories, and Qiao Qiao won't understand."

"Imagine you're holding a little bird; too tight and it will stifle its flight, too loose and it will lose control..." Chen Jiashu changed his approach. "Do you understand now?"

With a focused gaze, she swung her club and, with Chen Jiashu's assistance, hit a perfect birdie.

Her first golf shot was taught by Chen Jiashu, which sparked her interest in golf, and later golf became a daily activity in England.

Qin Qiao's ball skills are getting better and better. Two years ago, he even successfully interviewed two international business giants because of this hobby.

Consider it a way of thanking him.

Qin Qiao volunteered to come on as a substitute, replacing a refined and gentle manager.

As the sun began to set, tiny orange-yellow specks of light danced across the lush green lawn.

As golf progresses further and further, the course ahead was no longer visible to anyone. Chen Jiashu took the tablet computer from Tian Jiayue's hand, lowered his neck, and almost pressed his eyes against the screen, barely managing to make out the blue figure moving among more than a dozen people.

"Chairman Chen, you've hired a very professional foreign aid."

Seeing that his team was about to lose, Zhong Dong sighed and put down his tablet: "Shen Dong, you were right, this kid has turned the tide again. Hey, why does this girl look so familiar?"

Chen Jiashu's fingers tightened suddenly as he realized he had been careless. Qin Qiao was a news anchor with considerable public influence on the provincial TV station, and her presence here was quite sensitive.

What's meant to happen will happen. After the competition ended, Zhong Dong squinted at the female expert who got out of the car. As she walked through the small door, he let out a sigh of sudden realization.

Chen Jiashu sent Tian Jiayue to stop Qin Qiao, but it was too late.

"Isn't she the anchorwoman of 'Economic Frontier'?" Zhong Dong's voice boomed, and everyone present heard it, including Qin Qiao, who had just stepped in.

Qin Qiao had anticipated this situation, and calmly climbed the steps to stand in front of Zhong Dong, only one step lower than him.

She gracefully extended her hand:

"I have long admired Chairman Zhong's name, especially Jinke Air Conditioning. Last year, its market share in Europe increased by 12% against the trend. Our finance team even did a special feature on 'Made in China Going Global'."

Hearing this, Chairman Zhong chuckled a few times, leaned slightly forward, and shook her hand: "You flatter me. It's just that our old clients from Europe are giving me face." He paused, "This game..."

Qin Qiao smiled brightly and calmly: "This game is mainly to repay Chairman Chen's favor. Seven or eight years ago, I didn't even know how to hold a club. Chairman Chen taught me. He said that golf is like doing news: 'You have to learn how to finish before you can hit the ball with power.'"

Tian Jiayue returned to Chen Jiashu's side and saw that his upturned eyes were full of undisguised smiles mixed with a hint of pride, but then he seemed to realize something and immediately stopped smiling.

"Chairman Chen is very good at playing ball?" Chairman Zhong asked in surprise.

Qin Zhendong stepped forward and chimed in with a smile: "I played a few matches a few years ago, at a professional level."

Chen Jiashu's gaze fell squarely on her face. Qin Qiao withdrew her gaze and continued to sincerely flatter him: "Chairman Zhong, I've heard that you were a reserve member of the provincial team when you were young? Could you perhaps give me some pointers sometime?"

Zhong Dong was delighted, and Shen Dong next to him joined in the praise: "Anchor Qin, you've come to the right person. Zhong Dong's ball skills are top-notch. He almost made it into the national team back then."

The group burst into laughter.

Only Chen Jiashu gently pursed his lips, his fingertips rubbing the staff in circles. After a long while, he slowly let out a faint smile as if relieved.

In this situation, anything he said would cause misunderstanding and suspicion, but Qin Qiao cleverly resolved the situation.

she……

He has always been a master at breaking through difficult situations.

*

Qin Qiao limped out of the dressing room wearing the clothes she had changed back in.

I was surprised to see Chen Jiashu.

He stood a meter away, holding a white cane, a warm smile playing on his lips. I hadn't noticed before, but he had changed from his usual formal white shirt and black suit; today he was wearing a black long-sleeved polo shirt with a distinctive five-color logo on the chest. The more casual style made his features look a bit softer than usual.

Didn't he leave with those old Dongs?

Qin Qiao was now caught between a rock and a hard place, so she decided to grit her teeth and keep moving forward.

But as they brushed past each other, Chen Jiashu grabbed her arm and slowly slid it down to her wrist.

She was wearing short sleeves, and the man's warm palms felt like a furnace soothing her.

He lowered his eyes and asked, "What's wrong with your foot?"

As if realizing she had been discovered, Tian Jiayue suddenly turned around and quickly walked to the other side.

Qin Qiao understood perfectly, and said casually, "I twisted my ankle on the way back after the game, it's not serious."

Chen Jiashu let go of her hand and walked up to her, then shortened his cane and hung it on his wrist. Qin Qiao felt confused but also sensed that he was about to make a big move.

“I remember that year when I was still running the shop, you kicked the counter leg and split your toe. You were in so much pain that you couldn’t walk. That day you asked me to carry you, which I found unbelievable. I knew I couldn’t see clearly at night, and what if I dropped you? In fact, I really wanted to carry you, and I was afraid you would change your mind.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned around and squatted down in front of her, his left knee on the ground, his broad shoulders stretched into a straight line, and several bones in his spine protruded because of his posture.

He said in a light tone, "Come on up, I should be able to carry you."

The staff walking around the lobby are all from this upscale club. They have all undergone rigorous training, and while some people may glance at them, their eyes quickly move past.

Qin Qiao looked away, still not wanting to go up.

"Get up." She said in a commanding tone, but her voice was still a little soft and lacked confidence. "So many people are watching, I don't want to be trending on social media because of you tomorrow."

Although she is not a celebrity, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Chen Jiashu ignored her and waited quietly with his back hunched: "You're overthinking it. If it makes the trending topics tomorrow, it will definitely be about Chen Jiashu, the chairman of Qiaoshu Group, who is disabled but determined and always helps others."

Qin Qiao took a step forward, but then, thinking of the heartwarming family of three at the amusement park that day, she stepped back. Her gentle gaze fell lightly on the back of his neck, and she sighed softly and affectedly, "Never mind, I'm afraid of falling."

Her words were like a bucket of ice water poured over the man, and his entire body visibly stiffened.

Finally, Qin Qiao calmly added, "Chairman Chen, you should leave your back to those who trust you."

Leaving those words behind, she didn't care what he thought, and limped away without pausing.

Only after Qin Qiao's footsteps completely disappeared did Chen Jiashu slowly straighten his bent back, but he could not suppress the trembling of his muscles.

"Never mind, I'm afraid of falling."

The sound of "fear" and that sigh of no longer trusting were like an invisible blunt blade, piercing straight through Chen Jiashu, leaving a thorny gash inside, a bloody mess, utterly broken.

At that time, he asked her many times, "Are you afraid? Are you afraid of his health, his family, or that he will become a burden to her in the future?"

She told him countless times with unwavering conviction, "Don't be afraid."

These two words were not only his placebo, but also his spiritual nourishment for more than ten years.

now.

She was scared too.

Chen Jiashu stood up straight, looked around, and his eyes, hidden behind his dark eyelashes, were as empty as black holes.

The room was only a dozen degrees Celsius, but the chill ran through him from head to toe. He put down his white cane and walked toward the brightest spot.

He knew that was the door.

*

This morning, the twelve members of the 10 pm program "Entrepreneur" arrived at her office one after another. The photographer, Lao Liu, was the last to come in and stood in front of her desk.

"Old Liu..." Qin Qiao knew what he was going to say and said tactfully, "The station is under great pressure to generate revenue this year, and the station director has specifically asked us to cut the programs that are dragging down the overall performance."

The program was launched a year ago. Qin Qiao reviewed the proposal and found that the core concept was actually very solid: [Recording the real faces in China's business transformation]. Whether it was the topic framework, the shooting techniques, or the selection of characters, everything was precisely on the standard line of professional media.

The first episode achieved a viewership rating of 21%, far exceeding that of many other documentaries of the same type.

However, having tasted success in the first phase, the investment promotion department's phones were ringing off the hook even before the second phase started filming.

Companies lined up to offer money, not for naming rights, but for "screen time." A perfectly good program was ultimately reduced to an extended corporate promotional video.

A well-dressed entrepreneur was talking at length about "success principles," while a manufacturing boss, elegantly sipping his coffee, was not discussing production output or worker skills training, but rather the roasting process and extraction techniques for coffee beans.

Netizens commented:

"It's better to just watch the company's promotional video; at least the ads are shorter."

"They worked so hard on their performance, I almost cried."

......

During a meeting yesterday afternoon, Director Xu of the advertising department pointed to the graph on the screen: "The viewership rating has been below 0.3% for five consecutive months, and the title sponsor withdrew last month."

After the meeting, Qin Qiao and Director Feng chatted in the conference room.

Apart from the anchor, all twelve members of the program were contract workers. Once the program was canceled, the station wouldn't even offer them a job transfer.

After Lao Liu left, Qin Qiao picked up the A4 paper with red handprints on it. These people had elderly parents and young children to support, and they had no other choice but to ask for help one by one.

After thinking it over and over again, Qin Qiao picked up her phone and decided to call Gu Xu.

Gu Xu listened patiently to her finish speaking before asking, "You want to 'save' them? Tell me how you plan to save them?"

Qin Qiao walked to the window. The glass curtain walls of the tall buildings reflected the dazzling sunlight. She lowered her head and looked down at the bustling street.

Even from the twelfth floor, she could still see the renovated bus stop at a glance, where a group of people stood, anxiously waiting for the bus to arrive; she had once been one of them.

She made a decision: "Let's redo one episode as originally planned to test the waters, without any product placements or fancy empty shots, and just honestly film the most authentic 24 hours of entrepreneurs."

"The idea is good, but ordinary entrepreneurs no longer arouse the audience's interest. And old viewers have been disappointed by empty rhetoric and grandstanding, so who among the new viewers wants to watch CEOs in suits putting on a show?"

Gu Xu always manages to pinpoint the problem incisively.

Qin Qiao rubbed his hands together and said, "Recently, two emerging technology companies have received a lot of attention. New technologies have been a hot trend in the past two years, and I think they can attract the younger generation of viewers."

The phone rang with a "ding," like the bottom of a cup lightly tapping on the table: "Qin Qiao, what the audience wants is not the technology itself, but the human struggle behind the technology. The audience is already tired of these glamorous geek images."

A soft hissing sound came through the telephone line as Gu Xu slowly and deliberately swirled a porcelain coffee spoon in the coffee liquid.

"Besides, there are quite a few directors who share your ideas. I have at least ten interview clips like this on hand, which is not up to your standard..."

Qin Qiao was speechless for a moment.

“I think you know more about the entrepreneurs who are always making headlines than I do. Or you could keep looking for CEOs of emerging tech companies. There was one that was pretty good a while ago, and it should attract a lot of female fans when it airs. If you want, I can send you his contact information.”

Gu Xu chuckled, stopping her teasing and speaking seriously: "Artificial intelligence is the future, but assembly lines are what we have now. The other day, the search volume for 'wage arrears' was thirty times that of 'machine learning.' What do viewers want to see most?"

What do the audience want to see?

Qin Qiao refused to believe it and spent the whole afternoon searching for entrepreneurs who were trending or making headlines.

The scale cannot be small, it must have a certain reputation, and the company image and reputation must be good. Qin Qiao scribbled on the paper, and finally... she folded the paper and put it in the drawer, deciding to deal with it tomorrow.

A note from the author:

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