Chapter 24: Heart and Mind

"Boss?" The assistant noticed Yuan Yi suddenly staring at his phone, looking lost in thought without any sign of displeasure. He quietly spoke, "This is an invitation from the film crew you invested in. They hope you can attend the movie release tomorrow."

The invitation was exquisitely designed, with gold lettering on the cover, but Yuan Yi wasn't interested in the entertainment industry. "I'm a businessman, not interested in art."

Businessmen focus on profit and aren't concerned with other people or things.

The assistant immediately understood his meaning and took back the invitation. Seeing that Yuan Yi was still staring at his phone, he silently left the room.

Yuan Yi didn't understand why Yan Xi suddenly sent him a "thank you" message. He thought about it for a while before asking if she had sent it by mistake. If it wasn't a mistake, then something was wrong with her mind.

Yan Xi didn't expect that her simple expression of gratitude would be misunderstood.

She leaned back in her chair, adjusted her posture, and dialed Yuan Yi's number.

After staring at the screen for five seconds, Yuan Yi answered the phone, "You still have time to make calls while working?"

"We're from a small TV station, the hosts have less work," Yan Xi was in a good mood today and didn't mind Yuan Yi's less-than-pleasant way of speaking, "This episode was a success, it got a lot of attention."

Hearing the excitement in Yan Xi's voice, Yuan Yi maintained his cold, aristocratic demeanor: "Hmm, which episode?"

"It's the one where you were interviewed, the one about firefighters. It had a great response," Yan Xi knew that someone like Yuan Yi probably rarely watched TV, let alone her small program, "At first, the station thought doing this episode was a thankless task, but after I interviewed senior executives from Changfeng, which included you, they finally agreed to my idea."

For someone like Yuan Yi, who could easily spend money to create a similar show with celebrities as guests, he didn't know that such small TV stations had so many rules.

"You already thanked me last time," Yuan Yi stood up from his chair and walked over to the window, looking at the view outside the building, feeling unexpectedly good, "Those firefighters are already remarkable, praising them is the least we can do. As for your program... I'll make time to watch it."

He occasionally glanced at it, but that didn't count as really watching, it was just a casual glance.

"If you don't watch, it's okay," Yan Xi laughed, "Anyway, the station says my show is a 'housewife killer' – only elderly people like it."

Yuan Yi: ...

"It's fine, I'll turn on the TV, that'll help boost your viewership."

"Thank you," Yan Xi joked, "If you have more TVs at home, you can turn on a few more."

Yuan Yi furrowed his brows in some discomfort. His family didn't watch TV, so aside from the one in the living room, there were no other TVs in the house. He paused for a moment before replying, "Okay."

Since the elderly liked the program, he could recommend it to other family members and friends. Helping Yan Xi boost her viewership wasn't a big deal.

He didn't have any special feelings for Yan Xi. It was just... he didn't want a good program to go unnoticed.

After the firefighter episode went viral online, other bloggers seized the opportunity to gain attention by reposting previous episodes of Things Around Us. That's when netizens discovered that the controversial "Xiao Song Song Abuse" incident had also been exposed by this show.

Netizen 1: "This program's content is truly heartfelt, and previous episodes are also great. Why did such a good show only become popular now?"

Netizen 2: "Because it's a local station's small program, it hasn't been aired nationwide, and no online platform bought the rights. Plus, it's not a celebrity show, so people only watched it out of curiosity. Once the hype dies down, who will care about it?"

Netizen 3: "Although the previous commenter has a point, I think the reason this program gained popularity online is because of its great content. It's full of positive energy, but doesn't feel preachy. The host is really skilled; if she were in direct sales, she'd definitely be at the top of the pyramid."

Netizen 4: "What kind of a comparison is that? Can't you think of a better analogy? Anyway, the female host is quite good. If someone with delicate emotions were tricked by her, they'd probably cry in no time."

Netizen 5: "I'm probably the only one who remembers that scene where the female host chased Xiao Song Song's father barefoot and hit him with her high heels..."

Netizen 6: "I remember that too. She was like a fragile little flower but had the style of a martial arts heroine. The host is quite cute."

As the host of the popular video, Yan Xi was praised by many netizens in various ways. She knew netizens were forgetful, and that as long as she continued working at the small TV station, they would soon forget about her and move on to the next trending topic. So, she took the short-lived fame lightly. However, the station had received praise from higher-ups because of this, and even she, as the host, had appeared in front of top leaders. Although she knew that in a few days, those leaders would forget her face, this experience was still enviable.

Originally, her fellow hosts at Nine TV had a good relationship with her, but their gaze towards her had now changed. Yan Xi knew that her success as a newcomer would likely cause some discomfort among the more senior hosts, so for the past few days, she had wisely kept her distance. Once the online heat died down, she brought fruit and snacks to share with everyone.

Food is always one of the best ways to build relationships. Yan Xi had a good personality and spoke tactfully, and with her background, while the others might have been a little jealous at first, the awkwardness faded after sharing food. However, the hosts from Nine TV no longer showed the same closeness towards Yan Xi.

"Xiao Yan," Director Jin came in with a notification, "Our afternoon news anchor, Xiao Chen, is pregnant. The station has decided to temporarily replace her. After discussing with several leaders, we plan to have you take over Xiao Chen's shift. Do you have any issues with that?"

The afternoon news was broadcast live, so even for a small TV station, they needed an experienced host. Yan Xi had just heard that Xiao Chen was pregnant last week. She had been eagerly anticipating the baby, and since she was over thirty-five, she requested to take time off to protect the pregnancy. When the news broke, Yan Xi thought the station would bring in an experienced host from another station, but she didn't expect this opportunity to fall on her.

"Thank you, Director. I'll cherish this opportunity and learn from Brother Zhang," Yan Xi replied. Zhang Hao was the male host of the afternoon news and had been paired with Xiao Chen for a long time.

Director Jin smiled, clearly satisfied. "I believe in your abilities."

While everyone kept a polite demeanor about Xiao Chen's leave of absence, they were privately displeased. Director Jin wasn't unreasonable, but Xiao Chen had acted on her own without consulting the station. He couldn't oppose her because of her age and the risk to her pregnancy, but if anything went wrong with the baby, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

However, Director Jin had his own reasons for giving this opportunity to Yan Xi. If she performed well this year, the afternoon news anchor position would be hers, and even if Xiao Chen returned, the position wouldn't be hers anymore.

The past few days, Zhang Hao had been hosting the afternoon news alone, so once Yan Xi agreed, Director Jin said, "Get ready, you'll be in the studio with Brother Zhang tomorrow."

Yan Xi: ...

Wasn't this a bit too fast? Didn't they want her to get familiar with the process first?

The station director had so much confidence in her that she didn't feel she deserved it.

When Yan Xi got home after work, she told Song Hai the news. Song Hai was so happy that he cooked a huge meal. After they finished eating, Song Hai called a few friends and, in a tone of "accidentally letting it slip," told them that his daughter had become a news anchor, the live broadcast kind.

Yan Xi leaned over the railing on the second floor, listening to her dad happily bragging about how great she was. She felt her cheeks warm up. Do all parents love to embellish their children's achievements?

Back in her room, she posted the pictures of the dinner she had taken to her Moments.

Yan Xi: "Dad heard that I'll be hosting 'Noon News' tomorrow, so he made a huge meal to celebrate. Love you, Dad. [Attached: 9 photos]"

Seeing this post, Yuan Yi clicked on all nine pictures. To be honest, the food was just ordinary home-cooked dishes, but from this message, he could tell how happy Yan Xi was.

He typed "Congratulations" and then slowly deleted it.

Since meeting Yan Xi, he felt like he was becoming a little strange.

Could this be the influence of being around her?

Opening his friend Zhang Wang's WeChat, he sent a message.

"Zhang Wang, I'll go to your hospital for an examination tomorrow."

Zhang Wang quickly replied: "What's wrong?"

Yuan Yi: "It seems like there's something wrong with my heart and brain. I need to check to be sure."

Zhang Wang: "Tell me what symptoms you're experiencing. I'll go with you tomorrow."

Yuan Yi: "My heart sometimes has difficulty breathing, my heartbeat speeds up, and there are feelings of soreness and numbness... as for my brain..."

Yuan Yi paused his fingers, realizing that this feeling was hard to describe in words. His body wasn't listening to his brain; was it his brain that had a problem, or his body, or was it both?