What Are Your Tastes? chapter 8
A Belly Full of Melons
The program Zhou Yanchuan was currently filming was a series of documentaries planned by the local TV station. The crew had selected five outstanding young entrepreneurs to focus on their entrepreneurial journeys.
On the day of Zhou Yanchuan’s interview, besides the driver, three other people from the TV station came: a director in charge of overall scheduling, a cameraman, and possibly an assistant or intern who helped out with odds and ends.
Zhou Yanchuan vaguely remembered the director; his surname was Wang, an old senior at the TV station, a year or two older than him, who had directed quite a few important promotional films. Although they hadn’t collaborated before, Wang was very enthusiastic. Upon seeing him, he addressed Zhou Yanchuan as “Mr. Zhou,” and Zhou Yanchuan politely called him “Director Wang.”
“Mr. Zhou, how about we do some interviews in the park area next?” After shooting scenes of Zhou Yanchuan in his office and conference rooms, Director Wang suggested.
Zhou Yanchuan didn’t know much about filming, so he naturally complied with his request. Together, they got into the TV station’s car and selected suitable locations within the park.
“How about in front of this lawn?” After getting off the car, Director Wang continued to chat with him, “Mr. Zhou, I think this area looks a bit empty. We could install a fountain or some sculptures.”
“You’re right,” Zhou Yanchuan smiled, “I’m actually looking for someone to do that. It should be ready in a while.”
“Great, such a nice park should be more lively—”
A loud “thud” came from behind them, something had fallen to the ground.
The young assistant hurriedly squatted down in a fluster, picking it up. Director Wang’s friendly face suddenly turned serious, walking over to him, “What’s wrong with you?”
“I’m sorry, it was an accident—”
“How many times is this now? Either you’re late or dropping things…”
Though they were a few steps away, Director Wang deliberately lowered his voice, the scolding intermittently reaching Zhou Yanchuan’s ears. The assistant was very young, probably just graduated from university, likely accustomed to being scolded, only bowing his head and apologizing non-stop.
“Director Wang, let it go,” Zhou Yanchuan couldn’t help but speak up, “He didn’t mean it… Can we proceed with the interview?”
Seeing him approach, Director Wang temporarily restrained his anger, saying “Pay attention in the future,” gesturing to Zhou Yanchuan, “Mr. Zhou, let’s move a bit forward, and I’ll brief you on the next topic…”
Director Wang walked ahead, discussing with the cameraman, adjusting their positions back and forth. Passing by Zhou Yanchuan, the young assistant whispered softly, “Thank you.”
Zhou Yanchuan was taken aback, “It’s nothing.”
“Mr. Zhou, let’s start from here,” Director Wang selected a spot, waving to him, “You can walk and talk, don’t need to look at the camera, just walk naturally, you can go slower, and stop in front of that round building at the end.”
After a few simple questions, Director Wang changed the topic: “Mr. Zhou, according to our understanding, you have made multiple donations to Wen County in the past two years, especially towards schools, and even funded the establishment of an experimental elementary school. What motivated you to invest in education?”
“Wen County is my hometown. With more children now, there’s a need for funds for teachers, school buildings, and so on. If I can help, I will. There’s nothing more to say.”
“It’s clear that you care deeply about your hometown,” Director Wang continued, “so I’d like to hear your thoughts on education. For instance, does studying and education play a decisive role in a person’s growth?”
“Aren’t we supposed to talk about the company? Why bring up these things?”
“Our program aims to shape the personal image of entrepreneurs, so we discuss relevant hot topics as well.”
Zhou Yanchuan felt uneasy. He wasn’t a fictional character, so why shape something about him?
“Because you have indeed made contributions in the field of education,” Wang added, “that’s why I raised this topic.”
“Education… it varies from person to person,” Zhou Yanchuan frowned, “I wasn’t very interested in studying. I was afraid of classes since I was young—”
“Um, Mr. Zhou,” Wang interrupted, rubbing his forehead, “that might not be appropriate.”
“Why not?”
“We’re in a knowledge-based society now, advocating lifelong learning. Reading is important, of course. Your achievements today are certainly inseparable from your continuous learning and acquisition of new knowledge and skills.”
“I learn what’s relevant to me—”
“That’s right!”
“But that’s only because it’s useful,” Zhou Yanchuan continued, “when needed, I learn. Some things are learned through practice, and being good at employing others to learn. If I really loved studying, I wouldn’t have failed to get into college.”
“Mr. Zhou,” Wang turned aside, gesturing to pause the recording, “didn’t you start working early due to family reasons?”
“Well,” Zhou Yanchuan nodded, “my family was poor, but I really couldn’t get into college.”
“In that case, Mr. Zhou, I think we can slightly embellish it. There’s no need to emphasize your academic situation; we can present it as your family couldn’t afford it, yet you still had the desire to continue your education—”
“That’s not true,” Zhou Yanchuan interrupted, “and my family wasn’t so poor that they couldn’t afford tuition. If I could have gotten into college, my mom would have made sure I did. It’s just that I wasn’t cut out for it.”
Wang furrowed his brows in contemplation for a moment, then looked up at Zhou Yanchuan and said, “Alright, Mr. Zhou, I’ll write you a draft. You can follow it to answer, which should save time.”
Zhou Yanchuan sighed. Why did every interview have to conceal the fact that he didn’t like reading? With his broader perspective now, he could make up stories himself, but he was too lazy to bother with such things, so he just nodded, “Fine, thank you.”
Two days later, Zhou Yanchuan spent another half morning going through the process according to Wang’s draft, finally completing this cumbersome task.
Back in the office, he found a message from Lu Yunchu in the morning, saying there were some issues with the raw materials, and the project might be delayed a few days from the agreed deadline.
As for Lu Yunchu, he didn’t receive a reply all morning. Suddenly, he glanced at his phone and saw Zhou Yanchuan’s chat box flashing, guiltily diverting his gaze from the computer screen for a few seconds.
Because he had been browsing gossip about Zhou Yanchuan, quite engrossed in it.
It wasn’t his fault. Originally, he wanted to check the local forum for suitable apartments for single occupancy, but the homepage was full of posts about Zhou Yanchuan. After all, forums were different from formal news media, mostly unverified and speculative tidbits.
Seeing discussions about someone he knew right in front of him naturally piqued his curiosity. When he clicked on it, he did so with that mindset.
Half a year ago, the old post had been bumped up again, with a headline that caught his eye: [Could the CEO of Hongchuan be gay? Why has he never married or been rumored to date women?]
Lu Yunchu rolled his eyes. He himself was gay, so his radar was quite sensitive; Zhou Yanchuan looked every bit the straight guy.
Most of the comments were mocking the original poster.
[Not marrying means he’s gay? Is marriage such a great thing?] [Exactly, I’m anti-marriage!]The OP retorted: [And you’ve ignored the phrase “never dated women”?]
The mockery in the comments continued, interspersed with a few equally puzzled ones.
[Let him be free.] [Why does he have to report his dating life to you?] [But seriously, it’s rare for Hongchuan’s boss to have no scandals.] [Exactly….. That chairman over at Chen’an even dated two young models.] [Could he really be gay?]…
By the second page, there was suddenly a different tone, with a very confident reply: [Stop talking nonsense. Mr. Zhou has dated before, just a long time ago, before Hongchuan even existed.]
Below it, several explosive comments followed, rows of [?] or requests for the user who seemed to know the inside story to continue spilling.
After this layer, another person who seemed knowledgeable about the situation commented: [Because he didn’t have money back then.]
The earlier source seemed to agree with this statement with a “Hmm,” apparently endorsing this view.
[Wow, so practical, huh?]The comments below continued to be lively.
[Poor couples are truly pitiful.] [Wouldn’t his ex regret it now?] [Don’t assume everyone is so materialistic; there might be hidden reasons.]Immediately, a commenter imagined a romantic male lead: [Could Mr. Zhou still be single because he can’t forget his first love?]
[That’s unclear.] [By the way, could the first letter of Hongchuan’s name be from that mysterious girlfriend?]If “Chuan” referred to himself, what about the preceding character? As this topic was thrown out, the gossip atmosphere continued to escalate. Finally, unable to tolerate it anymore, the previous informant posted a reply.
[Gossip should follow some basic rules, right? Hongchuan’s ‘hong’ sounds like Mr. Zhou’s mother’s name, right? It was mentioned in an interview before.] [Oh right, it seems there was something like that.] [Speechless, why do they always attribute the characteristics of a romantic hero from Qiong Yao’s novels to others? Zhou Yanchuan is not even a celebrity, is it fun to speculate about him?] [Who’s talking about male characters from Qiong Yao? Those male characters from Qiong Yao are notorious for playing both sides. When did Mr. Zhou ever…] [Like a pitiful and deeply affectionate second male lead, a perennial backup.] [Dang, let’s stop, the more we talk, the worse it gets.] [Why should a tall, rich, and handsome diamond bachelor be a backup? He can find someone better in the future.]There was not much content afterwards. Lu Yunchu scanned through these pages of debate with some surprise. Did Zhou Yanchuan really have a girlfriend before? If they really broke up due to financial reasons, it seemed a bit tragic.
With a belly full of melon, Lu Yunchu stretched lazily, suddenly remembering what he originally came for, and opened the webpage again, clicking into the lifestyle section.