Chapter 59   Extra One

***

Yu Dong came to the TV station an hour earlier than usual. She wanted to meet her two guests before she formally interviewed them on the show.

Both of her guests were quite special: One was a young talent in robotic design who achieved unprecedented success in the field, while the other was an entrepreneur who happily participated in numerous charities.

“Director, have the guests arrived?” Yu Dong asked when she came across the show’s director.

“One called and said they were stuck in traffic, but fortunately they left an hour earlier than usual so I don’t think he’ll be late.” The director was fond of guests who did their best to arrive on time.

“I’d still like to meet him before the show if possible,” Yu Dong was at a loss/

“Dong Dong ah, you don’t have to be so nervous because he’s actually your fan.” The director consoled, “Mr. Liao loves to donate to charity, but I’ve noticed something: Whenever you appeal for a charity in the show, he’s always the first one to donate. Especially your latest appeal, you said there wasn’t a school in that small mountain village north of Yunnan. You mentioned that without a school, the children had to walk two hours to go to school. The very next day, the manager of a certain company was sent to Yunnan to look for a construction company to build a school in the village. Later the money didn’t stop flowing, and they could even buy schoolbooks for everyone.

“That’s why I’d like to meet him in advance.” Yu Dong had always been curious about this Mr. Liao.

“Well, we can’t guarantee he’ll be here.” The director shrugged his shoulders. Traffic hams are only getting worse these days.

“What about the other guest?” Yu Dong asked.

“Speaking of him, the producers were all shocked. That person is notorious for not accepting any interviews, even news show interviews were rejected, always citing that he was too lazy to go. Everyone is still wondering why he accepted to come to our small program.” The director was flushed in excitement.

“We’re considered a small program?” Yu Dong had been aware that ever since she started hosting, although they were only an interview show, the ratings had been quite good.

“What are we compared to news shows?” The director laughed.

“Fine, I was just going to ask when this bigshot is going to arrive because I’ve heard that this person is usually difficult to talk to. I wanted to get a feel of him beforehand and ask which questions I can ask and which ones I can’t.” Yu Dong said.

“Oh…he seems to be stuck in traffic too.” Once again, the director shrugged.

“…” Do they live in the same small neighborhood? Or is there a collective traffic jam in all the roads today? Forget it, she’ll just have to do the show and see.

An hour later, Yu Dong was getting ready in her powder room. But before she headed out, Yu Dong gave a few instructions to her assistant: “When I start my interview on the first guest, go backstage and ask the second guests if there are any questions I’m not allowed to ask.”

Her assistant was a young girl who had graduated only two years ago. After listening to Yu Dong, she suddenly blushed.

Seeing this from the corner of her eyes, she smirked: “Looks like this second guest is quite handsome?”

“Un!” The young girl nodded several times.

“Then why don’t you take this chance I’ve given you to have a chat?” Yu Dong raised an eyebrow.

“Thank you for your great virtue and kindness!” The young girl comically cupped her hands and bowed before running off.

Yu Dong was speechless at the girl’s silly actions, then smiled as she followed the staff instructions and went to the stage. After a round of warm applause, Yu Dong began to introduce today’s special guests.

“Our first guest today was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange last year. Mr. Liao Jiahui, President of Yulin Group.” Yu Dong introduced, “Mr. Liao Jiahui is not only an amazing entrepreneur but also a great philanthropist. In the past three years, Mr. Liao Jiahui has donated no less than 30 million yuan to many different charities. Please welcome Mr. Liao Jiahui.”

A tanned middle-aged man in a suit walked up the stage amongst the thundering applause.

Mr. Liao greeted the audience and shook hands with the host before sitting on the sofa.

Yu Dong could tell the man was nervous and was somewhat surprised by this. After all, he was the president of a million dollar company, what hasn’t he encountered in life? Why would he be nervous about a small TV interview?

“Mr. Liao, we all know that you started your company from the ground up. In just five years, you turned your small farmer’s workshop in your hometown to a large successful company. Did you ever imagine this future when you first started your workshop?”

“Oh…I never thought about what would happen in the future. I just wanted to start my life over.” Mr. Liao laughed, nostalgia evident in his tone.

“Oh? Is there a story behind your start?” Yu Dong blinked.

“Host, in fact, we’ve actually met before.” Mr. Liao suddenly said, “In fact, you can be considered the source of all my success.”

“Eh?” Yu Dong was stunned, then scrutinized his face for a long time. But in the end, she couldn’t remember where she could have met this Mr. Liao so she could only say: “Sorry, but I…”

“I’m guessing you don’t remember.” Mr. Liao wasn’t angry, instead laughing happily.

Yu Dong could only follow suit.

Mr. Liao took out a white envelope from the inner pocket of his jacket, and looking at it solemnly, looked at Yu Dong: “Here, maybe you’ll remember this.”

Yu Dong took the envelope, and when she saw the familiar handwriting, her eyes opened wide. She couldn’t help but stand up, stuttering: “This…you…you are….”

“I’ve always wanted to thank you in person.” Mr. Liao stood up, and in front of the camera and all the staff, bowed to her deeply.

“Thank you for the gift you gave me in 2008.”

After a short spell of incredulity, Yu Dong rushed to help him up, her eyes bright: “You…you don’t have to…”

Liao Jia: “You may not know just how I’ve gone from a dangerous Mr. Strong to today’s Liao Jiahui, with this envelope supporting me the whole way.”

Liao Jiahui then turned around and told his story to the camera and the shocked audience, about what happened on Yu Dong’s radio show.

“At that time, I had no reason to live. You could even say that I was a man full of hatred. It was this envelope with a ticket to a gala that saved me, that gave me the courage to live and fight again. When I succeeded…I only thought about repaying my benefactor.” Mr. Liao looked back to Yu Dong.

“So I thought to help other people, people like me. I sponsored out-of-school children, set up legal aid centers for migrant workers…I thought that you would appreciate this kind of gift more than anything else.”

Yu Dong suddenly felt like crying.

Thunderous applause erupted,. Everyone, including the audience and staff, was deeply moved by this story and applauded.

In the corner of the stage, a beautiful young girl with a baby face was crying in excitement.

“I’m so touched, so touched. I know this story, I was listening on the radio when it happened. I cried so hard. ” The girl rushed to say to the young man next to her.

“Don’t cry, you’ll look ugly.” The young man frowned, but his tone was extremely indulgent.

“I don’t care, I want to cry.”

“You’re going to be on TV in a few moments.”

“Hic…” The girl hiccuped and blinked her watery eyes: “…or you can go up alone?”

“If you’re not going to go with me, I’ll just leave now…” I want to run away, was what the young man’s eyes said.

“Fine!” The young girl covered her eyes, “I’ll ask a staff member for some ice.”

After the first guest was interviewed, there was a half-hour break. Originally, Yu Dong wanted to use this opportunity to have a chat with the next guest, but there was still so many words Yu Dong and? Mr. Strong…no, Mr. Liao, wanted to say.

Besides, her assistant had come by to say that the next guest had no scruples about her asking anything.

So Yu Dong and Mr. Liao chatted peacefully. After exchanging contact details, Yu Dong returned to the stage five minutes before recording.

“Hello again, please bring your hands together for our next guest, Bai Rui, the founder of New Age Robotics Company, and the winner of the 2016 World Robotics Competition.”

As the audience applauded, a beautiful man wearing a white shirt slowly walked up the stage. Yu Dong couldn’t help but be reminded of a particular saying when she saw him: I love you for no other reason, but because the sun was shining that day and because he was wearing a white shirt.

“Hello, host!” Bai Rui politely greeted.

“Sit down, please.” Yu Dong covered her own maiden heart and laughed: “The rivers and lakes always spoke of your legends, but no one has ever said you’d be this handsome.”

“Thank you!” Bai Rui had a calmness around him that didn’t belong to this age.

“Your deeds and achievements in your field have already been well documented in many magazines and journals, and I’m certainly just a layman when it comes to robots, so?I won’t try to display my meager knowledge before an expert.” Yu Dong said, “Instead, I just want to ask, you look so handsome, do you have a girlfriend?”

As soon as Yu Dong finished, the collective inhales of many young girls in the audience could be heard.

Bai Rui looked at Yu Dong without impatience. In fact, he looked excited, as if he had been waiting for her to ask him this: “Yes.”

“You’ve been with her since university?” Yu Dong raised an eyebrow.

“How did you know?”

“You would definitely be considered the ‘handsome prince’ in your university ah, I’m sure many girls confessed to you.” Yu Dong said.

“Mm!” Bai Rui seemed to think of something because a faint smile bloomed on his face, making the audience wheeze again.

“Did your girlfriend confess to you first?” Yu Dong asked, trying to probe.

“Yes.” Bai Rui nodded, “She’s still a huge fan of yours.”

“Oh?” Yu Dong became interested, “Is this fan of mine here?”

Bai Rui nodded and waved to the side. Everyone followed his gaze to see a young girl covering her face, trying to hide.

Bai Rui’s face darkened and turned to Yu Dong to excuse himself before stepping down and directly bringing the girl up the stage.

“Master- I mean, host, hello host.” The girl stammered, seizing Bai Rui’s sleeve.

Yu Dong liked this shy little girl, so she smiled and joked: “You’re so shy, but Bai Rui said you were the one who took the initiative and confessed first. Did he lie to us?”

There was a laughter of goodwill from the audience.

“She drank a bottle of beer that day. “Bai Rui explained.

Yu Dong gave a long oh, so that’s how it is.

“Nonsense, I was…”

“Was what?” Bai Rui narrowed his eyes slightly. If this dead girl dared to say that she made a mistake with her confession, he definitely wouldn’t let her off.

“That…I…I was encouraged by Fish Jelly.” The girl felt wronged, but she still changed her answer.

“Me?” Yu Dong wondered.

“At the end of 2007, when you were still a DJ in a radio show, you once confessed to your lover on the radio and encouraged up to express our love to the people around us, so I mustered my courage and…”

“She confessed her long secret affections for me!” Bai Rui interrupted.

Yu Dong’s eyes were filled with mirth, she remembered the original situation. This young girl obviously failed her confession and got drunk, then happened to meet her university’s prince…the result…

Yu Dong said: “I remember this incident, you did call me.”

“Yes!” The girl smiled and nodded, “I was the Ms. Beauty that night.”

“I have a question I had always wanted to ask you in person, Mr. Bai.” Yu Dong laughed.

“Go ahead.” Bai Rui was surprised, but still nodded.

“At this incident, we could hear your girlfriend drinking at a food stall, when you happened to be nearby…” Yu Dong looked at Bai Rui intently, “Were you inadvertently blocked by this beauty, or did you deliberately stop when you saw her?”

When the girl heard this, her eyes immediately zeroed in at him.

Bai Rui’s face became a little unnatural, and he coughed before saying: “Of course she blocked me.”

The beauty was disappointed, her lips turning into a pout.

“Hehe…I see.” Yu Dong’s answer was ambiguous.

“You said you wanted to meet your idol, now you’ve met her. Now there’s no reason to postpone the wedding.” Bai Rui grabbed the girl’s hand.

“You’re getting married?” Yu Dong congratulated the couple, “What a way to celebrate!”

“Thank you…” Ms. Beauty blushed.

When Bai Rui saw his girlfriend’s embarrassed state, he rolled his eyes and could only speak for her: “Host, we have a weird request.”

“Yes?” Yu Dong raised an eyebrow.

“This girl has always said that without your encouragement that night, she would never have dared to confess to me. So in a way, you were our matchmaker.” Bai Rui solemnly asked, “We…hope that you can come to our wedding.”

The girl nodded with a red face.

“Of course, I’ll definitely go!” Yu Dong turned to the girl and playfully said, “I can’t always call you Ms. Beauty, what’s your name?”

“Fu Yaoyao.” The girl smiled sweetly, revealing two small dimples.

From July 2007 to April 2008, Yu Dong hosted the Midnight Phantom.

As time went by, few were left to talk about the stories of the Mr. Strongs and Ms. Beauties. But the seeds that were sown at the beginning of that spring and autumn have thrived.

Yu Dong had never felt that she had done something particularly noteworthy. It was just that she felt she should tell others about that time in her life, when she had a warm encounter, when she met the man that would make her the happiest.

***

This was such a nice extra! We find out what happened to dangerous Mr. Strong and the drunk who confessed to the prince! yay, happy end for everyone!

I couldn’t help but think about what their lives would’ve been like without Yu Dong’s interference. Yu Dong’s rebirth was a second chance for more than just her.