Chapter 47: Eating, Drinking, and Having Fun in Binhai
Translator: Nyoi_Bo_Studio Editor: Tennesh
As an anchorperson, especially an outdoors anchorperson, making selections was very important. The locations you chose had to be interesting and unique, or there would be no way to evoke the audience’s interest and enthusiasm. One needed to know that enthusiasm was like a fire. Fuel had to be added from time to time, and ventilation needed to be sustained to ensure that oxygen was sufficient, or else the fire would easily go out.
The news-anchor industry was developing very fast; it could even be said to be a little too fast. It was no longer the era where one could just randomly broadcast a game or song and have tens of thousands of fans, like in the past when the business was on the rise. If an anchorperson didn’t have any special features, then he or she could only be obliterated by the crowd.
Jiang Qianxue was an anchorwoman, an outdoors anchorwoman. Her channel name was "Eating, Drinking, and Having Fun in Binhai." As the name suggested, her live broadcast’s content was about searching everywhere for delicious eats and drinks, fun places, and interesting things, and thus she introduced these things to her live audience. The majority of her fans were, of course, people from Binhai City and the surrounding areas, but there were also a few fans who came from all over the country. She was fated to never become a super anchorwoman with millions of fans, as the audience was very limited. But it was because of this that she did not suffer a lot of competitive pressure; she did not have to sell her body to compete for popularity with the big national star anchors. She only needed to have a firm foothold in the local Binhai city.
Up until now, there were no other anchorpeople competing with her for the theme of "Eating, Drinking, and Having Fun in Binhai." She had around two or three thousand permanent fans, and the peak number of fans on the online channel was four thousand. The amount wasn’t much, but her fans were very loyal; they would usually watch the whole thing once she began her broadcast.
Because of certain reasons that everyone knew about, usually, when the anchorperson was a woman, the majority of the audience was male. But Jiang Qianxue’s fans’ had a one to one ratio of male to female. It could be said that both men and women enjoyed it.
After she introduced a shop, a lot of ladies would go out of admiration, and at the same time, they would drag their boyfriends there. A lot of men would also quietly remember the stores or sceneries she had introduced and would bring their girlfriends to those locations on their next date. They never had to stress about deciding where to go for dates.
In order to find interesting shops and sceneries, Jiang Qianxue often wandered around on the internet to get first-hand information. The Wang Haige forum was also one of her interests. She had certainly paid attention to and followed up on the hot incident regarding the Amazing Fate Pet Shop and Stars Pet Chain Supermarket, but she had not participated in the discussions. When the forum had been started, she had registered immediately. "This seems to be a pretty good theme for development," she had thought back then. "I’ve never actually broadcast at a pet shop."
Jiang Qianxue had been lively and energetic ever since she was little, but she had never raised a pet, because she thought that raising pets was bothersome. "Taking care of myself is already tiring, and I would still have to take care of pets…"
She saw that it was about time, closed her computer and changed, and left the room with her phone and selfie-stick. She tiptoed downstairs and observed that her father was reading the newspaper in the living room, and her mother was baking a cake in the kitchen. With her back bent, she wanted to run out quickly from behind the couch but was caught by her mother, who had coincidentally turned to grab eggs from the refrigerator.
"Little Xue, what and where are you going?"
Oops! That was it! She knew she would have to suffer a lecture.
Her father, Jiang Tianda, turned his head to look. He saw that she was holding a selfie-stick and his face immediately sank. "Going out to do that live broadcast again! I’ve told you how many times already! Girls have to be gentle and quiet, not going wild outside all day long! What kind of future will you have by doing this!"
Her mother wiped her hands with the apron and walked out of the kitchen, trying to persuade her father. "Father of the child, say less. The child is still small…"
Her father once again scolded her mother, "Still small? Already twenty years old and still small? It’s all because you spoiled her!"
Fortunately, at this time, her father’s assistant, Li Wen, came in through the door and reminded him, "Chief Jiang, it’s time for the meeting. Today is Monday, and it’s easy to get caught in traffic…"
Li Wen was close to forty years old and had worked hard with her father since the start of the business. He had practically watched Jiang Qianxue grow up and was like her much-older brother. Her father frowned and looked at his watch. Jiang Qianxue secretly expressed thanks toward Li Wen’s two hands. Li Wen winked at her, and her mother couldn’t help but shake her head.
Jiang Tianda stood up, and Li Wen helped him put on his suit jacket. "This weekend, you’d better go on a blind date. The counterpart is the second son of the Lu household. The person who introduced him was the vice president of the bank of Binhai."
"I’m not going!" Jiang Qianxue pouted.
"You have to go if you want to go, and you have to go if you don’t want to go! This matter is not up to you!" Jiang Tianda snorted coldly and hastily left the house with Li Wen following close behind.
Jiang Qianxue immediately became arrogant once the door was closed. "Fascist! Dictator! Big bastard!"
"Little Xue, don’t talk like that!" her mother said. "You must attend the blind date. The counterpart has a good family, and I heard that he is quite nice. What if you guys get along well?"
Jiang Qianxue smiled playfully. "Get along with me? Then become an anchorperson with me! I’m heading out!" She was afraid that her mother would stop her again, so she fled from the villa.
Her mother sighed from behind. "This child… sigh, maybe I really did spoil her…"
Once Jiang Qianxue had left her house, it was as if a bird had left its cage. She immediately felt as if her body was as light as a swallow’s and all her troubles were swept away. Although her villa was spacious and luxurious, she always felt too constrained there. "I really don’t know how mother had endured all these years."
She got on a taxi and arrived at the south crossroads of Zhonghua Road not long after. This was the arranged place for the gathering. Jiang Qianxue was still looking forward to it a little, because she normally did broadcasts alone. This time, she chose a support group because she knew nothing about pets and was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to get the main point if she went alone.
There was a statue on the west side of the crossroads, and it seemed to be of an ancient famous person of Binhai city. However, there was no need to care about such details. The main point was that this location was very conspicuous, so it often became the meeting spot for strangers.
At this time, two groups had gathered under the statue. One group had only two people. One of the people held a phone and was carefully examining it. It was probably a same-city exchange of a second-hand phone by hand. She temporarily ignored them.
The other group had four people. She went over and asked, "May I ask, is this the group that is visiting Amazing Fate?" The four people were chatting and occasionally checking the time on their phones. They heard her words and turned their heads one after another to look.
Jiang Qianxue was a very beautiful young lady. Her outfit was very suitable for an outdoor broadcasting location: sneakers, jeans, a backpack, and a hooded smock. She looked approachable, vibrant, and dazzling.
One of the boys wearing glasses asked in surprise, "Are you anchorperson Little Xue? I’ve seen your broadcasts!"
It wasn’t the first time someone recognized Jiang Qianxue, and she immediately smiled. "Yes, it’s me. Hello!"
The boy excitedly said, "My direct broadcasting room and forum ID are both ‘Great Chieftain of Thunder Bluff’, I even gave you a gift before!"
Jiang Qianxue did not have any impressions of this ID, but still politely said thanks.
Next to them, a male, about thirty years old and wearing a casual jacket and trousers, sighed with uncertainty. "You’re the anchorperson?"