Chapter 1936: A Sad Story

Walking onto the stage, Fan Baobao felt inexplicably nervous.

Standing there, looking at the audience below, Fan Baobao took a deep breath.

She was an artist, a star, an actress, but at this moment, she felt she was just someone about to tell a story.

"Ms. Fan, hello." The host was very polite, apparently having been instructed beforehand to focus on interviewing Fan Baobao.

"Hello." Fan Baobao nodded.

"How many months along are you?" Noticing Fan Baobao's big belly, the host asked.

"Over five months."

Fan Baobao touched her belly, a smile spreading across her face.

As a mother, she was naturally happy.

"Is Chairman Zhao Fusheng in Xichuan now?" The host deliberately steered the conversation toward Zhao Fusheng.

"No, he's on his way back from Xichuan."

Fan Baobao was quite candid, answering the host's question: "There are many matters at the company awaiting his decision; he has to come back."

"I know that the day after the earthquake, Chairman Zhao personally rushed to the disaster area. As his wife, were you very worried about him?" The host had clearly communicated with the Future Group beforehand.

Fan Baobao nodded: "Worry was inevitable, after all, this matter was truly too risky. But he had reasons he had to go, and I could only choose to support him."

"Can you tell us what those reasons were?" The host asked.

"My husband and I have known each other since childhood. Our families were very close neighbors, and from elementary school to high school, we were always classmates."

Fan Baobao held the microphone and began to speak slowly.

"We had a high school classmate who sat at the back of our class. He wasn't the talkative type and rarely chatted with others in class. When he took the college entrance exam, he was admitted to the police academy."

"Later, I came to the capital to work, and my husband also came to the capital to do business. By chance, my husband reconnected with him and learned that he had first been on overseas missions and then went to a remote mountainous area in Xichuan."

"During the earthquake a few days ago, my husband received a call from the disaster site; he had died."

By the end, Fan Baobao could no longer control her emotions and began to cry.

For her, the sudden disappearance of someone familiar from this world was truly painful.

The audience below was stunned.

Except for the top executives of Future Group who knew the inside story, no one knew that there was such a hidden reason behind this matter.

No wonder Zhao Fusheng rushed to Xichuan immediately; it turned out he went to collect the remains of his good friend.

"I'm sorry for bringing up painful memories." The host handed Fan Baobao a tissue.

"It's okay."

Wiping away her tears, Fan Baobao looked up at the audience: "If I weren't pregnant, I might have gone to Xichuan with my husband. Although I can't go, I will do my part to help rebuild the disaster area, just like the schools Future Group built."

Perfect score!

Offstage, Zheng Yao and Dong Chenxi exchanged glances, giving Fan Baobao's performance extremely high praise.

No doubt, after the gala ended, the media and all sides would give very high evaluations. After all, no one dislikes a socially responsible company.

The gala ended amid a chorus of thanks.

But everyone knew that this time, Future Group was the biggest winner.

...

...

Backstage, Han Meimei and her colleagues were dumbfounded.

"Is this real or fake? Is it a joke?"

"Are you out of your mind? Who would dare joke about this?"

"Yeah, it's obviously real. Look at how she cried."

"Oh my god, suddenly I feel so sorry for that classmate."

People tend to sympathize with the weak, especially those with particularly tragic experiences.

A promising policeman, after finally completing an undercover mission, went to Xichuan for poverty alleviation and ultimately died where he fought.

To be honest, anyone with a shred of compassion would be moved by this story.

As an article on a certain portal later wrote: "You can doubt the intentions of Future Group and the Zhao couple in doing charity, but please respect the hero!"

At this moment, no one was foolish enough to stick their neck out.

"Stop it!"

Originally, there were those who secretly wanted to make trouble, but after Fan Baobao's speech, they all chose to back down.

"Boss, are we just letting it go?"

"What else do you want to do? Smear Future Group and the Zhao couple, and then be labeled as disrespectful to a martyr?"

His boss was blunt, scolding his trusted subordinate: "Think before you speak and act. Know who to provoke and who not to provoke, got it?"

The poor subordinate, after being scolded by his boss, finally realized that, as his boss said, the image of Future Group and the Zhao couple was now tied to that martyr.

If one doubted Future Group's ulterior motives in charity, wouldn't that be doubting their reverence for the martyr?

In China, no company or individual had the guts or courage to challenge such a bottom line; that would be pure suicide.

Similar conversations took place in many companies.

At this time, Zhao Fusheng had already arrived in the capital.

"Well done."

Facing Zheng Yao, Dong Chenxi, and others who came to greet him, he smiled and said, "This time, I guess no one will have anything to say, right?"

"Of course."

Dong Chenxi said to Zhao Fusheng with a proud look: "Now online, the evaluations of Baobao and you are very good, and media reports about you are also very positive."

That was natural. Not to mention that Fan Baobao and Zhao Fusheng themselves had no negative news, and their performance this time was too good. Even official media praised them, so naturally no media would be foolish enough to cause trouble.

Even major portals, when mentioning them, would praise the couple for being humane and responsible.

To be fair.

"Any issues in other areas?"

Zhao Fusheng looked at Zheng Yao again.

"No problems."

Zheng Yao nodded: "Even for the real estate projects we developed, quite a few people are inquiring."

Zhao Fusheng smiled; this was the effect of advertising.

This was even though Future Group didn't actually have many physical industries under it; otherwise, just based on this incident, Future Group could have moved up a notch.

"Should we launch a batch of projects?"

Zheng Yao thought for a moment and asked Zhao Fusheng.

She meant to strike while the iron was hot.

But Zhao Fusheng shook his head: "No need. Doing that would be a step down."

Many things require gradual influence; being too eager for quick success can easily invite criticism and backfire.

"Okay."

Zheng Yao nodded. Since Zhao Fusheng said so, she could only comply.

"Alright, I've been in the disaster area for a few days, and the train ride was tiring. I won't go to the company today. You all should rest too." Zhao Fusheng said, waving to everyone.

"Wait, you're going home just like that?"

Zheng Yao looked at Zhao Fusheng helplessly: "Are you kidding?"

"Of course not."

Zhao Fusheng laughed and said seriously, "I mean it."

With that, he walked straight toward his car.

Behind him, Liu Yiming picked out the important information from the notebook and reported to Dong Chenxi and the others.

"This guy..."

Watching Zhao Fusheng's back, Dong Chenxi shook her head and had to get into her car with Zheng Yao.

Zhao Fusheng was telling the truth. After a long journey, finally back in the capital, he naturally wanted to go home first.

Arriving home by car, as soon as he entered, he saw Fan Beibei watching cartoons with his daughter.

"Brother is back!"

Seeing Zhao Fusheng at the door, Fan Beibei cheered.

As for Zhao Xue, the little girl, she didn't understand what was happening and just clapped her hands.

Zhao Fusheng smiled lightly, walked over to pick up his daughter, and said to Fan Beibei, "You little rascal, taking your niece to watch cartoons. Do you act like an adult?"

"I'm not an adult anyway."

Fan Beibei giggled, looking delighted.

Zhao Fusheng was amused; the girl wasn't wrong—she was still a child herself.

"Why are you back so soon?" Zhao's mother walked over, glared at Zhao Fusheng, and said, "You silly child, why did you go to the disaster area?"

She wasn't home when Zhao Fusheng left that day, and by the time she returned, he was already gone.

Hearing that her son had gone to the earthquake zone, Zhao's mother was truly frightened.

A mother worries about her child traveling far. For Zhao's mother, no matter how old Zhao Fusheng was, in her eyes, he was still the child she cared about.

"It's okay, I'm back now."

Zhao Fusheng smiled gently.

He understood his mother's worries, but some things had to be done.

"Don't take risks in the future. You're not young anymore." Zhao's mother looked at her son and said earnestly, "You're about to have a second child; you must be careful."

Zhao Fusheng nodded repeatedly, listening seriously to his mother's nagging.

To be honest, being able to hear his mother's nagging felt really good.

He wasn't a child and didn't find it annoying, because Zhao Fusheng knew that his mother's nagging came from her concern for him.

Many times, we don't know how to cherish what we have until we lose it, and only then do we realize that the things we took for granted are often the most precious.

The tree desires stillness, but the wind will not cease; the child wishes to care for his parents, but they are no longer there.

That is probably the saddest thing in the world.