t.i.tle: An Eye for News [超级新闻眼]
Author: Star Magician [星术师]
“Ouch!Where am I?”
Se Caiopened his eyes to a pastel white room and the smell of chemical disinfectant.
A smallmotion of his body sent shards of pains through his brain, shoulders and arms…
“You’refinally awake! This is County S’ First People’s Hospital. You’ve been out of itfor a whole day, how are you feeling?”
A youngman beside Se Cai’s bed said excitedly as he moved to inspect him.
Theyoung man was Gao Xiang, a worker that joined County S Tv Station the same dayas Se Cai. He was Se Cai’s partner and had a small figure and gentle demeanor.
Similarto Se Cai, he was a temp at County S Tv Station. They even share-rented thesame housing, Se Cai’s friend in need so to speak.
“Do you even need to ask? Trygetting beat by 10 people with wooden planks and sees how you feel!”
Se Caiscoffed. He moved the peel away the gauze that was blocking his right eye.
“Stop!The doctor said your cornea was hurt. Even though it wasn’t seriously injuredbut to prevent infestation, it’s better to leave the gauze on until you’re outof the hospital.”
“Those f*ckerssure are cruel!”
Se Caicursed as his hand stopped in mid-air.
He wasstill light-headed but he remembered that morning distinctly.
He wassupposed to be some other a.s.signment but because Gao Xiang was caught up in hispersonal problem, he was asked to follow this other news. A mysterious tip camesaying people were forcibly sent into an internet-addiction rehabilitationschool.
Se Caiwent to the school with the station’s old Santana. However, he was confrontedby a gang of vicious looking men after taking a few shots outside of theschool. Se Cai tried his best to fight back but faced with about 18 men armedwith wooden planks, he was quickly knocked out his consciousness.
“Right,is Miss Zhang okay? I’ve asked her to leave when I saw those guys coming,hopefully she’s fine.”
Se Caiasked hurriedly.
Ananchorwoman followed Se Cai to the school, intending to do a live report butbefore Se Cai could set up the shot, the altercation happened.
“You don’tneed to worry about her. She even came to visit you earlier when you were stillasleep,” Gao Xiang said consolingly.
Se Caisighed in relief.
Thewoman was County S Tv Station’s star anchorwoman, Zhang Xin Yu. Not only didshe graduate from the Chinese Multimedia School of Arts, she was a breathtakingbeauty. If not for the county magistrate’s multiple invitation and the stationmanager’s suffocating hospitality, it was impossible to find an anchorwoman ofher caliber at such a small tv station.
TheChinese Multimedia School of Arts was famous for cultivating the best in thefield of ma.s.s media. Even the tv stations at provincial city X didn’t have itsalumni working there, much less its province, county S.
Needlessto say, Miss Zhang was greatly treasured. With her status, she could easilyland herself a new job at any news station at city X. In fact, they had beentrying to pilfer her from her current position.
Se Cai’stv station was seriously understaffed so the reporters often had to take on therole of camera editor. If necessary, they also had to be the on-site reporters.It was rare for an in-studio anchorwoman to request to follow on an outstationreport and unfortunately she had found herself in such a tumble.
“ThankG.o.d. The tv station treats Miss Zhang like a G.o.ddess. If something was tohappen to her, Station Manager Wei would have my head! After all, I’m just aninsignificant temp reporter.”
“Heybro, stop looking down on yourself. You’ve finished your university degree and werethe first among us to get a reporter’s license. If not for the arrival of ZhangXin Yu, you would be part of system, sitting at her position already!”
GaoXiang argued, furious for his friend.
Modeledafter the traditions of the state administration of radio, film and television,the official employees were the highest ranking workers in County S Tv Station.They had proper t.i.tle and fixed salary, part of the “system”. Below them werethe freelancers. They had similar responsibilities as the official employeesbut they weren’t systemized. According to the length of their contract, theywere further separated into Cla.s.s 1, 2 and 3, decreasing in pay and benefits.
Thelowest rung of the ladder were the temporary workers. They had no job safetyand were paid peanuts. However, they too were given the heaviest workload. Thisharsh working environment meant that there was a constant shifting among thetemps.
Se Caiand Gao Xiang were part of this group. After Se Cai returned to Town Z afterhis graduation, he was faced with 2 options, either joined the County S TvStation as a reporter or returned to his hometown and be a public servant.
Of the2, he picked the former and without him noticing, it had almost been a year hehad spent at that post.
“Mycomputer science degree is still too much of a difference from a broadcastingdegree. The difference in fees alone was obvious. The fee for broadcast wasabout 5 times greater than mine. I’ve thought about pursuing this degree and bean anchorman but the fee was simply too high. Furthermore, I was hampered by mycountry accent, it was impossible for me to get into a good school. So, I’dfigured why not start from the bottom and be a reporter,”
Se Cai shookhis head and laughed, “Plus, it was the county magistrate that had personallyasked for Miss Zhang to join the station. Who am I to take her place?”
Thequota for his station’s official employee was still open. Se Cai was sure withhis experience, he’ll get into the system when the next examination arrived sohe wasn’t at all worried.
Infact, Se Cai’s dream wasn’t to be an official reporter but a host or anchorman.If that couldn’t work, he would even be satisfied with being an on-sitereporter.
Afterall, the anchorman was the face of a tv station. There was none in themultimedia field that didn’t hunger for that post. Unfortunately, Se Cai camefrom a rural background. He found it impossible to rid of his country accentthat had grown with him his whole life. His formal Chinese level barely pa.s.sedthe B2 grade, he still had a long way to go before he could reach the requiredB1 grade for prospective anchorman.
Se Cai’scomputer science degree would be extremely useful in a tech firm but in a tvstation, he was pretty much useless.
“Bro,you’re too uptight… Anyway, the doctor said you’ve suffered from minorconcussion and when manager Wei came to visit you, he said you’re to rest untilyou feel ready to get back to work.”
GaoXiang sighed before moving to pour a cup of water from his bedside thermos. Heeven added a straw for Se Cai.
“You’reso nice to me. If you’re a woman, I would make you mine this moment.”
Se Caijoked and moved to slap his friend on his shoulder. His sudden movement thoughmade him winced in pain.
“Afterall you’re here because of me. This is my a.s.signment, they had you replace mebecause I was busy… If it was me who was a.s.saulted, we would be in the morgueinstead,”
GaoXiang chuckled self-deprecatingly, before adding, “But, look on the brightside, your name has gotten much bigger after this whole incident. You’ve afterall saved a princess in distress and that princess has soften her att.i.tudetowards you. That bouquet right there came from her and she even told me tocall her when you wake up, I believe she wants to personally thank you…”
Se Caicut him off, “What kind of hero gets beaten up like this? I bet this bouquet camefrom one of her admirers and she just shoved it to me after removing the card.”
Eversince Zhang Xin Yu landed in County S Tv Station, the station was swamped withfan mails and presents for her almost daily. However, she never seemedinterested in any of them.
Se Caiknew she was way out of their league, him included.
Heshrugged, “By the way, my camera equipment should be broken right? Thankfully,I had the foresight to strip and hid its tape beforehand.”
Eventhough he was only a temp reporter, Se Cai was shocked and furious that aninternet-addiction rehab had the gall to a.s.sault a reporter. Looks like there wassome semblance of truth to the tip.
Thebest way to handle people like them was to use the media to pressure them.
Whenthe gang rushed towards Se Cai, he made sure his cam-recorder was rolling. Ifhe could link these people to that rehab, he swore he would sue them to no end.
However,Gao Xiang mumbled with darting eyes, “I don’t know. According to the tech crew,the equipment was completely smashed and had to be sent to the factory.”
“What?Don’t tell me there isn’t even a police report?”
GaoXiang squirmed under Se Cai’s questioning gaze. Before he could reply, Se Caicontinued, “My worthless life aside, the equipment themselves are worth severalthousand dollars, don’t tell me that is not worth reporting?”
Se Caihad been using a Sony dsr-pd150p. Although it was already an old model, it wasstill worth something.
“SeCai, it’s no use. The police dropped by this morning but they returned quickly.Even the head had ordered to not report and discuss this incident. We are notto even write it on social media.”
GaoXiang looked left and right before moving in to whisper in Se Cai’s ear, “I’msorry bro but consider yourself unlucky this time. The opponent has a strongbackground, they’re not people temps like us can handle.”
“Therehab has a background strong enough to suppress a tv station?!” Se Cai utteredin shock but he quickly understood, after all he was not a society freshman.
“You’reright. They’re untouchable.”
Adefeated Gao Xiang said, “Rumors say that this Blue Sky Rehab was opened by thefamily member of the Multimedia Department head. We underlings might not beafraid of him… but our superiors have to depend on him for survival.”
Se Cai’sface dimmed. If it was any other department, the tv station could still go fora fight because wasn’t it the media’s role to be government’s watchdog however,the multimedia department was directly responsible for managing the country’smedia.
Se Caihad spent some time in the current news beat and knew the department head wasw.a.n.g Run Fa. He even had the pleasure of meeting him several times when he cameto survey the tv station. Every time he was surrounded by a bunch of lackeys.
Nowonder the tv station superiors wanted to keep this incident covered.
“Yesterday,there was already a heated argument between our director Bai and the stationmanager but in the end, the tv station wouldn’t cross the department head onthe slight of a temp reporter. However to compensate for your loss, I heard themanager intends to let you join the system… So Se Cai, just let it go.”
GaoXiang sighed after giving such a long speech. He grabbed the thermos to take along swig and then told Se Cai he was going to the pantry for a refill.
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