He fiercely criticized the Manchu scholar clique and the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

The red indicator light next to the camera lens lit up.

The constant temperature system vents out a very light cool air, which then circulates the air in the suite.

Zhao Shuyao's gaze lingered for a second on the A4 paper outline in Lin Jing's hand, and his brain quickly began to process this opening question entitled "responsibility".

This is a very classic media discourse framework. If we follow the grand narrative to talk about lofty principles, it will seem empty and didactic, which is out of touch with his age characteristics as an "ordinary student in his twenties". If we avoid talking about it, we will lose the high level of purpose in this national-level interview.

In less than a second, he completed the observation, analysis, and tactical choice, deconstructing it and bringing the word back to reality in the most straightforward language.

"Reporter Lin." Zhao Shuyao loosened his interlaced hands and rested them naturally on his knees, a perfectly timed smile returning to his lips. "You've thrown out such a heavy topic right off the bat. It seems today's interview will be quite challenging."

Lin Jing maintained a polite smile, leaning slightly forward, her eyes focused and sharp: "This isn't actually that hard to answer. I watched the entire live stream recording last night. When you faced those who considered themselves superior, wasn't the core of the emotion you expressed simply a basic sense of responsibility?"

Lin Jing lightly tapped the edge of her notebook with her pen and continued, "So, in this era, what do you think is the most important responsibility on the shoulders of the younger generation?"

When pressed for answers, Zhao Shuyao did not avoid Lin Jing's gaze.

He nodded, his tone becoming serious and calm: "The word 'responsibility' naturally has completely different understandings and extensions depending on the person."

"Take my current situation for example." Zhao Shuyao stretched out his right hand and lightly tapped his chest with his fingertip. "I am a student still in school, majoring in history. Under this specific identity, my responsibility is actually very simple - that is to pursue the true past in the vast sea of ​​historical materials and restore those things that have been covered up and tampered with. This is my job."

Lin Jing wrote down the sentence, then looked up in agreement: "Seeking truth in scholarship is a scholar's duty. What else is there?"

"Then it depends on the attributes attached to this identity." Zhao Shuyao's gaze moved down half an inch, stopping at the inside of his coat. Although there was nothing there, both of them knew that it represented a special political aspect.

"Aside from being a student," Zhao Shuyao lowered his voice, but enunciated more clearly, "I also need to live up to the oath I took when I entered the arena back then."

"I dare not say that I can completely follow in the footsteps of the martyrs to create something new, but in this position, I will adhere to the bottom line, not use my knowledge and privileges to exploit ordinary people, and not betray the collective for personal gain."

He looked into Lin Jing's eyes: "This is the most basic responsibility of a person involved in this society."

Lin Jing tightened her grip on the pen slightly.

She had originally thought that this young man, who was so influential online, would talk at length about how to enlighten the public, but Zhao Shuyao gave an extremely restrained and practical answer. This pragmatic approach, which avoided grand pronouncements, was actually very persuasive.

"We agree on both of those points." Lin Jing took a deep breath and posed the third level of question, "But what if we stripped away all these labels of specific identities in real life?"

"When we are simply ordinary citizens, young people living in this city, what are our responsibilities?"

A brief silence fell over the room.

The lenses of both cameras were focused on Zhao Shuyao's face, capturing the subtle changes in his expression.

Zhao Shuyao didn't get lost in thought for long. A thought flashed through his mind: The greatest merit for an ordinary person is to live their own trivial life well.

He adjusted his posture, leaned back into the dark gray armchair, and spread his hands.

"If we set aside all the titles," Zhao Shuyao's tone became extremely relaxed, carrying a touch of everyday life, "our most important responsibility as ordinary people is to live a good life."

"I get up on time every morning, go to my job and do my job properly to earn a fair wage." He listed on his fingers, "Then I use the money to buy my parents some good food and save some money for my future family."

"On weekends or after get off work in the evening, I'll meet up with some friends or bring my family to the food stalls downstairs, order a table full of barbecue, have a couple of local ice-cold beers, then get a good night's sleep and go back to work the next day."

Zhao Shuyao spread his hands: "For the vast majority of people on this land, this is our entire responsibility."

A hint of surprise flashed in Lin Jing's eyes.

She has participated in countless high-end interviews and heard too many words about "industrial upgrading" and "realization of personal value," but the phrase "going downstairs to eat barbecue and drink beer" actually appeared openly in the interview of "**News".

"Going downstairs for barbecue?" Lin Jing's lips curled into a curious smile. She keenly sensed the unresolved logic in her words. "It sounds more like a weekend leisure activity. Why would you elevate such a very personal consumption behavior to the level of 'responsibility'?"

The cameraman at the side position also involuntarily moved his head halfway out from behind the viewfinder, turning his gaze toward Zhao Shuyao.

Zhao Shuyao sensed the change in the atmosphere, which was the feedback he wanted. He needed to use the most simplified perspective to dissect the core logic of economics for everyone to see.

"It's very simple." Zhao Shuyao picked up the glass on the coffee table, took a sip of warm water to moisten his throat, and said, "Making money and then spending it within a reasonable range is precisely the greatest contribution an ordinary person can make to society."

He put the glass back in its place with a soft click.

"Don't just focus on that table of lamb skewers and those two cases of beer." Zhao Shuyao stretched out his right hand and drew a circle in the air. "Let's trace back from the source of this meal."

"You spent two hundred yuan on this barbecue. The barbecue stall owner made a profit, which he can use to pay his children's tuition. In order to keep the stall afloat, he needs to buy goods from the meat processing plant, which in turn makes life easier for the truck drivers in the cold chain transportation business. The meat processing plant needs to buy sheep from the pastoral areas, which gives the herders on the grasslands an income."

Zhao Shuyao's speaking speed gradually increased, and his logic was logically connected.

"Furthermore, those two cases of beer are what give the brewery's assembly line workers their shifts and the packaging plant its orders for cardboard boxes, because a large number of people go out to consume at night, and the city's public transportation system needs to operate."

"Taxi drivers can pick up customers, night market management can receive legitimate stall fees to improve urban infrastructure, and even technology companies that provide online payment interfaces can extract a small service fee."

He withdrew his hand and held it in front of his chest.

"This is a huge and complete economic cycle industrial chain. Ordinary people don't need to worry about macroeconomic regulation or formulate any industrial strategies."

"As long as we earn money honestly and happily spend it on real goods, the domestic demand generated by our huge population of 1.4 billion can lift up this engine of social operation."

Zhao Shuyao looked at Lin Jing with unwavering determination: "You tell me, isn't this most ordinary consumption and lifestyle the most core responsibility?"

The suite was so quiet that only the faint electronic sound of the camera running could be heard.

Lin Jing's fingers, holding the pen, froze in mid-air. Zhao Shuyao's words contained no profound professional terms, only the most common things in the streets and alleys. Yet, he managed to break down a roadside stall meal into a grand economic network diagram.

This ability to reveal the truth in the details is enough to shatter those empty grand narratives on the internet.

"A very unique and profound economic perspective." Lin Jing quickly jotted down the key points in her notebook, then looked up, her smile widening. "According to your logic, ordinary people only need to take care of their own lives, and the rest can be left to the social management mechanism."

"Absolutely correct." Zhao Shuyao nodded.

"Can I understand it this way?" Lin Jing changed the angle of her question, "What you just said actually contained an underlying assumption: that you have a very high degree of trust in our existing management system and the general direction from above. You firmly believe that as long as ordinary people follow the crowd, their lives won't be too bad, right?"

"Yes, I have no doubt at all," Zhao Shuyao replied without hesitation.

"Did you really never have any doubts?" Lin Jing leaned forward. As a professional journalist, she had to play the opposing side at this moment. "In this era of highly developed information and the clash of various viewpoints, we see many phenomena online."

"Some young people, including many students, are critical and even skeptical of existing rules and the original intentions of many policies, believing them to be a form of rigidity or exploitation of individuals. Have you never been influenced by this kind of thinking?"

Zhao Shuyao crossed his fingers again and placed them on his knees.

"No." Zhao Shuyao's tone was perfectly calm, without the slightest inflection. "Not even a little bit."

He gave his reasoning: "Because the amount of information that ordinary people have is always fragmented, while in those levels that we can't see, there are the most professional people with the most comprehensive data who are doing the calculations to maintain the stability of the market."

"The historical process of the past few decades is clearly written there. We have gone from a country that even had to import nails to the position of having the most complete global industrial chain today."

"This system may have some minor flaws at the micro level, but in the big picture, it has never let down the vast majority of people on this land."

Lin Jing stared intently at Zhao Shuyao.

The young man in front of me had a sense of conviction that was completely out of character for his age. This was definitely not the kind of blind obedience that comes from being passively brainwashed, but rather a moat of faith that he had actively built after going through complex thinking and dissecting a lot of information.

"This is a very powerful internal cognitive system." Lin Jing put down the ballpoint pen in her hand, and her whole demeanor changed from that of a questioner to an equal explorer.

She posed the most crucial and final question of the interview.

"Zhao, I'd really like to know what exactly supports your absolute trust? You're only in your early twenties, and your exposure to society is limited."

"Is this strong identification due to your extensive study of historical materials, far exceeding that of the average person, which has allowed you to see through the patterns of historical development? Or is it because your family environment and regional culture instilled this perspective in you from a young age?"