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

The silence in the suite lasted for four or five seconds.

The lenses of the two high-definition cameras operated coldly, and the red indicator lights flashed. Lin Jing's question hung in the air: for a young person in his twenties, living in an ivory tower and facing the complex and diverse online trends, where did that almost absolute sense of trust come from?

This is a problem that is extremely easy to fall into the trap of empty rhetoric and grandiose claims.

Zhao Shuyao did not speak immediately.

Attributing his success to history would make him seem out of touch with the masses and a bookworm; attributing it to talent would make him seem arrogant. He turned his gaze to a fine wood grain on the surface of the coffee table, his thoughts traversing more than a thousand kilometers, and returning to that inconspicuous village on the North Jiangsu Plain.

"Reporter Lin." Zhao Shuyao raised his head, his tone relaxing, "Actually, there aren't that many profound reasons. It's more about the place I grew up in, and the influence of my family and the surrounding environment on me."

Lin Jing's eyebrows twitched slightly.

She had done a thorough background check before coming, and the young man in front of her was not a descendant of a wealthy and powerful family.

"Zhao Shuyao." Lin Jing put down the outline in her hand, leaned back, crossed her hands in front of her, and raised a question, "You just said that it was influenced by your childhood environment and family, but according to our understanding, you were born into an ordinary rural family in northern Jiangsu. Your parents worked away from home all year round, and your family was not well-off."

Lin Jing paused briefly, making sure her words weren't offensive, before continuing, "I don't mean to look down on rural areas; I also came from a small county town. But I'm particularly curious, growing up in a relatively impoverished environment, how do many young people cope with the huge gap between their lives and their experiences in the city?"

"Your first reaction is often to complain about unfair resource allocation, or to develop a kind of rebellious mentality. What kind of environment has led you to develop this unshakeable belief?"

These words were direct and sharp, and the cameraman next to him couldn't help but zoom in, giving Zhao Shuyao a close-up of his face.

After listening, Zhao Shuyao's lips curled into a very vivid smile.

Instead of immediately defending himself, he countered with a question: "Editor-in-Chief Lin, you also come from a small town. Do you still remember what your childhood was like?"

Lin Jing was stunned for a moment.

"Actually, many people who have lived in big cities for a long time may have forgotten their roots, or their memories of rural life when we were young may have become blurred." Zhao Shuyao stretched out his right hand and made a downward pressing motion in mid-air to guide the rhythm of the conversation.

"But it is precisely because I grew up in the countryside and was not born into privilege that I can more directly feel the changes in the foundation of our lives and truly appreciate how fortunate we are now."

A glint of hope flashed in Lin Jing's eyes as she realized that Zhao Shuyao was about to offer a very unique narrative perspective.

"Could you elaborate?" Lin Jing immediately pressed, "What are the most noticeable changes?"

"Of course, the most direct example is the people's food, clothing, housing, and transportation." Zhao Shuyao sat up straight, placed his hands on the armrests of the sofa, and spoke with an undeniable sense of truth.

"Let's talk about food first," Zhao Shuyao said, holding up one finger.

"When I was a child, around the year 2000, it wasn't easy to eat meat in the village." He looked into Lin Jing's eyes and began to reconstruct the scene. "It was only during holidays or when important guests came to visit."

"If someone suddenly cuts two pounds of pork belly, the aroma can waft from the east end of the village to the west end. When neighbors stroll over with their rice bowls, they can guess that this family must have a happy occasion today."

Lin Jing listened and couldn't help but nod. This description accurately struck a chord with her childhood memories.

"Normally, my parents would never buy meat to cook separately. Even if they bought some shredded meat, they would cut it into very fine pieces and stew it with a big pot of cabbage and potatoes. The whole family would then pick through the meat like searching for a needle in a haystack." Zhao Shuyao couldn't help but laugh as he said this. "Reporter Lin, what do you think of life now?"

He withdrew his finger: "These days, who doesn't eat meat a few times a week? Even my parents, who work as laborers on construction sites in the south, have to have two meat dishes at every meal in the site canteen."

"When young people go to the supermarket these days and see rows of ribs and beef, they don't think about whether they can afford it, but rather whether eating too much will make them fat. Do you think that's a big leap, going from not being able to afford meat to being afraid of gaining weight?"

Lin Jing nodded emphatically, her tone revealing deep agreement: "Yes, when we were young, we really couldn't believe we could have such a plentiful material life."

"Now that we've talked about food, let's talk about clothing." Zhao Shuyao didn't leave any room for emotion, his pace was extremely tight, and he raised two fingers again.

"I don't know if it's like this in other places, but in my childhood rural area in northern Jiangsu, we would buy ready-made clothes at the market for summer, but for winter clothes, we didn't buy them at all."

As Zhao Shuyao spoke, he gestured with his hand as if he were taking measurements.

"Every autumn, my mother would go to the town market and buy a few feet of cloth, the kind of coarse cloth or corduroy. After buying it, she would find a skilled tailor in the village to measure the length of the clothes and sleeves, and make them on the spot with a sewing machine. When she was making them, she would specifically tell her to make them a little loose so that they could be worn for two more years."

These vivid words completely relaxed the atmosphere in the suite, and even the assistant in charge of recording lowered his head and laughed.

"Of course, this kind of life didn't last long." Zhao Shuyao spread his hands. "Later, the village store became a small supermarket, the town market became a clothing market, and then smartphones became widespread."

"Nowadays, people can just swipe their phones a few times and buy ready-made brand-name clothes online. The prices are even cheaper than when we used to have them handmade, and there are more styles to choose from. Plus, the delivery can be brought right to the station near our university."

Zhao Shuyao looked at Lin Jing with unwavering eyes and posed a rhetorical question: "Several eras have passed between these events, yet they have all happened within the last ten years or so."

Lin Jing quickly jotted down the keywords "express delivery, e-commerce, and leapfrogging" on the outline. She looked up, her eyes now filled with more than just professional curiosity; they reflected genuine listening.

"And what about 'okay'?" Lin Jing took the initiative to continue the conversation, "What are your feelings about the changes in transportation?"

Upon hearing this word, Zhao Shuyao's smile deepened, and he leaned forward slightly.

"Reporter Lin, speaking of this 'affair,' the impact is huge." Zhao Shuyao paused, then threw out a punchline, "I remember it very clearly, it was probably when I was in elementary school, a family in our village was arranging a marriage for me."

Lin Jing immediately sat up straight, ready to hear this gossip.

"When the woman first came to visit relatives to arrange the engagement, many people in the village gathered in the street to watch," Zhao Shuyao described the scene. "Guess what? The woman who was not yet married into the family rode into the village on a black scooter."

Zhao Shuyao slapped his thigh.

"Do you know how I felt when I was hiding behind an adult's legs and saw that scooter?"

"How do you feel?" Lin Jing asked with a smile. "Envious? Or intrigued?"

"Of course I felt envious," Zhao Shuyao nodded in affirmation, "but more than that, I was shocked, extremely shocked."

Zhao Shuyao's smile faded, and his tone became serious.

"Reporter Lin, if I remember correctly, in the early 2000s, a fully imported or joint-venture scooter cost several thousand yuan for the cheapest one, and tens of thousands for a slightly better brand."

Zhao Shuyao stared into Lin Jing's eyes and gave a comparative figure: "That's nearly ten thousand yuan. You have to understand, in the rural areas of northern Jiangsu in those days, our whole family saved up for several years to build three large brick houses. Including bricks, tiles, and labor, it only cost a little over ten thousand yuan in total."

Lin Jing paused, her hand holding the pen still; this data comparison was extremely damaging.

"That's like a young woman riding on our three-room brick house on a dirt road!" Zhao Shuyao raised his voice an octave, his language extremely humorous yet shockingly realistic. "Tell me, at my age, how could I not be shocked to see a 'three-room brick house' that could run?"

A burst of suppressed laughter erupted in the suite, with Lin Jing even covering her lips with the back of her hand while laughing. This interview footage is sure to become a classic of the year.

Once the laughter subsided, Zhao Shuyao leaned back on the sofa, his smile fading and replaced by a sense of wisdom and composure born of experience.

"But reporter Lin, look at the situation now."

Zhao Shuyao's voice was steady, powerful, and resounding.

"If you go to our village now, you'll see that during the Spring Festival, almost every household has a car parked in front of their door. There are joint venture cars worth tens of thousands of yuan and domestic sedans worth tens of thousands of yuan everywhere."

"The sister-in-law who shocked me with her motorcycle back then, now her family has bought an SUV worth over 200,000 yuan, but it's nothing special, and the villagers don't even give it a second glance."

Zhao Shuyao interlaced his fingers again, staring intently at the main camera in front of him, as if looking through the lens at the keyboard warriors and nihilists on the internet.

"This is my most direct feeling: from not being able to afford meat to choosing brands, from hand sewing to door-to-door delivery, from thinking motorcycles were exorbitantly priced to cars becoming commonplace in every household."

"The lives of over a billion people on this land are improving at a visible rate every minute and every second." Zhao Shuyao's gaze was sharp, and his aura was fully unleashed. "This giant machine called social development has truly distributed dividends to my parents, my neighbors, and ordinary college students like myself."

He looked directly at Lin Jing, his tone carrying an undeniable confidence.

"With such an outstanding report card, what reason do I have to doubt it? What reason do I have not to believe it?"

"Those people online who want me to reflect and question, please provide a set of evidence that can refute my common sense claims. If they can provide it, I, Zhao Shuyao, will immediately question them."

Zhao Shuyao spread his hands, a mocking smile curving his lips.

"But I can't find a reason to doubt this system. I've exhausted all my historical records and life experiences, but I still haven't found one."

This concludes the paragraph.

The atmosphere in the suite froze completely. This was not just an interview; it was a complete declaration of class status. There was not a single flowery word; it was all down-to-earth data and everyday life. Yet, like a heavy artillery barrage, it blasted the logic of those so-called "reflectionist freaks" and "cultural compradors" to smithereens.

Lin Jing drew a heavy exclamation mark on the outline, and her gaze toward Zhao Shuyao was filled with obvious respect.

She knew that once this episode aired, Zhao Shuyao's influence would increase even further.

"Zhao, your answer has deeply impressed me. Being truthful and objective is the most essential pursuit of a journalist." Lin Jing took a deep breath to calm herself down.