Chapter 165: A Concept with Multiple Benefits

"Sister Xin, are you leaving?" Little Tong's youngest daughter, who had spent the past few days accompanying Chen Xin through every corner of the mountain village, reluctantly tugged at Chen Xin's finger. "Sister Xin, will you come back?"

"I will. Sister Xin will come to see you." Chen Xin gently rubbed the little girl's head and left behind all the unfinished snacks she had brought for her. "Your second sister will be back tomorrow. Make sure you study hard with her. When you grow up and test into a school outside, Sister Xin will host a banquet to celebrate for you."

The little girl pouted, holding back her tears. Visitors were rare in their village, and even the occasional few were often unfriendly toward them. Because the village children were raised with free rein, they attended a nearby village primary school shared by three communities, walking to and from school in groups. Only when they reached the fifth or sixth grade and junior high would they go to the township school.

The little girl was not Tong Mei's biological daughter; Tong Mei had found her while gathering firewood in the mountains. The little girl probably sensed this somewhat, which made her deeply insecure. Even though Tong Mei and her two biological children treated the little girl no differently from the others, she still feared that one day her mother and sister would abandon her.

As for why the little girl might have been abandoned, Tong Mei had confided in Chen Xin that it was likely because her left leg was inherently shorter than her right.

It wasn't very noticeable when she walked, but it became quite obvious when she ran. Moreover, besides this, the little girl was born with six fingers on her left hand. When she was a little over two years old, worried that the child would grow up with an inferiority complex, Tong Mei borrowed money to take her to the county hospital for removal surgery. Now her hand looked no different from anyone else's, though a careful look would still reveal a slight difference.

The little girl had no memory of having six fingers; she only knew she could not run or jump vigorously, otherwise, her leg and hip bone would ache intensely.

The day before, Chen Xin had already sent the child's information to Bai Mengqing. She learned from Bai Mengqing that they were setting up a website dedicated to medical charity. Chen Xin didn't know all the specific details, but Bai Mengqing had said they could first submit the little girl's physical examination report, diagnosis results, and family background to be placed on file. If there were any relevant charitable aid programs in the future, the little girl would be able to apply immediately.

After packing her luggage, Chen Xin took the little girl's hand and went downstairs. She still needed to have one last lunch here, and at three in the afternoon, a vehicle heading to the county seat would pick her up.

"Auntie, are you really not planning to let your eldest son return to continue his studies and take the college entrance exam?" Chen Xin asked during the meal.

"Dawa has a mind of his own. I don't have much education and I don't know how to talk to him." Tong Mei took a few bites of her food, sighed, and put down her chopsticks. "I told him to come back and retake the year, but he said he wanted to go make money first and would only return to study once he had saved enough."

Tong Mei was also helpless. As a single woman, she was already utterly exhausted just keeping this family afloat. Her second daughter would be entering high school next semester, which also required money, not to mention the youngest daughter's schooling and medical expenses. To be honest, her heart ached seeing her eldest son go off to do manual labor, but inwardly, she also felt a sense of relief.

Chen Xin said nothing more. She couldn't pat her chest and promise to cover these expenses. Although the tuition for a year was truly negligible to her, how much could one person possibly shoulder? She couldn't make promises everywhere she went, could she? The most crucial thing was to enable their own families to generate income.

Yet, for this village to develop, it would take at least another decade or so. By that time, even if Tong Mei's eldest son wanted to return to campus, it would likely be impossible.

Chen Xin lacked the power to influence the grand macro-environment; she could only think of ways to help Tong Mei's family find a livelihood. But since she had no clear idea yet, she didn't bring it up, merely pondering it quietly to herself.

Bidding farewell to the village and Tong Mei's family, Chen Xin received a small parting gift from Tong Mei—an exquisite belt adorned with tiny silver bells.

This silver was not pure silver; rather, it was processed using the local artisans' wire-drawing techniques. Combined with local batik skills and unique ethnic embroidery and dyeing methods, the belt, set against a background of pure black coarse cloth, looked like a delicate work of art.

An idea grew increasingly clear in Chen Xin's mind. After checking into her hotel in the county seat, she called the busy Cheng Jie.

"What is it? We're setting up the filming location here, and it's chaotic. Can you hear me clearly?"

Cheng Jie answered the phone, gestured to Song Yi and Lü Yimeng, and retreated to a corner to talk.

Chen Xin's idea was to use their program to create a special feature on ethnic minority cuisine, while specifically collecting the most distinctive clothing and decorations of those ethnic groups. This would not only enhance the viewability of their show but also serve as a promotional tool for the invited ethnic groups.

A major advantage of their program was that both Lü Yimeng and Cheng Jie were formally employed by the state, with annual publicity quotas assigned to their unit. Doing this would allow them to fulfill their duties while boosting the show's ratings and earning favor with higher-ups—a multi-benefit opportunity that would be a pity to miss.

Although Cheng Jie was still nominally affiliated with her original unit, she was essentially directing her own production team independently. Having teamed up with Lü Yimeng and Song Yi, she was striving toward the planning side of things. Coupled with Lü Yimeng, who was well-versed in hosting and directing, and Song Yi, who was handsome, wealthy, and generated plenty of buzz, along with Chen Xin constantly gathering material from various places to enrich their database, the program had already garnered a good reputation among viewers despite having aired only two episodes. Lü Yimeng mentioned that the provincial television station had already approached her, hoping to transfer her there.

In Song Yi's hometown, the local television station lacked strong planning and directing capabilities, but it had no shortage of wealthy benefactors. Thus, through the introduction of Song Yi's eldest brother, negotiations for the purchase and broadcast of the program were proceeding smoothly. Barring any accidents, the show would be broadcast in Song Yi's hometown. Although the time slot wouldn't be prime time, it was tailored for elderly family members and housewives anyway, so there was no need to fight for prime-time slots.

Upon hearing Chen Xin's concept, Cheng Jie said she would discuss it with Sister Lü and the others shortly. If viable, she would ask Chen Xin to gather the information first so they could draft a proposal and then send a team to join Chen Xin in collecting filming materials.

With Cheng Jie's reply secured, Chen Xin didn't delay their time, merely transmitting the processed village data and the photos and videos she had captured to Cheng Jie so they could review them first.

Having already visited the county seat once before, she didn't linger too long this time. At ten o'clock the next morning, she boarded the bus for her next stop.

This leg of the journey was slightly longer, taking seven or eight hours with a somewhat bumpy ride. The national highway was fine, but the provincial highway was far harder to maintain. A section passing by a brick factory could hardly be called a road at all. Right there, the passengers on their long-distance bus were forced to disembark and walk more than half a mile before reboarding to continue the trip.