Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 48

Chapter 48: Trust Crisis

“I have a trust crisis with happiness.”

The host saw the stage manager’s reminder on the teleprompter, asking her to bring the topic back to the main theme.

There was no other way. The host had to pull Qin Luo’s topic back to prevent her from extending it further.

“This may be the pressure that women in their thirties face, the need to find a balance between work and family.”

She used a transitional phrase, “I’m sure Teacher Qin has also found a way to balance through her creation.”

The four huge words on the teleprompter opposite her, “Back to the topic,” made Qin Luo pull back her thoughts.

She forced a smile. “Creation is a question, and life is an answer. I’m still actively striving to find this balance.”

The conversation temporarily returned to the right track. Qin Luo shared some interesting stories from the book signing of Her Kill according to the script, which also served to build some hype for the movie.

Then the host moved the topic to sports.

“I’ve seen on Teacher Qin’s social media that she often posts photos of her exercising, such as hiking, working out, and rowing.”

Haha.

Qin Luo smiled awkwardly. Her official social media account was managed by the company, and the photos posted on it were all of her participating in public welfare projects, such as the carbon marathon for Environmental Protection Day, advocating for national fitness, and posed photos from her scholar’s tour.

Qin Luo had liked to exercise in the years after she graduated from college, but in these past few years, she simply couldn’t squeeze out the time. Besides Logos’s affairs, she also had to take care of the reading group and public welfare. The rest of her time had to be reserved for writing, eating, and sleeping.

For Qin Luo, fitness was only a short half-hour of meditation in the morning.

But mental fitness was also fitness.

Qin Luo knew she was on a live stream. She couldn’t tell the audience the truth, that she just wanted to lie down and do nothing when she got home.

She nodded in agreement. “Of course, I have to exercise outside of creation. Otherwise, my cervical spine can’t take it.”

“Since we’re talking about cervical spine discomfort…” The host looked at the flow chart. “Why don’t Teacher Qin and our sports experience officer do some stretching exercises? We’ve been sitting here for half a day. It’s a good time to relax.”

Because the time for the conversation about creation an hour ago had been compressed, the live stream planning team could only use the originally canceled interactive segment to save the day.

Qin Luo reluctantly stood up and looked at her casual clothes.

This was SD’s current season’s golf casual wear.

The casual wear was a slim-fit cut. To ensure comfort and flexibility during exercise, it was not too tight, and it was no problem to swing your arms.

But the person who came up from below the stage was a professional sports host, with a headband on her forehead and only a sports bra on her upper body.

Qin Luo looked at the live stream feedback. The visual impact was a little too strong in comparison.

Qin Luo smiled at the host. “You look so good. Why don’t I go down and change too? I feel like my clothes will hinder my movements.”

“No need, Teacher Qin. We’re going to do a cervical spine exercise. It’s for people like you who need to work on a computer. We hope that our friends in front of the screen can relax their bodies during their breaks.”

Just as Qin Luo was feeling a little constrained, a few more sports hosts came up from below the stage.

They were female experience officers of different ages and body types. The brand had specially added body type variables to avoid causing a public opinion storm about body image.

Qin Luo observed them.

The experience officers who had been invited all had “qualified” body types. The slightly stronger-looking girls were also the type who frequented the gym. The muscle lines on their bodies were very obvious and firm.

Hmm…

Seeing that the host team was all there, the host left the stage. The leader was a professional host. She adjusted her microphone and smiled at Qin Luo. “Teacher Qin, then let’s start warming up now.”

Qin Luo cooperatively rolled up her sleeves and followed the stretching with a serious expression.

The sports music started, the lights cooperated, and the host confidently and generously introduced the cervical spine exercise to the camera, demonstrating and counting at the same time.

Qin Luo stood in the second row and cooperated seriously. After more than ten minutes of activity, her rusty cervical spine was indeed effectively relieved.

At the end, she gave the leader a thumbs-up. “Hmm… this kind of cervical spine exercise is very suitable for office workers. The exercise is quiet, and it’s also very comfortable!”

“If Teacher Qin likes it, you can open the sports module of our official app. There are many quiet exercises in it, all of which are particularly suitable for office workers.”

At this point… the sports host took out her phone and began to teach the camera how to scroll down to find the official app.

While the beautiful sports girl in front was promoting it with all her might, Qin Luo heard a rustling sound from below the stage.

The director was holding up a large sign off-stage.

It said: “Model No. 2, get off the stage.”

What happened?

Curious, Qin Luo subconsciously glanced over. The well-built model was standing on the stage, looking a little embarrassed.

Qin Luo scanned her. There was nothing wrong with the brand’s underwear itself, and the experience officer’s body was also normal. It was just that under the mismatched relationship between the two, her armpit fat was squeezed out.

Well, this was a body part that was often seen in the Logos gym in the summer, especially after Liu Jia had started a tank top trend. The Logos behind-the-scenes podcast had even had a special episode on “The various and unstoppable armpit fat in the company.”

It was nothing to Qin Luo, but it was a bigger deal for a sports underwear brand.

The director took advantage of the gap while the official program was being introduced on camera to urge the group of “variable” experience officers to get off the stage.

Qin Luo awkwardly put her hands in her pockets and smiled at the camera. Then the host came on in time to save the day.

But a live stream is a live stream. It is subject to public scrutiny, and no detail can escape the fate of being supervised, including all kinds of viewers and the rival’s water army.

The bullet screen was quickly covered.

The live stream team first had the host lead a lottery event, but a mere ten sets of underwear could not cover up the public opinion hidden in the dark.

Public opinion is also a murder weapon.

[What size is that experience officer wearing? Why is it so tight?]
[A sports bra that costs hundreds of yuan, and it has no sense of security at all.]
[I feel like the shock absorption effect is also average.]
[Return.]

Of course, it also included a group of fans who had come for Qin Luo.

[Sister, isn’t armpit fat a normal phenomenon? Men have it too. Don’t be too hard on yourself!]
[What does this have to do with weight? I’m an A cup and I have armpit fat.]
[The bullet screen is really something. The liberation of the main breast is still in progress, and now we’re judging the armpit fat?]
[Can you go and read up on human anatomy before you show off your intelligence? That’s not armpit fat. The underwear just doesn’t fit.]

A topic that had not been in focus had formed a communication gap under the watershed of concepts.

You say you’re right.
I say I’m right.

The live stream feedback screen in front of Qin Luo was very large. She could see her delayed every move, and of course, she could also see the enlarged bullet screen.

The director asked the host not to respond.

So the host could only avoid the topic discussion on the bullet screen and asked Qin Luo a second question, “How does Teacher Qin feel?”

Qin Luo really couldn’t ignore the discussion on the bullet screen, but she also couldn’t disregard the brand’s life and death.

She reluctantly patted her cervical spine. “The exercise did relieve the pressure on my joints.”

“Then do you have any interesting sports stories to share in your daily life?” the host asked.

Qin Luo twirled the ring on her finger. “Sports is the best practice for long-termism. I think the thing that is least likely to let you down is sports.”

The host nodded. “Teacher Qin is right. Sports is indeed something that requires persistence.”

Qin Luo shook her head. “Long-termism has nothing to do with persistence. It’s the scope of the impact of our current decisions on the future.”

“For example, sports and artistic creation are actually painful in the process of practice. Whether it’s aerobic or anaerobic, whether it’s a creative bottleneck or a creative misunderstanding, they all continuously bring substantial pain to the body.”

“But you know that this decision of yours is correct, and you firmly believe that you will be rewarded in the future. You have to constantly instill the concept of long-termism in your mind in order to be able to perform the practice with weight and pain, thereby achieving persistence. It is the long-termism that takes root in the body that leads to persistence.”

“As I said before, I have two sets of language fabrics in my body, intertwined. One of them commands me to practice long-termism. In order to achieve a certain happiness in the future, I must long-term obey its moral commands.”

Qin Luo spoke quietly. The discussion on the bullet screen did not stop. It seemed that no one wanted to hear what she was saying.

The host also had a hard time changing the topic, so she simply nodded. “I can relate to what you’re saying, especially when you’re very tired from exercising. Your body wants to give up, but there’s a voice in your brain that restricts you and urges you on.”

Qin Luo nodded.

“Yes. As I created different characters and observed diverse lives, I gradually discovered that… real humans are worse than literary characters. Violence is an innate social attribute of humans, a habitual invasion and possession.

The emergence of language was not to call friends, but more to resolve conflicts.

Compared to mutual dependence, people are actually more easily angered, and even tirelessly create trouble.

So society has established a legal system to restrain violence. And this moral system has been attached to us since birth. It is only used to maintain order. And in this order, we have our own roles to play.”

Qin Luo looked at the constantly disputed feedback screen and smiled. “For example, the armpit fat that we must cover up.”

The host’s smile stiffened. She was frantically thinking of how to save the situation, and then she heard Qin Luo find an excuse for herself:

“Of course, what role we play is determined by our life experience. Everyone has a set of private morals.”

“Some people think that the existence of armpit fat is reasonable, some people think that beauty is supreme, and some people think that it is irrelevant.”

At this, Qin Luo gently pushed up her glasses.

The words on the bullet screen were jumping frequently. She saw one vivid life after another in those comments.

She could even see their lives from the words and punctuation on the bullet screen.

“Harshness is a common emotion in the process of moral stripping.”

“When I was writing Her Kill, my body was in a very harsh and heavy state, so I didn’t know how to deal with my own happiness and future.”