Chapter 39: I'm Not Just Anyone Seeking Recommendation Tickets

  Loaded into the headquarters of AM TV, in the makeup room, Jester still felt a bit dizzy.

  A few hours of sleep was far from enough to make up for Jester's fatigue, but in order to film this episode, he had no choice but to force himself to perk up.

  The outdoor footage tapes shot earlier were originally planned to be brought by Jester, but considering the possible insufficient editing time, they were sent directly by airmail on the afternoon of the day after shooting and arrived at the headquarters of AM TV station one day in advance.

  WMAQ-TV took "Chicago Morning" very seriously, as evidenced by the fact that their bosses spared no expense in bringing in Oprah.

  To know that a host's salary is now only $30,000.

  Of course, Oprah did not disappoint everyone. As soon as she came, she carried out a drastic reform of the program. She removed all the topics that were unrelated to people's lives and replaced them with social hotspots and controversial issues that people cared about. She never does things that others are interested in, but instead, she always takes the lead in doing things that no one dares to do.

  But she won't do those other talk shows that intentionally set up sensational topics to attract audiences, such as exposing personal privacy or showcasing dysfunctional individuals and families for the sake of ridiculing people in distress. Oprah does the opposite - she tries to comfort and help them, making them feel better from within, through self-improvement.

  It's been almost a month since she took over as host of this show on AM TV, and the ratings have skyrocketed, not only catching up with Phil Donahue's talk show but also slightly surpassing it.

  "Oprah is a great host, you will definitely like her!" The middle-aged black woman who was styling Jester's hair was apparently a huge fan of Oprah, chatting enthusiastically about her as she wiped away his dark eye circles.

  Jester also couldn't help but nod along, pretending to be familiar with the topic, in order to show his agreement. In fact, he had only heard of Oprah's name in his past life and had never watched her shows, let alone in this life.

  "There are still twenty minutes." At this time, a staff member appeared at the door of the dressing room and shouted inside.

  "Isn't there a script for the interview?" Jester asked the staff with some curiosity, he remembered that in his previous life in the country, it was said that many such interview programs would give the interviewer a script in advance, which had the general questions that the host would ask, and if there were any topics that the interviewer did not want to mention, they could be marked out in advance, so that the entire interview would be more smooth and like a show.

  I didn't expect the staff member to just smile and say, "Ms. Oprah's interview doesn't have an interview script, you just need to go chat with her like a friend, before the formal recording, she will ask you what topics you don't want to be asked about or taboo topics, so you can rest assured."

  Jester nodded after listening, thinking that this was also okay. To be honest, he wasn't very fond of those interviews that seemed to have been arranged long in advance and were more like a show.

  This unarranged and casual interview style, as if chatting with friends, made him feel very interesting.

  The studio wasn't very big, with a sofa placed on the table, and a black woman in her thirties sat there looking at something seriously.

  And under the stage, there were also many spectators - Jester knew that most of them were relatives and friends of TV station staff. He had read some introductions about this type of program before, and it was not easy to find so many spectators temporarily.

  She occasionally looked towards the backstage entrance, and when she saw Jester's figure appear, she immediately stood up.

  Jester had seen Oprah's picture, of course it was after she became famous, at that time she was over fifty years old, but he could still see the shadow in the photo from the face of this seemingly young black woman in front of him.

  "Hello, Jester Lee, Chinese name Li Jie, you can call me Jes." Jester stepped forward and extended his right hand.

  "Oprah Winfrey, you can call me Oprah." Oprah also extended her own hand and shook it with Jester's, then gave him a hug.

  "Please sit down." Oprah then pointed to the sofa beside her, indicating for Jester to take a seat.

  "Jess, before we get started, I just want to ask, is there anything you don't want to be asked?" Oprah had no notes in her hand, she sat down casually like a friend and began the conversation with a smile.

  Yes, although Jester knew he was being interviewed and the other person was asking him questions, Oprah's extremely friendly tone made him really feel like he was having a conversation with a real friend, which is a rare hosting talent.

  "No." Jest shook his head with a smile and replied.

  "Alright then, let's get started with the recording?" Oprah said with a smile after hearing Jester's response.

  Jester nodded.

  Then Oprah made a gesture to one side, the person in charge of the camera crew nodded and replied with an OK gesture. At the same time, Oprah began her interview, or more accurately, chat.

  That's just how Jester feels anyway.

  "I heard you're only 19 years old? And a student at UCLA?"

  When Oprah asked this question, her tone was simple and surprised, which can also mobilize the audience's emotions. Especially when this episode is broadcast, it will make the audience think that the founder of Mars Entertainment, the producer of "American Blocks", is really a 19-year-old college student?

  This successfully piqued the audience's interest in continuing to watch, as the vast majority of people are interested in such topics.

  "Yes, I'm still a sophomore at UCLA studying electrical engineering. The summer break is over and I'll be starting my junior year soon." Jester replied with a smile.

  "It's amazing, I think about what I was doing at 19... um, it's a little hard to say. Oprah made a nostalgic expression and then continued in a somewhat disgusted tone, "I was just a mess back then, almost a complete bad girl, hanging out with the wrong crowd, smoking, drinking, taking drugs, getting deeper and deeper into trouble, doing all sorts of bad things, hardly seeing any hope, even if there was a chance for rebirth, it wouldn't have been me."

  Upon hearing this, Jester became very interested in Oprah's experiences. He had only heard of her name before, but wasn't familiar with her story. He never would have thought that the legendary figure's past was so dark. Moreover, a host, and a woman at that, dared to reveal some unmentionable experiences from her past on a TV show without any disguise, which requires tremendous courage. Not everyone dares to do this, especially a public figure.

  But Oprah dared, and was neither pretentious nor secretive about it.

  What Jester didn't know was that Oprah's childhood was almost dark, she was raped by her cousin at the age of nine and abused by several relatives... This experience was also revealed by Oprah herself on her show, where she painfully described her emotions, "I was nearly destroyed, for so many years I've been telling myself I've healed, but I haven't."

  "Regrettably." Jester heard Oprah's description and was momentarily at a loss for words, only able to utter this one sentence.

  "No." Oprah shook her head, her tone changing, no longer so low and pessimistic. With a slight rise in pitch, she gave Jester a sunny feeling, "Because of this, my mother had to send me to my father's place. They divorced when I was very young. My father completely changed me, just like Professor Higgins transforming Eliza Doolittle in 'Pygmalion'. He made an extremely detailed and strict reform plan for me - such as ordering me to recite 20 words every week, or else I wouldn't be allowed to eat."

  As she spoke, Oprah couldn't help but laugh out loud.

  Jest's face showed a look of surprise, for in his own country he had seen countless examples of such stern fathers, and this would also be widely publicized as a beautiful name, but America is different, you don't give a child food, no matter what your reason, that's abuse.

  It was supposed to be a condemnation, but Oprah said it so calmly and with a grateful expression on her face.

  It can be seen from her proud and admiring expression that she has great admiration and gratitude for her father.

  "He saved my life," Oprah said sincerely. "If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today."

  "My experience, there's nothing like yours..." For a moment, Jester couldn't think of an appropriate word to describe it.

  "Alright, that's your interview, you see, I was so caught up in our conversation, I almost forgot to ask you this. Almost made it mine." Oprah laughed and ended the previous topic, then started her new question, "I heard you're Asian? And your mother is white?"

  "Yes, my grandfather was a Chinese soldier who participated in World War II, fighting against the Japanese in China, where he was wounded and received medals. After the war ended, he came to America, which is also where my father was born that same year."

  In fact, this type of interview program doesn't need to ask some overly in-depth questions. What the audience is interested in is just a gimmick that a 19-year-old college student created a company with monthly sales exceeding $100 million. This is a typical American dream in many people's eyes, and it's a goal that countless people strive for.

  And they look at Jester now just like they looked at the founders of Apple and Microsoft when they dropped out, as a role model.

  They are not very interested in other information about Jester, they are interested in what kind of person Jester is. How did he succeed? How did he make that fascinating "American Blocks"? Will he drop out of school to start a business like Jobs and Gates?

  "Looking at your appearance, you can hardly see any mixed-blood characteristics. Generally, mixed-blood people have some features from both sides." After chatting for a few more sentences, Oprah suddenly asked curiously.

  "It's not actually, my nose is very similar to my mother's. It's rare for yellow people to have a nose like mine, it's just that the appearance is more pronounced, such as skin color, pupil color, hair color and so on, all followed from my father. "Jester smiled and suddenly shrugged his shoulders, saying with some humor, "Since most are what you said, then I'm the unusual one."

  Oprah was also amused by Jester's humor and burst out laughing.

  "So, your company is doing so well now, and you're still a student. What do you think? Will you continue with your studies or follow in the footsteps of successful predecessors and drop out to focus on your business?" Oprah finally asked the key question that had been on everyone's mind throughout this interview.

  Jester furrowed his brow at this question, and indeed it was somewhat difficult to answer.

  He wants to continue his studies, but as the company's business grows more and more, it will inevitably squeeze out his study time. In fact, he doesn't even have time to study, all his time must be invested in the company's affairs, this is a problem he has to face.

  Jester never thought that people lived just for making money, getting famous and gaining reputation, although part of the purpose of going to school was to get these.

  Live to old, learn to old. This sentence was often on Jester's lips before his rebirth. Learning is a pleasure for him, so he used to read extensively and explore various types of books. When encountering interesting and curious things, he would also study them, especially after becoming interested in games, he even self-studied several programming languages, although not very proficient, but can still make a few classic small games by following the example.

  And he also enjoys this kind of pleasure of acquiring knowledge.

  "I won't choose to drop out." Jester's tone was firm, his air one he had never had before, leaving no room for doubt.

  This also surprised Oprah, now it's not like ten or twenty years ago, with the precedent of Gates and Jobs in front, capable young people dropping out to start a business is not something to be ashamed of, but rather a trend. And this is indeed what one has to do, starting a company requires a lot of effort, very few people can manage to study hard while also running a company with sales of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.

  This kind of person can only appear in some fantasies.

  "I will continue with my studies, that's for sure. I'm really interested in electrical engineering and I think..." Jest said with a sudden humorous smile, continuing on.

  "Who knows what the future holds? Right now, it's probably the worst time for video games. I'm going against the trend, loudly shouting slogans to revive video games, choosing to go against almost everyone's predictions. Although my first game has many fans who support me, I believe there are far more people waiting to see me fail, and when my next game fails, it will make my fans despair of video games again, and my company will follow in the footsteps of Atari... Actually, saying this makes me seem a bit arrogant - my company is still far from being comparable to Atari. They'll be pointing at my company's corpse and laughing, that's what happens when you're arrogant... so..."

  Jester chuckled as he spoke, his somewhat humorous words drawing everyone's attention. Then, suddenly changing his tone, "When I want to find a job and live a normal life at that time, how do I write on my resume? A sophomore dropout, choosing an industry that everyone looks down on, losing enough money to buy your company...and finally the company goes bankrupt..." As he spoke, Jester himself couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  Then everyone burst out laughing with him.

  Including Oprah.