Chapter 45: I Worship Myself (4K, Please Keep Reading)

Chapter 45: I'll Worship Myself ^_^ (4K words, please keep reading)

Jin Li's words extinguished Gu Cheng's enthusiasm for visiting the God of Wealth, and she didn't send any more messages.

Glancing at her phone, Jin Li reflected on herself—had she been too discouraging regarding his enthusiasm for visiting the Taoist temple?

So, Jin Li sent another message.

[Besides, even if you come now, you won't make it. I'm already halfway there, and your dormitory must be quite far from the temple.]

Jin Li: [How about this, I'll bring back some local specialties from the temple for you and your March Sky dorm mates. I'll send you photos when I get there, and you can pick whatever you want. The temple is quite large, so there are plenty of souvenirs.]

Gu Cheng: [^_^]

Gu Cheng: [No need for specialties. I'll send you my portrait. See if there are any clay sculptors nearby and have them sculpt me.]

Jin Li: [...]

Gu Cheng: [You're right.]

He typed the line unhurriedly, calm and composed.

Gu Cheng: [I'll worship myself ^_^]

Jin Li:...

Looking at that smiling emoticon now, she felt a chill down her spine.

Even though she was the one who suggested it, if he actually did it, she would back down instantly.

Jin Li: [No, no, no, forget it. It's not good to worship yourself. I'll just bring back a few shiny, golden statues of the God of Wealth for you. It's a deal!]

Chen Lin: [Weakly raises a hand. Gu Cheng doesn't want souvenirs, but I really do! Sister Li, can you bring one for me? I feel like I've been having really bad luck lately.]

Jin Li's conversation with Gu Cheng was taking place in the group chat created by Ji Qinglian.

The conversation was perfectly normal and nothing to hide; everyone could see their chat history.

Ji Qinglian: [+1. Li-bao, remember to bring back some lottery tickets for me.]

Yan Xingdong: [+1]

Luo Yi: [+1]

Gu Cheng: [+1]

Chen Lin: [@Gu Cheng, didn't you say you didn't want anything?]

Chen Lin was lying leisurely on the sofa, waiting for Gu Cheng's reply, but what he received instead was—

[You have been kicked from the group by the group owner.]

Chen Lin:!!!

Jin Li arrived at the Taoist temple smoothly. Since it was the weekend, the temple was crowded.

This time, she chose a white T-shirt paired with light blue jeans, a beige hat, and a pink mask, intentionally pulling the brim of her hat low.

Her skin was fair, her figure was exceptionally well-proportioned, and her long, black, silky hair flowed loosely. As she walked, she attracted the gaze of many tourists.

However, with Sui Lingfang following alongside, the two of them walked arm-in-arm, looking around just like any other tourists, which was much better than being alone. People only glanced at them for a moment before looking away.

*I love this. Is this what safety feels like?*

Jin Li couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.

Because she had been in a rush last time and didn't dare wander around, this time she made a point to browse thoroughly with Sui Lingfang, intending to buy gifts. She ended up buying over a dozen interesting little trinkets on the spot.

Sui Lingfang asked, "Why are you buying so much?"

Jin Li: "The things in the temple are quite nice. I'll buy some to give as gifts. For example, this red string—I think it's quite good; it can ward off evil."

Sui Lingfang hadn't intended to buy anything, but she felt tempted after hearing this. "Does it really work?"

Jin Li thought for a moment and said, "It's not certain. With many things, if you believe they work, they do; if you don't believe, they don't."

Since a red string wasn't expensive, Sui Lingfang bought one and even praised Jin Li's thoughtfulness in gift-giving.

"In the future, when you meet people in the industry with whom you have a decent relationship, give them things more often. It doesn't need to be anything expensive; as long as the intention is there, they will remember you."

Sui Lingfang felt that Jin Li was actually very suited for the entertainment industry.

She was rational, saw through things clearly, knew how to conduct herself, and didn't care too much about trivial matters.

Perhaps it was because her health was poor that she couldn't afford to care.

But this kind of temperament was actually what allowed one to last long in the entertainment industry.

Stars who obsessed over temporary gains and losses often fell into mental exhaustion, torturing themselves and others, leading to very tense relationships with their teams.

While Jin Li and Sui Lingfang were browsing the temple, the production team of *PICK~ Next Station Diva* was holding an emergency meeting.

According to the program's schedule, today, Saturday, was the day the first half of the second episode would air, and the initial rehearsal for the third episode would also begin.

All the stars scheduled for rehearsals had arrived, even the controversial figure of the group, Lian Baozhi.

Her rehearsal was scheduled for the evening, so she didn't need to come in the afternoon. She had come early this time hoping to communicate with the person in charge, apologize, and explain that the previous errors were due to her manager's mistakes, and so on.

While the production team sent people to handle her, they organized a small meeting.

The main purpose of this meeting was to analyze the data after the second episode aired and to summarize the "explosive points" so they could incorporate them into the third episode.

Although the second episode had only been out for five hours, the success or failure of a variety show could be seen from its early stages.

Not to mention that *PICK~ Next Station Diva* always saw its highest traffic on the first day of airing, followed by a gradual decline.

In the meeting room, the analyzed data pointed in two directions.

The first direction was the boy group, March Sky.

March Sky lived up to their reputation as the most popular top-tier boy group of the past two years; they were masters at generating traffic, and their fans accounted for a large portion of the audience.

The second direction was the hype surrounding the reunion of the Pink Girl Group.

The Pink Girl Group also lived up to their status as the most popular girl group of three years ago, without exception. The fans attracted by Jin Li and Ji Qinglian were almost entirely new fans.

What did "new fans" mean?

It meant that these fans hadn't watched the first episode but jumped straight into the second.

Looking at the new fan data from the backend, this level of traffic generation was completely comparable to the millions they had spent on external promotion for the second episode.

Compared to the talent fee paid to invite Jin Li, the return was massive.

"Since the effect of the Pink Girl Group combined with the March Sky boy group is so good, why don't we continue to invite Jin Li for the third episode?"

In the midst of a silence, a staff member spoke up.

As soon as he spoke, it triggered a chain reaction; others chimed in one after another, all feeling that inviting Jin Li back would achieve even better results.

"If I had known the Pink Girl Group's fans were this fierce, we should have invited all the members of the group from the start to gather them on one show," someone said with great regret.

Another person said, "The planning team actually thought of that at the time. They sent invitations to the other members, but they were all rejected.

Before the first episode was even recorded, Jin Li's health was poor, so we didn't send her an invitation. When the others saw that Jin Li wasn't going, they didn't go either.

Additionally, LP told us they didn't want the Pink Girl Group to reunite. So even if we had invited Jin Li back then, they wouldn't have reunited, and Ji Qinglian wouldn't have come."

Mentioning LP, everyone thought of the incident in the official group where Lian Baozhi and her manager were scolded, and they couldn't help but exchange glances.

"So, should we continue to invite Jin Li? There is no mentor pairing segment in the third episode. If we really want her to come, we'll have to find another way."