Chapter 47: When a Koi travels, you must protect yourself!

In the lottery shop, Jin Li spoke in a low voice, saying she wanted to buy seven stacks of scratch-off cards.

She wasn't buying them to scratch for herself; they were purely intended as gifts.

Jin Li actually wanted to scratch them herself, but whenever the thought arose, she would always have a mysterious premonition—don't touch them!

She believed deeply in her intuition; since her intuition told her not to touch them, she wouldn't.

However, simply buying them to give away to others didn't trigger any such feeling.

The shop manager had misheard at first and said casually, "Seven cards is fine. Pick whatever you want; we have plenty here, as long as you don't damage the surface."

Jin Li shook her head. "No, I want seven stacks."

The manager heard her clearly this time and said bluntly, "We don't have those." He pointed to a sign standing on the glass table. Jin Li looked over, and it read—

[Friendly Reminder: Scratch-off cards create tension and supply is limited. Our shop was only allocated a small quota this month. To ensure every customer has a chance to play, there is a limit of 10 cards per person per day! We ask for your cooperation!]

Jin Li silently gave him a thumbs-up. "You really know how to do business!"

The manager said with a grin, "Otherwise, if you bought a stack and someone else bought a stack, my entire month's inventory would be cleared out by you two in a week. How would I keep the shop open for the rest of the month?"

Another customer urged, "Yeah, young lady, you can't buy for your friends. If you're not buying, move aside; I'm in a hurry to buy some so I can scratch them in front of the God of Wealth Temple up the mountain to catch some of his luck or some Koi luck."

Hearing this, another customer asked curiously, "Auntie, does scratching them in front of the God of Wealth Temple really work?"

The manager said with great authority, "It really works. Ever since Jin Li did that and won 200,000, young people come here every day to buy lottery tickets. They specifically run to the God of Wealth Temple to scratch them. Even if they don't win 200,000, they still win a few thousand or so. Just yesterday, someone here won 5,000 yuan after buying only a single 10-yuan ticket. Tell me, isn't that effective?"

The others said in unison, "It's effective!"

As for Jin Li...

She just wanted to finish her purchase and escape the scene as quickly as possible.

If people found out she was the actual Jin Li, she glanced at the number of people in the shop and wondered if she could even break through the crowd to get out.

Since the cards were limited per person, Jin Li didn't buy any for Sister Fang, telling her to go buy her own.

Ten minutes later, Sister Fang successfully emerged from the lottery shop and quickly climbed into the car.

The first thing she said wasn't about the lottery shop, but rather, she said to Jin Li with great earnestness

"You have to protect yourself!"

Jin Li:???

She felt a chill run down her spine.

Sui Lingfang continued, "Do you know what I heard while I was queuing? I heard some aunts and uncles saying they were looking for a chance to get one of your items to catch some of your Koi luck. Those young people are even more crazed; they're saying they want to find out your itinerary and stake out your locations just to see if they can touch you and soak up some of that luck."

Jin Li's eyes widened, and she asked nervously, "Is it really that exaggerated?"

She said, somewhat guiltily, "I'm not a real Koi. Finding me won't do them any good!"

Sui Lingfang shrugged. "Don't tell me that; go tell them."

Jin Li thought for a moment. "Are there any interview-type engagements lately? I want to do an interview to clarify this 'Koi luck' thing."

Sui Lingfang hesitated. "There are, but the 'Koi' persona suits you quite well, and it's good for marketing if you're tied to it. Are you sure you want to clarify it?"

Jin Li smiled, her eyes filled with composure.

"Sister Fang, I don't play up personas. Although it might bring me a lot of traffic, those who become famous by relying on a persona will eventually be consumed by it. A persona can make the audience remember you, but it's also a shackle that binds you. I believe that relying on my true self will allow me to go much further."

As her manager, how could Sui Lingfang not know this?

There were pros and cons to celebrities playing up personas; the industry had analyzed this tactic countless times, and everyone wanted to replicate the case of someone skyrocketing to top-tier status through a persona.

But sudden surges in traffic are often impossible to hold onto.

Forget a year; sometimes you can't even hold it for a month.

Unfortunately, there are too many newcomers in the entertainment industry, and to stand out, one must provide the audience with a distinct memory point.

She thought about it and felt that given Jin Li's status, whether there was a persona or not wasn't actually that important; after all, Jin Li already had enough popularity.

And relying on the memory point of being a "Pink Girl Member" was enough.

Sui Lingfang nodded. "Alright, I'll arrange it for you. I recently received an interview notice from 'An Appointment with You,' specifically inviting you for a 30-minute to 1-hour interview. Originally, I thought your status wasn't stable enough and that it was too early to do an interview to talk about your journey—I wanted you to reach A-list status first. But if you want to strip away the persona, this is a good choice."

Jin Li was somewhat surprised; she had heard of "An Appointment with You."

This interview program was quite old, having been running for over a decade. While it couldn't compete with variety shows in terms of traffic, many stars were willing to go on it to let the public re-acquaint themselves with them.

She nodded. "Let's go with that one."

The two left the Taoist temple, but instead of returning to the apartment, they went to the company.

Originally, Sui Lingfang wanted to drop Jin Li off at the apartment first and then head to the company herself, but Zou Da called and asked Jin Li to come along, so the car took a detour.

Sitting in the car, Jin Li took out her phone to photograph the souvenirs and scratch-off cards she had bought, sending a message to both group chats.

[Everyone gets a share. If it's convenient to come pick them up, come to my place. If not, send me your address and I'll mail them to you. PS: The number of scratch-off cards is limited, first come, first served. However, I will be making a few more trips later, so I'll ensure everyone gets one.]

As soon as this message was posted, everyone began saying the number of scratch-off cards was too small.

Jin Li: [The manager has purchase limits [doge emoji]. Only 10 cards per person per day. If you think it's too few, you can go yourself; no one is cheating you.]

Chen Lin had begged his own captain several times this afternoon and finally managed to bypass Gu Cheng to be added back into the group. Seeing Jin Li's message, he immediately started typing, wanting to ask why there were limits.

Almost as soon as Jin Li sent the message, Gu Cheng's message followed immediately.

Gu Cheng: [I want one of each souvenir and one scratch-off card. Bring them to me next time we meet.]

Yan Xingdong: [+1 to the guy above]

Ji Qinglian: [+1]

Luo Yi: [+1]

Chen Lin immediately deleted the half-finished sentence he was typing. Just as he was about to press "+1," Jin Li's message arrived.

Jin Li: [Only souvenirs left. Scratch-off cards are sold out. drinking_coffee.jpg]

Chen Lin: [...]

This was definitely not his imagination; he had been incredibly, incredibly unlucky lately!

Jin Li and Sui Lingfang returned to the company.

Jin Li thought the company had called her to hear the outcome of the handling of the Lyu Shanjie incident. She had already heard the whole thing in the car and knew the matter had trended on social media.

If the incident were allowed to ferment and grow larger, it might be bad; perhaps the company wanted her to issue a statement.

But to her surprise, the company didn't mention the incident at all. Instead, they handed her two "big cakes" (empty promises/grand prospects).

Zou Da looked at her with a kind and gentle expression. "We just received notice that Maozhua Live wants to establish a long-term strategic partnership with you. I wonder if you'd be interested in being the spokesperson for Maozhua Live?"