Chapter 50: How Can One Have It All in This World?

Jinli arrived in Haikou with Sister Fang.

Before stepping onto the island, she made a point of looking at the Mazu Temple on the nearby mountain.

She was craving it!

However, she had just worshipped the God of Wealth not long ago and was currently full of energy; there was no rush to go worship Mazu.

Upon arriving on the island, specialized staff members were waiting at the entrance this time. Seeing Jinli and Sui Lingfang, they were incredibly warm and friendly, showering them with compliments the moment they spoke.

They praised Jinli for her healthy, rosy complexion and praised Sister Fang as a shrewd and capable career woman, leaving the two of them feeling a bit embarrassed by the staff's enthusiasm.

As the saying goes, "one does not strike a smiling face," and since the production team was showing such sincerity, Jinli and Sister Fang maintained smiles on their faces, making no mention of the incident involving Lian Baozhi and Lyu Shanjie.

Once the two reached a private dressing room and the staff member left, Sui Lingfang’s expression darkened.

She locked the door and turned to Jinli, saying, "Back at the main gate, I saw several reporters taking photos of us. I expect entertainment news will break soon with headlines like [Jinli enters the program with a smile, debunking rumors of a fallout]."

Jinli was slightly surprised, then realized: "The production team intentionally let the reporters in to leak information covertly?"

She had seen them when she entered as well, holding large DSLRs; she had assumed they were tourists.

But thinking about it now, when she had first come to record, the main gate wouldn't even allow people to approach with cameras, let alone walk around.

Having so many people standing at the entrance today was highly unusual.

Sui Lingfang snorted. "It was definitely intentional. Since they've invited you here, they certainly want to use us to salvage their reputation, and they've calculated that we won't make a scene."

How could she even respond to that?

First, Jinli wasn't refusing to participate in the show; second, celebrities aren't afraid of being photographed; and third, they were still in a period of cooperation, so regarding matters of clarification, Jinli could only tacitly allow it.

Ultimately, she wasn't the one losing out.

Having understood everything, Jinli remained calm. "Since we've accepted the production team's appearance fee, it's a normal exchange of interests for them to use me to clarify certain matters. It's nothing."

Sui Lingfang nodded. "This kind of thing will only increase in the future. As long as you don't feel wronged, it's fine. Some celebrities want to take all the benefits without putting in any effort."

Jinli smiled. "There's no such thing as having it both ways in this world. I don't mind; besides, these things won't affect my popularity. Why should I be angry at a 'Money-Dispensing Boy'?"

"If it were an ordinary person, imagine being able to earn 300,000 just by letting an entertainment reporter take a photo to clarify a rumor. Would they be willing or not?"

Seeing that Jinli understood the situation perfectly, Sui Lingfang didn't say much more and changed the subject.

"However, I'll have to have the company keep an eye on these clarification press releases. We can't let the reporters write whatever they want. You are only reconciling with the production team, not necessarily with Lian Baozhi. We must prevent people from trying to ride the coattails of this situation."

While Sui Lingfang went to make a phone call, Jinli, under the guidance of a staff member, began familiarizing herself with the "building sweep" (scouting) process.

The official recording was scheduled for tomorrow. Jinli looked over the script; it wasn't too difficult, consisting of three shots and one singing performance.

She planned to stay at the Mazu Temple tonight and power through the entire process tomorrow.

"Hello, Teacher Jinli. I'll take you through tomorrow's route." Not long after Jinli finished reading the script in the dressing room, someone knocked on the door and called out from outside.

Jinli opened the door and, seeing her name tag, realized she was a producer, which gave her a momentary pause.

The production team was certainly putting on quite a show.

Initially, she hadn't thought that the production team was involved in Lian Baozhi delaying her rehearsal; she had simply thought there was a major flaw in the planning.

But now, *PICK~ Next Station Diva* was treating her too well. Whether it was the treatment for recording the third episode or the staff sent to receive her, everything felt excessively enthusiastic.

When things are too unusual, there is usually something fishy going on.

If the production team were truly uninvolved, there would be no need to be this warm toward her.

This attitude actually gave Jinli a sense of "guilt" on their behalf.

As Jinli followed the producer out, she casually picked up her phone and sent a message to Sui Lingfang, asking her to find out if anyone in the production team had been suspended.

At the same moment, the assistant, having finished gathering information, reported everything to Lian Baozhi.

Lian Baozhi was still in the LP (Luxury Penthouse), planning to head to the island shortly.

Her rehearsal time was still scheduled for tonight, but she intended to arrive early to make an impression on the production team's higher-ups and show a sufficiently apologetic attitude.

Upon hearing that Jinli had already arrived, she couldn't help but frown. Her footsteps, which were about to leave, paused, and she sat back down.

"Forget it, I won't go. I'll go in the evening," Lian Baozhi said slowly after much deliberation.

She still didn't know how to face Jinli. Apologizing to her was out of the question. Lyu Shanjie had taken the fall for this alone; if she apologized to Jinli, wouldn't that imply she was also at fault?

Apologizing was impossible—absolutely impossible.

Lian Baozhi planned to handle the matter with "cold treatment," so she asked about something else: "Where is Lyu Shanjie? Has she been found?"

The little assistant glanced at Lian Baozhi's expression and said cautiously, "Sister Baozhi, people are saying Sister Shan went traveling abroad."

Lian Baozhi's hand holding the cup trembled slightly—out of pure rage.

Some water spilled over the edge of the cup onto her hand, but she didn't care, taking a furious gulp.

"Hiding abroad? There's a mess of trouble waiting for her to handle domestically, and she just runs off like that? How irresponsible!"

The little assistant lowered her head tremulously, not daring to speak.

She thought to herself: *Sister Shan has already been suspended; what more does she want? Does she have to come back to work overtime at any moment without pay, like a beast of burden?*

...

As Jinli and the producer were walking downstairs, Gu Cheng, who had opened a window upstairs for ventilation, saw them. He said, "Sister Li is here."

Chen Lin, the curious child, immediately crowded around to look. "Where... I see her, she's right downstairs... Huh, she's gone, she walked away!"

Luo Yi and Yan Xingdong didn't even bother to look. Luo Yi said calmly, "Only the four of us live in this building; it's the boys' dormitory. No matter how you think about it, she won't be doing a building sweep here. She'll be going to the girls' dormitory."

Gu Cheng said thoughtfully, "But I remember the recording doesn't start until tomorrow."

Yan Xingdong added casually, "She's probably coming early to scout the location. I heard Teacher Jinli has very few engagements and isn't that busy."

Chen Lin was puzzled. "Her popularity is so high now, yet she has little work?"

Gu Cheng said succinctly, "Her health isn't great. I heard her company treats her well and hasn't scheduled too many gigs for her."

Seeing that Gu Cheng had already started changing clothes, Yan Xingdong couldn't help but ask, "Where are you going?"

Gu Cheng: "There's no rehearsal this morning. I'll go follow her and see. It's boring here anyway."

Chen Lin immediately said, "I'm coming too!"

Luo Yi and Yan Xingdong exchanged a glance and said in unison, "We're going too!"

How could they miss something so fun?

Back with Jinli.

Although the "building sweep" and psychological counseling processes were tedious, the actual recording was not complicated.

Led by the producer, Jinli arrived at a practice room where dozens of trainees were already waiting for her.