Chapter 122: New Ideas for the Blood Sugar Experiment; One Task Needs No Second Master; Tricking a Crowd of People

Night fell.

Jin Li continued her live study session.

Shortly after going live, she received a call from Xiang Jinli; after a brief exchange, she hung up.

Some viewers posted in the live chat, curiously asking what had happened.

Jin Li glanced at the screen, saw the question, and casually replied, "It's about the filming of the public welfare charity short film. The cast list was announced today; my agent informed me that Mengmeng and I have been selected."

She then shifted topics, "Alright, let's not get distracted; let's continue studying."

After speaking, Jin Li lowered her head and resumed studying on her own.

In contrast, the viewers in the live room remained unsettled for a long time.

[Finally got a gig! That wasn't easy!]

[Ever since I became a fan of Jin Li, I've worried daily about her gigs, fearing my little one would quit the industry on me.]

[Baby Li has no awareness of being the female second lead in a hit drama. Qiu Qiwen and that Chen Geng are constantly appearing on variety shows and have already rumored to have signed on for a second series, but what about Baby Li?]

[Baby Li is working hard too, studying diligently~]

Among all celebrities, Jin Li was arguably the only one whose fans felt such joy just from her landing a single gig.

Meanwhile, Xue Hao was facing stalled progress in his experiments.

He took out his phone, intending to discuss with other friends to see if they could spark a brainstorming session.

Just then, he saw a push notification from Cat Paw—

[The Jin Li live room you follow is now broadcasting]

Xue Hao paused, startled. Jin Li?

Who was that?

After a moment, he recalled: Wasn't this the study streamer recommended by Zou Weichun?

Half-skeptical, Xue Hao clicked into the live room again.

He muttered to himself, "Can it really be that magical? Old Zou said he got his inspiration in her study room, but when I watched before, I felt nothing."

He entered the study room once more.

Glancing at the live chat, Xue Hao found it a bit noisy and turned it off.

He simply watched Jin Li study.

After watching for a few minutes, Xue Hao thought this study streamer was quite quiet.

Although the material she studied was basic, she was very serious about it.

This made Xue Hao want to study along with her.

He adjusted his phone screen, propping it upright on the desk, and took out a biology paper to read.

As Xue Hao read, he pondered his own research topic.

Light perception, regulation, blood sugar, metabolism, neural mechanisms...

He recalled the experiments his team had conducted.

Several hours of light exposure significantly reduced glucose tolerance in the mice.

In mammals, light perception primarily relies on three types of photoreceptor cells in the retina.

Besides the classic cones and rods that mediate image vision, light can also directly activate a third type of photoreceptor on the retina—the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs)...

ipRGCs innervate numerous downstream brain regions, thereby regulating functions such as the pupillary light reflex, circadian rhythms, sleep, and emotional cognition.

So, the question arose.

Through which photoreceptor cells does light reduce glucose tolerance?

As Xue Hao pondered, a sudden flash of insight struck his mind.

Perhaps he should use genetic engineering methods to knock out the light-sensing capabilities of each of these three cell types one by one, to see which photoreceptor cell correlates with glucose tolerance.

Act on the thought immediately!

Xue Hao suddenly stood up, grabbed his phone, and without even bothering to close the live stream, directly called his team.

"I have a new idea..."

The scene shifted back to Jin Li.

She did not know that another shining star was about to slowly rise.

After completing her routine two hours of deep study, Jin Li put down her exercise book and picked up a physics paper instead.

Physics papers were actually more complex than ordinary high school knowledge.

There were vast sections of derivations that she completely failed to understand.

Content she couldn't understand felt like reading an indecipherable heavenly script.

Even with the "half the effort, twice the result" focus effect, Jin Li found it somewhat difficult to digest.

So she decided not to force it.

Look it up, look it up thoroughly!

Whenever she encountered an unfamiliar term, she would look up information on that specific term.

Driven by this determination to trace everything to its source, Jin Li read advanced physics papers while fiercely cramming the most basic physics knowledge.

The entire hour was spent looking up materials.

Yet during this hour, Jin Li felt more exhausted than after two hours of solving problems.

Her brain felt dizzy.

As Jin Li ended the live stream, she thought: For any task, even acquiring a small piece of knowledge, reaching a profound level is never easy!

Two days later.

It was the first day of filming for the public welfare short film!

Jin Li and Xi Mengze first met at the company, then departed together in the company vehicle to the designated location.

Upon arriving at the company, Jin Li bumped into Gong Jiajia.

Gong Jiajia looked somewhat nervous and said stiffly, "Sister Jin Li, I came to the company specifically to wait for you. I... I just wanted to ask you something."

Jin Li exchanged a glance with Xi Mengze, then said, "Go wait for me in the van first; I'll be there shortly."

Xi Mengze nodded. "Alright."

After Xi Mengze left, Gong Jiajia relaxed slightly but remained very tense.

Jin Li smiled at her. "Take a few deep breaths; don't be nervous. Just say whatever is on your mind."

Following her advice, Gong Jiajia took several deep breaths and said, "Here's the situation: this weekend I have the finals of a singing competition where I can invite a guest singer. I wanted to ask if you could be my guest singer?"

"A guest singer?"

Jin Li asked thoughtfully, "This weekend? The timing is a bit tight; there are only four days left. Have you finalized your song yet?"

Gong Jiajia shook her head. "Not yet. I wanted to confirm the guest singer before finalizing it."

Jin Li thought for a moment and said, "How about this: I'll give you my answer tonight. By the way, have you mentioned this to Sister Fang?"

Gong Jiajia hesitated. "I haven't mentioned it to Sister Fang yet. I... I was just a bit afraid of being rejected."

Jin Li laughed. "You need to discuss this with your agent first and hear her opinion. What she gives you might not be the most perfect solution, but it will be the safest.

If you can't even trust her, how can you hope to improve together with her in the future?"

Gong Jiajia panicked slightly. "Can I go talk to my agent now?"

Jin Li replied, "Yes, go ahead and talk to her first."

Only after Gong Jiajia left did Jin Li walk out of the company.

Once inside the car, Xi Mengze proactively asked, "What did that young girl want with you?"

Jin Li said, "Nothing much; she wanted to invite me to be a guest singer for the finals."

Xi Mengze let out an "Oh." "If you want to go, go; if you don't, then don't."

Jin Li pondered for a while. "My singing is just average, and with only four days left, I'm not sure if I can coordinate well."

Xi Mengze curled her lips. "Come on, if someone as idle as you can't coordinate well in four days, then how could any busy person do better?

She sought you out probably because your popularity is high right now, and she wants you to give her a boost."

"I know. I'm familiar with this artist; I had high hopes for her back when we were recording 'PIKC~Next Stop Diva.'

She debuted through a competitive music variety show but didn't make it into a group, so she urgently needs a championship title to her name. It's understandable that she approached me."

Jin Li was quite familiar with Gong Jiajia's situation.

Back then, she and Sister Fang had discussed Gong Jiajia's career path, both agreeing that she urgently needed a championship title.

"However, she didn't approach her agent." Jin Li sighed. "Approaching me privately makes things a bit difficult for me.

If I tell her agent, I'm afraid Sister Fang might feel uncomfortable.

After all, Gong Jiajia bypassed her and came directly to me, which is a bit of an overstep.

But if I don't tell Sister Fang, I really do want to help this young girl.

Nowadays, it's truly not easy for an artist to make a name for themselves.

Xi Mengze thought for a moment and said, "We can only say that more communication is needed. Sister Fang is indeed a bit domineering; newcomers without much experience can't handle an agent like her."

Just as Jin Li and Xi Mengze were setting off, Gong Jiajia also arrived at Sui Lingfang's office.

Seeing her, Sui Lingfang looked somewhat surprised. "Didn't you say you were going to practice singing? Why are you here?"

Gong Jiajia twisted her fingers together, lowered her head, closed her eyes, and blurted everything out in one breath.

"For the finals this weekend, I can invite a guest singer, so I took the liberty of approaching Sister Jin Li to ask if she could be my guest singer. I didn't communicate with Sister Fang beforehand. I'm sorry!"

Sui Lingfang frowned. "For something this big, you should have told me first."

Gong Jiajia lowered her head even further. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have approached Sister Jin Li without permission!"

Sui Lingfang said helplessly, "I'm not referring to that incident, but to the matter of the weekend finals."

Gong Jiajia was bewildered. "Huh?"

Sui Lingfang said, "Jin Li is very easy to talk to. You are an artist she favors; as long as her schedule permits, she will help you.

It wasn't just Jin Li who understood Sui Lingfang.

Sui Lingfang also understood Jin Li very well.

"The fact that you can invite a guest singer for the finals is something you should have told me about earlier. With only four days left, if you had said something sooner, I could have started arranging things for you earlier."

Gong Jiajia felt somewhat guilty in her heart.

She had approached Sister Jin Li directly because she worried that Sister Fang would refuse and not allow Sister Jin Li to help her.

After all, Sister Fang's high regard for Sister Jin Li was obvious to every artist at Chenxi Entertainment.

Gong Jiajia quietly relayed Jin Li's response to Sui Lingfang.

Sui Lingfang raised an eyebrow, not expecting that Jin Li would tell her to come find herself.

However, this was very much in line with Jin Li's style.

She wasn't afraid of trouble, but she did dislike it.

Anything falling within the agent's scope of responsibility, she would hand over directly to the agent.

Sui Lingfang said, "Next time, if anything comes up, contact me directly."

She paused, then smiled. "I do value Jin Li highly, but I also value all of you.

You are the artists under my management; I would never hold you back or prevent you from improving."

The two of them arrived at the filming location for the charity public service short film.

For a moment, both Jin Li and Xi Mengze thought they had gone to the wrong place.

Before coming, they had considered that the target audience for the charity public service short film was the general public.

So they dressed in everyday styles and didn't dare wear heavy makeup.

But after arriving at the film set,

the two discovered that so many stars had come directly in evening gowns?

Jin Li looked around; there was no red carpet specially laid out for a fashion show here!

Xi Mengze, holding Jin Li's arm, asked in a low voice, "If we go back now to change into formal wear, will there still be time?"

Jin Li took out her phone to check the time, then shook her head. "No time. We're about to reach the assembly point."

"Jin Li!"

A woman's voice called out. Jin Li looked over and saw it was Qiu Qiwen.

The moment Xi Mengze saw her attire, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally, someone dressed somewhat normally."

Qiu Qiwen was also participating in the filming of the public welfare charity short film; none of those on the roster had received a script.

The specific details would only be announced after everyone arrived on site.

Qiu Qiwen greeted the two warmly while also asking about the script situation.

"Have you heard any rumors?"

Both Jin Li and Xi Mengze shook their heads.

Xi Mengze glanced at the other female stars dressed in flashy splendor and asked in a low voice, "On the contrary, what about them? Did they hear rumors?"

Qiu Qiwen also shook her head. "No. I asked some friends; they hadn't heard any rumors either. They just found out someone was dressing like this, so they followed suit."

Jin Li asked, "Who?"

Qiu Qiwen complained, "Who else could it be but Li Xunfang? Wherever she goes, she has to dress like a princess."

Li Xunfang was easy to recognize; she was the one surrounded by many people.

And because she was surrounded by so many, Jin Li couldn't see what she was wearing.

Before they could discuss for long, the on-site director arrived.

This public welfare charity short film project consisted of ten segments in total, each with a different theme.

There were themes like "Love Life," as well as "Respect the Elderly and Care for the Young," "Environmental Protection and Frugality," and "Strive Hard."

Overall, the goal was to express an uplifting spirit of "bravery, friendship, and fearlessness in the face of difficulties."

There wasn't just one director.

Besides Director Zhong Wenkun, there were other fairly famous directors from within the industry, with one director assigned to each short film.

The one who had come this time was an older director with considerable seniority.

The old director's name was Zhuang Shengrong; he had been directing plays for fifty years.

He himself was a living chronicle of film history, having witnessed the development of the Huaguo film industry over these years.

He averaged one film every two years, yet none of the results he delivered were ever particularly hot or cold.

He had relied entirely on his seniority to endure until becoming a senior figure in the film circle.

Zhuang Shengrong's temples were graying, with several white strands even in his eyebrows. Seeing the stars all dressed in flashy splendor, he immediately frowned.

His first words were—

"Who told you to dress like this? Look in a mirror! Do you think you can represent ordinary people?"

These words stunned all the stars into silence.

His second statement followed.

"Any star who hasn't changed clothes within half an hour need not bother coming over. If you can't figure out the right direction, not filming is actually for your own good!"

Then came his third statement.

"Filming will begin in half an hour, and directors will come directly to select personnel."

After speaking, Zhuang Shengrong turned and left immediately.

As soon as he departed, the other stars disregarded all decorum, quickly pulling out their phones to call their agents and have clothes brought over.

Jin Li, Xi Mengze, and Qiu Qiwen remained relatively calm.

Before coming, they had all deliberately chosen their outfits.

Amidst this panic, Jin Li spotted Li Xunfang.

Compared to the chaos of others, Li Xunfang was very composed.

An assistant ran over carrying a bag and immediately set up a green cloth screen on site.

Jin Li's eyelid twitched. Good heavens, changing clothes right here on the spot!

This scene was also witnessed by Qiu Qiwen and Xi Mengze, who were watching nearby.

Xi Mengze whispered, "I feel like she did this on purpose. She probably prepared two sets of clothes in advance, didn't she?"

Qiu Qiwen nodded slightly. "I think so too. First, prepare gorgeous clothes to confuse everyone else, while secretly preparing another set underneath.

That way, even if the director flies into a rage, she can change into the other set immediately."

Li Xunfang wasn't the only clever person on site.

Several male and female stars also had their assistants set up green cloth screens to change clothes right there.

The filming location had been strictly selected; irrelevant personnel had been cleared out in advance.

Furthermore, since this was a film commissioned by a national department, paparazzi dared not act rashly, making it very safe to change clothes here.

If any paparazzi dared to sneak photos, those pictures wouldn't even need to be published before the offenders were immediately taken away for investigation.