Chapter 19: The More Stable the Emotions, the Ruthless the Methods

The production schedule for "PICK~Next Stop Diva" was clear and transparent to the mentors.

Mentors could obtain first-hand information, even knowing which contestants the production team intended to promote, allowing them to speak favorably of those contestants on the show when necessary.

Not only this program, but all talent shows had unspoken rules behind the scenes—filming certain trainees from angles that made them look good, casually handing over lip balm, lipstick, glasses, and the like.

What appeared to be accidental occurrences on the program were, in fact, the result of careful design and presentation.

It was precisely because of this that the current situation had arisen.

The opening stage performance for the second episode was nominally a joint effort between the mentor and their chosen partner; even though Lian Baozhi had agreed in advance to cede the entire opening stage to Jin Li, Jin Li still had to wait for notification from Lian Baozhi.

As partners who would only participate in one episode of filming, and to maintain secrecy, these partners were unaware of the program's internal operations.

In other words, unless Lian Baozhi notified them, they would not know the exact rehearsal time for that day.

Previously, when Sui Lingfang had contacted Lian Baozhi's agent, they had claimed ignorance, saying they were waiting for notice.

Now that the program had already aired, with little time remaining before the recording of the second episode, even someone as slow as Sui Lingfang knew that rehearsals must be happening within these few days.

For Lian Baozhi's agent to still use this as an excuse to deceive people was simply asking for death.

"Jin Li, are you in the apartment? I'm coming over to pick you up now!" Sui Lingfang hurriedly called Jin Li before driving out in the company car.

It was afternoon, and Jin Li was practicing vocals.

The vocal coach stood beside her, offering personal guidance and repeatedly praising her, saying she was truly cut out for a girl group; after only a few days of instruction, she had already recovered everything she had previously fallen behind on.

Jin Li felt somewhat embarrassed by all the praise.

"Sister Fang, I'm in the apartment practicing vocals. Is something wrong?" She detected the urgency in Sui Lingfang's voice.

Sui Lingfang gritted her teeth and said, "Today is your rehearsal day. Lian Baozhi and her crew played dirty tricks on us, failing to notify us that it was today. If I hadn't lost my temper, who knows when we would have been allowed to rehearse!"

Jin Li paused slightly in surprise.

This... Lian Baozhi truly had some nerve!

Playing such tricks in such a major production; was she not afraid of being exposed?

Speaking fiercely over the phone, Sui Lingfang said, "I'm coming to pick you up for rehearsal now. Once I arrive at the production team, I will definitely coordinate with their staff and expose everything Lian Baozhi has done. If she won't let us have an easy time, we won't let her have an easy time either!"

Hearing the agitation in her voice, Jin Li did not say much, merely telling her to drive carefully and stay safe.

After hanging up, she informed the vocal coach, who gave her an "OK" sign.

"I won't go with you; that place should have very strict confidentiality. In fact, after finishing today's lesson, I intended to tell you that you no longer need to practice with me, so consider this your early graduation."

The vocal coach encouraged her, "Good luck! I look forward to your performance on stage!"

Jin Li smiled bitterly and said, "I'm quite nervous; I'm afraid I'll mess things up."

The teacher patted her shoulder. "With your current level, it would be somewhat difficult to mess things up. Just perform with a calm mind!"

Jin Li went downstairs with the teacher and waited at the apartment entrance ahead of time.

About half an hour later, Sui Lingfang arrived; Jin Li opened the car door and quickly fastened her seatbelt.

Without almost any pause, the car smoothly drove off again.

Jin Li glanced at Sui Lingfang, feeling that her anger had subsided considerably, and brought up the matter of Lian Baozhi again.

"Sister Fang, regarding their concealment of the rehearsal date..."

Sui Lingfang said coolly, "I will leak this information. Not only to variety show exposés, but also online. You don't need to worry about any of this; I will arrange everything. You just need to focus on the stage."

Jin Li's eyelid twitched.

Good heavens, once her emotions stabilized, her methods had upgraded again.

She reminded her, "I don't care either way, but you must be careful with your methods; don't offend Penguin Pictures."

Sui Lingfang snorted coldly. "It won't offend them; at most, it will just make their hearts chill. Lian Baozhi bears the primary responsibility for this matter, while Penguin bears secondary responsibility. If the production team had just one more liaison staff member, could something like concealing rehearsal schedules have happened?"

Jin Li fell silent, feeling that Sister Fang was now like a cold volcano.

Calm on the surface, but ready to explode at the slightest touch internally.

She took out her phone, sent a WeChat message to Ji Qinglian informing her that she would be heading to rehearsal shortly, then put the phone away and started working on her "Five Years Gaokao, Three Years Simulation" exercises.

Jin Li was working on math papers; having finished the first major framework of knowledge points, she needed to practice problems to reinforce her foundation and facilitate flexible application.

Sui Lingfang had originally wanted to say something more to Jin Li, but seeing her doing practice problems, she closed her mouth and remained silent.

Disturbing someone's self-improvement would invite divine retribution!

After about an hour, they arrived at Haikou; after verifying their identities, they took a boat for another half hour to reach the filming location of "PICK~Next Stop Diva."

Sui Lingfang coordinated with the staff guarding the exterior, and before long, Jin Li was allowed inside.

Only she was permitted to enter; even Sui Lingfang, her agent, could not go in.

But Sui Lingfang knew that top-tier stars were allowed to bring their agents inside.

Refusing her entry simply meant the production team considered Jin Li's status too low, not yet top-tier, so they were blocking people.

She did not get angry; instead, she chatted briefly with the guards at the entrance, giving them a few packs of good cigarettes and a bottle of good liquor, both of which she had bought temporarily at a shop in Haikou.

Once the cigarettes and alcohol were handed over, the staff member's mouth immediately loosened, becoming more polite toward Sui Lingfang.

Sui Lingfang asked casually, "Hey, does the production team have a work group chat? Pull me in, would you? Our Jin Li is at least recording one episode; what if we miss some important news?"

The staff member had just taken out his phone when he suddenly thought of something and said, "Why don't you just ask the mentor who invited you?"

Sui Lingfang sighed. "The mentors are all top-tier stars, busy managing ten thousand tasks a day; how would they have time to explain details to you? Moreover, regarding some matters in the program, even when I asked the mentor's agent, she didn't know either. It's better to ask directly in the official group."

The staff member pulled up the group's QR code for her to scan.

"That's true, it is quite difficult. This is the public work group, the large group where everyone involved in the program is present.

There are many messages every day; top-tier stars basically never speak. If you really want to know some information, you'd need to join a private small group, but that requires a personal invitation."

Sui Lingfang's eyebrows danced with joy, and she said with a grin, "The large work group is fine; that's exactly what I need."

On the other side, in Rehearsal Room No. 5, Jin Li encountered Ji Qinglian.

Ji Qinglian was waiting right at the door.

Upon seeing Jin Li, her eyes lit up as if they were glowing.

Ji Qinglian circled Jin Li several times, stopping just short of conducting a 360-degree, no-dead-angle inspection.

Jin Li remained calm and composed, allowing her to look.

After a long while, Ji Qinglian took her hand and sighed, "Baby Li, you look so healthy!"

"Pfft!" A light chuckle came from the corridor; when they looked over, they could only see several blurry figures walking past.

(End of Chapter)