Chapter 51: I Have a Fellow Villager, and That Fellow Villager Has a Fellow Villager

The trainees present were all selected from the first two recording sessions, having ranked in the top thirty by popularity.

Additionally, there were a few whose popularity hadn't reached the top thirty but who possessed distinct characteristics, meaning they offered variety show appeal.

To put it plainly, a talent show is also a variety show, combining competitiveness with entertainment; if it were purely about singing and dancing, Jin Li dared say absolutely half the contestants would be eliminated.

But that is how variety shows work; strength is not the primary factor, popularity is the most crucial.

Jin Li greeted them, "Hello everyone!"

"Hello, Teacher Jin Li!" The youthful and radiant female trainees, dressed in pink team uniforms, bowed to her in unison.

Jin Li quickly bowed back as well, lest she incur a shortened lifespan.

The female planner stood in the center, explaining how the recording would proceed; Jin Li listened while reviewing the script, then rehearsed three questions with the trainees.

The trainee assigned to ask the questions had also been arranged; among them was Gong Jiajia, the first contestant Jin Li had been willing to speak up for.

When rehearsing the questions with Jin Li, Gong Jiajia was extremely nervous, her speech becoming halting.

Jin Li met her gaze, smiling gently, "Take a deep breath, calm down, speak slowly, there's no need to rush."

Gong Jiajia exhaled deeply, placed a hand over her chest, and forced herself to suppress her excitement as she rehearsed the questions with her.

Following the cues provided in the script, Jin Li responded smoothly.

This was merely a question rehearsal; Jin Li did not sing, planning to save that for tomorrow's official recording so the trainees' expressions would be as genuine as possible.

Once Jin Li had nearly finished rehearsing, Gu Cheng and the others finally arrived.

As Jin Li left with the planner, the two groups met in the corridor.

Chen Lin asked, "Sister Jin Li, have you already finished rehearsing the procedure so quickly?"

Jin Li nodded, "It was just a few questions; rehearsing twice was enough, the difficulty isn't high. What about you, are you here to rehearse?"

Just as Gu Cheng was about to speak, Chen Lin said, "No, we came to hang out with you; mainly Gu Cheng came to hang out with you, and the three of us tagged along to see."

Jin Li looked at Gu Cheng and asked curiously, "Hang out?"

Gu Cheng: ...

He cast a light, sidelong glance at Chen Lin, his cold gaze seeming to say: Just you wait until next time!

Gu Cheng replied, "Mm, and also to pick up some souvenirs from you."

Jin Li thought for a moment, "I left all my souvenirs in the car, which is parked in the lot. Do you have anything else to do later? If not, why don't we all go over together to get them?"

The March Sky boy band answered in unison, "Nothing else."

Just as the planner was about to leave, Jin Li called her back, "I prepared one for you too; come along and get it."

The female planner froze, "Ah, I get one too?"

Jin Li offered a faint smile, looking both warm and sweet, "I bought quite a few, but the gifts are quite ordinary, just red strings sold at the God of Wealth Temple; I hope you won't mind."

The female planner shook her head repeatedly, "Not at all, not at all!"

Their group headed toward the parking lot, while here, Sui Lingfang had finally managed to dig up some information, news she had heard from a temporary worker!

Sui Lingfang had asked proper staff members whether there had been any personnel changes within the production team recently, or if anyone had been suspended or fired.

The staff member didn't even ask why she brought this up, replying without hesitation, "There have been no personnel changes; we are still in the recording period, and losing even one person could affect the show's outcome."

Seeing she couldn't get anything from him, Sui Lingfang went to ask the temporary workers instead.

Temporary workers always gathered together for lunch; she joined their table and subtly steered the conversation toward resignations.

"Hey, bringing Jin Li here this time, I feel like the production team is missing a lot of people; have many quit? How are you temporary workers paid, daily? Can you leave whenever you want?"

One person said, "We all signed contracts; we only get paid after the recording is complete, though food and lodging are free, so we don't spend anything."

"Yeah, we can't leave anytime; if we leave early, we might not get paid!"

Sui Lingfang asked, "Then don't you feel that there are far fewer people recently?"

The others thought for a moment, and one murmured, "Indeed, there are fewer people lately; a few temporary workers were cleared out. The production team didn't give a reason, but I heard from a fellow villager of mine..."

Everyone involuntarily leaned in closer.

"I heard from my fellow villager that one of those cleared out was a fellow villager of his fellow villager; my fellow villager told me that the one who was fired was possessed by greed, selling production team information, and got caught!"

Another said, "Now that you mention it, I also heard something explosive, also from my fellow villager; I just didn't believe it at the time, thinking it impossible."

The others leaned their ears in again as that person lowered their voice, speaking mysteriously:

"I heard there's a huge scandal in the production planning team; it seems a senior planner embezzled funds and took bribes, selling show information outward and even leaking internal videos, so they were fired, and it seems the production team is going to sue them!"

Sui Lingfang's heart skipped a beat; hearing this, how could she not understand.

This matter was nine times out of ten related to that incident with Jin Li!

Otherwise, why would a perfectly good planner embezzle and take bribes, unless the profit was enough to tempt the heart; moreover, she hadn't heard any other station exposing scandals about Penguin Station's talent show.

Sui Lingfang remained outwardly calm while internally exclaiming, 'Good heavens,' this matter had truly been guessed correctly by Jin Li!

It was a pity that Chenxi Entertainment found out too late.

If the production team's internal personnel issues had indeed caused Jin Li to nearly miss the rehearsal, then for Jin Li coming to participate in the third recording session, Chenxi should have quoted a higher price.

Detestable; they, Chenxi, had even given Penguin Station a regular customer discount!

With a plan now forming in her mind, Sui Lingfang quickly gulped down a few mouthfuls of rice, left, and called Jin Li.

"Where are you?"

Holding a mobile phone in one hand and a large bag in the other, Jin Li found it somewhat difficult to talk.

Seeing this, Gu Cheng took the bag from her hands; Jin Li smiled at him gratefully, walked to the other side, and replied:

"I'm in the underground parking lot, going with the March Sky boy band and the planner to the car to get gifts; I plan to take them all out to distribute."

Hearing that she was with the March Sky boy band, Sui Lingfang frowned slightly, but upon hearing that the planner was also there, she stopped worrying altogether.

Jin Li was steady and knew how to avoid suspicion.

"Did you prepare enough gifts? Don't you still need to leave a portion for the Pink Girls?" Sui Lingfang asked.

"Enough; I'm only distributing red strings, so there are definitely enough red strings. As for those souvenirs, I'll give them to familiar people first; if they run out, isn't there a Mazu Temple nearby? I can go buy more tonight."

Jin Li suggested, "By the way, Sister Xiang, please apply to the program team on my behalf; I won't be staying in the dormitory. I want to stay at the temple instead; I feel the air there is better for my health."

Sui Lingfang agreed immediately. "Fine, they will absolutely agree."

Jin Li was momentarily stunned; that statement sounded far too absolute. Just as she was about to ask something, Sui Lingfang changed the subject: "Have you eaten? We'll hold a small meeting this afternoon; I need to tell you something."

She paused, her eyes holding an ambiguous meaning: "This time, we've essentially been played by the program team."

Jin Li glanced at the people not far away and said, "Wait until I've finished eating, then let's meet in the makeup room."