Chapter 83

Lian Baozhi waited until the phone stopped sending messages before walking out of the dance studio.

She had recently been preparing for the final debut battle of *PICK~ Next Stop Diva*, rehearsing every day, and had no time to pay attention to Liu Xuan, dragging it out one day at a time.

Upon going down to the first-floor lobby, a group of executives happened to be coming in from outside, among them Liu Xuan.

As soon as Liu Xuan saw her, his eyes lit up and he said, "Baozhi is here. I happen to have something important to tell you. Come with me to the top-secret room."

LP's top-secret room prohibited all electronic equipment and was often used for discussing important matters with artists, especially those that were inconvenient to be recorded.

Such as negotiating contract renewals, promising additional conditions, or discussing the costs of major gigs...

Because LP had been burned several times by artists' recordings, they created the top-secret room to avoid such methods.

The smile on Lian Baozhi's face stiffened slightly.

Before she could refuse, Liu Xuan grabbed her hand and led her toward the elevator in the back, his posture somewhat forceful.

"Baozhi seems to be getting along very well with the new manager!"

"Congratulations to Brother Liu Xuan for adding another fierce general!"

"Looking at you two, I also want to find my artist to hold a meeting!"

Hindered by the presence of others, Lian Baozhi could not refuse directly and had to take the elevator with Liu Xuan to the top-secret room.

Inside the room.

The smile on Liu Xuan's face faded slightly as he looked Lian Baozhi up and down.

To be honest, Lian Baozhi was not his preferred type.

If he were to choose an artist himself, he would prefer someone with a more refined temperament.

Lian Baozhi had a good figure and appearance, but her face was too "internet celebrity." Simply put, in one word: vulgar.

Liu Xuan asked, "How have you considered the matter I spoke to you about last time?"

He reached out his hand, "Hand over your phone; let me see if you received the text message I sent."

Lian Baozhi quickly said, "I saw it, Brother Liu. I didn't reply because I've been busy practicing dance lately. The final debut battle of *PICK~ Next Stop Diva* is being held very grandly, and I don't want to be distracted by other things for the time being."

Seeing her like this, Liu Xuan did not force her, retracted his hand, and said indifferently, "It's just accompanying someone for a meal and taking a gig; there's no distraction involved."

He paused, pondered for a while, and continued: "However, you are right; the debut battle is more important. The traffic for that night's live broadcast will be huge, which can let more viewers remember you. You should practice your dance well first.

By the way, do you need a professional dance teacher? I can arrange one for you; they are all in the Mutual Aid Association."

Lian Baozhi said, "No need. The company has already arranged a dance teacher for me. I have been practicing under the teacher's guidance recently and have already practiced halfway through; it's not good to change people at the last minute."

She thought to herself: Those members of your Mutual Aid Association don't look decent at all. Even if I lacked a dance teacher, it's impossible to go through your channels; who knows what I'd have to pay?

Thinking this, she smiled on the surface and said, "Brother Liu, after I participate in the debut night, I will definitely give you a reply. I'll go practice dancing first."

Liu Xuan also smiled: "Fine, I'm not in that much of a hurry."

He said meaningfully, "Baozhi, you are a smart person. I believe you will make the right choice and, at the same time, not do anything mindless.

You must know that the company can personally cultivate you, and it can also destroy you with one hand. And some things, even if you haven't done them, once they spread, everyone will think you have.

Baozhi, this industry is not as beautiful as you imagine; don't think you can stay out of it. Besides, didn't you take the initiative to choose me for my resources?"

Lian Baozhi put away the fawning smile on her face and said with extreme caution and seriousness, "Brother Liu, I know what to do, don't worry."

Leaving the top-secret room.

Lian Baozhi went to a higher floor and chose an empty dance studio.

She didn't turn on the lights, just let her body lean against the door and slide down bit by bit.

Only then did she breathe deeply, panting hard, and reached out to touch her violently beating heart.

Images of many people flashed through her mind: relatives and friends, former managers, competitors... finally settling on the gaze of a Best Actress looking at her.

A few days ago, because of a gig resource issue, she went to find Liu Xuan and waited specifically outside the conference room.

When the meeting ended, the first to walk out was an artist under him, a Best Actress.

At that time, she felt that the Best Actress's gaze toward her was strange, half-smiling, cold and indifferent.

Now she knew that the Best Actress's gaze—was a look of mockery!

Liu Xuan's artists all wanted to jump out of his pit.

Yet she, on the contrary, actually wanted to jump into the fire pit!

Lian Baozhi's body trembled, "No, I can't go on like this. I must save myself. I can't..."

She was bold enough to strip, but that was just to create a gimmick; the so-called "stripping" was just wearing some revealing clothes to show off her figure.

But that didn't mean she was willing to sell herself!

Gimmicks are gimmicks, hype is hype, but selling oneself is truly out of the question!

After thinking it over, she took out her phone and called someone.

In her panic, this was the only person she felt she could find peace with.

After dialing, she suddenly realized that the person was traveling abroad, and the call shouldn't be able to get through.

Just as she was thinking this, a familiar voice came through, and the tears hanging in Lian Baozhi's eyes instantly burst forth.

"Sister Shan, save me..."

Another three days passed.

The hype for the final debut night of *PICK~ Next Stop Diva* was becoming increasingly intense.

Not only was it being heavily promoted on blogs, but also at various subway and bus stations, with offline and online campaigns running simultaneously.

This attracted a group of middle-aged people who didn't go online much, and they also began to get curious about this variety show.

At the same time, the ranking battle for the final debut night was becoming more and more intense, with fans of each team fighting desperately to vote.

Previously, Jin Li thought that fans voting for millions was already very impressive.

However, by the final debut night, the costs invested had already soared to tens of millions!

Hearing this news, Jin Li felt that the fans were too crazy.

She finally managed to get out of the dance studio today and was pulled by Sister Fang to shoot a set of photos.

This set of photos, as always, was aimed at Fangfei.

Anyway, stars have to post lifestyle photos from time to time, so Dawn Entertainment simply let Jin Li wear Fangfei's clothes in her lifestyle photos.

Killing two birds with one stone.

Hearing Sister Fang talk about the recent voting costs, she couldn't help but ask: "Are you sure it's all fan participation, without company intervention?"

Sister Fang was styling her hair.

The photo of her raising fish in the flower room posted last time received rave reviews online.

Although it wasn't taken by a professional photographer, under the less-than-perfect lens, it added a touch of worldly charm to Jin Li.

So this time, Sui Lingfang was still the one taking photos for Jin Li.

Sui Lingfang shook her head: "Not sure. It's so easy to impersonate fans now, and company intervention wouldn't leave any traces."

She changed the subject: "However, several teams have already reached tens of millions in voting now. There must be company intervention; ordinary fans don't have this cohesion, and the girl groups brought out in *PICK~ Next Stop Diva* are all lacking a bit of climate."

She thought for a moment: "Let's put it this way, the strength is there, but it lacks the absolute strength to settle the matter with one hammer blow.

That's why other girl groups have a chance to surpass, and the rankings are very tight. But it's not necessarily good for the program team.

The program team's idea is to create a team like March Sky; what they need is a 'King who absolutely obeys,' not evenly matched rivals.

If a King team appears, then tens of millions in voting is still possible to achieve."

Jin Li: "After all, it's the final debut battle; presumably the companies behind the contestants also want to make a push, maybe they can get first place."

The rules of *PICK~ Next Stop Diva* were very cruel.

Starting from the fourth episode, every team eliminated in each episode had no separate farewell footage.

Netizens looked back and forth and discovered that the content Jin Li participated in recording for the program could actually be considered the farewell declaration for all teams.

Only then did netizens realize that the program team had already released each team's farewell declaration, not taking the usual path.

Because there was no temporary farewell segment in the later stages, this undoubtedly increased the fans' heartache for their idols.

Everyone didn't want the team they liked to leave so silently.

Amidst this continuously hot ranking battle, Jin Li's official blog released another set of lifestyle photos.

Netizens clicked in to see and were all a bit surprised.

This set of Jin Li's lifestyle photos was also quite special.

Many photos used by stars for business are all beautiful, beautiful, fairy-like, fairy-like.

But this set of Jin Li's photos was different.

In the photos, she was wearing a currently very popular sports brand: LUNE.

LUNE focuses on yoga wear, with a piece of yoga wear ranging from thousands to tens of thousands of yuan, following a light luxury route.

Not only can it be worn for yoga, but it can also be worn for fitness, protecting body strength.

LUNE first started to catch fire from abroad, spreading from the yoga circle to the sports circle, and then from the sports circle to the white-collar circle...

Spreading layer by layer, gradually, not only worn during fitness, many people took LUNE for daily wear.

The appropriate tailoring can reveal a good body line, fully displaying vitality and the beauty of the body.

At first, LUNE stores abroad were sold out, people queued overnight, and LUNE could only start limiting purchases.

And domestically, LUNE also launched new clothes simultaneously; although there was no purchase limit, the selling price was particularly high.

Sui Lingfang specifically checked the brands held by Fangfei and discovered that the popular LUNE was a subsidiary of Fangfei.

What are you waiting for?

Let this fitness wind blow again!

Jin Li's blog shared a total of nine photos: there were photos of her wearing LUNE going to the supermarket to shop, carrying a LUNE bag to commute, wearing LUNE to the gym to practice yoga... and finally, there were even photos of her wearing LUNE boxing.

[Feel like Pear Baby has lost weight, but the lines seem tighter]

[Am I the only one who thinks she looks very energetic? She looks so sweet, but her eyes when boxing are unexpectedly fierce!]

[Very energetic, is Pear Baby's body much better?]

After the photos were posted, Jin Li looked through the comments. One refresh, and there were thirty more comments.

Another refresh, fifty.

Another refresh, eighty.

Jin Li looked at those rows of users with nicknames clearly having star characteristics like [The World's Best Pear Baby], [PICK Pear Baby], [Love Jin Li Baby], and asked curiously:

"Sister Fang, are these comments real? No, are these users real? Did the company buy water armies for me?"

Sui Lingfang glanced at them and said calmly: "Not bought, they are real. Ever since you became popular for burning incense and scratching cards, your account activity has always been very high.

If your data were bad, the company would also buy you some fans, deducted from your card, but you have absolutely no such trouble.

So if any brand finds you to take on blog promotion, you don't have to worry about data like likes and comments not meeting the standard. I guess some brands will come to you to talk about this aspect soon."

Jin Li was surprised: "Is it that powerful?"

Sui Lingfang: "Go check the popular blogs on your homepage, and you'll know."

Jin Li clicked into the homepage. Except for the few latest blogs posted, sliding down was her popular one.

That was the blog where she personally acknowledged that she was the Black-Clad Koi.

She couldn't help but be stunned. This blog had actually reached hundreds of thousands of comments??

Not to mention the likes, it had already reached tens of millions.

However, the blog has an information protection mechanism; only the blog owner themselves can know the real like and comment data.

To outsiders, as long as these two data points exceed 99+, they will all be displayed as the default 99+.

Clicking in to see, it was all—

[Morning, Koi God, wish me to win 10k from scratching a card today!]

[Believer wishes to lose three catties in exchange for a lifetime of peace]

[Believer wishes to gain one catty in exchange for winning 100k!]

[Today is another day I want to die, Koi God save my life!!]

Jin Li's mouth twitched.

What kind of fans are the ones who follow her?

Jin Li shook her head, put down her phone, and went back to the dance studio to practice dancing.

She was only a little bit away from practicing the choreographed dance well.

And Mengmeng...

She only spent two days to finish dancing that dance.

She is just a plain little koi, can't compare with a sports fanatic, right?

On the other side.

*PICK~ Next Stop Diva* dance practice room.

Not only are the mentors wholeheartedly preparing for the debut night, but the contestants are also preparing; they are both uneasy and nervous.

There are five teams still left on the island at this time.

And there are only three teams participating in the debut night.

That is to say, in these few days, two other girl groups will be eliminated.

Being eliminated is not scary, but this feeling of being judged by fate makes everyone's pressure tight.

Some contestants suddenly broke down and cried on the spot while practicing, and others followed suit, the pressure was very high.

Gong Jiajia, as the captain of one of the teams, encouraged her teammates to pull themselves together, continue dancing, and not let down every stage.

Other teams were also there; they were rehearsing the trainee dance choreographed by the program team when they were trainees in the large classroom.

When it comes to the debut night, the remaining teams will all perform this dance together.

One person looked at Gong Jiajia's calm posture and suddenly mocked: "Of course you're not worried, the pressure hasn't been put on you.

Since the second time Teacher Jin Li favored you and encouraged you to grab the C position, the script the program team arranged for you is one of defying the heavens and changing fate.

You are the real royalty, you only need to step on everyone to get to the top, anyway, the program team will do their best to protect you."

Now is a very nervous and critical moment, and this trainee saying this is clearly trying to mess with Gong Jiajia's mentality.

Gong Jiajia was very angry, but she also clearly realized this point and didn't want to pick up the conversation at all.

But ignoring it resulted in others continuing to add fuel to the fire.

Gong Jiajia took a deep breath and suddenly smiled: "It looks like you are very envious and jealous; then if you have the ability, let the program team protect you like this too."

She said word by word: "Keep it up, you useless thing!"