Chapter 212: The Undecided Spokesperson for the Jewelry Company

Sui Lingfang eventually found out about Jin Li obtaining the Melo pearls.

Chen Qin felt embarrassed to ask Jin Li if the two remaining Melo snails had produced any pearls, but after thinking it over, she felt she should tell Sister Fang.

Although it wasn't a major event, sharing it as an interesting anecdote was fine; Jin Li hadn't said it couldn't be mentioned.

Upon hearing the news, Sui Lingfang immediately called Jin Li.

"You went to the beach to pick up sea snails and actually struck gold with pearls? And they're valuable Melo pearls at that?"

Her tone was full of disbelief.

In the entertainment industry, many stars build personas, and she had seen all sorts of strange ones, but someone like Jin Li—

A star who had "good luck" welded to her from start to finish and was completely consistent inside and out, was a first.

Jin Li couldn't help but laugh: "Did you hear that from Xiao Qin? Yes, there are three Melo pearls."

Sui Lingfang: "What do you plan to do with those Melo pearls? Do you want to have them made into a necklace? I know someone who—"

She suddenly stopped speaking, "Wait, did I hear you wrong just now? You said three? Three??"

Jin Li's voice was crisp and pleasant: "Mm, I opened three. My luck was pretty good; every Melo snail had a Melo pearl inside—one large and two small."

Her tone was relaxed and calm, as if she were saying, "The weather is really nice today."

Sui Lingfang:...

Those were Melo pearls—the cream of the crop among pearls, top-tier pearls that cannot be artificially cultivated!

Although she handled million-dollar contracts every other minute, that wasn't her own wealth. However, the pearls Jin Li obtained belonged to a category that was priceless and rarely seen on the market.

Sui Lingfang was instantly unsettled, asking excitedly and urgently: "Have you thought about whether to make them into a necklace or just keep them as a collection?"

Jin Li thought for a moment: "Let's make them into jewelry. I don't like collecting things."

Sui Lingfang: "You mail... no, I'll go to the set tomorrow to see these three Melo pearls and take some photos while I'm at it.

A jewelry company approached me before; perhaps they would be willing to provide help with the processing. Let's see if we can use this to build a connection with them."

The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

If she could use the pretext of "processing" to connect with a jewelry company and become their spokesperson, the value of Jin Li's contracts would be gilded once more.

Jin Li asked curiously: "Which jewelry company is it?"

Sui Lingfang: "Xibei Jewelry. Although this company doesn't have the international fame of Donghai, it is a steady and reliable old jewelry brand, a first-tier jewelry company. Its momentum has been good in recent years, and many older customers like to buy jewelry at Xibei."

Jin Li was amused: "Their names are really interesting—one is Donghai (East Sea), the other is Xibei (West Shell). They really should build a ring and let them fight it out."

Sui Lingfang walked out of the office and ran into Gong Jiajia and He Yixuan, who were walking over together.

They shared the same manager and got along quite well.

Sui Lingfang greeted them and said: "Aren't you two recording a variety show together tomorrow? I've already spoken to the director of that program; they will take care of you and give you more screen time. I won't be going with you."

He Yixuan nodded to show she understood.

Gong Jiajia, still very young, asked bluntly: "Sister Fang, didn't we agree you would accompany us to the recording tomorrow? Why aren't you going? Is something up?"

He Yixuan quietly tugged at Gong Jiajia's sleeve.

The force was so light that even Gong Jiajia didn't notice.

Sui Lingfang beamed and said happily: "It's nothing major. I'm going to see Jin Li tomorrow. Isn't she filming on an island? She goes to forage for seafood every now and then.

It's quite a coincidence; her luck is really good. She actually dug up pearls from shells. I plan to go over and see about having the pearls processed into jewelry."

Gong Jiajia let out an envious "Wow."

Finding pearls in shells wasn't a rare thing; there were many artificially cultivated pearls now, and many chemically synthesized ones... pearls had long ceased to be expensive jewelry.

But.

The pearls Sister Jin Li found were natural pearls!

Properly dug out from the sea!

As everyone knows, wild and artificially bred items aren't priced the same, and pearls are no exception.

Gong Jiajia said with immense envy: "If I didn't have to record the variety show tomorrow, I would definitely go with you, Sister Fang, to see and broaden my horizons."

Sui Lingfang was in a great mood and waved her hand: "I'll take plenty of photos!"

After Sui Lingfang left, He Yixuan couldn't help but look at Gong Jiajia.

She was silent for a while, but in the end, she couldn't help but ask: "Jiajia, do you always talk to Sister Fang like that?"

Gong Jiajia was looking at her phone, searching for pictures of pearls. Hooked by Sister Fang's words, she couldn't see them in person, but that didn't stop her from satisfying her craving online.

Gong Jiajia didn't even look up and replied: "Yeah, what's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Seeing her carefree appearance, He Yixuan ultimately didn't voice her concerns.

She wanted to tell Gong Jiajia not to be so casual in front of Sister Fang; after all, she was their manager. But then He Yixuan thought, what right did she have to criticize how Gong Jiajia interacted with Sister Fang?

She envied Gong Jiajia for being able to chat so freely with Sister Fang.

Unlike her, who was just a silent gourd.

He Yixuan sighed silently in her heart.

The next morning, Sui Lingfang took a boat to the island, arriving just in time for Jin Li's filming.

The crew was filming a morning scene.

This time, another person had died.

In the early morning, the butler hurriedly knocked on the doctor's door, saying in a panic: "When I woke up this morning, I found my wife had stopped breathing."

The doctor's expression was equally panicked.

The butler's knocking overlapped with the sound of a vengeful spirit demanding his life in his dream; he had been scared awake.

The doctor, wearing a red patterned robe, went to the butler's bedroom, checked briefly, and said with a heavy expression: "She has stopped breathing."

Sui Lingfang stood outside, subconsciously softening her breathing, afraid to disturb the actors' performance.

She could guarantee that this was the quietest crew she had ever seen, bar none!

The filming staff were silent, and the other crew members watched quietly, not daring to speak.

Although it was early morning, the light wasn't very bright. The light coming through the window overlapped with the darkness inside, creating a gloomy feeling.

It was clearly daytime, yet it was filmed with a sense that night was about to fall.

Sui Lingfang's eyes suddenly lit up when she saw Jin Li come out.

Vera, played by Jin Li, had gotten up very early and happened to pass by the butler's room, hearing their conversation.

With a heavy expression, she went to the living room, suddenly saw the figurines that had been on the dining table, and immediately ran back to the butler's room just as the doctor was walking out.

She stubbornly brought the doctor to the dining table: "There were 10 figurines yesterday, and two are missing today. And we've already had two deaths. This is definitely a murder!"

The doctor glanced at the figurines and looked away in a panic.

He emphasized: "No, these are all coincidences. Last night, the maid told me she couldn't sleep and asked me to give her some sleeping pills. I happened to have some medicine with me. I suspect she died from an overdose; she took too many!"

Vera shook her head: "No, someone must have... Who moved these figurines? How could it be such a coincidence?"

The light in the dining room was even dimmer; the curtains only revealed a corner of the window, and the light penetrated with great difficulty, barely casting a weak, listless layer of light into the room.

The doctor... the doctor immediately turned and left; he just wanted to leave this island as soon as possible!

"Cut!!"

Deng Zexu watched the footage several times and had Jin Li reshoot a few segments.

But he still wasn't satisfied.

Deng Zexu turned his head to stare at Jin Li, was silent for a few seconds, and then suddenly said to the makeup artist: "Her complexion is too good. Make her look dull and haggard, darken her dark circles, and make her eyes look bigger."

The makeup artist immediately complied.

Taking advantage of this gap, Sui Lingfang walked over to Director Deng.

Deng Zexu noticed her and said in surprise: "Sister Fang, are you here for an inspection?"

Sui Lingfang laughed and waved her hand: "No, I just came to see Jin Li. I happened to run into you filming. The crew's progress feels good, and everyone is very professional."

Deng Zexu shook his head: "Not really. In the end, the investment is too small, and many things cannot be perfect. I just pretend I don't see it."

Was this a roundabout way of asking for additional investment?

Sui Lingfang smiled and didn't take the bait. Chenxi Entertainment only decided to invest because of Jin Li; otherwise, the investment for Deng Zexu's *And Then There Were None* would have been even smaller.

At least for Chenxi Entertainment, as long as there was no risk of the crew's capital chain breaking, they wouldn't want to add more investment.

Besides, many scenes in this play were indoor scenes, revolving around a villa on a deserted island, so there was no need to change scenes frequently.

Why would they need such a large investment?

Jin Li spent half an hour reshooting before this morning scene was considered finished, and she took Sister Fang to the hotel.

On the way, Sister Fang mentioned her feelings about watching the play.

"When I first read the script, it said it was a tribute to suspense classics. There weren't any horror segments in the script, but people's impression of suspense is often linked to horror. Horror and suspense are inseparable, right? Suspense can heighten the sense of horror."

Jin Li nodded.

Sister Fang was right. Pure suspense films were rare on the market. Although horror films were niche, they had always had a market, and filming horror films would definitely involve suspense techniques.

Sui Lingfang: "But after watching your performance today, I feel I was still too shallow. The area you are filming isn't scary at all; it feels very fresh to me."

Jin Li: "Fresh?"

Sui Lingfang nodded: "Yes, after watching it on site, I can feel the suspense, but I don't feel scared. And I also feel tense, which is not easy."

Jin Li smiled and agreed: "Director Deng chose good actors."

Sui Lingfang heard something in that: "So you think he didn't film it well?"

Jin Li was noncommittal: "I didn't say that. It's just that his filming style is different from the two directors I've worked with, so it's hard to compare."

Deng Zexu allowed imperfections to exist, and even though there was room for improvement, he didn't strive for perfection.

This was something Jin Li couldn't understand.

But as Gu Cheng said, every director has a different style. Actors are not the ones in charge of the lens; they are immersed in the acting.

Only the director is both a participant and an outsider.

Perhaps the director discovered something else, which is why he decided to film in this style.

Arriving at the hotel, Sui Lingfang soon saw the Melo pearls she had been thinking about.

She couldn't help but gasp.

"This one is so big, and the flame pattern on it is very obvious. I feel it's even bigger than the one I saw at the auction. Your luck is heaven-defying!"

Jin Li suddenly thought of a joke, cleared her throat, and said solemnly: "Foraging for seafood is an act against heaven; finding good things is normal."

Sui Lingfang laughed until she bloomed.

A flash of inspiration struck her, and she suddenly said: "I saw a Mazu temple on the way here. Did you pray to Mazu? Is this the luck Mazu bestowed upon you?"

Jin Li blinked, "I did pray, but I don't know if it has anything to do with this."

One must be low-key~

Sui Lingfang pondered that when she left, she would also go and pray.

She took several photos of the Melo pearls and sent them to the staff at Xibei, asking if they could process them.

The person communicating with Sui Lingfang was the assistant to Xibei's external business cooperation manager. The assistant would immediately convey Chenxi Entertainment's intentions to the manager.

The manager was busy with a thousand things and would only connect with stars when the spokesperson was officially confirmed.

For a well-known brand to finalize a spokesperson, the process is long and cumbersome; it's impossible to get it done within a month.

If it were before, both Jin Li and Li Xunfang were strong candidates for the spokesperson, but Jin Li had signed three major endorsements in a row recently, and her endorsement value had skyrocketed.

From a cost-effectiveness perspective, Jin Li was already at a disadvantage.

Recently, within the company, the call to finalize Li Xunfang as the spokesperson had been louder.

If it weren't for one of the shareholders—Xiang Dong—who thought very highly of Jin Li, Xibei Company would probably already be discussing cooperation with Li Xunfang.

"Melo pearl processing?" Business Manager Du Lemin was very surprised when he heard what the assistant said, "Where did the Melo pearls come from?"

The assistant was also surprised. If Sui Lingfang hadn't sent him photos and expressed a willingness to have a video call, he would have thought she was joking.

"She said Jin Li was filming on an island. Wasn't there a typhoon a while ago? The waves were huge. She went to forage for seafood when the tide went out and picked up three Melo snails, all of which had Melo pearls inside."

Du Lemin was intrigued and hurriedly opened the photos.

Once he looked, he couldn't take his eyes off them, staring straight at them.

The quality of this Melo pearl was truly excellent. If it were to be sold, it could definitely go to Christie's auction house!

"Did she get guidance from Mazu and is about to transform into the Daughter of the Sea?

Those are Melo pearls! Many fishermen don't encounter a single Melo snail in their entire lives, let alone open a pearl. Even ordinary pearls aren't necessarily found."

The assistant asked: "Should we help with the processing?"

Du Lemin said excitedly: "Of course! We might even be able to use it as a gimmick for publicity. I'll handle this matter!" ===== CHAPTER 213 =====