Chapter 515: Worshiping the City God, Good and Evil Bring Their Own Rewards

On New Year's Eve, Li Xunfang saw the trending search about Jin Li and felt a bad premonition in her heart.

After seeing the content within the trending search, she was even more ready to explode with rage.

She called Zhao Rui and asked straight to the point: "Can you suppress Jin Li's trending search?"

Zhao Rui hadn't looked at industry news at all today; she was at her hometown.

Generally speaking, traffic during the few days of the New Year is the lowest of the entire year; everyone has many entertainment activities and no time to go online.

Even if they do go online, they have no time for gossip, as they are all occupied by various traditional games.

She first said: "Let me see what the news is first."

Then she hung up the phone.

She had to hang up; she could guarantee that Li Xunfang would keep nagging while she was checking, to the point of distracting her and preventing her from organizing her thoughts.

After finishing the trending search, Zhao Rui's heart sank slightly, and she called Li Xunfang back.

"Lanxi is pushing this trending search; it's impossible for them to let us remove it."

Li Xunfang: "I can spend a lot of money."

She mainly didn't want the fans to see this trending search, otherwise, it would be hard to explain to them.

If the fans were slapped in the face, it would be equivalent to her being slapped in the face, even though she had known from the very beginning that Jin Li had several co-branded endorsements.

But for the sake of popularity, she still guided the narrative toward the angle of "rubbing off on others' fame."

Zhao Rui said helplessly: "Xunfang, it's not a question of money. This is a commercial trending search bought by the brand; we can't remove it."

Li Xunfang's face twisted with anger: "Then using internet trolls to guide the narrative is fine, right? Don't guide it toward me; guide it toward the other members of Pink Girls.

Although Pink Girls is famous, not all members are first-tier stars; there are quite a few who are still second-tier stars.

Now that Jin Li is developing so well and they are developing so poorly, let the trolls make a comparison to attract the netizens' attention."

Zhao Rui: "That's a good idea. I'll do it for you right now, but it's a matter of price."

Li Xunfang: "Money is negotiable."

Zhao Rui said hesitantly: "And because everyone is celebrating the New Year now, very few people are working overtime; they might not be willing to write it."

Li Xunfang: "Money is not a problem!"

Zhao Rui's brows relaxed: "Alright, I'll handle it for you right now."

After hanging up, she called someone at a media company and placed an order for internet trolls.

The person at the media company said: "You want it posted today? Sure, I'll give you an expedited service. There are still people in the company; they can control the accounts to keep posting messages."

"Ah? You chose the lowest account level? These accounts aren't worth much, but they are too easy to see through. Are you sure you want to place this kind of order?"

Zhao Rui communicated a few more sentences, and the person at the media company said: "Fine, fine, fine, I'll handle it for you right now."

After the person at the media company hung up, a relative came over to ask: "Big boss, someone is already placing orders with you on New Year's Eve? Business is so good?"

This person shook their head: "Sigh, using the lowest-level trolls, we have to write the messages ourselves. We're just getting a bit of hard-earned labor and holiday subsidy fees; it's not making much money."

As everyone knows, those things that "don't make much money" are often very profitable.

This person complained: "It's just that stars these days are getting stingier. When ordering trolls to spam messages, they won't even use ones that look real; they insist on choosing ones that are fake at a glance."

It just so happened that it was a holiday, and the main force of people who surf the internet usually wasn't online these few days.

Otherwise, with that pile of bot-like numbers exploding, Li Xunfang wouldn't have been able to stop the netizens' mockery.

But even so, because the package ordered wasn't effective, and they were all posted by small accounts, after the hardworking trolls posted their comments, the comments were buried very deep; one had to flip four or five pages to see them.

Only netizens who were very interested would flip down four or five pages to see this content.

The netizens might not necessarily be fooled, but Li Xunfang, who had been staring at Jin Li, was fooled.

【Holding four co-branded commercial deals? If I remember correctly, Jin Li already has three luxury endorsements, namely Ru Meng Ling, Fang Fei, and Tiangong. Now she has so many co-branded items; her development is in full swing!】

【In the Pink Girls group, only Jin Li, this "slacking queen," has momentum. Sure enough, so what if you have talent? The entertainment industry still looks at topic marketing!】

【She can be considered the artist who plays the "Koi Luck" the best, right? The others in Pink Girls should follow her example; who knows, maybe old artists can also welcome a second spring in their careers!】

After Li Xunfang saw these comments appear, she finally put down her phone with peace of mind and muttered a few words about Jin Li:

"Jin Li, your image overlaps with mine, and we walk the same path. My reputation was bad last year, and all my resources were snatched by you. Now it's time to return them, right?"

"I really don't know what kind of dog-shit luck you have to meet noble people everywhere. You always market yourself as having poor health; could it be that you are marketing it on purpose?"

"Tsk, you're crazy for wanting to get famous!"

After Li Xunfang muttered a few words, she went out to entertain guests.

Midway, she sneezed three times in a row, touched her nose, and felt as if she had a stuffy nose and a cold again.

Li Xunfang frowned. How could that hospital be so unreliable? She had only just brought her fever down a while ago; how did it recur?

She wouldn't go to that hospital for check-ups next time; she must switch to a better private hospital!

And Jin Li, who was being thought of by Li Xunfang, had already arrived at a nearby Daoist temple with Xi Sister Meng Ze and Qiguan Mingzhu.

The nearby Daoist temple was called Qingyun Temple, which was said to have been founded by a Daoist priest named "Qingyun" several hundred years ago.

And not far from the Daoist temple, there was also a City God Temple.

Jin Li planned to visit the City God Temple on the way after worshiping at Qingyun Temple; the City God Temple could also be worshiped.

There were several halls in Qingyun Daoist Temple. The main hall enshrined the Wenchang Emperor, whose function was to specialize in fame and official positions, helping with academic progress and smooth official careers.

The Wenchang Emperor was in charge of the academic register, judging the academic and career paths of all living beings, and could bless one with "placing high on the imperial examination" and a "smooth official career."

Merchants could also worship him as the "God of Literature and Wealth," because careers need the support of wisdom.

The God of Wealth Hall within Qingyun Temple was composed of the Five Road Gods of Wealth together; there was no separate enshrinement of one of the deities.

The Central Road God of Wealth, Wang Hai, was for wisdom, strategy, and sources of wealth.

The East Road God of Wealth, Bi Gan, was for literary luck, fame, and sources of wealth.

The South Road God of Wealth, Chai Rong, was for business operations and sources of wealth.

The West Road God of Wealth, Guan Yu, was for justice, courage, and sources of wealth.

The North Road God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming, was for warding off evil, collecting treasures, and sources of wealth.

These were the Great Five Road Gods of Wealth, emphasizing the symbolic significance of historical figures.

In addition, there were the Small Five Road Gods of Wealth, where the enshrined deities were different, focusing more on the division of labor among Daoist deities.

Folk traditions mostly recognized the Great Five Road, while Daoist temples focused on the Small Five Road.

Thanks to today being New Year's Eve, and the place being remote—just a village Daoist temple—the village was very busy today, so Jin Li and the others didn't encounter a single villager when they went up the mountain to worship.

Qiguan Mingzhu scanned the Daoist temple and said: "It's wide and open here; one look and you know there are no paparazzi following us."

After worshiping the deities enshrined in Qingyun Temple, Jin Li and the others continued to the nearby City God Temple.

It looked close, but it took about twenty minutes to walk; everyone treated it as a stroll.

The main thing was that there was no one around; they chatted while walking, which was very happy.

Jin Li was filming in Chitang Village; acting was very boring, and nothing new happened.

Xi Sister Meng Ze and Qiguan Mingzhu were different.

They were not in a closed environment and could often hear interesting things; some things even happened to them personally.

Xi Sister Meng Ze said: "Many galas called me to record this year, but I wasn't interested and pushed them all away.

For some that I couldn't push away, I went to record the footage in advance. Anyway, what's broadcast is an online stage, not a real-time broadcast."

Qiguan Mingzhu asked curiously: "How many did you record? After my affairs were placed under the Chenxi banner, Sister Fang stuffed three to me."

Xi Sister Meng Ze: "Not many, I only recorded five. However, I chose the better TV stations; I didn't participate in some of the smaller ones."

Jin Li: "Five isn't many?"

Xi Sister Meng Ze shook her head: "Not many. Popular singers record more than a dozen; they appear frequently on the galas of major TV stations every day and are very busy. I don't want to run around that much."

The locations of each TV station were different, and if one wanted to finish recording in a short time, one had to cross provinces and cities for every song recorded.

Recording songs wasn't difficult, and singing wasn't difficult; the most difficult part was the travel time consumed on the road. She couldn't stay in the car for too long; it was too stuffy.

Qiguan Mingzhu mentioned the days since transferring to Chenxi Entertainment; she hadn't even stayed for half a month, and she felt that this was the life of an immortal; it was too happy.

"Tianding Entertainment's intensity was too high. I admire the artists of Tianding Entertainment; they could clearly not let themselves be so tired, but they still stuffed their schedules full every day."

She paused and described: "Tianding Entertainment doesn't look like an entertainment company, but rather like a trading company. Every year, every quarter, every month, and every half-month, there are KPI requirements; if you don't meet the standard, you leave."

"This company is different from when we became popular. After we became popular, there were many schedules we couldn't choose; it was the company forcing them on us that we had to do.

But Tianding is not like that. Many of Tianding's schedules are things the artists roll out themselves. In order to fill their daily schedules, first-tier artists will take on some schedules that are not cost-effective."

Every time Qiguan Mingzhu thought of this, she didn't understand.

"Schedules that are not cost-effective won't bring high benefits to the artists. Wouldn't it be better to have this time to give yourself enough time to rest? Why do they have to roll so hard?"

She could understand Jin Li's rolling.

That was rolling with a goal.

And it was rolling in different fields.

But the rolling of Tianding Entertainment's artists was aimless rolling. They knew that taking this schedule wouldn't promote their careers at all, but they would still take it.

It seemed like they had to take many schedules to prove their value.

Jin Li said thoughtfully: "Tianding's internal competition is very fierce; they are still very different from us. The schedule is just placed there; if you take it, you can go on, but if you don't take it, it will be snatched away by others."

"The artists there, some just rely purely on Tianding Entertainment's energy to be pushed to the first tier; they don't have any characteristics themselves, and they are not irreplaceable."

"Once a newcomer rises, it is very likely that they will replace themselves, so they have to roll."

In a certain aspect, this is also a kind of sadness.

If virtue does not match the position, one must face the competition of those who come later.

When success can be replicated, everyone worries that they are the next one to be pulled down.

Soon, the three of them arrived at the City God Temple.

The City God Temple can protect the city and the people, eliminate evil, protect the country and the state, and manage the souls of the dead in the underworld.

Under its jurisdiction are the "Civil and Martial Judges, Day and Night Wandering Gods," etc., whose functions are similar to local governments in the underworld, punishing evil and promoting good.

The City God Temple is the faith of people living in many cities. Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang once required officials to take an oath at the City God Temple when they took office, wanting to use divine power to restrain official governance.

People go to the City God Temple to pray for blessings, also to drive away evil and avoid disasters, and to ensure the peace of their homes; students go to seek fame in the imperial examinations because the City God monitors the register of fame; people seek business prosperity because the City God is the "Lord of a City" and can promote fortune.

They are all artists; they go to the City God Temple for peace and health, not to get sick because of overly busy work.

As usual, after Jin Li finished worshiping all the deities, she felt a wisp of divine power descending from the sky.

This divine power was similar to the one in Qingyun Temple, but it was also different.

The divine power bestowed by Qingyun Temple could repair her body, but this divine power descended by the City God Temple, although thick, was not for repair.

Jin Li unexpectedly discovered that the divine power wandered around her body and actually stopped at her spiritual platform, not dissipating!

Of course, although a wisp of divine power remained, it didn't mean she could use any magic.

Her body's innate foundation was not good; even if she could use magic, it would keep dissipating during the process of use, and then she wouldn't be able to use it.

This wisp of divine power was just enough to allow her body to support itself more durably, so she wouldn't have to come to worship so frequently.

Jin Li thought to herself, could it be that the deities also knew she was going to take the college entrance examination and specially descended divine power to give her a boost?

Well, she shook her head, feeling that the burden on her shoulders was heavier.

Before leaving the City God Temple, Qiguan Mingzhu read out a sentence carved on the wall by someone unknown:

"If you do evil, you will surely perish; if your ancestors have remaining virtue, when the virtue is exhausted, you will perish; if you do good, you will surely prosper; if your ancestors have remaining calamity, when the calamity is exhausted, you will prosper."

Xi Sister Meng Ze thought for a while: "Is this good has good rewards, evil has evil rewards?"

Jin Li: "Yes."

After Jin Li went back, she discovered that the co-branded bag launched today was on the trending search.

After Lanxi issued the announcement, the exclusive link had already been opened.

Although it was the Spring Festival, because Lanxi used the "Spring Festival without Closing" Dongfeng Express, the transport capacity was very sufficient even during the Spring Festival.

It just so happened that the shopping website had been promoting "Spring Festival without Closing" recently, so it selected Jin Li's co-branded bag to be on the homepage promotion and received a key pop-up recommendation.

This resource wasn't applied for by Lanxi, but recommended by the shopping website itself, which was an unexpected joy.

Because it was a light luxury bag, priced at over a thousand yuan, and plus it was the New Year, even with the website pop-up recommendation, the exposure was actually not very large.

After Jin Li learned the news, it had already been promoted for five hours, but she looked at the official website sales volume and was a bit surprised.

"It has actually sold 20,000 pieces? This co-branded product of mine is 2,600 yuan!"

This sales volume also shocked Qiguan Mingzhu and Xi Sister Meng Ze, who found out later.

"That's a high volume. It seems your fans are all quite rich and very willing to spend."

Jin Li didn't know what she thought of, and said helplessly: "I'm just afraid they are using their own New Year's money to buy it, impulsive consumption."

She thought for a while and said: "I'll open a live stream tonight and talk to the fans."

Jin Li didn't have to cook her own New Year's Eve dinner; the crew specially found a chef to come and cook.

Because many actors stayed in the crew for the New Year, the crew simply invited people to cook, and the village also brought several pots of freshly cooked dishes to add to the crew's meal.

On this day, leftovers were allowed and didn't need to be thrown away, because "there is abundance every year."

But just after Jin Li finished her New Year's Eve dinner and opened the live stream, she suddenly received a pop-up message on her blog.

"Emergency! Li Xunfang eats her way into the ICU!"

As soon as this news came out, the traffic on the internet finally boiled over. ===== CHAPTER 516 =====