At 7:30 PM, the fifty guests of "360 Trades" gathered again in the hotel lobby.
The director looked at them, his expression as sinister as ever, making him seem like a wicked and troublesome person.
Xu Gui finally arrived on time this time, sitting obediently in the corner. Seeing her, the director felt a sense of relief—good, the troublesome person was finally calm this time. He just hoped she would be more proactive during the next filming and not keep getting the cameraman to turn it off.
"Here, I would like to congratulate everyone on successfully passing the first round of eliminations and advancing to the next round of competition..." the director said with a smile. "I hope to see you all here again next time."
Everyone: "..." They were speechless.
Shameless, thick-skinned, crocodile tears... all sorts of insults flashed through their minds at this moment, after all, this elimination system was created by the director.
"...If you didn't have this elimination round system, I guarantee you'd see every single one of us every time," the young woman sitting next to Xu Gui muttered, directly expressing everyone's thoughts.
Xu Gui glanced at her curiously, and after being noticed, he immediately received a silly grin from her.
This glance from Xu Gui was probably interpreted as a friendly signal by her, because the next second, this round-faced, baby-faced young woman moved closer to Xu Gui.
"Hello, my name is Fu Xia!" she introduced herself.
Xu Gui: "...My name is Xu Gui."
"I know you! You're an artist from Xinghai Entertainment, the same company as Su Ya!" Fu Xia said, then whispered, "I secretly watched your live stream before, I'm a fan!"
She looked at Xu Gui with curiosity and excitement, asking, "Can you really tell fortunes? I see you don't use character analysis, face reading, or tortoise shell divination, it's completely different from what's shown on TV... So, how exactly do you tell fortunes?"
"Can you tell my fortune? I want to know about my love life,"
Fu Xia said with a troubled expression, "I really want to have a relationship, but for some reason, every relationship I have ends without a trace, and I always encounter scumbags."
Xu Gui looked at her left cheek, which seemed to say "good," and her right cheek, which seemed to say "deceitful." For some reason, she suddenly thought of Zheng Fulai.
Hmm, the two of them look somewhat alike.
"Don't worry, I'll give you the money. You won't lose out. My dad's rich." Fu Xia continued, her eyes innocent. "Two million, or three million… just name your price!"
Xu Gui: …This divination isn't entirely out of the question.
Just then, a loud cough rang in their ears. They both looked up and met the director's face, which had somehow gotten close to them.
The director looked at them sinisterly and asked, "You two seem to be having a good chat. What are you talking about? Can you tell me?"
Hearing this, Fu Xia stuck out her tongue, shrank her neck, and dared not utter a sound.
Xu Gui, however, thought for a moment, looked at the director, and asked him, "Do you really want to hear it?"
The director: …He had a bad feeling.
But as a cunning director, he always had an unusual curiosity. Even if he felt that what Xu Gui and the others were saying might not be anything good, the director still nodded.
Okay!
Xu Gui decided to grant the director's wish.
"We're saying you're shameless, hypocritical, and two-faced, Director..." A string of words came out of her mouth clearly and distinctly.
Director: "..." You actually said that?
"Alright, alright." The director interrupted Xu Gui impatiently, saying, "I'm speaking up here, you two better pay attention!" He looked like a strict homeroom teacher catching his students whispering among themselves.
"You're amazing!" Fu Xia looked at Xu Gui admiringly. "You actually dared to talk to the director like that? He looks so sinister, aren't you afraid of him?"
Xu Gui thought for a moment and said, "It's alright, the director is a good person."
After all, he not only didn't look down on her being a newcomer in the entertainment industry, but also invited her to the show to earn money. And after she won first place, the director even gave her a two million yuan bonus... How could someone who gives you money be a bad person?
Xu Gui nodded.
Fu Xia, however, didn't know that this was Xu Gui's judgment of a good person. She only knew that Xu Gui was a fortune teller, and what a fortune teller said was, of course, true.
Fu Xia suddenly realized, and her gaze towards the director changed. Her once naive and clear eyes suddenly held a hint of trust: Ah, so the director is a really good person!
The director: ...For some reason, he suddenly felt goosebumps all over.
*
"Our second round of eliminations will begin the next day. All the money you've earned will be reset to zero, starting from scratch. That means, maybe the thirtieth place you were in before could be the first place tomorrow?"
The director's voice was cold. "And this time, only ten people will advance; the remaining twenty will all be eliminated!"
Thirty people, but only ten can advance—the cruelty was self-evident. The room fell silent, and the gazes of the surrounding guests held a hint of hostility and competition.
The director's gaze swept over everyone, and he suddenly smiled again, saying, "Well then, I hope everyone will work hard tomorrow and earn lots of money."
...
The guests dispersed, but a few were called away. Seeing this, the other guests couldn't help but speculate and began to whisper among themselves.
"What did the director call them over for?"
"I heard from my uncle's aunt's son's daughter that our show has a lot of sponsors. If a guest gets favored by these sponsors during filming, they might receive various resources sponsored by them... These few, maybe they've been chosen by a sponsor?"
Su Ya's eyebrows furrowed as she overheard this. "The others are one thing, but who is Xu Gui? Just a newcomer, what makes her think she can get favored by a sponsor?"
Indeed, Xu Gui was among the guests called over. For some reason, Su Ya had been following her closely, so she had personally witnessed Xu Gui being called away by the staff.
Su Ya scoffed, "Xu Gui has no fame, no fans, and no work. Why would a sponsor choose her? What makes Xu Gui so special?"
How would we know? If you want to ask, you should ask the sponsors!
Everyone couldn't help but murmur among themselves.
"...Maybe my relative misspoke. The person who was called away might have had other things to do." The guest who had just shared the "insider information" gave an awkward smile, trying to smooth things over.
Su Ya looked indignant. She wanted to say something, but Tang Rou suddenly spoke up, "Regardless of whether the guest who was called away was favored by a sponsor or for other reasons, all we can do is work hard on filming and try our best not to be eliminated."
She smiled faintly, "Perhaps we'll be the next ones chosen by a sugar daddy, so let's all work hard together."
Everyone knew Tang Rou's background—the youngest daughter of the Tang Corporation, a pampered heiress. Therefore, regardless of what people truly thought of her words, they all flattered her, as if her words held profound truth.
Surrounded by the crowd, Tang Rou remained as aloof and indifferent as ever, seemingly unconcerned about Xu Gui and his group possibly being chosen by a sugar daddy. However, only she knew her true feelings.
But as her gaze swept in the direction Xu Gui and his group had left, the look in Tang Rou's eyes suddenly dimmed.
...
Three guests were called away, Xu Gui being one of them. However, they were separated and taken to different rooms.
Xu Gui entered the room and saw his manager there. Opposite the manager sat two other people, a young man and a young woman. Upon seeing Xu Gui, the man's eyes lit up, and he immediately stood up, intending to walk towards Xu Gui.
However, before he could take a step, his secretary pinched him, instantly turning his face into a grimace. By the time he recovered, Xu Gui was already standing in front of him.
Xu Gui's agent also stood up and introduced them, mainly to Xu Gui, the people opposite him. He said, "This is Mr. Ji Kaiming, and this is his secretary, Ms. Ai Lan."
Ji Kaiming eagerly extended his hand to Xu Gui, saying happily, "Hello, Ms. Xu, I'm Ji Kaiming… I watched your live stream before, you looked so cool doing fortune telling! Do you know how to tell fortunes? How do you do it?"
Xu Gui felt these words sounded familiar, as if she had just heard them before.
Before Ji Kaiming could say anything more, Ai Lan naturally stepped forward, her foot casually landing on his instep.
Ji Kaiming: Okay, I understand, I'll shut up.
"Miss Xu, please have a seat," Ai Lan said with a smile. After Xu Gui sat down, she introduced them to her: "We are from [Miaoyu]. We at [Miaoyu] mainly deal in aquatic pets, such as fish, shrimp, and turtles."
She still gave her boss some face: "Mr. Ji is our boss. We're here today mainly to invite Miss Xu to become our company's spokesperson!"
Xu Gui: "Ah, me?"
The agent also wanted to ask: Ah, are you sure you've chosen Xu Gui?
The agent didn't understand what Ji Kaiming and the others saw in Xu Gui. It couldn't be this mysterious thing she was talking about, could it?
Ji Kaiming finally had a chance to speak. He said enthusiastically, "I watched your live stream the other day, Miss Xu, and I happened to hear you recommending turtles as pets to the audience. My family also has a turtle; it was raised by my grandfather, and it's said to have been passed down for several generations, from my great-great-grandfather's generation. Later, I also raised several turtles..."
"The first time I saw you, Miss Xu, I felt that you, like me, really liked turtles. Don't you think that's fate?"
His eyes were full of admiration as he looked at Xu Gui.
After hearing his words, Xu Gui's face also showed an interested expression, and she couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Ji, do you also like turtles?"
Ji Kaiming nodded vigorously, "Of course."
He beamed, "Let me tell you, I know a lot about turtles. My grandfather's turtle was raised by me since it was a chick. Later, I started a pet company because of this..."
The two chatted about turtles, and Ji Kaiming really knew a lot about turtles. He spoke fluently and knowledgeably about many things related to turtles.
Xu Gui didn't really know much about turtles, but she was a turtle herself—a black tortoise, after all. So, listening to Ji Kaiming's words, she couldn't help but feel a surge of goodwill towards him—who wouldn't like someone who liked turtles?
Xu Gui had been in the human world for so long, yet she rarely saw anyone who liked turtles; instead, people often used turtles in their insults.
Thinking this, she found Ji Kaiming even more agreeable.
Since both of them liked turtles, they naturally hit it off immediately and were extremely compatible.
Ai Lan and Xu Gui's manager watched helplessly as the two chatted more and more happily, until, towards the end, Ji Kaiming seemed eager to immediately drag Xu Gui to become sworn sisters.
Ai Lan: "..."
She sighed, looking at her manager, and said, "Let's talk about the endorsement contract."
Since the boss was unreliable, it was up to her, the secretary, to step in.
What followed was a bizarre scene in the room: on one side, everyone was joyful and the atmosphere was so harmonious they were about to go out for dinner; on the other, the atmosphere was serious, sharp and confrontational, with no room for compromise.
Only after Ji Kaiming finished talking with Xu Gui did he pay attention to Ai Lan's conversation with her agent. Hearing them still arguing about the endorsement fee, he casually remarked, "I think three million for Xu Gui is a good offer!"
Ai Lan: ??
She stared at Ji Kaiming in shock, her face clearly saying, "Are you crazy?" She had just asked for 800,000, so this was almost four times that!
In all her years as a secretary, Ai Lan admitted this was the first time she'd ever seen a boss actively raising the price… So, was this reasonable?
Ji Kaiming said confidently, "I think Xu Gui is perfect for endorsing our product. Three million is definitely a good deal... Besides, she and I are friends. Would I let a friend suffer a loss?"
His address to Xu Gui had changed from "Miss Xu" to calling her by her first name, their relationship progressing rapidly.
Three million—more than I made at the Zheng family… Xu Gui couldn't help but look at Ji Kaiming.
Ji Kaiming, thinking she was worried about him, comforted her, "Don't worry, my family is very wealthy. You're my friend, of course I can't let you suffer a loss."
Xu Gui looked at him and suddenly nodded seriously, "Yes, friend!"
She decided that no matter who came, Ji Kaiming would be her best friend, without exception.
Seeing the two of them acting like such close friends, Ai Lan's lips twitched slightly, feeling rather conflicted. She turned to look at Xu Gui's agent, who was also dumbfounded, clearly having never seen such a "generous" client—a "generous" client, more like a "sucker."
"Are you sure you want three million?" Ai Lan asked.
Ji Kaiming nodded firmly, "Three million it is."
Ai Lan sighed, trying not to get too angry. After all, it wasn't the first time she'd heard of Ji Kaiming's behavior. As
for why their company had grown so big and strong without going bankrupt, it was entirely due to the hard work of their employees and the support of a powerful backer. Otherwise, with Ji Kaiming's extravagant spending, their company would have collapsed long ago.
"Then let's have a three million endorsement fee..." Ai Lan looked at Xu Gui's agent, "Let's sign the contract now."
Xu Gui's agent: Hmm?
"I think you can reconsider." He smiled insincerely, "Xu Gui is still a newcomer. Don't you think this price is too high? How about this, I have another artist under my management. Unlike Xu Gui, who is still a newcomer, she has over a million followers on Weibo and has already filmed quite a few TV dramas."
The agent tentatively suggested, "How about you get her to be the spokesperson?"
Ai Lan hadn't expected Xu Gui's agent to not speak up for her and even consider giving the endorsement to another female celebrity. She turned to look at Xu Gui, as did Ji Kaiming.
"Does your agent have a grudge against you?" Ji Kaiming couldn't help but ask. "This is the first time I've seen an agent want to give their artist's endorsement to another star."
Clearly, they had a deep-seated grudge.
Xu Gui looked at her agent's frozen face, nodded, and said, "More or less. I remember last time we met, he said he wanted to ruin my reputation."
Ji Kaiming suddenly understood: "No wonder."
He glanced at the agent, curled his lip, and said, "You're dreaming—you're dreaming! This endorsement is because I specifically sought out Xu Gui. Do you think just any Tom, Dick, or Harry can endorse our company?"
Ji Kaiming clearly came from a good family and had been pampered since childhood; he didn't give his agent any face.
"I don't think your agent is very good. Why don't you terminate your contract with him and switch companies?" He looked at Xu Gui.
Xu Gui said, "Although he's not very good, our company is pretty good. Before I was unemployed, they paid my basic salary of 5,000 yuan a month and also paid for my social insurance and housing fund."
Ji Kaiming: "5,000 yuan, is that a lot?" His tone was very serious.
"It's quite a lot." Xu Gui's tone was also very serious, "It's enough for me to eat every month."
Ji Kaiming: "That's indeed not bad."
Xu Gui: "So, I'm thinking that I can just change agents in the future, and I don't need to change companies…"
Agent: Are you two treating me like I'm invisible?
"Do you need my help?" Ji Kaiming asked eagerly.
Xu Gui looked at him, her eyes brightening slightly: "Can you help me?"
Seeing her gaze, Ji Kaiming's confidence surged. He raised his head high and declared, "Of course! Don't let my appearance fool you, I have extensive connections! If I can't, my brother can, or my sister can!"
He asked Xu Gui, "Do you know what my brother is? The president of Shenghuang!"
Xu Gui honestly shook her head: "No."
The manager beside her then asked, "Could it be... Shenghuang, the Shenghuang of Shenghuang Jewelry?"
Ji Kaiming gave him a look and said, "I didn't realize you had such good taste."
The manager gasped, his expression slightly changing.
"Shenghuang"—of course he knew it. In fact, anyone in the entertainment industry would know the name. After all, it was an extremely famous luxury jewelry brand, renowned even internationally.
Celebrities in the entertainment industry considered it an honor to wear "Shenghuang" jewelry at any event; it wasn't just famous, it was incredibly famous.
The agent remembered that the boss behind "Holy Emperor" was indeed surnamed Ji, and the Ji family had three brothers: an older brother, an older sister, and a younger brother. The person in front of him... was probably the youngest son of the Ji family.
The agent's gaze towards Ji Kaiming changed, and he forced a smile, saying, "So, you are Young Master Ji."
Ji Kaiming looked at him: "You know me?"
Agent: "Of course I know you. I once had the honor of meeting your older sister, Miss Ji Mingwei. You two siblings look very alike."
Hearing this, Xu Gui couldn't help but glance at the agent, realizing for the first time what it meant to "lie through one's teeth." How could Ji Kaiming possibly resemble his second sister?
But Ji Kaiming didn't think so. In his eyes, he resembled everyone in his family.
"You have good taste!" He gave his agent a look and said, "Let me tell you, Xu Gui is my friend. Don't even think about bullying her. If you dare do anything to her, I'll have my brother and sister teach you a lesson!"
The agent chuckled dryly, "Well, how could that be?"
He glanced at Xu Gui silently, wondering how she had won the favor of this young master. Could it be that this young master Ji had taken a liking to Xu Gui? The agent felt he understood something.
*
With the generosity of their boss, Ji Kaiming, Xu Gui quickly signed an endorsement contract with [Miaoyu]. Starting tomorrow, Xu Gui would be responsible for promoting [Miaoyu] during her live streams.
Ai Lan looked at the contract and couldn't help but sigh—she didn't even know if she could earn back the three million endorsement fee.
Oh well, she'd just consider it three million to play with the young master. The Ji family wasn't short of money.
"Tomorrow, our employees will deliver our company's products to your fortune-telling stall," Ai Lan said to Xu Gui. "At that time, we'll trouble you to promote our products."
Whether the promotion is effective or not doesn't matter. [Miaoyu] was originally opened by Ji Kaiming on a whim because he liked aquatic pets, so he simply opened a full-service business specifically for himself. Although it's slowly growing, it's still just a small company.
When Ji Kaiming left, he said to Xu Gui, "Good friend, I'll treat you to dinner next time. I know several private kitchens that are really good."
Xu Gui nodded, "Sure."
She and her agent escorted the boss and his secretary downstairs. After waving goodbye to Ji Kaiming, the two seemingly indifferent agents and artists simultaneously frowned, looking at each other with disdain.
"I didn't expect you to have climbed up the Ji family's high branch," the agent mocked.
Xu Gui looked at him with disdain and commented, "Your heart is truly filthy, your head is only filled with abnormal things... But then again, with your habit of sending your artists to investors' beds, you can't possibly have anything good in your head."
The manager's expression changed, and he subconsciously said, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
Xu Gui said, "I'm not talking nonsense. I've already said I'm a fortune teller, so of course I can predict anything... For example, I predicted that you introduced another artist under your management to an investor last night, and I also predicted that you're keeping a mistress behind your wife's back."
When Xu Gui said the first part, the manager's expression didn't change much, but when he heard the latter part, his expression changed drastically.
"How did you know?" he blurted out.
Xu Gui glanced at him and chuckled, "I've already told you I'm a fortune teller... so, it's best if we can stay peaceful like this. But if you try anything against me, don't blame me for telling your wife."
Hearing this, the agent's expression shifted dramatically, turning pale and then red.
Xu Gui knew why he reacted so strongly; his wife was more assertive, especially his wife's brother. If word got out about the agent's affair...
"You'll definitely get your legs broken by your brother-in-law, won't you?" Xu Gui sighed.
The agent's face darkened further—Xu Gui had guessed right again.
Xu Gui left, feeling a burning sensation on her back as she walked away. It seemed the other person wanted to stare a hole through her.
Xu Gui muttered: See? See? Sooner or later, I'll go blind!
Xu Gui planned to go straight to her room to rest, but as soon as she stepped out of the elevator, she heard someone call her name:
"Xu Gui!"
Xu Gui turned his head, looked at the person who appeared before him, and raised an eyebrow.