Chapter 248 - The Search is On: Jade Sculptor
Chapter 248: The Search is On: Jade Sculptor
Yun Xiangxiang made her decision. After chatting with Song Mian, she messaged Deng Yang, asking her to pick up the pace.
She then wanted to call He Wei and ask him to find a jade sculptor with great craftsmanship skills.
She didn’t want to ask Song Mian, because he would have guessed the reason and ruined the surprise.
Xiangxiang opened her Weibo app before she made the call. She noticed several messages from jade sculptors lying in wait for her. All were made last night before she “sold” the black jadeite.
Xiangxiang went through a few of them. Most of them were sent by the sculptors themselves. All were masters certified by the Jade Association.
Yun Xiangxiang was interested in the message a high-school boy sent her: [Goddess Xiangxiang, my grandpa is a super awesome jade sculptor. He’s very interested in your black jadeite. If it’s not too troublesome, I hope you can contact him…]
He left a number at the end. Xiangxiang sent the number to Song Qian and asked her to investigate the user.
As the boy’s Weibo username was EntranceExamisOnlyOverWhenIDie, Xiangxiang guessed that he was a highschooler.
She checked his Weibo out and confirmed that it was a boy. He might be a child, but Xiangxiang wouldn’t trust any stranger easily.
True, there were masters within the common folk. Xiangxiang trusted the certified masters, but she wanted to keep a low profile.
She wanted as few people as possible to know that she still had the black jadeite, but these certified masters wouldn’t be so willing to give up credit for their work.
Not to mention that this might be their legendary work. Only those who spent their lives in jade sculpting, and not in the pursuit of fame, could keep quiet.
But Xiangxiang wouldn’t ask them to do something for nothing either. She would announce that the sculptor was hired by MonRoe and add his name up there. That would be the end of it.
Nobody would try to dig up dirt on a jade sculptor who cared nothing about fame.
In the chat group of “The King’s Plan” was an elated Wu Zhao.
[Director Wu: Hahahaha. We got a rebound in the daily box office thanks to @YunXiangxiang.]
Before this, “The King’s Plan”‘s box office had declined to forty million yuan per day. There were ten days before it would be taken down, and their total box office had not exceeded two billion yuan. It was uncertain if it could break the 2.5 billion yuan record.
But following yesterday’s breaking news of Xiangxiang’s black jadeite, this day’s box office soared to ninety million yuan. Pre-orders also shot up too. This was an unprecedented boost.
They could do it if they grossed more than two billion before the twenty-second. They could still promote it after their episode of “A Gathering of Shows” was aired.
That way, their box office would be close to 2.5 billion. After that, it would be anyone’s game. Everyone was excited about it.
[Yun Xiangxiang: It’s thanks to everyone. I couldn’t film “The King’s Plan” all by myself either.]
She couldn’t take all the credit for it. A good film wouldn’t solely rely on the performance of an actor, nor a group of them. It must be the fruit of the whole team’s labor.
[Sun Qiluo: Director Wu, you must bring Xiangxiang along on any promotional work after this. She’s a one-woman army.]
Except for “Justice and Selflessness,” she contributed a lot to her films’ promotions, from “Caring Love” to “University Dream.”
Of all her films, “Justice and Selflessness” recorded the worst box office. Director Lin Jialiang probably regretted not bringing Xiangxiang together during promotional work.
[Wu Zhao: Hahahaha, of course, I will next time. And there will be next time.]
He wasn’t doing them lip service because of the film’s success. Wu Zhao sincerely thought the actors this time were impeccable.
They were quality, charismatic actors. If he had more great scripts, he would ask them to play in his film again.
[He Xingzhou: Director Wu, when are you going to hold the celebration feast? I’m still eyeing Brother Jin’s wine.]
[Wu Zhao: After the film is taken down, I’ll find a suitable time for all of us. That feast is on.]
[Sun Qiluo: Hahahaha. Don’t forget to get your bottle of wine, Brother Jin.]
[Lu Jin: I don’t think a bottle is enough. I’ll get a few more.]
[Hou Cang: That’s the rich for you. Don’t forget to get two bottles of white wine. Red wine is not my cup of tea.]
Everyone chatted for a while and went their ways after the sun had set. When Xiangxiang came out of the bathroom, Song Qian already had the info Xiangxiang wanted.
The old man was called Qian Yongnian. He used to be a brilliant star among the jade sculpting world. His fame soared after the popularization of stone gambling.
He lost his fame because he used to cut corners and used subpar jade in his work. He was even involved in making fake jades.
If it were under any other circumstance, Yun Xiangxiang would have already tossed this person’s resume aside. No matter how innocent he might be, Yun Xiangxiang didn’t need to risk herself. There were other sculptors in the world.
But this was a special circumstance. She noticed that this sculptor’s scandal was cooked up by a certain jewelry company. That company just so happened to be the one that chastised her on Weibo.
Everyone would have this similar process of thought: If your enemy had someone else as an enemy, you would try to check it out.
Qian Yongnian was also in Tengchong City right now. As Xiangxiang’s flight was two days away, she could take a detour during her shopping session with Shanshan tomorrow.
She had heard rumors about the large number of jade sculptors leading low profile lives in Tengchong City. She wanted to try her luck and see if she could find one.
She was short on time now. Barely a month was left until Song Mian’s birthday.
Yun Xiangxiang asked Song Qian to find out Qian Yongnian’s details before she went to sleep.
Lu Jin flew back to his current crew last night. Hou Cang left early in the morning. Xingzhou and Qiluo flew back home.
Xiangxiang and Wei Shanshan disguised themselves and left the town in the program team’s car. There were a lot of reporters hiding in the town.
They were not disturbed before this only because the program team kept them in line.
“I look totally different. You are something, Xiangxiang,” Shanshan looked into the mirror and observed the freckles Xiangxiang added to her nose. Xiangxiang also made her eyebrows bushier. She couldn’t even recognize herself at first.
Yun Xiangxiang also made great changes to herself. She made her eyes smaller and her face bigger.
She even wore a wig that had thick and dense bangs. Shanshan couldn’t bear to look at her.
They were also wearing out-of-fashion shirts and a pair of baggy jeans. “If my fans saw me, they would doubt my taste in clothes.”
“And that’s why you have no freedom. Just be yourself, and don’t fidget around. Do you want them to recognize you?” Yun Xiangxiang held her hands. “Nobody will know it’s you if you’re unfashionable.”
Any ordinary person would turn heads if they dressed themselves up, let alone actors.
Using the same logic in the opposite way, actors who dressed ordinarily could slip under the public’s radar.