The travel program she partic.i.p.ated in before had invited her to become a fixed host. There were also a mult.i.tude of audition invitations, some even with the scripts completely prepared and only needed her agreement to be directly given the role without an audition. There were also some advertis.e.m.e.nt requests who wanted her to be their amba.s.sador. They wanted her for exposure and were willing to offer a very enticing price tag too.

Apart from these, the "National Supermodel" show she had previously partic.i.p.ated in also invited her to become a judge for the third season.

“The previous plan to stay low key isn"t very applicable anymore. Now that you"ve already consolidated your fame, you have to continue moving forward and quickly fight for better opportunities to stabilize your position before you can relax a little.” Xu Ping commented as she watched her pick and choose.

Sheng Jiaoyang spread out all the amba.s.sador requests and glanced over the travel program invitation before putting it to one side. She pushed all the script and audition invitations to another side before picking up the invitation for the third season of National Supermodel and browsing through it.

“Jiaojiao, National Supermodel"s ratings aren"t that high and there"ll probably be even less viewers on the third season. Their pay also isn"t very high so I think you can just ignore it,” Xu Ping advised.

Sheng Jiaoyang looked at the words, “National Supermodel” and felt nostalgic. It was through this show that she was able to quickly meet and reconnect with Mei Niu. The show brought her to fame. National Supermodel actually meant a lot to her.

“It"s been almost a year,” she sighed emotionally.

“Yeah, it went by so fast.” Xu Ping didn"t know the significance of the year for Sheng Jiaoyang and only followed with a sigh.

Sheng Jiaoyang gave the National Supermodel invitation to Xu Ping. “Help me accept this.”

“Jiaojiao?”

“I debuted with this program, so doing this could be considered repayment.”

“Alright, as long as you"re happy,” Xu Ping said helplessly.

Sheng Jiaoyang pointed at some of the audition invitations and scripts. “Leave these for me to look over, the rest you can take away.”

“Alright.”

“Oh right, help me pack that painting there.” Sheng Jiaoyang pointed at the oil painting on the easel.

Xu Ping walked over and sized up the painting. It depicted a dest.i.tute, worn out cla.s.sroom with a few kids, all different in appearances, staring at the blackboard with hungry eyes. The lower right corner of the painting was signed "Jiao" like Jiao (it looks like the Chinese character "proud").

“Who are you planning to send this painting to?”

“In two days, there"s a charity auction dinner party I have to attend. I"m planning to donate that painting for the auction.”

Xu Ping was startled, “I didn"t know about it!?”

“It"s a special fundraising party held by Uncle Weiqi and the others.”

Xu Ping nodded and took out her phone to take a picture of the painting. She was planning to post it on Jiaojiao"s public Weibo.

After logging in, she casually scrolled through the feed before suddenly crying out in surprise. “Jiaojiao, come look!”

Sheng Jiaoyang walked over and stood beside Xu Ping, looking at a painting on her phone. She could instantly tell it was the one she sent Shen Zhining for her birthday. Has it been stolen?

She scrolled to the profile and saw a big red name: Shen Zhining, along with a confirmed "v", indicating a verified member. Under it, was the eye-catching introduction, Jiaojiao"s boyfriend.

The post was created just yesterday, captioned with: My happiest birthday ever. I received a very sincere gift today, "s pleasant surprise really was a pleasant surprise. [1] Attachments.

“It seems Mr. Shen really likes your painting. Do you want to reply and directly publicize your relations.h.i.+p? In any case, your relations.h.i.+p is already basically public, it"s just missing an announcement,” Xu Ping suggested.

Sheng Jiaoyang really wanted to tell Xu Ping that she was too naive. The pleasant surprise wasn"t the painting, but… When she thought of the night before yesterday, her whole face turned red.

Luckily, Xu Ping was looking at her phone and didn"t see her expression change.

“Let me borrow your phone, I"ll repost it.” Sheng Jiaoyang reached out to Xu Ping and took her phone.

She first reposted Shen Zhining"s tweet before simply replying, “I"m glad you like it.”

Xu Ping looked at their loving affectionate exchange and silently decided to post the charity auction painting later to prevent others from thinking they were using the relations.h.i.+p to promote the painting.

“Alright, I"ll take the painting and bring it back to you once it"s been framed.”

“You don"t have to bring it back, just take it directly to the charity dinner venue.”

The charity auction organised by Li Weiqi and Xu Qing was already all set up.

To help raise funds for charity, everyone was supposed to bring something they wanted to auction off to the dinner party. All proceeds from the sale would be donated to charity.

The invitations were sent out a month prior to the event.

Although the evening party was presided by Li Weiqi and Xu Qing, they were actually supported by several powerful families, having an impact on almost all of China"s high society. Almost everyone who received an invitation came; those who didn"t send a representative in their place.

Just the displays for the auction took up three floors alone. The first floor was for cheaply bidded items, the second was for items priced from 10,000 to 100,000 RMB, and the third floor held items priced for millions.

From the price level, it could be seen that the third floor held the most valuable items. To be willing to contribute such expensive items, it was clear how powerful some of the attendees were; although naturally there were some who wanted to use the event to raise their reputations.

Everyone with an invitation was allowed to bring a companion, so apart from all sorts of middle-aged men, there were also a few young faces.

On the venue"s third floor, a man and woman stood in front of a display. An oil painting sat in the display case.

“How can a painting fetch a million?” A young man curled his lip.

Holding the man"s arm, a pretty girl smiled, “It could be a great master"s painting.”

The man leaned in and read the infobox. “Xu Jiaojiao"s work.”

“Who"s Xu Jiaojiao? It sounds like a girl"s name, and it"s kind of familiar,” the man continued.

“Xu Jiaojiao? I don"t know if the Xu Jiaojiao you"re talking about is the same one I"m talking about, but I know one who debuted last year and used scandals and other messy affairs to become famous.”

“Hah, a scheming s.l.u.t"s dumb painting is auctioning for a million? She really thinks highly of herself. If she was auctioning off her virginity, there might be people buying. Otherwise, there"s no point selling paintings till she"s dead, then maybe some brainless fan would waste a bunch of money to burn it for her. Now? I bet that n.o.body would bid on this painting.” The man"s face was filled with disdain as he looked at the dull coloured painting.

“Oh? Is that so?”

The man was just about to speak until he realised the one who had spoken wasn"t his female companion, but somebody else behind them.

The two turned around and saw a tall, thin, ripen looking woman with thin, gold-framed gla.s.ses and light makeup staring at them with a strange smile.

“Xu Jiaojiao?!” The woman couldn"t help but call out her name.

“She"s Xu Jiaojiao?” The man inspected her.

“How interesting, could I also make a bet?” Holding a wine gla.s.s in hand, the person standing next to Sheng Jiaoyang wanted to join in the fun.

He was the current director-general of the Senlin Theatres, Li Senlin. They had just run into each other downstairs. Originally, Sheng Jiaoyang was with Shen Zhining but he was called over by some of the older guests. She didn"t feel like listening to them so she just excused herself and left on her own. In any case, she couldn"t get lost here or run into any problems.

Later on, she ran into Li Senlin. They chatted a bit before the topic turned to what they had brought for the charity auction.

Li Senlin heard she donated a painting she painted herself and wanted to check it out.

Sheng Jiaoyang knew her painting was displayed on the third floor. Her family told her that the painting deserved to be in the most eye-catching spot. On the way, Shen Zhining even boldly declared, “I"ll win that painting.”

Therefore, she knew that even if she didn"t do anything, there would definitely be people willing to bid for her painting.

“Why did I hear such unpleasant words earlier? Since you want to bet, I"ll bet with you. If you lose, I won"t make you do much, just apologise to me in front of everyone,” Sheng Jiaoyang said confidently.

“Since it"s a bet, it"ll have to have stakes,” Li Senlin smiled.

Having been caught trash-talking somebody to their face, the man was naturally embarra.s.sed. But because he was always spoiled at home, he was naturally very unreasonable and arrogant. When he heard Li Senlin"s words, he was excited. “I"ll bet one million! You?”

Sheng Jiaoyang"s lips curved, “I"ll match it to the end.”

“Wait, you can"t bid your own painting or commission others to bid.” the woman by the man"s side blurted.

The man suddenly realised his mistake as he hastily agreed, “Right, you can"t make agreements with anyone else.”

Li Senlin smiled, “Then we can supervise each other until the painting"s bidding is done.”

“Alright, that"s settled then.”

The hall was full of people and many had clearly heard the bet. They curiously looked over, some recognizing Sheng Jiaoyang.

Someone laughed to the person beside them, “That guy"s pretty impulsive to make that kind of bet without doing any research first. He"ll definitely lose.”

The hall couldn"t be counted as particularly big or small, so his voice was heard by a few people.

The man who made the bet with Sheng Jiaoyang suddenly got worried as he glanced at Sheng Jiaoyang suspiciously before whispering to the woman. “This Xu Jiaojiao seems to have some influence?”

“I don"t think so?” The woman was also startled.Previous ChapterNext Chapter