Chapter 273: These two are just putting on an act, making up news...

Hearing Rong Juezhang's words, Li Sishi was both amused and annoyed: "Aren't you being a little too confident?"

"Confidence isn't something given to you by others; it's something you create yourself." Rong Juezhang shrugged, looking smug and saying, "If you can find a man in the world who treats you better than me, then I'll admit I'm still 'inferior'."

"Really..." Li Sishi was too lazy to continue arguing with him. She reached over and picked out a few of the photos that she found most pleasing to the eye, thus making her choice.

"Since you've all made your choices, I'll hand these photos over to the media for use in promotional materials for the show," Lu Yiting said after putting the photos away.

She certainly trusted the taste of Li Sishi and Rong Juezhang, this handsome young man and beautiful young woman, and she had also watched them choose on the spot. The photos she had collected were all relatively satisfactory to everyone.

"Oh, by the way, I've already contacted quite a few of those Miss Hong Kong and Miss Chinese International contestants who have mixed-race looks. Your friend Sushilika has also agreed to come and film the beauty pageant scenes with you in this movie..." Lu Yiting added.

Compared to Li Sishi, who has a powerful backer in Hong Kong, Zhuang Menghua, and whose film and television career has been dominated by positive leading roles, Sushilika, the Indian beauty queen who competed with her for the Miss Universe title, has not had a smooth career in her country.

Before the beauty pageant, Susilica worked as a part-time model. She is 179cm tall. After rising from obscurity to become an internationally renowned beauty pageant champion through the competition, she knew that the modeling industry, which relies on youth, would not allow her to reach new heights. Therefore, she took advantage of her Miss Universe title and entered the entertainment industry.

Now, her tall figure, which once garnered her much attention in the modeling and beauty pageant world, has become an obstacle for her to break into the entertainment industry: male artists are wary of such a tall "beauty," fearing that they will appear short and weak in comparison when acting with her, so they shake their heads repeatedly at the mere mention of her name and are unwilling to work with her.

After being ridiculed for a period of time for not being able to work with male actors, not being suitable for leading roles, and only being destined to play supporting roles, Sushilika was not defeated by setbacks. On the contrary, just like when she faced the competition for India's number one beauty at the same time, she did not back down at all. When she couldn't get leading roles, she simply focused on supporting roles. Now she has become a bright new star in the Indian entertainment industry with the potential to compete for various supporting actress awards.

If we're talking about international beauty pageant contestants with whom Li Sishi has the best relationships, besides Chang Baoning, who was her nominator, it's probably...

Sussrika, a former rival and friend, but ultimately a Miss Universe contestant who prioritized friendship over competition—when Sussrika visited Hong Kong as Miss Universe champion, she arranged for Lee Sze-sze, the runner-up of the same year, to be her host.

Later, Li Sishi went to India for exchanges in accordance with goodwill obligations, and India sent Suslikka to receive her.

Later, they each developed their careers in their respective home countries, but they still kept in touch by letter regularly, and were the kind of good friends who were like neighbors even though they were far apart.

Therefore, when it came time to film the beauty pageant scenes for "Beauty on the High Platform," Li Sishi's first thought was to take this opportunity to gather her old friends and acquaintances who had also been beauty pageant contestants and have a good get-together at public expense...

Suslica readily agreed, and even suggested bringing her Miss Universe crown so that Suslica could personally "coronate" Li Sishi. Back then, Li Sishi's score was only one decimal point lower than hers, making her the runner-up. In Suslica's view, Li Sishi's loss was not in the actual judging criteria of the beauty pageant, but rather due to certain unspeakable factors.

Even Li Sishi's ability to reach the runner-up position was due to the gradual strengthening of the country's national power, which made her too conspicuous to ignore. Therefore, in the end, the score line for Li Sishi was strictly controlled, and she was "reluctantly" given the runner-up position.

If it weren't for concerns about the negative repercussions, and the fact that a real gold and diamond laurel wreath wouldn't look as dazzling as a prop laurel wreath, Sussrika genuinely wanted to travel across the ocean with this laurel wreath she had treasured for so long, and personally place it on the head of the person who should have worn it back then.

Li Sishi was very grateful for Susilika's kindness, but in the end she still chose the crystal rhinestone prop crown made by the props team: firstly, it was less likely to cause any disputes, and secondly, because the fake props that were willing to be inlaid with stones were always shinier and more dazzling than the real ones that were planned to be inlaid with stones during the shoot...

Without such dazzling brilliance, how could the splendor and dazzle on the stage be silently highlighted?

But the dazzling glamour on stage is ultimately crushed by the decadent extravagance of the mansions – it is through this gradual progression that we can witness a young girl's journey from the boundless joy of overnight fame to the endless sorrow of her gradual decline.

Li Sishi's plan is to first release some exquisite stills, and then gradually spread the news that she sincerely invites beauty pageant contestants from all over the country to make cameo appearances, thus gradually building up the popularity and attention of "Beauty on the High Platform".

However, to everyone's surprise, after the release of these exquisite wedding photos as promotional material, other promotional images also began circulating online.

Some blurry candid photos have given rise to a resurgence of those old rumors about "Miss Hong Kong's wedding being imminent."

Especially the magazine "Qu Weekly," known for its flamboyant and nonsensical reporting, went so far as to brazenly claim that Li Sishi and Rong Juezhang were actually dating on the set, using company funds for their relationship, and even releasing wedding photos to test the waters. It was speculated that they were just waiting for the right moment to officially announce the "good" news that their relationship was about to become even closer...

It has to be said that these entertainment reporters have quite a good writing style and imagination. Li Sishi and Rong Juezhang would get together to watch them for entertainment during breaks in filming, and on average, they would both be amused once every minute.

Occasionally, when the mood struck them, these two clowns would even imitate the sticky, mushy descriptions in the show, putting on a live performance. Their tone was so cheesy and their actions so exaggerated that they almost gave everyone on the set goosebumps...

Insiders find this kind of fabricated, watered-down news hilarious, while outsiders, despite its seemingly plausible writing, are suspicious. This is especially true for those with ulterior motives, who become even more agitated upon seeing such material.

Ever since Li Sishi became overly obsessed with her career, Wu Weisheng, the grand-nephew of Madam Li's family, has done a lot of things to fight against those playboy "love rivals," but he has found it extremely difficult to get close to her.

After nearly a year and a half of fruitless efforts, Wu Weisheng's family seemed to have given up on their idea of ​​marrying Li Sishi and inheriting the Li family's third branch's assets. They obediently took over the small business arranged for them by Madam Li, clearly intending to continue living a carefree life by sticking close to the Li family's third branch.

Anyway, no matter how capable Li Sishi becomes, she will still be a girl, and she is very passionate about the entertainment industry. By the time they work hard to establish themselves in the company, even if Li Sishi retires from acting and comes back to take over the family business, they will have already made a lot of money.

If Li Sishi doesn't have much management talent, then whether we continue to marry Li Sishi as originally planned, take over the family property openly, or "support" her in the name of elders—all of these are good ways for their family to continue to prosper.

Therefore, Wu Weisheng's family has been very well-behaved recently. They have even continued to work with the Li family patriarch in private to block the advances and pursuits of young men from similar social classes towards Li Sishi, fearing that she might be overwhelmed by the fierce offensive of some young man and end up losing the huge family fortune of the third branch to someone else.

For these reasons, in the eyes of Li Sishi's family

Wu Weisheng's family has been quite "well-behaved" lately. It's worth considering continuing to spend a little money to support them and keep them in place so that those wolves and tigers outside won't covet their small family.

As a result, Wu Weisheng and his family of three only behaved themselves after a while when they suddenly saw this news in the newspapers and magazines...

Undoubtedly, Wu Weisheng's family was instantly furious: they thought that Li Sishi having a scandal with a male celebrity was just casual dating and playing around, but if this male celebrity was "Rong Juezhang," then he was not someone to be trifled with.

After all, Rong Juezhang had another title before "Superstar": "Young Master of the Rong Family"—

Although the Rong family is not as glorious as it once was, it is not a dilapidated ship with only three pounds of nails; its foundation is still intact. Moreover, Rong Juezhang himself is both talented and wealthy. Given that they are of similar social standing, have similar appearances, and are distant relatives, even though Rong Juezhang is much older than Li Sishi, he is still considered a very good match by many older generations who believe that "men only know how to cherish their wives when they are older."

The two still frequently appear together and collaborate on movies, reportedly playing a married couple... When the movie is released and does well, people in the industry will inevitably jokingly say they are a couple.

What's most alarming is that the Rong family has an enormous number of children. Rong Juezhang, the youngest, is already in the double digits of the family line, and the Rong family's "Suit King" father doesn't seem to care much about him.

In addition, Rong Juezhang himself is an unconventional person who doesn't like to follow the usual path...

If something unexpected were to happen, whether it was Old Madam Li negotiating with the Rong family through her relationship with Mrs. Rong and getting Rong Juezhang to marry into the Li family; or Rong Juezhang and Li Sishi, this modern couple, agreeing to have two children and divide the inheritance equally among them—as long as the third branch of the Li family has an heir, their family's desire to continue living a carefree life as a wealthy household would be gone forever!

The thought of this terrible future immediately made Wu Weisheng's family anxious.

"No, we can't just sit here and wait to die." Wu Wei slammed his hand on the table, winced, and blew on his sore hand before making a decision. "Actually, I did discover something during my time in Hong Kong..."