With global currency devaluation, I'll wear these back and take my whole family flying!

Her roommates offered words of comfort, and Xu Zishan's mood, which had been gloomy for several days, finally brightened up.

At this point, some people noticed something was wrong.

"Wait a minute, Shanshan, so many main actors have been announced, but where's the actress playing Hua Xixi? Hua Xixi is at least the third or fourth female lead, right? The third and fourth male leads are also there. Could Shen Li be playing Hua Xixi?"

Upon hearing this, Kate Tsui couldn't help but sneer, stating confidently, "Impossible. I specifically checked the online rumors; the role of 'Hua Xixi' was only ever approached to Tian Xiaolu from beginning to end. It's definitely her!"

"But Tian Xiaolu wasn't at the press conference either!"

Kate Tsui looked at them and asked, "Then she must have other work to do and can't come. Since neither Tian Xiaolu nor Shen Li are here, who's more likely to play 'Hua Xixi'?"

The roommates looked at each other and said in unison, "It must be Tian Xiaolu."

Xu Zishan smiled with satisfaction: "That settles it then."

As long as Shen Li doesn't play an important role, it doesn't matter who she plays in the end.

Gu Lianxing had class today and wasn't in the dorm, so Shen Ci watched the press conference live by herself. When she still hadn't seen her sister appear even though the two-hour press conference was almost over, she directly dialed Lu Jinzhao's number.

As soon as the call connected, Lu Jinzhao greeted Shen Ci with a smile: "Hello, Ms. Shen."

"I'm not good!" Shen Ci immediately questioned, "Mr. Lu, I'm asking you, why didn't my sister go on stage at the press conference before filming started today?"

Lu Jinzhao paused upon hearing this, clearly also unaware of the situation, and then exclaimed in shock, "This is impossible! I've seen the press conference plan, and I remember your sister's name was on the main creative team list. How come she wasn't on stage?"

Shen Ci's tone was slightly cold: "I watched the live broadcast for two hours. The press conference is about to end. Mr. Lu, as the producer, weren't you here?"

Seemingly sensing Shen Ci's displeasure, Lu Jinzhao quickly explained, "It's like this, Miss Shen, I have another important project to discuss today, so I wasn't there. But we have a very professional team here, and we shouldn't make such a basic mistake. There might be some misunderstanding."

"Please don't be angry. Let me make a call in five minutes to find out what's going on. I'll call you back in five minutes."

After hanging up the phone, Shen Ci took a deep breath to calm herself down, and then called her sister instead.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is temporarily unavailable."

Shen Ci frowned and tried calling a few more times, but still couldn't get through, which made her nervous.

Just as she was about to head out to the scene, her sister called back.

"Sis, I left too early and my phone died. I just borrowed a power bank from someone on the street and saw the text message notification that you just called me."

Shen Li's voice sounded fine, but Shen Ci still caught the key point in her words: she borrowed a power bank from the roadside, which meant she wasn't at the press conference.

"Wasn't today a press conference? Didn't you go?" Shen Ci asked.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before Shen Li said, "I went there. I just came out. There was a bit of a problem on stage, so I couldn't go on stage. Sis, did you watch the live stream?"

"What exactly happened?" Shen Ci sensed something was amiss in her sister's words, and she felt deeply distressed.

But Shen Li only said, "To be honest, I don't know what happened either, I just didn't get to go on stage."

She genuinely had no idea what had happened.

Shen Ci's eyes darkened slightly, as if she had already guessed that her younger sister must have been treated unfairly. She controlled her emotions and said, "Don't run around. Go back to school first."

"Yeah, I'm fine, sis. Teacher Yu Hong said that it's not necessarily a good thing for a newcomer to be exposed too early. It would be better if they could amaze the audience with their roles on screen at first glance. I think she has a point," Shen Li said, pretending to be relaxed.

Upon hearing this, Shen Ci readily replied, "It's good that you think that way."

Even if what she said is true, the fact that her younger sister was treated differently is also true, and she can't let her sister suffer this bullying for no reason!

After hanging up, Lu Jinzhao called back. When the call connected again, Lu Jinzhao's voice was deep: "Ms. Shen, I'm sorry. I just looked into the situation. There were some problems with the on-site arrangements. It was an oversight by the staff."

Shen Ci sneered upon hearing this. As an investor, she could be polite and courteous to Lu Jinzhao at all times, but as Shen Li's sister, she was not going to swallow this insult: "Mr. Lu, do you even believe what you're saying? For such an important press conference, how many times should the entire process be rehearsed in advance? How many times should the details be confirmed?"

"In the end, someone was missing from the stage and no one noticed. You're telling me it was staff negligence? Is my sister some kind of needle thread or a fill light? How can that be overlooked?"

"That's not what I meant, Miss Shen. I'm really sorry, please calm down," Lu Jinzhao said repeatedly, trying to comfort her.

But Shen Ci was already burning with anger. The anger in her heart was extraordinary. This was the angrier she had been since she returned to the age of 20!

"Mr. Lu, let me tell you, my investment in your drama is entirely for my sister. Even if your drama flops and I lose all of my 10,000 yuan, I, Shen Ci, won't even blink an eye. But if I spend money and my sister has to suffer, then I will never let this go!"

"I arrived at the press conference within an hour. The press conference is over, but this isn't over! You have to give me a satisfactory answer, or I'll withdraw my investment on the spot and stop playing with you!"

Shen Ci finished speaking in one breath and hung up the phone immediately, not giving Lu Jinzhao a chance to explain.

Her heart pounded with anger, and she turned around, changed her clothes, and went out.

On the way, Shen Ci belatedly felt regret. She should have accompanied her sister to this event today. She thought it was a sure thing, but unexpectedly, such a strange thing happened.

This is truly the entertainment industry.

About forty minutes later, Shen Ci arrived at the press conference. The press conference had already "successfully" ended, and related reports had already been trending on social media. Every actor had one or two trending topics, which was a great opportunity for them to gain exposure.

Almost everyone had left, and the stage had been mostly dismantled. Shen Ci was about to call Lu Jinzhao when she saw him arrive late, sweating profusely as he jogged over.

"Ms. Shen, I'm sorry, I came from Yangming District." Lu Jinzhao looked apologetic, but he was genuinely nervous inside.

After all, in all the times he had met Shen Ci, Shen Ci had always impressed him as calm, composed, and straightforward, and he had never been so angry as he was today.

Especially after Shen Ci said on the phone that he wanted to withdraw his investment, he was so frightened that he dropped what he was doing and rushed over.

"Mr. Lu, what brings you here?"

Qi Tong, who was cleaning up the mess, saw Lu Jinzhao and walked over in surprise. Then he said with a smile, "You only came after everything was finished? Don't worry, Mr. Lu, everything went very well!"