Chapter 339: Chapter 235: Ice Sculpture Hairpin and Winter Swimming
Meanwhile, over on Luo Feifei’s side, her mother was even happier.
Numerous media reporters came for interviews, but Luo Feifei turned them all down, stating it wasn’t convenient to speak.
Some directors became even more courteous toward Luo Feifei. "My goodness, she actually received a Second-Class Merit, and a military one at that! You could shoot countless movies and never get a medal like this."
This was an even greater honor, one that crossed industry boundaries—something others in the film world could never hope to achieve.
It was true that some people in the arts and entertainment world had received First or Second-Class Merits before, but they were as rare as a phoenix feather, a mere handful of individuals you could count on one hand.
The key was, Luo Feifei wasn’t even sixteen years old yet.
This made even more people envious, jealous, and hateful.
"On what grounds? What did she even do? Was it just because she’s pretty and a good actress?"
Luo Feifei couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to the external criticisms. Her public persona had always been cold and aloof.
This persona worked out well, helping her avoid a lot of trouble. People didn’t think she was acting like a diva, because she had never been warm or proactive to begin with.
Others would just assume she was young and immature, not good at socializing, or perhaps even had a bit of social anxiety.
Social anxiety didn’t conflict with acting; plenty of major celebrities had it.
Little did they know, when she was privately with Li Xiang, she was incredibly lively and playful.
The world outside was a land of ice and snow. Luo Feifei came out to play in the snow at night, because it was late and quiet, with no one around to disturb her.
But playing alone was rather dull. She couldn’t help but recall the fun times she had with Li Xiang on their sea voyage to Antarctica. And so, she reached out and made a grasping motion in the air. The moisture in the atmosphere instantly condensed, then froze, forming an ice sculpture of a tuna in her palm.
It was the same one Li Xiang had treated her to—well, the one she had helped catch.
She practiced her "Magic," and the ice sculpture in her palm shifted into various forms, all of them lifelike. At one point, it even took on the image of Li Xiang.
’This might be a little too revealing.’ Feeling a bit embarrassed, she channeled her Spiritual Power, and a cool-looking suit of Ice Crystal Armor materialized on the "Li Xiang" ice sculpture, identical to the Giant Whale Saint Armor.
"My dear Armor Warrior, you’re pretty cute."
Then, worried that someone might recognize the figure and connect it to Li Xiang, she altered it slightly, designing it into the form of a Great White Shark Warrior.
This was also the great white shark she and Li Xiang had hunted together. So many memories.
Then, the Great White Shark Warrior in her palm slowly extended a long piece, finally transforming into an ice sculpture hairpin of the Great White Shark Warrior.
She took off her hat and tucked the ice hairpin into her beautiful hair. Under the glow of the streetlight, the ice sculpture sparkled, the Great White Shark Warrior looking incomparably valiant.
"Carve one of these hairpins for me next time." Luo Feifei raised her phone, took a selfie, and was about to send it to Li Xiang. Suddenly, she remembered that the hairpin Li Xiang made before was for his Top Aunt, not for her. ’If I say this, won’t I be giving myself away?’
So she deleted the message, sending only the photo with a simple question: "Is it pretty?"
Li Xiang replied: "Beautiful!"
"So perfunctory. Your vocabulary is so limited." Luo Feifei pouted with a light chuckle.
Li Xiang: "No words can describe your beauty."
"That’s more like it."
The next day, Luo Feifei was still in a wonderful mood, so she posted the photo Li Xiang had praised on her social media account. And then... a magical scene unfolded.
The hairpin went viral.
In just one day, major e-commerce platforms were flooded with listings: "Luo Feifei’s Great White Shark Warrior Hairpin."
"[Factory Direct] Luo Feifei’s Rhinestone Star Snowflake Great White Shark Armored Warrior Hairpin."
"Luo Feifei’s Cartoon Hairpin, Cute Style, High-End Feel."
Similar knockoffs were everywhere.
After all, this kind of item wasn’t difficult to manufacture; any small-commodities market could easily handle it.
Some shops that originally had very low sales seized this opportunity and sold over a hundred thousand units in just a few days.
When Li Xiang saw this: "..."
Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui: "..."
Netizens were buzzing with discussion.
"What the hell? Such an ugly hairpin—a Great White Shark Warrior? Can you even call that a hairpin? How could it sell so well?"
"All I can say is, on anyone else, it would look goofy. On Luo Feifei, it’s adorable. She slays!"
"You can’t compare, you just can’t. Comparisons are odious."
"The average person really can’t pull off this hairpin."
"I’m thinking of buying one. Maybe it’ll suit me?"
"My daughter is crying, begging for one."
...
Yao Yao poured Li Xiang a glass of plum wine and massaged his shoulders. "Brother, next time Luo Feifei is about to launch a new trend, can you have her tell us first? We’ll stock up on the goods, and *then* she can post about it. That way, we can seize the initiative and make a killing."
"Or we could just design something ourselves and ask her to be the spokesperson."
Zhao Xueqing and Lei Xiaohui nodded repeatedly, feeling it was a huge waste not to use such a great resource.
Li Xiang hesitated for a moment before saying, "Actually, she sent me the photo the night before. Um, I just didn’t think anything of it." He then showed them the chat history.
The three women: "..."
Li Xiang: "Don’t look at me like that. I don’t have a talent for business."
He had no business sense whatsoever. He was just dabbling for fun, a completely hands-off boss.
Yao Yao said faintly, "Brother, you might not have a talent for business, but you’ve quietly amassed a net worth of nearly ten billion."
Putting other things aside, just on the accounting front, Zhao Xueqing’s cousin-in-law couldn’t handle the workload anymore. Most of the time, Li Xiang still had to ask Xu Xuan to have his finance team come over and help.
In any case, Li Xiang had shares in Xu Xuan’s auction house, and the Nine-Colored Deer Jade Jewelry Shop was also a joint venture. Even though Li Xiang held the largest stake, having Xu Xuan send over a finance team to do the books every month was no big deal.
It was an advantage he might as well take. Besides, Xu Xuan was more than happy to do it; he was quite pleased that Li Xiang trusted him so much.
As for Zhao Xueqing’s cousin-in-law, she just handled the minor accounts, but even so, the workload was still quite large.
It was a world of ice and snow now, and delivery services were intermittent, so the livestreaming sales business was also affected. Li Xiang wasn’t particularly short on cash at the moment, so he reduced the number of livestreams.
This made some of the employees very worried, fearing that Li Xiang would lay people off.
Li Xiang had Yao Yao and the others inform everyone that there would be no layoffs. He told them to relax, enjoy the good times, and get an early taste of communist happiness. In a few more years, good days like these wouldn’t exist.
However, people like Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui weren’t the type to sit idle. Yao Yao, in particular, had to come up with some new gimmick every day.
And sure enough, she came up with another idea. "Brother, let’s go swimming! Winter swimming!"
"What the hell? In this freezing weather."
"Oh, come on, are you afraid of the cold? It makes more sense for *me* to be afraid of the cold. Think about it! Outside, it’s a world of ice and snow, twenty-something degrees below zero. Lots of plants have frozen to death, many people have caught colds from the freezing weather, and those with chronic cold-induced leg pain are suffering endlessly. Hey~, if we go for a winter swim right now, cruising through a frozen river, won’t that create some great contrast? Guaranteed to bring in tons of traffic!"
Li Xiang: "..."
He had to admit, that girl Yao Yao was full of ideas. Li Xiang supported this kind of creativity.
So, he followed her to the edge of the reservoir, stripped off his clothes down to a pair of small shorts, and got ready for business.
Zhao Xueqing and Lei Xiaohui naturally came along as well.
When Li Xiang stripped, the three women’s eyes lit up, shining with a verdant green light.
"His body is amazing."
"His skin is great too."
The three women exchanged glances, all a little excited.
Zhao Xueqing thought to herself, ’Yao Yao didn’t trick Brother Xiang into coming here to work; she clearly tricked him into giving us a treat.’
But Zhao Xueqing was impressed. She felt that Yao Yao was really capable. This kind of thing had to be done by Yao Yao; if it were her, she probably wouldn’t have been able to pull it off.
By following Yao Yao, she got to bask in some of the reflected glory.
The reservoir was quite large, covering hundreds of acres. Right now, its surface was covered by a layer of ice at least twenty centimeters thick. If this were in a big city, it would have long been developed into an ice-skating rink, cordoned off with an admission fee of at least one hundred yuan per person for a session.
But out here, absolutely no one ever came.
In this freezing weather, in such a remote and impoverished place, who would be happy to go outside?
Li Xiang took out his White Jade Golden Hook Rod and smashed a few large holes in the ice. Then, with a leap, he plunged into the bone-chillingly cold water.
Although his skills underwater were lacking and he couldn’t venture into the deep sea, swimming in his hometown reservoir was no problem at all.
