Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

”I just wanted to ask for your help, but I was too shy to approach you.”

Sang Yuan’s eyes were clear, his tone sincere. Anyone who saw him would have believed him.

But Ni Bingyan didn’t.

’Shy?’

’Too embarrassed to say anything?’

Ni Bingyan’s eyes narrowed slightly. ’Do you take me for a fool?’

”What is it you need? If you wanted my help, why not just come to my house? Even if you’re shy, you could’ve asked a neighbor to introduce us, right? If you really didn’t want to be seen, you could’ve @’d me in the homeowners’ group chat. And if it was something private, you could’ve added me on WeChat, explained the situation, and asked to chat. Did you think I wouldn’t accept? But none of that really matters. The main point is, why were you following me? Do you have any idea what that is?”

’What a total creep!’

’If this weren’t a society governed by law, I’d beat him to a pulp.’

Sang Yuan’s back stiffened a little.

’I knew she wasn’t easy to fool, but I didn’t realize she was this sharp.’

’Honestly, even a hundred-million-dollar investment project wouldn’t make me this nervous.’

’I don’t want to be such a creep, but I can’t control my own legs. They have a mind of their own, always trying to get closer to her. What am I supposed to do?’

An idea struck Sang Yuan, and he deployed a delaying tactic. ”Hey, it’s a bit complicated. How about I treat you to a meal, and we can talk while we eat?”

Thinking about the boxed lunch she ate on set and how she’d just finished work without having had dinner, Sang Yuan’s heart truly ached for her.

Seeing the wary look on her face, Sang Yuan calmly added, ”We’re neighbors; I’m not going to hurt you. Besides, the neighborhood uncles and aunties you know so well all watched me grow up. If I were a bad person, they’d surely keep their distance from me, not give me fruit from their trees whenever it ripens. If you don’t believe me, just ask your next-door neighbor, Uncle Wang. I was just helping him pick pomegranates a couple of days ago. He also mentioned that he’d asked you for help, but you ended up leaving on a business trip for several days, and a lot of his pomegranates split.”

’Well, that’s a sound and persuasive argument.’

’Uncle Wang has two housekeepers and a driver. I thought he was just being polite that day. Who knew he was actually waiting for me to help him pick pomegranates?’

’I promised and didn’t follow through. I’ll have to go apologize one of these days when I’m free.’

Ni Bingyan was already starving and just wanted to eat. She couldn’t be bothered to wonder how he knew which neighbors she was close to and just assumed he was also on good terms with Uncle Wang.

Sang Yuan, however, remembered from their past life how she had lamented several times about this. She had promised to help Uncle Wang pick pomegranates but then went on a business trip. For some reason, Uncle Wang decided to climb the tree himself, fell, broke his leg, and was bedridden for several months.

’My wife is so kind-hearted. An incident like that would make her feel guilty for ages. I happened to be free, so I took the initiative to go over and help.’

’Uncle Wang was even a little surprised when I showed up at his door back then.’

”Follow behind us. I have a reservation. We can talk after dinner.”

’There’s no such thing as a free lunch. He hadn’t even said what he needed help with; no way was I going to eat on his dime!’

Knowing her temper, Sang Yuan obediently followed, pondering the whole way how to make his lie more convincing.

Liking someone is impossible to hide, even if one tries their utmost to restrain it.

Duanmu Li, the clear-headed bystander, raised an eyebrow but ultimately said nothing.

’As an assistant, the most important thing is to have a sense of propriety—to know what to say and what not to say.’

’Getting too involved in your boss’s private life is a sure way to make them unhappy.’

The three of them arrived at the restaurant in quick succession and entered a private room. Out of politeness, Ni Bingyan handed the menu to Sang Yuan first.

Sang Yuan just wanted her to eat as soon as possible, so he didn’t stand on ceremony. He ordered a few dishes she liked and then stopped.

Sang Yuan was just acting out of habit, but as Ni Bingyan listened to him list the dishes, her aversion to him grew even stronger.

’First he ran away at the sight of me, then he stalked me for days, and now he’s secretly figured out my favorite foods. If I weren’t already completely disillusioned with him, I might have listened to whatever excuse he cooked up. But now, I just want to hear him out so I can give him a clean, crisp ”no.”’

’And I’m only doing that much because we’re neighbors.’

Sang Yuan could tell just from her micro-expressions that she really detested him right now.

When the waiter left to place the order, he didn’t delay and immediately stated the excuse he had prepared:

”I’m planning to invest in a movie, but I’ve never been involved in this industry and have no connections. I heard from Uncle Wang that you’re a very good actress, so I wanted to ask you to help me make an introduction. It’s just that, as you may have heard, I’m not very comfortable talking to women I don’t know, which is why I hesitated for so long. The reason I was following you so often is because you’re out early and back late every day, so I could never find you at home. I wanted to add you as a friend, but you don’t accept friend requests from group members...”

’Watching him speak so naturally and eloquently, I’d almost suspect we’d known each other for ages—if not for the fact he’d been running away at the mere sight of me just a few days ago.’

’”Not comfortable talking to women I don’t know?”’

’But he had a point. The neighborhood’s uncles and aunties had all watched him grow up; they even knew about him pulling girls’ pigtails in his childhood. They wouldn’t lie for him.’

’So it’s actually possible he’s shy around women he doesn’t know.’

’Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t still be a bachelor, unable to even get a date.’

’But that wasn’t the point. I don’t care what his issues are; I only care about the favor he’s asking.’

”No one making a movie ever complains about too much funding. You can just approach the producers directly to discuss investing! But this industry is a murky business. Since you have no experience and don’t know the first thing about it, investing rashly would be unwise. It’d be best to have a professional evaluate the project first.”

’Ah, my wife is still so kind. Even though she has such a terrible impression of me right now, she’s still giving me a word of caution.’

As for the subtle rejection woven into her words, he simply ignored it.

Sang Yuan’s ”wife filter” was probably a thousand layers thick. In his eyes, Ni Bingyan was truly perfect in every way.

”The biggest taboo in investing is venturing into a field you’re unfamiliar with, but this can’t be helped.”

Sang Yuan let out a deep sigh, his whole being exuding an air of melancholy.

”What you don’t know is that this movie is adapted from a novel. I’m a die-hard fan of the book, and I want to invest because I don’t want to see the story get butchered.”

’That’s a pretty solid reason.’

’On set, money talks. With enough funding, never mind a small request like staying true to the original story; they’d even butcher it if the Sugar Daddy wanted them to.’

Ni Bingyan could only curse inwardly—’rich people really go all out, even when it comes to a book they like’—but her expression was all smiles. ”What movie is it? Let me see if I know the production company.”

’Anyone who can bring in an investor is a producer’s darling. For me, this was an incredible stroke of luck, like manna from heaven.’

’There was no reason to turn down something so mutually beneficial.’

Sang Yuan smiled slightly. ”The book is called *Demon Suppression Tower*, and the author is 33 Degrees.”

He’d come up with this excuse because he’d suddenly recalled something from their past life: Ni Bingyan had complained to him about this damn, stingy film crew. To save money while shooting in the desert, they had squeezed the budget for living expenses. The food was terrible, the accommodations were uncomfortable, and by the time she finished filming the godforsaken movie, she had lost a staggering nine pounds.

’That was nine whole pounds!’

’Their daughter had been a chubby newborn, and even she only weighed eight pounds, six ounces!’

’To keep his wife from losing those nine pounds, he had to invest! Invest heavily!’

’As his father-in-law used to say, money is just paper. Spend it, and you can always earn more!’

’It wasn’t as if he had hundreds of wives and couldn’t afford to support them.’

’Besides, the film had done very well at the box office. He might even turn a profit.’

Ni Bingyan, however, was unaware of all this. As soon as she knew the title of the book, she immediately mobilized her industry connections to find out who the film’s production company was.

In the name of making money, she had even taken supporting roles for actors who’d stolen leading roles right out from under her; making a simple introduction for him was nothing in comparison.

If she could, she would have chauffeured him around personally until he signed the investment papers.

’As for principles? If you pretend they don’t exist, then they don’t.’