Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

”Well now~~ Let me take a look here, who is this that’s come back? Oh my~ If it isn’t our little needle-tongue? Leaving people bleeding with just a word. You’re a real piece of work, you are!”

Seeing he was clearly upset, Ni Bingyan couldn’t pretend not to notice. She quickly set down her bag, walked over, and sat down beside him.

Before she could even speak, Ni Guangli started in again with his passive-aggressive remarks. ”I’ve been at home, so angry I can’t even eat, and look at you, off enjoying hot pot at your second senior brother’s restaurant?”

The hot pot base was a modified version of their own family’s ancestral recipe; Ni Guangli recognized it the moment he caught a whiff.

”Second Senior Brother wasn’t there today. I paid. I didn’t freeload. So please, Dad, just drop it.”

Even though her six ”senior brothers” were like real brothers to her, Ni Guangli never allowed his daughter to take advantage of them.

When she was little, he forbade her from secretly asking them for spending money. Now that she was grown and earning her own, he didn’t allow her to accept free meals either.

His reasoning was that rules create order. Business was business, and personal was personal; keeping things clear was the only way to not damage their relationship.

”Is that the point? I’m asking you, is that the point? Don’t you try to change the subject! We’re getting to the bottom of this today! Don’t even think about brushing this aside!”

She had been about to explode with anger today. Fearing she was too worked up, she had grabbed a meal to calm down before planning to come home and tell her father all about it. But then an unexpected video call from Sang Yuan had interrupted her mood. On the way home, she’d thought it over. Since their families had been business partners for decades and she’d likely never cross paths with Sun Yaowei again, she’d resolved to just let it go—treat it like a bad smell and move on. But he had the nerve to play the victim and complain first! If she didn’t throw a tantrum, she’d look like she was the one at fault.

’To hell with playing the innocent white lotus! This queen is going to be a Tyrant Flower!’

Ni Bingyan’s eyebrow shot up, and she launched into her tirade:

”He has the nerve to complain? Dad, let me tell you, if you had picked a more secluded spot for us to meet today, I would have absolutely clawed his face to shreds! And you’re just going to take some outsider’s word for it and come take it out on me?”

”I’ve known Old Sun for fifty, sixty years! I have a basic level of trust in him. Let me tell you, even if you weren’t interested, you had no right to be so sarcastic and demeaning. He’s someone’s son, raised with care and attention. Who could possibly tolerate you being so condescending and picky?”

’That bastard! What on earth did he tell his dad?’

’Her dad was a stubborn mule. Once his temper flared, there was no reasoning with him.’

So Ni Bingyan’s eyes went wide. She stared at him in disbelief, and with a single blink, tears began to stream down her face.

”*Sob sob*... You have no idea what a terrible time I had today... I was thinking about how hard you work to earn money, Dad, and how our families have worked together for so long... I didn’t want to affect the business, but then... *sob sob*...”

Seeing her genuine tears, Ni Guangli immediately panicked.

”What in the world happened? You have to tell me! Look what time it is! I’ve been waiting for hours, and not a single phone call.”

”Then why didn’t you call me?”

”I was worried it wouldn’t be safe for you to answer the phone while you were driving.”

After a brief exchange, their tempers had cooled considerably. Only then did Ni Bingyan take control of the conversation:

”You have no idea what a poser that Sun Yaowei is! He has zero actual talent, but he loves to brag! I don’t think he should be in banking; he should be at the space agency! With him around, they wouldn’t need any fuel to launch rockets. Just have him stand at the bottom and blow hot air, and the rocket would fly right up! Think of how much money the country would save!”

Her words made Ni Guangli laugh out loud despite himself. Only then did he start to ask for the details of what had happened.

”Ugh! Forget it! I was just going to swallow my anger, thinking it wasn’t a big deal. But since you insist on asking, I’ll give you an education. I’ll let you see exactly what kind of person you introduced me to. And to think his old man praised him to the high heavens—he must be looking at him through a filter a hundred layers thick! And don’t worry about me making things up. I was afraid you wouldn’t believe me, so I made a recording. You listen to it first. If you still think I was in the wrong after you’re done, I’ll buy a gift and go apologize to Uncle Sun tomorrow.”

’In the entertainment industry, recording everything was standard operating procedure.’

Other people might never leave home without their phone, but even if she forgot her phone, she would never forget her recording pen.

She had recorded everything, starting from the moment Sun Yaowei greeted her. Her main concern had been having to explain things to her father afterward. She never thought it would actually come in so handy.

Ni Guangli knew his daughter had a blind date tonight and had been on edge the whole time. Even though listening to a recording wasn’t as direct as watching a video, he was willing to take the time to hear it.

”All right. Just leave it here.”

After setting down the recording pen, Ni Bingyan went to take a shower.

She reeked of hot pot. It smelled delicious while she was eating, but the lingering scent was sickeningly heavy.

When she came out of the bathroom, drying her hair, she saw her father downstairs on the phone. His face was red, and he was waving his arms around, practically roaring every word.

If Earth’s gravity weren’t so reliable, he looked like he might just bounce all the way up to the third floor.

”Damn it all! You Suns are a real piece of work! You bully my daughter, then you try to sweet-talk me! Telling me it was my daughter’s fault! My daughter was trying to keep it from you, just so it wouldn’t affect our business! And I actually believed you and chewed her out for it!

”Damn it! Don’t you dare call me ’brother’! I must have been blind to even consider becoming in-laws with a bastard like you! Get the hell away from me! Crawl as far away as you can!

”Don’t you talk business with me! So what if it’s been over fifty years? You think if I fire Butcher Wang, I’ll have to eat my pork with the bristles still on? We’re done! From now on, we’re cutting all ties! And I don’t want any more of your family’s products!

”The kid has no character, and you, you old bastard, can’t be much better! I’m calling my accountants to audit the books overnight! Who the hell knows if you’ve been keeping two sets of books on me! You two-faced, backstabbing, petty little man!

”My daughter... I raised her myself from the time she was this small! And you son of a bitch, you dare to say such insulting things to her!”

Ni Bingyan hadn’t expected him to get this furious. She rushed downstairs to try and calm him down, but he hung up the phone and, without a moment’s hesitation, called the auditing firm their family had long worked with. He wanted them to audit the Sun Family’s accounts that very night.

’This was a father’s love, heavy and real. She should never have doubted it, not for a moment.’

’Her previous intention to just let the matter drop was partly because she didn’t want to ruin their families’ business partnership, but another part of it was a lack of self-confidence.’

’She had been a little afraid, afraid that her father wouldn’t take her side. After all, their families had been working together for so many years, with business ties stretching back to their grandfathers’ generation.’

”Oh, my dear girl,” he said, his tone soft now. ”Dad was almost fooled by them. Don’t you be sad, okay? That Sun Yaowei is no good. You can’t get pearls from a swine’s snout. Don’t lower yourself to his level.”

After he hung up, Ni Guangli sank into the sofa. When he saw his daughter coming downstairs, he quickly beckoned her over to sit with him. He began to gently towel-dry her hair as he comforted her.

”Why’d you come down without drying your hair first?”

”I heard you blowing up downstairs, so I came down to see what was going on.”

”There are unscrupulous people working in those banks, you know. There was a female manager once who tried to coax me into depositing money. She followed me all the way home late at night! I had to get angry to make her leave. You have to understand, a person’s character has nothing to do with their profession. Every field has its bad apples. How could he use what other people do to sling mud at you like that? Aiya, I’m just so furious.”

”Dad, from now on, please don’t worry so much about my love life. I’m still young, there’s really no need to rush! Besides, if it’s not meant to be, there’s no point in forcing a match. It just gets everyone angry for no reason.”

Ni Guangli sighed.

”This time was my fault for not having enough experience. Next time, I’ll be sure to do a proper background check. His father’s actually a decent guy. In all these years, he’s never fooled around. Who would’ve thought his son would turn out like this!”

Seeing he still hadn’t given up, Ni Bingyan was left speechless.

”A good bamboo doesn’t always produce a good shoot. His dad might be fine, but you don’t know the son at all.”

Seeing his daughter glaring at him, Ni Guangli still refused to back down. ”All I want in this life is for you to be happy. I have to see you settled before I can close my eyes in peace. If you could find a good man on your own, I wouldn’t have to worry about it. But it seems to me you’re still completely heartbroken over that Jiang fellow. It’s been so long and there’s been no news from you. All you do from dawn to dusk is work, work, work.”

Ni Bingyan was at a loss for words.

’So many rich kids did nothing all day. Was it a crime for her to be a little hardworking?’

”Dad, you have to fight for your own happiness in this life! What’s wrong with working? Working hard to secure a good life for yourself is more reliable than anything. It’s better to count on myself than to count on some man who I don’t even know exists yet!”

”You’re still young. You can’t appreciate the importance of family yet, so you think being alone is fine. But when you get to a certain age, you’ll realize it’s good to have a family of your own. I’m getting old, and I’ll have to leave you one day!”

Ni Bingyan couldn’t bear to see him like this, so she revealed her plan:

”I have it all planned out. In another ten years or so, I’ll go get IVF. That way, the child will be my own flesh and blood, and I won’t have some unreliable man dragging me down. Life will be simple, and I won’t have to worry about the family not having an heir.”

Ni Guangli was completely stunned by her idea. After a long moment, he stammered:

”A child can’t be happy without a complete family! How... how can a child have only a mother and no father? It might be easy for you, but think about the impact it would have on the child for their entire life!”

”I grew up just fine without a mother, didn’t I? So what’s wrong with not having a father? Who says everyone has to have a father? Just think about it. A father could cheat, gamble, do drugs, or commit crimes—implicating the child to the point they can’t even pass a background check!”

To think she had thought it through in such detail... This was clearly not a recent idea. Tears welled up in Ni Guangli’s eyes.

’That Jiang fellow... just what did he do to hurt her so badly!’

’It’s all my fault for not being more successful!’

’In the past, I only thought it was enough to have enough money. I never thought about earning more. If I had started these businesses just twenty years earlier, that Jiang fellow wouldn’t even be worthy of carrying my daughter’s shoes!’

That was as far as the father and daughter’s conversation went that night.

Ni Bingyan was sleepy and went back to her room to bed. Ni Guangli, however, tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. He spent the entire night wondering what other ways there were to get rich.