Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

Smelling the mosquito coil and hearing how quietly he was walking the dog, Ni Bingyan was touched by his consideration. She sighed to herself, realizing her earlier anger had been unreasonable.

It was obvious to anyone why he had said what he did.

He took the initiative to start a conversation and lighten the mood.

”You’re on vacation now, aren’t you? I want to spend a few more days with you. Is there anything you want to do or anywhere you want to go? I can go with you!”

Sang Yuan knew she hated people who refused to admit their mistakes, so he never made excuses when he was in the wrong. Seeing her anger had subsided, he immediately seized the opportunity to make it up to her.

Ni Bingyan frowned. ”I have to organize my manuscript at home this week. It’s been greenlit for publication. After that, I have to join a new production, and once I get busy, I won’t have any time.”

She was a woman of her word; once she made a promise, she wouldn’t flake. She worried that if she went out to have fun, she wouldn’t be able to take care of her manuscript.

”Oh...”

Seeing his mood visibly sink, Ni Bingyan’s own spirits lifted considerably, even though she knew he was mostly just putting on an act.

’My boyfriend wants to be glued to my side all day. That must mean he really likes me!’

’But how can a good man spend all day just following a woman around?’

”Back in the old days, if an Emperor wasn’t working hard, his ministers would say some temptress in the harem was bewitching him. If you’re always skipping work, won’t your employees say I’m a bad influence on you? A good relationship should be about mutual growth, about making each other better people. If being with me makes you start slacking off, wouldn’t that mean I’m ruining you?”

That’s just how helpless you feel when you’ve got an overachiever in the family.

Sang Yuan sighed. ”I haven’t even used up my annual leave. I worked a ton of overtime just to spend time with you, so now I have even more days off! Don’t worry! I’m the one who’s going to be supporting a wife and kids someday. How could I possibly just slack off and give up?”

Worried she might feel guilty, Sang Yuan cracked a joke. ”My employees always say I’m the reincarnation of Zhou Bapi, making everyone work overtime all day. They’re probably too scared to clock out. Me taking a few days off is actually a good thing for them.”

Seeing that he had his head on straight and wasn’t actually letting love cloud his judgment, Ni Bingyan stood up. She retrieved the leftover beef jerky from the car, broke apart a pair of bamboo chopsticks, and began to eat it at a leisurely pace.

She ate a strip, then picked up another for Sang Yuan.

The evening breeze was still hot, but it was always a little cooler in the mountains than in the city, so the two of them found it bearable.

By the time the spiciness had them sweating buckets and panting, HISS... HAA..., the last rays of the setting sun felt scorching and unbearable.

”What’s taking the tow truck so long?”

Ni Bingyan grabbed a can of beer from the car. After drinking half of it, the spiciness subsided. She glanced at the time and was surprised to see that over an hour had passed.

Just as she was about to call and ask, she got a call from the tow truck company.

”Miss Ni, we were in a car accident on our way to you. We’re at the hospital now, so we had to have the company dispatch another truck.”

Ni Bingyan grew alarmed. ”Are you guys okay?”

Seeing that her first reaction wasn’t to chew them out for the delay but to ask about their well-being, the tow truck driver was deeply touched and explained a little more.

”We’re okay. The brakes failed on a car behind us. The driver panicked and hit the accelerator instead, lost control, and cut right in front of us. We had to swerve to avoid them and ended up hitting the guardrail. We’re injured, but it’s nothing serious. Thanks for asking.”

’Looks like they already have a preliminary conclusion from the accident investigation.’

”I’m in no rush over here. Please, just focus on getting better.”

The accident had happened while they were on their way to pick her up, so Ni Bingyan couldn’t help but feel a little guilty.

’If they hadn’t taken this job, maybe they wouldn’t have been in that place at that time.’

”It’s okay, Miss Ni. Please don’t blame yourself. This has nothing to do with you; it was just our bad luck. Anyway, the nurse is here to change my dressing. My colleagues will be in touch with you shortly.”

”Okay, thank you.”

After saying her thanks, she waited for him to hang up, then sighed and sat back down.

”Well, now there’s no telling when the tow truck will get here.”

’It’s Tuesday, and evening rush hour is about to start. The tow truck is bound to get stuck in traffic somewhere!’

”I guess I should start making dinner, then.”

Seeing Ni Bingyan start to get up to help, Sang Yuan quickly stopped her. ”You should take Wangcai and find a clearing nearby. If the tow truck is going to be late, you can pitch the tent and get some sleep after dinner. I’ll keep watch.”

In the evening, the wild was swarming with mosquitoes and other insects. They flew past, BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ, like one black cloud after another.

Even with a mosquito coil lit, staying outside was no solution. Ni Bingyan didn’t object, simply saying, ”Let’s look after we eat. It’s so hot the ice packs must have melted by now. The meat is probably spoiled. We can just grill some vegetables to tide us over.”