Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

Xu Wenwen had just accidentally discovered Ni Bingyan’s alternate account and was about to dig deeper when she heard a knock on her door.

It was her mom reminding her, ”Only five minutes left, sweetie!”

Xu Wenwen’s parents were relatively lenient, but not without principles.

If they agreed on one hour, she got exactly that—not a minute less, and not a minute more.

Once, she had tried to get away with playing a little longer. Her mom didn’t say anything at the time and let her play to her heart’s content. As a result, she didn’t see her phone again for the next month.

Her mother had said, ”If you don’t follow the rules, then you alone must bear the consequences. I always stick to our agreements. You broke your end of the deal, so your punishment is one month. Not a day less.”

Her phone was about to be confiscated again, so Xu Wenwen quickly sent the screenshots she found suspicious to Ni Bingyan’s fan group.

That’s right. While Hu Zhenning was filming *Children of the Mountains*, she had become captivated by Ni Bingyan and had also become her fan.

Besides, the two actors weren’t in competition for the same resources, so stanning both didn’t weigh on her conscience.

After actively participating for over a year, Xu Wenwen had become a familiar face in the fan group. The moment she popped up, before anyone could even say hello, she dropped a pile of screenshots.

”Oh my god!! You guys, look! Is this Bingbing’s Weibo account? I’m out of time, gotta go, you guys hurry and check it out!”

In the last few seconds, because she didn’t have time to type, she sent it as a voice message.

A moment later, Xu Wenwen’s phone was taken away. She ran to the living room and excitedly chugged a large glass of cooled boiled water before returning to her desk to start her homework.

For a fleeting moment, her thoughts drifted. She remembered the Weibo posts from just now—at least five out of ten were study check-ins and progress logs. Xu Wenwen immediately reined in her thoughts and focused on her physics practice test.

While things quieted down on her end, the group chat exploded.

The people in the group who knew her were aware that Xu Wenwen was only allowed one hour of phone time a day. Seeing her log off in such a rush, they knew she was off to do her homework and didn’t try to chat with her further.

Everyone’s eyes were glued to the screenshots.

It was a large group with nearly three thousand members, almost at full capacity. The group owner was a very wealthy young woman who, the moment she saw the screenshots, followed the trail and dug up the ”Miss N” account.

Without bothering to verify if it was real, she first tagged everyone in the group and then spammed red envelopes, all with the cover text: ”Go quietly, don’t startle her.”

The group members took the hint and all crept over to the account.

And then, a hilarious scene unfolded in the group chat.

Screenshots of Ni Bingyan’s Weibo posts were being shared in the group, sparking all sorts of discussions and laughter. Yet, on the actual Weibo account, there were no comments, no likes, no reposts, and not even a single new follower.

With Ni Bingyan’s limited knowledge of the Weibo app, she would probably go her whole life without ever knowing that her profile views had suddenly skyrocketed.

It had to be said, the wealthy fan had really invested a lot into this group.

Among nearly three thousand people, not a single anti-fan had managed to slip in.

The others soon discovered what Xu Wenwen had found. And since they didn’t have homework to do, many of the working adults in the group stayed up all night to ’grind’ out the details.

”AHHH! Bingbing is so cute!”

”Yeah! I never expected her to be this kind of person in real life! Oh my god! She’s so adorable!”

”Sisters, have you guys noticed? She’s so genuine! I was a little worried that she’d be different in private from the person we know. To be honest, I was prepared for her image to collapse, but everything we’re finding is just one pleasant surprise after another!”

”+1!”

”I couldn’t agree more!”

...

Since typing took too long, everyone spontaneously started sending voice messages.

Ni Bingyan wasn’t a traffic-driven idol. She didn’t need fans to boost her rankings on charts or rush to buy products she endorsed. Her team had neither the energy nor the need to manage a fan group, so there was no one from her team in the chat at all.

The fans pored over her Weibo, starting from the very first post in an ’archaeological dig,’ feeling as if they were reliving the past year of her life with her.

Filming *Children of the Mountains* in Ning Province; filming *Breakup* in Shanghai; the Forest Sea and Snowfield of the Northeast and the great deserts of the Northwest while filming *Demon Suppression Tower*; the willows at Guozigou Funeral Home during the filming of *Soul Ferryman*; and the location for that classic scene in *Rainy Days with an Umbrella*—the rooftop garden where Gu Feng and Wen Qing watched the sunrise...

She went to Hang City to film a variety show, to a small fishing village as a guest star, to Guisheng to visit family, and to Chili Channel to perform a skit for the Spring Festival Gala...

On ”Miss N’s” Weibo, all of these events could be traced along a timeline.

Aside from photos related to her work, the fans were shocked to discover how much she loved doing practice tests! And how much she loved signing up for training courses!

Other female celebrities might like clubbing, or partying, or secretly dating, moving in with someone and having kids, or even smoking, getting tattoos, and enjoying ’special massages’...

Honestly, after being fans for so many years, they had seen all sorts of shocking, worldview-shattering scandals, but they had never seen a female celebrity who was like *this* in private.

At first, they suspected that Xu Wenwen and Ni Bingyan’s team were colluding to generate hype. But then, a long-time fan of Hu Zhenning explained that Xu Wenwen was a die-hard Hu Zhenning fan and a good friend of theirs, so it was impossible for her to be connected to Ni Bingyan’s team.

Besides, this alternate account of Ni Bingyan’s had several hundred posts spanning over a year. What celebrity would meticulously prepare for that long just for a bit of publicity?

To be honest, Ni Bingyan was the type of person who was a natural hot search magnet. She could trend just by going shopping; she had no need for these kinds of cheap tricks.

After rationally analyzing the situation, everyone agreed that it made a lot of sense and stopped dwelling on the matter.

At 1:20 AM, someone was the first to unearth a Weibo post with four pictures. The photos were of Ni Bingyan’s study!

WOW!!!

It’s an absolute treasure trove!

The fans downloaded the four photos, zoomed in, and meticulously examined them.

A wall full of bookshelves, and the books were even meticulously categorized like in a library!

That tall stack of practice tests on the desk—how long was she planning to work on those?

The wall clock is so cute! Wasn’t that the one sold at some auction last year?

”SOB SOB SOB, I can’t believe Bingbing and I were at the same auction last year! I was that close to her and didn’t even realize!!”

One fan wailed in despair, only to be met with a chorus of schadenfreude-filled ”HAHAs” from their companions.

The tip of Wangcai’s tail accidentally caught in the corner, and the reflection on the glass cabinet door—Holy crap! Trophies! That’s a pile of trophies!!!

Solid proof! This couldn’t be more solid!

The fans, like a pack of screaming marmots, kept this round of shrieking going until after two in the morning.

But that wasn’t all.

Our Sister Bing, a real character—all talk and no bite, and who knew she loved to roast things so much?

There were posts like, ’Siezen, duzen... still can’t tell them apart today.’ And, ’Learning a few phrases in Norwegian. When I go see the northern lights, I’m gonna make their jaws drop!’ And, ’Got a perfect score again, whoopsie daisy!’...

Sometimes, when she was practicing reading aloud in a foreign language, she would casually record a clip and post it, secretly gloating—

[Check out my pronunciation of ’R’! My German teacher thought I grew up in Germany at first, hahaha! I’ve never even been there! I absolutely have to make time to go during the holidays. Wonder if I can manage without a translator? *excitedly rubbing hands*]

The fans carefully did a count. Just based on the audio clips she had posted, there were seven or eight different languages. As for the practice tests that occasionally appeared in the background, the Sherlock Holmeses among the fans identified them as containing some pretty rare stuff.

The fans were on the verge of tears.

They already knew she loved to study, but they never thought she was *this* much of a badass!

The key thing was, she was a badass but didn’t brag about it, secretly enjoying her own accomplishments!

What the hell kind of treasure is this?!

”I’m going to be her fan until I die!!!”

At four in the morning, a fan with a hoarse voice let out this low roar in the group chat, which was met with a long string of ”+1,” ”+1,” and ”and another +1”...

”Sigh, I can’t believe she even does charity work in private. If she hadn’t been so excited about receiving those letters that she had to vent on her alternate account, we probably would have never found out.”

”She’s so low-key. It feels like she’s an iceberg; what we see is just the tip. The real her is such an amazing surprise!”

”Seriously, if all the actors in the domestic entertainment industry were like her—not creating hype about their private lives and just focusing on acting—imagine how many amazing shows there would be!”

”Yeah, I’ve rewatched *Breakup* five times. Shen Bingyi is the definition of grounded.”

”Actually, if you ignore the scariness factor, *Soul Ferryman* is really amazing. When I was following the series, I cried like a baby every week.”

...

Once everyone had calmed down a bit, they started discussing Ni Bingyan’s works.

Suddenly, the group owner sent a text message in a sparkly gold bubble, which stood out conspicuously among the string of voice messages:

[She’s always talking about going here and there, but in the end, she’s never gone anywhere. Suddenly feeling a little heartbroken for her. What do we do?]

There are many types of fans. Some celebrities just have a knack for attracting ’mom fans’—even if the celebrity never plays the victim or complains about being poor, these mom fans will always find something to feel sorry for her about.

The others were silent for a moment, then a wealthy fan spoke up: [Hey guys, what do you think? For her birthday, how about I treat her to a trip around the world?]

[It’s not the plane tickets Sister Bing lacks, it’s the time! Sweetie! Think of something more realistic!]

Everyone knew the wealthy fan was a bit naive. Seeing her spout another brainless idea, no one laughed at her.

[Speaking of which, are there any of those variety shows where you get to travel around? Is it feasible for us to get her on a show like that?]

You know what they say, two heads are better than one. With so many people, a new idea popped up in the blink of an eye.

[That could work! The problem is, according to the schedule Brother Biao posted, it looks like Bingbing’s work for the year is already fully booked.]

[It’s fine, it’s fine. Let’s plan it out properly...]