Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

Chapter 346: Chapter 279: Rather Explosive

The police arrived quickly, removing the body and taking statements from everyone present.

After an incident like that, the team lost all motivation to film. Instead, they gathered in small groups, gossiping nonstop.

Ni Bingyan had lost her appetite for fishing, too, terrified she might reel in something else… bizarre.

Even if she actually caught a rainbow trout, one of her favorites, she doubted she’d dare to touch it now.

After all, it had been “bathing” in the same lake as the corpse that had just been taken away. Who knew what it might be contaminated with?

A decomposing human body produces a massive amount of bacteria in a short time. Contact could lead to a minor illness in the best-case scenario, a major one in the worst, and could even be fatal.

It was better to play it safe.

“We have to film again tomorrow, so get to bed early tonight!”

Seeing that Ni Bingyan was still planning to practice her dancing, Duanmu Li offered the reminder before closing the door and leaving.

Duanmu Li was already exhausted. She hadn’t slept well last night due to jet lag, and today had been one thing after another.

Ni Bingyan had seen her yawn five or six times since she got back from dinner. Not wanting to keep her, Ni Bingyan just said goodnight, turned down the music, and continued her practice in the carpeted room.

She had promised Sister Wei she would practice diligently in private, and she wasn’t one to go back on her word.

When she finished dancing, she sent a video of her final run-through to her dance instructor, who was still in the hospital. Only then did Ni Bingyan shower, do her skincare routine, and go to sleep.

The next day, she woke up at her usual time. Figuring it was lunchtime back in China, Ni Bingyan called Sang Yuan to tell him about what happened yesterday while she slowly began her stretches.

“Something like that happened and you didn’t tell me? Why are you only telling me now? You didn’t have nightmares, did you?”

Sang Yuan’s brow furrowed into a tight knot.

“Do you know who you’re talking to? I have way too much to do. Who has time for nightmares? Besides, telling you would have just made you worry for no reason. Why be so dramatic about it?”

The same person who had screamed in terror yesterday and had to dance herself to exhaustion just to fall asleep was now acting like the toughest person in the world, insisting to her boyfriend that she wasn’t the least bit shaken.

Sang Yuan felt a sense of helplessness. After a few more distracted words, he hung up.

By the time the call ended, she was all warmed up. She practiced her dancing for another half hour as usual before heading back to her room.

They were filming for the show today, and it was best to project an image of being poised and intelligent. Ni Bingyan was already prepared. She had showered and changed into a relatively formal suit. Just as she was about to do her makeup, Duanmu Li knocked and came in, a gossipy glint in her eye.

“Bingyan, you will never guess what the deal was with… you know… yesterday!”

Ni Bingyan was stunned that she would have news like this:

“Oh? The police already have an answer? That was fast.”

London was a city of millions; the sheer numbers were a factor. A body suddenly turning up in a park shouldn’t be an easy case to solve.

To have the whole truth come out in one night… she might believe that level of efficiency back home, but in a capitalist country? Her first reaction was doubt.

“It was in the official police report, so it should be true, right?”

Duanmu Li had gone to bed early last night, so she was full of energy today. Getting to enjoy such explosive gossip first thing in the morning put her in an excellent mood.

“True or not, just treat it like a story. I’m serious, this plot is so wild, most movies wouldn’t dare to film it. It’s an absolutely mind-blowing story no matter how you look at it! I’m not afraid to admit, I’ve been alive for almost thirty years and I’ve never seen a police report this long. I had to use a dictionary just to get through it, and my eyes are killing me!”

Duanmu Li was a woman of few words. Even though they’d known each other for over a year and were very close, she rarely spoke in such long, excited bursts.

Just from her tone, Ni Bingyan knew the story had to be juicy.

“Oh? Let me see it.”

“Here, read it yourself. It’ll save me the trouble of translating. What if I get it wrong and you misunderstand something?”

She took the phone and read it from top to bottom twice, making sure she hadn’t missed a single detail. Ni Bingyan’s eyes widened in disbelief.

So, the man found in the park yesterday was named Pete. He was forty years old, a womenswear designer, and the founder of a niche brand.

Elegant, cultured, gentle…

Although he was gay, his friends all spoke very highly of him.

Normally, it would be deeply immoral for them to be so amused by someone’s death, but after reading the police report, neither of them felt the least bit of shame.

The reason was simple: this Pete was the “other man” in someone’s marriage.

With a typical homewrecker, even a hated one, people might show a bit of leniency after their death. They certainly wouldn’t laugh at the mention of their name.

But Pete was different. He wasn’t just a homewrecker; he was an exceptionally vile one who had successfully turned a married man, bullied the man’s wife and children.

No woman on earth could muster any pity for a man like that.

Not even now that he was dead.

The real story was far more complex than the police report suggested.

As soon as the news broke, an insider had already started leaking details online.

The story goes that Pete had taken a liking to a model, who we’ll call Aisen.

Unfortunately, Aisen was already married. He had a wife, a nurse, and they had two sons and a daughter. By all accounts, their life was a happy one.

But that was all before Pete came into the picture.

Aisen’s career was struggling, and with children arriving one after another, his expenses grew while his income shrank. They were living paycheck to paycheck. Frustrated with his life, he took it out on the person closest to him—his wife.

The couple began to argue frequently. During one fight, Aisen stormed out, slamming the door behind him, and went to a bar.

And there, at the bar, he met Pete.

Pete was wealthy, gentle, and worked in the fashion industry. For a model like Aisen, his professional connections were incredibly appealing.

Aisen was keen to network with Pete, but Pete had other ideas.

To attract Aisen, Pete even started deliberately wearing women’s clothing in front of him, claiming he wanted Aisen’s professional opinion but actually trying to seduce him.

When life becomes dull, or even painful, most people begin to crave a little excitement.

For Aisen, Pete’s advances were more exciting than he could have imagined.

She watched as the two began their affair. Her husband grew more and more distant, not just from her but from the children as well. The nurse, unable to bear it any longer, furiously arranged to meet Pete at the park for a “negotiation.”

Pete is dead now, so no one knows what he was thinking, but he went to the meeting.

At dusk, with crows cawing in the distance, they met on a bridge. The moment Pete appeared, the nurse didn’t say a single word. She just pulled out a gun and shot him twice.

According to the online leaks, the nurse was an American, originally from California.

She had planned to endure it for the sake of her children, but there comes a point where one can endure no more. The nurse proved to be a very decisive woman.

After shooting him, the nurse calmly tied rocks to his body and pushed him into the lake.

Her nerve was truly something else.

The nurse had specifically chosen a deep part of the lake. If it hadn’t been for Ni Bingyan, given the low population density in that area and the work ethic of the local police, his body probably would have been completely devoured by fish before anyone ever discovered it.

The husband she had relied on with all her heart was suddenly snatched away by a male vixen. At home, her hungry children were waiting. She had wanted to compromise to keep the family together, but then she realized that wouldn’t solve the problem. Pushed to the brink, she had no choice but to walk a path of no return.

Ni Bingyan sighed, deeply moved by the story. After discussing it a bit more with Duanmu Li, she suddenly got a call from Alan Casso.

After a few pleasantries, Alan suddenly asked her:

“Ni, I wrote a screenplay a few days ago. Would you be interested in reading it?”

He sounded a little embarrassed as he continued, “You know, my uncle, Victor, is a famous suspense novelist and screenwriter. I’m just a jewelry designer…”

He was worried that if he showed it to people he knew, they might accuse him of overreaching. He didn’t want to be compared to his uncle, but he was still eager for an outsider’s opinion on his script, which is why he’d reached out to his new, easy-to-talk-to friend, Ni Bingyan.

Since they’d parted ways after Fashion Week, the two had emailed frequently. Alan often felt it was a shame they hadn’t met sooner.

“Why not? I’m incredibly curious! As you know, I’m currently filming a travel show with a very flexible itinerary. I’ve decided to make my next stop Paris to see you. How does that sound?”

“OH! OH! OH! That would be wonderful!”

Alan was delighted, and so was Ni Bingyan.

But at an airport somewhere, Little Sang, who had just gotten the news, was not nearly as happy.

‘For an “other one” to suddenly appear during his planned “chance encounter”… that was just terrible.’

‘Especially a romantic Frenchman.’