Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

After trending for several days straight, Ni Bingyan didn’t choose to lay low. Instead, she took on several endorsement deals, quickly shot the promotional materials, and made the official announcements while the topic was still hot.

In Sister Wei’s words, once you were in this industry, unless you did something wrong and had to lay low to let things blow over, you should do things in a high-profile way to let more people get to know you.

That was the only way to increase her commercial value, land better roles, get the chance to step onto a bigger stage, and win more honors.

Ni Bingyan agreed with this point completely.

The era of caring only about acting skills without worrying about market appeal was long gone.

You could only live a better life by changing to adapt to society. Complaining about the world and refusing to change oneself would only trap you in a vicious cycle of self-pity.

Her schedule was so packed that Ni Bingyan had been working around the clock all week. On the final day, she left the photo studio at 10:30 PM.

Sister Li had gone to get the car, so Ni Bingyan stood waiting by the roadside with her bodyguard.

Mr. Sang was very reliable. He had found two bodyguards for her in less than two days.

The man was Pan Liang, forty-two years old, and the woman was Tao Fei, thirty-nine. Both were retired from the special forces and had worked in security for many years. They looked incredibly sharp and capable at a glance.

They usually worked in shifts. Pan Liang’s shift had ended at 6 PM, so the one with her now was Tao Fei.

The street, faintly lit by lanterns, seemed to have its own hazy filter. Ni Bingyan blinked hard, feeling as though her vision had been blurred by all the camera flashes over the past few days.

‘But when I think about the money that just came in, eating a few extra carrots doesn’t seem so bad.’

Behind her was a 24-hour ramen shop, its large floor-to-ceiling windows already decorated with Christmas stickers.

An adorable reindeer, a white-bearded Santa Claus with a red sack and a Christmas hat, a Christmas tree decorated with snowflakes, and sparkling decorative lights…

‘This year is almost over!’

A dim, yellow light shone out from the window.

Ni Bingyan was half-bathed in the light, and she couldn’t help but sigh to herself.

‘A person doesn’t get to celebrate that many Christmases in a lifetime.’

‘So I have to work twice as hard to leave my own unique mark on the long river of time.’

A surge of motivation welled up in her. Ni Bingyan clenched her fists and couldn’t help but stomp her feet.

She was wearing skinny jeans paired with a puffy, short white down jacket and a matching hat with a pom-pom on her head. When she moved, the pom-pom on her hat bobbed up and down.

Although she wasn’t petite, she had a natural cuteness. The sight reminded Tao Fei of her own daughter, and a gentle smile appeared on her face.

There had been no rain or snow lately, just a persistent dry cold. At night, it was especially so, cold enough to make you shrink your neck into your collar.

Ni Bingyan’s soft lambskin boots didn’t make much noise on the ground, but Tao Fei still comforted her, “Just a moment. Xiao Li will be here soon.”

Just then, the two of them heard a shout—”Ni Bingyan!”

Any normal person would turn their head to look when they hear their name called.

Ni Bingyan was tired from a long day and didn’t think much of it, but as soon as she turned her head, Tao Fei grabbed her arm and yanked her a step to the side.

Before she could even process what was happening, Tao Fei had already dashed behind a nearby roadside tree and pinned down a skinny man.

At the same time— “CRACK!”

The floor-to-ceiling window of the ramen shop behind them, the one with the Santa Claus sticker, shattered into pieces on the ground.

“Holy shit! Who is it? Who throws a cobblestone this big at my window in the middle of the night?!”

A large, bearded man rushed out of the shop. He was about to start cursing when he saw a woman with a low ponytail not far away, pinning a man in a black hoodie under her foot. With two sharp cracks, she dislocated the man’s arm.

“AHHHHH!! MOTHERFUCKER!!”

The man screamed for his life, but the woman showed no mercy. She kept her foot on his back as she searched his body.

A moment later, she pulled a dagger from the small of his back.

“Boss, call the police.”

The woman held the dagger, her eyes filled with killing intent, which scared the ramen shop owner so much he could barely speak.

“Huh? Oh! Oh, oh! Oh!”

In this era of peace, how could someone who’d lived a sheltered life in the capital have ever seen a scene like this?

Don’t be fooled by his big and burly appearance; he wasn’t very brave. He fumbled in his pocket a couple of times and finally managed to pull out his phone, but he dropped it before he could get a firm grip.

Just as he was about to bend down and pick it up, he heard a calm voice speaking nearby:

“Yes, this is outside 748 Changqing Road. That’s right, there’s a ramen shop here.”

“I was just attacked. The attacker has been apprehended by my bodyguard. The weapon was a fist-sized cobblestone. A dagger was also found on his person.”

“Right. To prevent the situation from escalating, please send someone over as soon as possible.”

Only then did the ramen shop owner understand. The “Boss” the female bodyguard had shouted for wasn’t him.

“I have some hemp rope in my shop…”

The owner, having finally found his voice, saw the female bodyguard nod. Feeling a little excited, he quickly went back into the shop, got the rope, and carefully handed it to her.

Seeing the assailant tied up, he breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to Ni Bingyan.

“My shop’s a bit far from the police station, so it might be a while. Miss, would you and your friend like to come inside for a bowl of hot soup? I get up early every day to buy pork bones. The broth is fragrant and rich.”

Asking them in for noodles could be misunderstood as him trying to drum up business, but an invitation for soup wouldn’t be.

‘A piece of glass this big isn’t easy to install. Someone will have to pay for it.’

‘No matter who pays, since the police have been called, I don’t need to worry about it.’

Under the circumstances, he found himself feeling some sympathy for others.

‘Such a nice girl. She looks like a delicate, wealthy lady, too. Running into something like this so late at night… She must be terrified, right?’

‘It’s so late and cold. There are no customers in the shop, just the occasional delivery guy coming to pick up an order. It’d be good for them to come in and sit down.’

Ni Bingyan nodded in agreement. She thanked the owner and was about to go inside when she saw Duanmu Li driving over.

“What happened?”

“I was almost hit by a cobblestone. This guy was also carrying a weapon. I just called the police. Sister Li, Sister Fei, let’s wait inside!”

Tao Fei shook her head. “You two go inside. I’ll wait here to deal with the police when they arrive.”

Ni Bingyan knew she had a strong work ethic, and it wasn’t her place as a layman to give orders to a professional, so she stood there and waited for Duanmu Li.

Realizing they couldn’t leave just yet, Duanmu Li sighed and was about to go park the car, but the owner quickly stopped her.

“Hey! It’s so late, just park it in front of my shop for now! It won’t be in the way.”

Normally, a shop owner wouldn’t allow a private vehicle to park at the entrance for the sake of business, but the situation was different now.

The two of them went into the shop, and the owner enthusiastically brought over two bowls of bone broth.

A few sprinkles of chopped green onions were scattered on top of the rich, white broth. It smelled incredibly fragrant and rich.

Ni Bingyan took off her mask and had drunk half the bowl before the owner recognized her.

“Wow, wow, wow! It’s you! I-I’m a Little Popsicle too! I’ve rewatched *Demon Suppression Tower* three times! *Inheritor* doesn’t come out until the New Year next month. Oh my! Oh my! C-can you give me an autograph?”

Beneath his bushy beard, the owner had a face that flushed easily, and his blush was especially obvious right now.

It was rare for Ni Bingyan to have such a close interaction with a fan, and she found it quite refreshing. Not only did she sign an autograph for him, she also left him a message—”[Thank you for taking us in, Boss. Your soup is delicious!]”

The owner was beyond excited and insisted on treating them to ramen.

Ni Bingyan couldn’t refuse, so she pulled him in for a photo together and teased,

“Your window probably has some bad blood with Santa Claus. You should put our photo up later for good luck. See? I even won the lottery a while ago, so my luck must be great!”

The owner knew she was just being modest and trying to help him attract business. He was touched and pulled out all the stops to serve her a super-delicious bowl of ramen. Even Duanmu Li and Tao Fei got to benefit from it.

Even with a broken window pane, the atmosphere inside the shop was joyous and harmonious.

The attacker, with his arm dislocated, was hogtied and then bound to a roadside tree. His forehead was covered in a cold sweat, and a stream of vicious curses never stopped pouring from his mouth.

Hearing the foul curses, Tao Fei felt that even the ramen was losing its appeal.

With a raise of her eyebrow, she balled up a napkin and stuffed it into his mouth.

That finally shut him up.

“Mmph mmph mmph…”

‘It’s the middle of the night, and other people are eating fragrant ramen. Even the woman who has to stand in the cold wind to watch me is so much better off than I am!’

‘And that bitch is especially vicious. Not only did she kick off my shoes, but when she was tying me up, I was struggling, and my shirt rode up, exposing my lower back. She wasn’t even kind enough to pull it down to cover me.’

‘Now, if I don’t stand on the pavement tiles, the tree bark scrapes against my back, and it stings like hell. But if I do stand on the tiles? It’s like standing on blocks of ice.’

‘This is pure torture!’

Mmph! Mmph!