Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

A cold is such an annoying illness.

It’s not that it’s terribly painful, but no matter what medicine you take, a cold has to run its course. It just insists on dragging on, tormenting you for days. An instant cure is simply out of the question.

Ni Bingyan had come down with a bad cold. After calling Pei Jin to arrange a two-day rest in Sanya before heading out again, she fell back into a groggy sleep.

She slept very deeply. It wasn’t that she wasn’t worried about the haters stirring up trouble, but the cold medicine she’d just taken had a sedative effect. Whether she could wake up or not was no longer a matter of willpower.

The sound of knocking at the door woke her up next.

Many people had contacted her last night.

There were media outlets seeking interviews, friends and family offering comfort, and even some with ulterior motives trying to pry for information...

She thanked everyone who offered comfort, categorically refused all interviews, and moved everyone with ill intentions into a group named ”Casual Acquaintances,” planning to delete them one by one after the storm blew over.

’My social circle is a cut above,’ she thought. ’People with garbage character have no place in it.’

’They show their true colors after a little bit of online hate. If I ever truly fell on hard times, wouldn’t I just be brutally backstabbed?’

After dealing with the messages, Ni Bingyan simply turned off her phone to go to sleep.

This wave of slander was a multi-pronged attack, and the offensive was fierce. It would certainly take more than a few days to subside.

She had promised Sister Wei she wouldn’t make a statement, so ”out of sight, out of mind” was the best approach.

Since the person outside couldn’t reach her phone, they could only knock patiently on the door.

She got dressed, checked herself in the mirror, and seeing that everything was in order, she put on a face mask. Only then did she go to the door and peek through the peephole.

’I thought it would be Duanmu Li,’ she mused, ’I never expected it to be Sang Yuan!’

Sang Yuan was dressed in a neat business suit, holding a briefcase in his left hand and a bag of breakfast in his right. He had faint dark circles under his eyes.

But as soon as he heard the lock turn, he broke into a smile.

”Did you come straight from the office?”

Ni Bingyan opened the door, took his bag with a smile, and held his warm hand.

She didn’t chide him for showing up unannounced, nor did she nag him to get more rest.

’He’s already here, so what’s the point of saying all that nonsense?’

’Now is the time to be happy.’

Sang Yuan loved that sharp wit of hers. He followed her in cheerfully and placed the breakfast on the table.

”It’s so early. You haven’t eaten, have you? I bought vegetable buns and congee. Want some?”

”You haven’t eaten either, right? Sit down and eat with me.”

Ni Bingyan sat down and opened the bag. When she saw two bowls of congee, she knew he hadn’t eaten breakfast either.

”I had a meal on the plane last night and haven’t had a chance to eat this morning. I’m going to wash my face. I didn’t sleep at all last night, so I’m a little tired.”

Ni Bingyan went to get him a disposable towel and toothbrush. ”Brush your teeth while you’re at it. After we eat, you should lie down and get some sleep.”

”No need. Little Chen already went to get a room. I’ll go rest there after I see you eat.”

Even though they had been in a relationship for a long time, Sang Yuan never once overstepped his bounds.

Ni Bingyan didn’t know he had hang-ups from a past life; she just thought he was being a true gentleman.

She liked that about him a lot.

As Sang Yuan started to wash up, Ni Bingyan took out a toothbrush as well.

She had gotten up to open the door the moment she opened her eyes, so she hadn’t washed up either.

Halfway through brushing their teeth in front of the mirror, they both suddenly started laughing at the same time.

It was, in fact, the first time they had ever washed up together.

It was the kind of intimate activity couples usually do only when they wake up together. Theirs was purely a coincidence, but it was enough to make two people deep in love let their imaginations run wild.

”What are you laughing at?”

”What are *you* laughing at?”

”Well, you stop laughing then!”

”Alright, alright.”

Neither of them spoke for a long time. It wasn’t until they were back at the table eating breakfast that Sang Yuan finally broke the silence.

”You told me in the middle of the night that you had a cold. Sigh. I was so worried, I decided to just come and see for myself.”

”Did you really come just because of my cold?”

Seeing Ni Bingyan give him a sidelong glance, Sang Yuan couldn’t hold back his smile. ”No.”

The truth was, Sang Yuan had been working late last night. On his way home, he happened to hear a radio show where someone was calling Ni Bingyan ”love-brained.” He went online to check and saw that she was indeed the target of a massive smear campaign. Sensing something was wrong, he immediately booked a flight to Sanya.

He only called Ni Bingyan while he was on his way to the airport.

He didn’t mention the real reason for his trip. He just said he had just gotten off work, that he had worked hard that day, and that he wanted a few words of praise from Ni Bingyan.

Naturally, Ni Bingyan was happy to see him so motivated, and she showered him with praise as if it cost nothing.

Even though he didn’t say why he had come, Ni Bingyan could guess.

”Sigh. You’re so good to me. I feel like if I don’t marry you in this lifetime, there’s just no other proper way for my story to end.”

”Haha! Well, isn’t that the truth?”

Ni Bingyan wanted to bring up the rumors about her being ”love-brained,” but she had no idea how to even begin explaining it.

After all, who would believe that her past self wasn’t actually her?

People who say things like that are usually just making excuses. Who would believe in something as fantastical as transmigration?

Sang Yuan knew what was bothering her. He also knew the time wasn’t right to talk about it openly, so he changed the subject to his recent investment projects.

Anything to make conversation, really.

One of them was an actress, highly sensitive to emotions and well-versed in micro-expressions; the other was a shrewd and experienced businessman. As one spoke and the other listened, Ni Bingyan slowly began to sense there was more to it.

’Sure enough,’ she thought. ’He didn’t come all this way just to cheer me up.’

”Among the investments I made for you last year, one project is showing excellent growth. It’s this live-streaming app. I have an idea...”

Sang Yuan gave her a brief explanation, and it was a complete eye-opener for Ni Bingyan. ’You can do that?’

’It feels like my whole perspective has just expanded!’

Ni Bingyan immediately forgot about her meal. She wiped her mouth, grabbed her phone, and called Wei Shuojie.

When she explained the plan, Wei Shuojie was just as amazed. Talk about an eye-opener!

This was an innovative approach she had never even considered! ”We can totally do this!”

The three of them immediately started a group chat to hash out the details.

They then added the marketing team for *Inheritor* and the head of the live-streaming app to the chat.

An online conference call went on for a solid two hours until every last detail was nailed down.

After the controversy had been brewing for so long, Ni Bingyan’s counterattack finally began.

[My new coming-of-age film, *Inheritor*, premieres on Lunar New Year’s Day! To celebrate, I’ll be going live on the Ai Liao app to perform the movie’s theme song! We’ll also have lots of activities and tons of prizes up for grabs! Join Xiao Ni at 8 PM—see you there! ;) Inheritor_Poster.JPG Live_Event_Schedule.JPG Prize_List.JPG Ni_Bingyan_Gorgeous_Movie_Still.JPG]

This same message was posted simultaneously across all of Ni Bingyan’s social media accounts.

It included not only a link to the live stream, but also details on all the various activities.

Damn!

Just damn!

It was one thing for others to ride her coattails and try to tear her down, but for her to ride the coattails of her *own* smear campaign? Unbelievable!

’They said my singing is terrible, didn’t they?’

’Well, come and hear just how terrible it is! If you don’t show up, it’s your loss!~’

Weren’t the trolls going to cough up blood from sheer fury?

They had worked so hard to generate all this negative buzz, thinking they could really deal her a serious blow.

Even if they couldn’t completely crush her, they thought it would be a huge win just to make investors doubt her and cause her to lose opportunities.

But in the end, not only did she ignore the haters, she seized the momentum and used all the buzz to vigorously promote her new film.

And it would have been one thing if she’d only promoted the movie, but she was also driving a ton of traffic to the live-streaming app she’d invested in!

In just two short hours, good news came from the app’s team: new user registrations had surged by more than twenty million.

What more was there to say?

They seized the opportunity to launch all sorts of activities and pour out promotional resources!

Good news also came from the advance ticket sales, which had just opened that day. Before the movie was even released, presales across all platforms had already reached thirty million yuan.

With this kind of money-making machine, who cared if her beauty was real or fake? Who cared if her singing was actually good or terrible?

As for her being ”love-brained”—she’s not dating you. Little Sang himself isn’t worried, so what the hell are you getting worked up about?

”The company is about to begin its Series B funding round,” Sang Yuan explained. ”Following the wishes of the founding team, I’ll be selling off more than half of the shares. If all goes well, we’ll reap another huge profit.”

Sure enough, hearing this made Ni Bingyan’s face light up with a smile.

At a time like this, even if the entire internet was slandering her, her smile wouldn’t dim in the slightest.

Only immature people would care about such trivial nonsense.

’Low-class people use low-class tactics.’

The way Ni Bingyan looked at Sang Yuan was absolutely blazing!

’When he’s not being a doting boyfriend, the man is so shrewd and cunning. It’s truly impressive!’

Being the focus of her adoring gaze, Sang Yuan was ecstatic.

It made his sleepless night, spent hashing out the plan before rushing over, completely worth it.

He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead, his voice exceptionally gentle.

”Don’t overthink it, alright? If people are trying to tear you down, it just means they’re jealous. All you have to do is live an even better life—that’ll piss them off more than anything.”

Ni Bingyan nodded emphatically.

’It’s so easy being with someone who’s on the same wavelength!’

’Look at him. It’s like he lives inside my head! He knows exactly what I’m thinking!’