Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

[OMG! I can’t believe he’s this kind of person! He even hits women! He must have had a terrible childhood, right? Otherwise, why would he be so violent?]

The cocktail party wasn’t even over when some paparazzi who had snuck in started leaking the story.

Hong Kong Island’s paparazzi are famous worldwide. They even dare to spread rumors about the major local families, let alone an outsider like Sang Yuan making waves.

They don’t hold back at all.

Freedom of speech, right?~

[Girls, girls, you’ve got it all wrong! Don’t just make assumptions based on the picture, read the text next to it! The Hong Kong Island tabloids are actually known for being truthful, even if they sometimes use exaggerated language.]

[You call that an exaggeration? They might as well have called him a cold-blooded animal! ’Truthful’? If you’re going to praise them, at least make it sound plausible! Sucking up so hard is just pathetic!]

[For real though, besides some pervert, wouldn’t any normal person back away if a strange woman tried to fall into their arms? What if you don’t, and she’s trying to set you up? Guys have to learn to protect themselves, too!]

[This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone claim it’s ’terribly unhappy’ to be Shui Sulan’s son. As a veteran employee at Jia Cheng, let me give you an example. President Shui and Chief Engineer Sang used to argue until they were red in the face over who got to go to Little Sang’s parent-teacher conferences! If they didn’t dote on their kid, wouldn’t they be trying to push the responsibility off on each other?]

No matter how busy the couple was with work, they never neglected their two children. Outsiders might not have known, but their long-time employees had seen it all.

[Doesn’t seem very gentlemanly! Is he afraid he’ll get her pregnant just by helping her up? How is this suddenly about a romantic relationship? It’s like he just time-traveled here from the Qing Dynasty.]

[A guy who has a girlfriend automatically keeping his distance from other women—isn’t that an excellent trait? What is wrong with the world? People are flaming him even for this?]

Some people felt Sang Yuan’s actions were wrong, but many others thought he was the gold standard for boyfriends and were hyping him up like crazy.

[Well then, I hope your boyfriend is a ’gentleman’ every day, helping all the other pretty young things on the street!]

That hit a little too close to home. It’s easy to criticize when you’re not the one involved, but for it to happen to you? Unacceptable!

The argument erupted!

An argument was inevitable!

[You can’t just cut off all normal social interaction because you’re in a relationship, can you? Is he looking for a partner or becoming a monk? At this rate, does he refuse to do business with female bosses? Or hire female assistants? Isn’t that just gender discrimination? What normal person is that clueless? He’s not the male lead of a romance novel, where every single one of them is a paranoid psycho!]

[Hey, I don’t like the sound of that. You’re the one with your head in the gutter, what’s that got to do with him? Yuan Yan Venture Capital has plenty of female employees, you know? Men are always demanding women adhere to ’feminine virtues,’ so is it wrong for a woman to want a boyfriend who practices ’masculine virtues’?]

[Little Sang is so whipped! Is he really that scared of his girlfriend? He didn’t get a partner, he got a master. How insecure does Miss Ni have to be to control him so tightly? Doesn’t Little Sang feel suffocated? Any man would end up cheating after a while of living like this, right?]

A surprising number of people thought this way. Soon, #DatingNiBingyanIsSuffocating was trending.

Sister Wei had only had two days of peace, and now she had to work on getting the topic removed from the trending list. She was at her wit’s end.

[When your mind is full of filth, you see filth in everything! You’re completely unreasonable!]

[You’re a disgrace to all men! Sang Yuan, don’t make me lose respect for you! Go on, have some fun on the side! You may earn a lot, but you clearly don’t know the first thing about a man’s true pleasure!]

[What is wrong with you people? Nowadays, is being loyal to your significant other considered a mistake? Is there something wrong with me, or is there something wrong with you?]

[You can get a divorce even if you’re married! They’re just dating, and it’s like he’s in lockdown! If they break up later, aren’t people going to laugh themselves to death?]

[Taking bets! How long till they break up?]

[@JiangSheng, Second Young Master Jiang, come on out and say something! Are you really going to let a guy like that steal your girlfriend?]

The internet exploded into a chaotic argument. It seemed like everyone’s argument had a tiny grain of truth, yet at the same time, everyone also seemed like a pot-stirrer who just loved watching the drama unfold.

One pot-stirrer, eager to make things even messier, actually tagged Jiang Sheng.

Jiang Sheng happened to be half-drunk at a bar with a few of his best friends.

Someone recognized him, sidled up, and asked him about the post.

Last year, they had all run into each other at a conference organized by the Poverty Alleviation Office, where Ni Bingyan had given a speech as a representative.

Back then, in the garden, Jiang Sheng had almost gotten into a fight with Sang Yuan. He was far more than just resentful.

’In his eyes, Sang Yuan was a despicable opportunist who had taken advantage of an opening. The kind of guy you had to crush the first chance you got!’

’If it weren’t for him, Ni Bingyan would never have left for good!’

’They had been together for three years and had broken up before, but Ni Bingyan always came back. This was the only time she didn’t.’

’The only difference was that Sang Yuan hadn’t been there to stir things up before!’

Sometimes he resented Ni Bingyan for giving up on their relationship so easily. But she had been perfectly clear about why she chose to break up, and why she chose Sang Yuan.

Jiang Sheng knew he couldn’t blame her. He knew that their relationship ending up that way had a lot to do with his own inaction, but he still couldn’t help but hate Sang Yuan.

’He already hated the guy, and now he hated him even more!’

But that wasn’t something he needed to share with some random person.

Second Young Master Jiang had lived a respectable life from a young age; he wasn’t about to let himself become a laughingstock over something like this.

”Here, let’s keep drinking!”

Ever since he and Ni Bingyan had broken up, he hadn’t found a new girlfriend. He either buried himself in work, determined to outdo Sang Yuan, or killed time drinking with his best friends.

He’d always loved parties and had a high tolerance for alcohol. He rarely blacked out, so how could he let someone bait him into talking?

He squinted at the pot-stirrer, mentally adding him to his shit list, then turned back to his friends and called for another round.

”C’mon, Second Young Master, just tell us~ What are you really thinking?”

At this hour, there were plenty of drunk people in the bar, but no one was passed-out drunk yet. This guy was clearly still thinking, just not thinking very hard.

Jiang Sheng was well-bred and rarely lost his temper with strangers, but his friends were a different story.

Jiang Sheng had gotten drunk and cried over the breakup more than once in private. As his best friends, how could they just stand by and watch someone rub salt in his wound?

”Why the fuck are you such a piece of shit? You looking for a beating? Fine by me! I’ll give you one!”

With that, one of his friends shot to his feet and threw a punch.

The ”little tyrants of the Beijing elite” wasn’t a title for any one specific person.

Anyone whose family reached a certain level of wealth and influence could be a ”little tyrant” within their own small circle.

Meeting in a place like this meant everyone’s spending habits were likely similar, and their family backgrounds were probably in the same ballpark.

You have your friends with you, and naturally, the other guy wasn’t out hanging around by himself either.

That one punch was all it took. The bar quickly erupted into a full-blown brawl.

[Just at the bar, some dude was so f*cking ballsy, he went right up and asked Second Young Master Jiang if he was bitter about it. Holy shit, a fight broke out! [9 Photos]]

[It’s been so long, hasn’t it? He still gets angry enough to fight at the mere mention of his ex’s new boyfriend. He must have been really in deep.]

[Don’t tell me those two hooked up before the breakup, right? Otherwise, why would he still not be over it after all this time?]

[I don’t think so? She broke up with Jiang last June and made it official with Sang this August. That’s a gap of over a year, which is pretty long.]

[Pfft. When it comes to female celebrities, you just take their word for it? Some are secretly home-wreckers, and it doesn’t come out until their kid is in elementary school!]

[It’s not impossible. Otherwise, Second Young Master Jiang’s attitude makes no sense. Who still pines for someone this long after a breakup? If his feelings were really that deep, with their years of history, how could he have failed to win her back in over a year?]

[I mean, can you all stop with the wild speculation? What are you doing sitting here guessing? It’s none of your damn business!]

[What privacy do public figures have? They’re probably dying for us to talk about them! This is engagement, this is buzz! You’re the sycophants who are full of wishful thinking! *Ptooey*~]

...

By the time Ni Bingyan and Sang Yuan finished their walk and returned to the hotel, they were prompted by their assistants to look at all this. They were absolutely stunned.

”I’m so sorry.”

The two of them looked at each other and said it at the exact same time, both looking very apologetic.

’Who would have thought these netizens could be so bored?’

’Anyone with eyes could see what really happened. The rights and wrongs of the situation were perfectly clear, yet people still managed to start a fight over it.’

’It was just bizarre!’