Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

"Jiang Er, we haven’t hung out in forever. I even made a special trip to your office to get you, so at least crack a smile! When Brother Cong and the guys get here, they’re going to think I’m the one who pissed you off!"

"Get off me and talk properly! Stop clinging to my arm like a girl."

On a bustling street in Beijing, outside a members-only bar, two young men got out of a car, laughing and joking. The one in the lead casually tossed the car keys to the valet who came to greet them.

The valet took the keys with a bright smile, greeted the pair, and went to park the car.

Just as Jiang Sheng was about to lead his friend inside, he saw someone in a baseball cap at the bottom of the steps. The person was carefully cradling a camera and waving at them, shouting, "President Jiang! President Jiang!"

Jiang Sheng didn’t recognize the man and was about to ask why he was shouting, but then he spotted a familiar car pull up. The moment it stopped, four people got out.

Seeing the two who had arrived early, the newcomers immediately walked over. The one in the lead punched Jiang Sheng on the shoulder, his tone feigning annoyance.

"We invited you earlier, but you refused. We had to wait until you got off work just to have a second round! Man, it’s a good thing we’ve been friends since we were kids. Otherwise, who’d bother waiting for you!"

Seeing that they were just messing with him and not actually angry, Jiang Sheng quickly laughed. "I was tied up with a project and couldn’t get away. But I came as soon as I was done, didn’t I?"

The man gave him an "I’ll let you off the hook for now" look, then went to speak with the approaching valet.

He needed to ask the bar to arrange for cars to take them home in case they got drunk later. If he didn’t mention it now, he’d probably forget.

"Jiang Er, what’s gotten into you? For the past few months, it’s been nothing but overtime, overtime, overtime. You barely even took a break for the New Year. If you keep this up, our parents are going to nag us to death when we go home!"

Another friend came closer to continue the complaint, and the others quickly chimed in.

"Yeah, Jiang Er, that’s low, man. Grinding away in secret without us! The comparisons are killing me. My mom’s been chewing my ear off so much, they’re about to fall off. You’d better do something about it!"

His buddies started giving him a hard time the moment they saw him, but Jiang Sheng knew they weren’t really angry, so he didn’t take it to heart.

"Alright, alright. I’ve been busy with work, not goofing off. Why are you all so salty? I’m not stopping any of you from working hard. Is it my fault you’re all a bunch of slackers?"

The group chatted boisterously as they walked up the steps.

Someone from inside the bar had already come out to greet them, making the entrance suddenly lively.

The only reason Jiang Sheng had thought to ask the man what he wanted was that the title "President Jiang" was music to his ears, and he happened to have a free moment.

But now that his friends were here, his time was limited. Spending time with them was more important.

It was Sunday, so none of his friends had worked and were all dressed casually. Jiang Sheng was the only one still in a suit and tie, having come straight from working overtime at his office.

He was tall, handsome, and had a distinguished air. Dressed so formally, he stood out in the crowd like a crane among chickens.

Compared to the low-key Sang Yuan, Jiang Sheng had always lived his life like a proud little rooster. Some busybodies had even dubbed him one of the "Three Young Masters of Beijing," and many in the media recognized him on sight.

The paparazzo had been waiting so long because he’d received a tip that Jiang Sheng’s friends were gathering today, but without him. Someone at the party had suggested they go drag him out, so the paparazzo gambled that they would definitely get together with Jiang Sheng for a second round that night.

This bar was one of their regular haunts, and there weren’t many other places a group of young men would gather at night. The paparazzo and his colleagues had split into pairs to cover different locations, and he was surprised to have spotted his target in less than two hours.

Seeing Jiang Sheng about to lead his friends into the bar, the paparazzo leaped up and shouted loudly, "President Jiang! President Jiang!"

The annual membership for this bar cost hundreds of thousands of yuan; there was no way the paparazzo could follow him inside.

He’d been lucky to run into him today. He couldn’t be sure he’d have the same luck again.

After staking out the place for so long and finally spotting his target, he wasn’t about to give up without getting some dirt.

His shout made the boisterous group stop in their tracks.

"Jiang Er, go see what he wants," one of the more curious ones said, grabbing Jiang Sheng’s arm just as he was about to enter.

Seeing that they had stopped, the paparazzo didn’t wait for them to approach and instead scurried over to them.

Noticing his eager attitude, Jiang Sheng decided to hear him out.

"Go on, what is it?"

Knowing the noble’s time was precious, the paparazzo didn’t delay. "President Jiang, a story broke today claiming that Ni Bingyan is your kept canary..."

He hadn’t even finished the sentence when a fist the size of a dinner plate came flying at him.

Caught completely off guard, the paparazzo was knocked to the ground, his vision filled with stars.

In his daze, he heard an furious roar from above—"Will you die if you don’t spread rumors?!"

"Jiang Er! Jiang Er!"

One moment they were happily heading out for drinks, and the next, he was so enraged he was throwing punches. His friends scrambled to hold him back.

Jiang Sheng was a man of good breeding. Growing up, he’d never even been known to make a rash statement, let alone lose control and punch someone in public like this!

Others might not have known, but his inner circle was well aware: Jiang Sheng had been dumped by Ni Bingyan, and he still wasn’t over it.

Based on Jiang Sheng’s drunken confessions, they had pieced together the reason for the breakup.

Most likely, some bastard had instigated things, making Ni Bingyan believe that Jiang Sheng truly looked down on her and thought of her as nothing more than a canary in a cage.

What she didn’t know was that just before they broke up, with the Qixi Festival approaching, Jiang Sheng had privately asked them what gift he should get to win his Beauty’s heart.

Honestly, in their social circle, it was rare for anyone to put so much thought into pleasing a girlfriend.

Everyone could see how Jiang Sheng really felt about Ni Bingyan. He was the only one who was too dense to realize it himself.

His friends were enjoying the spectacle too much to be the ones to burst his bubble.

Ni Bingyan had just broken up with him over this exact misunderstanding and had sworn she would never go back. Jiang Sheng was already tormented by it, so for someone to run up and ask him such a suicidal question was beyond belief.

Jiang Sheng was truly enraged!

His feelings for Ni Bingyan were a textbook case of not realizing what he had until it was gone.

In the six months since the breakup, he’d been consumed by regret, constantly replaying small, once-unimportant moments in his mind. When he finally mustered the courage to seek her out, he discovered he had a formidable rival for her affection.

Sang Yuan! The one man who had effortlessly overshadowed him since childhood! And now he had his sights set on the same woman!

The frustration was suffocating.

Lately, he’d been trying every possible way to contact Ni Bingyan. His calls went unanswered, his friend requests were ignored, and he could never find her at home. He’d considered going to her film set, but he couldn’t get away from the pile of work on his desk. Besides, knowing her private nature, if he dared to cause a public scene, any chance of a future with her would be gone for good.

He was in the middle of trying to figure out a dignified way to win her back when he was hit with a barrage of news about Ni Bingyan and Sang Yuan being madly in love and getting married. He was already reeling from that, and then this guy came up and shoved the rumor right in his face. How could he not snap?

He’d been holding in this frustration for months!

Like a balloon being punctured, his pent-up anger found an outlet, and he lashed out before he could stop himself.

And honestly, the look on the guy’s face was just so damn punchable!

As a man himself, it only took one glance for Jiang Sheng to know exactly what kind of garbage was going through the paparazzo’s head.

Blood began to trickle from the paparazzo’s nose and mouth. He was clearly injured, which meant the matter wasn’t going to be resolved simply.

His friends urged him to settle the matter privately, but Jiang Sheng stubbornly refused. The paparazzo, knowing he’d need an official injury report to get any compensation, also refused to settle.

The paparazzo’s partner, who had been hiding and secretly taking photos, saw the situation escalate and immediately called the police.

The police arrived and the paparazzo was taken directly to the hospital.

Having been in the business for years, the paparazzo was experienced and immediately requested a formal medical examination of his injuries.

"I just wanted to interview him, and he hit me before I could even finish my sentence... SOB SOB SOB..."

Jiang Sheng refused to yield, but when his older brother heard the news and rushed over, there was no way he’d let his precious little brother get detained. A private settlement was inevitable.

While they started haggling over compensation, the paparazzo’s agency wasted no time. With lightning speed, they hyped the incident into a top trending story.

Most people would focus on the narrative of "The rich can do whatever they want" and "The wealthy think they can assault people in public," while no one would care about *why* he did it.

The agency understood the essence of sensationalism. They released Jiang Sheng’s furious shout, "Will you die if you don’t spread rumors?!", in its entirety.

Big Dog was their competitor, so any evidence that proved Big Dog’s exposé was false would be to their advantage.

Ni Bingyan paid no mind to the chaos brewing online.

As planned, she arrived in Yangcheng with Duanmu Li. Having slept poorly the night before, she ate and went straight to bed. When she woke up, it was time for hair and makeup before joining the film’s crew for a promotional event.

Over the next month, the main cast and crew split into several teams to cover more than fifty cities. Fulfilling her contract, Ni Bingyan visited fifteen cities in a single week, often sleeping on the road. She was so exhausted that she’d lost a noticeable amount of weight by the time she arrived in Shanghai.

There, two endorsement shoots were waiting for her.

One for dishwasher salt, and another for laundry detergent.

After finishing those two shoots, she returned to the film set, where the crew immediately spent a week intensively filming all of her scenes.

After filming her indoor scenes for *Demon Suppression Tower*, she rushed back to Beijing without a break to shoot the spring/summer campaign for the Bai family’s sportswear line.

Once the ad was done, she rejoined the film crew and headed to the deserts of the Northwest. She filmed there for over a month straight, only returning home when production on *Demon Suppression Tower* finally wrapped.

It was now the end of April. When she pushed open her courtyard gate, she was greeted by the sight of a garden in full, fragrant bloom.

Shaking the bell-like blossoms on its branches was a blueberry bush, right in the peak of its flowering season.

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