Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

"Look, this guy took an unflattering picture of you and posted it online. Next time we see him, we have to make him treat us to a meal!"

Peng Huan had been in the business for over a decade. Although she worked as a cameraperson, in her private life she was a photography enthusiast who followed many industry insiders on Weibo. She had just seen the photo and couldn’t help but laugh, which was why she’d choked.

Once she’d stopped coughing, she pulled out her phone and showed it to Ni Bingyan.

Ni Bingyan took it and saw a picture of herself craning her neck over a crowd to see some gossip. Someone had snapped it and posted it on Weibo.

Children of the Mountains was currently a box office hit with excellent promotion, so she was a hot topic. On top of that, Wei Shuojie had gotten wind of the post and was monitoring the situation. She likely gave it a little push, because the post went viral in no time.

Clicking on the top comments:

[LOL, she’s trying so hard. If I put even half the effort she puts into seeing gossip into my studies, my mom would wake up from a dead sleep laughing!]

[LOL, NGL, even when our goddess is in a crowd, she still stands out. You just can’t hide that beauty.]

[Hasn’t anyone noticed her outfit? That’s Yun brocade! It costs tens of thousands! Drooling with envy.]

[I can’t believe the goddess is a Hanfu enthusiast too. Wow!]

...

"He wasn’t trying to take a picture of me specifically. It’s just because I’m wearing a beautiful outfit and had my hair and makeup done, so I stood out in the crowd."

Ni Bingyan’s assessment was spot on. You couldn’t really blame the photographer.

She was pretty on a normal day, of course, but when she was dressed down, she didn’t stand out quite as much.

"Wow, look! These netizens are so talented!"

Peng Huan took the phone back and kept scrolling. She was just about to take a sip of soup; it was a good thing she hesitated for a second, or she would have sprayed it everywhere again.

Ni Bingyan took the phone with a sigh, only to see that a fan comic had already been drawn.

The cartoon version of her was adorably goofy. You could feel her desperate urge for gossip right through the screen.

"Never mind, never mind. I’ll use my own phone. Stop handing yours to me, you’ll drop it in the pot."

Having a companion who loved both reading and sharing gossip gave Ni Bingyan a bit of a headache, but she wasn’t truly annoyed.

"Oh, right, Sister Huanhuan, could you send me the photos? My agent is asking for them. She wants to post a nine-photo grid on Weibo."

They had already planned to do this, but posting now to take advantage of the buzz was even better.

Peng Huan immediately forgot about her food, picking up her camera to sort through the pictures.

"The internet speed is a bit slow. Can you just send them directly to my email?"

"Sure, hold on."

A short while later, Wei Shuojie received the photos. She quickly selected nine of them, did minimal editing, and posted them on Weibo.

[A friend gifted me this new outfit. I didn’t expect to be spotted by you all the first time I wore it out. (9 images)]

Ni Bingyan glanced at the Weibo post her agent had made, then put her phone away.

Sister Wei was amazing. All Ni Bingyan had to do was her part, and Sister Wei would take care of the rest. She didn’t have to worry about a thing.

After finishing dinner, the two returned to the hotel. Since Ni Bingyan was an early sleeper and it was already past nine o’clock, Peng Huan didn’t stay to chat for long.

Peng Huan still had one last day of work tomorrow, so they agreed to have dinner together again before heading back to their respective rooms.

Ni Bingyan washed up, changed into her pajamas, and dried her hair. Right before bed, she glanced at her phone and saw a message from Wei Shuojie.

[What other skills do you have, and what’s your proficiency level for each? Make sure you report them to me, so we don’t overplay our hand and get publicly ridiculed.]

’Is she saying the "good cook" and "pretty face" labels aren’t enough? Does she want to add a new "multi-talented" label to my brand?’

Ni Bingyan thought for a moment, then gave a rough summary of her skills besides cooking.

She was best at learning languages; she could converse freely in English, French, Japanese, Korean, and German. She had also started learning a little Norwegian out of curiosity.

’Classical dance, guzheng, calligraphy, traditional Chinese painting... the body’s original owner had been learning those since she was a child, so her skill level should be pretty good, right? Not that she’d ever compared herself to anyone.’

’As for her own skills, there was fishing, woodworking, long-distance running, yoga, special effects makeup, regular makeup, styling, photography, balloon art, and so on...’

’The list was so long and varied, she couldn’t even keep track of it all herself.’

’A person who loved learning, didn’t date or waste time online, and spent all her free time outside of work learning whatever she liked... after more than thirty years of that, the results were predictable.’

After reading the list she sent, it wasn’t just the netizens joking about how hard she worked. Wei Shuojie wanted to say the same thing.

’Just what kind of freak of nature was this?!’

Wei Shuojie asked Duanmu Li for a bunch of candid photos of Ni Bingyan on set, then used the official studio account to post another nine-photo grid.

[She really does work that hard.]

The photos showed her doing squats alone in a corner during a break, her script covered in notes, the study materials she always carried, and the various notes she took in her spare time on set...

’Is it possible for someone to be this much of an overachiever?’

Even the fans couldn’t believe it!

That is, until Hu Zhenning reposted it on Weibo: [Y’all better believe it, she really is that intense. LOL. Do you have any idea how I survived on set with her? I’d be playing games, she’d be reading the script. I’d be wandering around, she’d be practicing her foreign languages. I’d be vegging out in a lounge chair, she’d be working out in a corner. I’d wake up from a nap, and she’d be reciting lines to a tree... For real, I couldn’t keep being a slacker after just three days with her. After a month of spending every day with the Queen of Overachievement, I feel like my acting skills have improved so much! /s]

Hu Zhenning had a sunny, cheerful personality and loved to good-naturedly roast people. After his "accusation" against Ni Bingyan, he didn’t forget to poke fun at his own poor acting.

He was so used to people mocking his acting that he’d even turned it into a running gag he’d bring up from time to time.

After Hu Zhenning spoke out, others who had worked with her finally found an opportunity to chime in. Even An Xin and Zhou Dawei reposted it.

An Xin wrote: [I used to think I was working hard enough, but after seeing how @ActressNiBingyan spends her time on set, I feel like I can push myself even more. The harder you work, the luckier you get. A sentiment to share with you all.]

Zhou Dawei said: [I have never, ever met anyone more intense than her. Seriously, I swear on my honor!]

Instantly, the topic shot up the trending charts.

As the sun rose, Wei Shuojie let out a yawn, took one last look at the analytics, and felt very satisfied.

She hadn’t expected Ni Bingyan to be like that on set, either. She could only imagine the pressure her co-stars must have felt.

This ended up saving the company a good chunk of money on hiring online shills.

The movie was a hit, the Huabiao Awards were being judged, and Wei Shuojie had been working especially hard recently, but she never said a word about it to Ni Bingyan.

"Sister Wei, are we still going to push that fake rumor about Bingbing being arrested?"

A staff member from the company’s publicity department yawned along with her.

The company had lost both a Best Actor and a Best Actress in quick succession, so they were desperate to cultivate new talent. Upper management saw Ni Bingyan’s potential and was pouring resources into her. Otherwise, these people wouldn’t be pulling an all-nighter with Wei Shuojie.

"No need. We’ll just wait for the police station to make their Weibo post and then share it."

’Instead of playing the whole clarification game, it’s better to just drop a real bombshell.’

’Didn’t see that coming, did you? My artist is so multi-talented she even knows sign language. What other quirky skills do you think she has up her sleeve?’

Yawning, Wei Shuojie formulated a long-term plan to deep-dive into Ni Bingyan’s more niche skills.

’I’ll have to test her on each of these skills later. I can’t just take her word for it.’

Wei Shuojie secretly made a resolution.

This angle was refreshingly novel. With all the manufactured personas floating around the entertainment industry, no one dared to try this one. It made sense—if you didn’t have the actual skills to back it up, the hype would backfire spectacularly.