Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

"Come on. It’ll be a while before the red carpet is over. Let me introduce you to a few friends first."

The order for walking the red carpet was very particular. The event usually opened with B-list celebrities, then the status of the arrivals gradually decreased. It started rising again around the midway point, with the biggest names always saved for the grand finale at the end.

Ni Bingyan had arrived not long after the event started, so she had a long wait before the next part of the program would begin. Rather than sit here awkwardly and wait like a fool, it was better to follow Sister Wei and expand her network.

An entertainment industry gala like this, where people who rarely saw each other gathered under one roof, was the perfect opportunity to get her face known.

The A-listers hadn’t arrived yet. Besides small-time celebrities like them, many executives were also present, gathered in small groups of two and three, chatting idly.

Compared to the formal attire of the stars, most of them were dressed casually. Yet, every circle of people formed with them at its center.

The gathered crowds looked like a field of black-eyed susans. Around the plain pistils, handsome men and beautiful women shone like dazzling golden petals.

Reality was just that harsh. The saying "respect the clothes before the person" only applied to those who weren’t important enough.

Ni Bingyan personally witnessed two actresses, vying for a spot closer to a certain entertainment industry mogul, start poking and shoving each other, completely ignoring the cameras. Their disgraceful behavior was on full display, leaving her utterly dumbfounded.

’It makes sense, though. To climb the ladder, many people are willing to abandon their self-respect, let alone a little bit of face.’

For the sake of exposure, some people would even take a fall on the red carpet on purpose.

If the cameras caught a wardrobe malfunction, they might even think it was a hot topic that could boost their publicity!

"President He, long time no see! This is my artist, Ni Bingyan."

"Hello, hello!"

"Mr. Xiao, a pleasure to meet you. This is my artist, Ni Bingyan."

"Wow, Miss Ni is truly beautiful!"

...

Ni Bingyan smiled and followed beside Wei Shuojie, like a newly hatched chick following its mother hen out to find worms.

Her lack of experience made her seem a bit green, which in turn added a touch of innocent charm.

No one would dare to act indecently in such a public setting. Even though everyone couldn’t help but stare a little longer when they saw her, they were all perfectly proper when speaking with her. Not a single one even tried to tease her verbally.

At the center of a crowd, Sang Yuan was accompanying a few executives, chiming in with a few words from time to time.

He had seen Ni Bingyan enter from a distance but didn’t approach her, because he knew she wouldn’t like it.

’In their past life, even after many years of marriage, she never liked being a background prop by his side whenever they attended events together.’

’Because of that, the media constantly started rumors that their relationship was on the rocks, spreading divorce speculations from time to time. To deal with those professional rumormongers who fed on others’ misery, he had even hired two lawyers specifically for the task.’

As the organizer of tonight’s event, President Wu of Weibo was the center of attention, with stars flocking around him. However, ever since he entered the venue, he had stuck close to Sang Yuan, which was enough to show how highly he regarded the crown prince of Jia Cheng, who had carved out his own empire in the world of venture capital.

Many from the Sang and Shui families were in politics. His parents had built a massive family enterprise, and he himself was highly capable. Crucially, he was also a handsome, young bachelor. It was safe to say he was a hot commodity wherever he went.

This was especially true for those with single daughters of a suitable age; their eyes would light up whenever they saw him.

"Little Sang, as far as I know, you invested in a movie a while back? I wonder what your thoughts are on the film and television industry?"

This man was known as the Golden Hand of the investment world, turning a profit on everything he touched. But he had never dabbled in this line of work before. Suddenly investing in a movie was truly strange.

When an ordinary person changes their path, it doesn’t attract much attention. But when a titan changes lanes, the people already on that path can’t help but overthink it.

"Uncle Wu, don’t overthink it."

Weibo and the entertainment industry were inextricably linked. This President Wu enjoyed investing in film and television, so Sang Yuan thought he was about to be reprimanded for forcing his way in to grab a piece of the pie. He quickly explained:

"I’m a fan of the book. When I heard it was being adapted into a movie, I was afraid it would be changed too drastically, so I put in some money. It was purely a personal interest. Please don’t mind me."

’He wasn’t burning his bridges by saying this, though.’

’In fact, unless absolutely necessary, he didn’t plan to meddle in this industry again in the future.’

’His wife had strong self-esteem. While their relationship was still developing, giving her a secret little boost was one thing. But if he dared to do something like this again in the future, it would definitely make her angry.’

’She always used to say, "If I rely on you for everything, what will I do to support myself and the children if you abandon me one day?"’

’He had to, and could only, trust in his wife’s abilities.’

"Haha, don’t underestimate your Uncle Wu’s perspective. I’m asking because I want to know if you’re bullish on this industry. Rather than having one more person fighting for a slice of the pie, I prefer to work together with people to make the pie bigger and bigger. That way, everyone gets a larger piece, don’t you think?"

The crowd all gave him a thumbs-up, praising him, "Well said!" "Great vision!" "Magnanimous!"

Sang Yuan deliberately paused in thought for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. "I’m currently maintaining a cautious attitude toward investing in the film and television industry. Many of you uncles and aunts here watched me grow up, so you should know I don’t speak empty words. In my opinion, this industry is simply too chaotic right now. Without a major cleanup, investing blindly could easily lead to losing everything."

Then someone else brought up their own investment experience. "You know, Little Sang has a really good point. You all know about my movie last year. The leads were all big names, the director was famous, it was a major production co-produced by several large film companies, and we arranged the strongest promotional campaign. I thought it was a surefire massive profit. And what happened? The fucking female lead evaded over a billion in taxes! She was blacklisted immediately. It was a fucking female-led movie, we had already wrapped filming and were preparing for release, and it was just... gone. Over a billion down the drain! SIGH!"

It was truly a tale that would make listeners grieve and onlookers weep.

The incident had caused a huge stir last year, and everyone in the circle knew about it. The group offered a few customary words of consolation before continuing the conversation along the same lines.

Sang Yuan subtly guided the conversation. Before long, the titans had begun to discuss new policies.

"There have been all sorts of ghouls and goblins in the industry these past few years. It’s like one rat dropping ruining a whole pot of soup. If it’s not thoroughly cleaned up, even old hands like us can misstep. Outside investors will be even more afraid to enter the market. In the long run, this is extremely detrimental to the industry’s development."

The industry insiders began discussing its development, and the crowd grew larger. As a layman, Sang Yuan logically excused himself, hiding his contributions and fame.

With half of his objective for the night accomplished, he began to search everywhere for Ni Bingyan.

Jiang Sheng was also here today. Because of Sang Yuan, he didn’t try to get close to that group.

When he saw Ni Bingyan enter, Jiang Sheng had been about to approach her, but Wei Shuojie gave him a look and led Ni Bingyan directly toward Bai Jian.

After nearly half a year of experience, Bai Jian had smoothly taken over her family’s business and was now a well-known powerhouse in their circle.

Upon seeing Ni Bingyan, she immediately greeted her openly, and then brought up the photoshoot for the clothing brand endorsement.

Not wanting to make a fool of himself at such an event, Jiang Sheng gave up the idea of going over. Instead, he found an acquaintance and started chatting with a feigned air of ease.

After a few interactions, Ni Bingyan found that Bai Jian was actually a pretty great person.

The details of the commercial shoot were being handled by their respective companies, so today they just exchanged a few simple pleasantries.

After a short chat, they tacitly went their separate ways.

Just as Wei Shuojie was about to lead her on to greet more people, she saw Sang Yuan walking over.

"Here."

Seeing him walk over and just hand something to her without even a greeting, Ni Bingyan was curious and took it.

Taking a closer look, she saw it was a small paper packet, about two fingers wide, wrapped in kraft paper.

"What is this?"

Ni Bingyan curiously unwrapped it and found about twenty little-finger-sized pieces of five-spice beef jerky packed tightly inside.

Seeing her eyes instantly light up, Sang Yuan felt both heartache and amusement. "Eat this to tide you over. It’s filling but won’t take up too much room in your stomach. I made it especially for you today. Weren’t you saying yesterday that you didn’t believe I could cook? Not only can I cook, but I can also make beef jerky! I cut these into bite-sized pieces so you can eat them one by one without getting your mouth dirty."

"Wow, what little angel sent you? I was starving! I’ll gladly take this!"

Feeling excited, Ni Bingyan immediately picked one up and popped it into her mouth. "Huh? This flavor is a little familiar."

Sang Yuan beamed.

’How could it not be familiar?’

’Her father taught him how to make it, step-by-step, in their last life. It was the old Ni Family recipe.’