Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

Over the next few days, Ni Bingyan followed Wei Shuojie and met many people.

There were directors, producers, and brand representatives—men and women, young and old. She basically made the rounds and became a familiar face to all of Wei Shuojie’s contacts in Xiang Province.

At the end of the month, they secured a lipstick endorsement deal. The two returned to Beijing, their trip a resounding success.

Sister Wei’s son had a mid-term parent-teacher conference at school, so she was temporarily busy with her son’s affairs. Ni Bingyan returned to the film set to continue shooting.

A reputation for being hardworking and dedicated isn’t built on talk; it’s earned through solid, down-to-earth effort.

Duanmu Li, who had been on vacation for a few days, returned from her hometown with a basket of home-raised crabs for her.

”The autumn wind is rising, and the crabs are growing restless. It’s the perfect season for them. My family lives right by Gucheng Lake. My mom and my brother have really made a name for themselves raising crabs these past few years. This is a gift from them.”

After their daughter had a falling out with her previous boss, finding a new one who treated her so well made the Duanmu family extremely grateful.

Duanmu Li had sacrificed a lot because of her father’s situation. Now that the debt was paid off, Brother Duanmu just hoped his younger sister could live a good life. If they weren’t so busy selling crabs at home, he would have come to deliver a holiday gift to his sister’s boss in person.

Ni Bingyan accepted with a smile and took out a gift for Duanmu Li in return.

”I just signed the endorsement for the D Family’s autumn/winter lipstick collection yesterday. It’s the same one we used during the cover shoot. You said it looked great back then. This is a gift from the brand. Take a set for yourself. There are twelve lipsticks, so it should last you a long time.”

What girl doesn’t love beauty?

You don’t have to use it, but you have to have it. It was a common quirk among many, including Duanmu Li.

She was delighted to receive Ni Bingyan’s gift.

”You actually landed an endorsement with this brand?”

Having been a celebrity assistant for many years, Duanmu Li knew these brands like the back of her hand.

The D Family and Little Xiang’s house are both top-tier brands. Even if it was just for a single lipstick collection under their name, the spokesperson carried a lot of weight.

Logically speaking, Ni Bingyan shouldn’t have been able to reach that level yet.

Ni Bingyan didn’t know how it happened either! She just... got it.

The pay wasn’t low either: eight million for two years, comparable to many second-tier celebrities.

Sister Wei told her it might be because Chief Editor Sang had taken a liking to her, or maybe Cheng Man gave her a push, or perhaps it was because her previous street style photos went viral, or even because the magazine sold well...

In any case, she shouldn’t overthink it and just cooperate fully. It’s not like she was a toothless kitten who couldn’t chew the meat that was already in her mouth.

’That makes sense,’ she thought, and her mind was put at ease.

”You know how capable Sister Wei is. Sigh, I can only work hard to repay her.”

She couldn’t say what she was really thinking. In any case, she always had something nice to say, so Duanmu Li didn’t take it to heart.

Ni Bingyan checked the time, picked up the crabs, and headed for the door. ”Hurry up, we can’t be late for the set today. There are too many crabs. I can’t finish them all by myself, and they won’t keep. I’ll just take them to the set and share them with everyone!”

The production crew was small, so maybe everyone could even get one crab each.

After taking such a long leave and inconveniencing people, it was only natural to make a gesture of goodwill.

Since the gift had been given, Duanmu Li didn’t care how she used it and quickly took the keys to get the car.

As the car left the residential complex, Duanmu Li frowned. After a moment’s hesitation, she spoke up. ”Sister Bingbing, have you noticed someone following us recently? That BMW... I’ve seen it three times now. It starts following us every time we leave.”

She was a military veteran, after all. Her powers of observation were sharp.

”Really?”

Ni Bingyan turned her head to look carefully.

After a long moment, she confirmed it. It was true.

”I’m not some pop idol. Don’t tell me I have sasaeng fans?”

Running into something like this was terrifying.

She had encountered too many sordid things in her past life, so her self-preservation instincts were quite strong. She immediately wanted to pull out her phone and call the police.

But Duanmu Li stopped her.

”That car came from our complex too. Maybe you know them?”

”That makes sense. A sasaeng fan wouldn’t be living in the same complex, and they’d probably come to my door instead of just following me when I go out.”

Ni Bingyan breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn’t figure it out, so she just memorized the license plate number, planning to ask the property management office to look into it when she got back that evening.

There were only a few dozen households in the entire complex. Even if every family owned multiple cars, it would be easy to investigate.

When they arrived at the set, everyone was delighted to see the crabs. Ni Bingyan casually put in a good word for the Duanmu family’s business.

”These are from Sister Li’s family. They live right by the lake and have been raising crabs for many years. If you enjoy them and want to buy more later, just go to her. We’ll make her give us a ’fracture-level’ discount, haha!”

She had a great personality and could get along with anyone, so everyone readily agreed.

The crabs were handed over to the production coordinator to handle. Director Deng called her over to discuss the scene. After their discussion, she had some simple makeup applied, did a quick blocking rehearsal, and they started filming.

Even though she had been away from the set for a few days, she hadn’t forgotten to review the script. Upon her return, the very first scene they shot was the one where Liang Hongying interviews for a job at the company.

Because it was a foreign-owned enterprise, the entire interview was in English. Most actors would have to work extremely hard to film it smoothly; otherwise, even with post-production dubbing, their lip movements wouldn’t match.

Apparently, Old Deng was unhappy about her long absence from the set and wanted to give her a hard time to vent his frustration.

Recalling the incident where he made her recite the names of potato dishes for her first scene, she knew the guy was petty. Ni Bingyan didn’t express any dissatisfaction.

The scene had to be shot sooner or later. Whether they filmed it now or later made no difference, so why make a fuss?

Besides, she was confident her English was up to the task.

And just as expected, it was a single take.

”Excellent! It looks like Xiao Ni put in a lot of hard work. Old Deng is very satisfied!”

Director Deng said with a chuckle into his megaphone, teasing her good-naturedly.

The shoot went smoothly, and everyone laughed along, playing nice.

Peng Huan discreetly recorded the moment, thinking it could be edited into a bonus clip later.

An actor being good at English was a plus. As a good friend, she had to think of these things for her.

”Alright, all departments, listen up! Time to change camera angles! Let’s get a few more takes! Camera crew, focus on capturing the actor’s micro-expressions! Lighting, I want to capture Yingzi’s confident side!”

The daily routine on a film set was actually quite tedious. On location, there was no background music and no post-production editing—just fragmented bits of performance. Sometimes the director would feel something was off and constantly adjust camera angles, lighting, or blocking, shooting the same part over and over. Other times, another actor would make a mistake—forget their lines, break character and laugh, or act incorrectly—and she would have to go along with the NG (no good) take. After all, she had her own NG moments too.

For an actor, working on a film set was basically manual labor.

Forget about fight scenes; just moving back and forth for blocking all day was exhausting enough.

That’s why CEO body doubles mostly exist in novels, while celebrity body doubles are crammed onto every film set.

Face doubles, back doubles, stand-ins for non-action scenes, stunt doubles, hand doubles, blocking doubles, chest doubles, butt doubles... it was a dazzling and diverse array, as if they wished a double could do every single job.

Since she had to leave again in two days for the lipstick endorsement shoot, Director Deng was full of resentment. He scheduled a packed day of scenes for Ni Bingyan. And since she wasn’t in the habit of using doubles, she was nearly paralyzed with exhaustion by the time they wrapped.

Not wanting to go home and cook, she had Duanmu Li drive directly to a nearby restaurant, planning to eat before heading back.

But just as the car pulled out of the production base, Duanmu Li noticed something again.

”Sister Bingbing, look. That silver-gray Bentley behind us... this is the second time it’s tailed us.”

They were taking a detour to eat today. If the car had just been going the same way before, it shouldn’t still be behind them now.

Ni Bingyan’s brows knitted together.

”There’s a police station up ahead. Find a spot nearby and box him in. I want to see just who this is.”

Someone living in the same complex probably wouldn’t harm her, but there were no guarantees. It would be more dangerous later if she was home alone.

Her neighbors were older and went to bed early. Waking them up in the middle of the night for help would blow things out of proportion. What if the person following her just wanted to ask for a favor? They were neighbors, and clearly well-off. Offending someone without knowing their connections would be a bad move.

Handling it this way was more appropriate.

Following behind, Sang Yuan was so afraid of losing them that he was completely oblivious to their plan.

His chauffeur usually drove, so his own driving skills weren’t particularly great. Compared to Duanmu Li, who could probably drive a tank, he was a total amateur.

Before they had passed two intersections, Duanmu Li pulled a small maneuver and forced him into a side alley.

The two women got out of the car and stood under a streetlight. People passed by from time to time, and the open doors of the police station were just a short distance away.

It was almost October, and the evenings were getting chilly. Ni Bingyan, dressed in a low-key windbreaker, stood with her arms crossed, exuding an imposing aura.

”Get out! Let me see who has nothing better to do all day than play games with me.”

Her icy voice gave the illusion that she was about to start a fight.

Sang Yuan was a little nervous. ’It’s better to face the music,’ he thought. With a sigh, he got out of the car.

Their six eyes met, and an awkward atmosphere filled the air.

Ni Bingyan’s eyes widened. ”Are you serious? You’ve been tailing me for days just for a hat?”

It’s not like she wasn’t going to pay for it; she had just been busy with work and forgotten, hadn’t she?

’What a precious hat it must be!’

’Chasing me down in a Bentley to get it back?’

It was no wonder she thought that way. In her mind, the two of them had no other connection apart from that entanglement.

But he was, after all, a big shot seasoned in the business world. With his commanding presence, Sang Yuan didn’t even blush as he smoothly fabricated an excuse.