Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

”It’s next week. Just come back to the company then.”

Wei Shuojie took a sip of hot tea, thought for a moment, and added, ”From now on, Brother Biao will handle trivial matters like requesting leave from the film crew and arranging your schedule. You just need to focus on acting.”

Knowing this was to emphasize Brother Biao’s importance, Ni Bingyan nodded in agreement. ”Okay, I get it. Don’t worry, I’ll get along with him just fine.”

Ni Bingyan was actually quite impressed with Wang Biao. For someone from his background to be so motivated and willing to do such hard work was admirable.

It’s always a little awkward when a new person joins the team at first. It just takes some time to get used to each other and work things out.

Wei Shuojie understood this as well, so she didn’t dwell on the topic.

Worried that she might look down on this TV series, she stayed a little longer to say a few more words:

”This novel is very famous, a well-known fluffy romance. The TV adaptation barely strays from the source material, so it’s guaranteed to be a hit with the book’s fans. The market base is solid, the characters are likable, and on top of that, it’s only thirty episodes. Since it’s a modern urban drama, filming will be a breeze. The pay is also very high. When this project was brought up at the executive meeting last month, it caused a mad scramble within the company.”

Seeing the meaningful look Wei Shuojie was giving her, Ni Bingyan knew she was being reminded of how hard-won this audition opportunity was.

’Same old routine.’

Ni Bingyan sighed and didn’t respond.

No matter how many times she beat her chest and promised to take it seriously, or how many times she tried to prove she was reliable, actions spoke louder than words.

Seeing her look of resignation, Wei Shuojie added, ”It was unseemly for our own people to be at each other’s throats over a small project worth a few tens of millions. The executives had no choice but to set up this audition. This way, everyone can compete based on merit, and no one will have any complaints.”

In reality, the role had already been internally decided, and the audition was just a formality. But as long as things weren’t set in stone, there was always a chance for change.

Wei Shuojie never spoke of things that weren’t one hundred percent certain.

Ni Bingyan didn’t know any of this.

When Wei Shuojie finished speaking, she said her goodbyes and left. Ni Bingyan quickly stood up to see her out.

After seeing her out and closing the door, she returned to the room and immediately picked up the book from the table.

She had one more day off tomorrow, which was perfect for finishing this novel.

If she knew what it was about, she’d be more confident in the audition.

’Earning over ten million after two or three months of easy filming... The thought alone is wonderful!’

She tore off the plastic wrap and saw the title: *Rainy Days with an Umbrella*, by an author named Dudu.

A few lines were printed on the book sash—”May you be warm in winter’s chill, may you be cozy in the spring. May you have a light in the darkness, an umbrella in the rain. And may you always have a good person by your side.”

’The style feels very comforting. It should be good.’

Ni Bingyan found a comfortable position, leaned against the headboard, adjusted the table lamp, and gently opened to the first Chapter.

The book was just over two hundred pages long, and she finished it before eleven o’clock.

’Romance really is the key to popularity.’

It was a story that focused purely on being sweet. It kept a fond, knowing smile on her face the entire time; after more than two hours, her cheeks were numb from smiling.

’No wonder it’s so popular!’

The female lead, Wen Qing, was a kind and optimistic newcomer to the workplace. One day on her way home from work, she saw the male lead, Gu Feng, looking miserable as he was getting soaked in the rain on the street. Taking pity on him, she went over and asked, ”Hey! Did you forget your umbrella?”

Gu Feng had just experienced his mother’s death and his father immediately marrying his mistress. He was in extreme anguish. Seeing a strange woman strike up a conversation with him, he frowned reflexively.

Just as he was about to refuse, he saw her walking over with a bright smile, holding an umbrella.

”I have an extra umbrella here. You can borrow it!”

She seemed warm and friendly, but Gu Feng disliked her from the moment he saw her.

It was only because that mistress of his father’s also always had that same bright smile, looking incredibly kind.

So he gave her a cold look and ran off into the rain without saying a word.

Her kindness met with a cold shoulder, Wen Qing felt extremely awkward. She put away the umbrella and, with no time to dwell on such a small matter, immediately ran toward the subway station.

Back at her rented apartment, her best friend, who worked in the HR department, told her there was a major shake-up in the company’s management. A new boss would be starting in a couple of days, and she warned Wen Qing to be careful at work and try not to make any mistakes.

Wen Qing thanked her friend. Noticing Wen Qing’s skirt was soaked, her friend muttered, ”You guys in the design department are always working overtime. That’s too rough,” and told her to go take a shower while she herself went into the kitchen to cook.

When dinner was ready, her friend invited her to eat. Wen Qing took a yellow rose out of her bag and placed it in a narrow-necked jar on the table.

”On my way home from work, I saw a flower shop that was about to close, so I went over and bought one. The owner gave me a fifty percent discount.”

Her friend smiled and said to her, ”With a best friend like you, who needs a boyfriend?”

Wen Qing didn’t actually like flowers herself, but ever since she heard her friend say she did, she often brought them for her.

Always experiencing these little surprises in life, her friend was overjoyed and felt incredibly lucky to have a friend like her.

The plot was very cliché, but the reason it never got old was that almost all women—young, middle-aged, or old—ate this stuff up. The new boss was, of course, Gu Feng.

The corporation’s owner had married his mistress, who had a son. This son was even a year older than Gu Feng, the son of the original wife. The crucial point was that the mistress’s son looked remarkably like the owner.

The sordid details of the owner’s family affair spread like wildfire. The colleagues’ private gossip was undoubtedly nasty. Gu Feng happened to overhear it in the breakroom and became furious. A new broom sweeps clean, and he came in so hot that he had the entire company walking on eggshells.

Wen Qing happened to be in the breakroom getting water at the time. She didn’t say a single word the whole time, yet Gu Feng saw her as a deep and calculating schemer.

’After all, all her colleagues were gossiping, but she was the only one who wasn’t. She was deliberately acting like a lotus rising unstained from the mud. She probably saw him long ago but didn’t warn her colleagues. What a perfect ’white lotus’!’

Thinking back to the umbrella incident in the rain, his perception was even more solidified.

’A normal person might carry one umbrella in case it rains, but who goes out with two?’

’Her offering him an umbrella last time was probably because she’d gotten inside information, knew his father had ’demoted’ him to this branch office, and wanted to suck up to him to marry into a rich family.’

’Tsk, tsk, women these days!’

’None of them are simple.’

The overbearing CEO, already biased, had a bad impression of the female lead. Then, for some reason, his brain short-circuited, and he had her transferred from the design department to the secretarial office to be his secretary.

’In reality, secretaries are worked to the bone and are either secretarial studies or Chinese language majors. But in novels, not only are secretaries idle enough to mop floors and buy coffee all day, they don’t even need a relevant degree. I have no idea how the boss would explain his idiotic behavior to anyone.’

’The boss also has nothing better to do all day than stare at his pretty little secretary, feeling unhappy if he isn’t finding fault with her. Anyone who didn’t know better would probably think the little secretary was related to his stepmother.’

’But love is irrational, and romance dramas don’t have to be that logical either.’

’The whole point is to watch them fall in love, who cares how they work?’

’When they aren’t busy falling in love, they can just not sleep and work then, right?’

Ni Bingyan couldn’t help but snark at the plot, even as she found the couple’s interactions hilarious.

’Hey! A ’kabedon’ at the bathroom door?’

’Doesn’t it smell?’

’There are so many people in the company.’

’Could it be... this company has a private bathroom for the boss?’

’Tsk, tsk, just what you’d expect from an overbearing CEO with the surname Gu.’

Putting logic aside, the sweet romance process within the story was still very interesting.

There was no constant foot-stomping, pouting, or eye-glaring, nor was there any cringey behavior. It wouldn’t be difficult to act. You could say it was a very easy job.

’Thinking about the pay, thinking about how both series are filming in Beijing—even if I have to juggle them, I won’t have to waste a lot of time traveling. And then thinking about the soul-crushing plot of *Soul Ferryman*... a little something comforting would be pretty nice.’

After finishing the novel, Ni Bingyan became determined to land the role in this TV series. So, she turned back to the first Chapter and started reading it for a second time from the beginning.

This time, she took notes as she read, starting to map out the entire story’s structure, character profiles, and so on.