Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

August 17th, 4:48 PM.

Even with the air conditioning on, this was a particularly unbearable time of day in the sweltering summer heat.

Even a try-hard like Ni Bingyan felt like she couldn’t try any harder.

”Haaaah~”

Closing the dog-eared script for Zui Sheng Building, she clipped her gel pen to her notebook. Ni Bingyan opened her mouth wide and let out a long yawn.

Outside, the sun blazed like fire. The tree leaves were all limp and listless. Only the cicadas, having emerged from the ground late and not yet had time to continue their species, were screeching at the top of their lungs.

Perhaps in their minds, as long as they were loud enough, the whole world was theirs.

’Sigh!’

’Poor single cicadas!’

Having just gotten into a relationship herself, Ni Bingyan was filled with compassion and unwilling to hold it against them.

The room was quiet. The cuckoo on the mechanical wall clock ticked away—TICK, TOCK, TICK—its sound carrying a unique, vintage charm.

Ni Bingyan stood up, picked up her empty water bottle, and decided to go downstairs to refill it.

Hearing the chair scrape, Wangcai emerged from his dog bed. Stepping onto the rug, he stretched languidly and let out a dainty yawn of his own.

He had grown a lot since he first arrived, but his face still had a childish look; he wasn’t quite a full-grown dog yet.

Seeing Ni Bingyan about to leave, Wangcai started rubbing against her legs. As he did, he shot her a pitiful glance, clearly begging for food.

Ni Bingyan sighed and patted his head.

”Let’s go downstairs and get you some canned food! But let’s get this straight first: after you eat your dinner later, you can’t complain it’s too hot. You have to go out for a long walk. If you keep eating like this, you’re going to turn into a little furball!”

Wangcai let out a ”whimper.” It was impossible to tell if that meant yes or no, but Ni Bingyan took it as a yes.

The human and dog went downstairs, one to drink water, the other to eat canned food.

A little later, seeing it was getting late, Ni Bingyan didn’t bother going back upstairs. She flopped onto the sofa, pulled out her phone, and started scrolling through Weibo.

Wangcai, having finished a can of beef, apparently still wasn’t satisfied. He hopped onto the sofa, snuggled up against her, and whined, doing his best to act cute.

Ni Bingyan was utterly exasperated.

”Good doggies know how to control themselves. You can’t just keep eating endlessly whenever you find something tasty, you know? Also, I’m wearing black pants, so you shouldn’t be rubbing against me right now. My pants will be covered in your fur, and it’s a pain to clean. I’m telling you, if you keep rubbing like this, you won’t have any fur left by winter. Won’t you be cold then?!”

Ni Bingyan felt not a shred of guilt as she tried to scare Wangcai.

”WOOF, WOOF!”

After grudgingly lapping up a few mouthfuls of water, Wangcai perfunctorily pawed at her a couple of times before diving back into his dog bed to sleep.

Compared to his owner, who only had one bed, Wangcai lived a particularly refined life. To help him sleep better and grow bigger, he had a dog bed not only in the study but also in the living room.

If he wanted, he could even crawl into the wooden doghouse in the yard and enjoy the pleasure of having a private, detached home.

Wangcai was usually very well-behaved. Seeing that he had stopped pestering her, Ni Bingyan paid him no mind and opened Weibo, heading straight for the popular account ”Chaotianmen Dog,” which had several million followers.

Sang Yuan had told her yesterday that anything the two of them couldn’t conveniently clarify could be left to the paparazzi.

Ni Bingyan had been quite unhappy when he told her about all the nice things he planned to prepare for that paparazzo.

’What kind of matchmaker is this paparazzi?’

He had caused her so much trouble. Letting him off the hook was already an act of mercy. Expecting her to happily buy him thank-you gifts was absolutely out of the question!

But then Sang Yuan explained that the money spent on gifts for the paparazzo would be far less than hiring a PR firm, and the promotional effect would be even better.

Most importantly, there would be no negative side effects.

Ni Bingyan was famous now, and he wasn’t exactly someone to be ashamed of. Their relationship announcement would definitely attract a great deal of attention.

And with the paparazzo’s previous exposé, which they had denied, there was a high probability that netizens would tear them to shreds.

To protect Ni Bingyan from harm, Sang Yuan had started planning a solution long ago.

By sending a generous gift and adding a couple of mild threats, the heat-chasing paparazzo would never pass up such a great opportunity for hype. He would definitely show off the gifts he received, and then it would be impossible for him to say anything bad about them.

Out of her trust in him, Ni Bingyan had agreed to the plan.

Now it was time to see if the plan had worked.

She had already refreshed the page many times that morning but hadn’t found anything.

At noon, when she went to deliver a meal to Sang Yuan, he saw her uncharacteristically glued to her phone, refreshing Weibo. He sighed and could only tell her to be patient, that writing an article took time, and that she should check again in the evening.

Now that she had some free time, she thought of it again and couldn’t help but go online to check.

But this time, as soon as she refreshed, she saw that the account had a new Weibo post that had just been published:

[Let’s talk about that tycoon’s woman today! longpost.JPG]

Honestly, even though she knew it was about her and Sang Yuan, the moment Ni Bingyan saw the title, her mind still couldn’t help but race with other possibilities.

She had to admit, Big Dog knew how to get clicks.

Any self-respecting drama fiend who saw this post wouldn’t begrudge a few minutes and would definitely click in to get the tea.

Without any prior announcement, the post had already surpassed ten thousand reshares, comments, and likes within half an hour of being posted, which was the best proof.

The moment Ni Bingyan saw the title, she started to get anxious—’Is this guy going to cause more trouble?’

Ni Bingyan managed to stay calm, clicked on it, and saw the following content:

[This is insane, family!

In my fourteen years in the business, I never thought that besides being an entertainment reporter, I’d one day cross over into being a matchmaker.

This crazy story goes like this...]

Countless office slackers and idle onlookers clicked in, read it from beginning to end, and when they saw the so-called ”matchmaker’s gift” in the photos, they were instantly filled with envy!

[Seriously, you spread rumors about them, and not only did they not beat you up, they even sent you thank-you gifts. You really ran into a pair of saints. You’d better not disturb their lives anymore, right? Doesn’t your conscience hurt?!]

[Holy crap! Is this for real? I’ll only believe it if you swear it’s true!]

[What kind of god-tier tycoon is this, hahaha! He’s not thanking you for being a matchmaker! He’s telling you to stop staring at his woman! It’s called offering a carrot before the stick, get it?]

[Is it just me, or is anyone else curious about who the tycoon is? By the way, who has Big Dog exposed before? Should we start investigating?]

[Big Dog said they’ll probably make an official announcement. There were rumors before, but they only just confirmed their relationship. Who is it? Someone remind me, besties!]

[Right? Give us more hints! There are tons of tycoons, which one is it?]

[I think everyone should stop digging. It would be hilarious if you dig up some bald sugar daddy with a beer belly.]

[Big Dog, stop talking and post more pics! More pics! Get it? If there are no pics, a video or something would work too!]

[Am I the only one who cares about the matchmaker’s gift? /crying-laughing face/ I went and asked my mom, and she said these things really were prepared according to the traditional rules for a matchmaker’s gift, hahaha! Big Dog! To spread rumors about them, just how many pairs of shoes did you wear out? How much weight did you run off your legs? Hahaha!]

...

Watching his follower count skyrocket, gaining over a million in half an afternoon, Zhang Yong felt incredibly conflicted.

He looked so pathetic in the surveillance footage, how would he dare post it?

He wouldn’t even dare to post a screenshot!

He didn’t mind losing face, but if the tycoon showed up at his door again, suing him for infringing on his image rights or something, how would he make a living?

Faced with the netizens’ requests for more photos and videos, Big Dog chose to play dead.

He went silent, but the internet’s Sherlock Holmeses all sprang into action.

But before they could gather more evidence, Ni Bingyan’s official Weibo account posted a photo of two hands with fingers intertwined. Both beautiful hands wore simple, plain-band rings.

[We just made our relationship official a couple of days ago. Fulfilling my promise to let everyone know. My boyfriend is not in the industry. He’s very responsible, I like him a lot, and my dad likes him a lot too. I will cherish this relationship and hope everyone can find their own happiness! /heart/heart]

The feeling was like everyone swarming onto the dance floor, just about to start dancing, when the music suddenly stopped, and the DJ calmly announced, ”Yep, it’s just what you’re thinking. The equipment is broken.”

A quick search revealed the old romance rumors between Ni Bingyan and Sang Yuan. Combined with Chaotianmen Dog’s little essay, everything became crystal clear.

It was as plain as day, like a black dot on a white sheet of paper. It left no room for further investigation and didn’t attract much curiosity.

They had made it very clear: back then, they only had a working relationship. It was because of Chaotianmen Dog’s exposé that they realized happiness was right beside them.

It was just like a puppy-love romance in school.

At first, maybe neither of them had any romantic intentions, but as the classmates around them kept chanting, ”Get together! Get together!” they might just end up actually getting together.

People looked up Sang Yuan’s public information. Besides exclaiming that Ni Bingyan was lucky, more people were just sour grapes—

”’The more you flaunt your love, the faster it dies. A relationship in the entertainment industry? Hah! I’ll just wait and see when you two break up!’”

”’She thinks she can marry into a rich family, so she can’t help but show off the second they’re official,呵呵!’”

...

Ni Bingyan didn’t care about the commotion from the outside world. After confirming that Sang Yuan’s plan was effective, she went out to walk her dog.

But as she passed the activity room, she was called to a halt by Granny Liao.