Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

Xu Wenwen was seventeen years old, with a cute, cherubic face and a pair of almond-shaped eyes that were as lively and expressive as a cat’s.

She had been a fan of celebrities since middle school. Fortunately, her idol, Hu Zhenning, had yet to be involved in any scandals, so her passion for stardom was still burning strong.

Because she was a sensible fan and never let it interfere with her studies, her rather open-minded parents allowed her an hour of phone time every day before the start of her senior year.

Usually, she’d spend that hour either eagerly scrolling through Hu Zhenning’s Weibo, fawning over Ni Bingyan’s official account photos, or just chatting for a bit in both of their fan groups.

But today, she just held her phone, spacing out.

Whatever she was thinking, it made her blush slightly. She opened Weibo and typed a single word into the search bar: boyfriend.

As the old saying goes, ”What young man isn’t filled with passion? What young maiden doesn’t dream of love?” And though seventeen-year-old Xu Wenwen was a late bloomer, she too had reached the age where she yearned for a relationship.

Kids these days mature early. Plenty of them started secretly dating back in middle school.

Xu Wenwen had always been a bit clueless in that department. She was always either busy with her fandoms or her studies and had never paid it any mind.

That is, until today, when her deskmate and best friend successfully got a boyfriend.

Her bestie and her new boyfriend had made plans to go to the bookstore to buy study guides over the weekend. In reality, it was their first date after making things official. The friend was a little nervous, so she quietly asked Xu Wenwen to come with her.

In the world of adults, this would be simply unthinkable.

Who brings a third wheel on their own date?

But in the world of teenage girls, a best friend is often more trustworthy than a boyfriend.

She’d just gotten a boyfriend and was filled with anticipation for their date, but also a little scared, as if she were doing something illicit. It was perfectly normal to feel nervous and shy and want a friend along for moral support.

When Xu Wenwen first heard this, her immediate reaction was a pang of jealousy, as if her best friend had been stolen from her. It wasn’t until she got home that night that she came to her senses and her thoughts turned elsewhere.

Her best friend had a boyfriend, but she didn’t.

They had grown up together, attending the same elementary and middle schools. They had even tested into the same high school and, by a stroke of luck, ended up in the same class as deskmates.

They shared everything with each other.

But even someone as clueless as Xu Wenwen knew that a boyfriend couldn’t possibly be on that list of shareable things.

The realization hit Xu Wenwen hard. A thought began to form in her mind, completely unbidden: ’My best friend has a boyfriend now. Where’s mine?’

Logically, it didn’t make sense. She wasn’t unattractive, she had good grades, and she was talented—she was even the class arts representative. ’So why hasn’t anyone ever pursued me?’

She began to wonder, ’Could it be that someone nearby likes me, and I just haven’t noticed?’

She mulled it over for what felt like ages. By evening, she had come up with a few potential suspects.

’Maybe something could develop with one of them...’

But she lacked experience and had no idea what to do, and she was too shy to ask anyone for advice.

Thankfully, the internet was so advanced these days. No matter how ridiculous the question, you could always find some kind of answer online.

She used Weibo more than any other app, so her first instinct for searching anything was to use Weibo’s search, regardless of how reliable the answers were or how efficient the search was.

Using ”boyfriend” as the keyword, she searched for related posts. The page refreshed in the blink of an eye, revealing a flood of results.

Xu Wenwen patiently scrolled through them.

Some were from people flaunting their relationships, talking about all the sweet things their boyfriends had done for them.

After reading them, she couldn’t help but daydream, ’If I had a boyfriend...’

Others were complaining about how their boyfriends had upset them, asking the internet if they should break up.

Drawing on her vast experience from reading romance novels, she found herself pondering whether the couple should stay together in such situations.

There were also all kinds of romantic moments that made her break into a fond, knowing smile. ’Aw, maybe having a boyfriend wouldn’t be so bad after all?’

A teenage girl’s whims are fleeting. As she scrolled and scrolled through Weibo, she completely forgot her original goal.

Her desire to date had just been a knee-jerk reaction to her best friend getting a boyfriend while she was still single. In reality, she couldn’t say she was all that desperate for one.

Suddenly, she saw a post that read: [Oh my god! A boyfriend! A real, live one! AHHHH!]

As a rule, girls who were late bloomers tended to be a bit more carefree. The introspective, diary-like posts or the whiny, complaining ones didn’t really leave much of an impression on her.

But this kind of post—so direct, so unabashedly dramatic and quirky—immediately caught her eye.

”This person is hilarious! Haha! Let me see who this little gem is.”

She then clicked on the profile of this user, named ”Miss N,” and was instantly hooked.

’This girl is so weird!’

’Scrolling through her feed, it was all either pictures of fishing, casual snapshots of blue skies and green trees, or stuff about studying. Couldn’t she at least post a posed selfie, show off her face with a beauty filter or something?!’

’She’s this happy about finding a boyfriend? She’s probably ugly.’

The thought popped into Xu Wenwen’s head subconsciously, making her curious about what the account owner actually looked like.

This curiosity fueled her as she continued to scroll down.

And as she scrolled, she continued her internal critique.

’She puts so much effort into this account but has no followers. Every post only has one or two likes and not even a single comment. How pathetic! Other people can get tens of thousands of followers just by showing a little leg or wearing a low-cut top. The world we live in...’

’Wait, what’s this?’

Her fingers were swiping quickly across the screen. By the time Xu Wenwen realized something was off, she had already scrolled past several more posts.

She scrolled back up to find it and saw it was a photo of a blue sky.

Aside from the beautiful composition, which suggested the photographer knew what they were doing, the scenery itself wasn’t particularly remarkable.

But in the corner of the photo, there was a furry gray boom microphone.

That kind of microphone was often used for recording audio on film sets or during the filming of variety shows.

As a veteran fan, Xu Wenwen had been to a film set before to watch Hu Zhenning act, so she recognized it in a single glance.

’This girl has never posted a photo of her face... could she work in the entertainment industry?’

The real entertainment industry was very different from what most people imagined, and fans were probably the group most interested in how it all worked.

Realizing this, Xu Wenwen immediately grew excited!

’Boyfriends, girlfriends, whatever! All of that can take a backseat!’

’A boyfriend would only get in the way of my fanning. What’s the point of that?’

’Gossip is way more interesting!’

If she went through this girl’s Weibo carefully, she might be able to dig up some industry gossip.

Confirmed gossip was the sweetest kind of all!

With this suspicion in mind, Xu Wenwen got serious. She decided to go through every single post on this account and see what details she could find.

If she found any dirt, she knew she wouldn’t be able to resist sharing it with her fellow fans. When that happened, the girl would probably get wind of it and delete her posts. To prevent this, Xu Wenwen diligently took screenshots as evidence.

Ni Bingyan had actually been very careful with this Weibo account and had leaked almost no personal information. But as the saying goes, nothing is impossible for a determined mind.

And as it happened, Xu Wenwen was an exceptionally meticulous person.

She went through post after post, examining picture after picture. More than half an hour later, Xu Wenwen couldn’t help but slap her thigh in excitement.

Oh! My! God! This is huge!

What was this?

Weren’t these the terraced fields from *Children of the Mountains*?

And that mountain in the distance—its shape was so familiar!

The long shot in the movie’s opening scene... wasn’t that the exact same mountain?

And what was this?

Wasn’t this from *Forest Sea and Snowfield* in the Northeast?

And this one! The timing of this ”boyfriend” post matched up perfectly with the exposé from ”Chaotianmen Dog”!

Oh, my, my!

Xu Wenwen’s face was flushed red with excitement!