Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

As it turned out, Ni Bingyan’s worries were justified.

During the day, when the show aired, her enemies lay low. The internet was full of nothing but praise. But at night, when all was quiet, they began to make their move.

[Low-key? Give me a break! She’s showing her true colors now, isn’t she? How could a truly low-key person go on a show and talk about it? The truly virtuous and respected seniors in the industry have been doing charity for decades, and you don’t see them bragging about it all day, do you?]

[Hehe, her daddy ”accidentally” let it slip! She didn’t say it herself, oh no. Gotta keep that white lotus persona perfectly intact.]

[Here’s something funny. I have a relative who works at a charity, and they checked the donor list. They couldn’t find a certain Miss N’s name on it at all. Hmmm, interesting.]

[So, is this another case of donation fraud? If she actually paid the money just to buy a good reputation, I could forgive her. But trying to have it both ways—playing the whore while demanding a monument to her virtue? The world doesn’t work like that! Ptooey~]

[People these days don’t even know how to pick a good topic for hype. Why use charity? Everyone’s online now. The old tricks of deceiving the public and hiding the truth don’t work anymore!]

[Surely no one is idiotic enough to mindlessly praise someone just because they hear the word ”charity,” right? Pfft~]

[The charity world is too murky! There’s no way us little nobodies can figure it out. I wonder when someone will finally regulate it?]

[She’s been on the trending list all year round. The money she earns probably isn’t even enough to pay for all her paid trolls, right? I wonder how much Boss Ni has poured into this?]

[She’s an only daughter, so the family fortune will all be hers someday. She can spend it however she wants! Supporting a few teams of paid trolls is a piece of cake for her, right?]

[What ”charity”? It’s just business. These people in the entertainment industry are all trying to build their public image this way. I’m telling you, they’re all going to crash and burn sooner or later!]

[Everyone’s doing ”charity,” but is any of it actually making a difference? I’m a single guy who can’t even afford a bride price, so how come no kind soul is helping me? When I see news like this, all I can do is laugh. Heh!]

[What is all this crap on the internet all day? I just want to see something positive, not this bullshit! If you donate, just donate. Why brag about it all the time? The rich will do it without being told, and the poor can’t even afford to eat. No matter how much you hype it up, you can’t inspire them!]

[And ”promoting traditional culture”? Is the bar for traditional culture that low now? What the hell is that stuff she paints? My niece in elementary school could draw better with her feet! She’s embarrassed herself internationally and still has the nerve to awkwardly hype herself up. Tsk tsk, I’m embarrassed for her.]

[And that Boss Ni, he’s just a chef. Where did he get all that money? He just opens his mouth and talks about throwing down five hundred million to set up a charity foundation. I suggest the tax bureau investigate him thoroughly. Is he evading taxes? Is he involved in some illegal business?]

...

Haters don’t care if their attacks make sense or not.

After all, they were just getting paid to do a job. There was no shame in what they said.

Li Lu and the others had thoroughly embarrassed themselves over the seat-snatching incident. Under strict orders from their agency, they only attended that one show during the entire fashion week and had returned home in disgrace a few days before Ni Bingyan and her team.

That night, while Ni Bingyan, Wei Shuojie, and Wang Biao all went to bed early, Li Lu’s group was more wired than ever.

’We have to drag her through the mud! It’s the only way to vent this bitter resentment!’

It was strange, really.

They were the ones who had tried to snatch the seats, and Ni Bingyan was just the victim. But in their eyes, the fact that Ni Bingyan didn’t get into a brawl with them and instead used them as a stepping stone to win universal acclaim made her the most hateful person imaginable.

Today’s paid troll agencies had kept up with the times, offering a variety of packages.

The low-end service was all copy-and-paste, and even regular netizens could spot the traces of trolls trying to ”clean” the comments section.

But the kind that made the accounts look like genuine, major influencers, where every single comment was unique and individually crafted, belonged to the most expensive package.

Even though she was a rich second-generation heir who had found fame early, Li Lu still had to steel her resolve to fork over the money.

As for the others, they probably felt the same way. Consequences be damned, they had to vent their frustrations first!

This method required a huge investment, but the results were excellent. Most importantly, it was subtle enough that the average person wouldn’t even detect the presence of paid trolls.

Take Ni Guangli, for example. Even though he had been in the influencer circle for several years and considered himself a seasoned veteran, he didn’t see that this was the work of paid trolls. He truly believed that this many people were genuinely ganging up on his daughter and cursing her.

His daughter hadn’t wanted to publicize the matter, but he had felt indignant on her behalf, thinking she had done a good deed and wasn’t getting the praise she deserved. So he took the opportunity on the show to talk about it. He never imagined it would harm her. How could Ni Guangli feel anything but terrible?

’Just what is wrong with the world?’

’Why should someone be attacked for genuinely spending money to do a good deed?’

’Shouldn’t normal people see a worthy person and strive to emulate them? Shouldn’t they follow suit when they see someone else doing good?’

’What kind of logic is it to not do good yourself, but instead blame others for doing it?’

He had already been shaken by the recent scare, bottling up his feelings. Now, with this new distress, his blood pressure shot up.

Hu Sheng was discussing the restaurant’s schedule for the day with him when he saw Ni Guangli staring at his phone and suddenly collapse. Panicked, Hu Sheng shouted for help while dialing 911!

By the time they rushed him to the hospital in a flurry of activity, Ni Guangli’s blood pressure had already stabilized.

”I’m fine. Don’t tell Bingbing!”

After being an influencer for a few years, he now understood a thing or two about crisis management. The moment his mind cleared, an idea formed.

Hu Sheng was filial and obedient. Plus, the doctor said Ni Guangli had just suffered a sudden spike in blood pressure due to a fit of anger and that there was nothing seriously wrong with his body—he just needed to rest and be observed. So, Hu Sheng nodded and agreed.

Seeing his apprentice obey, he immediately took out his phone and started making calls.

First, he called the tax bureau. He told them someone suspected him of tax evasion and asked them to send people over to investigate. If he had underpaid anything, he would make up for it. If not, he asked them to help debunk the rumor.

”Our family has been rooted in Rongcheng City for generations, and we’ve always been model taxpayers. Our century-old reputation can’t withstand this kind of slander. Ai, I saw those comments first thing in the morning, my blood pressure shot up, and I ended up in the hospital.”

’If he was going to be hounded to death by some random internet comments, the city might just lose a major taxpayer, and that wouldn’t do at all!’

The Ni family’s taxes had always been one of the bureau’s key focus areas. Ni Guangli was very cooperative and proactive about paying his taxes, undergoing several audits every year. The last one had been just two months ago, so there was no need to investigate again.

The tax bureau immediately stated that they would inform the public of his tax situation truthfully.

After hanging up, he saw the IV drip was in place and had his eldest apprentice, who had just arrived, set up his livestreaming equipment. He was going to respond to the netizens’ accusations from his hospital bed.

”Ai, everyone says we’re putting on a show. To be honest, I wish everyone would learn from us and start putting on shows of their own. What’s the point of making all those sour remarks?”

As soon as the livestream started, fans flooded in. They saw him lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip, looking like he was about to die from anger, and were a bit confused about the situation.

It wasn’t until someone briefly explained what had happened that everyone understood, and a flood of consoling messages poured in.

Seeing that people’s comments were mostly reasonable, Ni Guangli finally breathed a sigh of relief and began to chat with everyone.

Feeling aggrieved and particularly sensitive to the accusations, he responded when someone asked why there was no record of Ni Bingyan’s school donation: ”She really didn’t want anyone to know. If I hadn’t dragged her to go jewelry shopping and seen how reluctant she was to spend money, she never would have told me. Ai, it’s my fault as a father. I saw my daughter doing well and just wanted to brag a little. Ai! She uses a pseudonym for her donations. Why would she use her real name? She’s someone who hates trouble.”

A pseudonym?

Ni Guangli had stopped livestreaming this year, but he had switched to making TV shows, and his follower count had not only not decreased, but had actually grown.

He now had over a hundred million fans.

Seeing him go live, people called their friends, and within half an hour, several million viewers had crowded into the stream.

Hearing him mention that keyword, someone had a sudden realization!

[I was just scrolling through Weibo and I think I saw an account called Miss N. A while ago, she posted a photo of a letter written to her by kids from a Hope Primary School. Wait, let me go dig it up and see if it’s real!]

[Joy is better when shared! How inefficient for you to dig by yourself! Let’s go together, let’s go!]

And so, in the fan group that had long been secretly delighting in their shared secret, someone suddenly noticed that the number of followers on Ni Bingyan’s private Weibo account was skyrocketing.

”What’s happening? Sisters, didn’t we agree to keep it on the down-low and not make a scene?”

”Sister Ling! I don’t think these are our people!”

The group had recently been brainstorming ideas for a variety show, so many members were online. When the news broke, a jolt went through everyone.

They had always known that no secret could be kept forever, but now that the day had finally come, they still felt a little sad.