Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

British tabloids are notoriously unscrupulous, with the Sun Newspaper and the Mirror leading the pack.

Ni Bingyan was still on her way back to the hotel when she saw a news alert on her phone.

The incident was apparently too eye-catching. The Sun Newspaper alone had already published eight articles about it:

[As expected of our Gunner! He still shoots with such precision! Too bad the ball went straight to the face of an eighty-year-old granny! And not into the opponent’s goal!]

Ni Bingyan knew that Arsenal’s nickname, the Gunners, was related to their founders.

The Sun Newspaper had always been unscrupulous, so it was no surprise at all that they’d trash someone like this, showing no decency whatsoever.

’It would be stranger if it ever acted serious for a day!’

[Losing the game made him snap—he took out the Blue Army’s fan of the century! He did it!]

’This young soccer player is going to get flamed into oblivion. He’ll probably be benched for a long time.’

From Ni Bingyan’s PR experience, the player would surely issue an apology as soon as possible, then rush to the hospital to visit Jenny and get her forgiveness.

[Eighty years of devoted love—can she escape the shadow of the Gunners?]

’Holy cow! Directly instigating a war between the two fanbases, are we? Not bad.’

Both teams were from the same city and were already rivals. Their fans could argue for a whole week over a single yellow card. With something like this happening, and with troublemakers fanning the flames, things would definitely be chaotic for a long time.

[The Blue Army’s living fossil is injured, and Tumanto is frantic! We’ve got the pictures to prove it!]

She clicked on it and saw a crystal-clear photo of the Chelsea owner, Tumanto, rushing to the hospital.

Jenny had witnessed at least two-thirds of Chelsea’s history. While calling her a ”living fossil” was a bit of an exaggeration, it was still somewhat fitting.

[This was a successful act of revenge! While trailing by two points in the season standings...]

’Enough with the conspiracy theories! Do they really think the fans are brainless?’

She clicked to see the comments and was instantly dumbfounded.

There really were brainless people out there, and quite a few of them.

They actually believed this was a conspiracy by Arsenal to cripple their rival over two points in the standings!

...

After reading through everything, Ni Bingyan couldn’t help but complain, ”Can they really write things like this? Isn’t there anyone to regulate them?”

’This is so immoral!’

’Jenny is still in the hospital! And these unscrupulous media outlets are already starting rumors that she’s dead!’

Even though the Chelsea club quickly clarified that their treasured, long-time fan was fine and receiving treatment in the hospital, it still couldn’t stop the two fanbases from erupting into a flame war!

The blue side said: You guys are just sore losers! To think you’d resort to such dirty tricks!

The red side said: Be reasonable! Isn’t it common for a ball to go astray? Who’s to say she didn’t try to dodge? How come other people manage to get out of the way?

The blue side shot back: She’s eighty-three, you blockheads! How do you expect her to dodge?

The red side’s keyboard warriors were furious: If she’s that old, what’s she doing at a soccer game? And in the front row, no less!

This time, it wasn’t just the blue side firing back; the red side’s own ”elderly brigade” disagreed: What does age have to do with watching a soccer game? Why don’t you little brats go home to mommy for milk?

...

There were a lot of people in the car, so there wasn’t much to do. Everyone was on their phones.

Ni Bingyan read with great interest the whole way, her mind a whirlwind of commentary.

”Different systems, different ways of doing things. It’s normal. Besides, they’re just tabloids! As long as it’s interesting and catches people’s attention, it’s fine. They don’t have to be too rigorous.”

Song Fuling, who was also scrolling through the news, had heard Ni Bingyan’s earlier complaint and offered a casual reply. Wang Xi then chimed in with his opinion:

”A perfectly good newspaper, and they run it like some clickbait account. Sigh!”

”Ms. Jenny’s lawyers are going to be busy after this.”

”These tabloids are always getting sued and issuing apologies. It’s nothing new for them.”

”Freedom of speech, right? It’s bound to have some side effects.”

The matter had nothing to do with her now anyway. After a few brief comments, the group fell silent.

”What’s your Plan B?”

While the others were still focused on the situation with Jenny, Pei Jin was more concerned about this.

He wouldn’t forget the purpose of this trip, even if everyone else did.

”I was planning to find a river to go fishing later. I’ve already found a shop that rents out fishing gear. Speaking of which, aren’t you guys curious about what kind of fish are in the waters of London?”

When it came to hobbies, her favorite was fishing—something all her fans knew.

Whenever she came to a new place, she couldn’t help but wonder about it.

The more she thought about it, the more curious she got. If she didn’t get to cast her line a few times, she’d feel an itch she just couldn’t scratch.

Seeing them all staring at her speechlessly, Ni Bingyan tried to persuade them:

”Think about it! Fishing is like opening a blind box; you never know what you’ll get next. It’s so much fun! The audience will be happy, I’ll be happy, and you guys can just set up a camera and go shopping. You’ll be happy too! It’s killing three birds with one stone. Isn’t that great?”

Seeing that Pei Jin was starting to look tempted, Ni Bingyan pressed her case:

”The soccer match segment fell through today, so we can make up for it with some fishing footage. The runtime will be about right. Look, there’s even a natural lake near the hotel where fishing is allowed...”

Seeing her pull out a marked-up map of London, clearly well-prepared, Wang Xi finally couldn’t hold back anymore:

”Why don’t we just let her fish for a while? If she gets skunked and we don’t get any footage, we can just stay here for another half a day. Otherwise, I have a feeling she’ll sneak out by herself for some night fishing after we wrap up.”

”Skunked? Impossible! I’ll never get skunked!”

Ni Bingyan’s voice instantly shot up, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

Seeing everyone looking at her with teasing smirks, she blushed and quickly tried to backtrack:

”No, no, it wouldn’t come to that. How could I not take safety seriously? I’m not that willful. I would never go night fishing. If you guys don’t think fishing will work, I also have a Plan C.”

Seeing Ni Bingyan pull another piece of paper out of her bag, Pei Jin grew curious:

”Just how many plans did you prepare? Lay them all out, and let’s discuss them.”

They had limited time, so the plan couldn’t have too many activities, lest they just skim the surface without going in-depth. But it also couldn’t have too few, or the show would be dull and boring.

Before, he only knew about one plan. He had no idea what her backup plans entailed.

”I want to go to Covent Garden to see an opera. If possible, I’d also like to see the backstage area and watch how the performers prepare.”

As a fellow performer, she knew that her work in TV shows and movies was completely different from performing in an opera. She had always been curious about what their work process was like.

”And if there’s a chance, maybe I could even play a small role just for the fun of it?”

Song Fuling was amused and laughed.

”No, no, not at all. Even though we’re all performers, different fields are worlds apart. It’s already hard enough to do what you’re good at. I can’t go showing off in front of experts.”

Ni Bingyan was being quite modest.

”I think both plans are good. Sister Fuling, Brother Pei Jin, what do you two think would be the best way to arrange things?”

”Only children make choices. I choose both!”

Pei Jin stroked his chin, feigning greed.

Hearing this, Juan Wangbing immediately started planning: ”Alright, I’ll just have to be a bit more efficient. Time is like water in a sponge—if you squeeze it, you’ll always find some...”

”There’s no need to go that far...”

As they were talking, the car pulled up to the hotel entrance. Before the door even opened, they saw someone smiling and waving at them.

”Looks like your fishing trip might be off the table now.”

Ni Bingyan sighed with regret, then put on a smile and went to greet the person.