Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

Chapter 344: Chapter 277: Everything Is Under Control

“You need to apply for a fishing license to fish here…”

Pei Jin looked up at the sky, where the sun had already disappeared behind the clouds. He glanced down at his watch. It was past two, and he started to feel hesitant.

“Don’t worry. I already applied for the fishing license. I’ve figured everything out: the permitted fishing areas, the types of fish, the daily limits on number and size, and the regulations for fishing rods.”

‘Are you kidding me? I’m so busy with work. I finally get a chance to go fishing legitimately as part of my job. If I couldn’t fish because I wasn’t prepared, I’d be furious!’

Ni Bingyan would never let something like that happen.

Seeing she was dead set on it, the others had no choice but to follow along.

They just decided to treat it as a day off.

On second thought, the question of what kind of fish they could actually catch here was indeed quite intriguing.

The group rented their equipment and went to a nearby park.

London is located in southeastern England. Influenced by the North Atlantic Warm Current and westerly winds, it has Mediterranean weather, making the winters very mild.

Beneath the bare trees, a thick layer of fallen leaves covered the lush green lawn. Stepping on them in her little boots, the crisp leaves shattered with a pleasant crunch that lifted one’s spirits.

On camera, Ni Bingyan switched into solo-traveler mode. Carrying her fishing gear, she shaded her eyes with her hand and walked along the winding shoreline for a bit until she found a good fishing spot.

It’s hard to catch fish if you don’t understand their habits, so Ni Bingyan had done her homework.

Worried she wouldn’t catch anything and it wouldn’t make for good TV, she didn’t get too ambitious, focusing her efforts solely on trout.

After finding her spot and preparing the bait chum, Ni Bingyan sat down and slowly adjusted her line, tied on a suitable hook, and tested the water’s depth. When the time felt right, she finally baited the hook and cast her line.

The bait landed right where she intended. Ni Bingyan nodded slightly and watched calmly, her chin resting on her hand.

After a few minutes, the bobber sank. Ni Bingyan immediately sat up straight. Seeing the moment had come, she began to reel in the line.

The thing underwater wasn’t struggling, so Ni Bingyan knew she had probably “won the lottery.”

She pulled it up and, sure enough, it was a small stuffed rabbit with a missing eye.

It was impossible to tell its original color. It was caked in mud and had been carried who-knows-how-far by the undercurrent, leaving it a dark, grimy mess.

Of course, filming a show is different from fishing alone.

The others had already gone for a stroll in the park, leaving only the diligent cameraman to accompany her.

Calmly removing the trashy toy and putting it in a garbage bag, Ni Bingyan cleared her throat for the camera. “A rabbit on the first go! That must mean I’ll catch at least ‘two’ fish! Don’t panic, everyone. Watch me cast again!”

The cameraman was a trained professional. No matter how funny it was, he would hold in his laughter. If he really couldn’t hold it, he’d run a little distance away, laugh it out, and then come back.

Seeing him run off with a straight face only to burst out laughing, Ni Bingyan paid it no mind.

Duanmu Li and Wang Biao were sitting on a nearby bench. One was engrossed in a book, the other was poking at their phone.

The diligent cameraman finished laughing and had just returned when he saw Ni Bingyan, expressionless, reeling in her second cast.

This time it was a fist-sized, stuffed teddy bear. It took no effort at all to pull up.

“Haha! So that ‘two’ from before meant two stuffed toys?”

The cameraman couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

Ni Bingyan ignored him, trying to save face.

“This spot’s no good. There’s an undercurrent that’s dragging a bunch of weird stuff over. I have to change locations!”

“Maybe the audience *wants* to see weird stuff?”

From an entertainment standpoint, this place was a gold mine!

But for a true fishing enthusiast, it was unbearable.

Ni Bingyan ignored him, muttering, ‘I’m traveling alone right now, I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you,’ as she packed up her gear and fled.

After about ten minutes of fussing, she found a new spot she liked and, full of anticipation, started again.

‘The beautiful, rainbow-like stripes on a rainbow trout must look amazing in the sun! I have to catch a few today, no matter what!’

Full of confidence, Ni Bingyan cast her line. Then came another long wait.

This time, she waited a full twenty-plus minutes before she got another bite.

She reeled in the line cautiously. Even though the feel was off, Ni Bingyan stared intently, refusing to give up hope until the object broke the surface.

The sun happened to peek out from behind the clouds just then, its light glinting off the object.

It was something metal.

She took it in her hand and washed it off. Although it was a bit tarnished from being submerged, she could still tell it was an exquisite necklace.

It had some weight to it; no wonder she’d mistaken it for a fish at first.

“A gold-plated glass necklace. Heavy gold plating, dense and intricate metalwork, plus large, multicolored glass beads—this is definitely a collector-grade handmade piece. I’ll take a picture first and post a lost-and-found notice, then send it to a jewelry store for cleaning and restoration. Otherwise, after being in the water for so long, it could suffer irreparable damage once it’s out.”

Ni Bingyan showed it off to the camera, then placed it in a small bucket filled with water.

What an unexpected surprise!

Pei Jin wasn’t far away. He ran over as soon as he heard the news. Seeing that Ni Bingyan had taken a picture and was about to post it, he quickly stopped her.

“The show hasn’t aired yet. Get the necklace restored first. We can start looking for the owner when the show is released. The impact will be greater, and so will the chances of finding them.”

To catch an exquisite necklace while fishing… her luck was just unbelievable!

Pei Jin was becoming more and more convinced that Ni Bingyan was a treasure of a girl with explosive luck.

Many ordinary things took on an extraordinary turn when they involved her.

Being with her meant a never-ending stream of bizarre, touching, and unexpected events. They weren’t necessarily thrilling, but they were always interesting.

When the three of them had first spearheaded this show, besides fulfilling their idol’s wish, they also meant to make up for their own shortcomings.

Take Song Fuling, for example. Although she had a lot of money and her own career, she had never been very free, especially when it came to marriage.

For her, this show was less of an investment project and more of a final act of willfulness before she had to compromise.

Or Wang Xi, who had been neglected by her busy parents and was bullied in high school, which led her to fall into a period of depression.

Then one day, she was online and saw Ni Bingyan happily digging for lotus roots in the mud. Even covered in dirt like a little mud doll, Ni Bingyan was smiling joyfully. In that moment, Wang Xi suddenly felt a sense of strength, like a lotus rising unstained from the muck.

There are many things that are clear to outsiders but incomprehensible to the person involved. But if they can find a new perspective, all it takes is a single trigger.

Wang Xi got better. She started to admire this always-positive girl and wanted this braver girl to take her out and reintroduce her to the world.

Then there was him, Pei Jin.

As the son of a famous director, he, like many second-generation kids, grew up under the pressure of his father’s legacy. He rebelled, he went astray, but in the end, he discovered something. As long as he bravely forged his own path and lived life on his own terms, other people’s opinions didn’t really have much of an impact on him.

Song Fuling had studied in the United Kingdom and knew the area well, so Ni Bingyan gave her the necklace and asked her to take it to be restored. Then, she returned to the camera and nonchalantly resumed fishing.

“That’s three times in a row I’ve caught random junk. This time, it has to be a proper fish!”

Ni Bingyan was full of confidence as she cast her line. While she waited, she couldn’t help but tap her fingers on her knees as if playing the piano. And when she started to reel it in, an irrepressible, radiant smile spread across her face.

“Folks, this is the one! Whoa! It’s got some fight in it! Don’t worry! Everything is under control!”

But the moment the words left her mouth, the thing broke the surface.

With just one glance, Ni Bingyan couldn’t help but let out a scream!

Because it was a pale, rotting hand!