Who Needs a CEO? I Choose Stardom

Chapter 40: Chapter 36: Duanmu Li

With her workload increasing, Ni Bingyan definitely didn’t have the energy to drive herself. As her agent, Wei Shuojie also had a lot to do and couldn’t be her driver all day. Thus, finding an assistant who could drive became a pressing matter.

Ni Bingyan understood the situation, so when her agent brought it up, she immediately agreed.

Many celebrities liked to hire relatives or friends as assistants, feeling it was safer and more personal. However, these people were often unprofessional and could easily abuse their connection to the celebrity to act unscrupulously.

Professional matters should be left to professionals.

Ni Bingyan felt it would be better to have the company send someone with experience. After all, the company was supposed to assign her at least one assistant anyway.

Wei Shuojie agreed with her point of view.

And so, a day later, when Ni Bingyan was wrapping up work, an assistant named Duanmu Li was sent over by the company.

You had to hand it to Sister Wei; she was swift and decisive, incredibly efficient!

"You’re Duanmu Li?"

Once things were settled, Duanmu Li had sent over her resume, which Ni Bingyan had already reviewed.

Duanmu Li, female, ancestral home in Southern City, Su Province, of the Hui tribe. A retired armored vehicle soldier, 175 cm tall, age 26. Family members include her mother and an older brother; her father was deceased.

She had previously worked for Mr. Wei. For some reason, she’d recently had a falling out with him and requested a transfer from the company. No one else dared to take her on; only Wei Shuojie had the nerve.

Ni Bingyan trusted Wei Shuojie’s professional judgment, so she didn’t pry into the details. She only cared whether Duanmu Li’s skills were what she needed.

What she needed most right now was someone to drive for her. Sometimes she finished work late, and after a tiring day, she had to drive home. She was genuinely afraid of getting into a car accident on the way.

Someone who can drive a tank can’t necessarily drive a car, just as someone with a driver’s license might not really know how to drive.

So, just to be safe, it was better to confirm beforehand.

"Can you drive?"

"Yes."

One word, answering both questions at once.

Once in the car, Ni Bingyan gave her the driver’s seat and got into the passenger’s side. While fastening her seatbelt, she tried to strike up a conversation.

"This is my first time meeting someone with the surname Duanmu. What’s it like having such a unique last name?"

Duanmu Li was tall and slender, but her visible arms looked powerful. She had short black hair, wheat-colored skin, almond-shaped eyes, a high-bridged nose, and thin, tightly pressed lips. She wasn’t the conventionally beautiful type, but she had a distinctively cool air about her.

She just looked so cold and taciturn.

As it turned out, Ni Bingyan’s judgment of people was reasonably accurate.

If she were more talkative, she definitely would have used the topic to start a conversation.

Duanmu Li, however, was focused on starting the car. Only after the engine turned over did she reply, while searching on the navigation system, "I’m surrounded by them."

So, she didn’t feel it was anything special.

She probably even thought others were making a big deal out of nothing.

’What a conversation killer!’

Even though Ni Bingyan was a skilled conversationalist, she felt a little out of her depth.

Considering it was their first meeting and they would be spending a lot of time together from now on, Ni Bingyan didn’t want to seem too cold or aloof. She steeled herself and continued to search for something to talk about.

"Do you have any dietary restrictions? We’ll be eating together often, so I should be mindful of them."

She had met many friends from the Hui tribe while filming in Ning Province before, and they had certain dietary customs. Since Duanmu Li was also from the Hui tribe, it was a necessary question to ask.

Duanmu Li’s job didn’t include cooking; that had been agreed upon beforehand. But when it came to mealtimes, she couldn’t just cook for herself and ignore whether her assistant was hungry, could she?

This time, Duanmu Li finally looked her straight in the eye.

When working, she always had to be mindful of her own food and drink. Very few people ever respected the personal habits of a junior assistant.

That kind of respect was comforting.

But it was only for a moment.

She glanced sideways at her new boss for a second before immediately turning her eyes back to the road, focusing on driving.

They passed two road signs before she finally answered. "I’m here to take care of you, not the other way around. I can take care of myself. Later, we should go over the list of instructions the company sent me to avoid any mistakes."

’So you *can* string that many words together at once!’

Ni Bingyan snarked silently to herself.

The file at the company belonged to the body’s previous owner, and their daily schedules alone were worlds apart. It definitely needed to be updated. Ni Bingyan just said, "Mhm," and after that, she didn’t know what else to say.

The two of them were silent for the rest of the drive. Thankfully, the journey wasn’t long.

The moment she saw the gate to her own yard, Ni Bingyan breathed a sigh of relief.

She opened the gate with the remote, and the car drove straight into the garage. The motion-sensor lights flicked on as Ni Bingyan took out her keys to open the front door.

"Come on in and get familiar with the place! You’ll be coming here often from now on!"

Duanmu Li didn’t refuse. As she stepped inside, she was already pulling out her phone and locating the list of instructions for the artist that the company had sent her. When she went to send it, she realized she hadn’t added Ni Bingyan on WeChat yet.

"Sister Ni, let’s add each other on WeChat to make it easier to stay in contact."

She wasn’t socially inept or clueless about etiquette; she simply didn’t like to talk.

Ni Bingyan pulled out her phone, saw it was dead, and immediately plugged it in to charge before finally adding her on WeChat.

Once the friend request was accepted, Duanmu Li quickly sent over the list of instructions.

Ni Bingyan glanced over it and saw that almost none of it applied to her anymore.

So, Ni Bingyan laughed and said, "This is from years ago. I didn’t know any better back then. When I signed my contract, I had to fill out a form, so I just racked my brain and made things up. Only now do I realize how unsuitable it is. Here, let me revise it and send you the new version."

Duanmu Li just said, "Mhm," and found a place to sit and wait.

She didn’t look at her phone or walk around. She just sat there, staring blankly into space. It was hard to tell if she was deep in thought or simply zoning out.

Ni Bingyan finished her edits in a few quick taps. Seeing that Duanmu Li hadn’t noticed, she cleared her throat, signaling her to check the message.

Duanmu Li snapped back to reality, immediately picked up her phone, and opened the new message.

Other celebrities had long lists of things they wouldn’t eat—no spicy food, no fatty meat, no this, no that. They would hate certain colors or shapes. They had to hold a specific pillow in the car or drink a particular brand of water at a precise temperature. You couldn’t talk about their acting skills or mention a certain rival...

For a high-maintenance star, the list of instructions could have hundreds of items. New assistants would often struggle to memorize it all, practically coughing up blood from the effort, and would have to carry a notepad with them at all times to check.

Unexpectedly, Ni Bingyan’s list of instructions was surprisingly short.

Aside from basic information like her daily schedule, there was only one additional note: Duanmu Li needed to carry a power bank at all times.

"For everything else, just follow the company’s assistant handbook. I just need you to pay extra attention to this one point. I don’t use my phone much, so I often don’t even notice when the battery dies, and that can really cause problems sometimes."

At a large company like theirs, assistants had to undergo training, and the assistant handbook already covered practically every aspect of an artist’s daily life.

For example, regarding diet, assistants were told not to prepare things like raw garlic, green onions with dipping sauce, or stinky tofu, which would cause bad breath. They were to avoid chili peppers and fatty meats that could cause acne or weight gain. They also had to steer clear of things like raw marinated crab, which could easily make the artist sick and affect their schedule...

In terms of social conduct, they were instructed not to bad-mouth other artists in public and attract negative attention. They were not to make promises on their boss’s behalf, accept bribes from businesses, or use their boss’s name to gain benefits from fans...

There were also rules about not breaking the law, not gossiping about the boss’s private life, and always being punctual to avoid delaying the boss’s work, which could cost millions in a matter of minutes, and so on and so forth.

Ni Bingyan only had to skim the handbook to know she could never have come up with such a comprehensive list on her own.

If Duanmu Li wasn’t going to follow the company handbook, there was no point in writing out a long list of her own rules. It was better to just remind her as things came up.

Besides, she wasn’t the type to have strange quirks. She racked her brain but couldn’t think of anything else, so she just wrote down that one item.

Duanmu Li acknowledged this seriously and, without another word, asked for the departure time the next day and promptly took her leave.

The *Big Mountain* crew was poor and had no parking for trailers, so Ni Bingyan had been commuting in her own car. Seeing Duanmu Li head straight for the door, she immediately handed her the car keys. "Drive yourself home and bring the car back tomorrow. It’s far from the city out here, so it’s hard to get a ride."

Duanmu Li obediently took them. Before leaving, she stood in the yard and bid a formal farewell.

Ni Bingyan almost laughed at her earnestness.

’This assistant is pretty interesting,’ she thought. ’Reliable and not too talkative.’

Their first day together had been pleasant enough. And with that, the matter of the assistant was settled.

Over the next few days, Ni Bingyan came to truly appreciate the benefits of having an assistant.

She was chauffeured to and from the set every day. When she was thirsty, water was ready for her. When she was hot, there was a towel to wipe her sweat. When she was hungry, someone was there to get her a boxed lunch. If the director changed a line, someone helped take notes. If the crew made an announcement, someone was there to remind her. And if anyone made an unreasonable request, Duanmu Li would step forward to refuse on her behalf...

It wasn’t until two days later that she discovered that an assistant, as it turned out, could also bring trouble.