Chapter 14

Xia Xi glanced at Ye Xin in confusion. She had no intention of dealing with her and felt this woman had too much time on her hands. However, Song Yuan kept poking her from behind and whispering reminders to maintain her humble persona.
But the question was, had she ever had such a thing as a "humble persona" from the start?
Clearly, Song Yuan hadn't considered this, as she persistently continued to poke Xia Xi from behind.
Xia Xi sighed inwardly, growing increasingly irritated by her actions. Rolling her eyes, she forced a smile at Ye Xin and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Sister Ye Xin."
A compliment?
Ye Xin had expected to see Xia Xi looking upset and distressed. Instead, she got such a shameless reply. Ye Xin nearly lost control of her expression, her lips twitching as she forced a smile. "Hehehe. No need to thank me."
Xia Xi glanced at Ye Xin, who was still standing beside her, pursed her lips, and asked politely, "Sister Ye Xin, is there anything else?"
Is there anything else?
Hearing this, Ye Xin's expression instantly changed. Her fake smile disappeared, replaced by anger and malice. She looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, her voice turning shrill. "What do you mean? How dare you speak to me like that? You're nothing but, "
"Ye Xin, calm down! Everyone is watching. Don't let others laugh at us!" Ye Xin's agent immediately stepped in, cutting her off.
Hearing her agent's words, Ye Xin froze for a moment. Noticing the unfriendly gazes around her, she swallowed the rest of her words. Shooting Xia Xi a fierce glare, she left reluctantly.
Song Yuan looked at Ye Xin's clearly unwilling-to-let-it-go expression and sighed inwardly, thinking that she might need to be more cautious in her future actions to avoid making mistakes and falling into traps set by others. It wouldn’t be good if she ended up causing trouble for Sister Xia Xi.
While Song Yuan was feeling anxious about what had just happened and confused about the uncertain situation, Xia Xi’s mood remained completely unaffected.
After finishing her scene, she returned to the hotel, ordered takeout, ate when she was hungry, slept when she was tired, and lived a very comfortable life, seemingly carefree and unbothered.
This made the words Song Yuan had wanted to say get stuck in her throat and gave her a genuine understanding of the age-old saying: "The emperor is not in a hurry, but the eunuch is."
Ah, it’s so frustrating.

After an unknown amount of time, Xia Xi woke up cheerfully from a pleasant dream, feeling fully recharged.
She turned her head, reached for her phone on the bedside table, and was about to call Song Yuan when, coincidentally, Song Yuan’s call came in.
"Hello, Sister Xia Xi?" Song Yuan’s voice came from the other end of the line.
"Mm."
"I’m calling to let you know that the director has moved the scene we were supposed to shoot this afternoon to tomorrow morning, so you don’t need to come today."
"Moved to tomorrow morning?" Xia Xi’s voice carried obvious confusion.
"The situation is a bit complicated," Song Yuan hesitated, then said, "Sister Xia Xi, I’ll come to your room later to explain in detail."
"Okay."
After hanging up, Xia Xi sat on the bed in a daze for a while. Since she now knew she didn’t have to film later, there was no need to rush to get up. After a moment of indecision, she realized that since she had just woken up, she probably wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep even if she stayed in bed. So, she quickly got up and turned on the TV in the hotel room.
Coincidentally, the show that was playing was one of the original host’s past performances.
This piqued Xia Xi’s interest, and she became curious about what role the original host had played and how her acting was.
After watching for about two minutes,
Holy crap, why are you glaring like that while talking? Your eyes are practically popping out!
Oh my god, original host, you’re not acting, you’re reciting lines like a textbook.
So awkward!!!
After just two minutes, Xia Xi’s expression shifted from enthusiastic interest to one of sheer cringe. She finally understood why the director looked at her with a hint of indescribable pain and why the rest of the crew harbored inexplicable hostility toward her.
It seemed it was all because of the original host’s eye-gouging acting skills.
To be honest, although she had seen articles on Weibo criticizing the original host’s poor acting before, she hadn’t paid much attention at the time. She had even thought to herself that it must be an exaggeration, after all, the original host was professionally trained. How bad could her acting really be?
Now Xia Xi understood that acting could be so bad it reached heavenly heights, truly a god-tier level of terrible acting.
If Lu Yisheng's acting had refreshed Xia Xi's understanding of "good," then the original owner's acting had refreshed her understanding of "bad."
Xia Xi stared at the "herself" on the TV screen, her brows furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly. She felt she might be too embarrassed to show her face outside.
"Sister Xia Xi, Sister Xia Xi." Just as Xia Xi was drowning in gloom, Song Yuan's voice suddenly came from outside the door. Xia Xi rushed over in a few quick steps, grabbed the remote control thrown on the bed, swiftly turned off the TV, and went to open the door for Song Yuan as if nothing had happened.
Hmm, or so she thought.
"X-Sister Xia Xi, what's wrong?" Song Yuan froze for a few seconds upon seeing Xia Xi's expression, feeling a bit worried before cautiously asking, "Why, why do you look so defeated?"
A flash of embarrassment crossed Xia Xi's eyes. She mechanically shook her head and gritted her teeth, replying flatly, "I'm fine, don't worry."
Song Yuan: Sister Xia Xi, honestly, you don’t look fine at all.
"What did you come to see me for?" Xia Xi rubbed her hair impatiently.
"I just came to give you a detailed update on the situation with the crew. Did, did you forget?"
Hearing this, Xia Xi froze for a moment before quickly snapping back to reality. She rubbed her hair even more agitatedly, then nodded at Song Yuan and said in a dejected tone, "Oh, right. Come in and sit down to talk."
Song Yuan took the tea Xia Xi handed her, feeling a bit uneasy. She took a small sip, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "This morning, it was originally a scene between Lu Yisheng and Ye Xin. During filming, Ye Xin accidentally sprained her ankle, forcing the shoot to stop. The director was really angry at the time."
"Sprained her ankle? What a coincidence?" Xia Xi's eyes flickered. "And then?"
"Then Ye Xin suggested to the director that you step in to save the scene and film your first encounter with Lu Yisheng first. After all, Lu Yisheng just needed to change clothes, and you happened to be free on set anyway."
Xia Xi choked on those words, silently pursed her lips, but caught the key point. "She did this on purpose to make me film first?"
After saying it, she even doubted Ye Xin's motives herself. "But what difference does it make whether I film first or later? What good does it do her?"
Song Yuan thought about it and also felt there were too many coincidences in this matter, as if it had been deliberately arranged. But there was no point in Ye Xin doing this. She frowned but didn’t voice any opinion.