Xia Duo, seeing his serious expression, stood up in fright: "No, don't you feel ashamed for insulting you like that?"
Su Yao laughed: "I think it's very useful. You insult me, and I flatter you, which is especially helpful for me to establish a humble and receptive boss persona."
Xia Duo panicked: "What the hell? That wasn't my intention."
Su Yao was surprised: "What was your intention?"
"I just wanted to insult you, force you to explode, and terminate my contract!" Xia Duo said directly.
Su Yao got a headache at the mention of termination and didn't want to argue with her anymore. He simply said "No way" and told her to leave.
Xia Duo wanted to continue pestering him, but Su Yao called security.
—
Outside the door, Sister Qin and Xiao Miao were anxiously waiting, constantly monitoring the online situation. Xia Duo's farcical speech quickly propelled her to the top of the trending searches.
Netizens initially criticized her, then gradually turned to sympathy, and finally to empathy! Many people are saying:
[What an incredibly brave and courageous young heroine!]
[Following her is practically the same as me arguing with my boss.]
[Haha, this is a good one.]
[Following her now!]
Sister Qin and Xiao Miao are well-versed in the shady practices of the entertainment industry and know that this is the result of someone manipulating the online buzz.
But regardless, Xia Duo is a sensation tonight.
After being kicked out by the security guards Su Yao called, Xia Duo checked her Weibo and saw that she had gained several thousand followers in just a few minutes.
Xiao Miao excitedly chattered, "Sister Xia, this must be your doing to make her go viral, right? The effect is amazing, no other artist can compete with this!"
Even Sister Qin patted her on the shoulder and said, "I misunderstood you, I shouldn't have scolded you before."
Xia Duo's inner thoughts: This is clearly a tactic I used to offend Su Yao and successfully terminate my contract, how did it gain me followers! Heavens above, can't we have a different group of netizens?!
She was heartbroken; her grand plan, prepared for a whole day and night, had completely fallen apart.
What was most frustrating was running into Xu Jin'an before leaving the company.
He walked towards her with a clear purpose, indicating he wanted to speak with her alone.
Qin Jie and Xiao Miao, unaware of their past marriage, looked completely bewildered. Wasn't Xu Jin'an always the one who disliked his artists the most?
But intimidated by his imposing presence, they had no choice but to hide to the side.
"Your kind of attention-seeking stunt is quite impressive," Xu Jin'an clicked his tongue when no one was around.
Xia Duo felt like a million curses were stampeding through her mind. She couldn't take this blow and coldly retorted, "None of your business."
She turned to leave.
But then, remembering something, she stopped. She turned back to Xu Jin'an, holding out her hand with an air of self-righteousness: "Where's the money?"
Xu Jin'an didn't react for a moment.
Xia Duo added: "Divorce settlement. Didn't you say you wanted to pay to end things? I'll grant your wish."
Xu Jin'an was speechless: "I was just about to tell you this. Don't you know that signing the divorce agreement isn't enough? You still need to go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to complete the formalities?"
Xia Duo slapped her forehead, saying she'd overlooked it, then smiled thoughtfully: "How can such an important day be chosen casually? It must be an auspicious day, a day of perfect harmony between heaven and man, the best day for all things!"
Xu Jin'an sighed: "What kind of trouble are you trying to pull now?"
Xia Duo made up her mind: "Tomorrow." She couldn't wait a single day for the day she received the large sum of money and was completely free from Xu Jin'an.
Xu Jin'an: "Is this the result of your careful consideration?"
Shouldn't you be even more hasty? Xia Duo gave a dismissive "Hmm," and asked, "You have time, right?"
Xu Jin'an didn't want to delay and nodded.
Xia Duo left.
As she got into the van, Xiao Miao grabbed her frantically, asking, "What did Jin'an's crush say to Sister Xia? Was he also attracted to Sister Xia's performance tonight?"
Xia Duo slowly looked at her assistant, who was drawing her salary while idolizing another man, and wanted to ask her if her conscience hurt.
Xia Duo said quietly, "He asked me to get a divorce tomorrow."
Not only Xiao Miao, but everyone in the van was stunned, but then they all burst into laughter.
Xiao Miao said, "Sister Xia, you can't have dreams like that, or you might not wake up."
Xia Duo leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and sighed inwardly: Honest people are so untrustworthy.
—
Back in her luxurious duplex apartment, Xia Duo browsed through Weibo.
She was still trending on social media, her popularity steadily rising, and her fan club was getting a surge of new members.
The way these new fans introduced themselves was particularly bizarre:
[Hello everyone, I'm Xiaxia's working-class fan.]
Xia Duo almost choked on her own blood. Other celebrities had cute older sister fans, wife fans, daughter fans—why was her "working-class fan"?
Absolutely unprecedented.
She couldn't help but comment in the fan club group: [Working-class fan? Could it get any more hardcore? I'm laughing so hard.]
The idol's sudden arrival caused a frenzy among the fans, who flooded the chat with greetings.
At first, it was normal, with fans passionately declaring their love for their idol. But things quickly turned sour. The new "working-class fan" actually confronted her:
[What's so funny? I'm working and I'm proud of it.]
[Isn't "working-class fan" a good name? If you don't like it, Xiaxia, you'd better keep it to yourself.] [The existence of us working-class fans is to remind Xiaxia not to get arrogant!]
New fans were all posting this, and old fans joined in the teasing.
Xia Duo: [???]
Everyone lined up to reply: [We fans follow our idol's lead; you criticize the boss, we criticize you.]
Xia Duo threw down her phone and shouted, "What kind of magical fans have I gained!"
It was indeed too magical, so magical that it sent her to the top of the trending searches the next day.
Tag: #XiaDuoWorkingClassFans#
Waking up to find herself being tortured by trending searches again, Xia Duo, whose followers had already increased by tens of thousands, was too exhausted to look at Weibo anymore.
Fortunately, there was still the tiny bit of happiness she felt about going to handle the divorce proceedings with Xu Jin'an, which kept her going to get up and get dressed. Because of their celebrity status, Xu Jin'an specifically sought help from acquaintances to handle the procedures, and his clothing style was completely different from usual. He took a long and winding route before finally daring to arrive at the Civil Affairs Bureau.
He thought he was already being extravagant enough, but Xia Duo was a thousand times more extreme.
Wrapped in a brightly patterned, floral-patterned cotton-padded jacket typical of Northeast China, her head wrapped in a large floral headscarf, only her two eyes peeking out, darting around—if she could be recognized like that, it would be a miracle.
After the two went inside and confirmed that no one else was around, Xia Duo finally unwrapped her head, revealing a face painted several shades darker.
Xu Jin'an was truly dumbfounded, not giving her a second glance throughout the entire process.
Given Xia Duo's undisguised excitement, the staff member handling their case couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure you're here for a divorce, and not a marriage?"
This was the first time in her more than ten years of experience that she had encountered someone laughing like this while processing divorce proceedings. "Of course it's a divorce! I've been looking forward to this moment for so long," Xia Duo said quickly, signing the papers.
Xu Jin'an felt a surge of anger. It was Xia Duo who had been relentlessly pursuing her all along, so how could it be that she had been looking forward to this moment for so long?
Xu Jin'an hesitated for a long time before writing anything. Xia Duo urged, "Hurry up! Don't dream of backing out."
Xu Jin'an gave a heavy snort and began writing wildly.
Xia Duo was overjoyed when she received the divorce papers. In her eyes, they were like glittering gold, something she wanted to treasure.
In Xu Jin'an's memory, Xia Duo had always been a noble princess; he had never seen her so foolish. He coughed twice to calm himself before speaking, "Since we're divorced now..."
Xia Duo guessed what he was going to say and interrupted, "A good ex should be like they're dead. Don't bother me anymore. If we bump into each other at the company, please ignore me. I don't want to have a single hair on my head with someone like you."
After saying that, she wrapped a headscarf around her neck and ran off, giving Xu Jin'an no chance to speak.
Watching her retreating figure, Xu Jin'an was extremely annoyed: "Damn it, why does it seem like I'm the one eager to get involved?"
—
Xia Duo was overjoyed as she left the Civil Affairs Bureau. Xu Jin'an was quick too; she drove back, changed her clothes, and removed her makeup—the divorce settlement had arrived.
She was just considering where to splurge when Sister Qin called, urging her to return to the company.
Xia Duo hurriedly dressed and rushed over, only to find out she was being assigned work. Sister Qin said, "You've been getting a lot of attention these past few days. Several variety shows and film crews have sent me invitations. I've picked these; take a look."
Xia Duo saw the list of documents in Sister Qin's hand and jumped a thousand miles away, exclaiming, "I don't want to! I don't want to work! I just want to retire from the entertainment industry and go home to rest!"
Sister Qin walked over, coaxing her like a child, "What nonsense are you talking about? Work is rest, and rest is for work. So wanting to rest means wanting to work."
Xia Duo reflexively blurted out, "Anyone who believes such utterly heartless words is a coward!"
Before Sister Qin could even react with shock, she remembered the source of these words: the original owner of this body.
To avoid arousing suspicion, Xia Duo quickly changed the subject, snatching the documents from Sister Qin's hand: "Let me see."
Sister Qin then smiled and explained to her one by one: "There's a lifestyle variety show, featuring several popular celebrities; it's likely to be a hit. There's also a competition-style one, more innovative and with a gimmick; you could give it a try."
Xia Duo thought carefully. Both of these variety shows were prominently featured in the original novel's plot; the original female lead, Bai You, gained fame and began her path to stardom by participating in them.
Faced with such a sure-fire hit, Xia Duo vehemently objected: "Aren't there any others?"
Sister Qin scrolled through her phone, searching for a long time before finally saying, "There's one about a pregnant woman, but the production isn't great; they haven't managed to get a single guest yet."
Xia Duo's eyes lit up. Since they were going to promote it, they had to find something without any hype. This variety show about a pregnant woman wasn't even in the original plot; it was definitely going to flop.
She made the final decision: "This is it."
Sister Qin exclaimed in surprise: "This isn't suitable for you either! With your spoiled princess temper, don't go and cause someone's child to die."
That's exactly what she wanted!
Disliking the audience would make it even less successful.
Xia Duo insisted, handing back the other materials: "Otherwise, I won't accept any more."
Sister Qin, afraid of this little princess, had no choice but to do as she said.
But she pressed her luck: "I have limited energy lately, so I won't be joining any film crews. I'll focus on making this variety show a success first."
Sister Qin protested: "How much effort do you need to put into this kind of variety show?"
Xia Duo thought to herself: It requires a lot of effort; it's a matter of one big mistake leading to failure and early retirement. But she couldn't say it outright, only saying, "I'm not satisfied with the current script. I'll take it when a more suitable one comes along."
"These productions are quite large. Even if you're cast as a supporting actress, the leads are all top-tier characters. If you miss this opportunity, it'll be gone forever," Sister Qin said anxiously, pacing back and forth.
Xia Duo's inner thoughts: Let the missed opportunities come even more fiercely.
On the surface, she said, "I just don't like it."
Sister Qin seriously suspected that Xia Duo's brain had rusted and wanted to take her to see a neurologist immediately. Just recently, Xia Duo had been taking any job she could get.
Finally, Xiao Miao arrived and persuaded Sister Qin: "How could Sister Xia harm herself? There must be a reason for her decision. Let's let her do it; boldness can work miracles."