"Bullshit, when did I ever chase you? It was always you chasing me." Xia Siyu refused to admit she was a simp. Clearly, it was Bo Yan with his wolfish desires who took advantage of her unawareness to launch surprise attacks and pursued her relentlessly. Only then did she reluctantly get back together with him. If Bo Yan hadn’t made the first move, she probably would’ve secretly divorced him a few years ago.

As for the beginning, did she really "pursue" him? When she asked for his phone number, he gave it to her immediately. Although she initiated the first kiss, this guy’s response was way more intense than hers ever could be. Was that her chasing him? At most, that was a thunderbolt igniting a fire.

However, Bo Yan wasn’t talking about romantic pursuit but rather their pursuit in acting. When they reconciled, Xia Siyu had just started to grasp the craft, and Bo Yan guided her a lot in terms of theory and methods. But Xia Siyu would absolutely never admit it. Or maybe she admitted it in her heart, but there’s no way she’d admit it outwardly.

Bo Yan nodded, "Alright, yes, you’re right. I’ve always been the one chasing you."

To be fair, there was no fault in that. Back then, she was a star, and he was a university lecturer. To catch up with her, he plunged headfirst into the entertainment industry. Now, it’s just a repeat of that time.

She hasn’t reached her peak yet. Winning an award right now isn’t the end of her career; on the contrary, it’s the glorious beginning. If she doesn’t work harder, he’ll truly only be able to sit in the audience clapping and celebrating her success with others at award ceremonies in the future.

**

Xia Siyu discovered that everything had changed.

The next day, after wrapping up their respective work, she and Bo Yan flew back to Yancheng. As per the requirements, they checked into the hotel’s quarantine room.

It was already late at night when they arrived at the hotel, so the filming crew only followed them up to the hotel. Filming was set to resume the next day at noon.

Exhausted from a day of running around, Xia Siyu didn’t even have time for a bath. She quickly washed up and fell asleep immediately. The next day, at ten o’clock, Bo Yan had to wake her up. She needed to tidy herself up a bit; after all, the filming officially began at noon, and she couldn’t appear on camera looking disheveled.

But Xia Siyu still stayed in bed until eleven, spent an hour getting ready, and when she finally got up, she seemed completely out of it, as if she forgot she was on a reality show. Her tone instinctively shifted to one she used at home, "Pour me some water, warm."

If it were before, her bossy attitude would have brought a flood of criticism in the livestream comments. But this time, the bullet comments were filled with:

"Wow, so cute."

"Is she bare-faced? Even if she isn’t, there’s hardly any filters. Her skin is so nice."

"Forget pouring water, I’d even clean the toilet for her!"

...

In the afternoon, she lay on the sofa eating oranges while Bo Yan read a book. She kept interrupting him, waving her hand one moment, tossing orange peels on his book the next, and then playing with his hair. Previously, this would have triggered a barrage of complaints like, "I can’t stand this. If anyone dared to disturb me while I’m working, I’d slap them," or, "Oh, so pink and tender. How old do you think you are? You may think you’re three, but you’re actually thirty!"

But today, the comments were consistently:

"Ahhh, so cute, just like a cat. Cats love to bother you when you’re busy, but you don’t even get mad."

"With such a gorgeous girlfriend, why read? What book could be more attractive than your girlfriend?"

"Quick, pay attention to her, quick! I order you to put down the book and play with her!"

...

What can I say? Ever since Xia Siyu got caught up in negative news, she’s mostly been criticized rather than praised. Even if she did nothing wrong, in the eyes of the haters, she’d always be in the wrong. Despite her image having improved and gaining more fans in the past year or two, there was no lack of haters.

But after winning Best Actress, it seemed like overnight the tide turned. Seeing her was all "beautiful, beautiful, beautiful," and her arrogance and willfulness were even praised as "cute." Although she previously won Best Supporting Actress at Cannes, she didn’t have the leading actress award, so things were different now.

The internet really does tend to be binary, either black or white. The same actions that would have sparked controversy two days ago don’t anymore. But now, with a Best Actress award in hand and a Cannes Best Supporting Actress, those who once thought she wasn’t worthy of Bo Yan now have a completely different opinion.

Xia Siyu didn’t care about the comments on the livestream. She was calm when criticized and equally aware when being praised. She was still herself; her actions remained unchanged. Her variety show personas were never crafted; she was just herself. She hadn’t changed; it was the viewers who had.

Nevertheless, it could be felt there were indeed changes in all aspects, including work, after she won Best Actress.

In the livestream, whenever work-related topics came up, she’d go to the bathroom to make calls, away from cameras and microphones. Xia Siyu obviously started visiting the bathroom more often. She always had ample traffic and box-office success; the only thing missing was a leading actress award. With the award now secured, many art film directors began reaching out to her.

But Xia Siyu has always been quite strict with the films she chooses. She doesn’t lack money or fame now; what she lacks are better projects. Good scripts with great teams—tough conditions and low pay aren’t concerns.

However, she generally wouldn’t let another job intersect with her variety show. Isolation was so dull—being trapped in a hotel for over a dozen days with no excursions to break the monotony—so she definitely needed to find something to do.

Besides watching movies every night with Bo Yan—one would critique while the other commented—she also napped every afternoon, and Bo Yan had his dedicated time for reading and relaxation. The two of them exercised regularly each day, but otherwise, it seemed like this guy had boundless energy.

Without the restrictions of her period, Xia Siyu was practically bouncing around like a monkey, always on the move. With her around, almost every moment onscreen was dynamic. Bo Yan mostly cooperated with her; she’d act up, and he’d laugh. Compared to the duo of Han Yifan and Shang Feifei next door, these two were practically a mirrored version.

Even though Xia Siyu and Bo Yan were quarantined in Hong Kong for fourteen days before, and now they were being quarantined again for another fourteen days, she seemed energetic every day as though not at all fatigued. Or rather, there were indeed times she felt tired, like when she’d sleep in till noon, initially doing makeup but later just appearing bare-faced. She even took naps at noon. But as soon as she’d wake up, her electric energy was undeniable.

However, the audience clearly wasn’t satisfied watching just the daytime segments; they wanted to see the nighttime ones too.

Everyone knew that Xia Siyu’s period had passed. That meant the room arrangements made by the production team could finally come into play.