Chapter 72: Expansion of V-School
Given how Verse’s three members had a great time before and after their disbandment, many netizens didn’t immediately recognize Gu Sinian and Meng Qin when the video that trended online was exposed.
Or rather, even though Verse had gone from being popular to losing favor, no one had expected Gu Sinian and Meng Qin to show such an ugly side of themselves.
[This is eye-opening…]
[Was it because Gu Sinian mocked Meng Qin’s declining fame in his private circle? I never thought Verse would collapse like this.]
[No… How could you treat the fans who’ve supported you like this? Lu Xu endured so much criticism because fans felt sorry for you, knowing how hard it was for you to debut, knowing how difficult it was for Verse to rise to fame. But now…]
[Idols don’t have to be flawless, but they can’t be ugly. This feels like my dream has been shattered.]
Although Gu Sinian and Meng Qin’s voices weren’t loud and couldn’t be heard clearly in the video, their contorted, mutual expressions of disgust were vividly displayed before the fans.
Even now, though Lu Xu’s popularity had surpassed Xie Qingyang and the other two members, there remained a group of fans who supported the trio. These fans still immersed themselves in Verse’s performances, hoping for the members to reunite one day, firmly believing in the group’s camaraderie.
Back when Verse was still active, fans had faith that the members could keep performing together until they were 50 years old.
[Has everything changed?]
[Can’t they support each other and keep going? Even if their relationships aren’t great, couldn’t they at least avoid making things this ugly?]
Gu Sinian and Meng Qin’s public spat felt like a knife stabbing directly into the hearts of their fans, leaving them deeply hurt.
Whether they were in their heyday or had fallen out of the spotlight, Verse once carried the dreams of a group of devoted fans. Before the group disbanded, fans had shed genuine tears for them. While their hopes for Lu Xu had already crumbled, their expectations for the other members still lingered.
But now, Gu Sinian and Meng Qin had destroyed it with their own hands.
[Let’s be rational. Maybe this is who they truly are?]
[+1. Before feeling sorry for them, why not think about Lu Xu first? Didn’t Lin Ge Entertainment give them plenty of opportunities? When it comes to resources, wasn’t Lu Xu at a disadvantage compared to these two? Look at where Lu Xu is now, and then look at them.]
[Sigh, I used to harshly criticize Lu Xu. Now, I really… don’t know what to say.]
Lin Ge Entertainment tried to manage the PR for the video, but no matter how quickly they responded, fans always caught wind of the news first.
Verse had no camaraderie.
This revelation meant that the foundation on which Verse had built its identity was destroyed in an instant.
[People always said Lu Xu was the one who ruined Verse, but now that I think about it, Lu Xu just happened to show up at the moment Verse’s camaraderie fell apart. Maybe Verse never had any camaraderie to begin with.]
Fans quietly revisited Verse’s official social media accounts, scrolling through each member’s personal posts. The photos of the members smiling brightly with their arms around each other had once seemed so genuine.
Now, looking back at those pictures and the slogans like “Verse Forever”, it all felt fake.
The once vibrant Verse fandom suddenly grew silent on this day.
Many outsiders thought fans were foolish or even crazy, but all they had done was place their passionate love and dreams onto their idols.
Even if these idols and their agencies had “carefully selected” the fans, even if the fans had “lost their minds,” they must have gained something from the dreams the idols had spun for them.
…
This news was released by Feiyang Entertainment. Lu Xu, however, did not kick them while they were down.
His comment section and private messages were flooded with apologies from Verse’s fans. Although these apologies weren’t truly owed to him, Lu Xu still felt a trace of melancholy.
It would have been better if this had happened sooner.
However, Lu Xu didn’t feel even the slightest regret for “ruining” Verse. The group was already so broken that there was nothing left to ruin. It didn’t even require any effort from him—this group was never going to last.
Even so, Lu Xu had unwittingly contributed to the collapse, though not intentionally.
A week before the G-brand gala, Lu Xu received an invitation from Let Let, a popular girl group signed under the same agency as Zheng Xiao. Zheng Xiao had worked with Lu Xu previously on Supreme, and they had gotten along quite well.
Both Zheng Xiao and Lu Xu were rising actors. After Supreme, Zheng Xiao had steadily built his career, treating every role with seriousness, and his prospects were far brighter than before he joined the project.
Although they were technically competitors, neither felt uncomfortable around the other. Both Zheng Xiao and Lu Xu were people who understood boundaries.
Let Let, being junior artists to Zheng Xiao, had recently released a new album and were performing on various shows to promote it. As part of their promotions, the group invited several industry celebrities to participate in challenges with them, including Lu Xu.
After all, Lu Xu had started as a member of an idol group.
When Zheng Xiao extended the invitation, he was casual and didn’t pressure Lu Xu, understanding that Lu Xu’s time as an idol had been far from pleasant. During the Verse era, Lu Xu hadn’t been regarded as a strong performer.
It was just a short dance routine, so Lu Xu agreed.
While Lu Xu was primarily an actor, he had learned to dance in school, and his roles sometimes required it. For simple choreography, he was more than capable.
He performed a brief duet with one of Let Let’s members.
And then—on the very day Gu Sinian and Meng Qin’s feud went public, Let Let released the video.
Let Let had no shortage of popularity, and every one of their recent challenges had drawn significant attention. Naturally, today’s release was no exception.
However, when viewers recognized the face of the person dancing with the Let Let member, the comment section erupted with “!!!!!!!”
[Did I just see who I think I saw?!]
[Isn’t that Lu Puppy? Puppy Dance Series is back!]
[Wow, this is a girl group’s cool choreography, and Lu Xu danced it better than I expected! It’s so natural, and he looks so relaxed in front of the camera.]
Tan Qi spammed her friends with ten consecutive “happy puppy” emojis: [This is a once-in-a-lifetime event! I’m so excited!!]
She had thought Lu Xu would never sing or dance again after becoming an actor.
In the video, although Lu Xu’s technique wasn’t particularly refined, his entire demeanor radiated ease. He appeared far more relaxed than during his Verse days, giving off the impression that he was genuinely enjoying the stage.
Tan Qi had never seen this kind of stage presence from him before.
Despite his casual and carefree vibe, Lu Xu didn’t overshadow his Let Let dance partner at all. He still managed to highlight the distinctive charm of their song.
Sunny and cheerful big puppy energy!!
[Why do I feel like Lu Xu has improved since his Verse days?]
[Adding a crazy +1 to that.]
[Uh-oh, I think his performance is better than Meng Qin’s and Xie Qingyang’s challenges. Am I allowed to say that?]
[Same here…]
As seniors in the idol industry, Meng Qin and Xie Qingyang frequently collaborated with their juniors and had recently completed a challenge of their own.
However, whether due to a lack of practice or their habitual need to be the center of attention, their performance had felt awkward—closer to a “beauty contest” than a cohesive dance. It was nowhere near as smooth or natural as Lu Xu’s version.
[My filter for Lu Puppy just keeps getting thicker.]
[Honestly, Meng and Xie’s challenges give me this vibe of ‘not taking things seriously.’ They’re no longer the hot-blooded idols they once were. They’ve become more polished, more mature celebrities, but the things about them that used to touch me as idols are gone. Does anyone get what I mean?]
[I completely understand.]
The collaboration between Let Let and Lu Xu climbed the trending charts at lightning speed, with its view count surging rapidly.
For fans, this was a rare glimpse of a dynamic Lu Xu, compared to the static images they usually saw from events like the G-brand gala.
[When do we ever get to see this side of Lu Xu?]
[The still shots could be turned into posters, and the video is just as stunning!]
[I can’t help but wonder, if Lu Xu had joined a group other than Verse, would things have turned out differently?]
[There’s no point in wondering. The current Lu Puppy is amazing. He’s always followed his heart and lived the life he wanted.]
Lu Xu had shown the cheerful and vibrant side of himself that fit the idol persona perfectly. Yet, despite rarely mentioning Verse in his marketing, he managed to embody its ideals better than Gu Sinian and Meng Qin, who couldn’t stop referencing the group while consistently betraying its spirit.
If Lin Ge Entertainment were to sum up the situation, they’d say that the current fallout of Xie Qingyang and the others was largely because of the stark contrast Lu Xu presented.
Without Lu Xu in the picture, their lives would undoubtedly have been easier.
But the unfortunate truth was that Lu Xu remained a constant. They had regarded him as an obstacle, yet they lacked the ability to remove him.
Lu Xu no longer lived under their shadow. In the competitive entertainment industry, he had found a path that suited him.
“It’s just karma.”
…
Lin Ge Entertainment was now in a state of chaos. They issued statements claiming that Gu Sinian and Meng Qin’s feud was “just a joke,” scrambled to smooth things over with brands on Meng Qin’s behalf, and desperately tried to suppress evidence of discord among the former members of Verse.
When Lu Xu was still under Lin Ge Entertainment, the so-called “discord” among the members of Verse usually referred to tensions between him and the rest of the group. Now, however, things were different. Under the guidance of gossip accounts, the drama between Xie Qingyang, Gu Sinian, and Meng Qin was on full display for the public to see.
Previously, the narrative often centered around Lu Xu: Lu Xu giving Xie Qingyang a dark look, Lu Xu rolling his eyes at Gu Sinian, Lu Xu deliberately standing in the center position. But with a change in perspective, fans noticed something else. For example, right after the infamous clip of Lu Xu glaring at Xie Qingyang, he immediately crouched down to tie his shoelaces—clearly just annoyed about his untied shoe.
However, when Lu Xu crouched down, Xie Qingyang’s disdainful expression as he looked at him was entirely genuine.
The term “V-School,” which had gained popularity last year, originally referred to the perceived passive-aggressiveness of the Verse members toward Lu Xu. But now, fans realized that the scope of “V-School” could be much broader. Even the supposedly “united” members of Verse were throwing subtle jabs at each other.
For instance, in one dance performance where Xie Qingyang had more screen time, Gu Sinian quipped, “I was worried fans wouldn’t even notice me,” and added, “Luckily, I’m tall enough not to need platform shoes.”
Xie Qingyang, though not noticeably short, was the shortest member of Verse.
When Xie Qingyang was the first to be invited to a luxury brand event, Verse was still at its peak, and no one thought much of it. It wasn’t until Meng Qin “accidentally” revealed that Xie Qingyang’s invite was only for the press seating that fans started to see cracks in their camaraderie.
Throughout all of this, Lu Xu diligently played the role of the outsider, a background character in their performances.
On stage, while swords clashed metaphorically between the three, Lu Xu was… as dumb as a pig.
[AAAAHHH! Don’t you dare call my Lu Puppy dumb!]
[He just doesn’t pick up on all the hints and subtext. Honest little puppy.]
[AAAAHHH, but honestly, seeing him like this makes me feel so defeated—it’s like looking at myself,] someone commented. [Seriously, if I were in this group, my survival rate would probably be even lower than Lu Puppy’s. So here’s the real question: with how much drama these three stir up, how did they end up like this?]
[Because Dumb Puppy only knows how to work hard.]
[LOL, Lu Xu is honestly so pitiful. Without the V-School enthusiasts dissecting everything, I wouldn’t have caught any of the subtext in what they said.]
From that day on, V-School continued to gain popularity.
A certain public figure once remarked, [Even if every trace of Verse disappeared from the face of the Earth, V-School would still thrive for eternity.]
Xu Wen asked Lu Xu if he was the one who made that comment. Lu Xu denied it vehemently.
This time, Shao Yao didn’t contact Lu Xu directly.
After buying a bunch of G-brand men’s clothing to show his support for Lu Xu, Shao Yao seemed to retreat into silence. Lu Xu guessed that he was probably busy reading scripts.
Lu Xu himself had also been reviewing scripts over the past few days.
However, it was Shao Yao’s manager who ended up reaching out to Lu Xu instead.
[Please talk some sense into him. Tell him to stop studying—it’s completely pointless for someone like him!]
[The more he studies, the worse he gets!]
The manager looked resentful, as if to say, “Why can’t you teach him something useful?”
Lu Xu: “…”
#Who are you scolding?#