Chapter 185: After quitting the circle (Extra 1)
Shen Xiu’s decision didn’t come as a surprise—whether to the audience present, the Xiuologists in the livestream, or even the netizens watching online.
Most people had already anticipated this day back when Shen Xiu was still in the training camp.
After all, from the very beginning, everyone knew that whether he was being an idol, an actor, or even a director, Shen Xiu was only “grinding for experience points.”
But when the day finally arrived—when everyone inwardly thought “I knew it”—there was still a sense of regret and melancholy.
That feeling lingered even three days after the Golden Crow Awards ended.
Though three days had passed, the online discussions hadn’t died down. Shen Xiu’s retirement remained a trending topic on the hot search.
At the same time, at 9 p.m., Shen Xiu took off his rimless glasses and glanced at the number on the bottom of his laptop. He opened Weibo’s login page, copied the farewell message he had written into the text box—only to be notified that it exceeded the character limit.
So Shen Xiu turned the message into a series of screenshots—eighteen images in total, exactly the maximum allowed in one Weibo post.
After carefully editing everything, Shen Xiu clicked post.
@Shen Xiu: Thank you. Goodbye.
[Image x18]
Staring at the “Post Successful” confirmation, Shen Xiu closed the page, shut the document on his laptop, then picked up a file from his study desk and opened it…
9 p.m. was when most netizens had finished dinner and gone online.
Out of habit, many clicked on the trending list to check the latest gossip—and were caught off guard when they stumbled across the hot search topic about Shen Xiu’s farewell and retirement.
Driven by curiosity, they clicked in without hesitation…
— Whoa. I’ve followed idols for years, and this is the first time I’ve seen someone write eighteen images worth of words just to say goodbye. How many characters is that?!
— Guys, I converted all eighteen images into text—26,666 words in total! (I swear Boss Xiu might have OCD. His numbers always end up being linked to 6 or 8—like how the K Corp office is on the 68th floor. Though… it can’t be superstition, right? Haha, I’m laughing at myself now. A “God of Grind” like him would definitely believe in human will triumphing over fate!)
—Insane! Leave it to Shen Xiu! He even turned a retirement letter into a full-blown thesis. Every celebrity who quits the industry after this better step up their game.
—That’s not even the main point. The point is—I read the whole thing, and Xiu-baby’s farewell starts from his training camp days and goes all the way to the end of New Life. He wrote about every chant we shouted during performances, how he felt at every signing, his thoughts during filming… Ugh, I’m crying pearls over here.
— I read it too. I’m wheezing, haha! Xiu-baby must’ve known we’d be sad about him leaving, so he even snuck in cold jokes in the middle of his goodbye. He said every time he gave us an autograph, he felt unworthy. HAHAHA. If he’s unworthy, who the hell is worthy?!
— Tagging in real names here: @Lu Qicheng @Hu Wenchao @… y’all better take notes. Even a cheating scandal apology can’t hold a candle to the amount of words Shen Xiu fit in just one image of his farewell post.
…
Celebs getting unexpectedly roasted while lurking among the gossip crowd: “…”
Help… does this grind-god Shen Xiu want the rest of us to live or not?!
Thank god he retired early—otherwise, who knows how hard he would’ve pushed the bar in this industry.
How are they supposed to slack off now?
Please, let Shen Xiu never come back!
They were way too used to coasting—none of them wanted to be dragged into his level of hustle.
**TN
Yes, this chapter is super short. XD
Noooo next chapter is the last ☹️