Chapter 104.1: Helping a Teammate
Shen Xiu navigated to the mall, got off the bus, and walked toward Entrance 2. As he looked down to turn off the navigation, he lifted his head and saw not one but—more accurately—two familiar figures in the distance.
Lin Jiashi’s pink-and-white hair was so distinctive that not even his cap could hide it. As for Mu Zhenchu, there was no need to say more—Shen Xiu had been seeing him every night recently. Shen Xiu could recognize him just by his silhouette.
He saw Lin Jiashi leaning close to Mu Zhenchu’s ear. Their voices were too soft and the distance too far for Shen Xiu to hear what they were saying, but he could see a smile appear on Lin Jiashi’s face as he spoke.
Then he saw Mu Zhenchu push Lin Jiashi away. Underneath the brim of his baseball cap, Mu Zhenchu looked proud and opened his mouth to reply.
Faced with this unexpected situation, Shen Xiu hesitated, unsure what to do to avoid making things awkward for everyone. Just then, his eyes met Mu Zhenchu’s.
Shen Xiu: “…”
Judging by the shape of Mu Zhenchu’s mouth, he was clearly calling out to him.
Having no idea what was going on, Shen Xiu had no choice but to brace himself and walk over to Mu Zhenchu.
Faced with Lin Jiashi—someone he’d only had a passing acquaintance with from the boy group survival show—Shen Xiu didn’t hesitate to choose Mu Zhenchu, with whom he was far more familiar.
After Mu Zhenchu called out Shen Xiu’s name, Lin Jiashi watched in disbelief as Shen Xiu, wearing a frosty expression, walked straight toward them—and then, right in front of him, stood beside Mu Zhenchu.
Lin Jiashi: “…”
If this isn’t Shen Xiu siding with Mu Zhenchu, he’ll wash his hair standing on his head!
Standing next to him, Mu Zhenchu thought back to the words he had used to provoke Lin Jiashi earlier and felt so embarrassed his ears turned bright red. But at the same time, he felt a sense of reassurance and quietly apologized, “Sorry, you had to see that.”
He was already an adult, yet here he was letting Lin Jiashi provoke him into a childish argument of one-upmanship—and worse, the very person they were competing over had heard the whole thing. Shen Xiu probably thought he was being immature!
The more Mu Zhenchu thought about it, the more embarrassed he felt. He didn’t even dare to look at Shen Xiu to see what kind of expression he had.
“…?” What do you mean, ‘sorry you had to see that’?
Not having heard anything, Shen Xiu replied honestly, “There’s nothing to laugh at. I didn’t hear a thing.”
From what he had seen earlier, it looked like Lin Jiashi was smiling and trying to get close to Mu Zhenchu, while Mu Zhenchu was clearly resisting. The two of them had been standing quite close, and their relationship seemed… complicated.
But whatever it was, it was between the two of them. Shen Xiu held back his curiosity and didn’t pry.
Lin Jiashi: “!”
Shen Xiu doesn’t want to get involved with Mu Zhenchu?
That thought lit up Lin Jiashi’s face with a smug smile again, and he looked at Mu Zhenchu triumphantly.
“Mu Zhenchu, did you hear that? I was right, wasn’t I?”
He knew it. With Shen Xiu’s cold and indifferent personality, how could he possibly care about someone like Mu Zhenchu—someone who wasn’t particularly outstanding in the group and seemed to come with a whole package of trouble?
Mu Zhenchu couldn’t quite understand why Lin Jiashi looked so pleased. This was his own issue—it wasn’t Shen Xiu’s job to step in. No matter how capable Shen Xiu was, that didn’t mean he had anything to do with him.
Besides, Qinghe’s current stance made it obvious that they wanted him to compromise—if he didn’t, they definitely wouldn’t let him off the hook. Shen Xiu had already been more than kind to him; how could he have the nerve to drag Shen Xiu into his personal mess?
Because Shen Xiu was there, Mu Zhenchu restrained himself from calling Lin Jiashi a lunatic and instead said politely, “A brain is a wonderful thing. Shame you don’t have one, Lin Jiashi.”
“You…”
Lin Jiashi choked on his words. He said “you” several times, but every time he glanced at Shen Xiu, his thoughts got scrambled and he couldn’t get anything coherent out.
Shen Xiu: …Watching people argue face to face—yep, I definitely showed up at the wrong time.
He didn’t know if Lin Jiashi and Mu Zhenchu were embarrassed, but he sure as hell was. He had no idea what to do just standing there. In an argument, Mu Zhenchu wasn’t just better than Lin Jiashi—he was better than him too.
Come to think of it, he couldn’t even help Mu Zhenchu in the argument. Was he just standing here being a third wheel?
Shen Useless Sighing Xiu.jpg
Just as he finished sighing internally, Shen Xiu noticed Lin Jiashi staring at him without even blinking.
Shen Xiu: “?”
What was that look for? Did Lin Jiashi also think it was weird that he was just standing there doing nothing, with zero presence?
Should he… maybe clap and cheer for Mu Zhenchu?
Under the pressure of both Lin Jiashi and Mu Zhenchu’s gazes, Shen Xiu awkwardly raised his hand and gave a couple of claps, then stiffly muttered, “…Well done.”
Now he had some presence, right? That should stop them from staring at him!
“…What are you, crazy?!”
Lin Jiashi was so angry he nearly coughed up blood on the spot.
“Pfft…” Mu Zhenchu couldn’t hold it in and burst into laughter.
Lin Jiashi’s expression instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
Shen Xiu quietly glanced at Mu Zhenchu and thought to himself: Looks like my praise hit the mark—just look at how happy my teammate is.
So… does this count as him finally being somewhat useful?
As for Lin Jiashi? They were only “one-tenth” acquainted—basically strangers. No need to care.
—
At that moment, Assistant Wen was sending Qin Mo off. As he exited the mall, he saw Shen Xiu standing with the artist who had just performed at the opening ceremony, and muttered to himself in surprise, “Why is Mr. Shen here?”
Had the director invited Mr. Shen and forgotten to tell him?
On second thought, that was exactly the kind of thing the director would do.
The mall had only recently opened, and for the past few days, various luxury brands had been holding opening events. Everyone was gathered inside. Since Entrance 2 was relatively secluded—with most foot traffic concentrated at Entrances 1 and 8—there weren’t many people around here. Considering Shen Xiu’s low-key personality, it made sense that he’d prefer entering from the quieter side.
Qin Mo almost saw Shen Xiu from behind at the same time as Assistant Wen. Even though it was just his back, there was no way he could mistake him.
But Qin Mo didn’t dare to approach alone. He glanced at the hesitant Assistant Wen and smiled: “Do as you please, don’t worry about me.”
Both Shen Xiu and Qin Mo from K Corp were extremely important to VG.
Assistant Wen was still hesitating, but upon hearing Qin Mo’s proactive words, he gratefully replied, “Thank you for understanding, Mr. Qin.”
Qin Mo’s smile was sincere: “You’re welcome, do as you please.”
After saying this, before Assistant Wen could respond, Qin Mo added, “I will also do as I please.”
Behind the two of them, Du Heng looked anxiously at Lin Jiashi, Mu Zhenchu, and Shen Xiu standing together in the distance. He was worried but didn’t dare to speak or leave.
He was just an artist manager who had brought the artist to perform. Assistant Wen didn’t have to worry about him, but in front of Qin Mo from K Corp, it was better for him to keep quiet.
The vice president couldn’t come over, so Du Heng had to follow closely behind Qin Mo, making sure to see him safely onto the car and show K Corp respect from Qinghe.
One company was focused on cutting-edge technology, the other an entertainment company—they were completely unrelated. Du Heng didn’t quite understand why the vice president had to flatter Qin Mo.
Maybe that’s why he was the vice president, and he was just an artist manager.
While Du Heng’s mind wandered, Assistant Wen nodded at Qin Mo and stepped toward Shen Xiu.
After a few steps, Assistant Wen awkwardly stopped and looked at Qin Mo, who was walking alongside him: “Mr. Qin?”
He remembered Qin Mo’s car wasn’t parked nearby.
The assistant standing next to Qin Mo with Du Heng also didn’t understand the special assistant Qin’s moves, and like Du Heng, kept silent, not daring to ask questions. Their approach was simply to quietly follow wherever the boss went.
Qin Mo smiled, “You do as you please, and so do I.”
Assistant Wen: “…Alright.”
He used to never understand what the director’s little brain was always thinking. Now, it was double the confusion.
Trying hard to ignore Qin Mo’s presence, Assistant Wen quickened his pace toward Shen Xiu and called out to his back, “Mr. Shen.”
Hearing the familiar voice behind him, Shen Xiu turned around and saw Assistant Wen followed by a group of strangers—all unfamiliar faces to him. Shen Xiu looked at the somewhat familiar Assistant Wen: “Assistant Wen.”
Seeing Qin Mo, Lin Jiashi instantly adjusted his expression and greeted him warmly with a smile: “Hello, Mr. Qin.”
It was the first time Qin Mo had directly met Shen Xiu in person, and he felt excited, staring intently at Shen Xiu. When he heard Lin Jiashi’s voice, he didn’t even glance at him, casually responding with a hum, his attention fully fixed on Shen Xiu.
Good. From today onward, he could finally admit that the old-timers in the company had been right all along!
Completely ignored, Lin Jiashi grit his teeth, about to say something more, but was subtly signaled by Du Heng behind Qin Mo and Assistant Wen to keep quiet. Reluctantly, he shut up.
Du Heng and Qin Mo’s assistant didn’t quite understand why Qin Mo was staring at Shen Xiu so intently, so they also curiously looked at Shen Xiu.
After calling out to Assistant Wen, Shen Xiu realized he was being stared at by a group of people: “…”
Help—had he accidentally violated some kind of taboo?
Shen Xiu was grateful he was wearing a mask and a baseball cap, which only revealed his eyes. If you divided his face into three parts, that meant his embarrassment was reduced by about two-thirds.
With such intense gazes, Assistant Wen found it hard to ignore, but the others didn’t matter. Assistant Wen’s eyes flickered between Shen Xiu and Qin Mo as he asked, puzzled, “You two… know each other?”
Why did he feel like the atmosphere between them was strange, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was off?
Shen Xiu looked at Assistant Wen, not really understanding why he jumped to the conclusion that they knew each other. The man in the suit and tie before him clearly looked like a successful professional—this was the first time Shen Xiu had ever seen him.
Shen Xiu: “We don’t know each other.”
He was just here to buy stuff for his cat—why was he stuck in a standoff with a whole group of strangers?!
Qin Mo’s response was exactly what Shen Xiu expected. He quickly spoke up: “Mm, we don’t know each other.”
Assistant Wen: “…”
Did they think he was an idiot?
Mu Zhenchu, seeing Du Heng present, knew Lin Jiashi was now the company’s and Du Heng’s precious favorite. Not wanting his future to become even harder than it already was, he obediently kept quiet.
“Mr. Shen, this is Mr. Qin Mo from K Corp.”
“Mr. Qin, this is Mr. Shen Xiu.”
Although Assistant Wen still didn’t understand why Qin Mo insisted on tagging along, he had no choice but to introduce the two men.
Why the sudden introductions? Shen Xiu was confused but still forced out a greeting: “Hello.”
Qin Mo responded solemnly, “Hello.”
Since both Qin Mo and Shen Xiu said they didn’t know each other, Assistant Wen gave up wondering about their relationship after the introductions.
Apologetically, he said, “Sorry, the director forgot to tell me you would be coming. We’ve been negligent. I’ll take you inside right now.”
Once Shen Xiu understood, facing the gaze of the whole group, he mentally prepared what to say and then explained with difficulty, “Kaiser didn’t invite me. I’m just here to buy supplies for my cat and happened to pass by.”
