Chapter 105: Immortal Path – Immortal Grade
Vice President Lin looked at Mu Zhenchu, who was pretending not to understand, feeling frustrated but keeping a smiling face as he said, “Xiao Mu, didn’t you mention terminating your contract before? After negotiating with your lawyer, the company now agrees to end the contract.”
He couldn’t understand—Mu Zhenchu, just a small fry—how he had managed to attract these terrifying lawyers from the legal world who ate people alive and could get someone thrown in jail with a flick of their fingers.
“What?”
Mu Zhenchu was stunned.
When he had brought up contract termination before, Du Heng had scolded him harshly, telling him to behave and stop causing trouble. So how did things suddenly… wait a minute.
Mu Zhenchu looked at the three top-tier lawyers sitting across from him. Thinking back on everything that had happened today—including the look in Shen Xiu’s eyes when he spoke to Qin Mo—he finally realized what was going on.
He muttered in shock, “So that’s it…”
He also recalled the look in Shen Xiu’s eyes and what he had said when he left Shen Xiu’s house—it was clearly a hint that he could talk about his difficulties.
He hadn’t said anything at the time, not wanting to keep taking advantage of Shen Xiu’s kindness.
He hadn’t expected that even though he said nothing, and Shen Xiu didn’t press him for an explanation, Shen Xiu had still accurately guessed his situation and pulled him out of the quagmire that was Qinghe.
At this moment, Mu Zhenchu finally understood what Lin Jiashi meant when he spoke to him at the door earlier.
Looking at Mu Zhenchu now—clearly someone who had already asked for help, yet still pretending like nothing had happened in front of him—Vice President Lin felt annoyed but couldn’t say anything outright. He just forced a smile and said sarcastically, “Need me to explain it to you?”
Mu Zhenchu came back to his senses and shook his head. “No need.”
Twenty minutes later, Mu Zhenchu walked out of Vice President Lin’s office. Though his expression still didn’t look good, the whole aura around him was completely different from when he had gone in.
As he passed by Lin Jiashi, Mu Zhenchu didn’t spare him a single glance.
Watching Lin Jiashi’s expression, Du Heng cursed his own bad luck inwardly. It had been Lin Jiashi who told him to take Mu Zhenchu under his wing and “polish” him a bit. And now look what happened—the polishing wasn’t even halfway done before Shen Xiu came and took the guy away.
And Shen Xiu didn’t just take him away—he brought in those legal hellhounds who could throw people in jail without breaking a sweat and were now going after Qinghe. How could he, the agent who failed to manage his own people properly, come out of this unscathed?
Lin Jiashi had his sugar daddy backing him, but Du Heng was just a scapegoat wherever he went.
Thinking of his own future, Du Heng put on a pitiful expression and pleaded with Lin Jiashi, “Little ancestor, I’m begging you, can you please calm down a bit? Just stop going up against Shen Xiu, alright?”
Wasn’t that basically suicide?
“You really don’t know what happened to Duan Mingfei?”
At the mention of Duan Mingfei, Lin Jiashi’s expression shifted repeatedly. But unwilling to admit he was in the wrong, he bit his lip and said, “I’m not going up against Shen Xiu. I wouldn’t dare mess with him.”
Du Heng said, “Then can you at least stay away from the people around him?”
Seeing Lin Jiashi fall silent, Du Heng continued, “Have you heard of Immortal Path? The original novel has a good reputation. If you’re willing, you could invest in it and even get yourself a role.”
Not having formal training wasn’t an issue. After the original investors saw that Shen Xiu had no intention of playing Li Yang, they all pulled out. The project was now dirt-poor—no one knew if it would even get made.
As long as they were willing to put up the money, getting a role would be a piece of cake.
Their boss had made it clear: throwing some money to please his little lover was no big deal. The most important thing was not to provoke Shen Xiu any further. Right now, the boss was still smitten with Lin Jiashi—hadn’t gotten tired yet.
Lin Jiashi thought for a moment, then gave a haughty snort. “Fine.”
—
After packing up his things at the dorm, Mu Zhenchu didn’t leave right away. Instead, he pulled his luggage to the underground parking lot of Qinghe Entertainment and waited for someone.
Since their company was in the entertainment industry, there was a lot of traffic in and out. The parking lot was open to guests, with designated spaces clearly marked.
Mu Zhenchu waited right there.
After half an hour, Vice President Lin, having worn out his lips trying to deal with the thorny group, finally escorted the lawyers down to the parking lot. When he saw Mu Zhenchu still there, the corner of his eye twitched.
Only after Vice President Lin and the Qinghe staff left did Mu Zhenchu step forward and bow deeply to the three lawyers.
“Thank you so much!”
The eldest lawyer in the group replied, “No need to thank us. It’s our job.”
“If you really want to thank someone, you know who deserves it.”
Before Mu Zhenchu could say anything, the man added, “You’re not going to tell the wrong people about this, are you?”
Mu Zhenchu quickly shook his head. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
He was in the entertainment industry, and so was Shen Xiu. Judging by Shen Xiu’s usual low-key style, this was clearly a warning not to leak the matter to gossip blogs or marketing accounts.
“Even if you hadn’t said it, I would never tell!” Mu Zhenchu promised again, solemnly.
If he were to sell this kind of story to the tabloids, that would truly be heartless and ungrateful.
“Alright. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
Watching the car disappear from view, Mu Zhenchu finally pulled his suitcase and left Qinghe Entertainment for good.
He hadn’t had time to rent a place yet, so he planned to crash at a childhood friend’s for a few days. On the bus ride over, he couldn’t help but post an update: “Contract terminated. Free again. Grateful!”
—
Meanwhile, Shen Xiu had just finished feeding a tiny kitten. Watching it sleep soundly in the brand-new cat bed he’d bought, he couldn’t resist taking a bunch of photos with his phone.
After snapping away, Shen Xiu had the urge to post on his Moments.
When Shen Xiu opened his Moments, he suddenly remembered—he had never posted anything there before.
“I’ve never posted even once before… If I suddenly post something now… would people think I’m weird? Would they think I’m being too flashy, showing off that I have a kitten?”
He muttered to himself, hesitating. Just then, as he refreshed the page, he saw Mu Zhenchu’s latest update.
Mu Zhenchu had terminated his contract with Qinghe! That was great news! Did it mean he wouldn’t have to suffer like he had in the past few days?
Unable to help himself, Shen Xiu gave the post a like and commented: “Congratulations!”
But the moment he hit send, his brain caught up with his fingers, and he saw his lonely like and comment sitting there all by themselves:
“……”
So obvious!
The awkwardness came rushing in uninvited.
When Mu Zhenchu saw Shen Xiu’s like and comment, he thought, ‘Just as I suspected—it really was Shen Xiu helping me behind the scenes. Shen Xiu didn’t want to take credit, so he hadn’t said a word.’
“That’s just how Shen Xiu is,” Mu Zhenchu muttered to himself on the bus, smiling as he replied: “Thank you!”
Since Shen Xiu didn’t want to make a fuss, he would just quietly remember it in his heart.
When Shen Xiu refreshed again and saw Mu Zhenchu’s reply to his congratulations—along with several other members of the group commenting the exact same “Congratulations” and receiving the same “Thank you” in return—he let out a sigh of relief.
“Whew… Thank goodness.”
Looking at the neat row of likes and “Congratulations” comments that drowned out his own, Shen Xiu finally relaxed.
‘Mu Zhenchu just terminated his contract today. If I post about my kitten now… would that steal the spotlight from his good news?’
‘Hmm. Better to save it for next time!’
Having earlier been torn about whether to post to his Moments or not, Shen Xiu decisively backed out.
Having decided not to post his very first Moments update today, Shen Xiu looked at the tiny kitten sleeping soundly, soft and milk-scented, the kind of sight that melted one’s heart. Remembering the kitten’s sweet little meows before it fell asleep, he suddenly felt the room had become too quiet—so quiet it left him a little unsettled.
But this kind of quiet wasn’t the same as when his groupmates came over to his place and then left.
When Mu Zhenchu and the others left, the quiet that followed felt normal—after all, they all had their own homes, and it was only natural they would return to them.
But this little kitten he’d rescued…
Shen Xiu’s gaze fell on the tiny black kitten, whose paws were unconsciously kneading the air even in sleep. A thought rose clearly in his heart: Until the end of its life, it could always stay by his side. His place would always be its home.
And just like that, Shen Xiu finally realized what felt different.
If his parents were still alive, being by their side would always be home for him too.
No—that wasn’t quite right. Even now, their graves were his home. Whenever he felt unhappy, he could still go “visit” his parents.
“Lucky.” Shen Xiu said the word aloud, then nodded firmly. “Mm, from today on, your name is Lucky.”
Meeting him had been the kitten’s luck. But bringing the kitten home—wasn’t that his own bit of luck too?
Shen Xiu thought it was the perfect name.
After naming it, Lucky still hadn’t woken up. Shen Xiu didn’t want to go to the study and leave Lucky alone in the living room, nor did he want to move the cat bed and disturb its sleep. So he stayed on the living room sofa, playing on his phone and keeping it company.
Just as he was about to open Weibo to check out some gossip, he suddenly remembered something he’d overheard while carrying books at school earlier.
“Immortal Path…”
Teacher Jiang often said that in their major, they should watch more film and television works, and also keep up with reading literary ones.
Well then—time to see what this so-called “immortal-grade” work that his classmates kept talking about really was!
…
At 2 a.m., after feeding Lucky and settling him into the cat bed beside his own, Shen Xiu had finally finished watching Immortal Path and was now filled with deep regret—serious regret.
No wonder his classmates wanted to make it into a show—he wanted to act in it too!
But obviously, that wasn’t possible. He had no money, hadn’t graduated, and the only role he could possibly qualify for was Li Yang—the character in Immortal Path who appears early, dies early, but leaves a vivid impression.
Now Shen Xiu fully understood why, back when Immortal Path first reached out to him, they had been so upfront about wanting him to play Li Yang. Li Yang didn’t have many scenes and died early.
In other words: small role. If they coordinated well with the production team, filming could easily be done on weekends and wouldn’t interfere with his studies.
The system, watching Shen Xiu get all “greedy,” gave a quiet reminder: [Don’t forget you still have to take your driving test!]
After all, college students usually take driving lessons on weekends!
How could someone be this intense about everything? It was honestly terrifying.
“I know,” Shen Xiu said, staring at the ceiling. “For the written exam, I can study on my own. As long as I complete enough practice hours, I can take the test. There’s plenty of time.”
The more he talked, the more awake he felt.
“System, do you think I should DM them to ask if they’ve already found someone to play Li Yang?”
System: [……]
It had wanted to ask “Do you even know how to act?” but before it could throw that line out, the incoming data made it fall silent.
Okay, fine—he actually could act.
System: [I don’t know.]
Shen Xiu said, “Xiang Yueting once said opportunities are for the brave. I think… today I’m going to be brave.”
Before he even finished his sentence, the private message to the Immortal Path team had already been sent.
Staring at his own hand, Shen Xiu muttered, “It moves so fast.”
It wasn’t the first time—his hands or mouth always acted before his brain could catch up.
Having already sent the message, Shen Xiu stared at the chat window, and only then did the awkwardness hit him. He flipped his phone face down, too embarrassed to see himself getting rejected.
Meanwhile, the admin running the official Immortal Path account was staring at a private message from Shen Xiu and a WeChat message from Du Heng, the artist manager at Qinghe Entertainment—completely questioning reality.
