Chapter 113: Apology
Shen Xiu’s gaze silently fell on Lin Jiashi’s black hair, leaving him momentarily speechless: “……”
No wonder he didn’t recognize him at first—Lin Jiashi had changed his hair color.
Shen Xiu didn’t have the nerve to admit that he had remembered Lin Jiashi primarily because of his iconic pink-and-white hair.
The classmates: “……”
The moment they saw Lin Jiashi, they wanted to ask the same question Shen Xiu did: Are you okay?
Who shows up at someone else’s school just to block them at the door?! Forget Shen Xiu thinking Lin Jiashi was crazy—even they, the bystanders eating popcorn, thought Lin Jiashi had a screw loose.
Shen Xiu’s current silence was probably because he was utterly speechless at Lin Jiashi’s bold move.
Lin Jiashi had taken a risk, removing his sunglasses and mask in front of so many students just to speak to Shen Xiu—but a full minute had passed since he opened his mouth.
During that minute, Shen Xiu had just stared at him coldly, saying nothing.
With so many people in the classroom watching, Shen Xiu’s attitude made Lin Jiashi feel extremely awkward.
Lin Jiashi’s face flushed red from shame and frustration.
He had already come this far—today, he had to talk things out with Shen Xiu. Otherwise, incidents like what happened with Immortal Path would keep happening.
Gritting his teeth, Lin Jiashi threw aside his pride and pleaded, “Let’s talk. Please.”
Shen Xiu snapped out of his daze, still confused about what Lin Jiashi wanted. The two of them had never had any real interaction—what was there to talk about?
“There’s no need,” Shen Xiu replied truthfully.
Lin Jiashi: “?”
Not even giving him a chance?
The classmates: “!”
As expected of Shen Xiu—cold and ruthless toward Lin Jiashi, as always.
After answering Lin Jiashi’s request, Shen Xiu quietly waited for a few seconds. When he noticed Lin Jiashi wasn’t saying anything or moving aside, he…
Lin Jiashi had blocked Shen Xiu’s way, and in doing so, also trapped the rest of the innocent students in the classroom. Shen Xiu, feeling that he was ultimately causing trouble for his classmates, decided it was necessary to speak up.
“Move.”
Shen Xiu looked straight at Lin Jiashi, stating his intention in a cold, concise manner.
The classmates: “!”
Shen Xiu must be angry!
His sharp gaze, fixed on Lin Jiashi, seemed to make the temperature in the room drop instantly.
Lin Jiashi’s eyes shifted to the students behind Shen Xiu who still hadn’t left. His expression darkened slightly.
Even if Shen Xiu was angry, with these students around, he wouldn’t dare go too far.
Feeling a bit emboldened by their presence, Lin Jiashi gathered his courage and spoke again in front of everyone: “Take it as me begging you.”
Ever since Lin Jiashi had appeared, Shen Xiu’s mind had been filled with one question mark after another, all of which eventually boiled down to a single word: “Hm?”
The slight rise in Shen Xiu’s tone when he said “Hm?” was laced with an unmistakable chill—like a veiled threat.
No matter how unwilling he was, Lin Jiashi had to accept the reality that Shen Xiu didn’t even want to talk to him.
But Du Heng was right—Shen Xiu held grudges. Pulling Mu Zhenchu out of Qinghe Entertainment was just the beginning of his revenge.
The second step was taking on Immortal Path, a project he had no initial interest in, purely to target Lin Jiashi.
Given Shen Xiu’s vindictive nature, if there was a beginning and a second step, would there be any fewer steps to follow?
Losing Immortal Path this time—even if he was frustrated—Lin Jiashi had to swallow it.
If he kept being too proud to apologize, then Qinghe canceling Mu Zhenchu’s contract and the role of Li Yang in Immortal Path being taken away would only be appetizers in Shen Xiu’s larger revenge plan.
If Lin Jiashi ever wanted to act in anything again, Shen Xiu could easily sabotage or block him from behind the scenes.
Even Keta was willing to invest in Immortal Path for Shen Xiu—this alone was proof of how powerful Shen Xiu’s influence really was. Compared to that, what were Qinghe and people like him? Practically nothing.
If Keta hadn’t stepped in, Lin Jiashi might not have backed down so easily. But whether it was the investment in Immortal Path or the photos of Qin Mo and Shen Xiu—photos that got deleted every time they surfaced—it was all telling him: There is no “what if.”
Today, for the sake of his future, he had to bite the bullet and make a clear apology to Shen Xiu—he had to earn his forgiveness.
Lin Jiashi had originally wanted to find a quiet place to talk, just the two of them, so he could at least preserve some dignity. But Shen Xiu, even though he clearly knew why Lin Jiashi had come, refused to give him even a shred of face.
Lowering his gaze, Lin Jiashi took his hands off the doorframe. He didn’t dare look at Shen Xiu’s expression. Clenching his teeth, he forced the words out: “I’m sorry!”
So what if it was embarrassing? With so many of Shen Xiu’s classmates watching, maybe someone would feel bad seeing him so pitiful. He could even turn this into an opportunity—play the victim a little and win some sympathy from his fans.
Turns out Lin Jiashi did know that blocking the classroom and keeping everyone from going to lunch was wrong.
Realizing that, Shen Xiu instinctively said, “So you do know you were wrong.”
Knowing it was wrong and doing it anyway—Shen Xiu honestly couldn’t wrap his head around Lin Jiashi’s logic.
But this wasn’t the first time Shen Xiu had come across someone who made no sense, so he brushed it off and mentally moved on.
Hearing Shen Xiu’s words, Lin Jiashi: “……”
He knew it—Shen Xiu’s erratic behavior during Immortal Path was indeed about revenge for how Lin Jiashi used Qinghe to b*lly Mu Zhenchu.
Now, hearing it from Shen Xiu’s own mouth, his suspicions were confirmed.
Staring down at the tips of his shoes, Lin Jiashi continued his apology: “Please forgive me.”
Since the other party had already apologized for blocking the door, Shen Xiu didn’t press the issue any further. However, when he noticed that Lin Jiashi hadn’t apologized to anyone else, he assumed Lin Jiashi had simply forgotten—and gave him a reminder.
“You owe more than just me an apology.”
“!”
What Shen Xiu meant was—if he also apologized to Mu Zhenchu, then Shen Xiu might actually forgive him!
Lin Jiashi nodded. “I understand.”
Seeing him nod, Shen Xiu let out a quiet breath of relief.
But before that breath even finished leaving his lungs, he watched as Lin Jiashi—who had just said “I understand”—turned and bolted.
Shen Xiu: “……”
So, did Lin Jiashi “understand” absolutely nothing?
Or did he take one look at the crowd of students behind Shen Xiu, decide apologizing was too much trouble, and just make a run for it?
No matter how Shen Xiu thought about it, Lin Jiashi’s behavior just didn’t make sense.
After Lin Jiashi ran off, Shen Xiu quickly stepped out of the classroom himself, worried he might still be blocking the doorway.
They had all been trapped in the classroom for quite a while by Lin Jiashi’s nonsense, and during that time, the students had either been watching Shen Xiu or Lin Jiashi. If he just left without saying anything, that would feel weird too—so Shen Xiu turned back and said to the class:
“Goodbye.”
The classmates hadn’t expected Shen Xiu to suddenly greet them. Thinking back to how cold and merciless he had been toward Lin Jiashi just moments ago, and then seeing him now—though still expressionless as usual—actually take the initiative to say goodbye to them…
If that’s not a double standard, what is?!
For a moment, the classmates were stunned. But once they processed what had just happened, they all started responding enthusiastically:
“Boss—cough cough—Shen Xiu, goodbye!”
“Bye-bye~”
“See you tomorrow!”
When Shen Xiu had said “goodbye,” and everyone fell silent for a few seconds, he nearly wanted to dig a hole and bury himself. Fortunately, the responses came just in time.
Shen Xiu finally relaxed. As the awkwardness crept up from the soles of his feet to his face under the classmates’ strange stares, he turned and fled the scene like he was escaping a fire.
It wasn’t until he’d walked a good distance away that he suddenly remembered—when he said “goodbye,” he probably should’ve waved.
Wait—that’s not the point! The point was his sudden burst of social behavior must have left everyone utterly confused.
Shen Xiu: …I can’t show my face anymore.
…
When he stepped into his house, Shen Xiu reflected and came to a conclusion—next time, don’t randomly initiate social interaction. It’s awkward for him and awkward for everyone else.
“Meow meow meow!!!”
As he opened the door, he was immediately greeted by the sharp and squeaky meows of a familiar kitten. Shen Xiu quickly pushed aside his earlier public embarrassment and walked softly toward the little cat paradise in the living room.
He stood behind Lucky, watching its fluffy, round little head, still meowing sharply. Suddenly, he gave a light cough.
“Ahem… Lucky.”
Kittens change by the day—especially Lucky, who ate a lot, pooped a lot, and grew even faster. From being barely the size of Shen Xiu’s palm, Lucky had now grown to about the size of his full hand.
Covered in jet-black fur without a single speck of other color, Lucky had been raised extremely well. Its whole body was round and plump, making it look like a fuzzy little black coal ball.
When Lucky heard its name, the continuous meowing abruptly stopped.
Its furry body stiffened for a second. Then, slowly realizing Shen Xiu was there, it turned around—and immediately let out a practiced, syrupy soft cry: “Meeooow~”
Shen Xiu: “……”
There it was—the two-faced kitten!
He knew his behavior was childish, but he couldn’t help it—and he totally enjoyed it.
“Lucky, you’re amazing!”
Shen Xiu squatted down and gently scooped Lucky up from its “500-square-meter” deluxe bed.
In Shen Xiu’s mind, as long as Lucky could breathe, eat on its own, and use the litter box, it was already the most amazing kitten ever.
—
Meanwhile, after leaving Qinghe University and walking all the way to the parking lot, Lin Jiashi belatedly realized something: even though he’d removed his mask and sunglasses, no one had done more than glance at him.
No one crowded around him, took pictures, or asked for an autograph.
Lin Jiashi: “……”
Honestly, he would’ve been better off not realizing that.
Face darkening, he slammed the car door shut and dialed Du Heng’s number. His tone was commanding:
“Find out where Mu Zhenchu lives.”
The moment Du Heng heard the name Mu Zhenchu, he practically got PTSD from thinking about Shen Xiu, and a vein throbbed in his temple. “What do you want with Mu Zhenchu?”
‘Weren’t you just apologizing to Shen Xiu like I told you? What the hell are you up to now?’
Lin Jiashi snapped, “What do you think? Obviously, to apologize.”
“Shen Xiu forgave me for everything I did to offend and mess with Mu Zhenchu before, and he told me I owed more than just him an apology. If that’s not a hint to go apologize to Mu Zhenchu, what is?”
Du Heng let out a quiet sigh of relief.
“Got it. Give me a sec—I’ll check and get back to you right away.”
“Mm.” Lin Jiashi hung up and impatiently scrolled through his phone.
A few minutes later, he received Du Heng’s message.
“Pfft, broke loser,” Lin Jiashi scoffed coldly, then started driving to the location.
Though Mu Zhenchu had already left Qinghe Entertainment, he still knew plenty of people there. When one of them asked to meet him at a café, he agreed to come.
But when he saw the completely unfamiliar figure seated across from him, Mu Zhenchu was baffled. “Did you sit at the wrong table?”
Lin Jiashi took off his mask and sunglasses. “No mistake. I’m here to see you.”
When Mu Zhenchu saw Lin Jiashi, his expression immediately turned cold. It didn’t take long for him to figure out he’d been tricked into this meeting by someone from his former company. He asked, face like ice, “What do you want?”
As he spoke, Mu Zhenchu’s eyes scanned Lin Jiashi’s new hair color.
Without his signature pink-and-white hair, Lin Jiashi’s facial features—which had never been particularly refined or photogenic—stood out more starkly. He’d always needed eye-catching styling to distract from the rougher angles of his face.
When Lin Jiashi took off his mask and sunglasses, it took Mu Zhenchu a good few seconds of staring at his face to finally recognize him.
While Mu Zhenchu was sizing up Lin Jiashi, the latter was also quietly observing Mu Zhenchu. Seeing how radiant and at ease Mu Zhenchu looked after leaving Qinghe, Lin Jiashi had to suppress a surge of envy and bitterness. He just wanted to get this over with.
“…I’m sorry,” Lin Jiashi said.
Mu Zhenchu was so startled that he looked around several times, checking nervously to see if Lin Jiashi had brought a hidden camera crew to ambush him.
Knowing exactly what he was thinking, Lin Jiashi gritted his teeth. “Stop looking. There’s no camera.”
“I’m here to genuinely apologize. I admit that I targeted you back when you were at Qinghe. I’m here to say sorry. I was wrong.”
When he finished speaking, Mu Zhenchu looked at him like he’d just seen a ghost. “Are you okay in the head?”
The idea of Lin Jiashi sitting across from him and apologizing felt so surreal that Mu Zhenchu wasn’t sure if he’d gone insane—or if Lin Jiashi had been possessed by something supernatural.
Lin Jiashi’s expression darkened, but he held back his temper.
“I really am apologizing.”
“Tell Shen Xiu I apologized, okay? Please ask him to stop targeting me. I’m begging him, alright?!”
The moment Lin Jiashi mentioned Shen Xiu, Mu Zhenchu immediately understood what this was all about.
With a mocking tone, he said, “And here I thought you’d grown a conscience. Guess I gave you too much credit.”
Lin Jiashi scoffed. “Say whatever you want. I’ve apologized.”
After Lin Jiashi finished speaking, he put on his mask and sunglasses and got up to leave the café.
“I didn’t expect there to be a follow-up!” Mu Zhenchu exclaimed in surprise, then felt relieved that he was someone Shen Xiu cared about as a teammate, rather than one of those clownish antagonists who went against him.
Feeling the double standard in Shen Xiu’s treatment, Mu Zhenchu couldn’t help but message the group chat.
[Group Chat]
Mu Zhenchu: Lin Jiashi just came to apologize to me!
Zhuang Yi: I can’t believe it.
Ning Sinian: +1111
Shang Yu: Found his way back.
Song Chengwang: Found his way back.
Shen Xiu: Found his way back.
Shen Xiu copied Song Chengwang to stay in sync with the group. After pasting Shang Yu’s words and seeing no one else say anything, he felt his daily quota of team social interaction was complete. He then put down his phone, said goodbye to Lucky, and headed to Teacher Jiang’s house for that day’s acting lesson.
Everyone in the group chat, upon seeing Shen Xiu’s “found his way back,” immediately understood what he meant.
Since Lin Jiashi had already apologized to the two of them, the matter was considered settled.
—
9 PM
Lin Jiashi’s fully disguised attempt to ambush Shen Xiu at Jinghe University that evening was quickly submitted by curious and enthusiastic students to the university’s “Confession Wall.”
Of course, it wasn’t to confess to Lin Jiashi — rather, while confessing to Shen Xiu, someone also took the chance to sarcastically mock Lin Jiashi’s bizarre behavior.
[Wait a minute, Lin Jiashi showed up here, took off his mask and sunglasses, and caused no stir whatsoever. Just a genuine question — if that’s the case, why did he go to such lengths to cover up his face in the first place? Does he think he’s some kind of superstar? Or does he think our school’s students are so sheltered that they’d mob him?]
[Hah, we didn’t even mob Shen Xiu, so who does Lin Jiashi think he is? Really knows how to inflate his own importance.]
[Exactly. After experiencing the ultimate God-tier Shen Xiu, someone like Lin Jiashi doesn’t even register in our eyes anymore. His actions are practically an insult to the taste of us students at Jinghe University.]
[Maybe… he himself thinks his behavior is embarrassing?]
[I think you’ve hit the nail on the head!]
[I was there in person and saw Boss Xiu — cold and ruthless — say to Lin Jiashi: ‘Are you okay?’ Not sure how Lin Jiashi felt, but we onlookers were absolutely floored by Boss Xiu’s aura. So powerful.]
[I laughed so hard my stomach hurts. Boss Xiu is savage and doesn’t talk much — that familiar ‘are you okay’ really just implied Lin Jiashi is seriously messed up, LOL.]
[No one else think Lin Jiashi totally lost his spark after he stopped doing his signature fan makeup and dyed his hair white? Now he’s just… bland?]
The snarky and vivid commentary about Lin Jiashi on Jinghe University’s confession wall was screenshotted, shared to Weibo, and picked up by marketing accounts — quickly rocketing to the trending list.
When Du Heng saw the trending topic, he nearly blacked out. All he wanted to say to Lin Jiashi was:
“Good news — you’re famous. You finally made it onto the trending list.”
“Bad news — it’s because the entire internet is mocking you.”
Du Heng never imagined that even a simple apology from Lin Jiashi could blow up like this.
When Lin Jiashi saw the trending topic, he was furious that these lunatic students were tearing him apart, but not wanting to waste the reconciliation he had just achieved, he chose not to engage with them. Instead, he made a phone call to Du Heng.
At the very least, now that he had reconciled with Shen Xiu, the road ahead would be smoother. As requested, Du Heng spent money to have the topic removed from the trending list.
The moment it was taken down, Du Heng called Lin Jiashi: “The ‘starting over’ marketing is critical. Whether you can bounce back or not depends on this shot. So for the love of god, don’t stir up any more trouble in the near future.”
Lin Jiashi’s low, sullen voice came through the phone: “You talk too much. Hanging up.”
—
On September 14th, the official account of Youth Unstoppable released an MV teaser.
@YouthUnstoppableOfficial: #The Galaxy MV Teaser# Starlight converges into a galaxy, dazzling and radiant. —Video link—
— MV teaser!!! Although it’s just a few brief shots, the dark style makes everyone look really cool!
— I was so shocked by this sudden “resurrection” moment, I thought I got the date wrong and even double-checked my phone calendar. Nope, today is definitely the 14th, tomorrow is the 15th!
— I know there will be a group album, but I never expected there to be an MV! Even though it’s only a teaser, can you watch the MV by buying the physical group album CD? I’m new to fandom and don’t really know.
— Sister upstairs, no, you can’t. But you can buy the online album, which lets you watch it, or buy the physical group album VCD. However — the production team hasn’t said whether it’s an online album or physical. If physical, they also haven’t specified if it’s a CD or a VCD.
— It’s known that the group album will launch tomorrow, so when will the full MV be released?
Since this is The Galaxy’s first group album, the production team is taking it very seriously. On the day before the official album release, Shi Buwen prepared two waves of promotion.
The first wave was the MV teaser, and the second wave was the reveal of the group’s name originally chosen by the nine members.
According to the data after the first wave of promotion, fans of the nine individual members and group fans alike were very excited, with endless discussions about The Galaxy MV teaser.
#The Galaxy First Group Album MV Teaser#
#Dark Realm MV Teaser#
In less than half an hour, the topic about the MV teaser surged powerfully onto the trending list.
Shi Buwen seized the momentum and had the official account operators schedule the pre-written post to go live.
@YouthUnstoppableOfficial: #The Galaxy# The Origin of Our Group Name~
What kind of group names did the other eight members come up with that were mercilessly passed over? Check out today’s reveal~
[9 images]
