Xiao He woke up to find himself already in the large bed of his own villa.
Surprisingly, he didn't feel the usual discomfort after a night of heavy drinking. After casually stretching in bed, he actually felt completely refreshed and clear-headed.
"Good morning, Brother Xiao!"
After washing up and finishing breakfast, the first person to arrive at the villa was naturally his assistant Xiao Chen.
"Good morning, have you eaten breakfast? I still have some bread here—"
"I've already eaten! By the way, how are you feeling now, Brother Xiao? Any headache? Sister Liu asked me to bring a jar of honey and said to have you drink some honey water later."
"I feel pretty good."
Xiao He moved his limbs around, feeling that his condition had basically fully recovered.
"You should still drink some."
As he spoke, Xiao Chen was already skillfully finding a cup and spoon.
Xiao He didn't refuse either: "Thank you, Xiao Chen!"
While Xiao Chen was preparing the honey water, Xiao He picked up his phone from the table and sat on the sofa.
As soon as he opened his phone, a hot search topic jumped before his eyes—
[Su Shengxi Announces Retirement from Entertainment Industry]
[Compilation of Su Shengxi's Most Memorable Moments Over the Years]
[Was Su Shengxi Forced to Retire?]
...
Xiao He was shocked.
They had dinner together yesterday, and today he's already retiring from the industry?
This speed was undeniably fast!
But actually, this was quite normal. After all, the situation was escalating, and after receiving official confirmation, Su Shengxi's fans had completely collapsed. Fans from other camps swarmed in, and both true and false negative articles about Su Shengxi were everywhere, almost pushing him to the edge of becoming a legal criminal.
If Su Shengxi acted quickly and withdrew early, he might still be able to preserve some last shred of dignity for himself.
At least superficially, he could still barely give himself a way out—even if that way out led to the endpoint of retiring from the industry.
Of course, for insiders like Xiao He, Su Shengxi's retirement was inevitable. After the initial moment of surprise, it wasn't that shocking. But for many others, it was like a thunderclap from a clear sky.
[What? Who retired? Am I still dreaming?]
[Is it the Su Shengxi I know? Could it be someone with the same name?]
[Holy crap, it really is Su Shengxi! Go check his Weibo, he posted the retirement announcement himself!]
[Oh no, now when I hear that he posted it himself, I have to wonder if it's really him. After all, I still remember the previous incident clearly. Could it be his agency playing tricks?]
After all, he had once reached the peak and enjoyed a long period of glory as a top idol. When many people saw this news, their first reaction was disbelief.
Because this was Su Shengxi! The Su Shengxi who had dominated popularity charts, debuted with countless fans' expectations, and shone brightly on stage with his singing and dancing.
The Su Shengxi whom many young girls had sincerely loved and personally elevated to top idol status.
No one had expected Su Shengxi to exit in such a dismal manner, and the source of all these events was merely because of a public opinion storm.
Public opinion—it's already the most common battlefield in the domestic entertainment industry. But generally speaking, as long as you don't end up eating prison food, even the biggest public opinion storms can be overcome, allowing you to start over and compete again on the domestic entertainment stage.
For someone like Su Shengxi, there was even less to worry about. With his looks securing his career, and even having a large group of brainless die-hard fans willing to sacrifice everything for him, logically even if he lost this public opinion battle, he shouldn't have ended up like this, even directly issuing a retirement statement.
So almost no one had expected Su Shengxi to choose retirement.
Xiao He followed the hot searches to Su Shengxi's Weibo and indeed saw Su Shengxi's post—
[Jiaxing Entertainment - Su Shengxi: Dear friends, I'm very sorry, but this is the last time I'll be posting on Weibo as an artist. At this moment, I, Su Shengxi, with feelings of guilt and heaviness, officially announce my retirement from the entertainment industry.]
[As a public figure, I deeply apologize for not properly guiding public opinion in a timely manner, sparking public discussion, occupying public resources. Regarding all the controversies caused by me recently, I feel profound remorse. Faced with the continuously escalating public opinion, I've gradually realized that my individual strength can no longer quell this situation. To prevent more people from being dragged in, and to take responsibility that I should have taken, I must make this choice.]
[I'm very grateful to my fans for accompanying me all this way and never giving up on me. I'm also very sorry to others who were hurt and suffered because of my fans. I will personally apologize to each one and provide compensation. I hope everyone has a smooth journey ahead. Thank you very much.]
After reading Su Shengxi's retirement statement, Xiao He clicked his tongue lightly, unable to help but admire Su Shengxi's skill at shifting blame and playing the victim.
To summarize this statement simply—it basically says: Actually, the fans were all wrong, I wasn't wrong, but for the sake of my fans, I choose to voluntarily retire from the industry.
This guy, even at a time like this, doesn't forget to manipulate his fans while shirking responsibility.
Can only say, isn't this just typical Su Shengxi?
And sure enough, the comments section was filled with fans' weeping.
[Wuwu, baby, you're not wrong! We're the ones who are wrong! Let them come at us! We're not afraid! Don't retire from the industry!]
[I'm sorry, Su Shengxi, I underestimated you. I didn't expect you to actually act like a real man at this time. It wasn't in vain that I once supported you.]
[I thought I didn't love you anymore, but when I saw this statement, tears still flowed uncontrollably. I've been supporting you since your trainee days, I even voted for your debut position back then. Later when you started dating, I chose to bless you but couldn't deceive myself into continuing to like you, so I stopped being a fan. I never expected that the next time I'd see you would be your retirement announcement...]
[Don't retire, don't retire! Was it those people from Hidden Star Shine who forced you? Say something! Just nod, and we'll tear through the entire entertainment industry today if we have to.]
[It's all your fault! Don't you understand yet? Su Shengxi was forced out by you irrational fans! It was fine when you just criticized Xiao He, but you had to report the Hidden Star Shine production team, you had to offend Su Shengxi's boss! Now look what happened? No one needs to argue anymore, Su Shengxi has retired, are you satisfied now!]
[Fine, fine, fine, my heart is completely dead. In that case, I'll be Xiao He's anti-fan for life, I'll just wait for him to die someday.]
[I hate everyone! May Hidden Star Shine die, die, die!]
Watching the increasingly deranged comments section, Xiao He's eye twitched.
Wait, why is this still about him when Su Shengxi is retiring?
Xiao He scrolled through the comments section and then laughed in frustration.
Well, well, well, so this is the game Su Shengxi is playing—even in retirement, he doesn't forget to turn his fans into his anti-fans.
But thinking about it carefully, it didn't seem to make much difference, since most of Su Shengxi's fans were already his anti-fans anyway...
Xiao He thought back for a moment, then shrugged.
Well, then there's no need to worry too much about it.
What was comforting was that amidst these fans' final frenzy, there were still normal netizens' comments mixed in.
[Su Shengxi retiring is actually the best choice. His fans offended the capital, and Hidden Star Shine dealt a big blow to his future acting career. Retiring now at least preserves his last shred of dignity.]
[Hooray, Su Shengxi has finally retired! His rabid fans can finally quiet down.]
[If you ask me, what's there to regret? A domestic entertainment industry tumor has finally left, the air feels much fresher.]
[Su Shengxi has already retired, what more do you want? Do you still need to chase after him here?]
[Uh, this situation somehow reminds me of a saying: "He's just 'dead,' not become better." Now I'll apply these same words to Su Shengxi's fans.]