Reborn as a Substitute

“Ji Sheng, a former member of ‘Loptr’ (1), was caught in a sexual harassment scandal. The victim, Sheng Kongzhi, a member of the same band, issued a statement accusing him of evil deeds. The two belong to the same company ‘Qingchu’ that also announced the termination of Ji Sheng’s contract this morning.

“After the victim and the company spoke out, Xie Xuanming, a newcomer movie star who is also the subject of Ji Sheng’s scandal, posted an article in support of Ji Sheng…”

Slender fingers touched the button and pressed it lightly.

The car radio went silent abruptly but the mobile phone on the station still vibrated non-stop.

Ji Sheng raised his hand to reach for the phone, an action that caused his sleeve to slide down slightly, revealing a hideous scar on his wrist bone.

The yellow light in front of him turned red. Ji Sheng stopped the car, picked up the phone, glanced at the caller’s name and accepted the call.

“I’m sorry, Xiao Sheng, public opinion is completely out of control and the company must make trade-offs. We’ve been friends for so many years, you have also watched “Qingchu’ rise, you can’t bear to let it fall again, can you…”

Ji Sheng interrupted: “I’m on my way.”

There was silence for a while, and Ji Sheng said calmly: “Ten minutes, put the termination documents there, I will sign.”

After the call, Ji Sheng rubbed his throbbing forehead. He wanted to turn off the phone, but paused when he saw unanswered messages.

Xie Xuanming: 【Where are you】

Xie Xuanming: 【Answer the phone】

Ji Sheng paused for a second. The traffic lights turned green, and the car behind him honked impatiently.

Ji Sheng regained his senses, turned on airplane mode on his mobile phone and threw it onto the co-pilot.

When he reached the fork of the road ahead, he turned to the side line calmly but his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a red car rushing from behind the corner, approaching at an alarming speed.

Ji Sheng slammed on the brakes, but it was too late——

The red dot quickly enlarged in front of Ji Sheng’s eyes and finally coincided with the scar on his wrist…

The collision was dull, the pain of broken bones sharp.

Ji Sheng half-opened his eyes, feeling his blood and his life flow down from his forehead together.

Something buzzed in his ears, like millions of people speaking at the same time, making a lot of noise.

He heard his young self shouting: “My dream is to become the greatest drummer in China!”

He heard the doctor say, shaking his head: “You can’t play drums anymore.”

He heard Sheng Kongzhi explain guiltily: “Xiao Sheng, I can’t help it. Our relationship can’t be exposed. I don’t want to lose my reputation… I’m sorry…”

The noise gradually disappeared, and Ji Sheng closed his eyes. In complete silence, the sound of someone’s gritted teeth suddenly exploded in his ears, the whisper like a reluctant last sigh of a dying beast.

“Ji Sheng… you owe me…”

Slums of Baiwu City

“Since Ji Sheng died in a car accident caused by drunk driving at the end of last year, Xie Xuanming, previously the subject of Ji Sheng’s scandal, has repeatedly expressed his disgust with Sheng Kongzhi in public. Today, he even said: ‘I won’t participate in any shows with Sheng Kongzhi, and I won’t perform in any dramas with Sheng Kongzhi.”

On the balcony, Ji Sheng lowered his head and poured ice water on his face.

Beside him, a battered second-hand mobile phone broadcast entertainment news in a lossless audio quality.

This kind of broadcasting seemed a bit outdated for a modern young man. But for Ji Sheng, who had spent a month and a half in bed almost paralyzed, without seeing anything but the ceiling, it was a daily entertainment that he had become accustomed to.

Oh, by the way, he was not called Ji Sheng anymore.

“Netizens speculate that Xie Xuanming’s remarks are related to the sexual harassment incident at the time. For a while, the behaviour of the newcomer actor, infatuated and unable to distinguish between right and wrong, retaliating against the victim Sheng Kongzhi, was widely criticised…”

The radio squealed and continued playing when an explosive roar drowned the anchor’s flat tone.

“Ji Hui!”

Ji Sheng raised his head from under the faucet, squinted his wet eyes and looked.

A yellow-haired teenager stood at the door of the balcony(2), questioning him with an angry expression: “The agent asked you to accompany somebody to drink?”

“En.”

“You agreed?”

“En.”

Seeing his indifferent eyes, the yellow-haired boy took two steps forward, grabbed his collar and scolded furiously:

“Do you have any dignity, you’ve just got off the ground, are you in a hurry to climb on a man’s bed?”

Ji Sheng leaned back, pulling away, while confirming the identity of the teenager in his head.

He lay in bed for a month and a half, but most of the time was spent dazed and wondering. The people who came and went to take care of him didn’t write down their names…

For example, the boy in front of him, Ji Sheng called up the information from Ji Hui’s memory and after some effort confirmed that he was the bassist of Ji Hui’s band, surnamed Huang; the rest was unclear.

Not even remembering his name; it was clear the original owner of this body was not very concerned about this young man.

Yellow hair, surname Huang…

Ji Sheng silently gave the young man a code name Xiao Huang(3).

Ji Sheng broke free, lowered his head and scooped a handful of water: “The agent asked me to go, I can’t help it.”

Seeing that he couldn’t get Ji Sheng to listen, Xiao Huang shouted angrily, his eye twitching: “He asked you to go and you go, so shamelessly and brazenly rush to replace that Ji Sheng and do his unfinished b*tch work?”

Ji Sheng didn’t look at him: “The dead are to be honoured, so let’s say a few words less.”

Xiao Huang stared at him for a while and finally slammed the door shut.

Ji Sheng lingered under the faucet for a while, then raised his eyes.

The young man in the mirror had a sharp chin, thin eyebrows and an eye-catching tear mole at the corner of his eye that added a bit of inexplicable brilliance to his face.

This kid really didn’t look like he could have a proper job.

Ji Sheng drained the water droplets from his fingertips.

He really looked like Ji Sheng in his previous life; especially the lower half of his face was almost exactly the same.

After living alone for a month and a half, Ji Sheng reluctantly accepted the reality that he had been reborn and reborn in the body of this virtually unknown drummer of a small band.

The little drummer’s name was Ji Hui, he had the same surname as Ji Sheng and his job was also highly similar to his.

Main job, a drummer; side job, a substitute.

The same as Ji Sheng in the previous life, he was a hand-picked stand-in for Xie Xuanming.

However, before Ji Sheng appeared, Ji Hui had already been expelled from his post.

Ji Sheng brushed his hair carelessly.

He had almost all the memories of Ji Hui, except for the empty place in the last half a year.

When Ji Sheng woke up in Ji Hui’s body, more than seven months had passed since his death in a car accident.

The half-year memory that Ji Sheng was missing began with Ji Sheng’s death and ended with Ji Sheng’s rebirth.

After being reborn, Ji Sheng opened his eyes, lying on the bed. The shocking wounds on his body reminded him what kind of abuse the owner of this body, the drummer named Ji Hui, had suffered.

After a month and a half of waiting, Ji Hui’s consciousness never came back and Ji Sheng gradually realized that he might be gone.

But like in his own case in the previous life, the cause of death and the person who did it were not clear.

Ji Sheng could only lie in bed and piece together the approximate story of the little drummer’s life from the mouths of the people who visited and took care of him.

Ji Hui, an unlucky child, was sent to Xie Xuanming’s bed by the unscrupulous company in exchange for the resources because he looked too similar to Ji Sheng. He was nurtured for a few months, but for some reason annoyed Xie Xuanming and was kicked out. Later, he was kidnapped by an unidentified person and beaten badly. He was thrown into the wilderness to die and survived only because some kind-hearted person found him in time.

His phone vibrated and the agent’s message urged him: “Are you ready, hurry up.”

Ji Sheng replied: “Right away.”

Because Ji Sheng had been hot for a while during his lifetime, Ji Hui, who looked similar to him, aroused the interest of many people as soon as he appeared. After “Ji Hui” recovered, the agent couldn’t wait to start pimping again, looking for a few big guys to set up a scene to send Ji Hui in, urging him to return to his old job of serving others in bed.

After swiping the screen with the agent’s message, Ji Sheng changed clothes, ignored Xiao Huang’s disgusted gaze and pulled the door.

When walking, Ji Sheng heard a hateful “b*tch” from behind.

He closed the anti-theft door without changing his expression and locked it.

There were only two keys to this sh*tty house, one in the hands of the agent and the other had just been taken out by him.

Before the ”b*tch” comes back, stay in the house obediently, Xiao Huang.

A trace of mockery appeared at the corner of Ji Sheng’s mouth and quickly faded away.

Ji Sheng swiftly jumped down the stairs.

Xiao Huang’s evaluation was sharp but lacked precision.

No comments on Ji Hui’s life but Ji Sheng really couldn’t take responsibility for that “b*tch”.

Ji Sheng saw the dilapidated van downstairs.

When the door was opened, the agent’s verbal abuse started.

Ji Sheng took a seat under the accompaniment of slurs.

He was lower than a b*tch, he was considered a fool.

On the way, after the agent had cursed enough, he began to instruct Ji Sheng again.

“You are just too stupid! What’s wrong with taking a shortcut with a boss? That Xie Xuanming, rich and generous, but also loving and righteous, is willing to give someone a head start, imagine how many people want to be noticed by him… You have the advantage of the face that resembles that guy’s appearance, so be a good boy and please him in exchange for a smooth progress, make everyone happy. But no, you dummy, you’ve been kicked out in a few days, shame on you!”

Ji Sheng suddenly wanted to laugh.

Xie Xuanming, he thought, you have made such a good impression on everyone. Even a pimp praises you for being loving and righteous. Stirring up the whole entertainment industry for a dead notorious lover… Only that lover, who should have been buried in the ground, knows that he was just a substitute when he was alive. Relying on the fact that he was somewhat similar to Emperor Xie’s white moonlight, he used to get what he needed.

Xie Xuanming’s memories, Ji Sheng exchanged them for real money.

What was such a mundane thing as money in comparison with the temptation of Emperor Xie’s youth? 

Therefore, even if outsiders knew the truth, they would likely just continue buzzing, “That’s what Ji Sheng owed Xie Xuanming…”

A lousy van couldn’t drive up to a high-end brothel full of people indulging in a life of luxury.

The agent put Ji Sheng down at the side door, asked him to wait there to be taken in after he’d go around and find a place for parking.

Ji Sheng looked back at the bright building behind him. The nightclub looked like a palace, illuminated extravagantly.

Standing by the door, he turned around and saw that there was no one nearby, so he relaxed a little and started carefully dissecting some dark matters in his mind.

Ji Sheng’s expression became a little colder. A month and a half after he was reborn, he still didn’t understand why he was clearly killed by a collision but all reports in unison determined that he was drunk driving.

Just as he didn’t understand while he was alive why free love would suddenly be called unilateral sexual harassment.

Ji Sheng died being wronged, and he died without understanding anything.

But it didn’t matter.

Ji Sheng narrowed his eyes, the darkness in the depths of his eyes glimmering.

He had plenty of time to figure it out now.

It just needed to be considered in the long run.

Ji Sheng lightly kicked the stones at his feet.

First of all, he must find a way to get close to Xie Xuanming——the man who was inextricably linked to his previous life and death.

Then…

As Ji Sheng was thinking about it, he didn’t notice a black car stopping quietly in front of him.

When he reacted and looked up in surprise, the rear seat window had already slid down and a hand stretched out from the car lightning fast, squeezing his chin like vice.

Ji Sheng’s jaw hurt; he was dragged forward unceremoniously, his stare slamming straight into the dark grey eyes of the man in the car.

Ji Sheng looked at the familiar and unfamiliar face, his mind bursting and countless disordered fragments rushing in.

In a trance he saw himself in a night bar, the overhead light dim and the man in front of him dark like a shadow.

In the endless silence, Ji Sheng shivered and leaned closer, sharing the breathing space with the man.

After ten seconds, he closed his eyes and stretched out his hand to push: “The reporter should have taken enough shots.”

“But I haven’t,” the man said in a low voice. In the next second, the back of Ji Sheng’s head was vigorously pressed down, his lips and teeth crushed, and when he whimpered and struggled, the smell of blood rose between the two of them.

The picture was spinning; Ji Sheng was in a daze for a few seconds, then raised his eyes.

Just now, the man changed his clothes, sat on the sofa and said in a cold voice: “Come here.”

The brain did not respond, but the body moved consciously.

It wasn’t until he squatted in front of the man and saw his handsome face gloomy, the smell of alcohol in his breath impossible to hide, his eyes bloodshot and with dark shadows of fatigue under them, Ji Sheng suddenly understood.

This was Ji Hui’s memory.

The man in front of him was Xie Xuanming after Ji Sheng’s death.

Xie Xuanming pinched Ji Hui’s chin, his eyes dark: “You look like him.”

Ji Hui opened his mouth, what did he want to say——

His jaw ached, dragging Ji Sheng back to reality.

Xie Xuanming was sitting in the car, looking at him with impatience and hostility that Ji Sheng had never seen before.

His fingers clenched Ji Sheng’s face at this moment, leaving terrifying red marks.

“I said, don’t show up in front of me again,” he said grimly.