Reborn as a Substitute

Niepan’s first live broadcast, intuitively speaking, could be called a car crash that ended in a total mess.

But in an objective sense, they had achieved unparalleled success.

Because two extremely popular and incompatible top performers were brought out to the arena, the fans of Sheng Kongzhi and Xie Xuanming smelled the battle and went straight to the live broadcast room to fight in the barrage (screen text).

[Don’t pull Xie Xuanming in, there’s no need for a debuting genius to appear with a legal coffee(1) and a loser]

[The movie star’s fans are so shameless, have you forgotten your licking  dog face when your family cooked that cheating legal coffee?]

There were also reasonable passers-by who tried to persuade.

[Don’t bring Ji Sheng in, respect the dead]

But they were immediately punched and kicked by both Xie and Sheng fans.

[Didn’t he do it himself when he had a drunk driving accident? Coffee is not worthy of any sympathy]

[He didn’t respect the victim he sexually harrassed, and he deserves no one’s respect if he dies]

The fans of the two sides fought so fiercely that they abruptly brought the lonely midnight live broadcast to the top of the app’s front page recommendations.

Passers-by looked at the front page offering [Try out little toys with cute band boys], which was the title of the live broadcast.

After two seconds of silence, there was a stampede.

Within half an hour, the number of people in the live broadcast room exceeded one million in real time, and the popularity reached a terrifying 25 million.

Huang Sizhe and Lu Haoren were petrified. Where could the unlucky children who came out to earn extra money doing a part-time job have seen this kind of scene? Facing the dark lens, the two of them did not dare to move and tried their best to reduce their sense of presence so as not to be involved in the war of the top stars.

The corners of Ji Sheng’s mouth couldn’t stop twitching. On the one hand, he endured the nuisance of the anchor’s shrill voice, and on the other hand, he faced the bombardment of insults (towards him in his previous life).

The anchor grinned from ear to ear as the pie-from-the-sky heat drove sales up. He squinted his eyes, and in his imagination the flashing barrage had already transformed into the quickly growing amount of deposit in his account.

The live broadcast made a lot of noise; it lived up to expectations and became a hot search.

The hot search was naturally also a battlefield of public opinion for fans. Xie Xuanming and Sheng Kongzhi were at odds with each other, their fans holding a grudge for many years. It was not usual for the fans to throw shade in the news related to one of them; not to mention the situation now when both names were in a hot search together.

The hot search at three o’clock in the morning was as lively as Line 3 at eight in the morning and five in the evening.

With the battle in full swing, Ji Hui’s name quietly appeared in the comments of passers-by.

[The one named Ji Hui really looks like… but is pretty good-looking]

[I think the person upstairs is trying to say that he looks like Ji  Sheng, which he does. I wonder if they are related by blood.]

[Upstairs is secretly here again to blow the trumpet for the drink-driving, sexually harassing legal coffee. Ji Sheng’s fans are really disgusting things with no sense of decency or humanity]

[I’m sick of being branded a fan just for saying something. Ji Sheng is not a good thing, I’m the first to say that, but his face is really nothing to sneeze at, right? Otherwise, what else could he rely on, a drummer who couldn’t even hold a drumstick?】

At a time when public debate was surging, a black avatar Weibo account that had not been logged in for several years suddenly went online, uploaded a photo that was seen by a sharp-eyed marketing account, forwarded and quickly appeared in the centre of public opinion.

In the photo, the boy’s hair was fluttering lightly, and the bulky doll costume on his body contrasted violently with the drumsticks flying dexterously in his hands.

The abandoned doll head lay askewy at the bottom of the frame, giving the photo a fairytale, unrealistic feel.

The boy’s movements were wild, but his expression was restrained and composed.

He was born white-skinned, with a little mole under his eye that was suddenly dark, dazzling and bewitching in the bright light.

Well-behaved and seductive, soft and sharp.

The young man had a contradictory aura, like a willow seedling springing up in the desert, revealing both fragility and a crazy sense of rebellion.

This photo appeared in the centre of the “battlefield”, subtly avoiding the fighting between the two sides and opening up a new direction for the debate.

The name Ji Hui began to appear in the public’s vision.

It was almost four o’clock in the morning when Ji Sheng returned to the villa. He opened the door with the key given by Xie Xuanming and walked into the room.

The living room was dark, and Ji Sheng thought Xie Xuanming might have fallen asleep, or hadn’t come home from a trip.

He put the key on the cabinet, bent over and began to take off his shoes.

As soon as he untied one of his shoelaces, Ji Sheng’s shoulder was suddenly clenched by a strong hand and he was dragged back.

His spine slammed into the wall and the back of his head took a not-so-gentle knock, making Ji Sheng’s head buzz as he looked up instinctively.

Xie Xuanming looked down at him with an indeterminate expression.

Ji Sheng calmed down: “Why didn’t you turn on the lights?”

His eyes were reddened from pain, and the mole under his eye was glimmering in the faint light, making one feel itchy.

Xie Xuanming ignored this dot of bright colour and said gloomily: “What did you say during the live broadcast?”

“Huh?” Ji Sheng was taken aback and blurted out, “Did you watch the live broadcast?”

He really didn’t expect that a busy guy like Xie Xuanming would pay attention to the live broadcast of a stand-in lover.

“Hot search is full of clips.” Xie Xuanming’s eyebrows were cold and hostile and he squeezed Ji Sheng’s shoulder tighter, “Do you enjoy rubbing off the heat of the dead man?”

Ji Sheng realized.

He apparently said the wrong thing, bringing someone on the hot search and upsetting his gold master.

Ji Sheng was in a somewhat delicate mood, not quite sure whether Xie Xuanming’s anger stemmed from his own name being dragged to the hot search or whether he was angry on behalf of his old lover.

Being that old lover himself, Ji Sheng paused: “Are you angry?”

“No.”

“Because I brought Senior Ji Sheng to a hot search.”

Xie Xuanming suddenly punched the wall; the load-bearing wall made a muffled sound. He said solemnly: “I said, don’t mention his name.”

Ji Sheng searched his memories briefly, and after confirming that Xie Xuanming hadn’t said this to him, he reminded: “I have amnesia.”

Another sentence was added: “I won’t mention it again in the future, I’m sorry.”

After he said this, Xie Xuanming suddenly fell silent. He looked down at Ji Sheng coldly for a while and lowered his fist that had hammered the wall: “Your performance on the live broadcast is really not like amnesia.”

Ji Sheng’s breathing stagnated slightly. During the live broadcast, he did not pay attention to controlling his expressions while listening to the anchor’s spiel on the relationship between Xie Xuanming, Sheng Kongzhi and Ji Sheng.

He wondered if there was a look that “Ji Hui” shouldn’t have had.

While Ji Sheng was recalling whether he revealed himself, Xie Xuanming said, “If you think of anything else afterwards, tell me directly.” After a pause, he added: “Especially related to Ji Sheng.”

Xie Xuanming’s expression returned to calm, but Ji Sheng was a little upset.

A bit of weird irritability appeared in Ji Sheng’s heart; he really didn’t understand what was the point of Xie Xuanming pretending to pine for his old lover.

His white moonlight was clearly someone else; when Ji Sheng was alive, they had only used each other and Xie Xuanming had never shown him any kindness or help in trouble.

Now that he was “dead”, Xie Xuanming had become a good lover full of affection and forbearance, playing his role to earn everyone’s sympathy.

The more Ji Sheng thought about it, the more downturned the corners of his lips became. Finally he opened his mouth and said for no reason: “Speaking of which, I did think of another passage from the kidnappers recently, but the content was too out of line. I don’t know if it’s a figment of my imagination.”

“Say.”

“They said that Senior Sheng Kongzhi, who was harassed, had a romantic relationship with Senior Ji Sheng.”

“……”

Ji Sheng tilted his head and said softly:

“Is it true?”

Xie Xuanming’s aura gradually became violent: “What do you want to say?”

“It’s actually true…” Ji Sheng opened his eyes wide, surprised. Then he added as if he really meant it, “I thought I heard it wrong… I was just surprised…

“Emperor Xie, it turns out there are things you can’t get.”

Xie Xuanming’s aura suddenly grew colder and he took a step closer, completely pressing him against the wall. Ji Sheng thought for a moment that he was going to punch him and reflexively closed his eyes.

In the end, he only felt the wall shake heavily. When he opened his eyes, Xie Xuanming had already strode upstairs.

The door of the master bedroom slammed. Ji Sheng lowered his gaze and curved the corners of his lips blankly.

It seemed that there was no need to curl up on that little couch for the night today.

Niepan’s first live broadcast event was very lively, and the brand valued the popularity, so they quickly approached the company to request a second live broadcast.

Only Ji Sheng was invited for this live broadcast, and the goods that needed to be sold now were electronic products and various musical instruments that were more in line with the tastes of young people.

When he saw the name of the co-anchor, Ji Sheng was stunned.

He looked at the two words motionlessly for a long time, until the makeup artist noticed: “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Ji Sheng raised his head and smiled at her, “I just fell asleep.”

In the itinerary in his hand, in the column for co-anchor, there was the name Su Jing.

Su Jing was an active e-sports player, a big anchor in the e-sports circle and a top live broadcast streamer.

He was also a former keyboardist and once he and Ji Sheng belonged to the same underground band.

Su Jing was a competitive player and very eloquent. Probably because of his keyboardist background, he was extraordinarily talented at spitting at people, ordinary keyboard warriors no match for him at all.

Ji Sheng had also been scolded by him, after the sexual harassment scandal.

Su Jing arrived half an hour later than Ji Sheng. He sat down as if he hadn’t seen Ji Sheng. The makeup artist went over and started applying his makeup.

As she put on his makeup, Su Jing asked with his eyes closed, “What’s your name?”

Ji Sheng looked around and confirmed that he was talking to him: “Ji Hui.”

“Which ‘ji’? ”

“Ji for ‘season’.”

“…” Su Jing opened his eyes, looked at Ji Sheng strangely and sighed half sarcastically, “Xie Xuanming really knows how to find substitutes.”

Ji Sheng looked at him calmly, with a slightly puzzled expression on his face.

Su Jing stared at Ji Sheng until he was reminded by the makeup artist to close his eyes: “Forget it, ignorance is a blessing.”

Su Jing’s live broadcast style was different from that of ordinary anchors promoting goods. He came with a fan base and was an e-sports anchor in his own right. The relationship with the fans in the live stream was more like bad friends than an anchor and the audience, and he and the audience shared mutual dislike in a very relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.

However, the flaw of this style was that it was difficult for outsiders to integrate. Ji Sheng was left out to dry, with only a few face-licking comments occasionally mentioning him.

He sat there quietly, like a spectator, watching Su Jing interact with the audience.

Su Jing didn’t intend to target Ji Sheng. On the contrary, he exported warnings to some barrage commenters who were rude to Ji Sheng, telling them not to be weird.

He hadn’t changed at all.

Ji Sheng watched Su Jing comfortably display the goods in front of the camera and silently lamented.

Should we say that Su Jing has maintained his nature too well, or that others have lost their original heart too quickly?

After being an audience member for most of the night, Ji Sheng was finally blasted off his seat by Su Jing to demonstrate the effect of the product to the audience when an electric drum was presented.

Ji Sheng sat down in front of the electric drum and swung the drumsticks twice: “What should I play?”

He has solid basic skills and could play any song.

But the repertoire proposed by Su Jing made him pause for a while.

“Can you play ‘Fruit Candy’?” Su Jing said, “From the Qingchu band.”

The barrage screen was full of laughter and curses.

Su Jing had been known to yell things like “I played the keyboard that scared the shit out of people back in the day”. The audience knew that Qingchu was the underground band he used to be in.

But no matter how much Su Jing bragged, there was no hiding the fact that Qingchu was a muddled little band that broke up without even releasing an album.

Now that Su Jing grabbed a guest and began to show off his “golden youth” again, the barrage knew he was giving the guest a hard time, so it was good to dislike him.

Amidst the bombardment of ridicule and heckling, Ji Sheng lowered his head and turned the drumsticks: “Okay, I can play it.”

Su Jing was taken aback: “You really know it?”

“I have heard it.” Ji Sheng smiled, “I really like this song.” 

He was holding the drumsticks, too serious to be joking, and Su Jing could only hesitantly take out his phone and put out the track.

The song was not recorded with professional equipment. The sound quality was very poor, barely audible even at maximum, and there was some lag.

Ji Sheng played this intermittent tune from beginning to end, as naturally as if he was performing his own song.

Su Jing was stunned. He had an illusion for a moment. It was not the live broadcast guest he saw today for the first time but a certain young man who came in early in the morning with a score in his hand, woke him up slapping his butt, and smiled in the face of his roar, saying, “I’ve written a song, I’ll play it for you later”.

The barrage was also taken aback. When Ji Sheng first started performing, the audience was still laughing, but later, they gradually realized that this guy was really good and very professional. They were dumbfounded for a while and shut up.

Ji Sheng finished the performance, put the drumsticks in the drum bag, got up and returned to his place.

He sat down for a while, and then the barrage suddenly woke up, dense exclamations and compliments reappearing in the live broadcast room.

“Well played, quite a surprise. I thought there were not many people who knew this song…”

Su Jing regained his senses and was about to say a few words to cover up his absent-mindedness, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of the barrage.

[Just like the dead pretty boy, it’s an insult to the drummer’s profession to play rock with a feminine touch. 】

Su Jing’s face darkened: “I said I don’t want to see cursing in the live broadcast room.”

The man didn’t let up and even got more aggressive in his tone.

“Bitch”, “pussy” and “deserved to die” were used.

Faced with this man’s quality triplet, Su Jing’s face became a little bit horrible.

He turned back and picked the drumsticks from the drum bag.

Not far away, Su Jing’s assistant silently covered his face.

It was over; Su Jing had switched to shotgun mode.

The drumstick was pointing at the screen. Su Jing’s expression was gloomy and terrifying, as if he was holding not a drumstick but Lord Voldemort’s magic wand, or a pen dripping ink over the Death Note, or the staff of the great wizard Gandalf the Grey.

Su Jing jerked his right hand, just enough to graze the corner of Ji Sheng’s eye.

The former keyboardist went back to his old way and broke out completely.

“The one in the audience with the id ‘wjssjb’.”

He took a deep breath.

“What the fuck are you doing here introducing yourself to the whole world? You’re only good enough to bang on your dad’s grave. To say that someone insults the drummer profession, you’re fucking insulting the human race!” 

Su Jing stood up excitedly, waving the drumstick and rushing forward aggressively, forcing the staff who were about to come up to rescue the scene to retreat again.

He leaned in front of the camera, his mouth opened and closed.

“This wjssjb from the underworld, let me tell you——

“I***，****，****，*****，**!!!”

Ding Dong.

The network management belatedly banned this overly uncivilised live broadcast room.