Reborn as a Substitute

All the members of Qingchu were shocked when they saw the watch that Ji Sheng had modified for Xie Xuanming, and then they sneered. Su Jing mocked mercilessly, “It really changed to Hercules”. Li Tan looked at Ji Sheng and asked how much it would cost now. Even the good-tempered Sheng Kongzhi looked a little embarrassed when he saw the watch with uneven screws and secretly instructed Ji Sheng not to bully shy children.

Ji Sheng was wronged but had nowhere to complain. He yelled four or five times, “Xiao Xie obviously likes it very much!” The responses he received were “That’s Xiao Xie’s good temper,” “What do you want people to say looking at this ugly thing” and “It’s not a question of liking it or not, it’s a question of running away from it.” 

Ji Sheng, who was severely hit, could only run to Xie Xuanming to find comfort. Xie Xuanming patted him on the shoulder with dignity and coaxed him, telling him that no matter what others said, he liked the design very much. Ji Sheng just burst into tears and was yelled at by Su Jing not far away: ”Don’t disturb the lead singer’s practice”……

After being run over by other members of Qingchu, Ji Sheng angrily took Xie Xuanming away… to work in an amusement park.

Non-stop odd jobs were the daily routine for the members of the Qingchu band apart from practice and performance. Although they now had many more gigs and their living standard after they started being paid was much higher than before, the Qingchu band had plans, or dreams, to prepare for an album. The release of the album, unsurprisingly, was a costly project. Looking at the staggering estimated amount of expenses, the members were saving money almost non-stop.

Li Tan had a serious job, while Su Jing had e-sports skills. He usually spent time in Internet cafes to make money by practising and winning online competitions. Sheng Kongzhi also found a fixed job in a nearby beverage shop. His gentle and handsome face made all the young girls on the street linger there. After he started working there, the sales in the shop increased a lot. The store manager smiled from ear to ear after counting the earnings…

So in the end, the only unlucky kid left was Ji Sheng, who had no job and no special skills and relied on running around doing odd jobs to earn money.

Regarding the temporary job in the amusement park, Ji Sheng didn’t want to drag Xie Xuanming there. After all, Xie Xuanming was young and looked like a standard high school student, an absolute flower of the motherland. In line with the principle that no child should suffer, no one in the band asked Xie Xuanming to go out to earn money. 

However, after Xie Xuanming heard about Ji Sheng’s next odd job location, he mentioned that he had never been to an amusement park. It might be because his expression when he said this was too lonely, or it was too easy to misinterpret it as lonely, but a few weeks later, Ji Sheng took him to work in an amusement park.

When they arrived at the location, Xie Xuanming was assigned the job to give stickers to children. He stood in front of the grotesquely sculpted forest, dressed in a parrot-like colourful outfit, leaning over expressionlessly to place stickers on the badges of the children exiting the project and saying tonelessly, “Ha ha, congratulations on completing the Forest Adventure.”

Although his clothes were very ugly in both colour and design, Xie Xuanming used his unreasonably good-looking face to forcefully and unquestionably save his image. He stood there among all the bells and whistles, looking like the little elf prince whose family was ruined and who was forced to sell his art, pitiful and handsome.

After standing for two or three hours, in addition to the children who asked for stickers, many girls came up to take pictures with him, and some boldly asked if they could add WeChat, which made Xie Xuanming refuse with dignity, saying “I’m a forest savage, I don’t have a mobile phone”…

After the operation repeated hundreds of times, the sun gradually moved up and there were finally fewer tourists. Xie Xuanming put a sticker on the last child in front of him and stood up straight, feeling that his waist was particularly sore.

He rubbed his waist twice and thought that he was really wimpy. He didn’t have the life of a young master but was sick like a young master.

He raised his eyes to look at the doll bear bouncing with a large number of balloons not far away.

Ji Sheng had been dancing in that bloated costume for three or four hours and didn’t seem tired at all, still maintaining a warm and lively attitude towards every child who came to get a balloon.

His physical strength was really good.

Xie Xuanming glanced up at the sun that seemed to be particularly poisonous today.

Didn’t he feel hot?

Of course he did.

During the lunch break, Ji Sheng took Xie Xuanming to a bench in the shade of a tree. After sitting down, he took off his headgear and threw it on the ground, revealing a flushed face.

“Finally rest.” Ji Sheng fanned himself with his hand, saying with emotion, “It’s too hot today, I wouldn’t be able to hold on if I stood for a while longer.”

Xie Xuanming looked at the grinning head of the doll thrown aside. He felt that the ground was dirty and was about to pick it up and hold it, but his legs sank and Ji Sheng’s head lay on his lap instead of the headgear.

“I’ll lie down for a while.” Ji Sheng moved a little to find a comfortable pose and closed his eyes.

Xie Xuanming had no objection to him lying on his lap, but a delicate part of his body was constantly rubbed by the moving head. Xie Xuanming was a little embarrassed and carefully pushed Ji Sheng’s hairy head away.

However, Ji Sheng kept shifting restlessly, and Xie Xuanming could only say, “Can you move down a little bit?” ”

Ji Sheng didn’t hear clearly: “What?”

Xie Xuanming slightly increased the volume: “Move down a little.”

Ji Sheng opened his eyes, squinted and glanced at the tips of his ears that were red from the sun. After figuring it out, he smirked and joked: “I forgot, our Xiao Xie is also a man, ah.”

“Of course, I am!” Xie Xuanming’s voice was louder and the tips of his ears were redder, “Move down a little, or get up!” ”

“Alright.” Ji Sheng made a choice and moved his head obediently.

He closed his eyes again; sunlight hit his face through the shade of the tree, making him frown. Xie Xuanming hesitated and raised his hand to block the bright rays.

Seeing that Ji Sheng’s delicate eyebrows smoothened, Xie Xuanming said:

“Let’s change shifts later?”

“No, my doll costume is full of sweat.”

“It’s okay.”

Ji Sheng opened his eyes, looked at Xie Xuanming and smiled again. He raised his hand to touch Xie Xuanming’s head, like petting a dog: “Oh, our Xiao Xie is really sensible, knowing how to respect the elderly, love children and be filial…”

Xie Xuanming: ……

Xie Xuanming pushed him down with a cold face: “Get up.”

Ji Sheng held on to him: “I won’t.”

“Then don’t talk.”

“Alright.”

After a short break, the two returned to their posts.

Perhaps it was because there were more clouds in the sky in the afternoon and the sun was not as hot as it was in the morning, or perhaps Xie Xuanming was so tired and numb that he had no extra sensory complaints, but he actually felt better in the afternoon than in the morning, and after bending over a hundred times, he soon reached the time to get off work.

As soon as the off-duty siren sounded, the doll bear in the distance raised his hand and cheered, ran up and handed the remaining balloon to Xie Xuanming: “Here.”

Xie Xuanming said, “I am not a child.”

“Not a child can also hold it.” Ji Sheng did not care, took off the gloves and tied the string to his wrist, his voice muffled through the doll head, “The standard of an amusement park is a hydrogen balloon and cotton candy, ah!”

Xie Xuanming let him do what he wanted: “I haven’t eaten cotton candy.” He added: “The kind that is like a cloud with a bamboo stick inserted.”

Ji Sheng straightened up and said in surprise, “Really?”

Xie Xuanming looked at the serious-looking doll bear staring straight at him. Inexplicably amused, he smiled slightly: “Really.”

“Oh.“ The doll bear seemed to be a bit perplexed as to why there were humans who had never tasted this kind of human delicacy for two yuan a stick. “You wait.”

After speaking, he fastened the balloon belt and rushed away.

At this point, the employee selling cotton candy was also off work. Xie Xuanming didn’t know what Ji Sheng was going to do. He just watched the brown bear run far away with his clumsy big head, then slam on the brakes, bend in front of a child holding a cotton candy, lean over and say something to him, and then start to perform hard.

Ji Sheng danced clumsily and stupidly, making the child very happy. The sound of the giggles spread far away. Ji Sheng leaned over and said a few words, pointing to Xie Xuanming.

The child looked over, hesitated, and finally gave him a big cotton candy in his hand.

The bear doll returned victorious and handed out the cotton candy.

Xie Xuanming took the cotton candy hesitantly: “What did you tell him?”

Ji Sheng took off his headgear and rubbed his wet hair.

“I said, do you see the beautiful brother standing over there? He is a princess kidnapped by a dragon. Only a cotton candy can save her from the demon king.” He said lazily, “Hi, Princess Cotton Candy.”

Xie Xuanming looked down at the cloud-like cotton candy.

The cotton candy in the amusement park was not monotonous white; pink, blue and yellow candyfloss mingled in a dreamy colour of a fairy tale.

That woman said that this kind of thing was colored sugar, which was unhealthy and was not allowed to be eaten.

Xie Xuanming pinched a small piece with his fingers and put it in his mouth.

The sugar melted, sweetness spreading on the tip of his tongue.

There was a sudden urge in Xie Xuanming’s heart, something he had never tried and was not qualified to try when he was a child, some kind of power called “the right to be capricious”.

Impulsively, he said, “I haven’t been on a ride either.”

“Ah.” Ji Sheng said happily, “Then do you want to go?”

“En.”

It stood to reason that employees were not allowed to be on the rides, as there was no need to buy a ticket to ride a project inside the amusement park.

The two changed into casual clothes, sneaked into the group of tourists and lined up to the ferris wheel.

Taking the ferris wheel was Xie Xuanming’s choice. It was almost closing time and there were not many options left to play. Xie Xuanming was not a fan of thrill rides, more interested in the ferris wheel that offered a full view of the amusement park. 

Xie Xuanming and Ji Sheng caught the last ferris wheel before closing, and the colourful round cabin carried them up slowly. Xie Xuanming looked through the glass,  watching the panoramic view of the amusement park. The crowd walking to the gates flowed among the brightly lit amusement facilities, magical like a candy river in a fairy tale.

Xie Xuanming stared out the window for a while, then turned around and realized that there was something wrong with Ji Sheng.

“Are you…” He looked at the deathly pale Ji Sheng and hesitantly said, “afraid of heights?”

“Haha, why would I?” Ji Sheng smiled stiffly, “I, such an invincible drummer, how can I be afraid of such a height?” 

Xie Xuanming reminded intimately: “Your legs are shaking.”

“Cold.”

“You are sweating.”

“Cold sweat.”

Xie Xuanming looked at his fluttering hair and pale lips speechlessly, and added, “If you are really afraid, you can sit with me and I will hold you.”

“Ha ha, I’m not afraid, I won’t go there.”

“……”

Xie Xuanming said helplessly: “Brother Ji, come here, the cabin is shaking with you.”

“Won’t!”

“……”

“Come here.”

“No!!”

The ferris wheel passed the highest point and slowly descended. Five or six minutes later, the hatch opened and the shocked staff who couldn’t wait to get off work faced a helpless-looking teenager. The teenager was carrying a large human-shaped pendant by his side.

The staff took a closer look and realised that it was a senseless young man holding the teenager by the waist, refusing to let go.

The teenager that had taken on the burden of responsibility at a young age resolutely dragged the young man away.