Reborn as a Substitute

When Xie Xuanming woke up, he was lying on the floor, and his face pressed against the ceramic tiles ached.

He glanced around in confusion and realized that he was not in his room. He raised his hand and touched the corners of his eyes, feeling significant swelling and dull pain.

He got up slowly and saw Sheng Kongzhi who was asleep on the sofa next to him, not sobered up yet.

It was Ji Sheng’s place, Xie Xuanming made a judgement.

When he thought of Ji Sheng, his skull ached.

Xie Xuanming felt as if something had happened at noon, but his fragmented brain was blank and he couldn’t recall anything except passing out and feeling vaguely flustered.

Xie Xuanming touched the back of his head, walked into the bathroom, glanced at the mirror and was shocked by his bruised and swollen reflection.

The guy in the mirror had a split at the corner of his eye, the left half of his face was swollen like a steamed bun and even his eye was squeezed into a slit.

It could be seen at a glance he had been beaten.

And not lightly beaten.

Xie Xuanming knew his mad dog temper; he raised his hand to take a look at his intact knuckles, wondering why he was beaten like this without fighting back.

Was it because he was drunk and didn’t have the strength to fight back?

Or was it something fanciful that he had no reason to resist?

The disconnected Xie Xuanming had no way of knowing.

He washed the blood stains on his face with cold water, wiped the water, walked out of the bathroom and bumped into Su Jing who came out of the bedroom yawning.

When Su Jing saw him, his narrowed eyes widened: “Wow, it’s so scary.”

Xie Xuanming knew that his new face was scary but he wanted to know why he was so scary.

“After I was drunk, what happened?”

“Heh, you’re not good when you’re drunk.” Su Jing rubbed his swollen face, his pretty eyebrows raised in glee, “You hugged Baby Sheng and kissed and gnawed on him, like a mad dog, Lao Sheng and I couldn’t stop you, but Baby Sheng was self-reliant. He got up and punched you twice. After beating you down, he felt more at ease.”

Xie Xuanming’s usual indifferent expression gradually cracked: “I, hugged Brother Ji… and gnawed…”

He couldn’t talk anymore; his face turned pale but the tips of his ears were frighteningly red.

Seeing his face pale with astonishment, Su Jing’s non-existent motherly nature was stirred up a bit and for a moment he forgot the zombie-dog crazy appearance of the kid at the celebration banquet, on the contrary, feeling that he looked like a lost boy.

“Ji Sheng is in the bedroom, go and apologise.” Su Jing patted him, “Baby Sheng has a big heart and is easy to soften. If you act coquettishly a little, he won’t be able to help himself.”

Su Jing walked past Xie Xuanming and entered the bathroom, leaving Xie Xuanming alone at the door of the bedroom in a daze.

After a few seconds, he took a step forward and knocked on the door hesitantly.

No response.

Knock again.

There was silence.

Are you asleep?…

Xie Xuanming hesitated for two seconds, opened the door of the bedroom and raised his eyes to see Ji Sheng sitting on the bed, staring at him coldly.

Xie Xuanming: ……

“Brother Ji.” Xie Xuanming closed the door, “You are awake but no one answered. I thought you were asleep…”

Before he finished speaking, he saw Ji Sheng’s current situation and stopped, stunned.

Ji Sheng’s lips were swollen, clearly split, and a small bruise at the corner of his eye was very eye-catching. It didn’t look like he had been beaten by someone, but it seemed that he had bumped into something. The most shocking thing was his cheek. There were deep tooth marks on his smooth left cheek making it look like a bitten apple, obvious and alarming.

Xie Xuanming couldn’t close his mouth; his expression was horrified.

“You hugged Baby Sheng and kissed and gnawed on him”

Su Jing’s words echoed hauntingly in his ears, crumbling his vague ambitions and shaking him to the core.

Xie Xuanming really didn’t expect that Su Jing didn’t exaggerate at all. He was telling the true story.

Xie Xuanming hardly dared to look up. Ji Sheng’s miserable and slightly funny “battle damage” face had three large words written on it—

“Kissed and gnawed”.

“Have you seen enough?”

Xie Xuanming seemed to tremble like a willow branch by the door for a while; Ji Sheng finally couldn’t bear it and spoke in a gloomy voice.

He was in a bad mood. No one could stay calm and kind after being chewed (literally) by the puppy they picked up. Ji Sheng felt that not blasting Xie Xuanming out of the house and grabbing a rabies vaccination already made him as benevolent as Guanyin Bodhisattva reincarnated.

Seeing Xie Xuanming’s confused and devastated face, Ji Sheng said coldly: “Don’t tell me you don’t remember.”

“I don’t remember…”

“……”

“I’m sorry…”

Xie Xuanming stood at the door dejectedly, looking a little aggrieved.

When Ji Sheng saw him like this, his anger flared up seven metres high.

Obviously it was him who was bitten and taken advantage of, why did this kid look miserably like “I’m a victim”!

Furious and unable to maintain a decent demeanour, he stood up, pointed at his cheek and cursed, “Xie Xuanming! You’re a dog, aren’t you! Or a zombie! I’ve been treating you well, so where did you get all this resentment from?”

“It’s not resentment…” Xie Xuanming defended himself in a low voice.

“What is it then? Young man’s anger? Or a spermatozoa brain attack? Don’t tell me you have a secret crush on me!”

Xie Xuanming’s heart thudded and he unconsciously looked up at Ji Sheng.

His eyes were full of shock mixed with some panic, and he looked pitiful like a small, dumbfounded animal being yelled at.

Ji Sheng took two deep breaths and suppressed his anger: “You’d better give me a satisfactory explanation.”

Xie Xuanming nodded quickly.

The excuse of recurrent madness was definitely not good, as no one would want to keep a hidden danger of a mentally ill by their side. The excuse of having a crush was even more choking. Xie Xuanming felt it was better to hang himself on the spot…

Several excuses flashed through Xie Xuanming’s brain that was temporarily paralyzed by alcohol, and finally, a bold and outrageous movie script plot surfaced.

“Actually, I have a first love.” Xie Xuanming’s expression was solemn, his eyelashes fluttering, “Looking a bit like Brother Ji.”

He said this with a sense of uncertainty, feeling that this outrageous reasoning would be debunked in a minute.

“I have been secretly in love for a long time… I probably was not clear-headed when I was drunk. I thought you were… I just…”

But Ji Sheng believed it.

“Excuse me, did I have to suffer on behalf of others?” Ji Sheng sneered, “You’re lucky, Xie Xuanming, that I am a big guy. If there was a girl looking like your first love, you could go directly to jail.”

“I’m sorry…” Xie Xuanming apologised in a low voice, ready to accept the blame.

Seeing him so dejected, Ji Sheng gradually calmed down.

Ji Sheng was angry because he was bitten raw. The pain produced some anger; he was not thinking of it in terms of being insulted or taken advantage of. Now Xie Xuanming presented his first love that ended in failure and his pitiful appearance was very softening…

At least it could soften Ji Sheng’s heart.

“All right, all right.” Ji Sheng waved his hand impatiently, “Look at yourself, you’re suffocating yourself into a frenzy like this. If you like someone, go after them and confess your love. What’s the point of sulking… your first love, does she go to the same school as you?”

Xie Xuanming assessed Ji Sheng’s tone and figured out that if he said yes, he would be forced to go and confess.

“Used to but now went abroad.” Xie Xuanming lied without blinking.

“Is there a phone number?”

“No contact information.” Xie Xuanming said, “One level older than me, we haven’t even exchanged a few words.”

“Outrageous!” Ji Sheng hated iron for not being made of steel, but on second thought it dawned on him, “No wonder you gave me Hercules just after meeting me, it turned out to be evocative of the past.”

“Rolex.” Xie Xuanming corrected timidly, “And ‘evocative of the past’ is not used like this.”

“Damn.” Ji Sheng said angrily, “Are you here to apologise or to bicker?”

“I’m sorry…”

Ji Sheng glanced at him helplessly: “Forget it, don’t look so bitter, those who don’t know might think I’m bullying you… Don’t drink so much in future. Also, if your first love comes back, or you find someone you like, don’t be so wimpy, express yourself a little bit, and maybe you’ll get what you want. You are so good-looking, if you are bold enough, you might find that the little girl likes you too.”

“Not a little girl.” Xie Xuanming whispered, “It’s a boy.”

“Boy——“ Ji Sheng’s mind was blank for a moment, and then he said fiercely, “Boys also like good-looking!”

“Oh.” Xie Xuanming nodded obediently.

Ji Sheng was completely helpless against him: “Come here.”

Xie Xuanming went over uncertainly and his neck was hugged and pressed down, his face squeezed fiercely.

The corners of Xie Xuanming’s mouth twitched in pain and he pursed his lips tightly without making a sound.

Ji Sheng squeezed his face vigorously until leaving red marks, let go and snorted, “Now we’re even.”

Xie Xuanming straightened up and rubbed his cheek.

Ji Sheng sighed: “You don’t even make a sound when you’re in pain, you’re a jerk when you’re drinking, do you have some kind of alternative alcohol allergy?”

He patted Xie Xuanming on the head: “Don’t drink in the future, I’m afraid you will be bullied when you are drunk.”

Xie Xuanming raised his eyes and caught a glimpse of the eye-catching tooth marks on Ji Sheng’s face. It was me who bullied you when I was drunk, he said to himself.

Of course, he couldn’t say it aloud. Xie Xuanming didn’t want to make Ji Sheng, who was finally coaxed by him, mad again.

He only let out an “en”, demonstrating how harmless he was to humans and animals.

“Go back and get up early tomorrow to practise.” Ji Sheng rubbed his head twice turning it into a bird’s nest, “Whichever girl… guy you like in the future… tell your brother, I’ll give you a hand, if nothing else, I’m good at courting people.”

“En. ”

“Go back, bye.” Ji Sheng pushed him.

After Xie Xuanming said goodbye and turned away, his face changed. 

The obedience and gentleness quickly disappeared. Xie Xuanming pulled the door with an expressionless face, nodded slightly as he collided with Su Jing who was about to enter, and walked out.

“I see you’ve scolded him, his expression is so ugly…” Su Jing yelled in amazement, entering the room.

Xie Xuanming closed the door, cutting off the noise, and walked straight out of the apartment.

He stood still outside the anti-theft door and rubbed his stiff face.

It would be absolutely impossible to tell Ji Sheng that he liked someone.

That would not be not called intelligence sharing, it would be called confession.

Of course Xie Xuanming knew that Ji Sheng was very good at courting people; the gentle singing in the corner was the evidence.

Ji Sheng was brilliant at expressing emotions in singing. If Xie Xuanming was only suspicious before, he was basically sure after listening to the low singing.

Ji Sheng was borrowing his love song to express his affection for Sheng Kongzhi.

Xie Xuanming was also good at putting his feelings into songs, whether it was about stray dogs or ambiguous fruit candies.

So, when he was on the stage, did Ji Sheng hear the throbbing in his voice?

Xie Xuanming walked to the door of the rental house, took out the key and inserted it into the rusty keyhole with a squeak.

At the end of the show, Xie Xuanming turned back with a calculated motion and his eyes flew to the drum kit area at the back.

Ji Sheng sat there.

He smiles wantonly, his eyes containing a fine light that quietly spilled over to the corner of the stage.

Boldly and gently, he looked at the bassist who bowed his head, stroking the guitar.

Seeing Xie Xuanming turn around, Ji Sheng was surprised for a moment and his gaze moved.

He gave Xie Xuanming a cheerful smile.

The author has something to say:

The source of all evil——actually, I have a first love