Reborn as a Substitute

Loptr’s fan meetings were in full swing from the north all the way to the south.

Because of the intense schedule, the members were severely sleep deprived and by the second half of the fan meetings in the south, almost all of them were physically exhausted and often came off stage with their legs shaking and had to be carried off to get oxygen.

Even though exhausted, the members of Loptr still did their best to complete each and every meeting. Unfortunately, Loptr’s managing company was really a bunch of bastards. First, it was revealed that they had joined hands with scalpers to speculate on the price of tickets, and then there were frequent blunders in the timing.There was even a case when the show in one city was cancelled outright due to a mistake in ticket sales, and thousands of fans who had rushed to the show simply got the announcement that they had to go home, making them curse in front of the venue.

At the end of one tour, Hemei Entertainment made a fortune, while Loptr was subjected to  a dozen unsightly black topics on the hot search.

The members of Loptr were so tired of being pressured by Hemei Entertainment that they didn’t care about their status and were only looking forward to the three-day holiday that Hemei promised at the end of the tour, so that they could rest and take a breather.

On the one hand, Ji Sheng enjoyed the process of performing on stage; when he stepped on stage with his drumsticks in hand, he felt as if he was fully charged. On the other hand, Xie Xuanming had recently contacted him after a long absence, saying that the movie production was on holiday and he wanted to get together.

When Ji Sheng and Xie Xuanming checked, they found that their holidays just happened to overlap, so they were excited to meet for a meal and a movie.

However, the storm always lurks behind the breeze and the sun.

On the night the tour ended, the entire Loptr crew was already mentally in the midst of their vacation. The members of the band cheered as they got into the nanny van and headed home, and the staff were overjoyed to get rid of them temporarily. Among all the buzz, no one noticed that Sheng Kongzhi and Ji Sheng’s names tangled up and flew into the hot search without warning.

Anyone who followed the entertainment industry knew that this kind of situation where two people’s names were bundled together in a hot search, apart from a romance announcement, could only be a conflict.

In the case of Sheng Kongzhi and Ji Sheng, very fortunately, it was not the former.

Since the debut of Loptr after “Music First”, fans of Sheng Kongzhi and Ji Sheng had often been at odds with each other, fighting hundreds of times over “whether the show has made up the votes or not” and “who is the real popular top of Loptr”. There were many fights, and some of them crossed the borders of the entertainment circle, attracting a crowd of passers-by to take a look, face a black topic full of spraying dirt on one party and whitewashing the other, get scared with the ferocity of the fan circle, and stay away from it to keep safe.

Although the fights were disgraceful, they also brought traffic. And as long as there was traffic, naturally there would be money hungry marketing accounts to engage in the topic.

This time the origin of the hot search was invariably a marketing account again.

#Sheng Kongzhi Ji Sheng#

Two music kings, both of whom famous with their immersive performances on stage, who of the two will turn out to be the better actor? Come along and vote!

Sheng Kongzhi

Ji Sheng

Down in the voting section, the comments section was a battlefield.

[Sheng Kongzhi is Loptr frontman and captain, big lead singer, real money breaking top, please make Ji Lao’er(1) walk independently, don’t scam the almighty ace]

[Manipulating comments, manipulating comments. Don’t do that pulling and stomping thing and blowing fakes. How did your family come to be number one? Did the actual data of the backing club fundraising come out today? Is there an explanation for the eight million water army votes? The dream top, right? You’re so proud of your all-round ace, why doesn’t your brother start a one man clown show, playing bass with his left hand and guitar with his right hand, one foot drumming and one foot on keyboard? You should shut your mouth when you’re in a band, you’re always pulling and stomping, aren’t you sick of it?]

[Ugly Ji Lao’er who lives in retouched photos and still wants to act? Fans can dream!]

[Some people are ugly in the mouths of their opponents, some are ugly in their own faces.]

The number of Ji Sheng’s fans was huge, and Sheng Kongzhi fans were also unrelenting. The fans of the other members of the band were adding fuel to the fire, while Xie Xuanming’s fans watched the show on the sidelines. This picking, blowing fire and spitting went on for nearly 10,000 comments.

Generally speaking, with a fight of this magnitude not limited to the entertainment circle, there had to be a deeper capital behind it.

This time was no exception.

The people on the sidelines hit the nail on the head.

[I’ve heard that there’s a casting call for a web drama recently, and with all the bickering, I’m afraid the role will be decided between these two]

[It makes sense, it’s not the first time that big fans go down licking the pie(2), and just casual fans are still silly in their true feelings!]

[That drama ah… originally I didn’t care but now I really want them to choose Ji Sheng. Even if he’s acting is bad, at least one can’t resist his face]

[The fans of the other family are pretending to be passers-by. Is being a member of their fan club so shameful?]

[Shut up, be a fan and vote!]

[……]

When Ji Sheng woke up and saw the hot search, his mind was all over the place.

He looked at his own fans who were engaged in a bloody fight and was about to send out a post to persuade them to stop but before he had time to edit the text, Li Tan’s call came.

“There’s a resource.” Li Tan got right to the point.

“What kind of resource?”

“A web drama, interested in inviting you.” Li Tan said, “The script is quite good, the investor is also generous, the role negotiated is also good, it is the first male lead… looks solid to me. The downside is that the timing clashes with a couple of Loptr shows in the second half of the year…”

“I’ll go to the shows.” Ji Sheng decided without even thinking, “I’m a drummer, why to go for that web series buzz?”

“You say that, but is there another way out of the inner entertainment circle? All the singing idols with a bit of fame have gone into filming. This is a good opportunity to make a transition. You’d better think carefully about it.”

“What transition? I’ve only been on the scene for six months!” Ji Sheng thought it was ridiculous, “And I’m just a drummer, I’ve never even studied acting, how can I act?”

“How many idols nowadays have studied acting?” Li Tan asked rhetorically, “Don’t have a mental burden, just act and be done with it, the fans will buy it.”

“Isn’t that a pitfall?” Ji Sheng was a bit upset; holding the phone tighter, he said seriously, “Listen, Lao Tan, unless one day I’m free to learn acting, I’m not going to act. And don’t make me act, I won’t get on the screen and make a fool of myself. It’s disrespectful to the co-stars or the audience.”

“Fine, fine, fine.” Li Tan, whose head was spinning at his words, confirmed with some impatience, “So you’re not going.”

“No.”

“Okay, fine.” Li Tan said, “It’s fine if you want to play in a band, but the current market situation is not suitable for serious musicians to survive, it’s only a matter of time before you make the transition. I was thinking that you would make the transition earlier; it’s good to earn more money to support your family. But you’ve made this whole show of righteously refusing… Anyway, you should think of your behaviour, opportunities like this don’t always come again.”

“All right, all right, Lao Tan, why are you nagging?” Ji Sheng was worried, so he tried to tone down the conversation and joked, “You’re annoying like an old mom.”

“You’re a mom!” Li Tan was furious, “I’m working hard!”

“Yes, yes, you work hard…”

“About the hot search, don’t post stuff, the company will take care of it.”

“Okay, okay.”

The two men chatted for a few minutes and hung up the phone.

Ji Sheng popped back to lie down.

He clicked on Weibo and looked at it for a while; the fans were still making a lot of noise.

When Qingchu didn’t do anything to stop it, Ji Sheng couldn’t help himself, edited a post to persuade them to stop fighting and sent it out.

Sheng Kongzhi finished shooting the ad, bowed to the staff and hurriedly headed to the basement.

Although it was their holiday, the magazine’s shooting schedule could not be changed, so Sheng Kongzhi was forced to work overtime.

Ji Sheng had gone out in the morning and the two had arranged to go to Ji Sheng’s house for dinner in the evening.

Ji Sheng and Sheng Kongzhi were neighbours as they grew up. Sheng Kongzhi’s parents were at odds with each other and were very negligent towards their son. When the two of them quarrelled and couldn’t take care of Sheng Kongzhi, Ji Sheng would take him to his house to eat.

The childhood bond continued to this day, and remembering the aroma of the food floating in that small apartment was a rare occasion when Sheng Kongzhi’s smile reached the bottoms of his eyes.

He soon made it to the ground floor and saw the window of a black business car roll down and Ji Sheng’s head poking out of the window as he waved at him.

Sheng Kongzhi took a few steps to pull open the door; Ji Sheng was wearing an oversize round neck shirt, nestling in the seat, looking at him with arched eyebrows, well behaved to a fault.

Sheng Kongzhi’s heart was so softened by the look on his face that he let go of the door handle and opened his arms, making a move to hug him.

When he was about to take Ji Sheng into his arms, a hand suddenly reached out from behind Ji Sheng and yanked him back. Ji Sheng moved back a little, and Sheng Kongzhi stumbled and missed.

Sheng Kongzhi: ……

Sheng Kongzhi: ?

He steadied himself and watched Xie Xuanming wearing a mask emerge from behind Ji Sheng, his expressionless cold eyes revealing a bit of unreasonable mockery.

“Hi,” Xie Xuanming greeted him laconically.

Sheng Kongzhi: ……

Sheng Kongzhi got into the car with a sullen face, and Xie Xuanming pulled Ji Sheng closer, making him sit at a distance that was as far as possible from Sheng Kongzhi.

Sheng Kongzhi’s good mood was half gone but he had no way to express his anger, so he moved down next to Ji Sheng and asked with a fake smile, “Why is Xiao Xie here?”

“He is going to my place for dinner too.” When Sheng Kongzhi moved, Xie Xuanming also silently squeezed closer. Ji Sheng was sandwiched between the two, leaning forward uncomfortably, “I went out with him this morning. His family is not here. I don’t want to eat alone in the evening, and when I heard that you will be coming to my house, I decided to take this opportunity to get together and celebrate.”

Sheng Kongzhi’s smile was a bit ugly, “Oh so, it’s really a ‘happy occasion’.”

He gave Xie Xuanming a warning look, but saw the wolf cub grin at him from behind Ji Sheng’s back, his teeth so white and sharp that one bite was likely to draw a lot of blood.

A bloodthirsty beast.

Sheng Kongzhi rarely got angry but now he was.

Only a senseless person like Ji Sheng could foolishly raise a wolf cub as a dog.

The three of them awkwardly huddled in the back seat. Ji Sheng endured for a while before finally speaking, “Can you guys move to the side some…”

Before he could finish the sentence, his phone rang.

Ji Sheng stopped talking and fished the phone out of his pocket with difficulty.

It was his assistant’s calling.

“Brother Ji! Something’s happened!” The young assistant’s anxious tone sounded very clear in the closed space of the car, “Look at the hot search—”

Ji Sheng froze for a moment: “What’s wrong with the hot search again?”

While he was still asking, Xie Xuanming was already moving neatly to unlock his phone and clicked on the hot search.

When he saw the number one search, his eyebrows twitched heavily.

#Ji Sheng Don’t make me act#

There was a video.

The young assistant was still babbling on the phone hastily but Xie Xuanming couldn’t wait to see it, so he just clicked play.

The video was black, with only the sound playing out intermittently.

Xie Xuanming’s phone loudspeaker was not turned off, and when they heard the sound, all three of them turned pale.

“I’m just a drummer… don’t make me act… annoying.”

The not-so-low volume carried the sound of Ji Sheng’s voice, distorted by the recording, throughout the car.