Reborn as a Substitute

Ji Sheng paused in his steps and stopped unnaturally.

“Younger brother… I think.” He said with uncertainty, “It may be that you were too young when we met. Until now, I have always had the wrong impression that you are still a minor.”

After listening to him, Xie Xuanming was silent for a moment, then smiled softly; it was hard to say whether it was mockery or sadness.

“However, I am older than you now.” He said coldly, “This is the result of your own choice.”

Ji Sheng was speechless.

Until the afternoon, Ji Sheng was still struggling with the meaning of Xie Xuanming’s words, not knowing if he blamed him for being stupid enough to be killed, or if he was complaining about being treated as a child all the time and being neglected emotionally… or both.

Ji Sheng couldn’t be sure what Xie Xuanming meant, but he was pretty sure that Xie Xuanming was unhappy after saying that and remained sullen and silent for hours.

If Ji Sheng was still Ji Hui, he would probably have provoked Xie Xuanming without a second thought, the two of them would have exchanged sarcastic remarks and the matter would have more or less been settled.

But Ji Sheng was not Ji Hui and quarrelling with Xie Xuanming would only be a one-sided stabbing. It was no longer an option.

Ji Sheng thought about it this and that way; in the end, he could only bite the bullet, ran to the program group to borrow a cotton candy machine, roll a big white cotton candy, turn around and hand it to Xie Xuanming who was watching the process with his arms crossed.

“Eat it?” Ji Sheng struggled to give the signal of requesting reconciliation.

Xie Xuanming looked at him in silence, making him shiver all over.

Two seconds later, Xie Xuanming finally mercifully accepted Ji Sheng’s twisted apology.

“Thank you.”

He squeezed the stick, thought for two seconds, and said, “I want a blue one.”

“There is too much pigment.” Ji Sheng said, “It’s not healthy.”

“Do you still care if it is healthy or not when you’re eating cotton candy?” Xie Xuanming said convincingly.

Ji Sheng was speechless.

He took a stick, scooped a large spoonful of white sugar, and then a spoonful of blue. He shook off half a spoonful with a shake of his hand, and then another half with another shake.

Ji Sheng poured the few pitiful blue sugar grains into the machine and lightly covered the white ball in a layer of blue candyfloss.

Then he handed the extremely perfunctory blue cotton candy to Xie Xuanming.

“Blue.” Ji Sheng said nonsense with honest eyes.

After an eerie silence, Xie Xuanming took the light blue cotton candy and gave Ji Sheng the white one in his hand.

“You eat this.”

Ji Sheng actually didn’t particularly like sweet things, but he was in the process of coaxing now, so he could not refuse Xie Xuanming’s “kindness”. He could only dryly say “thank you”, take it, and take a few token bites.

The sweetness of sugar melted in their mouths as the two of them leaned on the cotton candy machine with the shreds of sugar floating around, quietly nibbling on the cotton candy in a surprisingly calm and harmonious atmosphere.

Ji Sheng glanced sideways at Xie Xuanming, who was eating the cotton candy seriously, and thought secretly that if he could always be in this well-behaved state, it would not be impossible for him to eat fifteen sweet candy cottons a day.

Ji Sheng swallowed a mouthful of sugar and was about to make a few light-hearted comments when his mobile phone rang before he could say anything.

Since Xie Xuanming asked the program group to return Ji Sheng’s mobile phone, the two of them had been inseparable almost every day and there was no chance for the staff to demand it back. Even if there were staff members who adhered to the rules and wanted to take back the mobile phone, they would be discouraged by the cold face of Teacher Xie accompanying the contestant “Ji Hui”. 

Ji Sheng held the cotton candy in his mouth, wiped his hand twice on his sweatpants and fished out his mobile phone.

He glanced at the screen and his face turned green.

[Sheng Kongzhi]

On this harmonious occasion, even if it was just a name, Sheng Kongzhi had to come out to stir up trouble again.

As the sugar floss melted in his mouth, Ji Sheng stiffened his neck and cautiously turned to the side.

Sure enough, he met Xie Xuanming’s ice-cold gaze.

Ji Sheng: ……

Ji Sheng now regretted that he did not obediently hand in his mobile phone.

“Do you still have contact with him?” Xie Xuanming’s voice was chilling to the bone.

“…no, ahem.” Ji Sheng choked on the melted sugar and tried to explain after swallowing it, “He probably wants to meet again.”

“Oh.” Xie Xuanming turned his eyes away and lowered his head to bite the cotton candy, “Then blacklist him.”

He added another sentence with unclear meaning: “If you can’t bear it, you don’t have to.”

Ji Sheng didn’t dare. He swiped quickly and blacklisted Sheng Kongzhi. After the operation, he dangled the screen in front of Xie Xuanming as if showing his homework to the teacher.

Ji Sheng’s act of quickly drawing a clear line caused the icy temperature between the two to warm up a little.

But before Ji Sheng could breathe a sigh of relief, Xie Xuanming said: 

“Do you know what Sheng Kongzhi has done?”

“I’ve heard of some, but I don’t know everything.”

“Then do you want to know?” Xie Xuanming licked the last strands of sugar on the stick and neatly threw the stick into the trash can next to him.

Ji Sheng briefly thought about whether Xie Xuanming was setting up a trap or asking sincerely, but eventually replied honestly: “I want to know.”

He added: “I mainly want to know why you hate him so much.”

The focus was not on “him”, but on “you”.

Ji Sheng believed that Xie Xuanming should be able to hear it.

Xie Xuanming did hear it. He paused for a second and began to tell Ji Sheng about the “great achievements” of Sheng Kongzhi.

Xie Xuanming’s tone was very flat. He first coldly recounted some of the ideas implemented by Sheng Kongzhi’s team over the years, which mostly included sucking up to the high and stepping on the low, licking the pie and robbing resources, and…

“Guided an Internet explosion.” Xie Xuanming said, “One of the actresses he worked with was a newcomer. She was very popular and her acting skills were also good. The CP of the two was quite hot, and the interaction during the promotion period was also intensive. There were a lot of cp fans, and there have been rumours of a romance… At the end of the promotion period, Sheng Kongzhi’s studio issued a statement accusing the actress of sexually harassing him.”

“What?” Ji Sheng didn’t react for a while, startled.

Xie Xuanming glanced at him: “A very familiar action, pouring dirty water on others to elevate himself.”

Ji Sheng was still confused: “Why did he do this?”

“To strengthen his girlfriend type fans, to purify the cp fans, to suppress an actor of another company, to kill three birds with one stone.” Xie Xuanming said simply.

Ji Sheng was silent for a while: “Then that actress…”

“Depression, withdrew from the circle.”

Ji Sheng frowned and looked a little uncomfortable. Xie Xuanming glanced at him and said a few words in defence of Sheng Kongzhi for the first time: “It’s mainly the strategy of his team, and there are many people in the circle who do this… Sheng Kongzhi’s personal thoughts in it don’t matter, he has no choice…”

He paused and said sarcastically: “That’s what his fans say.”

Ji Sheng: “…”

Ji Sheng: “You know that.”

“I do follow these things with my other account…” Xie Xuanming mentioned and changed the subject, “But there are some things that I can be sure were Sheng Kongzhi’s own wishes.”

“…what?”

“In the first season of “Music First”, you should have debuted taking first place. But Sheng Kongzhi had a meal with the sponsor’s daughter and replaced you.” Xie Xuanming turned his head, “I had the handle on the program team in my hand. They didn’t dare to threaten the contestants. This matter could only be done voluntarily by Sheng Kongzhi. I am quite curious, when the program team talked to him, did they discuss the ranking, and did he know who he would replace… I don’t know. What do you think?”

Ji Sheng looked away and said after a long time: “Before, I thought he wouldn’t, now… I don’t know.”

The show crew was in a mess because of the bloody photos, and Niepan was also too disgusted by the box to participate in the recording. Seeing that the afternoon session was ruined and Ji Yueming’s situation improved and she could be visited, Xie Xuanming simply took Ji Sheng to see her.

Along the way, Xie Xuanming told some other things to Ji Sheng. For example, most of Qingchu’s initial investment came from the sponsor’s daughter, and for example, Sheng Kongzhi actually brought the capital for the first step of the web drama filming, otherwise with his acting skills he would have been kicked out of the crew a long time ago…

Ji Sheng listened silently, piecing these things together on the memory board to restore the cold but true past.

He was still a little chilled when he heard it first, but then he became numb and instead got distracted and thought about other things.

“When did you learn all this?” Ji Sheng asked softly.

“After the first movie was finished.” Xie Xuanming said plainly, “I wanted to tell you directly.”

But I thought you wouldn’t believe me.

“Oh.” Ji Sheng recalled that period of time and lowered his eyes in a slight embarrassment, “Then…”

The car stopped and Xie Xuanming interrupted: “We’re here.”

Ji Sheng suddenly raised his eyes; in the dim lights of the underground parking lot his pale face reflected in the window.

There was a sound of the door opening next to him, and Ji Sheng turned his head.

Xie Xuanming got out of the car, his expression blank, leaving him alone in his seat.

“Aren’t you going in?”

Ji Sheng stood in the corridor, stretching his neck to look inside the ward.

His gaze passed through the open door and followed to the bed by the window where Ji Yueming sat, laughing heartily, as she chatted happily with the little police officer accompanying her.

Ji Sheng stayed here for a long time, too timid to walk in.

“No…” he replied without blinking.

Ji Yueming’s lips moved; it looked like she said “My son is about the same age as you.”

Ji Sheng shrank back as if stabbed, and whispered, “I am not in the position to see her.”

“En.” Xie Xuanming responded, looking down at Ji Sheng, “Aren’t you going to tell her who you are?”

Ji Sheng didn’t answer immediately; it took a while before he said, “I don’t know how to say it… forget it.”

Before he finished talking, Ji Yueming suddenly raised her eyes and glanced outside the door for no reason. Ji Sheng met her gaze and turned away in a hurry. As if he wanted to escape, he stepped back half a step at a loss.

Xie Xuanming stepped forward slightly, blocking Ji Yueming’s gaze.

Ji Sheng hid between the wall and Xie Xuanming, and before he could calm his heart beating chaotically because of Ji Yueming’s glance, he heard Xie Xuanming above him speak in a low voice.

“There is one less person who knows that you are Ji Sheng. Although it is your mother… I am still a little happy now.” Xie Xuanming lowered his eyes, looked at Ji Sheng and asked, “Is it despicable?”

“Huh?” They were too close; Ji Sheng was shaken by his low voice and his mind buzzed a little. After calming down, he said, “It is a bit… However, people always have some ungenerous thoughts, it is understandable.”

“That too.” Xie Xuanming said. His voice became lower, almost pressing against his auricle, “After all, I tried to be generous, but it didn’t help.”

“In the end, nothing was left.”