Reborn as a Substitute

Xie Xuanming stood by the drum set for the entire performance.

The director couldn’t stop wiping sweat under the stage and kept imploring the lights to move.

The lighting teacher moved the lamp post to the front of the stage to a position that could illuminate Xie Xuanming but not Ji Sheng.

But who could have imagined that as soon as the light moved, Xie Xuanming would take two more steps back without raising his eyes and walk towards the back of the drum set where the light could not reach.

“Stop, stop, stop, don’t move!” The director was really afraid that he would run behind the drum set, so he hurriedly took his intercom and yelled.

The lighting teacher, sweating, silently moved the lamp post back.

Looking at the two people on the stage that seemed to be glued together, the director felt numb.

“Chief…” The director wiped his sweat and leaned over, “Should we cut out this segment for the broadcast?”

“What to cut? How to cut?” The chief director was so angry that he jumped to his feet and cursed, “These two are like Siamese twins! If we’re going to cut them, we have to cut them together! Do you dare to cut Xie Xuanming’s footage? Are you going to be responsible for pissing off his hordes of fans??”

“That…” The director was confused by his machine-gun-like barrage of replies, “but this scandalous artist…”

The chief director nearly lost his breath. He was about to wave his hand and say let him be scandalous. If Xie Xuanming didn’t care that his little lover gave him a green hat, why should they, the salarymen, worry about it…

However, before he waved his hand, someone from the public relations department hurried over: “Chief!!”

Before the director could ask what was so urgent, the man stuffed the tablet into his hands.

“Look at Weibo! Public opinion has reversed!”

The chief director took a closer look, and the number one spot on the hot search stood as:

[Trainee clarifies for Ji Hui]

The one who came out to clarify was an amateur who had posted dance videos on several video platforms to gain some attention. Fans who followed her also knew that she used to be a trainee preparing to make her debut.

This former trainee was the girl Ji Sheng rescued in KTV then. She posted a personal testimony in a long post recounting how she was forced by her company to entertain some partners and was almost molested but was saved by a kind person.

It was Ji Sheng who saved her. In the long post, the girl affirmed that Ji Sheng was also forced to come. After saving her, he left the private room. Naturally, there was no gold master and he didn’t hook up with anyone.

Later in the comments area, the girl posted two hairpins that Ji Sheng borrowed to play drums. Comparing them with the photos posted on the news, the crowd was surprised to find that there was indeed a girl with hairpins in the photo. After restoring the image quality, it could be confirmed that the style of the hairpins in the two pictures was the same.

After the girl’s post, Ji Hui’s fans finally stood up and asked in the comments whether Ji Hui was involved in hugging the man in the picture.

In response, the former trainee gave a negative answer.

The focus of attention finally returned to the authenticity of the photo, with Ji Hui’s side once again posting a complaint about the photoshopped picture, and many tech gurus showed up to confirm the fact that the photo was photoshopped.

The dust from the “gold master-gate” settled, and passers-by and fans focused on the “agency forcing the trainee to drink with clients”. In time, their anger shifted to Niepan’s company, and furious fans rushed to the official blog. The traffic of the little shitty company reached its highest peak since its establishment.

As soon as Ji Sheng got off the stage, he was called away before he could read Weibo.

“Lu Haoren is on the phone.” Huang Sizhe glanced at Xie Xuanming, and said deliberately, “It’s for the Niepan members, so let’s avoid irrelevant people.”

Xie Xuanming raised his eyebrows slightly, then took two steps back to the other side of the room.

Huang Sizhe gave a ‘tsk’ and complained a lot: “Like a dog protecting a bone, not an inch away.”

Ji Sheng: ……

Ji Sheng didn’t know who should be more angry: Xie Xuanming, who had been called a dog, or he, who had been described as a bone.

So he chose to be silent.

“Now there is good news and bad news.” Lu Haoren said on the phone; the keyboardist put the phone on speakerphone and the members formed a circle around him.

“What?” Huang Sizhe asked.

“The good news is that Xiao Hui’s black material has been clarified, and the bad news is that our company is gone.”

“What?” Before the members had time to be happy about the first point, they were stunned by the latter news, and the guitarist stammered, asking, “What… what do you mean that the company is gone?”

Lu Haoren concisely explained that the company forced artists to accompany clients to drink, which caused the fans and justice warrior passers-by to blast the company and also report it to the police… Niepan’s little company was already a small temple with a great demon wind(1), and now once they heard that things had gone south, they immediately packed up and ran away. The official blog directly announced that the company was bankrupt and its artists had all been released from their contracts and no longer had any involvement with the company.

Niepan, the only band under the little shitty company: “…”

“No way?” The keyboardist couldn’t believe it.” Don’t we have three years left on our contract, can they just terminate it?”

“They can.” Ji Sheng, who had carefully studied the contract, replied.

“Huh?”

“It is stated in our contract that if there is an accident, Party A can terminate the contract on its own without having to agree with Party B,” Ji Sheng explained.

“And I’ve signed something so unreliable???” The keyboardist was shocked.

“You didn’t read the contract at all when you signed it, did you?” Huang Sizhe sighed, “It’s okay to be released, anyway, our company was no use to begin with.”

“This is true…”

Everyone was silent for a while and then the guitarist suddenly remembered something important: “Then what about our salary, who’s going to pay it? The company isn’t going to run away with money, right?”

“…it does have this intention.” Lu Haoren added, “But there are several companies that are willing to buy the “Niepan” label and are also willing to sign us. If the deal is reached, we should be able to get paid in the new company.”

“That’s good.” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Niepan adjourned the meeting; Ji Sheng turned to see Xie Xuanming talking to someone in the corner, so he didn’t go there first. At this moment, two staff members happened to walk by his side, whispering about the hot search.

Ji Sheng’s ears twitched as he caught the words “Xie Xuanming”; he turned around and hurriedly stopped one of the men.

“What happened on Weibo again?”

“Don’t you know yet, the matter of black material on Weibo has been completely clarified.” The staff stopped to say, “But… During the performance just now, Teacher Xie has been standing next to the drum set in the video. A live audience repo went out, and now it’s on the hot search… There are some people spreading rumours in the comments speculating about the relationship between the two of you… Teacher Xie! ”

While the staff was talking, they suddenly saw Xie Xuanming coming over and hurriedly bowed to say hello.

Xie Xuanming nodded, lowered his eyes and asked Ji Sheng, “Shall we go?”

Ji Sheng was worried about “rumours”. He didn’t have his mobile phone with him, so he hurriedly went back to the lounge to pick it up, and said, “Let’s go.”

After taking the mobile phone, Ji Sheng realized how euphemistic the staff’s wording was.

The so-called “some people” actually were all the melon-eating passers-by excluding Xie Xuanming’s fans.

[I’m surprised, am I watching a love variety show??? Is it possible to watch this kind of plot without paying for it?]

[Mom, Emperor Xie is still taking care of people like the last time…]

[When Ji Sheng was still there… upstairs, I’m saying that for you]

[By the way, Ji Hui and Ji Sheng really look a bit like each other]

[Absolutely, the actor’s substitute lover]

Of course, there were those who didn’t buy it.

[Now the industry has become like this? Xie Xuanming takes a plunge to sell rotten?]

[Doesn’t he take a plunge all the time kk]

[The two noble passers-by upstairs should say a few words less, it will not be good to go to court for disinformation]

[Here we go again, Ji Hui’s fans are here again, stepping on Xie Xuanming is not enough, Ji Sheng, a dead guy, needs to be pulled out repeatedly, are human blood steamed buns(2) that delicious?]

[The Xie fan above changed Xie Xuanming’s avatar before posting. If you want to eat, eat two people, why did you pick out Xie Xuanming so cleanly?]

[Laughs, you’re the one who should delete White Lotus Sheng(3) from your homepage. The smell of green tea is disgusting]

The ten-second sneak video had over 10,000 comments within ten minutes. Xie Xuanming’s fans protected him and barely controlled the scene, but Ji Hui was in a miserable situation. Half of the more than 10,000 comments were scolding him.

Ji Sheng calmly scrolled through the comments without changing his expression, only slightly worried that Xie Xuanming’s reputation might have suffered because of this.

As he kept looking at the comments, Ji Sheng realised that something was weird. Cursing comments gradually decreased, replaced by fan remarks of [Xie Xuanming, you are really a Bodhisattva], or sighs by passers-by of [It is not easy for everyone in the entertainment industry (smoking)].

Ji Sheng was puzzled as to why the comments suddenly became so harmonious, until he exited the comments area and saw popular reposts.

The first hot repost, Xie Xuanming.

Ji Sheng was taken aback and looked at the time intently. The repost time was probably when Niepan and Lu Haoren were on the phone.

When he clicked on Xie Xuanming’s Weibo, the first post was the one that was reposted.

[The cooperation with Niepan was very pleasant. Someone once said to me, go into the light and then walk forward with the light. I’ve managed to walk into the light and am trying to carry the light forward into the darkness.]

The majority of Xie Xuanming’s fans were his fans since his debut, and most of them remembered the difficult days when Xie Xuanming debuted with a lot of black press, so they quickly understood that Xie Xuanming’s action today was to take care of his juniors, to shelter the contestants from being harmed by the capital and shady practices like it had happened to him.

The fans who were originally angry about the cp with Ji Hui sucking blood from their idol now didn’t have time to be angry. They just couldn’t help feeling sorry for Xie Xuanming’s miserable debut, and they were relieved that he was now so responsible. They rushed to the original Weibo to comment and explain, and put down those ugly suspicions.

Passers-by saw the explanation and gradually stopped all kinds of guesses. Even the black fans were speechless, after all, the black fans also had to be reasonable. Xie Xuanming admitted to taking the initiative; what’s the point of still pulling out the story of a little 18th tier drummer forcing the movie star into a speculative cp? 

Xie Xuanming was a lunatic, not a fool…

Ji Sheng looked at the comment area with mixed feelings.

He also watched Xie Xuanming walk step by step and, compared to Xie Xuanming’s fans, he had seen Xie Xuanming look even more wretched… The determined young man who used to carry a hemp rope, or the child who was aggrieved by a broken watch, had transformed into a stable and responsible “saviour” of today.

Ji Sheng sighed.

As Ji Sheng was sighing, Xie Xuanming sat down beside him, glanced at Ji Sheng’s phone and said calmly: “Looking at this.”

“En.” Ji Sheng tilted his hand to conceal his face and turned the screen away, “I didn’t even know you were thinking so much on stage.”

“Actually not.” Unexpectedly, Xie Xuanming denied it, “It was just an afterthought when I got off the stage.”

He looked at Ji Sheng, his eyes deep.

“When I was on stage, I just wanted to be by your side.”