Reborn as a Substitute

Although Ji Sheng’s trick was debunked, Xie Xuanming finally sang him a song.

Ji Sheng was also very generous, accepting a pop song as a lullaby, and fell asleep while listening to it.

Xie Xuanming stared at his sleeping face for a while, then got up and went out.

He still had some things to deal with.

At eight o’clock the next morning, when people were rushing on the subway and bus to school or work, a report and a recording were quietly uploaded to Weibo, soaring to the top of the hot search list at an unbelievable speed.

The report was just an uneventful police report.

It reported that a woman surnamed Liu broke into a private house and was arrested. Miss Liu was also suspected of purchasing prohibited drugs, invading the privacy of others, spreading rumours and slandering as well as maliciously injuring and intentionally killing people. The police were still investigating this matter.

This post did not attract public attention at the beginning; the passers-by swiping it only sighed that this person had committed so many crimes. It was like a hodgepodge, one couldn’t even count… With a slip of a finger, the news was skipped carelessly.

However, when this official announcement was linked to a recording posted by other media accounts at the same time, it instantly detonated a hot search.

The recording was posted by several marketing accounts. There was no doubt that it was Xie Xuanming’s handwriting. He had been in the entertainment circle for years, and many media he knew were willing to give him face, not to mention that the recording he sent to them this time was a big deal. The marketing accounts were so eager that they even were ready to pay money for an exclusive release.

Xie Xuanming did not agree to the exclusive release request. He rejected all the people who offered money for the recording and only asked to conceal his identity as the source.

The voices of the two people in the recording were processed, so that the real voices could not be heard, but the content of the conversation was very clear.

“I have met so many artists, and you are the calmest one.”

“You really look like him. Looking at you… makes me want to slash your face.”

“You went to see *** a few days ago… what did you talk about?”

“*** that bitch is a ghost!! (The sound of tearing the fabric) I clearly told them to kill you at the time… This bunch of trash, good-for-nothings, useless, you…”

“*** told me that *** didn’t harass him at all, it was just the company…”

“What do you know? *** that bitch, getting next to *** is blasphemy against ***. How dared he seduce ***, he deserved to die!!”

The conversation between the two was rough, obviously in a state of coercion and intimidation, which made people cringe as they listened.

Several marketing accounts with a large number of followers carried the topic of #sisheng recording#, and the popularity of the entry was raised to the highest level.

In the comment area, passers-by and fans were shocked by how low the bottom line of the sisheng fan was.

[Is this a sisheng?? It’s a murderer, right?]

[Sishengs are already criminals, but those who have gone this far are the oddest of the odd.] 

[Go to jail for a few years (vomiting)]

[What a few years? If this sisheng really did those things, it’s going to be ten years or more…]

[I’m really curious about the name omitted in the recording is, it seems to be three syllables]

[Three-syllable name… combined with another blocked name, I can probably decipher it]

[Me too…]

[Who is it, asking the two upstairs to decode in a private message…]

[Don’t be curious about which star it is, okay? The artists involved in this situation are unlucky enough. The commenter does not hold the sisheng accountable but runs to infringe the privacy of the victims? If you are a star, don’t you have human rights? Please be kind!]

[Wanting to know the artist’s name is not kind? This sisheng does not harass her idol but runs to harm others. I wonder who her idol is.]

[This kind of fan is a disaster, why do you blame the artist? Speechless]

[……]

[Don’t make noise yet, go see the police report! Someone did an analysis and comparison, and this sisheng is really suspected of murder!] 

In the era of the Internet, even if two things didn’t seem to be connected, it was a matter of minutes for netizens to establish a relationship between them, not to mention the fact that they had the same source of information.

The melon-eating masses quickly linked Miss Liu, who was “guilty of several crimes” in the report, with the sisheng in the recording. What’s more, they directly deciphered that the three-syllable name coded in the recording was Sheng Kongzhi, and the two-character name was Ji Sheng.

Two stars with many grudges were involved in the strife, no doubt adding flavour to the melon-eating.

[The star with a two-syllable name is Ji Sheng??? That Ji Sheng accused of sexual harrassment?? The one who died in a drunk driving car accident??]

[The one in the recording said that there was no sexual harassment…]

[Upstairs, don’t make false rumors, sexual harassment was officially hammered and this is just a recording, no fart to support it]

[Fans of the White Lotus Sheng can shut up. The lawyer’s letter is called “hammered”? Have you forgotten that your brother sued for sexual harassment another time and forced an actress to withdraw from the circle? ]

[Speaking of which, it’s really… Why does Sheng Kongzhi like to accusepeople of sexual harrassment so much?]

[There is a bonus, Sheng the Marketing Coffee can do anything for the heat.]

[Is your brainless black mouth so dirty that both of your parents died violently?]

[?? How can White Lotus Sheng’s fans have the face to say that others have dirty mouths?]

[Did no one notice the focus of the report and the recording? “Premeditated murder”, ah. From this point of view, could Ji Sheng’s car accident not be an accident? ]

[…If you think about it carefully, it is extremely terrifying]

[Whether it was an accident or not, he was drink driving and deserved it]

[Who knows, someone’s company can turn black into white]

[……]

Online public opinion exploded, and the Weibo server was directly paralyzed twice in a row. However, Sheng Kongzhi and Qingchu, who were constantly mentioned in the centre of public opinion, were uncharacteristically silent and did not issue a statement for a while, which “hammered” netizens’ speculation and made public opinion even more chaotic.

Sheng Kongzhi’s fans who couldn’t control the scene retreated for a short time and turned to Qingchu official blog, yelling and accusing the company of not being human and not dealing with rumours, allowing the public opinion to ferment to the point where it was now.

But the fans didn’t know that Qingchu didn’t deal with it at this time not because it didn’t want to but because there was a fire burning under them and they  couldn’t even take care of themselves anymore.

“What are you talking about? Who is in trouble??” Li Tan slapped the table, shocked and angry.

“Mr. Liu was investigated this morning. It seems to be bribery… collusion between government and business, and he has been taken away.” The secretary looked very pale.

Mr. Liu was one of the largest shareholders of Qingchu. He funded and supported Qingchu from its origin. It could be said that he was the pillar and the backer of Qingchu’s foothold in the entertainment industry.

Now that the backer had fallen, how could Qingchu dodge the aftermath of the sky falling apart?

Li Tan’s heart stuttered.

As a dark horse, Qingchu attracted a lot of attention. In addition, in recent years, they had done a lot of dishonourable things and become a thorn in the eyes of some people. In the past, Qingchu had the protection of the backer and could do whatever it wanted with peace of mind. Now…

Li Tan didn’t dare to recall what Qingchu had done for prestige and profit. He only remembered that these managers were all brought by his younger brother who was also responsible for everyday contacts. He asked eagerly: “Is Qingchu affected? Where’s Li Mi? Call him over, I have something to ask him.”

“Mr. Xiao Li… Mr. Xiao Li was also taken away, it seems… he was suspected of money laundering.”

Li Tan’s vision went black, and he collapsed heavily on the chair.

“Internet public opinion is very unfriendly to Qingchu. In the past few years, it has provoked too many people.” Xie Xuanming held the steering wheel, stopping in front of the red light, “A single Sheng Kongzhi is messy enough, not to mention that there are many other artists under Qingchu, each of whom has taken a harmful and self-serving route…”

Ji Sheng was sitting in the co-pilot, feeling a little stifled by the seat belt and struggling uncomfortably: “Did they hurt you?”

“No.” Xie Xuanming glanced at him and stretched out his hand to help adjust the seat belt, “I have a handle in my hand, they didn’t dare.”

“Oh.” Ji Sheng sat up straight, “That’s good.”

Xie Xuanming’s hand lingered on Ji Sheng’s clothes and didn’t withdraw until Ji Sheng reminded him that “the green light was on.”

“Of course, Qingchu didn’t do anything to me.” Xie Xuanming said, looking ahead.

“En?”

“Ji Hui was sent by them to spy on me.” Xie Xuanming calmly threw out the explosive news, “They set up a drinking game to send him over and create all sorts of similarities to test… I wonder what else he would have done if I hadn’t found out in time that he was in contact with Qingchu.”

“Huh?” Ji Sheng looked at Xie Xuanming in shock, lowered his eyes for a while, and recalled, “No wonder you were so fierce when you first saw me.”

“…fierce?”

“Pretty fierce.” Ji Sheng said, “I almost didn’t dare to recognize you, thinking of the way you used to be… that was too much of a change.”

“Whose fault was it?” Xie Xuanming glanced at him.

“…” Ji Sheng choked and it took a while before he turned his head and carefully tugged Xie Xuanming’s cuffs, “Angry?”

“I don’t get angry that easily with you.” Xie Xuanming lowered his voice, looked ahead and muttered to himself, “All these years, and you don’t even know it.”

The purpose of their trip was to pick up Ji Yueming from the hospital. Qingchu didn’t have time to bother with her, so things naturally relaxed a lot on Ji Yueming’s side and the lawyer got her out without much effort.

Ji Sheng knew about it, but he still didn’t feel at ease. He wanted to see Ji Yueming and settle her down.

Xie Xuanming arranged for his people to go through various formalities, and then took Ji Sheng to Ji Yueming’s bedside.

“I’m going to do some errands.” Xie Xuanming said, “You guys talk.”

“Okay.” Ji Sheng’s gaze already was on Ji Yueming, his eyes dry.

Ji Yueming had lost weight and looked much older; her cheeks were sunken in and she looked not very energetic, except for the pair of eyes that still shone brightly with curiosity as they surveyed Ji Sheng.

“Hello.” She took the initiative to say.

“Hello.” Ji Sheng said softly.

“Do you know that one?” Ji Yueming nodded at the door; Ji Sheng turned his head and saw Xie Xuanming standing against the door frame.

Ji Yueming said with a smile: “I heard that this guy paid for my medical expenses for the past two years. He also helped out this time, so if you know him, remember to say thank you for me.”

“Okay, I will say it.” Ji Sheng replied gently, silent for a moment, struggling with the difficulty of speaking, “Is there anything else you want to say?”

Ji Yueming’s smile faded a little. She leaned back slightly and looked at Ji Sheng gently: “Is he your friend?”

Ji Sheng was taken aback for a moment, then nodded in response: “En.”

“So.” Ji Yueming lowered her head and smiled, then raised her head as if she made up her mind and said:

“Son, the Dragon Boat Festival(1) is approaching, don’t you want to bring your friend home for dinner?”