Reborn as a Substitute

The trailer of “The Drummer” was making a lot of waves on the internet.

[Good guy, how much did it cost to crash a car and have a crowd scene with a thousand people? Xie Xuanming is really rich]

[Well edited, like watching a blockbuster trailer]

[The two people upstairs still able to pay attention to these things… I drooled over Xie Xuanming’s face, the face of the big screen actor is really awesome]

[Ji Hui is also unexpectedly good-looking, and really looks like Ji Sheng]

[Has anyone noticed that the third male lead is called Sheng Mou? Laughed to death. Could have reported Sheng Kongzhi’s ID number directly as well.]

[None of this matters, the important thing is that I smell medicine!]

[What? What medicine?] 

[The exclusive medicine for stoned chickens – a couple of gay guys to cure all ills]

[Grass (a plant)(1)]

[Grass (bilingual)]

[Grass (just grass)]

[……]

The general audience was very curious about “The Drummer” web series. The ban on the advanced video-on-demand and the opportunity to watch the complete work for free attracted a large number of passers-by. Grasping the wind was what Passion Fruit Entertainment was good at. They immediately bought a hot search and attracted another wave of popularity.

With so many people paying attention, it was natural that a few troublemakers would pop up; especially when a star like Xie Xuanming was concerned. He had some fierce and persistent black fans ever since his debut and whenever he appeared in front of the camera, his every move would be criticised. 

[Didn’t you say that Ji Hui is the first male lead, why Xie Xuanming’s shots are everywhere? Emperor Xie’s cancer is so severe that a web drama can’t fight it]

[Isn’t he good at this? The last time Emperor Xie volunteered to be a supporting actor, he ended up backing out, but this time he’s mercifully done it?]

[The two upstairs are making rumours again. Xie Xuanming invested in the drama by himself to shoot whatever he likes instead of being pushed around by a bunch of psychotic investors.]

[Then don’t buy hot searches to brag about giving way to the newcomers. Speechless, fans really have cerebral palsy, you can’t say a word.]

[……]

The TV series circle was very sensitive to fan opinions, and this trend extended to web dramas.

The black fans were unrelenting and kept making a lot of noise in various forums about Xie Xuanming squeezing new actors. The marketing accounts falsely created a rumour on the basis of a few blurry pictures – Xie Xuanming staring coldly at Ji Sheng and Zheng Meiyun talking, looking very stormy.

Xie Xuanming’s fans were naturally not to be outdone. They fought with black fans on the Internet, biting back and saying that the male lead should have been Xie Xuanming but the company wanted to support a newcomer, so Xie Xuanming was oppressed to match Ji Hui.

The two parties argued everywhere from Weibo to forums, unsurprisingly ending in a hot search.

When public opinion was in uproar, the two protagonists posted on their Weibo one after another.

Ji Sheng took a snippet of the chat, with the memo [Teacher Xie]

Teacher Xie [Netizens say I was squeezing you]

Ji Hui [Hahahahahahahahaha, has anyone finally found out?]

Ji Hui [Pressing me to memorise my lines all day, and adding so many storylines to act out, isn’t it squeezing me? 

Teacher Xie [……]

Xie Xuanming directly forwarded the trailer posted by the official blog with the words “This is his story through my eyes”.

The two parties involved did their best to either seriously or playfully persuade the fans to stop the fight, and the black fans were gagged, unable to find a new point of attack and forced to retreat for the time being. Xie Xuanming’s fans had always been obedient, and with Xie Xuanming making a statement, they calmed down.

After the troublemakers retreated, the discussion of “The Drummer” turned to speculation and expectations about the plot.

In the midst of a harmonious discussion, the day of “The Drummer” being broadcast finally arrived.

“Thank you.” Xie Xuanming took the bag from the takeaway guy, turned and walked to the room.

He opened the door by the stairs, and an outline of sofas and a big screen came into view.

A private cinema seemed to be a standard part of rich people’s lives. Ji Sheng was holding a tablet and trying to connect it to the big screen, “Is this how it works?”

“I’ll do it.” Xie Xuanming put the takeaway on the chair and walked over.

He took the tablet from Ji Sheng’s hand: “The takeaway is on the chair.” 

Ji Sheng said ”Oh”, turned around and walked over, picked up the bag and sat down, taking out the fried chicken and milk tea from the paper bag.

Xie Xuanming set up the screen and sat down in a chair beside him.

While unpacking the fried chicken, Ji Sheng handed the milk tea to Xie Xuanming.

Xie Xuanming helped him unpack it. By the moment everything was ready, it was just about time for the premiere.

The opening song was sung by Niepan. The two of them had listened to it in the studio a long time ago but it had a different flavour when paired with the video.

“You appeared right when I sang that line, hey.” Ji Sheng grabbed the chicken leg and gently nudged Xie Xuanming.

“Because that line of yours is the character’s profile of ‘Xie Yuan’.” Xie Xuanming said.

“Is that so?” Ji Sheng looked like he was hearing about this for the first time.

“Yes.” 

The opening song ended, and the first episode started.

On the screen, Xie Xuanming walked down the cluttered alley wearing clean sneakers.

“Oh?” Ji Sheng exclaimed, “Did you also wear new shoes at the time?”

“Well, I wanted to be decent when I leave.” 

This was a truly unacceptable statement.

Ji Sheng dwelled on it for a second and handed the food in his hand to Xie Xuanming slightly reluctantly: “Do you want to eat chicken wings?”

“Yes.” Xie Xuanming accepted unceremoniously, “Thank you.”

The plot continued on the screen, beginning with the first encounter between Ji Sheng and Xie Xuanming, basically replaying it but leaving out unnecessary details to speed up the pace of the episode.

“The Drummer” was broadcast in two-episode instalments. The first two episodes told about Xie Yuan joining the band by accident. At the end of the second episode, in the aftermath of the bar fight Xie Yuan and Ji Renshi were chased down a long street after causing the boss’s anger.

The fight was realistic and brutal; Ji Sheng watched the chair slam into ‘Xie Yuan’s’ body, frowning as he thought that this would likely have broken the bones.

However, the use of dynamic background music to match the fighting scene made the group fight energetic and funny. After that, the footage of Xie Yuan and Ji Renshi fleeing together was full of the romantic atmosphere of youth movies.

As the credits rolled, Ji Sheng tore off the last piece of chicken and put it in his mouth before gently clapping his hands, “Oh ho! It was a good shot.” 

He removed the glasses and the screen froze on the depressed face of 17-year-old Xie Yuan. Ji Sheng observed for a bit and raised his hand to the screen to comment, “So skinny.”

The 17-year-old Xie Xuanming was in the stage of growing and looked as tall and thin as a poplar tree. In order to restore his almost morbid physique, Xie Xuanming lost 10 pounds of weight.

His thin cheeks were carefully carved by the makeup artist; “Xie Yuan” who appeared on the screen was a thin and world-weary high school student. Ji Sheng compared him with his memories, and it was difficult to tell the difference between “Xie Yuan” and 17-year-old Xie Xuanming.

“The makeup artist is good at it.” Xie Xuanming took off his glasses early, saw Ji Sheng finish eating and handed over two paper towels. ”I read the Weibo forum, the evaluation is not bad.”

“Is it?” Ji Sheng was very engaged now, picked up his phone and looked through the comments.

The comments on the Passion Fruit platform were harmonious. Apart from the controlling comments of Xie Xuanming’s fans, passers-by were looking forward to the next episodes.

Public opinion on forums and Weibo was more lively. #The Drummer# was on a hot search and the number of comments was staggering.

【Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh Xie Xuanming is too handsome, right, a movie star is a movie star!]

[Xie Xuanming feels more handsome than in the photos]

[Ji Hui’s performance is very good, and the makeup is also good]

[I love this drama so much, is the plot really real? It’s too much like a young adult novel!

[Adapted from reality, sorta, and the script was shown to Xie Xuanming]

[srds, I’m touched…]

[Me too……]

Ji Sheng glanced at the comments; the majority of viewers were impressed by the second episode’s ending. The long street escape that was standard in youth films never went out of style.

The discussion of “The Drummer” became more and more enthusiastic. On the second day, the third and the fourth episodes were broadcast. After the band broke up and the members went their separate ways, the show was once again on a hot search.

Although many netizens were unaware that the predecessor of Qingchu Entertainment Company was a band, according to what happened to Xie Xuanming, Ji Sheng  and Sheng Kongzhi they could conclude that the band probably was in trouble and didn’t get a good ending.

While the audience lamented the break-up of the band, the former Ji Sheng’s station sister, the fan who followed the band from the underground to the stage, released a photo from five years ago after the fourth episode was broadcast.

In the photo, two teenagers walked out of the bar smiling. Ji Sheng laughed and rubbed Xie Xuanming’s hair while Xie Xuanming looked at Ji Sheng intently, his young face more beautiful than the moonlight.

The virtual drama was not as touching as the real photo. As soon as this photo appeared, it instantly dragged the story from the screen into reality, and the audience was dazed. That colourful youthful past was truly experienced by those teenagers.

As the audience became more and more hooked on “The Drummer”, a small group of viewers quietly broke away from the pack and started a cp.

Although “The Drummer” had no obvious romantic line, Xie Yuan’s admiration of Ji Renshi was clearly laid out, and the atmosphere between the two of them was full of cp feelings. It was a matter of course to attract a group of CP fans.

However, because the identities of the two actors were so awkward, the cp fans finally cautiously chose to talk only about the characters and not touch the real people for the time being.

Cp fans named it Yuanshi (Round Ten), and on the night they started the supertopic, a big sugar fell from the sky.

[Xie Xuanming and Ji Hui, as visiting guests, officially announced to join the Passion Fruit platform online variety show “We Are CP”]

As soon as this news came out, the public opinion that had already been tossed around by the web drama exploded again.

“We Are CP” was a high-profile reality show launched by Passion Fruit. The show invited male and female stars to spend 48 hours together for a recording session, which was a blessed opportunity for the majority of cp fans to get high.

Countless drama CPs had shown a sweet daily life in this show. Although viewers would know in their hearts that this was the stars’ business and they were all playing CPs for sale, it didn’t stop the fans from watching the show with an “auntie smile”.

And now Xie Xuanming and Ji Hui were going to participate in this variety show. They would be the first same-sex CP since the show started, inserted among countless tyrant/little white flower, queen/wolf dog, princess/knight CPs, opening a new era.

The “We are CP” show crew actually didn’t dare to think that Xie Xuanming, who had always refused to appear on shows, would make an exception and agree to participate in the recording. It’s just that the CP of “Round Ten” was too hot and the traffic of “The Drummer” was really eye-catching. The program director decided to start with Ji Hui and poke around.

“A cp show?” Ji Sheng seemed a little surprised.

“Yes, cp here does not necessarily refer to a couple, it can also refer to partners.” The director explained, “You and Teacher Xie don’t have to do anything, just get along normally.”

“Oh.” Ji Sheng said, “I haven’t been on many variety shows, in case I say something wrong…”

“It will be dealt with later.” The director hurriedly said, “We are very good in post-production, no matter what kind of slip, we can…”

Before he finished speaking, he heard a low voice from the other side of the phone: “What are you doing?” 

The director was taken aback; obviously he didn’t expect that there was a man next to Ji Hui this early in the morning.

And this voice…

“Something about work… don’t poke my waist… it hurts…”

On the other end of the phone, Ji Hui whispered and although he covered the microphone, the director still heard a loud “smooch”.

The director was instantly petrified, carved into a sculpture.

“What are you doing…” Ji Sheng pushed away Xie Xuanming who lay on him without moving, “I said I was working.” 

This man had just woken up, lazy like a hibernating bear, and still clingy and not listening to his words.

Ji Sheng finally freed his hand out of Xie Xuanming’s arms and tried to put the phone to his ear.

Hearing the dead silence on the other end, Ji Sheng’s face felt a little hot.

“Hello.” Struggling in Xie Xuanming’s arms, he said with a thick face, “Slips like this… can they be dealt with later?”