Reborn as a Substitute

On one of Xie Xuanming’s rare public trips, the usually idle station sister returned home with a full house, posting long-awaited preview photos on her Weibo.

Many fans were keeping an eye on Xie Xuanming’s schedule, and soon after the photos were posted, the comments started piling branch after branch.

[Station Sister has worked hard, the pictures are taken beautifully, and Mr. Xie also looks great today]

[My baby’s casual clothes are so handsome]

[The sixth one where he looks back seals the deal, the worried emotions in his eyes, it’s like shooting a blockbuster]

[Is my baby looking at the… bodyguard with such affectionate eyes?] 

[Is it a bodyguard? Why do I feel he’s a little too thin]

[Yeah, I think repo said that the black cap bodyguard stopped a sisheng, very dedicated]

[Damn, it’s a sisheng again, can this kind of underworld creatures stay away from my baby?]

[……]

During the heated discussion, the station sister suddenly replied to the comment that asked if it was a bodyguard.

[Not a bodyguard, it’s Ji Hui]

The comment area was strangely silent for a few seconds.

Fans who asked if it was a bodyguard were the first to come out to break the silence.

[Why was Ji Hui there?]

Station sister’s reply:

[Send off the plane, no matter what, thank him for helping to stop the sisheng]

The station sister’s reply finally gave a clear path to Xie Xuanming’s fans who were at a loss for words, and many of them followed that comment with a few polite thanks to “Ji Hui”.

[This is an individual topic, let’s not mention the third party]

One comment reminded suddenly, but it was quickly downvoted by other fans.

[What’s wrong with thanking someone for helping out?]

[Have some quality, don’t disgrace the fans]

[Not a single anti-black post, but doing a good job of making the protagonist look bad in the eyes of the passers-by]

[Delete it]

[……]

“Xie Xuanming is gone, are you finally willing to come out and meet people?” Su Jing walked over unhappily. He was going to have a live broadcast with Ji Hui today and tomorrow. “What are you looking at?”

He leaned over to look at Ji Sheng’s screen but Ji Sheng put away his mobile phone, hiding the image of Xie Xuanming’s fans scolding him for posting a “let’s not mention the third party” comment, and said, “Just surfing Weibo.”

“Looking at the comments?” Su Jing’s sharp eyes saw the comment area, “I thought you celebrities don’t like to read comments. At least I don’t like to read them.”

“Why?” Ji Sheng remembered how horrifying the comment area in the e-sports circle was after losing the game, “Afraid of being cursed?”

“Being cursed is the next best thing.” Su Jing wrinkled his nose, “I’m afraid I can’t help but curse back.”

“…got it.”

“Stop looking, get ready for the live broadcast.” Su Jing got up, “You’re a terrible gamer, I will have to try my best not to scold you later.”

“Who doesn’t suck at games compared to you.” Ji Sheng also got up to get ready, “Just bear with me.”

The live broadcast activities of the two of them were more harmonious than imagined. Although Su Jing was of course very angry by Ji Sheng’s unbelievably bad gaming, he quickly found a way to relieve the pressure — cueing the “Round Ten” CP fans to barrage by mentioning Xie Xuanming in the comments.

This time, Ji Sheng was angry. He was most afraid of being tied up with Xie Xuanming and affecting Xie Xuanming’s reputation and career. Every time Su Jing asked about Xie Xuanming, Ji Sheng turned the topic away with a few words.

Ji Sheng was so busy distracting Su Jing that he did not realise how much his actions to avoid suspicion attracted the eyes of CP fans with a sense of “wanting to cover up the truth”. Not only did it not have the effect of drawing a clear line between the two, but it also made the “Round Ten” CP fans feel “blocking the closet door like this, my CP must be real!”

At the end of the live broadcast, Ji Sheng, who was exhausted, swiped Weibo and found that the “Round Ten” supertopic did not drop but rose, breaking into the top five of the CP list. His eyes rolled up and he almost fainted on the spot.

“See you tomorrow, Xie Xuanming’s little baby.” Su Jing smiled and said goodbye to him, using the CP fan’s term of endearment to disgust him.

Ji Sheng was successfully disgusted by him, said “fuck off” weakly and seriously considered the possibility of skipping work tomorrow and not going to the live broadcast.

He dragged his tired body back to the villa, ordered a takeaway and went to bed early after washing up, unaware of a big melon brewing in relation to him, ready to hit the surface and muddy up public opinion.

At two o’clock in the morning, seven hours after Xie Xuanming took off, in the silence of the night, an entry was created and quickly became a hot search.

#Xie Xuanming Ji Hui#

Adhering to the principles of “the fewer words, the bigger the matter”, “one name is not a good thing” and “two names are bound to collapse the house”, the content of this hot search was so explosive that it was enough to shake the entire entertainment circle.

An anonymous source broke the news that Xie Xuanming and Ji Hui were in a nurturing relationship.

There were eighteen photos accompanying the post.

Photos one to three were screenshots of the surveillance footage. In the KTV room, Ji Hui knelt in front of Xie Xuanming who was holding him by the neck, and the two appeared to be kissing. Photos four to nine were all single photos of Ji Hui, entering and leaving a villa, sitting in a black car, standing at a shop counter… And the cross-references to these photos either proved that those things (the villa, the car) belonged to Xie Xuanming or that Xie Xuanming was in the same place at that time.

The remaining nine photos were screenshots of WeChat logs, containing a conversation between Ji Hui himself and an anonymous source.

Anonymous [How much does he pay you]

Ji Hui [500,000 a month]

Anonymous [Really generous]

Ji Hui [So much that I’m a little afraid to accept it]

There were also conversations between the anonymous source and other sources. Someone said that in a certain KTV last year, Xie Xuanming and Ji Hui were seen acting ambiguously in the bathroom. Although the two left the KTV separately, their clothes were messed up when they went out of the toilet, as evidenced by multiple witnesses.

Photos, chat logs, eyewitnesses, and even a short video of Ji Sheng coming out of Xie Xuanming’s villa were attached.

Thor’s hammer was brought down. No one would say that the two were innocent and unconnected unless they were telling lies with their eyes open.

Ji Sheng looked at the hot search and broke into a cold sweat.

He had thought that the matter between him and Xie Xuanming might be exposed one day, but he didn’t expect it to be in this way, at this moment.

It was about nurturing rather than love, and it broke out on the eve of Xie Xuanming’s participation in a film festival.

Although foreign countries didn’t care so much about the private lives of artists, it was difficult to guarantee whether the film crew would let Xie Xuanming attend in order to avoid the limelight. After all, the film festival invited the entire crew, not Xie Xuanming personally, and the director and the screenwriter had to consider the overall situation.

Ji Sheng glanced at the name of the marketing account that broke the news. It was from the batch raised by Qingchu. Unsurprisingly, this was a counterattack by Qingchu. Their timing was excellent. Public opinion fermented in the middle of the night and the PR department didn’t have time to react. Xie Xuanming was still flying and Xuansheng could not get in touch with him. When he landed, the best clarification time would have passed. Coupled with the busy schedule of the film festival, Xie Xuanming was somewhat incapacitated and unable to take care of this issue.

The more Ji Sheng thought about it, the more chilled his heart felt. At this moment, Xuansheng’s public relations department called.

“We’ve seen the hot search.” The public relations staff went straight to the point,”There are currently three PR options.”

“Which three?”

“One, leave it alone and wait until we get in touch with Mr. Xie before we react. But that would be playing into the hands of the person who broke the story and would also miss the best PR time.”

“Not very good…” Ji Sheng said, “What about other methods?”

“The second is to directly deny the news and prepare a lawyer’s letter to sue for the damage to reputation, which can restore some face, but if the opponent still has a hammer in his hand, it may be self-defeating.”

“Oh.” Ji Sheng closed his eyes, “Is there any other way?”

“The last one we think is the most appropriate. Do you remember Miss Wang Yao?”

“Yes.” The female side of bgCP, who recorded “We are CP” together with them.

“She is an artist from Jinlai Company. She is in a hurry to untie herself from another male star recently. After discussing with Jinlai, our company feels that we can hype up your relationship with Miss Wang Yao, clarify your sexuality and at the same time, divert the public’s attention and delay the matter until Mr. Xie can handle it.”

“…” Ji Sheng was silent for a while, “Is this the best solution?”

“Yes.” The PR department said, “If you are interested, we can immediately issue a statement in conjunction with the Jinlai party.”

“Let me think about it,” Ji Sheng hesitated for a long time and finally said.

After hanging up the phone, Ji Sheng leaned against the head of the bed, covered his eyes and sighed.

Of course he knew that the third method was currently the most efficient and the best way to remove Xie Xuanming from the centre of public opinion, but…

Ji Sheng covered his eyes, looking through the gap between his fingers and seeing the past.

He saw himself sitting in a booth at the table, with his hat on, waiting for someone.

About twenty minutes later, a man, also dressed in black and wearing a black hat, took a seat opposite him.

It seemed that he had grown taller again; Ji Sheng in his previous life was in a bit of a daze. Since he had fallen out with Xie Xuanming because he rejected the invitation to act in a TV drama, the two had never seen each other again. He gradually faded out of the entertainment industry, while Xie Xuanming gradually became more and more popular.

The status of the two was now very different, one in the sky and one on the ground, and Ji Sheng really didn’t understand why Xie Xuanming had agreed to be involved in a scandal with him.

“Long time no see.” Ji Sheng said with his eyes downcast, “I heard that you won the best actor award, congratulations.”

“There’s nothing to congratulate on, it’s a matter of course.” With the same height and size, Xie Xuanming had changed a lot, his aura turning cold and sharp, making one feel uncomfortable as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, “The hotel booking records of you and Sheng Kongzhi sharing a room have been leaked out.”

“……”

Ji Sheng didn’t expect him to speak so bluntly and didn’t know how to answer.

Seeing him silent, Xie Xuanming sneered: “Qingchu is not happy to be dragged down by its own cash cow, So making a deal with the news breaking media, one big story for another big story… is really what this villain Li Tan would do.”

Ji Sheng frowned. Although he knew Li Tan’s virtues, Xie Xuanming’s words were really mean. “You speak too much.”

As he said that, Ji Sheng finally raised his eyes. Xie Xuanming looked at him for a while, then stopped smiling: “Brother Ji, you are really righteous for everyone’s sake. You can’t bear Sheng Kongzhi’s reputation being corrupted and you can’t bear Li Tan losing money… But you are willing to pull me into the water.”

He said the last sentence lightly and ruthlessly, and the emotions hidden inside made Ji Sheng shudder.

“You can refuse.” Ji Sheng finally said, “I understand how you feel, this contract is really unfair to you.”

“Refuse, why should I refuse?” Xie Xuanming smiled again, still emotionless, “I won’t refuse, after all, although I hate you, there’s no way to say no to you with that face of yours.”