Reborn as a Substitute

After Ji Sheng finished speaking, the live broadcast room went silent.

The PR people behind the camera looked at each other, dumbfounded.

This was different from what was promised!

Even the barrage in the live broadcast room was empty for a second.

This kind of almost self-defeating acquiescence was something one could only see once a decade. Even the professional black fans who were used to spraying acid were stunned for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Amidst the silence, Su Jing was the first to react.

“Okay, that’s it for today’s live broadcast. Thank you all for watching. Everyone should eat, sleep and look forward to seeing each other next time on the live broadcast, bye!”

He recited the official words smoothly and quickly like a machine gun, and closed the live stream with lightning speed.

The screen suddenly went dark.

Countless viewers looked at the screen that turned into a dark page with “the host is not at home” message and cursed reflexively.

Everyone in the studio, except for Ji Sheng, was also in a very unstable state of mind.

Su Jing leaned back in the chair, turned his head and prepared to scold Ji Sheng for messing around. But seeing his calm face, he only opened his mouth in the end and said bitterly: “Aren’t you adding trouble to yourself and Xie Xuanming?”

Once this public opinion was stirred up, even Xie Xuanming would have a hard time dealing with it.

“He should be fine.” Ji Sheng was unexpectedly calm. The moment he faced the camera in the live broadcast, his mind suddenly flashed back to last night’s dream. In it Xie Xuanming was standing cold and clear in the night, asking “Do you really, really want to be with me?

His hands were very cold, and Ji Sheng couldn’t let go.

So Ji Sheng paused and smiled inexplicably, as happy as a candidate who got the correct answer.

“He’ll definitely be fine.” Ji Sheng said with certainty.

“…all right.” Su Jing didn’t say anything else when he saw him like this. The words were said and unless the time was reversed, there was no other way to undo it, “Do you want to discuss it with the company? The faces of the guys over there don’t seem to look too good.”

Ji Sheng turned his head to look.

The people from the PR department didn’t just look bad, they were about to faint.

“I’m going to talk to them.” Ji Sheng got up.

The people from the PR department were desperate, but their professional skills were excellent, not to mention their brains. Ji Sheng’s seemingly reckless words actually left the room for Xie Xuanming to act, so that they, the hired employees, were relieved of a lot of pressure.

At least the big hat of incompetence couldn’t be buckled on their heads.

Realising this, the PR staff felt better. They discussed it with Ji Sheng and decided to sue the entertainment account that published the news first, citing disinformation and invasion of privacy as the reason.

If they honestly revealed a homosexual affair, at most they could be accused of infringing the reputation 

But, in order to make the story big, they added nurturing. If you don’t sue for that, who will?

The PR guys just left hugging their heads when Ji Sheng’s mobile phone rang in his pocket.

“Xiao Xie” was clear on the screen. Ji Sheng took a look and immediately picked up.

“Hello.”

There was a long silence.

Ji Sheng waited. The calmness he had felt when faced with the questions of thousands of viewers dissipated. It was rare for him to feel a little nervous. He waited for a while and said: “Why did you get up so early? It’s still early in the morning over there.”

“Well, I couldn’t sleep.” Xie Xuanming finally spoke, his voice a little hoarse, “So I got up to watch your live broadcast.”

“……”

Ji Sheng cleared his throat and asked, “Was it good?”

“……”

There was another silence.

Ji Sheng rubbed the case of his mobile phone under Su Jing’s gaze across the room. Just when he couldn’t resist opening his mouth to raise the topic, Xie Xuanming said:

“Ji Sheng, I love you so much.”

His heart hanging in the air settled. Ji Sheng let out a soft breath; warmth replaced tension and his heart trembled a little.

“What’s the point of saying what the heart knows…” Ji Sheng joked, paused and added quickly with some embarrassment, “I love you too.”

He heard a soft laugh from the other end of the phone; the affection in it reached across the land and across the sea.

So Ji Sheng laughed too.

Then they stopped laughing.

Ji Sheng asked, “When will you be back?”

“The flight in the early hours of the morning, it will probably be night before I arrive, so I hope it won’t be late.”

Because I am coming back to see you, it is a pity to be a minute late.

After talking to Ji Sheng, Xie Xuanming contacted the PR department and expressed a stern condemnation of the company’s attempt to adopt the PR method of “pulling the plug” without telling him. He didn’t let the matter go until the person in charge apologised in trepidation and explained that it was Ji Sheng’s idea to conceal the news.

After warning him not to make his own decisions, Xie Xuanming started asking questions to understand the situation.

“What is the public opinion on the Internet?”

“The disinformation Weibo account has been sued, and the black hat of ‘nurturing’ has basically been removed. As for the comments about you and Mr. Ji Hui…” Xie Xuanming was not going to hold onto it; the contact person breathed a sigh of relief and reported dutifully, “They’re pretty good.”

“Pretty good?” Xie Xuanming was slightly surprised.

“Yes, probably because “The Drummer” is on air and this week is the finale, netizens are relatively moderate about the rumours about you and Mr. Ji.”

Xie Xuanming then recalled that today was Sunday. Passion Fruit Entertainment showed episodes 9-10 of “The Drummer” last night. It was really time for the finale today.

“The Drummer” was well-made and blessed by a popular variety show. It made a burst in the country in just three weeks.

A series that is hot always easily attracts true feelings of the audience and the fact that “The Drummer” was originally “adapted from real events” made people feel even more sad.

By the second week of the broadcast of “The Drummer”, the voices denouncing Qingchu and Sheng Kongzhi became louder and louder, and the audience poured out their anger on both of them to assuage their own guilt of wrongly blaming the innocent. At the same time, Ji Sheng’s grave that had been left unattended apart from Xie Xuanming and Su Jing’s visits was brought back to life, with heartbroken fans and guilty passers-by bringing flowers and apologies. Ji Sheng watched the graveyard turn from a deserted place to a flower market with a mixture of emotions, unable to cry or to laugh.

In addition to anger at the sinners and guilt before the dead…

Fortunately, netizens also learned to be tolerant of the living.

[It’s Xie Xuanming again, the actor has been in a gay relationship a few times, not to mention the really unlucky one]

[The fact that he’s gay is none of our business, so let’s just live our own lives and leave others alone, whether it’s the netizens or the media]

[Xie Xuanming doesn’t rely on fans to eat, so it’s okay to fall in love. As for Ji Hui… Come on, let’s transform into an actor or singer]

[Who cares what they do, I only care about the finale of “The Drummer”, will it be broadcast as planned today?] 

[Passion Fruit did not make a statement, it should be business as usual. Secretly, compared to the tragedy in the drama, I found that I was quite happy Emperor Xie found a new object]

[Me too… Xie Yuan is too miserable, I’m happy the reality is better]

[Don’t poke it secretly, family members, I’ll just knock it out]

[……]

At 8 o’clock in the evening, the finale of “The Drummer” officially started. For more than two hours, the audience watched Ji Renshi being betrayed by his closest people, losing his talent and dying being hated.

An unhappy ending always causes greater discussion. For a while, forums and Weibo were full of sorrow, and there were people who watched the drama running in tears everywhere.

Netizens were too painful and sad, and even briefly forgot that on the other side of the ocean, Xie Xuanming had already stepped on the red carpet and slowly walked into the movie hall under thousands of flashing lights.

Along the red carpet, many Chinese reporters came shouting questions about Ji Hui and the scandal. Most of them Xie Xuanming chose to ignore, except for one reporter who asked in a loud voice, “What do you think of Mr. Ji Hui’s response that ‘his position is consistent with yours’?” At that moment, Xie Xuanming paused for a second and turned towards the reporter.

“I thank him for his trust.”

I will definitely not let you down.

Xie Xuanming lived up to his name. As the only Chinese film in ten years, the film he starred in defeated the remaining candidates and won the “Best Film” award.

It was the director who took the stage to receive the award, but the handsome Chinese man who sat in the audience and applauded undoubtedly became the focus of the attention.

At 8:17 p.m. Beijing time, the flight from Paris landed at the airport.

Ji Sheng, wearing a hood, stood outside the glass wall waiting.

Because it was a private trip, the media and the fans did not know that the man who had just confirmed his idol status again skipped the celebration banquet and flew back to the country non-stop.

When Xie Xuanming arrived at the domestic airport, there were no reporters, no fans and no sishengs.

Ji Sheng stood in the waiting area, looking at the exit without blinking.

He soon saw the man he wanted to see and waved vigorously as he leaned over the railing.

Xie Xuanming, wearing a mask, hurried out with his hands empty.

With a sweep of his eyes under the brim of his hat, he quickly located the young man with curved eyebrows who was waving at him.

Xie Xuanming accelerated his pace, and Ji Sheng also walked around the railing and approached him.

The two met and hugged each other tightly.

The large screen above their heads was showing Xie Xuanming being interviewed by foreign journalists at the festival.

“J’ai entendu les journalistes appeler “jihui, jihui”. Est-ce M. Ji Hui votre ami?”

I heard reporters calling “Ji Hui, Ji Hui”. Is this “Ji Hui” your friend?

“Est mon petit ami.”

It’s my little friend.

(Author’s note: In French, add “my” before the title to represent intimacy. And “mon petit ami/ma petite amie” refers specifically to “my boyfriend/girlfriend”)

The author has something to say：

The text of this book is over. I’d like to thank all the angels for their support and companionship. The parallel world extra is the story of Xiao Ji’s chasing after Xiao Xie after getting the script of his previous life.

Because I wanted to write a love story of two weirdos in the entertainment industry, Xiao Ji, a little drummer who is obsessed with his dreams but has a bad judgement of people, and Xiao Xie, a little actor who is a bit crazy but has a soft heart, were born. They met like in a drama and experienced some not-so-good things, but in the end they overcame all the obstacles and got together.

It’s a pretty cheesy story when you look at it like that, haha, but the people in the story are unique and deserve each other’s love.

Xiao Xie and Xiao Ji will always be happy in their own realm.