Because his hand was injured, Ji Sheng didn’t have any commercial value left. Qingchu quickly agreed to terminate his contract. Only Sheng Kongzhi and Li Tan sent a long message accusing Ji Sheng of “only sharing bitterness and not sharing sweetness.” 

Ji Sheng didn’t bother to look at it, so he dragged the message directly into the trash can, and then happily moved to Xie Xuanming’s place citing the reason of “being expelled from the dormitory”. 

Xie Xuanming made some useless resistance to this and finally let Ji Sheng drag his small suitcase to settle down in his apartment. 

Considering that he was a celebrity, Ji Sheng finally chose to take online classes from this apartment. Xie Xuanming was also in the preparation period in recent days, studying the script. 

So every day, Ji Sheng took online classes with headphones sitting at the dining table, while Xie Xuanming sat on the sofa studying the script. The two lived in harmony sharing the same space, while the study room was useless, becoming a place no one talked about. 

While Ji Sheng was unemployed, Xie Xuanming had a job to do. He could put off small, unimportant events, but had to attend important ceremonies and parties. 

That day, Xie Xuanming left a charity party early. On the way back, he recalled how Ji Sheng waved goodbye obediently before he went out, looking so quiet.  He also remembered that before the accident, Ji Sheng had been invited to these events, too.

Thinking of this, Xie Xuanming sat up straight and urged the agent to drive faster. It was the first time he had made this request. The agent thought that something big happened at home. It seemed that it was at least the level of “a thief in the house” or “the gas was not turned off”. He quickly stepped on the gas and accelerated all the way back to the apartment on the edge of violating the speed limit. 

When Xie Xuanming returned home, Li Sheng was staring at the computer intently, looking as serious as if he was working on a bomb disposal. 

Seeing that he was not in a bad mood, Xie Xuanming was relieved a little bit, but his curiosity was aroused, so he took a rare childish step and quietly walked up behind Ji Sheng and leaned down to peer at the screen. The blue-black online class page had been seen many times by Xie Xuanming intentionally or unintentionally in recent days. 

But at this time, the usually silent chat box was in full swing. Xie Xuanming took a closer look. The battlefield belonged to Ji Sheng and another student. The student was extremely quick to swipe the screen, and in just a few seconds, he had cursed Ji Sheng’s virtual parents to death. 

The quality was too low.

As soon as Xie Xuanming frowned, he saw Ji Sheng’s fingers fly and quickly respond to the student’s previous curses in kind. Xie Xuanming stopped frowning and couldn’t help laughing. 

He caught Ji Sheng’s attention this time. Ji Sheng suddenly raised his head; Xie Xuanming withdrew, but Ji Sheng’s lips still brushed over his cheek. 

“You are back, how was the event?” When Ji Sheng saw Xie Xuanming, his eyes curved into crescents and his sharp expression from when he was typing just now disappeared. 

“Pretty good…” 

“Wait a minute. “Ji Sheng suddenly raised his hand, stopping him solemnly. Xie Xuanming’s words paused awkwardly halfway.

He saw Ji Sheng bow his head and pick up the phone to unlock it. On the screen, that extremely low-quality student initiated a request to connect. 

“Here comes the counterattack,” Ji Sheng hurriedly explained, raised the phone and clicked ‘agree to connect’. As soon as the sound came, harsh verbal abuse rushed out, and even Xie Xuanming captured extremely high-frequency dirty words from the sound leakage of the headphones. 

However, Ji Sheng’s expression was not angry, even a little compassionate. 

Xie Xuanming soon knew who he felt pity for. 

Ji Sheng clicked the play button, and Su Jing’s voice shot out like an anti-aircraft gun. 

“Why are you still cursing? Your cerebral cortex is more waste than your rectum. The doctor who agreed to your discharge at that time was blind and crazy. Oh yes cerebral palsy also can not be too difficult to cure. Waste of resources might as well create a pit to bury yourself, bad luck dog thing…”

Ji Sheng held the phone in his hand steady as a mountain, not forgetting to glance back and explain Xie Xuanming: “It was recorded from Su Jing’s live broadcast. It’s very practical. I will treat you to a copy.” 

Xie Xuanming: ……

Xie Xuanming: “No need.”

He watched with tears and laughter as Ji Sheng borrowed Su Jing’s cursing ability to fight, or rather to create a unilateral massacre, wondering in his heart why a few minutes ago he actually thought Ji Sheng would be upset because he couldn’t attend a party.

“By the way, listen to this.” Ji Sheng suddenly took off one earphone and handed it over. Xie Xuanming took it and put on one ear.

The student who was scolded had run away a long time ago. Instead of filthy words, there was a piece of pure music. 

The sound of water flowed into mountains and forests, and the notes slid lightly like a spring breeze. After a short segment was over, Xie Xuanming took off the headphones.

“You wrote it?”

“Yes, for the class.” Ji Sheng’s eyes shone brightly, “Does it sound good?” 

Because of the shared headphones, the distance between the two of them was a bit close. 

Xie Xuanming felt that it was time to pull away, but he didn’t want to, so he just said, “It sounds good.” 

“That’s what I said.” Ji Sheng laughed and said righteously, “And that little brat said I made some disgusting bullshit, he must be deaf.”

So that was the reason for the fight. As soon as Xie Xuanming understood, he heard Ji Sheng change the subject. 

“The teacher said that the first song should be composed for the girl one likes. I don’t have a girl I like, so I’m going to have to ask you to be the guinea pig.”

As soon as these words came out, Xie Xuanming was quiet for a few seconds and backed away. But Ji Sheng also leaned back, pressing the back of his head to the back of the chair, raising his face, his eyes curving more and more. 

“Like it?”

Xie Xuanming didn’t know if the question was about the song or the person. He was silent for another second, and finally got up and escaped as if he couldn’t stand it. 

“I’m going to remove my makeup.”

Ji Sheng straightened back, looked at Xie Xuanming’s hasty departure with some pity, and tried to add a sentence: “I’m doing this song for…”

The bedroom door slammed shut. 

“…didn’t even eat dinner.” Ji Sheng looked at the door resentfully, and said to himself, “Xiao Xie gets too shy too easily.” 

The next step was to wash and sleep without eating. 

Ji Sheng sent the audio to Xie Xuanming and lay down, patting his empty stomach. 

Think of it as a diet.

The consequence of sleeping hungry was to have nightmares. 

Ji Sheng’s breath sped up as he dreamed of a future scene that was not a part of his memory. 

Xie Xuanming, with his head lowered, was standing among a messy funeral scene, the corner of his mouth split during the fight with Sheng Kongzhi. His face was deathly pale. He looked wretched, as if his soul was lost.

Ji Sheng looked at him distressed and stretched out his hand to hug him, but his fingers went straight through Xie Xuanming. Ji Sheng woke up in shock, staring at the ceiling, gasping for breath. 

It took him a few seconds to recover from the feeling of his heart tightening. Then he felt hunger. After two aggrieved stomach growls, Ji Sheng rubbed his temples, got out of bed and decided to get something to eat.

He ran barefoot to the kitchen and opened the fridge before remembering that he couldn’t cook, so he looked in the cupboard but found no instant noodles. He had to turn back to the fridge and take out a box of milk. 

The fridge door closed, Ji Sheng raised his eyes and met Xie Xuanming’s gaze. 

“What are you doing?” Xie Xuanming glanced at the milk in his hand, then looked at Ji Sheng’s face, frowning, “Why is your face so unsightly?”

“I didn’t have dinner.” Ji Sheng told the truth without much fuss, “I’m hungry.”

“……” 

Xie Xuanming said, “You wait.” 

Xie Xuanming took a tomato, some green onions and a small piece of lean meat from the fridge. Ji Sheng watched him skillfully do some stir-frying. His busy figure in front of the kitchen counter overlapped with his memories from the future life. 

Xie Xuanming took out some ramen noodles from the cupboard. Ji Sheng leaned over and stared at the bubbling water. 

“I had a nightmare.” Ji Sheng said mysteriously, both complaining and coquettish. 

“What nightmare? ” 

“I dreamed that I was dead.”

Xie Xuanming dropped the noodles; the noodles fell into the water, and the splashing water almost burned the back of his hand. 

He didn’t care about this, retracted his hand, frowned and looked at Li Sheng. 

“Then I was alive again.” Ji Sheng continued with a gasp, “And my hand was healthy, I could play drums… Is it a good thing?” 

“……”

Xie Xuanming did not answer, just looked at him darkly. 

“I think it’s a good thing.” Ji Sheng answered his own question and smiled at Xie Xuanming, “Because we are together in the dream, it is a good thing.” 

The water in the pot was boiling, white bubbles continuing to rise. 

Xie Xuanming turned away and poured half a bowl of cold water into the pot to suppress the foam. 

“If chasing me makes you so worked up… Then let’s be together.” 

“En?”

Now it was Ji Sheng’s turn to be surprised. 

“Then now, the situation won’t be bad either, will it?”

Ji Sheng’s eyes widened slightly; he was dumbfounded when he understood it was Xie Xuanming’s response to the “good thing” statement just now.

“Wait, I should have confessed first.” 

“It doesn’t matter.” Xie Xuanming picked up the chopsticks, stirred the noodles and whispered, “If you like me, nothing else matters.” 

”Actually, I’m very curious.” Ji Sheng looked at Xie Xuanming and said quietly after a short pause. 

“Well?” 

“Does it feel good to forcefully kiss someone? Why else would you be so stubborn to do it three times?”

Xie Xuanming froze with the chopsticks in his hand. The next second, a lemon-flavoured breath approached him and his cheek was gently touched. Ji Sheng withdrew after kissing, and said with satisfaction: “Sure enough, I don’t think…”

Before he finished speaking, Xie Xuanming lowered his head and kissed him on the lips. 

They kissed for a long time until the water boiled again and the white foam overflowed from the pot with a warning “hiss” sound. 

The two hurriedly separated and Xie Xuanming poured the remaining half bowl of cold water into the pot. 

“Once at the food stall, once in the bar, but three times?”

Ji Sheng then remembered that the third forced kiss hadn’t happened yet. It would probably never happen. 

“I remembered it wrong. “Ji Sheng said with a smile. 

Summer was always a restless season; melon romances, hot dramas, variety shows and festivals always happened in these sultry three months. 

In the summer of this year, the entertainment industry was also particularly hot. 

First, there was a certain idol who turned out to cover up a criminal. Then a rookie company went bankrupt before it took off. Finally, a tiny star landed a single that became popular all over the Internet and was rushed to the screens of major video platforms. 

In the livehouse, Ji Sheng, a newcomer who re-debuted as a singer, was performing his first comeback show. Among the audience that raised their heads, there were both new and old faces. 

After Ji Sheng sang the new single, the style changed and an old song sounded. 

“Stray Dog” was the song that disappeared with his youth, and it was also a clue that brought Xie Xuanming to Ji Sheng. 

We are all stray dogs

Fortunately, we are not walking alone 

The adapted lyrics ended. Ji Sheng took two steps forward and fell backwards from the stage amidst the shouts of the crowd. In the first row, the young man wearing a black hat stepped forward and caught him firmly.

THE END

Translator’s note: The story is over 🙂 I hope you loved Xiao Ji and Xiao Xie as much as I do. The story was fun but I never, never, never want to translate an entertainment story again. Those netizen comments, my eye was twitching every time I saw a new batch of them. Thank you everyone who commented on the story – especially Blood, without your comments I would be much less motivated!

If you liked the story, please leave a review and/or good rating on Novelupdates 🙂

Or, you can buy me some coffee 🙂

Previous / ToC

Xie Xuanming finally refused Ji Sheng’s request to sleep with him.

The reason was that he didn’t want to take advantage of a brain-damaged person.

Ji Sheng lay on the bed in the guest room and sent Xie Xuanming a lot of emoticons on his mobile phone, and finally harassed the man into replying with a string of ellipses.

Even so, it was a great success in the battle, and Ji Sheng sent “Good night! (Rose)” contentedly, then exit the chat box.

He put his mobile phone at the head of the bed to charge it. But, after lying down, he suddenly remembered something he hadn’t done. He quickly got up and sent the termination contract he had hastily drawn in the nanny car today to Li Tan.

Ignoring Li Tan’s question mark, Ji Sheng put the phone on airplane mode, lay down peacefully and went to sleep.

He woke up naturally, rubbed his head and pulled the door open, and was shocked by the scene in front of him.

In front of the dining table, Sheng Kongzhi and Xie Xuanming were sitting with their arms crossed.

Seeing Ji Sheng coming out, the two of them turned their heads neatly, one ugly and the other cold, their eyes poking straight into Ji Sheng’s face.

Ji Sheng: ……

Ji Sheng stood up straight and said with a fake smile, “Good morning.”

No one answered him.

Ji Sheng rubbed his hair twice, let go, pointed to the bathroom and said: “I’m going to brush my teeth.”

“I put the new toothpaste on the sink.” Xie Xuanming said.

“En?” Ji Sheng and Sheng Kongzhi both looked at him.

“Aren’t you unaccustomed to the toothpaste I have?” Xie Xuanming said lightly. “Last night you grimaced so bad. I bought children’s toothpaste, lemon-flavoured. Go ahead.”

Ji Sheng was taken aback. He came out of the bathroom after washing last night, but he didn’t expect Xie Xuanming to notice his expression; not to mention to get up early in the morning and buy children’s toothpaste.

But to think about it, it was Xie Xuanming.

Ji Sheng thought.

It was worthy of Xie Xuanming.

His heart softened, he smiled and said “Thank you” to Xie Xuanming, and pushed the door into the guest bathroom.

The two of them went back and forth as if Sheng Kongzhi did not exist, successfully making Sheng Kongzhi’s fake smiling face darken more and more.

When did Ji Sheng and Xie Xuanming become so close?

Sheng Kongzhi was shocked.

A private matter like toothpaste, even he, his boyfriend, didn’t know about it, but Xie Xuanming…

He looked at Xie Xuanming with a gloomy expression, and then hurriedly turned away after receiving a cold look in reply.

It was clear that he and Ji Sheng had been bamboo horses for more than ten years and had a close relationship that no one could match, but Sheng Kongzhi felt an unexplained unease when he met Xie Xuanming’s calm expression.

Thinking of Li Tan calling in a hurry yesterday, saying that Ji Sheng was going to terminate his contract with Qingchu…

The unrest in Sheng Kongzhi’s heart grew even stronger.

Ji Sheng came out of the bathroom and walked straight towards the dining table. He stopped half a metre away, saw the table empty, touched his stomach, and asked Xie Xuanming pitifully: “Is there no breakfast? I am so hungry.”

“I’ll make it for you later.” Xie Xuanming said.

The two interacted so intimately that Sheng Kongzhi couldn’t sit still anymore and interjected with a fake smile: “Xiao Ji, Xiao Xie is a movie star now, how can you still treat him like before…”

“I am happy with it!” Ji Sheng interrupted him and muttered, “Xiao Xie did not say that he was not happy either, what’s your dog business?…”

Sheng Kongzhi’s smile froze on his face.

Xie Xuanming was surprised at first, and then the corners of his lips curved uncontrollably. The displeasure from Sheng Kongzhi’s unsolicited arrival dissipated a lot.

Although he was slapped down, Sheng Kongzhi still didn’t give up. He tried again: “Let’s go out to eat, Brother Tan just has something to discuss with you. Say, let’s talk while eating…”

“Not going.” Ji Sheng refused simply.

“Why?” Sheng Kongzhi tried very hard to keep smiling.

“I don’t want to sit at the same table with my ex-boyfriend for dinner.” Ji Sheng finally looked at him and frowned, “I will have no appetite.”

Sheng Kongzhi couldn’t hold his smile anymore. He stood up with a bang and asked angrily, not caring about face. “When did we break up?”

“Today.” Ji Sheng said clearly. He lowered his head, pressed the screen to see the time, and said happily, “Just in time, the mail has arrived.”

Ding!

Hearing a crisp sound, Sheng Kongzhi looked down at his phone, and the message prompted a new email.

[Breakup Letter]

As for why it was an email instead of WeChat or SMS…

“By the way, I blacklisted you.” Ji Sheng explained considerately, “I’m a person who is afraid of dwelling on things and hates awkward relationships, so, well, you can understand that, right?”

Sheng Kongzhi couldn’t understand. Sheng Kongzhi was incredulous.

After his face went through the red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple shades, Sheng Kongzhi snapped and locked the phone, raised his head and looked up with an aggrieved expression: “What did I do wrong?”

Xie Xuanming, who was watching the show, sneered and thought that if Sneng Kongzhi could use 30% of his acting strength in the TV series, it would not flop so badly.

“Steal the debut first place, grab a role in a TV series, associate with a sisheng and cover up a criminal,” with his expression instantly changed, Ji Sheng counted coldly, “Do you want me to continue?”

Sheng Kongzhi froze like a stuffed chicken.

How could Xiao Sheng know this?

Sheng Kongzhi looked at Xie Xuanming in shock and anger and met his cold, mocking gaze.

Did Xie Xuanming tell him?

And Xiao Sheng actually believed him?

Ji Sheng believed Xie Xuanming and didn’t believe him?

With all kinds of thoughts floating through his mind, Sheng Kongzhi made a quick decision, immediately abandoned the method of reasoning, and took a step forward to grab Ji Sheng’s hand.

“Xiao…”

Ji Sheng took two steps back cautiously. Xie Xuanming stood up and stepped in front of him.

The two cooperated seamlessly. Sheng Kongzhi’s eye twitched; he gritted his teeth and swallowed the words he was going to say.

“Xiao Sheng,” he said, aggrieved and incredulous, “Are you really going to break up with me?”

“Uh-huh!” Ji Sheng poked out from behind Xie Xuanming and affirmed, “Not only am I going to break up with you, I’m also going to go out and talk nonsense.”

Seeing Sheng Kongzhi’s stiff look, Ji Sheng waved his hand and concluded: “Go back and talk to Li Tan, either terminate the contract or wait their cash cow to be exposed to the same-sex scandal and then blocked from the entire circle. Now go, I won’t send you off.”

In the end, it was the future that mattered.

Sheng Kongzhi was “invited” out of the house by Xie Xuanming and left in disgrace.

Xie Xuanming closed the door, gripped the handle and carefully considered whether Ji Sheng had really knocked his head, then turned back to ask: “Are you really going to terminate your contract with Qingchu?”

“Yeah.”

“…can you afford the termination fee?”

“I should?” Ji Sheng said, “There is still some money left from the tour, and I have read the contract, which says ‘in case of failure to create benefits for the company’, the contract with the artist will be automatically terminated. I am a waste with a damaged hand. How morally bankrupt must Qingchu be to charge a waste a high termination fee?”

“If they are so morally corrupt…”

“Then I’ll get the media to do some moral kidnapping!” Ji Sheng said, “They don’t have any pointers on who cut my hand and they still have the guts to charge money.”

Xie Xuanming: ……

Xie Xuanming had nothing to say.

Talking about this topic, Ji Sheng suddenly remembered something. He was in the car yesterday and heard Xie Xuanming’s agent say that there was a complaint about the new movie because of the sensitive subject matter. The report caused a delay in the start of filming.

Looking through his memories of the future, Ji Sheng had no doubt this was the handiwork of that sisheng again. She was disgusted with the fact that Sheng Kongzhi was steadily overpowered by Xie Xuanming and kept reporting the film all the way from the beginning of shooting until its release.

Xie Xuanming’s second film still achieved a high box office in the end, stabilising his position in the film industry. Waiting for the release of the movie was also the period when Xie Xuanming and Ji Sheng hyped the scandal and Xie Xuanming was often accused of being blocked because of his sexual orientation.

One person affected the entire crew, and verbal abuse was inevitable.

Naturally, Ji Sheng would not let this happen again.

“I’m here to find you, but there is actually one more thing.” As Ji Sheng said it, his eyelids drooped and his arrogance dissipated.

Xie Xuanming couldn’t help looking at him, thinking to himself why he hadn’t realised Ji Sheng had the talent for acting before. A rare actor was capable of such a 180-degree turn with just a flutter of his eyelashes.

“What’s the matter? “Xie Xuanming’s expression remained calm. But with the next sentence his face changed.

“I’ve found the person who cut my hand.” Ji Sheng raised his eyes to Xie Xuanming, and added after seeing his expression darken, “It’s Sheng Kongzhi’s sisheng fan, the daughter of Qingchu’s major shareholder. The matter of your movie… she must have reported it too.”

“You just said that Sheng Kongzhi was privately associated with a sisheng…” Xie Xuanming’s face was very ugly.

“Correct.” Ji Sheng affirmed his thoughts, and immediately added, “But it doesn’t matter, I will leave Qingchu very soon anyway.”

He gave a clue, and when Xie Xuanming checked it out, the tax evasion of the sisheng’s family would definitely be revealed.

Although the current Xie Xuanming might not have enough capital to fight them, the sisheng’s family’s business was competing with an industry owned by the Xie family.

It was impossible for the Xie family to ignore such a good handle as its competitor covering up his daughter’s deliberate assault.

Ji Sheng’s calculations worked, and Xie Xuanming was indeed acting according to his expectations.

“Wait a minute.” He said calmly, going to another room to make a call.

Ji Sheng heard a few words through the wall; Xie Xuanming was contacting his family.

When Xie Xuanming came back, it was already lunch time. Ji Sheng was slumping on the dining table, bored. When he saw Xie Xuanming coming out, he sat up straight and looked at him, his eyes shining brightly, “Shall we have lunch together? I ordered takeaway.”

The doorbell rang at the same moment and the takeaway was delivered.

Xie Xuanming could not and did not want to refuse this reasonable request, so he took another seat at the table.

Ji Sheng opened the door and brought in the takeaway, unpacked it,  opened Xie Xuanming’s portion and put it in front of him.

Watching Ji Sheng’s busy movements, Xie Xuanming was in a kind of a daze. When he was 17 years old, Ji Sheng always regarded him as a child who couldn’t do anything. A takeaway also had to be carefully unpacked and then handed over. The 17-year-old Xie Xuanming protested many times, but Ji Sheng continued to do so.

Are you still treating me like a child?

Xie Xuanming took the chopsticks and whispered “Thank you”.

He didn’t ask.

He lowered his eyes and tinkered with the takeaway, asking casually as if trying to hide his emotions, “Do you have any plans afterwards?”

“Yes.”

He asked casually, but Ji Sheng’s answer was not casual.

He spread his fingers and counted them one by one.

“First of all, I have to learn music theory and acting, then try to produce a few original singles or an album. In the meantime, I might go to a small drama crew and practice acting…”

Ji Sheng was talking excitedly. Xie Xuanming lowered his head and pretended to listen indifferently.

But his disguise didn’t last long this time.

“The last and most important plan.”

Xie Xuanming raised his head. Ji Sheng’s eyes curved. “Chase you.”

“Chase you with great fanfare, fuss and shamelessness.”

Previous / ToC / Next

If Ji Sheng had the memories of the future before the car accident happened……

“Brother Ji.” The assistant quickly buckled his seat belt and started the car, looking at Ji Sheng in the rearview mirror and saying in surprise and joy, “You’re going out today!”

He was really happy. Since his wrist injury, Ji Sheng had stopped working and had never left his apartment; the little assistant visited him several times, and he was listless and looked very depressed.

There were many artists in the circle who became mentally unstable because of the fallout. The assistant was worried that Ji Sheng might not be able to think straight and suffer from psychological problems

“Going out for a stroll.” Ji Sheng said, “And finding someone by the way.”

“Okay.” It was a good thing to be willing to come out. The assistant said holding the steering wheel, ”Brother Sheng’s crew is a bit far away. It takes an hour to drive over there, so you can have a nap…”

“Who said I’m going to see him?” Ji Sheng frowned.

“Ah?” The assistant was stunned, “Then where are we going?”

Ji Sheng reported an address: “Go here.”

The place was in the middle of nowhere. It was a long distance away from Sheng Kongzhi’s crew. The assistant vaguely had an impression that it was a TV station, and Xie Xuanming was recording a program there today.

But what did Ji Sheng want from Xie Xuanming?

Didn’t they fall out because of the casting of the TV series before?

The assistant was confused, but still drove the car to the TV station.

In the back seat, Ji Sheng pressed his temples.

A few days ago, he fell in the shower and knocked his head. He originally thought he would be okay after a while. Who could have imagined that this knock was like opening his eyes of the Heaven’s way and a large piece of memory that he didn’t have before would be stuffed in his head.

That memory was related to him. In it, he seemed to have died and come back to life, and finally came together with Xie Xuanming.

Ji Sheng was in a daze for a few days and then boldly ventured a guess based on the reality and the increasingly clear memories — he had not just banged his head, but had memories from the future.

As he confirmed this idea more and more, the memories of the future fused together with his emotions, and Ji Sheng had lived several years in just a few days.

When the avalanche of memories ended, Ji Sheng clutched his head in a bout of pain and then rushed to Xie Xuanming right away.

“Teacher Xie, thank you for your hard work.” The program director bowed to Xie Xuanming, “Thank you for your cooperation. The recording is over. We will send the edited version within a week. If you see anything that needs to be changed, please contact us.”

The director’s rare humility attracted the attention of other staff but when they saw the young man standing in front of the director, they figured out what was going on.

After all, the director was facing the youngest movie star in the circle and the current hot celebrity.

Xie Xuanming had soared up the ranks, yet he still kept his promise to participate in the humble program he had previously promised to record, and the program team was flattered and naturally treated him with courtesy.

“Okay, you have worked hard too.” Xie Xuanming nodded lightly.

He removed his makeup and followed the agent to the underground parking lot.

The staff caught up with them and said that there was something to discuss, so the agent stayed behind briefly and Xie Xuanming got in the car first.

Sitting in the seat of the nanny car, Xie Xuanming closed the door smoothly. His blank expression had just relaxed, haze and fatigue had not yet surfaced but the cold stern look was eased up a little.

There was a soft sound in the back seat, tiny, but enough to be captured.

Xie Xuanming opened his eyes abruptly and quickly grabbed without turning back.

He caught someone and squeezed hard.

“Hiss!” The man who was clutched by him cried out in pain.

Xie Xuanming was about to continue to drag the man forward, but when he heard this sound, his body suddenly froze and his hand shook as if electrocuted.

Ji Sheng took the opportunity to break free from the grip, retracted his hand vigorously, blew on the red marks on his forearm twice, raised his eyes and scolded: “You almost gripped the wound, why are you pressing so hard?”

He spoke in the tone “Ji Sheng” was using to talk to Xie Xuanming in his “memory”, which sounded very uncomfortable to Xie Xuanming’s ears at this moment.

“I thought it was a sisheng…” Xie Xuanming glanced at his wrist and replied instinctively while confirming that he hadn’t touched Ji Sheng’s injury. He didn’t react until halfway through the sentence, and changed the topic with a cold face, “What are you doing here?”

Since Ji Sheng gave up the role in the TV series for Sheng Kongzhi, which angered Xie Xuanming, the two had not contacted each other for a long time.

Xie Xuanming didn’t go looking for him, nor did he expect Ji Sheng to come to him.

But Ji Sheng was here now.

“To see you.” Ji Sheng said without raising his eyes.

“…why do you want to see me?”

“Missed you.”

“……”

Xie Xuanming glanced at the back seat, then turned his head sharply and looked out the window: “Is Li Tan here, or Sheng Kongzhi?”

“No, they are not.” Ji Sheng stretched out his hand unceremoniously and turned his head back, “Just me.”

Xie Xuanming’s head was turned as if he was a dummy mannequin, his body and expression also as cold and hard as plaster.

“Give me the phone.” Ji Sheng took his hand off Xie Xuanming’s head and spread it out in front of him.

Xie Xuanming remained motionless.

“I knew you wouldn’t give it.” Ji Sheng sighed and retracted his hand, taking out something from his pocket, “Fortunately, I was prepared…”

Xie Xuanming’s gaze moved down; what Ji Sheng was holding in his hand was his mobile phone.

“…when did you get it?”

“Just now.” Ji Sheng turned on his phone in front of him.

Xie Xuan remembered that Ji Sheng and Su Jing had learned a few crooked ways back then and had also wanted to teach him enthusiastically, but Xie Xuanming himself was too oppressive by nature. As long as he got close to people, he would scare them away…

“Um… facial recognition.” Ji Sheng muttered, suddenly raising his hand to Xie Xuanming’s face, “Smile.”

Xie Xuanming squinted when the light on the screen shone at him, and when he opened his eyes again, Ji Sheng was already doing something with the unlocked mobile phone.

“What are you doing? Xie Xuanming stared down at him and asked in a cold voice, but had no intention of making a move to stop him.

“Doing something big.” Ji Sheng chuckled twice, very maliciously.

Xie Xuanming watched him pull ”Ji Sheng” out of the address book and WeChat blacklist, then lock the phone and hand it over.

“Here.”

Xie Xuanming didn’t move for a second and finally took it.

“Now that you have seen me, you can go.”

“Won’t go.” Ji Sheng leaned back in the seat very comfortably, “I want to go home with you.”

“…get out of the car.”

“You have been to my place, why can’t I go to yours?”

“Get out of the car.”

“I can’t afford to pay the rent.”

“I’ll transfer money to you, get out of the car.”

“…” Ji Sheng looked at Xie Xuanming who was wearing a cold look and sighed, “Sheng Kongzhi will go back to the dormitory tonight, I don’t want to see him.”

“……”

A few minutes later, the agent got in the car, fastened his seat belt, raised his eyes and was startled by a smiley face in the rearview mirror.

“This is… Ji Sheng?” The agent was shocked, “Why are you here…”

“Go back to the dormitory.” Xie Xuanming interrupted.

The Xie family neither objected nor approved of Xie Xuanming’s entry into the entertainment industry. He was originally a brought-home son, and living decently was the Xie family’s greatest requirement for him.

But no attitude did not mean no effort. In order to maintain the “good father-son relationship” with Xie Xuanming, his father generously invested in a company for him, and Xie Xuanming’s so-called “dormitory” was in a high-level residential area near the river.

It was the first time Ji Sheng entered Xie Xuanming’s residence. He had no memory of this large flat, so he looked around curiously.

Xie Xuanming walked into the room as if he couldn’t see Ji Sheng’s eyes drifting around, took some clothes and a big towel, and came out to hand them to Ji Sheng.

“A change of clothes.” Xie Xuanming said, “The towel and underwear are unused.”

“Thank you.” Ji Sheng took them.

“I want to take a shower, you use the guest bath.”

Throwing off these words, Xie Xuanming turned and went into the bathroom.

Ji Sheng stood still, raising the clothes to the tip of his nose.

A light mint smell.

It hadn’t changed from the time he was a teenager to his future memories.

When Xie Xuanming came out after washing, he didn’t see anyone in the living room. He glanced at the guest bathroom, and there were no traces of it being used.

There was a rustling sound in the study, and Xie Xuanming took two steps to that side, leaning slightly against the half-open door, and looked in.

Xie Xuanming was not surprised when he saw Ji Sheng squatting in front of the cabinet and rummaging through the documents.

Everything happened for a reason.

What kind of person was Ji Sheng, what he could do for Sheng Kongzhi, what he had done for Qingchu, how he had discarded him.

How could Xie Xuanming not be clear about this?

But being clear did not mean that you would not be hurt.

Ji Sheng rummaged through the contents of the cabinet with his head lowered until he finally found what he wanted at the bottom of the cabinet. His eyes lit up and he was about to take it out, but his arm was grabbed.

He turned back to meet Xie Xuanming’s indifferent eyes.

He grabbed Ji Sheng’s left arm and raised it unquestionably, revealing the true nature of the object in his hand.

Scotch.

Xie Xuanming was taken aback.

It was not a contract document as expected, but a large roll of scotch tape.

“What are you doing with this?”

“Waterproof.” Ji Sheng was puzzled by his grabbing, but still answered honestly, “The wound is easy to get infected when it touches the water.”

When his eyes fell on the scar on Ji Sheng’s other wrist, the grip instantly relaxed. Xie Xuanming let go of his hand and stood up straighter, his expression unreadable.

“You just use tape to waterproof?”

“Yeah.” Ji Sheng said, “Don’t mind it, ah, tape tied to paper towels, the waterproof effect is very good.”

“……”

Xie Xuanming didn’t think it would work.

Xie Xuanming felt that Ji Sheng would put himself in the hospital again sooner or later.

Ten minutes later, the gossiping paparazzi squatting at the door of Xie Xuanming’s community photographed Emperor Xie driving out in a hurry with his hair wet. Just as they thought they had a big story, Emperor Xie, wearing pyjamas, came out of a pharmacy and turned back to the community the same way.

Ji Sheng took a shower with plastic film tied with a gauze to keep the water out. He came out of the bathroom refreshed and saw Xie Xuanming sitting on the sofa reading a script.

This scene had happened countless times in his  “memory”, and Ji Sheng paused, filled with a sense of warmth of “this is how it should be”.

As he stood still in the corridor, Xie Xuanming also noticed him coming out and looked up.

The warm orange light shone softly on Ji Sheng, who had appeared countless times in his dreams, warm, moist and wearing his pyjamas.

The dreams were unattainable, but Ji Sheng was actually in front of him.

Xie Xuanming was in a daze for a moment, and his expression softened with that light.

“You……”

“I……”

The two spoke at the same time, collided and shut up tacitly.

After a moment of silence, Xie Xuanming nodded and motioned to Ji Sheng to speak first.

Ji Sheng was about to speak, but was interrupted by a mobile phone on the side.

“Sheng Kongzhi calling!”

The cold mechanical voice screamed loudly.

Ji Sheng: “……”

He regretted that he had set the ringtone to announce the person’s name for convenience.

When he looked up, Xie Xuanming’s face sank as expected, and the peace just now was gone.

The phone was still ringing. Ji Sheng hurriedly walked over and quickly hung up.

“Why is he calling me, ha…ha…”

Before the awkward laugh was over, the phone once again let out a loud chant.

“Sheng Kongzhi calling!”

Ji Sheng snapped and hung up again.

But this was not over yet.

“Sheng Kongzhi calling!”

“Sheng Kongzhi call…”

“Sheng Kong……”

The phone rang again and again; Xie Xuanming’s eyes were as cold as ice, and Ji Sheng’s scalp was numb from the look he gave him, making him feel that he was more wronged than Dou E.

“Sheng—”

This time, Ji Sheng picked up the call, and without waiting for the other party to speak, took a long breath and shouted at the other side with all his strength.

“Get lost!!!!”

So fierce that he couldn’t recognise his own voice…

Like an unlucky man who had just gone bankrupt and found out that his wife had run off with someone else and his son was not his own.

Xie Xuanming was also shocked by this roar that shook mountains and rivers. He was stunned for a moment but still tried to straighten his face and looked at Ji Sheng with an inscrutable expression.

But he soon couldn’t hold it.

Ji Sheng, who had just demonstrated a roar of the Lion King, hung up the phone and switched his persona in a second, lowering his head and laughing twice in a gentle and shy manner.

“I’ve done washing, shall I sleep in the guest room, or…”

His gaze drifted leisurely towards Xie Xuanming, ambiguity encircling his body.

Xie Xuanming could not help taking a step back.

He must have knocked his brains out in the shower, Xie Xuanming thought with an ugly face.

Previous / ToC / Next

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.

Previous / ToC / Next

With the seven-hour time difference between Paris and China, it was still very early in the morning when Xie Xuanming arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport after a thirteen-hour flight. 

When the plane landed, the director next to Xie Xuanming glanced at his mobile phone and suddenly his expression changed drastically.

It was the first time Xie Xuanming had seen him look so pale in all the time they had spent together on the set, so he couldn’t help but look sideways and ask, “What’s wrong?”

The director raised his head and glanced to the side with an ugly expression.

Xie Xuanming followed his gaze, just in time to see the accompanying assistant turn away and avoid his gaze.

Xie Xuanming frowned and repeated: “What’s wrong?”

The director’s expression was uncertain. After two seconds, he calmed down as if he had made up his mind, put away his mobile phone and said, “Something happened at home.”

“Very serious?” Xie Xuanming stared at him.

The director stammered and avoided the point, and Xie Xuanming couldn’t judge the truth or falsehood of his words for now.

At this moment, the plane cabin door opened.

“Teacher Xie, let’s go.” The assistant urged him forward, “Hurry up and get some rest at the hotel.”

The people behind him were noisy, and the passengers were all in a hurry to get off the plane. Xie Xuanming had no intention of getting in the way, so he could only let go of his doubts and follow the assistant.

A bus took him halfway across the airport; on the way Xie Xuanming tried to turn on his phone several times to read the news, but was stopped by his assistant with some excuses.

“Teacher Xie, take the VIP exit.” After receiving the luggage, the accompanying crew stopped Xie Xuanming who was about to step out through the normal exit.

“It’s not necessary.” Xie Xuanming was baffled. It was difficult for the fame of domestic celebrities to spread abroad, and even if there were enough fans, it would definitely not reach the scale that needed to be avoided.

“Prevention is better than cure.” The staff made a ”please” gesture.

There was no need to dwell on trivial matters, so Xie Xuanming followed him without thinking too much. As he passed the general exit, he looked out and was surprised to see a crowd of people, mostly with cameras, mostly Asian faces.

Where did so many reporters come from?

Xie Xuanming wondered for a moment before he and his assistant stepped into the VIP lane.

In the car, Xie Xuanming finally managed to turn on his mobile phone, but he hadn’t been able to read the news as the assistant took out the itinerary and talked to him about the program for today.

The award ceremony was not a trivial matter. Xie Xuanming put down his mobile phone and concentrated on checking his schedule.

Before getting out of the car, the assistant answered the phone, hung up and said with his face changed: “Teacher Xie, you may need to give me your mobile phone.”

He stretched out his hand, but Xie Xuanming did not hand out the phone: “What?”

“A crew member’s phone was bugged.” The assistant looked solemn, “Now the director asks everyone to hand in their mobile phones for inspection.”

Xie Xuanming’s expression also sank. The privacy of celebrities was more likely to be spied on than normal people, so naturally he was aware of it.

He took the mobile phone out of his pocket without thinking, but when he was about to hand it to the assistant, he suddenly withdrew it.

The assistant’s palm closed, grabbing an empty space. A trace of panic flashed across his face, but he quickly raised his eyes and pretended to look at Xie Xuanming calmly.

Fortunately, Xie Xuanming was immersed in his own thoughts and did not notice the emotional changes of the assistant: “I want to make a phone call.”

Assistant: “…to whom?”

“Ji Hui.” The assistant knew about the relationship between the two, and  Xie Xuanming did not intend to hide anything from him except for the matter of rebirth.

Any connection to the country at this moment would be an extra danger; the assistant did not want him to dial the number but could not find a valid reason to refuse, so he could only watch Xie Xuanming call.

“Hey, good morning.” When he was talking to Ji Sheng, Xie Xuanming’s voice was much softer, “I’m in Paris.”

“Up so early… have you had breakfast yet?”

“The live broadcast has been transferred to the morning? Can Su Jing get up?”

“Is everything okay?”

“……”

Xie Xuanming’s tone was peaceful, but the assistant was on pins and needles. Every second of the call was torture for him.

Others didn’t know, but the assistant knew Xie Xuanming’s character very well.

This “tyrant” of the 21st century was unpredictable; if he learned that his little lover was taken advantage of by someone while he was away, or that his little lover was hiding a scandal from him…

He would get furious on the spot and his actions would be unforeseen and irreparable.

The assistant shivered.

Tonight, after attending the award ceremony and becoming the youngest actor of the new generation to be exposed to international awards, Xie Xuanming’s career, along with the entire Xuansheng, would soar… At this important juncture, there had to be no accidents.

Seeing that Xie Xuanming had finished talking to his little lover and handed over his phone without any reaction, the assistant breathed a sigh of relief, put away the phone hastily and said: “When you get to the hotel, go rest at once. The makeup artist will come at ten o’clock, then you have a meal with the French side at noon, and there will be an interview at four o’clock in the afternoon…”

After he repeated the process several times, Xie Xuanming felt so drowsy that he fell asleep as soon as he was next to the hotel bed.

He didn’t sleep until the morning. About four or five hours later, the door of the room was knocked on, and the assistant timidly asked, “Teacher Xie, are you asleep?”

Xie Xuanming slept lightly but was grumpy when someone woke him up, so he asked “What’s the matter?” in a very bad tone.

The assistant at the door was very reluctant to disturb him; he wished Xie Xuanming could sleep  directly until seven o’clock at night when the award ceremony opened.

However, the person who called was a famous director, and the assistant couldn’t afford to neglect him. At the risk of angering Xie Xuanming, he had to notify him.

“There is a call for you.” The assistant said helplessly at the door, “It’s from Director Lin Siji.”

Xie Xuanming did not reply. Two seconds later, the door opened. Xie Xuanming, with his hair in a mess, took the mobile phone from the assistant and slammed the door without looking up.

The action was so swift that the assistant didn’t react at once.

He stood at the door dumbfounded for a while, raised his hand and dropped it, finally not daring to knock.

Three missed calls covered the message underneath. Xie Xuanming hurriedly scanned it and called back. Before he could speak, he heard Lin Siji on the other side say lazily, “Congratulations, you’ve successfully come out of the closet.”

With this statement, Xie Xuanming’s prepared threat of “you better have something big to say” was immediately rebuffed.

Xie Xuanming had just woken up and his brain was not awake yet but his sense of danger and discomfort urged him to ask, “What’s wrong?”

In response to his confusion, Lin Siji gave an unsurprised laugh: “You really don’t know.”

“What happened?” Xie Xuanming emphasised.

Lin Siji didn’t have a habit of teasing mad dogs. He took it in stride and told him everything about the domestic public opinion scandal, meticulously including Xuansheng’s solution.

“Your company is quite deep. It contacted Jinlai to stir up the waters, and even though the method is ten years too old-fashioned, using one scandal to suppress another… the public is not tired of it.” Lin Siji tsk’ed. “The PR department was also bold, going to Jinlai’s signature artist Yang Yan, never mind that the other party and your little lover are both male… Fortunately, thanks to my interference, Xuansheng changed the target…”

Xie Xuanming didn’t have the mind to finish listening to Lin Siji’s oral essay full of boasting, hung up, and dialled Ji Sheng’s number.

The call didn’t get through.

His face completely black, Xie Xuanming turned and walked out.

The door slammed.

The assistant who was squatting at the door, scratching his head, stood up with hastily, saw Xie Xuanming’s stormy look and wailed in his heart that his life would soon be over.

Xie Xuanming had no intention of reducing his crime and sentenced him to a suspended sentence.

“The company confiscated Ji Hui’s mobile phone?” Xie Xuanming’s voice was as cold as a layer of ice.

“No.” The assistant nearly choked, but he was also smart, and fearfully guessing that this question was caused by Xie Xuanming’s inability to contact Ji Hui, he added, “Ji Hui should still be broadcasting live at this point.”

“Live broadcast?”

“Right.” Now that it had been exposed, the assistant half broke the jar and half tried to make amends, “The PR department told him to respond to the news through the live broadcast.”

Xie Xuanming’s complexion darkened another shade, as gloomy as a night in the deep sea when a storm was approaching.

Another game was over, and the live broadcast was briefly terminated. Ji Sheng’s hand dropped from the keyboard as he moved his fingers slightly.

“When the broadcast starts again, it’s time to read the comments.” Su Jing reminded him.

The live broadcast had been going on for more than four hours. The two of them sat in front of the computer and kept playing games non-stop. Ji Sheng seemed to be unable to see the barrage of inquiries on the screen, so Su Jing also pretended to be deaf and dumb and kept his mouth shut except for thanking him for coming.

But no matter how much they avoided it, it was finally time to respond.

“I know.” Ji Sheng said.

“…” Su Jing looked at his calm expression and sighed, “Although your skills are bad, your mentality is really suitable for being a professional gamer. Mount Tai collapses before you, and your face won’t change its colour. Much better than those newcomers in our team who cry and weep as soon as something goes slightly wrong.”

He was joking to enliven the atmosphere, and Ji Sheng also cooperated and laughed with him.

Su Jing knew that his heart was not as calm as it seemed, so he stretched out his hand and patted his shoulder, saying succinctly: “Go for it.”

He added, “No matter what you say, I will be on your side.”

“Thank you in advance.” Ji Sheng relaxed slightly and smiled at him.

“I’m ready to turn on the camera again.” The assistant’s reminder made their slightly relaxed nerves tighten again.

The camera turned on, the live stream restarted, and a dense barrage poured in instantly.

“Okay, that’s it for today’s live game broadcast. Let’s read the comments below.” Su Jing returned to his usual anchor persona, took the tablet given by his assistant, pretended to be blind and unable to see countless comments related to ”Xie Xuanming”, and ended the session by flirting with the few normal comments, as he usually did in his daily broadcasts.

He handed over the tablet, and Ji Sheng took the heavy electronic device.

Ji Sheng also followed Su Jing’s example, picking the less important comments and responding to them.

But some things still could not be avoided.

Ji Sheng lowered his head; he didn’t need to look to notice the PR people watching him from not far away.

He had clearly made the third choice last night, but then backtracked when the PR department was preparing to send out a press release.

The closeness between him and Xie Xuanming was obvious to everyone. Even the company had to give him some face. Although they felt uncomfortable, they still terminated the PR act.

But it was impossible to let public opinion drag on like this. The live broadcast in the morning was the deadline set by Xuansheng for him. Whatever response he made here, Xuansheng would cooperate with the PR.

“What do you think of the hot search this morning?”

Finally, Ji Sheng read out this comment.

In the Paris hotel, Xie Xuanming sat in a chair, his back straight, staring at the screen without blinking.

On the live broadcast page, the barrage was blocked, and only Ji Sheng was left with his eyes downcast, his thoughts unreadable.

He paused for a long moment, perhaps another second, before finally sitting up straight and raising his eyes.

“With such news, first of all, I need to apologise to my fans…”

The slightly distorted voice was coming from the screen.

Ji Sheng said a sincere apology and bowed to the camera.

After straightening up, he looked at the camera, looking at someone who was separated from him by the sea and time difference.

“As for my response… what I want to say is…”

“My position is consistent with that of Teacher Xie Xuanming.”

Previous / ToC / Next

After getting Xie Xuanming’s consent to be involved in the scandal, Qingchu could barely wait for the media to release the news and the photos of the two.

A new movie star and a waste musician, what an awkward, twisted couple. The outside world was in an uproar; meanwhile, Ji Sheng stayed at home safely and never contacted Xie Xuanming again, until…

“Do you want to come out for a walk?” Xie Xuanming asked.

“Now?” Ji Sheng asked uncertainly, holding the phone.

“In the evening.” Xie Xuanming said calmly, “Scandals need to be fueled. We are not meeting our business targets.”

Ji Sheng understood; he didn’t interact enough with Xie Xuanming and the party that broke the news was not satisfied.

“Okay.” He whispered, “What time?”

“At 10 o’clock tonight, the bar promenade.” Xie Xuanming hung up.

Ten minutes to ten, Ji Sheng saw Xie Xuanming, all in black, under the footbridge at the entrance of the bar promenade.

He stood at the junction of light and shadow, his black fisherman’s hat covering his face and his sportswear making him look like a college student waiting for his girlfriend.

Ji Sheng hesitated, then consciously claimed the identity of a “girlfriend”, lowered his cap and walked over.

“You’re early.” He whispered.

“You’re late.” Xie Xuanming returned in a flat voice, “Let’s go.”

Ji Sheng originally thought that Xie Xuanming’s appointment at 10 o’clock in the evening was due to identity considerations. After all, with Xie Xuanming’s current status, swaggering on the streets in broad daylight might have caused a lot of riots, while Ji Sheng himself might’ve been severely beaten by the fans as “the subject of the shameful scandal”.

But Xie Xuanming made an appointment at the bar promenade, the venue full of people even in the middle of the night.

Ji Sheng glanced sideways at the bars they passed by, hearing bands playing, bottles clinking and laughter coming through the glass windows.

He and Xie Xuanming walked coldly through the long street, like busy outsiders, indifferently passing by drunk young men who staggered forward with the help of their companions.

“You used to come to these places to work, didn’t you?” Xie Xuanming asked suddenly.

Ji Sheng was taken aback for a moment and realised that he was probably talking about the time when the band was underground. In order to save money for the album, Qingchu and he himself would often go to the bars to work.

Unfortunately, after all that hard work, the album was never recorded and the band broke up.

In a daze, Ji Sheng remembered that Loptr released an album a few days ago. It originally contained his own music, but it was removed because of the scandal.

“Regularly.” Ji Sheng said, “But the conditions were not so good at the time.”

The bars in the downtown area were not as regulated as the bars in the promenade today, and there were often quarrels and fights. Ji Sheng was often caught in the middle but he was quick enough to run away without getting hurt. After Xie Xuanming joined Qingchu and followed him to the shows, the number of fleeing figures changed from one to two.

Recalling the scenes of him escorting Xie Xuanming to the bars, Ji Sheng was in a trance for a second, unable to connect that good-natured, slim teenager with the cold, tall man beside him.

Xie Xuanming stopped talking and walked forward quietly, as if he had asked Ji Sheng to come out just to walk side by side like this.

Ji Sheng’s thoughts drifted away in the silent atmosphere.

The reason why Xie Xuanming agreed to Qingchu’s unreasonable request was not only because Qingchu offered him a good price, but also because he himself was caught in a previous scandal.

At the award ceremony, a popular actress “accidentally” fell on Xie Xuanming. After she was helped up, a marketing account post followed, “revealing” that she and Xie Xuanming had recently been seen together numerous times and had stayed in the same hotel.

The public always likes to read gossip news, and the actress had a pitiful appearance and a capability to spin a story. The peachy rumours of a “movie star” and a “little white flower” flew all over the social networks for a while, plus the bloggers said that the “little white flower” would soon participate in a big production movie while the identity of the male lead was a mystery. Many people guessed that it was Xie Xuanming who was going to star with her.

Ji Sheng checked: it was a large-scale commercial movie. If Xie Xuanming really agreed to star in it, he would make a lot of money.

But Xie Xuanming kicked the pot, preferring to promise Qingchu to sell corruption with him to earn some comparatively little money rather than take on this commercial movie when it was clear that his fledgling company was still short of funds.

“The script sucks. And I don’t like being calculated.” This was the reason Xie Xuanming gave.

Ji Sheng shrank his neck slightly feeling that with the second sentence Xie Xuanming was implying him.

Anyway, except for the drama he invited Ji Sheng to before, Xie Xuanming had never “downgraded” his choice of scripts. It was estimated that he intended to move up to the upper echelons of the movie industry.

That was pretty good.

Xie Xuanming was a good actor in front of the camera and a good businessman off the screen.

Xie Xuanming was a movie star, so he could play the role required at the moment with ease, but Ji Sheng was not from the industry and he was a bit afraid that he would mess up. 

He was so preoccupied that he was startled when he suddenly saw Xie Xuanming stop in his tracks. He hurriedly stopped along with him, only to look up and realise that they had already walked out of the bar promenade and were standing at the edge of an empty road, with the bus stop lights switching beside them.

“En?” Ji Sheng asked, puzzled.

“There are reporters on the opposite side.” Xie Xuanming said with a slight twitch of his lips.

“…you arranged it?”

“Qingchu arranged it.” Xie Xuanming raised the corners of his lips, a little ironic, “They didn’t tell you?”

“…” Ji Sheng asked, “What are you going to do?”

Xie Xuanming did not answer, only stood quietly, as if waiting for something.

Ji Sheng looked up at him, titling his head, his neck a little sore.

Half a minute later, Ji Sheng finally knew what Xie Xuanming was waiting for.

A bus marked “Night 7” dinged, its brakes loud as it slowed down to a halt by the platform.

Before it stopped, Xie Xuanming suddenly stepped forward and clasped his hand on the back of Ji Sheng’s neck.

Ji Sheng’s nape was squeezed forcefully; he hurriedly raised his head, and the next moment his lips were crushed against something cold.

The bus started moving loudly, rattling away from the platform.

Ji Sheng was awakened by the sound and gave Xie Xuanming a sharp push.

Xie Xuanming took a half step back, wiping his lips, his expression calm.

It wasn’t the first time he had been forcibly kissed by Xie Xuanming. Ji Sheng took a step back, helplessly realising that he was so used to it that he couldn’t even feel exasperated.

“This is also what Qingchu asked you to do?” He said coldly.

Xie Xuanming didn’t answer, only wiped his lower lip again, turned around and said, “Let’s go.”

He walked for a few steps and found that Ji Sheng was standing still, so he turned back, took his left hand and pulled him forward without a second thought.

Considering the camera in the opposite building, Ji Sheng didn’t shake it off but secretly squeezed his palm.

Ji Sheng used so much force that his fingers were a little numb, but Xie Xuanming still had a breezy face. His expression didn’t change and he didn’t let go. 

Ji Sheng was quickly discouraged; his hand relaxed and he quietly let Xie Xuanming lead him along.

Xie Xuanming walked a little in front of Ji Sheng, and as he walked, Ji Sheng suddenly heard him speak.

“Do you still owe me a gift?”

“Hmm?”

“You said before you would give me a gift if I got the best actor award, when I decide what I want.”

“…I didn’t expect you to really get it.”

“…” Xie Xuanming paused and continued, “But I got it, and you congratulated me.”

“……”

“What do you want?” Ji Sheng thought that Xie Xuanming should be even less in need of anything now.

And he had nothing to give.

Ji Sheng asked him to request, but Xie Xuanming went silent again.

Ji Sheng waited patiently, the evening breeze blowing on his face, dispelling some of his drowsiness. Just when he thought Xie Xuanming would not speak again, Xie Xuanming said:

“I think… how about we just go with the gossip?”

“Huh?” Ji Sheng woke up, “What did you say?”

“Brother Ji, how about you really dating me?” Xie Xuanming repeated.

Ji Sheng opened his eyes wide; the evening breeze was a little cold, making his eyes dry.

He pondered for a while and asked, “Have you been drinking?”

“No.” Xie Xuanming quickly denied.

Ji Sheng went quiet again, and then said after a long time: “Then don’t talk nonsense.”

There was silence again, and finally a soft laugh reached him.

Dissipated with the wind at once.

Ji Sheng was lying on his bed, the scandal between “Ji Hui” and Xie Xuanming still floating on the hot search. If it weren’t for the change of name, he would even have thought that he was back in his previous life.

He rubbed his temples, and the laughter Xie Xuanming let out in his dream still echoed in his ears.

He didn’t understand in his previous life, thinking that Xie Xuanming was laughing at him for taking the joke seriously.

Looking back now, Xie Xuanming was probably laughing at himself.

Ji Sheng pressed his temples and suddenly found that the phone screen was lit up.

The public relations department sent him another message.

[It’s best to decide on the PR strategy quickly. We contacted Mr. Su Jing and he agreed to move the live broadcast to the morning. If you decide which method to use, you can respond directly in the live broadcast. Su Jing also said that he will fully cooperate with the PR]

After reading it, Ji Sheng glanced at the time. Xie Xuanming’s plane should not have landed yet. He replied:

[Can we hide the domestic public opinion from Xie Xuanming first? I don’t want these matters to interfere with his activities abroad.]

The contact person of the public relations department gave a positive reply.

Ji Sheng breathed a sigh of relief and sent another message.

[As for the PR method, I’ve already decided, I’ll trouble you to cooperate with it]

Previous / ToC / Next

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.”

Previous / ToC / Next

Although the scene was very awkward and was unlikely to be broadcast, fortunately, the people present had all been in the business for years. After the actor got over being stunned, he took the initiative to say hello and change the subject. Wang Yao also laughed and started another topic. Ji Sheng pushed Xie Xuanming away. At the same time, he raised his eyes to give a “don’t be evil” look to Xie Xuanming. Xie Xuanming received the warning and honestly stopped messing around…

The four of them each had their own agenda; they exchanged a few words with some fake smiles, got in the car and went to the recording venue.

The recording location was in a suburban villa area; each CP couple had a separate villa. Xie Xuanming walked in and looked around, and objectively commented: “Not as big as my house.”

Ji Sheng: ……

Ji Sheng dragged the suitcase into the guest room on the first floor: “Say something that can be broadcast, Teacher Xie, you’re going to be scolded again.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Xie Xuanming shrugged, went to his own suitcase and pulled it into the house.

Ji Sheng had just put the suitcase down in the guest room when he turned and saw Xie Xuanming dragging his large suitcase through the door as if it was the most natural thing to do.

Ji Sheng quickly straightened up to stop his invading pace.

“What are you doing, Teacher Xie?” Ji Sheng smiled in embarrassment, his eyes full of warning, “You live on the second floor, the master bedroom is up there.”

“The first floor has good lighting.”

“Upstairs are floor-to-ceiling windows with a balcony.”

“I don’t want to carry the suitcase.”

“I’ll help you carry it.”

“I like this room.”

“……”

Ji Sheng took a deep breath, raised his eyes, glanced at the camera and put on a fake sweet smile: “Then I’ll go upstairs and you sleep here.”

His smile was amiable; his eyes were full of murderous aura.

Xie Xuanming looked at him for two seconds, then turned around reluctantly: “No, I’ll go upstairs.”

Xie Xuanming strode out, dragging the suitcase. Ji Sheng just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard a rumble upstairs and then someone said sullenly: “I have your toothpaste, remember to come and brush your teeth tonight.”

Ji Sheng’s breath caught in his throat and he coughed violently, instinctively looking up at the camera. Under his stare, the cameraman in the corner turned away, proverbially covering his ears to steal a bell, indicating that he “didn’t notice anything”.

Ji Sheng was so tired that he covered his face with his hands, thinking that it might have been a mistake to take on this variety show.

He just wanted to promote his CP with Xie Xuanming to add some heat to the web drama.

He didn’t want to kick open the closet door in front of the whole country.

In the evening, Ji Sheng and Xie Xuanming still went to Wang Yao’s house for dinner.

Ji Shneg did not bow to Xie Xuanming’s messy request for the title of seniority (gege) and Xie Xuanming, relying on the camera to prevent Ji Sheng from cursing, used cooking as a blackmail, stubbornly cornering Ji Sheng to make him say unpleasant things.

Ji Sheng was also very tough; if you don’t cook, fine, then I won’t eat. He turned and ran away to Wang Yao.

The words that were said were like water that had been spilled, and the conversation that exploded was like chewing gum that had run out of flavour.

Xie Xuanming didn’t have a sense of measure and scared Ji Sheng away, so he could only follow Ji Sheng to the next door to eat. From sitting down to putting down his chopsticks, his face was as stinky as if everyone present owed him five million.

Unfortunately, in the eyes of Wang Yao and the male actor, a cold face was the norm for Emperor Xie, and it was in Teacher Xie’s character to lose his temper all the time, so there was nothing special about it. Seeing Xie Xuanming like this, the two of them instead felt more sympathy for Ji Sheng and welcomed him even warmer, thinking they were saviours giving a homeless little wretch a meal to eat.

Ji Sheng, the only one who could see that Xie Xuanming was making trouble, deliberately ignored his emotional outburst, buried his head in the food and had a lot of fun. From time to time, he raised his head and joked with Wang Yao, disregarding the chill-spreading air-conditioner sitting on his right.

With this dinner, Ji Sheng won a big victory in the secret battle between the two of them.

On the way back, he proudly teased: “Teacher Xie, it’s true that whoever provides the meal is the master, but the title is not monopolised.”

Xie Xuanming hooked the corners of his mouth, smiling humorlessly: “Xiao Ji, don’t be happy too early.”

Xie Xuanming also had a reason to speak so harshly. Xie Xuanming knew how picky Ji Sheng was; he would either eat with gusto or perfunctorily ignore the food he did not like. This was Ji Sheng’s eating style.

At the table just now, Ji Sheng ate two mouthfuls of white rice and barely touched the other dishes that were obviously not to his liking.

Xie Xuanming, who witnessed all this, washed up and went to bed calmly. He picked up the book “The Use and Practice of Psychoanalysis” on the bedside and read it with relish. As expected, he heard the door of the bedroom being knocked on when it was close to midnight.

“Come in.” Xie Xuanming said.

The door creaked. Ji Sheng poked his head in and tentatively said, “Teacher Xie.”

Xie Xuanming didn’t raise his head, turning a page in his hand, and asked, knowing the answer: “Here to brush your teeth?”

“No.” Ji Sheng said in a low voice, “I’m hungry.”

“Oh.” Xie Xuanming remained motionless.

The two remained in a stalemate for a while. Eventually Ji Sheng couldn’t bear the emptiness of his stomach, gritted his teeth and said, “Teacher Xie, can you cook?”

Xie Xuanming finally reacted, put down the book and said, “Yes.”

“Can I ask you to make supper?” Ji Sheng said, “There are Japanese-style ramen, tomatoes, eggs, lean pork and scallions in the kitchen.”

“I usually cook when I’m in a good mood.” Xie Xuanming said leisurely.

“…” Ji Sheng asked, “Are you in a good mood now?”

“In general.” Xie Xuanming said, “If someone calls me ‘gege’, I might be in a better mood.”

“……”

“……”

If I hadn’t died, would this kid be so arrogant and domineering?!

Ji Sheng had never regretted his carelessness in his previous life so much.

“Brother Xie… Gege…” Ji Sheng almost gnashed his teeth, “Please make me supper, thank you.”

“Okay.” Xie Xuanming closed the book contentedly and went downstairs to the kitchen.

The mode of getting along between the two was so intimate that they discussed it with the director again and again in the late stage of the filming, but still did not find a solution. Although the director promised Ji Sheng to cut out the overly ambiguous scenes, when the material was presented in front of them, all the interactions were too intimate and the director was dumbfounded.

“How to cut it?” The post-production crew asked in a low voice, “Are you going to cut it all?”

“…” The director was very tired, “Keep it, there will be nothing to broadcast if you cut it.”

The heartbroken crew left the footage of the two together, and even did the opposite, using the intimate interaction between the Xie/Ji couple as a selling point, creating an illusion of “real or fake, fake or real”.

The trailer was a hit, and the internet exploded.

[Call me ‘gege’ and I’ll let you go]

[Gege]

When the necking scene on the sofa flashed by and several clips of ambiguous conversations were released, the netizens were shocked.

[kswl!]

[Help, Xie Xuanming turns out to be this kind of persona?]

[Are the two here to record the show or are they in love?]

[“We are CP” X “We are Married”]

[I’m going to jump into the pit. I heard that the CP of “The Drummer” was good, but I didn’t expect the after-sales service to be so good either.]

[Guide the way to the supertopic “Round Ten”, you will have everything you need there]

[……]

The broadcast time of “We are CP” was Sunday night, immediately after the two episodes of “The Drummer” were broadcast in a row.

In episodes 4 to 8 of “The Drummer”, the drama progressed as Xie Yuan and Ji Renshi gradually fell apart while venturing into the entertainment industry, with their relationship drifting apart and eventually breaking up because of a role.

The CP in the drama was extremely heartbreaking, and the CP outside the drama was sweet to death.

As soon as the sad “Round Ten” CP fans finished watching “The Drummer” crying, they were crushed to death by the avalanche of sugar in “We are CP”. The overwhelming difference between reality and drama further contributed to the expansion of this CP fan group.

Of course, in addition to being obsessed with the CP, the audience had not forgotten the prototypes of  “The Drummer”. They were sorry and saddened by what happened to Ji Renshi, and what Sheng Mou did in the drama was really disgusting.

Although the drama was separate from reality, when the audience thought of the various methods of Sheng Kongzhi and Qingchu in reality, its anger turned to aim directly at Sheng Kongzhi and Qingchu, and fired.

Sheng Kongzhi’s side sued several particularly vocal netizens, but they could only pretend to be deaf and dumb about the source of their anger, “The Drummer”, together with Xuansheng Company, so that not to hit a stone with an egg.

In the second week of the broadcast of “The Drummer”, Xie Xuanming received two pieces of good news.

First, Qingchu Company declared bankruptcy due to financial difficulties, and Xuansheng’s side finally could start trademark acquisition.

The second was that Xie Xuanming’s last movie was nominated for the Cinéma Awards in France and the organisers invited Xie Xuanming to attend the award ceremony.

The Cinéma Awards were one of the most prestigious and widely recognised international awards at present. The news that Xie Xuanming had been nominated for the award in less than five years after his debut had caused a ripple effect on the internet. The black fans who had previously sarcastically criticised Xie Xuanming for not being able to pick up any movies and making web dramas instead were silenced. Everyone knew that whether he won the award or not, this would undoubtedly give Xie Xuanming another layer of gold and strengthen his status as a movie emperor.

The actor was nominated for an international award just four years after his debut. Xie Xuanming, a 25-year-old new generation actor, had unlimited possibilities in the future.

On the day Xie Xuanming went abroad, his itinerary was made public. With the company’s tacit approval, many fans came to see him off.

Due to the large number of people coming, for the sake of public order and safety, a protective tape was put up. Fans who arrived were asked to stand behind the protective tape for an orderly send-off.

Most of the fans stayed in the designated area sensibly, holding up their cameras or preparing letters to Xie Xuanming, and waited quietly.

But when Xie Xuanming arrived, there were still some irrational fans, or sishengs who had been lurking for a long time; they screamed and lifted the protective tape, trying to cross over and approach Xie Xuanming.

Most of these intruders were stopped by the quick-responding bodyguards, but one sisheng was the fish that missed the net. She rushed past the bodyguards and quickly approached Xie Xuanming, who was standing with his back to her, unsuspecting.

The fans gasped as no one knew how stinky the sisheng was and what she might do to Xie Xuanming.

Just as the sisheng was about to rush in front of Xie Xuanming, a man in black clothes and a black cap suddenly appeared beside him, blocking the sisheng’s way, grabbing her waist.

The sisheng was caught off guard, flailing her arms and kicking, screaming harshly, but the man held her firmly, not letting go even though his cap was knocked off.

The bodyguards who finally reacted took over the sisheng and escorted her out.

Xie Xuanming, who was handling some business in front of him, was so startled by the commotion that he turned around. The man picked up his cap and gave him an OK gesture, signalling that it was fine.

Not far away, the station sister  pointed her camera at Xie Xuanming but accidentally photographed the man’s profile before he put on his cap.

The brim of the cap couldn’t cover his curved eyebrows, and under his eye, a tear mole was particularly eye-catching.

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There was a weird silence on the other end of the phone; the director seemed to have been frightened by the sudden melon-eating opportunity  and lost his voice on the spot.

“Hello, are you still there?” Ji Sheng asked sheepishly, glaring at Xie Xuanming, who was resting his chin on his shoulder for unknown reasons.

“You… you and Teacher Xie…” It took a while before the director stumbled over his words, “Are you going to come out of the closet on our show?”

Ji Sheng: “……”

Ji Sheng coughed: “No, just… If this will add a lot of trouble to your work, we won’t participate. Thank you for your hard work.” 

Seeing that he was about to hang up, the director finally pulled himself out of the state of shock and hurriedly persuaded: “No hard work, no hard work, we can handle it later, you and Teacher Xie can just think of it as a holiday and come on a trip.”

“That’s it.” Ji Sheng turned his head, covered the microphone and asked in a low voice, “There is an invitation to a show that can promote “The Drummer”, go?”

“Do you want to go?” Xie Xuanming, still not quite awake, asked lazily, holding Ji Sheng.

“It’s okay.” 

“Then let’s go.” 

“Okay.” Ji Sheng turned back to the phone and said, “We’re in.”

“Okay.” The director was afraid that the two of them would think it through and regret it, but he also needed time to calm the palpitations of knowing the big secret, so he said quickly, “I’ll send you the contract by Email, the time and shooting schedule are written in it, so give us a call after you sign it and we’ll send someone to collect it.”

“Okay.” 

After hanging up the phone, Ji Sheng breathed a sigh of relief, his heart thudding at the thought of suddenly coming out of the closet in front of an outsider just now.

He looked sideways at the culprit angrily, but Xie Xuanming squinted carelessly, surrounding him like a big dog basking in the sun.

Ji Sheng looked at him for a few seconds and lost his temper.

With difficulty, he pulled his hand out of Xie Xuanming’s grip, searched the Internet for relevant information about “We Are CP”, and suddenly found a blind spot.

“Ah, wake up.” Ji Sheng freed his other hand and squeezed Xie Xuanming’s cheek twice, “We might need to live in separate rooms…”

“What?” Xie Xuanming sat up in shock, his eyes opened and sharp.

“…for one night.” Ji Sheng finished the sentence, “The show is coming to the house to film the packing.”

“…” Xie Xuanming thought for two seconds, and said with certainty, “We’re not participating.”

“I just promised people.” Ji Sheng said with a smile.

“Then tell them not to come.” Xie Xuanming frowned.

“It’s just one night.” Ji Sheng said, “I’ll just find a random hotel to stay in the day before the recording and let the programme crew come to the house to film, they should have a sense of proportion and know what to film and what not to film.”

Xie Xuanming was still unhappy, but Ji Sheng insisted, so he could only reluctantly accept it.

Xie Xuanming’s displeasure lasted until the show crew came to the door four days later. He opened the anti-theft door with a cold face, his expression so horrifying that the battle-hardened camera master’s hand shook violently.

“Here you are.” Xie Xuanming said quietly, “Please come in.”

The cameraman bit the bullet and stepped into this place of lawlessness. He was just about to change into the spare slippers at the door, when Xie Xuanming quickly blocked them, the door of the shoe cabinet opened and closed, and a brand new pair of slippers was thrown in front of the cameraman.

“You wear these.” Xie Xuanming said.

Although he couldn’t understand why he had to wear the slippers from the shoe cabinet, the cameraman obediently changed his shoes and followed Xie Xuanming into the room with bated breath.

Although he was unhappy because of Ji Sheng’s short-term moving away, Xie Xuanming would not embarrass the hard-working employees. For the rest of the recording, he behaved very cooperatively. The process of showing the house and gathering the clothes went unexpectedly smoothly, but when he was packing up the toiletries, some problems unexpectedly appeared.

The cameraman followed Xie Xuanming into the bathroom of the master bedroom and instantly saw two bathroom cups on the sink.

The cameraman’s heart thudded; he also thought of the slippers at the door and the two pillows on the bed. The combination of these signs undoubtedly pointed to one result — Xie Xuanming, who presented himself as a single person, was actually living with someone.

A stormy wave was surging in the cameraman’s heart. The camera, as his other pair of eyes, had already consciously turned around to steadily take in the items on the sink.

A light orange tube fell into sight, and the cameraman took a closer look: lemon-flavoured children’s toothpaste.

The cameraman was shocked.

Even having a child??

Too efficient, right?

Xie Xuanming didn’t know that in just a few seconds, the cameraman’s mind was already in such a state of shock. He just calmly put the toothbrush into a storage box and the mint-flavoured toothpaste into a transparent wash bag together with the lemon-flavoured toothpaste.

He turned his head and confronted the cameraman’s distorted look.

Cameraman: ……

Xie Xuanming: ……

Xie Xuanming glanced down at the two toothpastes peeking out of the bag, and calmly explained: “It tastes good to use it occasionally.” 

Cameraman: ……

Cameraman: You think it’s a dessert?

But he couldn’t afford to offend Xie Xuanming and this image would definitely be cut out later. The cameraman could only pretend to be confused, nodding with a fake smile: “Makes sense…”

After a lot of fuss, the packing part was finally over. Xie Xuanming politely sent the cameraman out the door and sent a “miss you” message to Ji Sheng.

Never mind that they had been separated for less than twenty-four hours and would meet again soon.

Two other guests of “We Are CP” recorded at the same time as Ji Sheng and Xie Xuanming were an on-screen couple from a recent hit costume drama and were very popular.

The program group required the participating stars to gather in the city before setting off to the resort for the recording.

Since he set off separately from Xie Xuanming, Ji Sheng arrived at the meeting place first and met the woman from the on-screen couple — the new generation little flower Wang Yao.

The two met, greeted each other politely and sat down.

You can’t behave coldly on a variety show. As a variety show regular, Wang Yao smiled and exchanged pleasantries with Ji Sheng.

She was actually a little embarrassed to be here this time. Although her CP with the male lead was hot, nowadays, with the background of fan traffic being the most important, being in cp with a big actor could cause you to be abused by the opponent’s girlfriend’s fans nine times out of ten.

Wang Yao was already inferior to the male lead in terms of popularity. Because she was worried about being scolded, she was reluctant to sell CP and win CP fans. But the traffic of “We Are CP” was too large, and her company didn’t want to let go of this resource, so she had to bite the bullet.

She was going to offend the girlfriend’s fans if she promoted the CP, and anger the CP fans if she broke it up. There was no way in, no way out, so to speak, it was like walking on thin ice.

Now that there was a hotter “Round Ten” CP to attract fire, Wang Yao was relieved and at the same time felt some sympathy for Ji Hui.

After all, in terms of seniority, origin and business ability, this guy was more likely to be torn apart by non-CP fans than her.

Moreover, a straight man was bending over to promote the same-sex CP, committing himself to a lower position.

Money is not easy to make, (C)P is not easy to sell!

Deep sympathy surged in Wang Yao’s heart.

“Sister Yao.” Ji Sheng didn’t know that the other party had taken pity on him after one look, but he knew that Wang Yao had already recorded two episodes of the show, so he thought of getting some experience from her, “This show, what do we usually have to do?”

He got on the pirate ship without even knowing what he was going to do there.

Wang Yao felt even more sorry for him: “Generally, it just records some daily routines, cook, play games, watch dramas, and do whatever you want at home… but two people have to do it together.” 

“Oh…” Ji Sheng nodded as if he understood.

His face was full of confusion. Wang Yao thought it would be very difficult for him to spend the next 48 hours face to face with Emperor Xie, so she kindly offered an invitation, “We’ll be right next door to you, so you’re welcome to come and have dinner with us if you want.”

Ji Sheng was struggling with how to conceal his intimacy with Xie Xuanming in front of the camera when Wang Yao suddenly extended an invitation. He considered it and found that reducing the time spent with Xie Xuanming tet-a-tet was indeed a good way to avoid suspicion.

Ji Sheng was overjoyed, and as soon as he was about to agree, he heard someone say nearby, “Good morning, what are you chatting about?” 

Ji Sheng and Wang Yao raised their heads simultaneously. Xie Xuanming pushed the suitcase with one hand. Wang Yao hurriedly got up to say hello, but before she could stand up straight, she saw Xie Xuanming put the suitcase down and lean on the arm of the sofa where Ji Sheng was sitting, lowering his head, “You forgot to pack your toothpaste.”

“Oh.” Ji Sheng coughed, gave Xie Xuanming a small pat as a reminder, and stretched out his hand to Wang Yao, “Teacher Xie is here, this is Senior Wang Yao.”

Only then did Xie Xuanming notice that there was another person standing next to him. He got up and nodded, “Hello.” 

“Hello, hello.” Wang Yao was shocked by the intimate posture of the two and the surprisingly informative dialogue, and said dryly, “There is a shop next to the recording site, you can buy toothpaste there.”

“There may not be children’s toothpaste.” Xie Xuanming replied politely, but his eyes never moved away from Ji Sheng. ”He’s rather picky and only uses children’s toothpaste.”

“Oh, so…” Wang Yao smiled awkwardly.

“And it’s best to be lemon-flavoured.” Xie Xuanming didn’t know how to stop.

So Ji Sheng could only laugh awkwardly with Wang Yao.

Out of sight of the camera, Ji Sheng pinched Xie Xuanming hard.

“Get up.” Ji Sheng warned him, shaping the words with his mouth soundlessly.

Xie Xuanming lowered his eyes to look at him, and moved his lips silently: “No.” 

Ji Sheng: ……

Ji Sheng helplessly slumped back onto the sofa.

An eerie silence fell on the recording set.

After thirty seconds of silence, the director outside the scene couldn’t sit still and gestured frantically, signalling to the three to say something.

“Right.” Wang Yao’s lips stiffened; she had never been so desperate for her unlucky business partner to hurry up and appear, “I just discussed with Xiao Ji, would you like to come to us for dinner tonight?”

“Xiao Ji? For dinner?” Xie Xuanming narrowed his eyes slightly.

Ji Sheng was keenly aware of the danger, so he shrank back again and chuckled dryly.

Xie Xuanming didn’t let him go; he pressed down slightly and asked, “Do you want to go to dinner?”

Wang Yao: ……

Wang Yao suddenly felt the atmosphere of fifty shades of grey.

“Sorry for the long wait.” At this moment, the ancient puppet male lead arrived late with his suitcase. As soon as he appeared, he saw his usually lukewarmly polite CP partner sitting up straight with her eyes glowing as if she had seen a long-lost family member.

As his gaze shifted to the left, he saw two overlapping figures of the sofa, looking like they were either necking or kissing. How did they manage to look so adulterous?

The actor stopped hesitatingly. As soon as he saw that the two people stuck together were the famous Xie Xuanming and the confused Ji Hui, he heard Xie Xuanming, who was on top, say in a low voice:

“Call me ‘gege’ and I will let you go.” 

Actor: ????

Actor: !!!!

Actor: Fuck! Is this show already this bent?

Previous / ToC / Next

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?”

1. Homophonic to “fuck”

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