Reborn as a substitute

by Usui Takumii

not mine xiao yunyun translations.

3. 11 to 20

Chapter 11

yun1yun yun1yun

1 year ago

It was not the first or the second time Su Jing received a yellow card for a live broadcast. Being banned from the live broadcast room because of cursing was considered his traditional art.

The platform would not mess with the traffic, though, and would let him out with a verbal warning and a token fine.

Su Jing, returning from a doghouse, was another hero. He coolly posted an arrogant apology on Weibo, which probably read as "Although I apologise, I scolded an idiot"… and decided to bring Ji Sheng to the next few live broadcasts, making Ji Sheng a short-term fixed guest in the live broadcast room.

The effect of Ji Sheng's participation was average at first, but with his good-looking face and decent business ability, recently the heat was quite high. Su Jing had no intention to terminate the cooperation, the live platform also pushed the boat, and Ji Sheng's company signed several more cooperation contracts.

Although Su Jing was straightforward and had a poisonous mouth, his personality was actually quite good. He took great care of "Ji Hui"; Ji Sheng also knew his style and followed his temper when he spoke, and the cooperation between the two was unexpectedly harmonious. After getting off the camera, they could also chat a little, unlike their awkward and alienated silence at the beginning.

One day, after the live broadcast, when Ji Sheng was removing makeup backstage, Su Jing came over, pulled aside the chair and sat down. He glanced at Ji Sheng casually but was accidentally attracted by his neck: "What's the matter with your neck?"

"……"

Ji Sheng looked down. The dressing room was a bit stuffy, so he took off his jacket to reveal a t-shirt with a loose neckline. The round neckline slipped down, and the dark red scabs on his neck that contrasted sharply with his fair skin were unsightly.

Tooth marks that had not healed yet.

Su Jing said clearly: "Xie Xuanming did it."

He leaned over, pulled down his neckline slightly and frowned when he saw how deeply imprinted the tooth marks were: "It's cruel enough to leave a scar." After getting up, he commented. "What a lunatic."

Ji Sheng pulled his neckline close: "Senior is actually good to me."

Su Jing sneered: "That guy is like this. He is really nice when he treats you well, and he won't recognize you after turning away."

He thought a little and added: "Have you heard of Sheng Kongzhi, a star who has been very popular in the past two years?"

"I have heard some."

"You don't know what Xie Xuanming did to him. He grabbed his endorsements and roles. Even at various parties, he directly forced the organisers to choose only one…" Su Jing smirked, "Of course, Sheng Kongzhi is not a good thing either. A dog bites a dog."

This was not the first time Ji Sheng heard of this. Xie Xuanming's targeting of Sheng Kongzhi had been mentioned many times on the radio.

Ji Sheng raised his eyes and looked at Su Jing flatly: "Why does Brother Su tell me this?"

Su Jing paused and looked away: "Nothing, you are a bit like a certain friend of mine… I just remind you not to be naive, not to plunge into the quagmire you can't get out of… a good deed in the memory of that friend."

Ji Sheng was silent for a while, then smiled at Su Jing: "Thank you, Brother Su, I won't."

The conversation with Su Jing allowed Ji Sheng to confirm the fact that Xie Xuanming really had a grudge with Sheng Kongzhi.

Although he had heard it many times before, Ji Sheng always suspected that it was a smoke bomb thrown by Xie Xuanming for hype and publicity. After all, there were not a few people in the entertainment industry who would do whatever it took to gain popularity. Ji Sheng also knew that there was no widely publicised feud between Xie Xuanming and Sheng Kongzhi apart from "fighting for a lover", but at most it meant a few issues that did not warrant such a big battle.

But now it seemed that Xie Xuanming was even crazier than he thought.

Ji Sheng sighed. He didn't quite understand why Xie Xuanming wanted to make Sheng Kongzhi so desperate, but he vaguely guessed that his death was related to Sheng Kongzhi and the forces behind Sheng Kongzhi…

Now Xie Xuanming and Sheng Kongzhi were in the opposing camps…

It is enough to know this, Ji Sheng decided.

An enemy of an enemy is a friend.

Their forces can be united.

For some reason, Ji Sheng felt that if he had a good relationship with Xie Xuanming, the investigation of the cause of his death would go much smoother in the future.

Then how could he get a good relationship with Xie Xuanming?

Ji Sheng fell into contemplation.

It seemed that the quality of Xie Xuanming's sleep was not very good…

Thinking of this, Ji Sheng had a flash of inspiration. He made a quick decision, stopped the driver and reported an address: "I'm sorry, something happened suddenly, please change it there, thank you."

Ji Sheng returned to the villa two hours later than usual that night. When he entered the door, Xie Xuanming had finished washing and was ready to sleep.

Xie Xuanming was sitting on the bed reading the script, with a small lamp on the bedside. His posture, as if waiting for someone, made Ji Sheng more sure of his judgement and a little more confident in the next part of the process.

After Ji Sheng finished washing, he sat down on the couch with his mobile phone, leaned forward and took the initiative to talk: "Senior, do you have some sleep problems?"

Xie Xuanming said coldly: "It has nothing to do with you."

"You asked me to stay in your bedroom because you can't sleep, right?"

Xie Xuanming frowned slightly and looked at him: "Who told you that?"

"No one." Ji Sheng said, "I just think so."

Before Xie Xuanming got angry, Ji Sheng said, "Have you ever tried to listen to a lullaby to fall asleep?"

"Lullaby." Xie Xuanming sneered and said disdainfully, "Something to coax children."

"Then do you want to try?"

"No."

Ji Sheng persisted: "Give it a try."

He was too noisy; Xie Xuanming stared at him blankly.

Xie Xuanming's eyes were dark and when he stared at someone without moving, there was a creepy, eerie feeling that made people who were looked at by him shiver and turn away.

But today, this practice failed.

Ji Sheng grabbed his mobile phone; the paused audio on the screen caught his eye.

His eyes were shining and he was eager to try.

Xie Xuanming looked away and nodded reluctantly.

Ji Sheng's face brightened, and he pressed the play button.

"Ah————!!!!"

A shrill roar cut through the air and instantly pinned the careless Xie Xuanming to the head of the bed.

His neck stiffened and he slowly looked down to see the name of the recording on the phone screen.

【Schubert's Lullaby. remix. 21st century heavy metal version. 】

【feat. growling drummer 】

A tornado destroying a parking lot swept through the entire bedroom with a wild beat, the glass vibrated and the clock buzzed, and everything in the room (except Ji Sheng) was eager to scramble to the door and escape.

After the song, Ji Sheng couldn't wait: "How was it?"

Xie Xuanming was silent as if he had been baptised by Satan.

Ji Sheng continued to look expectantly.

After a dead silence, Xie Xuanming said solemnly:

"You pulled all that crap just to give me this infernal stuff…"

"…didn't it work? I think it's quite hypnotic."

Xie Xuanming said one word at a time, gritting his teeth audibly: "Get. Out."

"I recorded two hours of that…"

"Get—out—get—out—"

Ji Sheng looked at him for two seconds, got up obediently and walked out.

He didn't need to sleep on the small couch again tonight.

Next day, Ji Sheng went to the live broadcast with dark circles under his eyes.

He spent the night restless and finally figured out that Xie Xuanming was too unpredictable a person. Pinning your hopes on him was like raising a beagle and expecting it to cook three dishes and a soup…

Ji Sheng warned himself gloomily that he needed to attack on multiple fronts and take the initiative…

Su Jing entered the door and saw him looking tired, so he asked casually, "Did you sleep well?"

Thinking of something, he added hastily: "Pretend I didn't ask."

Ji Sheng didn't have the mind to refute; he leaned forward and said, "Brother Su, do you have the contact information of Senior Sheng Kongzhi?"

"Used to have, but later deleted because of some troubles. Why are you asking?"

"Actually…" Ji Sheng said, "I'm a fan. Senior Sheng Kongzhi is kind of my inspiration to play in a band…"

"Is he?" Su Jing widened his eyes, "Then you and Xie Xuanming…"

He paused: "I said bad things about Sheng Kongzhi in front of you before…"

"It's okay, it's okay. "Ji Sheng laughed awkwardly. "I only like to listen to his songs, nothing else…"

Su Jing looked embarrassed: "His songs are not very good…"

Ji Sheng thought that he completely agreed but continued to laugh: "Okay, okay. Everyone has different tastes, I understand…"

In recent days, Niepan did not rehearse and Ji Sheng would go directly back to the villa after the live broadcast. Xie Xuanming would come back later than him, usually two or three hours later.

However, today, as soon as Ji Sheng entered the door and turned on the lights, he was startled by a dark shadow on the couch.

"Senior, why did you come back so early today?"Ji Sheng asked, confused.

"Come here." Xie Xuanming did not answer his question; his voice was solemn.

Ji Sheng spent a while taking off his shoes, keenly aware that Xie Xuanming was not in the right mood… Experience told him that it was best not to approach Xie Xuanming when he was in a bad mood.

Ji Sheng hesitated and did not come closer.

His passive resistance angered Xie Xuanming. He suddenly stood up from the couch, strode over, grabbed Ji Sheng's arm and dragged him to the basement.

Ji Sheng had seen the stairs going down below the villa but he never knew what was behind the closed door.

During the process of being dragged, he looked up and saw Xie Xuanming's gloomy expression, and various terrifying incidents such as basement murders, cannibalism and imprisonment suddenly appeared in his mind.

Ji Sheng struggled reflexively, but Xie Xuanming's hand clutched his wrist like iron pliers. No matter how he tried to break free, it was futile.

Ji Sheng was dragged all the way to the basement. Xie Xuanming held him with one hand and patted the switch on the wall with the other.

Snap.

The sudden brightness made Ji Sheng close his eyes, and then open them again. He was shocked to find that it was not a torture chamber in front of him, but only an empty room with a drum set in the center.

Ji Shen didn't understand what kind of drum set Xie Xuanming, a singer-turned-actor, could have at home. Xie Xuanming let go of him, took something from the wall and threw it over.

Ji Sheng caught it and looked down to confirm.

A pair of drumsticks.

He looked at the drumsticks blankly, even more confused.

Xie Xuanming's low voice sounded next to him: "So, you are a fan of Sheng Kongzhi?"

These words were no different from an explosion. Ji Sheng suddenly looked up.

Xie Xuanming appeared curious: "You started playing in a band because of Sheng Kongzhi… you weren't making this argument before."

Ji Sheng's mind buzzed and he was about to flash his life-saving gold token: "I have amne…"

"Amnesia can make people become fans of stars they didn't know before?" Xie Xuanming smiled melancholically, "It's really fascinating."

Ji Sheng was confused. He didn't know why Xie Xuanming knew the content of his conversation with Su Jing, and he didn't expect Ji Hui to tell Xie Xuanming that he didn't know Sheng Kongzhi…

Seeing his complexion change, Xie Xuanming sneered: "There are forty basic drumming skills, right?"

He suddenly mentioned the basic drumming skills; Ji Sheng didn't know what it meant but he nodded.

Xie Xuanming pointed with his chin at the drum set: "Sit down."

Ji Sheng hesitated, adjusted the chair in front of the drum set and took a seat.

Xie Xuanming watched him finish tuning, his expression grim. "Play. Forty basic drumming skills. Don't stop until I say so."

The drums in the basement kept beating, the heavy, fast drumbeat constantly hitting the walls.

After drumming for nearly three hours, Ji Sheng was exhausted. His clothes, hair and eyelashes were all wet with sweat, his vision hazy.

He finished another set of forty basic drumming skills, and when the last drum beat faded, Ji Sheng paused for two seconds but no 'stop' came.

He gritted his teeth, raised his hands and the drumsticks fell again.

Since Xie Xuanming did not stop him, Ji Sheng had to continue drumming. He was Xie Xuanming's kept substitute lover, his self-respect and personality vanishing in the face of money and power.

Although Ji Sheng was sceptical, today Xie Xuanming's practice of making himself play the drums over and over had gone beyond the realm of sex/transaction and reached the level of a labour abuse.

Ji Sheng banged mechanically on the drums, his strength drained, his confused consciousness racked with exhaustion and anger.

Gradually, the more he beat, the more he collapsed, and the more he collapsed, the harder he tried.

In the end, Ji Sheng mercilessly squeezed out the last bit of his body's physical energy, using all his strength to pour out his emotions in the drums.

Boom!

The final drumbeat mixed with a discordant murmur.

Snap!

The sound of something light hitting the ground came one moment later.

Ji Sheng clutched his belly and bent over, taking a big gulp of fresh air.

At his feet, one drumstick was broken like a dead branch, sharp wood splinters exposed in the crack, and the other, unbroken drumstick rolled for some distance and stopped at Xie Xuanming's feet.

Xie Xuanming looked blankly, his arms crossed, as he coldly watched the young man covering his stomach and straightening up with difficulty.

The tip of his nose, his auricles and his thin lips were abnormally flushed; sweat fell from his hair, hanging on his eyelashes and getting into his eyes, finally rolling from under his eyelids, leaving wet trails that looked like tears.

The young man raised his eyes in a haze, his clear, sharp gaze cutting straight through his wretched appearance and piercing Xie Xuanming with anger.

He spoke, his voice hoarse but mocking: "Emperor Xie, are you so angry because of being deceived, or because even a substitute prefers Sheng Kongzhi to you?"

---

Chapter 12

yun1yun yun1yun

1 year ago

Ji Sheng thought Xie Xuanming would get angry, just like the previous few times.

But the strange thing was that he didn't.

He looked at the wretched Ji Sheng indifferently, with the lingering shadow between his eyebrows, and said coldly: "Go and wash", then turned and walked out, leaving Ji Sheng alone and exhausted.

Ji Sheng sat on the drum chair for a while, clutching his stomach, then slowly got up after the pain somewhat subsided.

He knelt down to pick up the broken drumstick, sadness rising a little in his heart.

The better drumsticks cost thousands, and the more modest ones cost two or three hundred.

Although drumsticks were considered consumables for drummers, it was not unusual to practice for more than ten days before wearing out a pair… As a bottom-level drummer in a state of abject financial poverty, Ji Sheng was irrepressibly heartbroken.

But Ji Sheng also knew that the main source of the sharp pain in his heart was not the broken drumstick.

There was annoyance of punching cotton, and indefinable anger.

After Ji Sheng finished washing, he walked into the master bedroom without knocking. Xie Xuanming was sitting at the head of the bed, the night light overhead dimly caressing him, outlining his high nose and curtain-like eyelashes, making him look less like an unhinged lunatic and more like a gloomy beauty.

Ji Sheng had no intention of admiring the beauty. He sat down on the couch without saying a word, his brows as cold as tree branches in frost.

Xie Xuanming waited for him to sit down, put the book in his hand aside and reached to turn out the night light.

Ji Sheng waited until he was breathing steadily, then curled up and lay down on the couch.

He hugged his trembling arms and forced himself into sleep.

Over the next few days, Ji Sheng and Xie Xuanming plunged into a cold war.

Of course, this was probably just Ji Sheng's unilaterally delusional cold war.

Because Xie Xuanming's dull and gloomy expression was no different from the past, his eyes that fell on Ji Sheng's face before he went to bed were also like frozen goods out of an ice cellar, steaming with a cold white mist.

Moreover, Xie Xuanming had no reason to have a cold war with a kept lover.

So Ji Sheng had enough sense to attribute the suddenly frigid atmosphere between them two to his own ignorance…

But he didn't intend to repent for a while.

About two or three weeks after the "Forty Basic Drumming Skills" incident, Ji Sheng was rushing to the live broadcast. When he was putting on makeup in the dressing room, a few staff members whispered by his side that there was another guest coming today and that the celebrity was huge.

Su Jing came as late as ever. Although he was now in the off-season, the e-sports player's upside-down underworld routine obviously was deep in his bone marrow. Su Jing would come in with a little yawn every day, hurriedly put on base makeup and would be pushed in front of the camera.

His foundation was not bad; even when he was placed next to the fully made-up Ji Sheng, he only looked slightly plain and haggard.

The audience in the live broadcast room often joked that the two people seemed to represent two extreme states of widowhood.

A haggard widow who died with her husband, was deep in mourning and wearing linen, and a beautiful woman who lived with her husband in her memory and was unwilling to be lonely.

At this moment the beautiful widow was closing his eyes to make up for his sleep, when he suddenly heard the sound of broken glass outside the door and the mourning widow's angry shout:

"Who the hell allowed you to come?!"

Ji Sheng was taken aback and abruptly opened his eyes.

He straightened up; the intensity of Su Jing's anger was obvious in his words. Even though his emotions used to fluctuate daily, being so angry was a rarity.

Before the person who had angered him could speak, Su Jing broke out again:

"You've got some fucking nerve coming here, a dog that eats people and doesn't spit out bones, forcing people to die and still having the nerve to waltz out in the street! The ungrateful bastard of the underworld, pretending to be a decent man. If I were you, I would be embarrassed to dig a grave on the spot and bury myself!"

The scolded person seemed to have said something, but Ji Sheng couldn't hear the words said in a low voice that were overshadowed by Su Jing's angry scolding.

"Don't be hypocritical! When he was alive, you didn't care, now he's dead, you fucking say you want to make amends, isn't it fake, isn't it cheap?"

The staff members tried to dissuade him quietly but couldn't stop Su Jing's aggressive cursing.

Ji Sheng hesitated, got up and walked out.

He wanted to see the situation, but after opening the door, he only saw Su Jing's back as he walked away.

His gaze moved to the left, and in an awkward atmosphere, Xie Xuanming stood in the centre of the chaos, his downcast eyes full of disdain for the mess.

Noticing that the door opened, he looked up and met Ji Sheng's startled gaze.

Without giving too much time for eye contact, Ji Sheng slammed the door shut again.

Xie Xuanming would naturally not squeeze into the small dressing room with Ji Sheng and share a makeup artist with him. Ji Sheng only saw him again at the beginning of the live broadcast.

Xie Xuanming's usual image was mysterious and cold. Not to mention videos, there were no selfies. Fans could only get a glimpse of him through on-screen news pictures or unclear candids.

So imagine Xie Xuanming appearing in front of the live broadcast camera and his good bone face that had only been seen on the big screen in the past approaching the camera, frowning and looking for the beauty switch…

The audience in the live broadcast room received a critical strike. After two seconds of silence, the barrage frantically filled the screen.

Ji Sheng sat back expressionlessly.

He had to admit that Xie Xuanming had a face blessed by God, sharp eyebrows and a towering nose, and the contemptuous coldness in his eyes constituted a unique charm.

Xie Xuanming, with his aggressive looks, sat in front of the camera like a Siberian winter wolf wandering across the snow, and no amount of danger warnings could erase his mesmerising appeal.

Xie Xuanming turned off the beauty filter that came with the live broadcast, returned and sat down next to Ji Sheng.

There was only a palm distance between him and Ji Sheng, but it was like an unbreakable barrier.

Both of them deliberately ignored each other, and it was visible to the naked eye that their relationship was alienated and cold.

[A marriage-of-convenience couple that do not love each other but are united by their interests]

Someone in the barrage made an accurate evaluation.

[Disgusted to the point of not even bothering with superficial pretence]

It didn't matter if Xie Xuanming ignored Ji Sheng, he was a big celebrity and was known as "Big Ace Xie", so "he is Xie Xuanming" could be used to explain his disdain for anyone.

But Ji Sheng ignored Xie Xuanming as well, which was a big problem.

The one point of humiliation that Xie Xuanming could not erase was being cheated on by Ji Sheng, the tainted artist who had passed away. Ji Sheng died, and Xie Xuanming's fans could only swallow their complaints, reluctantly adopting the attitude of "the dead are to be honoured". Who would think that Xie Xuanming didn't play cards according to common sense and got a no-name newcomer who looked exactly like Ji Sheng, and even did "an immortal descends to earth" for him, taking such a cheap job as a live broadcast. The key was that the no-name didn't appreciate it and wouldn't even give him a look.

The man treated as a treasure was ignored by Ji Sheng as if he were air.

Xie Xuanming's fans were full of anger; unable to direct it at their idol, they could only fire at Ji Sheng.

[Sitting with such a black face in front of the camera, can't you even manage your expression? 】

[What are you doing? Selling goods on live broadcast without talking, are you mental?】

[Respect the advice of Senior and engrave it on your face, you have no artistic ethics at all!】

The barrage cursed fiercely, but Ji Sheng didn't even blink. What curses had he not seen in his previous life? His stress resistance was very good. Even with eighteen Su Jing in front of him, he was a living Bodhisattva who could chant Amitabha Buddha calmly all day long.

The two were silent for a long time, and finally Ji Sheng reluctantly spoke under the anxious urging of the brand owner.

Today's product was lipsticks; taking into account Xie Xuanming's status, they were all well-known brand products.

Ji Sheng casually chose a familiar one and picked it up, only to find that it was a brand that he had endorsed in his previous life.

Stepping on a mine with his first step, Ji Sheng could already catch a glimpse of Xie Xuanming's mocking gaze.

But he picked it up and it was definitely unrealistic to put it back. Ji Sheng bluntly introduced the brand and the colour, and then said, "I'll show you the effect."

A hand with distinct joints suddenly appeared before his eyes. Ji Sheng was taken aback for a moment and watched Xie Xuanming withdraw the lipstick from his hand.

He was going to show?

Ji Sheng's doubts had just risen when Xie Xuanming took him by the chin and impatiently pressed the lipstick to his lips.

Oh.

It was the only thing Ji Sheng could say.

He was showing it on his mouth.

After Xie Xuanming applied it three or two times, he turned Ji Sheng to the camera, still holding his chin.

The off-site staff whispered: "Smile, smile."

"Smile," Xie Xuanming said concisely.

Ji Sheng's lips curled in a thin smile; he felt he was about to blurt out "Dalang, take your medicine" in the next moment(1).

Ji Sheng, with his cheek pinched, asked vaguely, "Does it look good?"

"En." Xie Xuanming responded perfunctorily, took out the next lipstick and opened it without looking at it, "Wipe it, I'll apply the next one."

Ji Sheng, about to wipe off the lipstick with a tissue, felt his eye twitch when he heard these words.

He had a hunch that Xie Xuanming would try all the lipstick shades on him like experimenting on mice.

Xie Xuanming did exactly that.

By the end of the live broadcast, Ji Sheng's lips were red and swollen from the remnants of more than a dozen lipsticks, and Xie Xuanming's mouth was still clean, maintaining a cold, light tone.

Ji Sheng rubbed his lips vigorously with a tissue, full of resentment, when he suddenly heard Xie Xuanming speak.

"Is there any itinerary for the 12th of next month?"

"No, why?"

"There is a lack of a drummer at the Double Twelve Light Party." Xie Xuanming said coldly, "I will register your name if you are free."

The Double Twelve Light Festival was regarded as one of the biggest annual parties. The artists who could participate in it were either old-timers with deep qualifications or red hot crispy fried chicken(2).

As an example, the current top star, Sheng Kongzhi, was officially announced to attend just two days ago.

Ji Sheng continued: "Senior, are you going?"

"I am an actor, not a singer."

You debuted as a singer, Ji Sheng thought.

Sure enough, was it "won't go anywhere if there is Sheng Kongzhi"?…

"Are you going?" Xie Xuanming asked again.

"Going," Ji Sheng said, "Sorry to trouble Senior."

What the two said at the end of the live broadcast was polite and harmonious, but after the camera was out and they returned to the villa in the same car, the atmosphere between the two fell to freezing point.

Xie Xuanming was the first to speak: "You are really in a hurry to get close to Sheng Kongzhi… What did Su Jing say to you?"

"He didn't say anything." Ji Sheng denied it and changed the subject lightly, "Senior Xie, I have been having doubts recently."

Xie Xuanming didn't speak, but let him continue with a soft "en".

Ji Sheng went on: "During the performance in Stardust Kindergarten, there was a retired station sister in the audience who said that I was "very much like an old friend". During the live broadcasts, one anchor was a "Shengshi Shengping" cp fan, the other a former member of the Qingchu band. And Senior Sheng Kongzhi will also be present at the upcoming Double Twelve Light Party."

Ji Sheng counted them one by one and smiled strangely: "Senior Xie, you don't allow me to mention Senior Ji Sheng's name, but you keep making me contact people related to Senior Ji. It's really weird."

Xie Xuanming said coldly: "What do you want to say?"

"Nothing. "Ji Sheng said, "I just want to lament that there is a reason for those who are popular to be popular. It's really breathtaking to see how they play with people like with black and white chess pieces, and how unscrupulous they are to achieve their goals."

"Not comparable to you." Xie Xuanming smiled contemptuously and said condescendingly, "These days the standard of living has gone up and more people are seen selling their art than their bodies. It's… naturally worth an extra effort to sell the body and the art together."

Xie Xuanming's words were sarcastic, but Ji Sheng shrugged indifferently.

"There's no harm in buying and selling." He smiled thinly, "I'm also lucky to have met a clean man free of desire while selling my art and my body. To get a couple of bucks for such a job is not unscrupulous, but a big bargain."

The phrase "Dalang, take your medicine" is from the episode of 'Water Margin' in which Wu Dalang's wife poisons him, pretending to give him medicine.

New and very popular

---

Chapter 13

yun1yun yun1yun

1 year ago

In a dark room, a black figure sat motionless on the bed.

From the silhouette, one could barely say that it was a woman. The light from the tablet in her hand flashed; the young man on the screen was very handsome, smiling at the camera like a spring breeze. The woman's fingers trembled as she brushed them over the young man's face, the dim light illuminating her bandaged face.

After the video ended, the system automatically jumped to associated videos.

"Can you play 'Fruit Candy'?"

"Okay, I can play it."

The young man in front of the camera lowered his head and the drumsticks flew in his hands, a heavy drumbeat matching the song as he went on a rampage in the small live broadcast room.

Ten seconds of wonderful editing passed, and subtitles appeared at the end of the video.

[Guest of the Double Twelve Light Gala, Drummer Ji Hui, stay tuned]

The smile of the woman holding the tablet disappeared little by little.

The corners of her lips twitched like terrifying scars, her eyes flashing with frenzied anger.

She dropped the tablet, lurched forward and grabbed the phone from the head of the bed.

【Are you going to the light party?】

She quickly typed the words on the screen and waited anxiously after sending them.

Seconds passed but there was no reply.

She gritted her teeth, opened her address book, dialled a number and pressed the phone to her ear.

"Answer the phone…" The screen light illuminated a jagged scar that went from her ear bone to her forehead. She clutched the phone and whispered like a demon, "Answer the phone…"

The call was not answered. She didn't give up and called again…

"The number you have dialled is switched off…"

As soon as she heard the cold voice of rejection, the corners of her mouth that twisted and trembled became stiff.

Two seconds later, the phone slammed into the wall fiercely and the shattering sound of the impact was drowned in hysterical screams.

The bandaged woman punched herself like a maniac, wetting the bandages with her tears and saliva.

"Damned ghost!" She screamed at the screen, her voice high-pitched to the point of squealing, "Why are you always haunting me, bitch! Slut! Go to hell! Go to hell!!! Go to hell!!!"

Villa area

Sitting on the small couch, Ji Sheng opened his mouth and yawned.

Xie Xuanming was lying on the bed next to the couch. This man who was often angry because of inexplicable things was particularly indifferent in some ways. For example, when in the afternoon Ji Sheng insinuated that he was sexually impaired, this insult that would have sent 90% of men into a frenzy did not shake Xie Xuanming one bit.

He only smiled coldly and said, "Do as much as you are paid to do", and then stopped paying attention to Ji Sheng.

Ji Sheng thought that Xie Xuanming might also have a guilty conscience; after all, today he ruthlessly exposed the facts he was trying to conceal.

"You said you are valuable, prove it to me."

That gloomy sentence in the bathroom had never been said casually.

"Ji Hui" was of course valuable, Xie Xuanming clearly saw that early on.

When Ji Sheng was thinking about using Xie Xuanming to find the cause of his death in the previous life, Xie Xuanming also silently included Ji Sheng in his plan.

The people who killed Ji Hui were hiding in the dark. If they had the courage to make a big living person disappear in broad daylight, they might do it again.

Outside the law people who ignored the rules of society.

No one would be unafraid of such people, not to mention that Xie Xuanming was likely to have a grudge with them.

Xie Xuanming decided to take the initiative.

He used "Ji Hui" as bait, using the only "valuable" characteristic of this low-status boy—the face that looked exactly like the face of the deceased star—to constantly place him among people associated with Ji Sheng and use the generated chemical reactions to attract the attention of those people.

A method of setting a trap without batting an eyelid.

If it were the original Ji Hui, he would have been grateful for the resources that had fallen from the sky, not realising that Xie Xuanming had pushed him into the hunter's net.

The moment the hunter showed up, it was very likely that the bait would die.

Was it not right to lament calling it inhumane and unscrupulous?

Ji Sheng smiled helplessly in the dark. Although cooperating with Xie Xuanming was tantamount to conspiring with a tiger, he did not intend to disrupt Xie Xuanming's plan.

Xie Xuanming's methods were vicious but they were indeed efficient. Ji Sheng was now passive and had no choice but to rely on Xie Xuanming.

Xie Xuanming's steady breathing reached his ears. Ji Sheng turned his head and looked at his frowning eyebrows, their sharp lines barely allowing this face to overlap with the face in his memory .

"Really… he used to be cute." Ji Sheng was unhappy, "Why did he become so annoying now…"

As if hearing his whispered complaint, Xie Xuanming frowned even more and his heavy curtain-like eyelashes trembled.

In the end, he must have been doing something wrong. No matter what winning combination he had during the day, he didn't sleep well at night…

Ji Sheng sighed, and a bit of curiosity surged in his heart unconsciously.

What kind of nightmare did this guy have?

Xie Xuanming was indeed dreaming at the moment, but unlike Ji Sheng imagined, what was looming in his mind was not a nightmare, but reality.

He dreamed of the dirty, clogged streets, with thugs yelling at the corners, cigarette butts and spit on the uneven ground, stray dogs hovering around the garbage dump, trying to find today's dinner from it. Behind the alley shops, children's cries mingled with women's violent curses… The young man in a cap bypassed the smokers, stray dogs and noise, quietly walked into the corner grocery store and stood still at the counter.

This shop was located at the end of an alley. The owner surnamed Ma said that as long as you had money, you could get everything you wanted from him.

"Sleeping pills." The thin young man wearing a cap whispered, putting a red bill on the counter.

Lao Ma didn't raise his head: "Not enough."

A slightly muffled thud of something falling on the glass followed the end of the sentence. A roll of red banknotes was tied with a cheap rubber band and rolled twice on the glass counter. The young man withdrew his hand and said blankly: "Is that enough?"

Lao Ma finally looked up, glanced at the money, moved his gaze up and swept it over the young man.

The young man looked about fifteen or sixteen years old, tall, with a pale face hidden under the brim of the cap and an indifferent expression

Lao Ma grinned, showing a mouthful of dirty golden teeth: "Can't sell you, this stuff is prescription medicine, you die from taking it and I'll be in trouble when the police come to my door."

The young man pursed his lips and said nothing.

Lao Ma tapped his foot and advised carelessly: "Young man, what's a good time to be looking for death. You're handsome, talk to a few girls and smoke a few cigarettes, what's too much to handle…"

The young man picked up the roll of banknotes in silence, leaving the one he put down on the counter at the beginning.

"Hemp rope," he said.

Xie Xuanming walked out of the grocery store, the hemp rope peeking out of the black plastic bag he was holding in his hand. He stuffed it in and left.

As Xie Xuanming walked out of the alley, he heard the sound of a female voice berating a child angrily.

"Are you trying to piss me off! How could I give birth to a trash like you!"

Xie Xuanming accelerated his steps, but he still couldn't help but remember…

"You are not the bloodline of the Xie family, you bastard." The woman cried, shaking and dishevelled.

"Mom…" Xie Xuanming hung his head and whispered, letting her beat him.

This "mom" infuriated the woman who was already on the verge of collapse. She pushed Xie Xuanming down fiercely and yelled hysterically: "Don't call me mom, you don't have a mom, you don't have a dad, you are an orphan… I don't have a son like you, get out, get out of my house, get out! Scram!!"

Xie Xuanming's face twitched stoically; he pulled the door without saying a word and left the house.

It was his second-to-last meeting with the woman he called "mom".

When he saw her for the last time, she was a corpse hanging in the centre of the room, with her hair loose and her tongue protruding from her mouth. Her face was purple and blue, her eyes rolled up.

She died so ugly that no one could tell that she was a beauty when alive.

Xie Xuanming wandered aimlessly in the streets and finally settled in a bar after dark.

It was probably a black bar, so black that when Xie Xuanming walked in, looking obviously underage, no one stopped him.

There was a stage in the centre of the bar. An unknown band was performing on it. The lead singer had a very poor pitch. Xie Xuanming glanced at him and stopped paying attention.

He ordered a cocktail, and while waiting, he remembered something about the woman he used to call "mom".

That woman was pathetic and hateful, Xie Xuanming thought, being tricked by a married man into giving birth to a child, hoping day and night that the man would take her with her son home to live a life of wealth and prosperity.

After waiting for seventeen years, the woman finally couldn't bear it and planned to make a big fuss.

Who could imagine that the man would show a certificate and tell her that her own flesh and blood had died as soon as it was born. Xie Xuanming, the child she raised, had no blood relation with her or the man.

The woman collapsed after hearing it. The dream of a wealthy life of many years was shattered in an instant. She couldn't face reality and hanged herself at home.

When the cocktail was served, Xie Xuanming took a big sip and the bitterness burned from the tip of his tongue to his heart.

After her death, a strange man approached Xie Xuanming and said that he was his biological father.

The certificate was falsified, so that she would be more peaceful and stop ruining the face of the Xie family.

She was indeed "peaceful".

Xie Xuanming looked indifferently at the "father" he had never seen before.

The man sincerely said that he owed him too much and hoped that he could return home and get corresponding compensation.

No need, Xie Xuanming said, no need.

Whether it was a mother who had never loved him or a father who had never met him.

He needed neither of them.

And he was not needed anymore.

Xie Xuanming raised his head and poured the cocktail into his stomach.

This was the first time he had drunk alcohol. As expected, it was not to his taste.

There should be no next attempt.

After the band on stage finished performing, there was an incident.

A beer-bellied man close to the stage suddenly grabbed one of the band members and said drunkenly:

"Your lips are so thin… have you heard of it? People with thin lips have thin blessings and thin lives… but it doesn't matter." The beer belly smiled lewdly, "Just give Uncle a kiss, Uncle is blessed, will share with you a little…"

Xie Xuanming couldn't see clearly the face of the boy pulled by the man from a distance. He only saw his hand clenched in a fist.

But the boy didn't do anything in the end, just shrugged off the man, his expression dark, and took a different route to walk out.

The black bar paid less than one hundred for the performance, so it was obviously not a cost-effective option to ruin the proceeds of a night on the spur of the moment.

Xie Xuanming watched the boy get closer to him, and suddenly felt a little funny.

The poor people worked hard to survive, and the rich people were bent on death.

Xie Xuanming's family was not short of money. His mother asked for a lot from the man and worked hard to train her son into a "rich young master".

Naturally, there was no shortage of food and clothing. Xie Xuanming had to go to the interest classes where rich people's children go. Xie Xuanming had to have luxury gifts that the man's decent wife and children had…

The watch Xie Xuanming was wearing now was the one his mother heard the man bought as a valuable birthday gift for his son at home, so she went crazy and asked for one for Xie Xuanming, too…

Xie Xuanming only felt the heaviness on his wrist and the tingling in his bones.

The gift of vanity and comparison was more insulting than shackles.

When the boy passed by the table, Xie Xuanming stopped him.

"Are you short of money?"

"Huh?" The boy was taken aback.

"Give me your hand."

Before the boy could react, he saw a teenager, younger than him, pull his wrist, take off his watch and put it in his palm.

"Pawn it or sell it on a second-hand website." Xie Xuanming got up, put on his cap and said in a low voice, "Don't think about the price below five digits."

The boy looked at the watch in his hand in a daze, and when he reacted and wanted to return it, the teenager had already turned away and walked out, disappearing in the doorway.

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Unlock Emperor Xie's Wolfdog Puppy Form

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Chapter 14

yun1yun yun1yun

1 year ago

Xie Xuanming wandered around the streets for a while, then slowly returned to the rental house.

He didn't want to depart in his own home and die on the same beam as his mother. Even if it was a feudal superstition, Xie Xuanming didn't want to be unable to get rid of that suffocating woman even after his death.

The place of death needed to be selected carefully. A hotel was not a good choice. No one would want to stay where someone committed suicide. It was not Xie Xuanming's intention to put people out of business in order to free himself.

After some consideration, Xie Xuanming chose a certain rental house in the slums of the lower city. Probably because the building was full of people doing drugs, prostitution, gambling and other harmful things, the rent was surprisingly cheap and the landlord couldn't manage it and didn't bother to do so, so an "I suck" poster was stuck in the most prominent place of the rental house.

Xie Xuanming was pretty sure that he was not the first person to die in this rotten building and he probably would not be the last.

Which method of death to choose was also a problem. Xie Xuanming did not want to retaliate against society, nor did he intend to disturb the normal lives of the living. However, death was like throwing a stone at a calm pool, no matter how light it was, it would make waves.

Jumping off a building will undoubtedly cause crowds of onlookers; with gas, there was a possibility of harming innocent survivors; with cutting wrists, the choice of location became problematic, and Xie Xuanming himself was not happy to die wet and bloody, that would be too messy.

Xie Xuanming finally decided to take an overdose of sleeping pills and leave peacefully. However, the medicine was not as easy to get as in the novels and movies. Almost every store where he asked about it treated him as if facing an enemy and refused to sell the medicine.

In desperation, Xie Xuanming could only change his mind.

After going full circle, he finally chose the same way of death as his mother.

The rusty keyhole was very unresponsive, and Xie Xuanming struggled to turn the key for a long time before opening the door.

God knows why this house needed to be equipped with anti-theft doors. Thieves of the entire district might be living in this building.

Xie Xuanming entered the room, drank a small bottle of mineral water left on the table and carried the plastic bag into the toilet.

The toilet was very narrow, and the stench from the sewer was so bad that it made one frown when entering, but it had the only pipe in the whole house that could be used for hanging.

Xie Xuanming reached and realized that his height was not enough to tie the rope from the floor.

So he moved a chair from the living room, stepped on it with a tooth-aching squeak and stood up, throwing the rope over the beam.

The sound insulation of the rental house was very bad, and in the bathroom it was especially poor. Hearing ambiguous noises from neighbours was not a rare thing.

Xie Xuanming didn't want to live at home since the death of his mother. After staying in various hotels for more than a month, he moved to this rental house a week ago.

But in less than a week, Xie Xuanming had already become vaguely aware of the occupation of his neighbour he had never met.

"You are too fast… slow down…"

"Are you in…"

"Um… I'm so tired… I can't do it anymore… let me rest…"

An ambiguously subdued male voice came through the wall, and Xie Xuanming stopped arranging the rope and rubbed his ears.

Although it could be said that the guy didn't restrain himself on a regular basis, today was just too much.

Xie Xuanming wanted to knock on the wall to tell them to be quiet and not to disturb him.

But he was not sure whether doing so would interfere with people's business, so he finally gave up.

While tying the knot, he thought sarcastically that if his neighbour knew that someone had hanged himself across the wall when he was "happy", he might be frightened into a psychological disorder in future.

Thinking about it, Xie Xuanming finally tied the rope.

He held the rough loop of hemp rope, his heart beating uncontrollably.

Now you just need to stick your head into the loop and kick the chair off…

Ten minutes later

Xie Xuanming stood in silence on the chair, and the ambiguous voice next door stopped.

Choosing death was much more difficult than he had imagined.

Only when Xie Xuanming felt his calves going sore and numb and the chair started shaking did he take a deep breath and braced himself——

He was about to put the loop on his neck when the doorbell rang suddenly.

Xie Xuanming paused, trying to ignore the sound.

Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong.

Boom, boom, boom.

The desperate doorbell didn't work, so it was replaced by an insistent knock.

The noise was so annoying that Xie Xuanming hurriedly got off the chair, closed the toilet door, walked to the door and opened it.

The anti-theft door opened, revealing an unexpected person.

An older boy with messy hair stood in the doorway, his face unnaturally flushed with the heat of intense action.

Xie Xuanming glanced at his wide-open neckline, then at the slightly open nearby door, and without much effort figured out the identity of the visitor.

His neighbour, a special worker whom he had never met before.

To Xie Xuanming's surprise, he had seen this guy.

At the bar this afternoon.

The boy was short of breath and didn't seem to have recovered from the "exercise". Xie Xuanming broke the silence.

"Are you… next door?"

"You are… the one in the afternoon…" The boy's voice was slightly hoarse, similar to the voice Xie Xuanming heard across the wall.

Recalling the fierce noises that he heard every night, Xie Xuanming was silent for a while and said, "…I gave you the watch, it can be sold for a good price and you can slow down on your work…"

"Did it bother you? I'm sorry." The boy's face turned red and his thin moist lips opened and closed, "People still need to rely on themselves."

"……"

Xie Xuanming said sincerely: "Sometimes you don't have to be so independent."

The boy was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "My name is Ji Sheng and I live next door to you."

Xie Xuanming didn't know why the neighbour suddenly wanted to introduce himself. He was pretty sure he didn't have any intention to seek this one's 'business'…

He replied embarrassedly: "Xie Xuanming."

"Oh." Ji Sheng nodded and said dryly, "Good name."

"…thank you."

Ji Sheng scratched his head, as if he couldn't stand the awkward chat, and announced the purpose of his visit: "I'm sorry to interrupt, I want to borrow something."

"…what? "

"Hemp rope."Ji Sheng worded it properly, "Preferably the kind that is thicker, stronger and doesn't fall apart easily when tying things up."

"……"

Xie Xuanming was once again shocked by Ji Sheng's words. The image of hemp rope flashed through his mind, hanging, tug-of-war…

Xie Xuanming's face changed, a vague possibility irrepressibly crossing his mind.

So his expression became more complicated and he emphasised: "That watch… can really be sold for a good price."

Ji Sheng was also very serious: "I can give you back the watch, but if you have a rope, can you please lend it to me first? I am in a hurry to use it."

Xie Xuanming wanted to complain about how there would be such a thing as hemp rope in a normal house, but he changed his mind, thinking that there was indeed one hanging in his toilet, but he didn't know whether the man in front of him still would want it if he knew the original purpose of that rope…

The two confronted each other awkwardly, and another voice suddenly interrupted, breaking the calm.

"Hey! What are you doing, go borrow something and start chatting with people, can you hurry up!"

The grumpy voice caught Xie Xuanming's attention. The neighbour's door opened wide, a man in a white vest leaning out and yelling.

Xie Xuanming could probably guess the identity of this person. He sighed silently that everyone had hardships and money was really hard to earn.

"Give me some more time!" Ji Sheng yelled back, turned and said sincerely, "You've seen it too, please."

As soon as Xie Xuanming wanted to speak, he heard another male voice behind the door: "Don't be so impatient, this thing is not easy to borrow. "

Three people? Xie Xuanming's complexion completely changed.

Was the special industry even offering such services now?

"Please." Ji Sheng put his hands together and begged, "Give us a sign if there is a rope? If not, I can go and borrow it from someone else. Our band is playing tomorrow and we haven't finished rehearsing the piece yet, so it's really urgent."

Xie Xuanming was stunned: "The band?"

"Yeah, didn't you see me perform at the bar today? I'm a drummer…" Ji Sheng paused, "Would you like to take a look, the band is rehearsing."

"It was our guitarist Li Tan who yelled just now. The one who stopped him was bassist Sheng Kongzhi, and the one who looks very beautiful and is like a girl is keyboardist Su Jing."

"Fuck your mother, Ji Sheng!" Su Jing threw something in his hand at him and cursed, "You don't feel comfortable not insulting me twice a day, do you?"

Xie Xuanming followed Ji Sheng, watching the scene in front of him with a subtle feeling.

It was true that there was a band in front of him, but the guitar was not plugged in, the bassist was empty-handed, there was just a keyboard pad in front of the keyboardist, and the drummer's drum kit.……

The drummer's drums were a pile of pillows and quilts hanging crookedly from the side of the bed, the rope used to bind them snapped on the floor.

If someone needed to describe this band in one word, it would be "poor"; in two words, "poor" and "sad".

Xie Xuanming was shocked by the extreme poverty of the band and couldn't help but question: "Is this possible… to rehearse?"

"Yes." Ji Sheng said, "Just play the recorded music on the phone and follow it… But the drums are falling apart, so we have to tie them back as soon as possible."

Xie Xuanming was silent.

He finally understood that the sounds he heard every night were not "exercise", but the sounds of the band's rehearsals, and he also understood now why the musicians' voices were louder than musical instruments.

This band was too poor; there was not a single instrument that could make a sound at hand, and rehearsals had to rely on brains to make up for it.

Xie Xuanming was silent for a moment, then turned around: "I happen to have a rope here, you can borrow it for your rehearsal."

"Really?! Thanks!" Ji Sheng's eyes lit up, "By the way, your voice is very nice, maybe you can sing? Are you interested in joining a band?"

"Thanks, I can't… I'll get the rope." Xie Xuanming declined, turned around and returned to his room, Su Jing's yelling reaching his ears.

"Hey, don't just kidnap kids into it, are you still not satisfied with pulling me in, huh?…"

Xie Xuanming removed the rope from the toilet pipe, took a long time to untie the knot and brought it out. The door pushed open almost smacked the person squatting by the wall.

Xie Xuanming didn't know how many times he was frightened tonight. He could only hold the door and look down with his heart thudding. "Why are you squatting here if you need to rehearse?"

"Waiting for you." Ji Sheng jumped up from the ground with a smile, "Are you busy tomorrow night?"

Xie Xuanming could not figure out what this drummer, whose every step was treading in his logical blind spot, wanted to do now.

But his brain automatically thought about Ji Sheng's question. Since the rope was borrowed, hanging was definitely not…

"I might be… not necessarily."

"That's great." Ji Sheng's eyes lit up, he magically conjured up a bracelet and put it on Xie Xuanming's wrist without hesitation.

"There will be a band festival at the Magic Flute Bar tomorrow. We have a performance. This is the ticket."

He took the rope from Xie Xuanming, waved his hand before returning to his room and emphasised: "You are coming!"

The door closed.

Xie Xuanming looked down, and on the rubber bracelet on his wrist two curves were drawn with a highlighter, forming the shape of two mountains.

In the dim light, the humble green hills emanated an eerie green glow, with the skewed handwriting standing out next to them.

Qingchu.

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Chapter 15

yun1yun yun1yun

1 year ago

【Magic Flute】

Xie Xuanming tilted his head to look at the logo above, and the purple-green light glowed faintly from the bottom of the font, as psychedelic and mysterious as a cave opening.

A circle of lights in the same colour was also arranged by the bar's front door, at first glance looking a bit like the gates of hell in the punk era.

Probably because of the "Band Festival", there were a lot of people at the Magic Flute Bar. The guard wearing ski goggles and dressed like a new age electrician didn't look at Xie Xuanming carefully, only perfunctorily confirming that he was wearing an "admission ticket" on his wrist and letting him in.

The Magic Flute was Xie Xuanming's second bar and the atmosphere here was very different from the previous black bar.

Although the black bar also had a stage, alcohol and music, on the whole it still had a casual feel not dissimilar to any normal drinking place. The Magic Flute, on the other hand, put itself on a pedestal from the moment one entered through that magical door.

The Magic Flute Bar was on the ground floor. Following the stone steps, noisy sounds gushed out. Facing the stairs was a huge stage. The dance floor under the stage was a layer lower. Beautifully dressed men and women were talking and dancing in it. The tattoo stickers on their bodies glowed together with their bracelets, swaying in a dreamlike light. Xie Xuanming glanced at them hurriedly and found that most of the tattoos were in the shape of musical instruments.

The people in the Magic Flute were mainly dressed in bright colours, with their shiny gloss setting off Xie Xuanming's black outfit that made him stand out in a different sense.

Many people noticed a romantic, calm young man at the door. He was like a bamboo sprouting in a tropical rainforest, out of place and full of attraction.

This peeping made Xie Xuanming frown. Unaccustomed to and uncomfortable with being in the centre of attention, he moved silently to the bar in the corner and settled on a high stool in the shadows.

Withdrawing from the centre of the picture did not stop people from being curious about him. As soon as Xie Xuanming sat down, a man in a dark green shirt moved closer and said with a smile that the milk beer(1) here was good and asked if he wanted to try one, his treat.

Although Xie Xuanming had never been to such a place, he could also perceive the hint in the words of the man in dark green.

He said bluntly: "I don't like men."

"Ah, so." The man looked a little regretful; when he saw the young man sitting cautiously and coldly in the corner, his eyelashes drooping like inky butterflies, making one feel itchy, he could not resist approaching, wanting to squeeze him in his palm and play with him.

It was rare to meet such a fascinating prey. The man didn't give up and wanted to say a few more words, but saw a grinning guy hug the young man.

"This kid is with me." Xie Xuanming's shoulders sank under someone's weight and he was about to push away but with his peripheral sight saw Ji Sheng's smiling eyes.

Ji Sheng was wearing a performance costume, his leather jacket hanging on his shoulders carelessly, revealing his collarbones when he moved. The muscles of his arms were smooth and flowing. He was wearing makeup, and the sequins at the corners of his eyes made the tear mole seem darker and brighter.

The man looked at Ji Sheng up and down: "He doesn't like men."

"I am not a man." Ji Sheng raised his eyebrows and made a shocking comment, "Do I look so masculine?"

The effect of pretending to be a niche group was amazing. The man glanced at his thin shoulders and the Adam's apple obscured by the choker, turned and left in disbelief.

"This kind of guys are often found in bars." After sending the man away, Ji Sheng leaned to Xie Xuanming's ear and said leisurely, "Like niupi candy(2). The usual methods don't work, you have to use something ruthless…"

He glanced at Xie Xuanming with a smile, and added: "Of course, you'd better not use this little trick. This kind of place is not suitable for minors."

Without a word, Xie Xuanming squeezed the wrist that was resting on his shoulder, the skin feeling soft and cold to the touch.

He pulled away from the patronising hug, raised his hand and showed Ji Sheng the bracelet to the effect of "you invited me."

Ji Sheng misunderstood Xie Xuanming's meaning, grabbed his wrist lightly and pulled the bracelet to his eyes.

The temperature of his palm was different from that of his skin. It was as hot and dry as the dance floor. The temperature transmitting from his palm burned Xie Xuanming to the point of goose bumps and tinted the tips of his ears slightly pink.

"I painted it." Ji Sheng pointed at the fluorescent marker drawing on the rubber bracelet and said proudly, "Qingchu, two green mountains, the name of our band, isn't it good?"(3)

Before he could say anything, the dance floor suddenly darkened, and the lights behind it lit up to illuminate the stage hidden in the shadows.

The first band appeared under the lights, its bassist playing passionately, the vigorous sound overwhelming the noise.

In the chaos of light and shadow, Ji Sheng let out a "ho" and said with a smile: "It's on, I have to rush backstage to get ready or I'll get scolded again."

He squeezed Xie Xuanming's wrist and shook it twice like teasing a cat: "See you later, cheer for me."

After that, he let go of Xie Xuanming, jumped into the dance floor like a fish into the water, and disappeared in the crowd.

Xie Xuanming rubbed the wrist Ji Sheng had been holding, still feeling the remaining warmth from his palm.

The bands changed one after another on the stage, and Xie Xuanming watched them seriously.

This type of band performance was very novel to him. The drums burst and the melody was passionate. Most of the original music was immature and unbalanced, but full of savage intensity. Even if you didn't understand it, it could still make your heart beat hard.

Unfortunately, there were so many similar bands that Xie Xuanming looked at two or three of them and then moved on in disinterest.

He turned his head and squinted, looking at the menu hanging on the top of the bar, raised his hand and ordered a glass of milk beer.

After five or six minutes, the bartender pushed the milk beer in front of him. Xie Xuanming was going to take a sip and heard a deafening "boom" behind him.

The eruption of drums calmed down the noisy bar, and the people who were chatting and dancing stopped one after another, suddenly looking up at the stage.

The beer glass on the table shuddered; ignoring the overflowing foam, Xie Xuanming turned and locked his eyes on the pitch-black stage behind him.

There was a few seconds of silence, and the clean drumbeat sounded again, the rhythm cutting the ribbon to announce the beginning of the real show.

Lights went up; in the limelight the young man's hair fluttered and dust swirled under the pounding of drumsticks.

When the melody was added, the song flourished in an instant, as if flesh and blood were added to a skeleton.

Amidst the passionate music, Ji Sheng pulled the mic closer and yelled:

Noisy streets, smelly corners

Filth and dirt, but the world is silent

Hidden desires that meet flesh and blood

Pure white powder of desire

His voice was slightly hoarse, dripping with the wretchedness of a quagmire and disdainful madness.

Like a dog covered in scars, its wounds mixed with mud and its fur constantly sticky with blood and dust.

But the stray dog was so free, so proud, as if it was walking on the top of the world and everyone but it were walking corpses, insignificant people.

Ji Sheng sang carelessly, pronouncing the words extremely hard, emphasising the song with every drum beat tha plunged deeply into the listener's heart.

Xie Xuanming stared at the stage in a daze, drumbeat and lyrics pounding into his brain, his heart thudding so hard that it made him slightly dizzy.

On the stage, Ji Sheng raised his eyes abruptly, his sharp gaze cutting through the chaos of lights and shining straight and clear.

He sang:

Build a temple of hope on the ruins

Ignite the glory of rebirth in the world

The glory sold for a bite of bread

Can bring hypocrisy to its doom

Stray dog carries rotting wounds

Chasing the sun of yesterday in the filth

The drums fell heavily, and the bass guitar and the keyboard came to a stop.

In silence, he gently dropped the drumsticks.

The song was over.

The audience on the dance floor was silent for a moment, and then their amazement and cheers surged instantly.

Before tonight, not many people had heard of the band Qingchu, but it was no surprise that after this performance, it would become a household name in the circle.

Xie Xuanming sat on the high stool, waiting for his sizzling blood to cool down little by little.

He gently called the bartender and asked, "Do you know whose song the Qingchu band has just performed?"

"Qingchu? It's an original track… Wait, let me see the program…"

The bartender flipped through the papers and continued:

"This song is called 'Stray Dog'."

Stray dog, a dog wandering in the dark.

Xie Xuanming felt that his throat was dry and lowered his head to drink a large sip of beer.

The bartender wiped the glass beside him, shook his head and said with emotion: "It's been a long time since I saw such a sensational band… hey!"

Before he finished the sentence, he was shocked to see that in front of him, the boy that looked like a student cleared the beer glass to the bottom in two sips, jumped off the high stool and walked towards the door without turning his head.

Xie Xuanming stood in a cold wind at the door for a while.

He didn't stop there intentionally, he'd just drunk too much, felt dizzy and walked out erratically.

Moreover, he had nowhere to go.

He has been homeless since birth, living a borrowed life in someone else's delusion for more than a decade before eventually returning to the life of a stray.

Xie Xuanming bent over and clutched his stomach, hot and feeling his heart beating wildly.

The guard was attracted to watch the performance and there was no one at the door of the bar. Xie Xuanming simply squatted down, sullenly shrinking into a ball.

He thought he would get another rope tomorrow; if not, a knife was fine. In short, anything lethal would do… but…

Drunk, Xie Xuanming felt his mind was clearer than ever before.

He felt that he didn't want to die so much.

Whether it was cowardice or enlightenment, Xie Xuanming's teeth chattered, as every cell of his body, unwilling to give up, screamed unreasonably for him to struggle just a little more.

Saying, anyway, you're already in the quagmire, it can't be any worse.

Xie Xuanming was crouching by the wall thinking about life when the door behind him suddenly opened and several people carrying musical instruments came out noisily.

"Shall we run away early like this?"

"Okay, we got the money, we aren't running away. I just can't watch the manager's eyes glow as if he wants to eat Xiao Sheng. For Xiao Sheng's purity, we must run quickly!"

"Su Jing, fuck off. You don't know who the guy was staring at. What's the matter… eh? Minor?!"

Ji Sheng rushed out first, almost kicking the person squatting at the door. He leaned down in amazement and shook his hand in front of Xie Xuanming: "Why are you squatting here… Fuck, how many drinks did you have, your face is red like this?"

Ji Sheng's fingers swayed in front of Xie Xuanming, creating seventeen or eighteen afterimages in a psychedelic manner.

Su Jing also leaned over, saw Ji Sheng pull an underage child and yelled: "Isn't he the one who lent us the rope yesterday… What are you doing here, you're a minor!?"

The words of the two of them swirled in Xie Xuanming's ears, with "How many drinks did you have" in his left ear and "What are you doing here" in his right ear.

Xie Xuanming was groggy. He wanted to say that he was kidnapped here by their drummer to watch the show and he wanted to say that he only had one drink.

However, his thoughts were too chaotic; he tried to solve them for a long time and couldn't separate the two problems.

So Xie Xuanming gave up, bowed his head and said nothing.

Su Jing and Ji Sheng looked at each other.

Su Jing questioned: "What did you do to this child?"

Ji Sheng was furious: "I did nothing! I can't beat people up by beating drums on stage."

Before the two of them were about to argue, Xie Xuanming, whose head was drooping, raised it, looking at Ji Sheng with very red, swollen eyes.

He reached out, grasped Ji Sheng's hand seriously and firmly and indisputably bent his four fingers except for his index finger.

Facing the proudly standing finger, Xie Xuanming nodded in satisfaction and said:

"I am… 1."

The author has something to say：

Ah, Xiao Xie, you are indeed (muttering)

1. Dairy drink containing alcohol with a very low alcohol content, milky white and slightly carbonated

2. Chewy flexible translucent snack covered in sesame seeds

3. Qingchu (青出) isn't actually translated as 'two green mountains', 'qing' is green and 'chu' is out. But the character 'chu'(出) consists of two 山, which is 'mountain'

---

Chapter 16

yun1yun yun1yun

1 year ago

If the Magic Flute bar at 11 o'clock in the evening was the start of the madness, then the barbecue stall 200 metres away from it could be regarded as the end of the day for part-time workers, full of a different kind of excitement and joy.

Xie Xuanming was holding a glass in his hand. The warm milk in it was incompatible with the wild barbecue stall scene where the smoke soared into the sky and metal skewers danced around. In front of him, the members of the Qingchu band were not as comfortable as they had been earlier. After getting off the stage, they returned to the abject poverty of the people huddling in a rental house and rehearsing on broken musical instruments. They haggled with the stall owner for a barbecue at a bargain price for half a day, grinding down the price by a third before they were satisfied.

The only bottle of beer left on the table was half full. Keyboardist Su Jing reached out surreptitiously to take it, but was intercepted on the spot by Ji Sheng who snatched it up first.

"Drink, Su Jing, what? You laughed at Xiao Xie just now, you've just come of age yourself!" Ji Sheng criticised from the height of his age as he intended to refill his own glass; but before he could succeed the bottle was taken away by another youth beside him.

Xie Xuan remembered that he played bass on the stage just now, and his name seemed to be…

"Sheng Kongzhi, don't stop me, I can still drink!" Ji Sheng said, his face flushed. He didn't drink often, a typical example of poor drinking and greed.

Sheng Kongzhi obviously was familiar with that peculiarity of his and took the bottle away without hesitation, making Su Jing laugh and gloat: "Drinking hurts your throat, you are now the lead singer. If your throat is broken, you can't perform in the next performance."

"Oh." When the band was concerned, Ji Sheng was serious. He blinked in confusion and suddenly asked, "When will the next performance be, and is there a venue?"

"Next week." At the other end of the table, guitarist Li Tan put down his glass. He looked the oldest, probably a decade older than the other teenagers at Qingchu and naturally took on the role of big brother, playing in the band and also acting as an agent, helping Qingchu with venue contacts and negotiating payment for gigs.

"Don't worry, after tonight, all the bars will be rushing to get us. Just now, there were three people who handed out business cards backstage… We will rehearse and wait for someone to come and invite us."

Li Tan's words excited the rest of the youngsters.

Most bands rarely found work in bars, and since Qingchu was not well known before, no one was willing to hire them. So in order to make ends meet, the members had to separate and go to various places for odd jobs. Ji Sheng's performed at the black bar before because the band there lacked a drummer, so he had temporary work there.

Su Jing slapped the table, raised his glass and said happily: "Yes! Finally on the right track. Before, when the lead singer left, I thought we were going to die. Who knew that Xiao Sheng was hiding his skill and would take on both drums and singing by himself? Baby Sheng is awesome!"

"It's rare for you to say something human." Ji Sheng stood up, "Come on, brothers, let's have a drink."

The others followed and stood up, too. Even Xie Xuanming was grabbed by Ji Sheng and forced to toast with milk.

After clinking the glasses, everyone sat down.

"Boast, boast, but we still need to recruit a lead singer." Ji Sheng swallowed his beer and said, "Although I can hold my own, singing the main melody is a real struggle, I can't maintain a steady pitch and drum rhythm at the same time. It's too easy to slip up singing and playing at the same time, and the performance is no good."

"The problem is that we can't find a lead singer now." Su Jing said, "In other bands guitar players are basically lead singers. There are very few pure singers. Most of them want to start a band by themselves and are not happy to join a ready-made…"

Guitarist Li Tan, who was inexplicably tagged, put down his glass: "Sorry, ah, my signing is really bad…"

"We didn't mean to blame you, Brother Tan, but a lead singer is really hard to find," Sheng Kongzhi turned to Ji Sheng, "Xiao Sheng, you may have to sing to hold the fort for a little while longer."

"No problem, no problem." Ji Sheng had no choice, "But after all, I debuted as a drummer, and I still want to focus on playing drums…"

"What about…" As they were talking, Xie Xuanming suddenly spoke.

When everyone looked at him, he put down his glass of milk and said hesitantly: "If you are really short of people… I can make up the numbers for now."

Xie Xuanming applied for admission to the band at the barbecue stall and Qingchu officially considered whether to include the newcomer in the afternoon of the next day, after the band members had woken up and had a good rest.

Qingchu was indeed short of people, but they wouldn't accept just anyone to the team.

For the self-recommended young lead singer, at least his pitch and singing ability needed to be tested, and it was better if he had some creative ability.

Li Tan and Sheng Kongzhi went out, busy with other things, so Ji Sheng and Su Jing were given the task of testing the new candidate.

Xie Xuanming looked at the two musicians with their hair in disarray and their pale faces with a "I just woke up from a hangover" look, and thought he might as well go back, get a rope and hang himself in the toilet.

The good thing was that even though the two of them were dizzy, they were still not at all confused about what they needed to do.

Ji Sheng rubbed his throbbing forehead and squeezed out a kind smile at the vigilant boy in front of him. He learned Sheng Kongzhi's usual tone and asked pleasantly: "Xiao Xie, what songs can you sing?"

He learned it in an unorthodox way, like a weird uncle who kidnaps children with candy on the street.

Xie Xuanming didn't know when he became "Xiao Xie", but he wasn't comfortable dwelling on the issue and simply replied, "School hymn".

"What else?"

"Carols."

"What is that?"

"The songs sung during worship to praise God."

The patriarch of the Xie family was a Christian, and the son he gave birth to was also a Christian. Xie Xuanming's mother was diligent and pressed Xie Xuanming to worship since he was a child. Before junior middle school, he had to go to church every Sunday to join the choir.

Ji Sheng and Su Jing looked at each other, and Su Jing said, "Good fellow, I thought it was outrageous enough for you to bring me in from e-sports, and now you are pulling Christians to rock and roll. Why don't you just get the archangels waltz with Satan?"

"What's the matter, what's the matter?" Ji Sheng slapped the table and stood up, saying, "Wasn't Stalin studying theology? Didn't Hitler dream of becoming an artist? Art has no religious limits!"

"But an artist has." Su Jing said coolly, "We'll play carol rock in future and see if the church comes to kill the apostates."

Ji Sheng raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to fight back.

Seeing that they were about to quarrel again, Xie Xuanming hurriedly interrupted: "Pop, rock… I can also sing other types of songs."

"Oh." Ji Sheng's attention was indeed transferred. He sat back in his place and tentatively said, "Then, Xiao Xie, can you sing a song now?"

Su Jing also turned his attention back to him. The two of them had bright eyes, and Xie Xuanming felt a little embarrassed.

He hadn't listened to many pop songs; those fast and easy melodies belonged to what his mother called "waste of time", "inelegant" and "no style". Xie Xuanming's knowledge of pop songs only came from the songs ordered on the school radio station. Now that he was asked to sing, he really couldn't sing any of them.

After hesitating, Xie Xuanming said, "I'll sing the song you performed yesterday."

Ji Sheng and Su Jing glanced at each other, seeing a trace of doubt in each other's eyes.

It was not easy to sing, let alone sing well, a tune you had only heard once, and in a noisy environment.

But Xie Xuanming really sang it, and he sang a complete song from start to finish.

He only memorised the lyrics roughly and replaced them with humming if he couldn't remember them, but the melody was reproduced without a single mistake. Even in the part that Ji Sheng messed up because of the wrong breathing during the performance, he made up for the omissions according to his own understanding and improved the audibility of the track as much as possible.

Ji Sheng's vocal was husky, with the anger and struggle of an unwilling outcast dog at the bottom of life, while Xie Xuanming's voice was clean and clear, like a supernatural peace above the reality, and the mindless humming brought a bit of holiness to the song that should not be there, ironically contrasting with the lyrics.

He had already finished singing but Su Jing and Ji Sheng hadn't recovered yet.

Su Jing was full of astonishment at "fuck, this kid is Sweeper Monk(1)", while Ji Sheng was full of ecstasy at "picking up a treasure".

After ten seconds of silence, Su Jing coughed: "Xie… Xuanming, do you, do you have perfect pitch?"

Perfect pitch was the ability to be extremely sensitive to sound and to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone. It was a talent beyond the reach of many musicians.

Xie Xuanming said: "My piano teacher said that I have."

Piano teacher.

What a high-class vocabulary.

Su Jing choked as he peeked at Ji Sheng and wondered where he'd got this princess from and what he'd done to make the kid who looked like he'd be better suited to be a conductor of a symphony orchestra willingly join their little shitty band.

Compared with Su Jing's mixed emotions, Ji Sheng's feelings were much simpler. He slapped his thigh and said excitedly: "Baby Jing, we must accept this guy, perfect pitch!! With him, we finally won't have to stay up late picking up scores!"

Su Jing thought, even if you plan to abuse child labor, don't say it out loud in front of the others. But when he glanced at Xie Xuanming, the child looked calm and didn't immediately realise that he was going to be tricked into working in a black brick kiln.

Okay, another one was kidnapped by Ji Sheng.

Su Jing accepted his fate and, stubbornly trying to save the last face of the Qingchu band, got up to pull back Ji Sheng who couldn't wait to rush up to pick up the new treasure member and spin him around in a circle.

"Welcome to Qingchu," he said.

Xie Xuanming might really be Qingchu's lucky star. On the first day he joined the band, Qingchu, who hadn't had a scheduled performance for a long time, got a job at a bar as a resident band.

In the evening, when the Qingchu band happily gathered in the lousy rental house, the topic of discussion changed from "What odd jobs to do tomorrow" to "How to rehearse and where to find musical instruments."

When you had a proper gig, you couldn't just practice with a pile of crap like you used to, you had to have proper practice conditions at any rate.

Qingchu had a guitar and bass, but lacked a keyboard and drums.

Su Jing and Ji Sheng preferred to rent second-hand musical instruments, while Li Tan objected that long-term rent even of second-hand musical instruments was too expensive and they currently could not afford it.

He proposed to rent a fully equipped practice room, the kind that could be used day-to-day. Although the price was high, they could use it just a few times before the performance and it would be much more cost-effective than renting musical instruments directly.

But the problem with this kind of practice room was that it was not guaranteed to be available every time. If it was unluckily rented by another band first, Qingchu was likely to face the misfortune of having to perform tomorrow and having no place to rehearse today.

So Qingchu divided into two factions. Su Jing and Ji Sheng supported the long-term rent of second-hand musical instruments, Li Tan supported the rent of a practice room, and Sheng Kongzhi was neutral.

The two sides argued for a long time, eventually stopping the fire and making a depressing truce before they were close to getting into a fight.

Ji Sheng scratched his head irritably: "In the end, we are still poor. If we had some money, we could be practising by now instead of fighting about it here."

"Then what if…" Xie Xuanming raised his hand and calmly made his first remark tonight, "I may be able to solve this problem."

The members of Qingchu looked at him. Xie Xuanming told them about his situation, omitting his family history and saying in general terms that he had run away from home because he did not agree with his family's philosophy.

"Where did you get the money, aren't you only sixteen??" Ji Sheng said in amazement.

"Seventeen." Xie Xuanming corrected, "I have a card with savings with me."

"Awesome, brother, you ran away from home and brought your card. Planning ahead is very important." Su Jing sighed.

Li Tan rubbed his hands: "So, how much money do you have?"

Xie Xuanming paused: "I don't know the specific amount… Maybe, six digits?"

(fig.) person whose remarkable talents are not well known

Previous / ToC / Next

---

Chapter 17

yun1yun yun1yun

1 year ago

Once Xie Xuanming's family background was revealed, all the members of the team were shocked stupid.

Flyers of various rehearsal rooms for rent in Li Tan's hand fell to the ground and the ever blooming smile on Sheng Kongzhi's face couldn't hold up. Ji Sheng's eyes changed their shape and became perfectly round, which could be considered a medical miracle. Su Jing let out a roar, turned around and asked loudly where Ji Sheng had kidnapped this child from and whether he had come with a knife and tied up someone…

Shocked and stunned, Qingchu still didn't use Xie Xuanming's six-figure sum in the end.

After all, the 17-year-old who had known them for two days blinked his innocent eyes and told them that he had 100,000 in his card and they could use it for whatever they wanted…

No one with a little conscience would agree to such an "unreasonable" request…

Not to mention the possibility of being sent straight to the police.

Although Qingchu was poor, they were not poor enough to comfortably grab an underage child's "New Year's money" to fill their financial hole.

After the shock, the Qingchu members rejected Xie Xuanming's application for "bringing money into the team" and solemnly told him to be a good boy and remember that the most important thing was not to expose his wealth. So he should stop grabbing people in the future, saying that he has a six-figure sum on his card and Rolex on his wrist, because it's easy to get beaten up…

Xie Xuanming nodded obediently, but thought to himself, isn't there no future? Instead of making him take the six-digit deposit to the grave or letting it be repossessed by the Xie family, it was better to generously sponsor Qingchu and let him become an "investor in youth dreams" at the end of his life.

After dissuading Xie Xuanming's extravagant money-throwing behaviour, Qingchu negotiated for a while and finally decided to rent a practice room; however, they had to find a way to negotiate good terms with the boss before renting to prevent the lack of playground space when they needed to practise.

After they reached a consensus, the temporary meeting of the Qingchu band ended.

Li Tan said goodbye to the rest and left the rental house. He didn't live there because he had a fixed job and his financial situation was much better than that of the others who didn't know when and where they'd have their next meal.

He lived with his younger brother in a rental house with slightly better conditions not far away. From time to time, he would bring some delicious food to feed the other hungry band members.

Li Tan was easy-going and trustworthy, which was why he mingled with the other members despite being much older.

Xie Xuanming was about to get up and go back to his room when Ji Sheng stopped him.

"You gave me the watch before, I will give it back to you." Ji Sheng lowered his head and fished for it in his pockets, "That thing is too expensive to accept. I checked the price on the Internet before, good fellow, I have never seen so many zeros in my life."

"Oh, zero zero zero, there are zeros everywhere, where is there one~" Su Jing, who was playing his cloth keyboard, caught the key words and sang loudly.

"Be fucking quiet, there are fucking minors here, don't fucking teach children bad things." Ji Sheng turned his head and scolded angrily.

Xie Xuanming: ……

Xie Xuanming: So civilised.

Ji Sheng turned around and again became amiable as he fumbled halfway through his possessions until pulling out a cardboard box in a very boutique style, two for ten yuan, probably the most expensive packaging a destitute could afford.

Ji Sheng handed the box to Xie Xuanming.

Xie Xuanming didn't take it: "I don't want it anymore."

"Why are you such a loser kid?" Ji Sheng's face turned black and he forcibly stuffed the box into his hand, "This is Hercules, a world-famous watch. I don't have the guts to walk around the street with the value of a car with me, it's too scary. When I meet a robber in the future, I can't even tell him confidently that I have no money, dad, so it's better to rob a beggar than to rob me…"

"Lost in love, I am wretched like a beggar, despite the luxury cars and champagne, still, poor~ Oh"

Blue veins pulsed on Ji Sheng's forehead; he turned and yelled, "Practise your piano! You play eight notes wrong in a song and still have the nerve to bleep!"

Xie Xuanming waited for him to turn back and said, "It's Rolex(1)… I have already told you the price before."

"Oh, Rolex." Ji Sheng scratched his head and smiled, "At that time, I thought it was your junior middle school joke. Who knew you were actually quoting the price honestly. If I had this watch at your age, holy shit, I would have bragged about it adding two extra zeros at the end."

Xie Xuanming was amused, lowered his head and smiled briefly.

Casting all caution to the wind, Ji Sheng sent him out with the box: "Anyway, take this watch yourself, don't give it to others and don't talk about it everywhere. Just wear it low-key… it matches your temperament."

"What temperament?"

"That kind of a cold young master style." Ji Sheng said casually, pinched Xie Xuanming's face lightly and said with a smile, "Young master who wears a famous watch and has a huge amount of money, remember not to be late for the rehearsal at night."

With a bang, the door closed, and Xie Xuanming looked down at the beautiful paper box with flashing diamonds and a vulgar pink bow he held in his hands. He felt inexplicably a little funny.

He silently hooked his lips up, turned around and went back to his room.

Xie Xuanming followed Qingchu to rehearse several times and finally was ushered to his first performance on stage.

The performance was in OR, a bar with an extremely strong rock atmosphere. After watching Qingchu's performance at the Magic Flute Band Festival, the owner of OR decisively kicked out the original resident band and signed a contract with Qingchu.

Before playing, Ji Sheng saw Xie Xuanming's expression being a little stiff, so he paced around him and asked him repeatedly if he was nervous. If he was nervous, he could take a look at the six-digit watch on his hand. Whoever said that he sang badly, just show this watch to that guy and shut him up…

So Xie Xuanming directly covered Ji Sheng's chattering mouth with his hand wearing the said six-digit watch: "Don't make a noise, you talk more than Brother Su today."

Ji Sheng blinked twice and said in a muffled voice: "Why do you call Su Jing 'brother' instead of calling me 'brother'… are you nervous?"

"……"

"Yes?"

"No."

Standing on the stage, Xie Xuanming looked down at the audience. Many people looked over curiously. He took a deep breath.

This was the first time he had walked out of the shadows and faced the sight of so many people.

It felt… not too bad.

Xie Xuanming secretly recalled the lyrics he knew by heart, thinking that the performance should go well if nothing happened…

Unfortunately, there were always unpredictable circumstances, and Schrödinger's cat was never absent.

When the performance was about to begin, the door of the bar was kicked open with a bang, and four or five people broke in with great momentum.

The visitors were not good.

The drumsticks hit the edge of the drum with an unpleasant sound as Ji Sheng was unable to stop the force of his beat.

He looked up at the group of uninvited guests and recognised the identity of the leader, a muscular reincarnation of a Spartan in a vest.

He met the man backstage at the band festival; he was the lead singer of the Lizi band. At that time, Su Jing and Ji Sheng complained that this guy must have been singing with his biceps to develop them like that…

Of course biceps couldn't sing, but biceps could do many things other than singing.

For example, like moving bricks.

For example, like smashing venues.

The Lizi band, the former resident band of the OR bar, was kicked out by the boss, and now they were coming back looking for trouble.

The Sparta-like lead singer walked to the front of the stage, kicked over a table and sneered at the members of Qingchu amidst the screams of customers: "Just this group of boys? Is OR going to turn into a cowboy shop?"

Su Jing's face turned black; he wanted to jump up and was held back by Sheng Kongzhi.

Just kidding; the guy's arms were thicker than his thighs, so he was not going to rush to sacrifice his head.

Sparta's eyes wandered around until he decided to pick on the boy standing at the front of the stage.

"You——little brat, go back to school." Sparta jumped on the stage, patted Xie Xuanming's cheek lightly and then put his hand on his shoulder. He had three lip studs fixed on his thick lip and his mouth opening and closing was a hideous sight, "Just fool around with the little girls at school, don't come here and steal business from us brothers."

"Get it off." Xie Xuanming stared at Sparta, expressionless.

His eyes were dark, and when he stared at people motionlessly, he gave people a secret scare, just like a wild dog hiding in the dark and baring its teeth at you. Even a beast ten times its size would have to consider the blood that leaked from its white teeth.

Sparta was taken aback, thinking, shit, this kid looks like white porcelain, how come his eyes are so fucking crazy? If you continue to provoke him, he might go wild and bite…

But when you're looking for a fight, it's all about being fierce, so there's no room for retreat!

"You tell me to get it off, so I'll get it off?" Sparta tilted his head and smiled grimly, "What if I don't get it off?!"

Xie Xuanming didn't bother to talk nonsense. The palm of the guy was sweaty and the sticky touch made him nauseous. He grabbed Sparta's sturdy arm and pulled it away vigorously.

Xie Xuanming's grip was so hard that his five fingers were embedded in the muscle, making Sparta let out a cry of pain.

"Big brother!"

"Bro!"

"Brother Tie!"

The worried shouts of the band members angered Sparta and he slapped Xie Xuanming away.

Xie Xuanming's arm was knocked aside and the back of his hand slammed straight into a mic stand.

"Clang!" There was a crisp sound.

In full view of the crowd, Xie Xuanming's watch cracked and crystal-like glass spilled from his wrist.

Sparta was stunned, Ji Sheng was shocked, Su Jing broke down and Xie Xuanming's face darkened.

Before he could snap, he heard Ji Sheng yell and rush up, pounding his fist into Sparta's abdomen.

"Holy shit, that's Hercules!"

Sparta grunted as he was punched and took two steps back before bursting into a fury, "That's fucking Rolex, you stupid bastard!"

The two were not idle during the conversation. Ji Sheng took advantage of Sparta's loss of balance and slammed him to the ground with another punch.

Sparta was furious and yelled, "Don't you fucking dare! Who gave you the courage to touch me… fuck!"

Ji Sheng dropped his knee on his abdomen, making him swallow the rest of his words.

"Just so you're clear, I've been playing drums for ten years." Ji Sheng rolled up his sleeves, his eyes cold and stern, "You know what that means? It means that I play the drums well, and at the same time, I have the strength in my hands to knock your ugly lip studs out…"

Before he finished speaking, Sparta let out an angry shout and pushed him off.

A few tens of pounds of muscles were not for nothing. With the same rich fighting skills, people with heavier weight would have an absolute advantage.

"Baby Sheng!"

"Xiao Sheng!"

The members of Qingchu screamed.

Seeing Ji Sheng defeated, Su Jing couldn't bear it: "Fuck, you really think that Qingchu is easy to bully!"

He broke away from Sheng Kongzhi and raised the mic stand, dancing like a reincarnation of the Monkey King and yelling at the members of Lizi.

Lizi had been smashing venues for years, and now that Qingchu had taken the lead, they naturally couldn't stand still. One of them raised his hand to grab the mic stand and stalemate Su Jing. The other two rushed towards the remaining Li Tan and Sheng Kongzhi on stage.

Fuck!

Li Tan cursed; he had long passed the age of fighting and brawling and knew that the so-called battle of wills was nothing more than a bunch of idiots showing off their lower IQ.

But now someone was rushing straight up and there was no way to escape a fight.

Would you choose to be beaten unilaterally, or would you choose to be beaten less while beating someone back?…

Li Tan cursed a few times and raised his hand to grab the opponent's fist.

Ji Sheng was lifted and thrown away, rolled twice on the ground, found his centre of gravity and squatted firmly. Before he got up, he saw Sparta striding over and raising his foot to kick—

He failed to kick.

Xie Xuanming flashed out from the side, picked up a chair and slammed it hard into Sparta's stomach, knocking the man back two steps, then turned around to raise the guitar——

"Drop it!" Everyone froze for a moment, shouting at him, "That's fucking lakewood!!!"

Xie Xuanming: ……

Xie Xuanming rises.

Xie Xuanming wilts.

Xie Xuanming obediently put down the guitar, turned to lift the stool and swung it at Sparta again.

The two bands fought for a long time, with nine men exuding the aura of the famous Battle of Thermopylae. The bar owner came out and shouted to stop the fight, but after receiving two inexplicable blows, he also got mad and dropped his things to join the melee.

During the fight, someone switched off the light and the bar instantly fell into darkness. The scene became more chaotic and could even be called out of control.

People were hitting people everywhere, without paying attention if it was an enemy, a passer-by or one of their own.

Xie Xuanming was hit twice on his back. He gritted his teeth and returned two punches. He was not sure if he hit the one who hit him.

He had a foothold in the centre of the melee and he would fight back wherever he was hit. He was as fierce as a wild wolf with one eye blind, biting indiscriminately.

Slowly, Xie Xuanming was getting a bit overwhelmed; he had received too many blows and there was no part of his body that didn't hurt.

Xie Xuanming consciously retreated gradually, trying to withdraw from the melee, but he tripped over before taking two steps and was hugged by the waist after losing his balance.

Someone was holding him and dragging him back!

Xie Xuanming was shocked and slammed his elbow backwards.

Unfortunately, he was unable to use his strength in this position; he struggled to fight back but was eventually forced into a locker.

The locker door closed and the man let go; Xie Xuanming leapt up and was about to fight desperately when his head hit the top of the locker so hard that he felt dizzy.

He grunted in pain, still swinging his fists, but the attack was stopped by the opponent and his mouth was covered.

"Hush…" Ji Sheng whispered, "It's me."

He was a step too late; Xie Xuanming had already opened his mouth fiercely, clenched his teeth and bit his palm hard.

"Fuck!"

Ji Sheng let out a sincere, angry cry that he hadn't even let out during the group fight earlier.

How is Hercules similar to Rolex? It's Dàlìshì (Hercules) vs. Láolìshì (Rolex), literally 'big strong man' vs. 'old strong man'

---

Chapter 18

yun1yun yun1yun

1 year ago

"Shit!" Ji Sheng first hissed in pain and then roared angrily in a low voice, "You're a dog, aren't you!"

When Ji Sheng identified himself, Xie Xuanming relaxed and said with relief: "I'm sorry."

His clenched fists loosened; he took the hand covering his mouth and nose and moved it down.

Xie Xuanming sniffed, sensed some blood and frowned: "Are you hurt?"

"You bit me." Ji Sheng said indignantly and changed his words after noticing that the opponent's body stiffened, "Just kidding, I split it during the fight just now."

As he said it, he stroked Xie Xuanming's wrist.

"Hey." Xie Xuanming was taken aback and realized that he was checking the watch. He struggled to pull away his hand, "Don't touch it, there are glass splinters…"

Ji Sheng let out an "oh", then let go and said, "Your watch is broken, I'm sorry."

Xie Xuanming was still for a moment and said quietly, "It's okay, I didn't want it anymore."

"……"

Ji Sheng was silent for two seconds. "It's actually something very important, I think. You've been wearing it since I returned it to you."

Xie Xuanming felt sudden pain in his heart, as if a carefully hidden wound had been poked fiercely. The pain that he thought could be ignored was accompanied by blood bubbling out.

Irritability and anger burst out at this moment, and Xie Xuanming felt strangely sad and annoyed, emotions that had begun to surface when the watch was broken, but not because of the loss of the watch.

Only at this moment did Xie Xuanming discover unwillingly that he still attached great importance to that woman. Her rare smile and her hideous face when she died hovered in his mind like ghosts, haunting him every moment whether his eyes were opened or closed.

Xie Xuanming stubbornly thought that he could do without the watch that the woman gave him and he could do without the woman's love.

But the truth was that he was already empty-handed. He had neither the watch nor her love, he was just clutching the empty air, struggling like a child who couldn't eat a candy and tried to be brave saying he didn't want it…

As if you could get it if you opened your mouth.

Xie Xuanming lowered his eyes in embarrassment. Even in the dark, he didn't want to face Ji Sheng's burning gaze. He nitpicked in a hoarse voice: "That's because the box you gave me was too ugly and I didn't want to use it. It's just a watch, I don't care at all."

Illogical words.

An embarrassing stance that anyone could see through.

Xie Xuanming was extremely ashamed. He would rather go out and get beaten up again than stay in this small space and have his self-deception be tested.

He quietly touched the locker door, just about to use force—

When something warm touched his face, Xie Xuanming stopped.

Ji Sheng held his face, gently squeezed the soft flesh of his cheeks and breathed a sigh of relief: "You aren't crying."

Xie Xuanming was a little confused. The pads of the fingers on his cheeks were rough with the calluses left by years of practice. The fingertips faintly smelling with blood gently stroked his face.

That woman once held his face like this, when he was very young. He couldn't remember the reason clearly, maybe it was because he had a fight with a kid at school who laughed at him for not having a father, or maybe it was because he lost his temper not getting a birthday gift…

It was so long ago that Xie Xuanming, in a daze, almost doubted the authenticity of his memory.

Frozen in place, Xie Xuanming let Ji Sheng knead him. Ji Sheng took advantage of the situation, pulled him in his arms and patted his back as if he was a child: "Okay, okay, you don't care at all."

Xie Xuanming put his chin on his shoulder in confusion, his jaw numb with the slight movements of Ji Sheng's body as he spoke.

"Our Xiao Xie has had a lot of hard times, oh. Follow your brother in the future. Big brother will compensate you with a watch, the unique kind in the world," Ji Sheng whispered coaxingly.

Xie Xuanming's throat was dry.

After a while, he let out an inaudible "en".

The fight of the century at the OR bar ended with a 50/50 loss. Qingchu lost their position as a resident band because of the brawl, and Lizi was asked by the irate owner to pay for all the damages. The boss said that if they didn't pay up within a month, he would tell the whole street that Lizi was up to no good, so that all the restaurants and bars on the street would be careful not to hire the band if they didn't want to lose their business.

Su Jing was originally very angry when he knew that Qingchu had lost its job, but he laughed again when he heard about the punishment of Lizi.

He didn't hesitate to taunt: "Fight, fight again, if you can fight like this, do you want to change your career and go underground to fight black boxing? You want to play in a band when you're doing something so stupid that it's not even worthy of the name? You're not qualified to play in a band, you're stupid, violent, magical dancing apes!"

His words made the members of Lizi glare at him. But because the boss had said that he would call the police if they made trouble again, they didn't dare to reply, for fear that the little treacherous band on the opposite side would break out in another fit of madness and start a fight.

The Spartan-like lead singer stood among the members of his band with his tail between his legs, lectured by the boss and feeling wronged to death.

Although they themselves came to the bar to provoke, it was clear that the opponents were the first to start. One was a mad dog, another was a monkey dancing with the mic stand, no matter how you looked at it, they were a crazy batch and they should've been the ones held accountable.

Now look at that mad dog punching hard, hitting people, and then coming back, soft and weak as if he was being bullied, green tea bitch.

Sparta gritted his teeth, but Su Jing was still not satisfied. After he insulted the Lizi band from head to toe, he still wanted more. He turned around and called his friends: "Lao Ji, what are you doing in a daze, come here and curse… Fuck!"

Only then did Su Jing see their own drummer and the underage lead singer standing together in the back. The minor's face was pale (natural), the dried blood on his cheeks was conspicuous (smeared by Ji Sheng), and his eyes were pitifully red (rubbed by Ji Sheng).

Su Jing thought hard and came to the wrong conclusion that the child had been bullied. He was furious. If Li Tan hadn't been fast enough to grab him, he would rush up and start a fight in a flash again.

"Fuck, shame on you, our lead singer is underage, do you know the underage protection law? Are you inhuman or legally blind, hitting so hard? You know how to bully honest kids and make them cry!"

Sparta: ……

He glanced at the wretched Xie Xuanming in disbelief. He really didn't understand how the lunatic who had just swung a stool over his head had become an "honest kid".

Xie Xuanming also: ……

He wiped his eyes in wonder and was about to say that the tears were caused by Ji Sheng poking a finger into his eye carelessly just now and he didn't cry…

However, before he could open his mouth, Ji Sheng repeated the trick, blocking his mouth and pulling him in his arms, shouting, "That's right, the child is crying, pay for it!"

Xie Xuanming: .

Xie Xuanming: ???

Then he watched Ji Sheng and Su Jing sing in unison, cursing Sparta until he took out five hundred from his pocket to avoid a disaster.

The Qingchu band, successfully getting five hundred through blackmail, retreated contentedly, and Xie Xuanming was dragged away, bewildered.

He thought he had to think seriously about whether the decision to join Qingchu was reasonable.

A band that beats, scolds and blackmails people was no place for decent people.

It was already past nine o'clock in the evening when they left the bar, but Ji Sheng had no plans to go back to the rental house. He patted Xie Xuanming: "Xiao Xie, give me the watch."

Xie Xuanming: "What are you going to do?"

"The remaining shell of Hercules is also valuable. I have no job, so I'll pawn it for food." Ji Sheng took it for granted.

Xie Xuanming: ……

Xie Xuanming took off his watch, handed it over, and corrected: "Rolex."

"Almost." Ji Sheng smiled and put the watch in his pocket, said bye to Sheng Kongzhi, and walked away with Su Jing, saying that he had something to do, asking Sheng Kongzhi to order a takeaway and go back to eat by himself.

Xie Xuanming and Sheng Kongzhi walked back to the rental house together. Sheng Kongzhi asked some questions on the way. Xie Xuanming didn't know him well, so he answered perfunctorily.

Xie Xuanming returned to the rental house and ordered a takeaway to fill his stomach. When he finished and was ready to go to bed, he suddenly found that there was an unread WeChat message reminder on the screen of his mobile phone. When he clicked in, it was Su Jing's @message in the chat group for Qingchu.

Su Jing [Laughed me to death]

Su Jing 【Click to see the tortoise drummer who can bow and submit】

When he clicked on the video, he saw Ji Sheng squatting on the ground, firmly grasping a man's leg.

"Brother Wang, please help me fix it. It can't be helped, I'm really tight on cash!"

"Get lost, I still haven't settled the score with you for abducting my daughter, ah, she's a good girl, tricked into running to the bar every day by you! I'm giving you face by taking your business and you still have the fucking face to ask me for a discount."

"I will persuade your daughter to correct her evil deeds, brother, just give me a discount!"

"Get out of here! My daughter is pure and flawless, what kind of evil deeds corrected, you fucking come to my door and scold my baby daughter, do you want to fight!"

"Brother! Uncle! Father! I didn't mean that! Don't throw me out! Give me a chance…"

Su Jing [The first time I saw someone kneeling down for fixing a watch, hahahahahaha]

Sheng Kongzhi 【Is it fixed? 】

Su Jing [No, the guy didn't have the guts to touch a famous watch for fear of breaking it and being cheated out of money, so the kneeling was in vain]

The last one was the reason why Su Jing tagged Xie Xuanming.

Su Jing [@Xie Xuanming, by the way, this is the first time I see someone use their original name as their WeChat name]

Su Jing [@Xie Xuanming, Ji Sheng's repairing your Rolex, hurry over and stop him, or the watch will be completely scrapped if you're late]

Xie Xuanming glanced at the message from more than forty minutes ago.

He hesitated, clicked Ji Sheng's private chat, deleted a message three or four times and finally sent it out: "Brother Ji, are you asleep?"

Ji Sheng replied in seconds: "No."

Xie Xuanming breathed an inexplicable sigh of relief and wanted to reply again but didn't know what to say. Fortunately, Ji Sheng didn't give him time to hesitate.

"You aren't sleeping, come here, Su Jing is awake, let him open the door for you."

Su Jing really didn't sleep. He opened the door to Xie Xuanming: "Yo, Xiao Xie, here you are."

"Brother Su." Xie Xuanming was usually well-behaved and could even be said to be a little shy, "Did you and Brother Ji go to repair the watch just now?"

"En." Su Jing said, "People don't want to touch that brand when they see it, for fear of blasphemy. Your Brother Ji is working on it."

"Oh." Xie Xuanming said, "He asked me to come over."

"Then it's probably done and he wants to show off as soon as possible." Su Jing paused for a moment and added, "Or maybe it's completely fucked up."

Sheng Kongzhi sat up on the sofa, wrapped in a quilt and looking about to go to sleep. When he saw Xie Xuanming, he greeted him: "Xiao Xie."

Xie Xuanming nodded at him and entered the room.

There was only one bedroom in the rental house. Su Jing and Ji Sheng slept in the bedroom and Sheng Kongzhi slept on the sofa. Now Su Jing was having a midnight snack outside and Ji Sheng was the only one in the bedroom.

Xie Xuanming knocked on the door and pushed it open after hearing "come in".

There was a small table lamp lit in the room, and Ji Sheng sat at the table, blocking most of the light.

Halfway through the door opening, it hit something on the floor. Xie Xuanming bent over and picked it up.

A takeaway; it hadn't been opened and the bag was full of vapour. When Xie Xuanming touched it, it was already cold.

Xie Xuanming walked in with the takeaway, came up to the table and put it in the corner of the table: "Brother Ji, I'll put the takeaway here."

Ji Sheng didn't raise his head and said "hmm", still focusing on the business at hand.

With a screwdriver in his hand, he carefully fiddled with the six-figure watch; but no matter how hard he tried, his clumsy movements were full of naive weirdness reminiscent of a new age orangutan playing with needlework.

Ji Sheng's forehead was covered in sweat, his brows furrowed, his hand holding the tool strained as he screwed the screws into the watch ring.

After the last screw was tightened, he let out a cheer and stretched out, his fingers dangerously close to Xie Xuanming's eyes.

There were a few band-aids on those long fingers, covering the scabs that had been received in the fight. However, some new wounds were exposed, obviously caused by some kind of a sharp metal tool.

Xie Xuanming moved his gaze, first looking at the screwdriver and then at a few crumpled bloodied tissues in the corner of the table.

He wanted to take a better look but Ji Sheng had already leaned over, dangled his fingers in front of him and said with a smile: "Sleepy? After standing for a while, you started dozing off."

"No." Xie Xuanming returned to his senses, "You asked me to come over…"

"Here." Ji Sheng stuffed the watch he had just repaired in his hand and said triumphantly, "I said I'll compensate you. The guy who repairs watches avenged his personal grievances and refused to do it, so I could only get started by myself. I also saved money… Take a look, if you are dissatisfied, I will change it again."

Xie Xuanming lowered his head.

The watch in his palm was heavier than before, the strap had significant scratches, the screws on the watch ring were uneven, and a cheap plastic covered the dial, its brown transparent texture making the watch inexplicably acquire a steampunk vibe.

To treat a pure mountain flower like this…

This could no longer be regarded as blasphemy, it could be called a complete insult.

If the watch repairer who refused to repair it looked at it now, he might have fainted with anger at Ji Sheng's too bold approach.

Xie Xuanming clutched the watch and said dryly, "It looks good."

As if afraid that his words would be misunderstood, he quickly added: "I like it very much."

A hand covered in band-aids stretched out, blocking the light of the lamp.

Ji Sheng leaned over with a smile: "I drew a few strokes on it… look."

Xie Xuanming looked down.

In the shadow, a few familiar fluorescent lines appeared on the surface of the brown plastic, still picturing the two random curves…

In front of two green mountains, there was a small quaint house.

Ji Sheng said smiling: "Fortunately, your name is 'Xuan' (pavilion). If it was 'city', 'building', 'court', 'tower'… then I really wouldn't be able to do it."

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Chapter 19

yun1yun yun1yun

1 year ago

All the members of Qingchu were shocked when they saw the watch that Ji Sheng had modified for Xie Xuanming, and then they sneered. Su Jing mocked mercilessly, "It really changed to Hercules". Li Tan looked at Ji Sheng and asked how much it would cost now. Even the good-tempered Sheng Kongzhi looked a little embarrassed when he saw the watch with uneven screws and secretly instructed Ji Sheng not to bully shy children.

Ji Sheng was wronged but had nowhere to complain. He yelled four or five times, "Xiao Xie obviously likes it very much!" The responses he received were "That's Xiao Xie's good temper," "What do you want people to say looking at this ugly thing" and "It's not a question of liking it or not, it's a question of running away from it."

Ji Sheng, who was severely hit, could only run to Xie Xuanming to find comfort. Xie Xuanming patted him on the shoulder with dignity and coaxed him, telling him that no matter what others said, he liked the design very much. Ji Sheng just burst into tears and was yelled at by Su Jing not far away: "Don't disturb the lead singer's practice"……

After being run over by other members of Qingchu, Ji Sheng angrily took Xie Xuanming away… to work in an amusement park.

Non-stop odd jobs were the daily routine for the members of the Qingchu band apart from practice and performance. Although they now had many more gigs and their living standard after they started being paid was much higher than before, the Qingchu band had plans, or dreams, to prepare for an album. The release of the album, unsurprisingly, was a costly project. Looking at the staggering estimated amount of expenses, the members were saving money almost non-stop.

Li Tan had a serious job, while Su Jing had e-sports skills. He usually spent time in Internet cafes to make money by practising and winning online competitions. Sheng Kongzhi also found a fixed job in a nearby beverage shop. His gentle and handsome face made all the young girls on the street linger there. After he started working there, the sales in the shop increased a lot. The store manager smiled from ear to ear after counting the earnings…

So in the end, the only unlucky kid left was Ji Sheng, who had no job and no special skills and relied on running around doing odd jobs to earn money.

Regarding the temporary job in the amusement park, Ji Sheng didn't want to drag Xie Xuanming there. After all, Xie Xuanming was young and looked like a standard high school student, an absolute flower of the motherland. In line with the principle that no child should suffer, no one in the band asked Xie Xuanming to go out to earn money.

However, after Xie Xuanming heard about Ji Sheng's next odd job location, he mentioned that he had never been to an amusement park. It might be because his expression when he said this was too lonely, or it was too easy to misinterpret it as lonely, but a few weeks later, Ji Sheng took him to work in an amusement park.

When they arrived at the location, Xie Xuanming was assigned the job to give stickers to children. He stood in front of the grotesquely sculpted forest, dressed in a parrot-like colourful outfit, leaning over expressionlessly to place stickers on the badges of the children exiting the project and saying tonelessly, "Ha ha, congratulations on completing the Forest Adventure."

Although his clothes were very ugly in both colour and design, Xie Xuanming used his unreasonably good-looking face to forcefully and unquestionably save his image. He stood there among all the bells and whistles, looking like the little elf prince whose family was ruined and who was forced to sell his art, pitiful and handsome.

After standing for two or three hours, in addition to the children who asked for stickers, many girls came up to take pictures with him, and some boldly asked if they could add WeChat, which made Xie Xuanming refuse with dignity, saying "I'm a forest savage, I don't have a mobile phone"…

After the operation repeated hundreds of times, the sun gradually moved up and there were finally fewer tourists. Xie Xuanming put a sticker on the last child in front of him and stood up straight, feeling that his waist was particularly sore.

He rubbed his waist twice and thought that he was really wimpy. He didn't have the life of a young master but was sick like a young master.

He raised his eyes to look at the doll bear bouncing with a large number of balloons not far away.

Ji Sheng had been dancing in that bloated costume for three or four hours and didn't seem tired at all, still maintaining a warm and lively attitude towards every child who came to get a balloon.

His physical strength was really good.

Xie Xuanming glanced up at the sun that seemed to be particularly poisonous today.

Didn't he feel hot?

Of course he did.

During the lunch break, Ji Sheng took Xie Xuanming to a bench in the shade of a tree. After sitting down, he took off his headgear and threw it on the ground, revealing a flushed face.

"Finally rest." Ji Sheng fanned himself with his hand, saying with emotion, "It's too hot today, I wouldn't be able to hold on if I stood for a while longer."

Xie Xuanming looked at the grinning head of the doll thrown aside. He felt that the ground was dirty and was about to pick it up and hold it, but his legs sank and Ji Sheng's head lay on his lap instead of the headgear.

"I'll lie down for a while." Ji Sheng moved a little to find a comfortable pose and closed his eyes.

Xie Xuanming had no objection to him lying on his lap, but a delicate part of his body was constantly rubbed by the moving head. Xie Xuanming was a little embarrassed and carefully pushed Ji Sheng's hairy head away.

However, Ji Sheng kept shifting restlessly, and Xie Xuanming could only say, "Can you move down a little bit?" "

Ji Sheng didn't hear clearly: "What?"

Xie Xuanming slightly increased the volume: "Move down a little."

Ji Sheng opened his eyes, squinted and glanced at the tips of his ears that were red from the sun. After figuring it out, he smirked and joked: "I forgot, our Xiao Xie is also a man, ah."

"Of course, I am!" Xie Xuanming's voice was louder and the tips of his ears were redder, "Move down a little, or get up!" "

"Alright." Ji Sheng made a choice and moved his head obediently.

He closed his eyes again; sunlight hit his face through the shade of the tree, making him frown. Xie Xuanming hesitated and raised his hand to block the bright rays.

Seeing that Ji Sheng's delicate eyebrows smoothened, Xie Xuanming said:

"Let's change shifts later?"

"No, my doll costume is full of sweat."

"It's okay."

Ji Sheng opened his eyes, looked at Xie Xuanming and smiled again. He raised his hand to touch Xie Xuanming's head, like petting a dog: "Oh, our Xiao Xie is really sensible, knowing how to respect the elderly, love children and be filial…"

Xie Xuanming: ……

Xie Xuanming pushed him down with a cold face: "Get up."

Ji Sheng held on to him: "I won't."

"Then don't talk."

"Alright."

After a short break, the two returned to their posts.

Perhaps it was because there were more clouds in the sky in the afternoon and the sun was not as hot as it was in the morning, or perhaps Xie Xuanming was so tired and numb that he had no extra sensory complaints, but he actually felt better in the afternoon than in the morning, and after bending over a hundred times, he soon reached the time to get off work.

As soon as the off-duty siren sounded, the doll bear in the distance raised his hand and cheered, ran up and handed the remaining balloon to Xie Xuanming: "Here."

Xie Xuanming said, "I am not a child."

"Not a child can also hold it." Ji Sheng did not care, took off the gloves and tied the string to his wrist, his voice muffled through the doll head, "The standard of an amusement park is a hydrogen balloon and cotton candy, ah!"

Xie Xuanming let him do what he wanted: "I haven't eaten cotton candy." He added: "The kind that is like a cloud with a bamboo stick inserted."

Ji Sheng straightened up and said in surprise, "Really?"

Xie Xuanming looked at the serious-looking doll bear staring straight at him. Inexplicably amused, he smiled slightly: "Really."

"Oh." The doll bear seemed to be a bit perplexed as to why there were humans who had never tasted this kind of human delicacy for two yuan a stick. "You wait."

After speaking, he fastened the balloon belt and rushed away.

At this point, the employee selling cotton candy was also off work. Xie Xuanming didn't know what Ji Sheng was going to do. He just watched the brown bear run far away with his clumsy big head, then slam on the brakes, bend in front of a child holding a cotton candy, lean over and say something to him, and then start to perform hard.

Ji Sheng danced clumsily and stupidly, making the child very happy. The sound of the giggles spread far away. Ji Sheng leaned over and said a few words, pointing to Xie Xuanming.

The child looked over, hesitated, and finally gave him a big cotton candy in his hand.

The bear doll returned victorious and handed out the cotton candy.

Xie Xuanming took the cotton candy hesitantly: "What did you tell him?"

Ji Sheng took off his headgear and rubbed his wet hair.

"I said, do you see the beautiful brother standing over there? He is a princess kidnapped by a dragon. Only a cotton candy can save her from the demon king." He said lazily, "Hi, Princess Cotton Candy."

Xie Xuanming looked down at the cloud-like cotton candy.

The cotton candy in the amusement park was not monotonous white; pink, blue and yellow candyfloss mingled in a dreamy colour of a fairy tale.

That woman said that this kind of thing was colored sugar, which was unhealthy and was not allowed to be eaten.

Xie Xuanming pinched a small piece with his fingers and put it in his mouth.

The sugar melted, sweetness spreading on the tip of his tongue.

There was a sudden urge in Xie Xuanming's heart, something he had never tried and was not qualified to try when he was a child, some kind of power called "the right to be capricious".

Impulsively, he said, "I haven't been on a ride either."

"Ah." Ji Sheng said happily, "Then do you want to go?"

"En."

It stood to reason that employees were not allowed to be on the rides, as there was no need to buy a ticket to ride a project inside the amusement park.

The two changed into casual clothes, sneaked into the group of tourists and lined up to the ferris wheel.

Taking the ferris wheel was Xie Xuanming's choice. It was almost closing time and there were not many options left to play. Xie Xuanming was not a fan of thrill rides, more interested in the ferris wheel that offered a full view of the amusement park.

Xie Xuanming and Ji Sheng caught the last ferris wheel before closing, and the colourful round cabin carried them up slowly. Xie Xuanming looked through the glass, watching the panoramic view of the amusement park. The crowd walking to the gates flowed among the brightly lit amusement facilities, magical like a candy river in a fairy tale.

Xie Xuanming stared out the window for a while, then turned around and realized that there was something wrong with Ji Sheng.

"Are you…" He looked at the deathly pale Ji Sheng and hesitantly said, "afraid of heights?"

"Haha, why would I?" Ji Sheng smiled stiffly, "I, such an invincible drummer, how can I be afraid of such a height?"

Xie Xuanming reminded intimately: "Your legs are shaking."

"Cold."

"You are sweating."

"Cold sweat."

Xie Xuanming looked at his fluttering hair and pale lips speechlessly, and added, "If you are really afraid, you can sit with me and I will hold you."

"Ha ha, I'm not afraid, I won't go there."

"……"

Xie Xuanming said helplessly: "Brother Ji, come here, the cabin is shaking with you."

"Won't!"

"……"

"Come here."

"No!!"

The ferris wheel passed the highest point and slowly descended. Five or six minutes later, the hatch opened and the shocked staff who couldn't wait to get off work faced a helpless-looking teenager. The teenager was carrying a large human-shaped pendant by his side.

The staff took a closer look and realised that it was a senseless young man holding the teenager by the waist, refusing to let go.

The teenager that had taken on the burden of responsibility at a young age resolutely dragged the young man away.

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Chapter 20

yun1yun yun1yun

1 year ago

Over the next few weeks, Xie Xuanming spent his evenings rotating around the various bars with Qingchu, while being taken around to odd jobs by Ji Sheng during the day.

That guy, Ji Sheng, was awesome, the only problem was that his skills were very scattered and when he started working, it could be called East a hammer, West a stick(1).

He always liked to find a day-to-day job, and after two or three days of work, he would run around and change places with ease. The most wanted criminals with a lot of experience were not as fast as him. Xie Xuanming followed him, working tirelessly. He distributed flyers, became a Taobao model and even went to a variety show to play the audience… although Xie Xuanming's acting as the audience was extremely unprofessional, "stupid" and "this is it" obviously written on his face. With the frowning Ji Sheng by his side they simply looked like "professionals" hired by an enemy channel to crash the show.

"Can't you find a fixed job?" Sheng Kongzhi asked as he frothed the milk cap, "If you can't, I'll talk to the shop manager, and you can just take Xiao Xie and stay in the milk tea shop as a helper."

"Don't." Ji Sheng smiled and said "Welcome" to the guests who entered the store, throwing his rejection in the gap.

Today, Sheng Kongzhi found that the milk tea shop where he was working was short of people, so he brought Xie Xuanming to work as a temporary worker for a day.

After Ji Sheng finished listening to the order, he talked to Xie Xuanming about the guest's request, turned back to Sheng Kongzhi and made a face. "It's so boring to stay in one place. I want to run around. I want to be a prodigal son."

"Part-time prodigal son?" Sheng Kongzhi glanced at him in amusement, "Don't you even consider Xiao Xie, he's tired and thin from following you around every day."

"Xiao Xie is just tall and thin, okay?" Ji Sheng walked up to Xie Xuanming, who was working hard, pinched his forearm and said with satisfaction, "A lot stronger, thanks to me."

Xie Xuanming pulled away from him silently and sealed and packed the prepared milk tea.

"Forget it, if you don't work yourself, don't bother Xiao Xie." Sheng Kongzhi scolded, smiling. He lowered his head to confirm the order and said seriously, "Why don't you just stay here? The weather is so hot, anyway, the shop has air conditioning and it's cooler. Saves you the trouble of running around in the sun and suffering from heatstroke."

"You worry about me." Ji Sheng drawled and said with a smile, "I'm so touched."

Sheng Kongzhi said helplessly: "If you know that I am worried, be sensible."

Xie Xuanming was sullenly wiping the counter on the side; there was a closed sort of atmosphere between Ji Sheng and Sheng Kongzhi that no one could interfere with.

Su Jing said that they were bamboo horses, the kind that grew up sharing a pair of pants(2).

Glancing at Ji Sheng's eyes curved in a smile, Xie Xuanming rubbed the counter more forcefully.

If there was really only one pair of pants, Ji Sheng would definitely give it to Sheng Kongzhi and run naked himself.

Sheng Kongzhi said, "I'm bored to be alone in the store. It would be better if you stayed with me."

Xie Xuanming took a look at the sun outside and felt that running outside for eight hours to hand out flyers was better than standing here like an embarrassing proof that three's a crowd.

He lowered his head; a small stain on the table still couldn't be wiped off.

"Bear it." Ji Sheng patted Sheng Kongzhi on the shoulder, "I really can't stand doing repetitive work for a long time. After all, I'm trying to build up inspiration, otherwise I'd be writing the same old songs all the time."

Sheng Kongzhi sighed: "Bringing out the inspiration routine again."

"And you can't let Xiao Xie be stuck working in a small shop all day long. Seeing more of the world is more important than earning that hundred yuan…"

Xie Xuanming wiped the table for a while, then quietly carried the rag to the sink to wash it.

On the counter he'd left, the stubborn stain was invisible.

After rehearsing that night, Li Tan followed the teenagers back to the rental house, saying that he had something to discuss.

However, when he came, everyone was lying down like a corpse, playing with their mobile phones or eating late night snacks, leaving him out in the cold.

"Good news, good news, everyone, get up and listen!" Li Tan clapped his hands vigorously, but none of the young men slumped on the sofa moved.

"Hey." Li Tan was not happy: "Give a response, brats, are you dead?"

"Dead, exhausted." One of them had enough strength to groan, "Why didn't you say it during the rehearsal?"

"Because it's important? It has to be more formal."

Ji Sheng snorted like a pig, changed position to flop his arm on the lap of Xie Xuanming's who was sitting next to him and continued to lie like a corpse: "Xiao Xie, my arms are numb, help me massage them."

Li Tan became angry when he saw his mindless appearance. Seeing that Xie Xuanming actually stretched out his hand to rub Ji Sheng's arm obediently, he became even more angry and shouted: "Is our noble lead singer here to give you a massage?! Can you stop bullying Xiao Xie!"

Ji Sheng ignored him, and Xie Xuanming continued to knead his arms, his expression unchanged.

Li Tan was out of breath and had to zoom in directly: "There's a job…"

No one answered.

"It's a competition, for music bands, the bar is pretty high and the attention is good."

Su Jing's screen tinkled.

"The key is that there's a prize."

Sheng Kongzhi, hugging a watermelon, showed a little bit of interest: "How much?"

"Fifteen thousand."

Bang.

The watermelon fell to the ground. As the phone hit the bridge of his nose, Su Jing let out a cry of pain. Ji Sheng turned over and opened his eyes wide in amazement. "How much?" Xie Xuanming avoided his iron fist and moved aside silently.

Li Tan got comfortable and repeated: "The winner gets fifteen thousand."

"Zimbabwe dollars?"

"RMB!" Li Tan was angry again, "Can you let me finish?"

"Please!"

"It was a couple of established bands that approached the rich kids to set up the competition. The winner is 15,000, the runner-up is 10,000, and the third place is 5,000. The news came out last week, and many bands were inquiring… Everything is good about this competition, but it is difficult to sign up. The Lizi band that fought with us before, remember, they applied four times and didn't get in."

"Oh." Ji Sheng raised his eyebrows, "If Brother Tan says that, there must be a way."

"Sort of, I got in touch yesterday." Li Tan said, "A man named Zhao Wenhua said that there is a way to sign up Qingchu… but he made a condition."

"What condition?"

"He said that he's a fan of Qingchu and wanted to meet Xiao Sheng and Xuanming."

"Meet me." Ji Sheng was taken aback, "I have never seen this fan."

"There are many fans you haven't seen before." Li Tan said, "I'm afraid you are the only one who doesn't know that you are very famous in the circle. That Brother Zhao, who is considered a fan of yours, wants to meet for a drink and communicate."

Su Jing frowned: "Forget about drinking. With Ji Sheng's drinking capacity, he drinks a bit and gets sold to someone. And there is also Xiao Xie who is underage and it is illegal for him to drink."

Sheng Kongzhi also objected: "It doesn't sound very reliable. Is there any other way?"

Li Tan said helplessly: "If there was any other way, wouldn't I tell you? The problem is that it's probably the only way."

He said: "Actually, it's not that scary, just adults talking about business at the wine table. To put it bluntly, it's just to sing karaoke, have a couple of drinks and make friends… That's how it always works."

Li Tan did talk a lot of "business" at the wine table. Members of Qingchu often saw him drunk hugging the toilet and throwing up. After throwing up, he would raise two fingers and say, fucking hell, those bastards are really not human…

The wine table culture penetrated to the bottom, and even though young people were somewhat disgusted, they also had to accept it.

Ji Sheng snapped his fingers absent-mindedly.

Fifteen thousand.

The guaranteed budget for an album was 40,000 yuan, and the sum that everyone could pull together was only 20,000 yuan…

Qingchu really needed that 15,000 yuan.

It also needed a chance to make a name for itself.

Ji Sheng made up his mind.

"Okay, I'll go." He shrugged, "Isn't it just drinking? You know how much I can drink."

"Pretty little." Su Jing said coolly.

Ji Sheng ignored him and raised his chin at Li Tan: "But forget about Xiao Xie, he is not an adult and it is not appropriate for him to go to that kind of place."

Li Tan was a little embarrassed, but still nodded and said, "I'm trying to communicate…"

"I'll go." Xie Xuanming interrupted coldly.

"Don't make trouble." Ji Sheng sighed, turned around and patted him on the head, "Even if you go, you'll be lying on the sofa asleep after a glass of beer anyway."

"I'm going." Xie Xuanming was rarely stubborn, "Otherwise, if you are drunk, who will be responsible for carrying you back."

"F!" Ji Sheng didn't expect that even Xie Xuanming would ridicule his poor alcohol intake and said angrily, "I'm not bad at drinking, okay?"

"Xiao Xie has a point." Sheng Kongzhi agreed with Xie Xuanming's point of view, "You really need someone to keep an eye on you."

Su Jing also said reluctantly: "Although I think this thing is unreliable and it is best not to go, but if you insist on going, it is indeed much more reliable for the two of them to go together than to go to the meeting alone."

Ji Sheng saw that no one supported him and was dumbfounded: "Hey, you guys are really…"

"Four to one." Xie Xuanming expressionlessly added a knife, "The minority obeys the majority." "

"Eh??"

Li Tan made the final call: "Then that's it. I will reply to Zhao Wenhua's message… and, by the way, tell him about your situation and make him be more responsible and not make things difficult for you…"

"Can it work?" Su Jing questioned, "Isn't the thing these pussies love to do the most is to flaunt their big little power and make things difficult for people in every way?"

Although Su Jing liked to run his mouth on a daily basis, unfortunately he really had a crow's beak this time(3).

Zhao Wenhua was indeed a dog who loved to make things difficult for people.

Zhao Wenhua, that guy, was obviously a scumbag. He ordered Ji Sheng and Xie Xuanming around, asked them to sing vulgar songs and then started pouring alcohol into the two of them.

After Ji Sheng had two drinks, Zhao Wenhua set his eyes on Xie Xuanming, pestering and shoving the glass towards him.

Xie Xuanming frowned and didn't answer or look at Zhao Wenhua.

Zhao Wenhua pressed the glass forward again without backing down: "Do you not give me face?"

The two confronted each other, forming a stalemate.

"Brother Zhao. " Ji Sheng smirked and took the glass. As he drank, his ears and cheeks turned a little red, but he still shielded Xie Xuanming, "He is not an adult and can't drink. I will take his place."

"Not an adult—" Zhao Wenhua sneered, "You are not an adult, but you can go to the bar and play in a band, yet you can't have a glass of beer… After all, you're just looking down on me and not giving me face."

"Not at all." Ji Sheng smiled faintly but sincerely, "The child is allergic to alcohol, so he really can't drink… Brother Zhao, if you look at it like this, I'll make amends by drinking two drinks."

"Two drinks?" Zhao Wenhua exclaimed in an exaggerated disbelief, "Replacing people is always multiplied. Do you want to buy my face with two drinks? Impossible! I'm not giving you a hard time, but say five drinks and no less, otherwise you really don't leave Brother Zhao a way out of this embarrassing situation."

Ji Sheng smiled brightly, cursing this pig-headed dog thing in his heart.

He finally understood how Li Tan got drunk like that every time.

Ji Sheng had already drunk two or three glasses and his head was hazy and muddled.

The alcohol was not pure beer, it had something stronger, like vodka, mixed into it.

Five glasses of it needed to be drunk.

But a minor shouldn't be forced to try this.

Ji Sheng made up his mind and was about to agree, but another hand stretched out one step ahead of him.

Xie Xuanming took the glass blankly, raised his head and drank it.

"Xie—" Ji Sheng didn't have time to stop him, so he had to watch his Adam's apple roll and the flush burn its way from his collarbones to the tips of his ears.

Xie Xuanming clenched the glass tightly and covered his stomach.

The blazing heat was instantaneous, waves of nausea and dizziness hitting his brain non-stop.

He stepped back, was caught by Ji Sheng and broke free again.

"I'm going to the bathroom." With the last of his strength he raised his hand, showing the empty glass, squeezed out the words and stumbled out of the room.

Xie Xuanming hugged the toilet and retched for a while.

The last two times he was drinking were cocktails with less than twenty percent of alcohol. This was the first time he tried strong liquor and found it very unlikeable and unsuitable.

Xie Xuanming hadn't eaten dinner; his stomach was empty and the glass of liquor was dangling in it like a ball of fire, making him feel very uncomfortable.

For a few moments, Xie Xuanming felt that he was going to faint. He thought that he really might be a little allergic to alcohol and he thought that he was really useless. He couldn't stand a glass of beer, making things difficult for Ji Sheng.

Ji Sheng.

Thinking of Ji Sheng, Xie Xuanming sobered a little.

He propped himself up on the toilet and wobbled over to the sink to wash his face.

The young man in the mirror had dishevelled hair, red eyes and a pale complexion.

Xie Xuanming couldn't recognize himself, and he didn't bother to dwell on it.

He had to go back to the private room quickly, he didn't know how Ji Sheng was going to be mistreated while he ran out on his own.

The cold water was splashed on his face two or three times, and the burning feeling was finally suppressed.

Xie Xuanming felt a lot better. He straightened up and walked back quickly. He reached the door and was about to open it when he suddenly heard a burst of laughter inside.

"Don't say that, this kid looks like this, he is delicate like a girl, makes people itchy looking at him."

Xie Xuanming's heart sank. Even before he understood the meaning of the words, he was already kicking the door open furiously.

The scene in the room really made him dumbfounded.

Ji Sheng tilted his head and leaned drowsily against Zhao Wenhua as the man smiled lewdly, his dirty hands about to reach into Ji Sheng's clothes.

1. Lacking a whole picture

2. Childhood friends

3. Make an inauspicious remark

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