Chapter 22 Book signing event "Until he agrees."

Then came the busy return period, leaving home early and returning late every day. Li Xi forgot about the unexpected hug and had no energy to think about it.

Last time it was just a single, this time it’s a full-fledged album, and the schedule has increased several times. That didn't matter, but Li Xi discovered that Jiang Yilan's body was really afraid of heat. As the weather got hotter, he would feel uncomfortable as long as it was a little stuffy. Fortunately, they stayed indoors most of the time.

With the comparison, Li Xi realized that his physical condition was pretty good before. He rarely got sick all year round and even worked outdoors in the summer. The temperature has risen sharply in the past few days. He went out for lunch when the sun was at its highest at noon. When he came back, he felt dizzy and even a little nauseous, so he found a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi water and drank it.

He lay on the sofa to rest and was almost falling asleep. Dimly, he felt someone was beside him, but he couldn't open his eyes for a while. In a half-asleep state, he was still thinking about leaving for the next schedule. They had a book signing event in the evening, and he couldn't sleep too deeply, nor could he continue to feel uncomfortable. He had to get up and take the nanny car to the venue, and he had to put on makeup quickly... It was as if he suddenly stepped on empty air, and Li Xi's body shook, and he woke up and opened his eyes.

He was not in the nanny car, nor in the dressing room. He was lying on the sofa with someone sitting next to him. It was Tang Ruining.

"Are you feeling unwell?"

Li Xi sat up slowly, Tang Ruining came over and helped him, and then he leaned on Tang Ruining.

Li Xi leaned a little towards the back of the sofa and answered him: "No, I just felt a little hot after going out, so I lay down to rest for a while."

"You should avoid the heat in the summer." Noticing his movement to move in, Tang Ruining let go of his hand and said, "There was a time before when we were on an open-air stage during a summer trip and you got a heat stroke."

"Really? What about the performance?"

"You only sang two songs that time. You probably got worse during the second song. You didn't sing much, and you didn't dance much." Tang Ruining smiled. "You were badly criticized online that time. Although you usually slack off, you were really wronged that time."

Li Xi also laughed. Tang Ruining continued, "Later you said that you would never accept notices for outdoor performances in the summer again. If you had to accept it, we wouldn't ask you to go. You refused to go, so you told others that you were sick."

He kept looking at Li Xi while he was talking. Li Xi looked away, checked the time, and said, "I'm fine. I feel much better after lying down for a while."

"Well, that's good."

This was Li Xi’s first autograph session and she was a little nervous. She had no experience of facing fans at such close range and was afraid that her reaction would not satisfy the fans.

But fortunately, the fans who came were all very cute. Some were very lively and talked so much that he almost had no time to reply. Some were very socially anxious and spoke in a very low voice and left right after signing. Some even gave him a beautiful headdress, a pearl-studded wreath that seemed a bit too gorgeous in his opinion. However, Li Xi put it on despite the expectant eyes of the fans.

"Wow! So pretty!" the fan said excitedly, "Baby, you are so suitable for this!!"

In the past, during autograph sessions, fans loved to give him this kind of gorgeous headdress. Jiang Yilan himself knew that he would look great in it, and he released many amazing photos for the autograph sessions.

Tang Ruining, who was sitting one seat away from him, turned his head and looked over. Not satisfied with just a glance, he stared at him for a long time without moving. He only turned back when the next fan spoke to him.

The fan who sent the headdress saw it and whispered to Li Xi, "Tang Ruining was looking at you the whole time."

"ah?"

She exceeded her time, so the staff urged her to leave. Before leaving, she smiled at Li Xi and said, "99!"

What 99?

Li Wei looked at her back blankly.

The next fan came over and didn’t say anything at first. After Li Xi wrote her name, he looked up and realized that she was crying.

Li Xi panicked and frantically searched her pockets for a long time, but found that she had no tissues. The staff next to her gave her some tissues, and she passed them to the fans. "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

The fan wiped away tears silently, perhaps feeling a little embarrassed, and covered her face and said: "No, I'm just very happy..."

"I've liked you since your debut. I could have come to the autograph session last time, but something else delayed me and I was sad for a long time. This time I finally came..."

"We are all very happy to see you getting better and better."

"Your solo in this new album is very nice, the best ever. I listened to it many, many times and I really, really like it."

She stopped crying, but her eyes were still red. Li Xi was infected by her emotions, but it seemed that nothing she said could repay the fans' sincere feelings. He said to her very gently, "Thank you."

The fan shook his head, "I want to thank you for giving me motivation. I have had a bad year, but your last comeback gave me a big surprise, and this new album, I thought, I must come to see you. I will also work hard to live a good life."

But at the same time, Li Xi felt an indescribable sense of guilt in her heart. The person she had liked since her debut was not him. He was like an imposter, even if it was not his wish.

Li Wei wrote under her To signature: [Work hard together and live a good life]

In the second half of the signing, the venue became a little stuffy. Tang Ruining turned to ask the staff. The staff went to check and came back to tell him that there seemed to be some problems with the central cooling and it was being repaired.

Fortunately, the book signing event was almost over. The crowd of fans below was quite dense, and it was hotter than on the stage. Tang Ruining said, "Do you have electric fans? Bring a few. Put one next to Jiang Yilan and the others under the stage."

Li Xi didn't even notice that the room was getting hot. He was concentrating on drawing a kitten head for his fans, which was a request from them. After he drew one, he found that it was actually quite cute and was quite satisfied with his own simple drawing. When the next fan came over, he took the initiative to ask: "Do you want me to draw something?"

The fan thought about it and said, "There's a Chinese character 葵 in my name, so let's draw a sunflower!"

"Okay!" He drew a big sunflower. The grids and petals were of different sizes. There was no difference between it and the paintings that elementary school students posted on the wall. The fan took one look and laughed out loud, praising, "Yeah, very cute! Thank you, Bao!"

The electric fan was moved to the side and behind him, and when the cool wind blew on his body, he realized that the venue was hotter than before.

The remaining few people finished signing, chatted for a while, and then the signing session ended.

After returning home, many fans posted the stick drawings they got online. Someone compiled them together and posted a collection called [Appreciation of Kindergarten Stick Drawings]. Li Xi, who saw it later, was shocked and a little sad. He thought he drew very well and his fans praised him on the spot, but it turned out they were just trying to coax him! It's really embarrassing that he volunteered to draw for others.

After returning, Rong Xiao went to see Tang Ruining alone.

During the book signing, he sat next to Tang Ruining and heard Tang Ruining instructing the staff to bring an electric fan to Jiang Yilan. He went to Tang Ruining's room and asked him straight to the point: "Do you have anything to tell me?"

Tang Ruining was tidying up the table when Rong Xiao came in, and he didn't stop tidying up the table. He asked him, "What?"

"As the captain, I want to understand the emotional issues within the team."

Tang Ruining then stopped what he was doing, turned to face him, and leaned against the table.

"It's just what you think."

Of course, it’s not just because of today’s electric fan incident. Too many things have accumulated together. If Tang Ruining wants to be nice to someone, people who know him can easily see it.

Rong Xiao was not surprised, he knew that Tang Ruining would not shy away from admitting it if he asked.

Rong Xiao sighed and asked, "Does he know?"

"Know."

"So...what's your situation now?"

"There's nothing wrong with it. The situation is that I'm just learning how to chase people."

Rong Xiao spoke so fast that it was hard for him to imagine what it was like when Tang Ruining pursued someone. If the old Rong Xiao was asked to imagine it, he would have thought it was a science fiction movie.

Rong Xiao replied after a long while: "As far as I know, Jiang Yilan is a straight man."

The word "straight man" slightly changed Tang Ruining's expression. He said, "He doesn't dislike me."

"Who does he dislike?" Rong Xiao couldn't help but hit him, "Look, Yuan Zhiyan sticks to him every day, hugs him and wants to sleep with him. Does he dislike it?"

Tang Ruining crossed his arms, lowered his head slightly and did not speak for the time being, but Rong Xiao knew that these two sentences would not make Tang Ruining back down. One of Tang Ruining's greatest strengths is that once he knows what he wants, he will work hard for it and will not give up easily. Rong Xiao has always admired this about him: he always has clear goals and doesn't care about other people's views and opinions. But doing things my own way is a double-edged sword. Now that he is doing this kind of thing in the team, it is hard for Rong Xiao not to be worried.

Tang Ruining didn't say anything, so Rong Xiao continued to ask, "What if you pursue him and he doesn't agree?"

"Until he agrees."

"..." Rong Xiao looked at him in horror. Tang Ruining smiled and said, "I was just kidding."

Rong Xiao tried to read his face to see if he was really joking, but could tell nothing. Only now did he realize that he still knew too little about Tang Ruining.

"I really don't know now whether it was better for you two to have such an incompatible relationship in the past, or it is better for you to be gay in the team now." Rong Xiao said with a wry smile.

"There is also a third scenario, which is that I can't get her, and we will just be strangers in the team and have no intersection except for work. Isn't that good too?"

"Ha, then I really don't know whether to wish you success or failure."

Both of them smiled. The phone rang a few times, and Tang Ruining suddenly said, as if he had thought of something, "Do you feel that?" Rong Xiao was taking out his phone and looked up at him. Tang Ruining continued, "Jiang Yilan has lost some weight recently."

"......?" Rong Xiao stopped pulling out his phone, held back his curse words, and calmly uttered two words: "No."

How can you tell whether the other person has lost weight when you meet them every day? Rong Xiao thought, if he really pursues me in the future and it is this kind of scene, who can stand it? It seems that I have to wish him failure.

There was a knock on the door, and Yuan Zhiyan called out from outside: "Are you wearing clothes? I'm coming in."

Rong Xiao got up and went to open the door. Yuan Zhiyan said, "You are here. I knocked on your door just now and there was no one inside."

"Chatting, what's going on?"

"I sent a message in the group, but you two didn't reply." Yuan Zhiyan said, "I don't have any plans for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. I want to order some barbecue. Brother Ruining definitely won't eat it. Do you want to eat it?"

After the signing tonight, the schedule will be less busy, and Yuan Zhiyan wants to eat something spicy. Rong Xiao opened WeChat to read their messages and said, "Eat a little, don't order too much."

"Okay!"

The takeaway was delivered, Yuan Zhiyan also ordered a few bottles of beer, and the five of them sat in the living room.

"Don't you want to eat?" Yuan Zhiyan asked Tang Ruining.

"Can't I sit here if I don't want to eat? Do you really not want to see me?"

"It's unfair!" Yuan Zhiyan shouted, "I was just afraid that you would get greedy watching us eat."

"I'm not you." Tang Ruining replied calmly, and then said, "Don't make trouble when you're drunk."

"I won't make a fuss. I will go to sleep obediently." Yuan Zhiyan looked at Li Xi, "Right, Brother Lan?"

Li Xi smiled, but decided not to answer this question for the time being when Tang Ruining looked at her.

Each person ordered only one bottle, and no one drank too much, but Li Xi still felt a little embarrassed, and stared at the remaining roasted leeks on the table.

Tang Ruining sent him to the room. Rong Xiao stopped him outside and whispered, "Don't mess around."

Tang Ruining was speechless, "I didn't drink."

"He's drunk, don't take advantage of him."

"..." Tang Ruining replied with a fake smile: "Great, thank you for reminding me that I can do this."

While he was holding the person back, Li Xi was about to close the door.

"Uh, good night." He was a little drunk, smiling a little silly, and said to the two people who were standing outside and whispering to each other.