Chapter 28: One thing conquers another "Those two people are just acting out Love in the Rain...

In October, they will start a new round of tours, which is To5’s second tour, but Li Xi’s first.

He spent all this time in the practice room, rehearsing with his eyes open and closed every day. Sometimes when he was tired, Li Xi would lie down on the floor of the practice room. He liked the corner against the wall because it made him feel safe. He did the same when he was tired from practice before. Once he even slept for two hours and woke up with pain all over his body.

This time when he woke up, there was another person lying next to him. Li Xi was lying flat on his back with his head turned, while Tang Ruining was resting his head on his arm, sleeping quietly with his eyes closed, and his breathing was not noticeable. He propped himself up with his arms and sat up. Tang Ruining also woke up and looked at him with clear eyes. Perhaps he was not asleep at all, but just resting his eyes.

Yuan Zhiyan was sitting cross-legged against the mirror, playing with his phone in front of them. When he saw Li Xi sitting up, he looked up and said, "You two can really sleep well. You don't mind the rough floor."

"It used to be like this often..." After saying these six words without any precautions, Li Xi suddenly stopped talking. Yuan Zhiyan laughed, his eyes still fixed on the phone screen: "You haven't woken up yet, have you? You didn't even want to sit on the floor before, because you thought it was rough and dirty. You were very particular about it."

He didn't stop playing the game in his hand. After he finished complaining, he shouted "Eh hey!" twice, then put down the phone and sighed deeply. Maybe he hung up.

Tang Ruining slowly sat up and asked him, "Did you do this often before?"

Li Xi paused, then curled up the corners of her mouth and smiled at him: "I'm not awake yet."

Wu Xingye would occasionally be absent from their practice. Rong Xiao had told him about it once, but he didn't bother to say more. It was only after Tang Ruining got angry that he dared not to miss the show again.

Rong Xiao joked with him: "I'll let you be the captain."

Tang Ruining: "Do I look so stupid?"

Rong Xiao: "Does that mean I'm stupid?"

Tang Ruining: "About the same."

Li Xi was laughing nearby, and Rong Xiao said, "Just take care of him!"

Li Xi pointed at herself: "Me?"

"He demoted the entire team except you, and you demoted him. One thing demotes another. From now on, you will be the boss of our team." Rong Xiao patted his shoulder seriously.

Tang Ruining sneered. Rong Xiao: "Why, no?"

Tang Ruining stopped talking and turned to look at Li Xi.

Why are you looking at me... With the pressure rising, Li Xi decided to run away. "I'm going to get something to eat. I'm hungry."

Since they started practicing for the tour, they have stockpiled a lot of snacks in the practice room and eat them during breaks, otherwise they won’t have enough energy.

"Help me get a chocolate." Rong Xiao said.

"Okay." Li Wei asked Tang Ruining, "Do you want it?"

"I want chocolate, too."

Li Xi came over with a large bar of chocolate, which he had purchased online. Yuan Zhiyan crawled over in broad daylight at some point and broke off a large piece.

"What brand did you buy? It's so bitter." Yuan Zhiyan regretted swallowing such a large piece in one gulp. He couldn't spit it out, so he had to chew it quickly and swallow it.

"Is it bitter? It's okay." Li Xi also ate a piece. It had a moderate taste and was very mellow, just not sweet.

"Childish taste." Li Xi laughed at him.

Yuan Zhiyan lay down in his arms and said, "I am a child anyway."

Yuan Zhiyan rested his head on his legs, listening to the three of them chatting, and fell asleep without realizing it. In the dimness, I heard Jiang Yilan's voice saying, "Don't call him. Let him sleep for a while. He is tired too."

Another voice was very unfriendly: "Let him sleep wherever he wants. Won't your legs be numb?"

Yuan Zhiyan’s consciousness was struggling to wake up, otherwise he would be beaten. He didn’t know where this intuition came from.

But he couldn't open his eyelids and his head felt heavy. After trying several times without success, he gave up with peace of mind.

Before he lost consciousness, he heard a sentence, "Call him up when I feel numb."

Then he was hit, not hard, just a light tap on his head, but it was a thunderclap for a man who was deep in sleep. Yuan Zhiyan's whole body trembled, and he suddenly opened his eyes. What he saw was Tang Ruining's impatient face and Jiang Yilan holding his hand, "Be gentle."

"I was very gentle." Tang Ruining's impatient expression became expressionless after he faced Jiang Yilan, and his voice became much softer: "I didn't use any strength at all."

He met Yuan Zhiyan's wide eyes and asked him, "Really?" His tone became cold again.

Yuan Zhiyan nodded slowly: "Yes... very light..."

"I didn't use any strength at all..." Yuan Zhiyan added.

Preparations for the tour also included the VCRs to be played at the concert. They took a day to shoot four segments in total, one VCR at the opening and three more in the middle while waiting to change clothes. The director presented a plot in which each segment was related, which fits the theme of this tour, "Finding Oneself". The opening scene shows five people appearing in very different places. The scene given to Li Xi is similar to a battlefield. He is wearing a black combat uniform and battle-damaged makeup. He stumbles up from the ruins. After he has taken a few steps, there is an explosion nearby and flames spread. The character played by Li Xi is not frightened, but looks at the fire with a numb face, and then reveals a miserable smile.

For this kind of VCR, the plot is not the point, the only thing that matters is making the people look good. It is too expensive to use special effects, so the explosion scene was chosen to be shot live. It does not need to be too large-scale, with only one explosion point set up. The fire can appear very large when the camera is zoomed in.

Before filming began, Tang Ruining tried to communicate with the director. He meant that it was unnecessary. After all, this method of filming was somewhat dangerous, and a concert VCR did not need to take such a risk. But the director seemed very satisfied with his own settings and was unwilling to change them. He assured him that it was safe, "We are not shooting a big explosion like in movies, and we can't afford that. It's just a small one. Don't worry, there won't be any problem!" The director had worked with them several times, and this was the first time he saw Tang Ruining have his own ideas about the filming. In the past, he would not express any opinions.

Li Xi also told him that it was okay, he would be far away and there would be no danger.

This was his first time trying this and he was quite excited. Tang Ruining no longer insisted and just stood by and watched while Li Xi was taking pictures.

The combat uniform he was wearing clearly highlighted the advantages of his figure. The tight-fitting suit made the muscles of his arms and thighs flow smoothly, neither exaggerated nor thin. His back was straight because of the shoulder straps, and the belt around his waist pinched his narrow and tight waist. His black boots reached close to his knees, and his legs were long and straight. He stood there with his back to Tang Ruining, listening to the director speak. The director was about a head shorter than him. He bent slightly and nodded occasionally. Before filming began, he looked back and gave Tang Ruining a reassuring smile.

There were a few bloody and dirty marks on his cheeks, cracked lips with special effects makeup, and "wounds" on his neck, making him look tired and fragile. Tang Ruining didn't react, he had already turned around to prepare for filming. In the next few minutes, the only thing in Tang Ruining's mind was this fleeting smile.

Although the director had told Tang Ruining several times that they had hired a professional demolition engineer and there would be no danger. However, a small accident occurred during the explosion. When Li Xi got up and staggered to walk away, the gunpowder in the hose that was planned to explode in a few seconds exploded prematurely, and the sparks burned Li Xi's body.

Li Xi was frightened for a moment, but he stood still and quickly calmed down. He looked back at the fire and planned to continue filming according to the script. But Tang Ruining rushed over before anyone could react. He nervously checked his body for signs of burns, and then grabbed his hand to look at the exposed skin.

"It's okay, I wasn't hit by the explosion." Li Xi was actually more frightened by his sudden appearance, but he quickly explained and comforted him, showing him his clothes and skin that were intact.

"This is makeup." Afraid that Tang Ruining would misunderstand, Li Xi rubbed the "wound" on the back of her hand with her fingers.

"I told you not to take pictures!" He is not hurt now, but what if he explodes a little earlier? The more Tang Ruining thought about it, the more scared he became. Li Xi saw that his face was gloomy and was afraid that he would attack the director, so he grabbed him and said, "It's really okay. It's okay to get closer. I don't feel anything except a little heat."

"Where are those two performing Romance in the Rain?" the director asked Rong Xiao who was standing next to him.

Rong Xiao thought to himself, you still have the mood to complain. When Tang Ruining gets angry, he will scold you no matter who you are. He himself is fine after being blown up, but Jiang Yilan is not the same.

The director didn't think so. He always felt that although Tang Ruining looked grumpy, he actually had a good temper and was very cooperative during the filming. So he added fuel to the fire and said, "Ruining, if you hadn't rushed over, we would have finished filming this scene. Look how good Yilan's on-the-spot reaction is."

Then he saw the two people who were acting in Romance in the Rain pulling each other again after hearing what he said. It looked like Jiang Yilan was holding Tang Ruining tightly and was anxious to say something to him.

Rong Xiao covered his face and couldn't help but say, "Director Zheng, do you want something to drink? I'll get it for you."

Director Zheng waved his hand and said, "Let's finish this shot."

The explosion scene has been captured, and the next step is to reshoot the special effects on the face. The fire was still burning. Li Xi turned his head to look at them. The flickering flames were reflected in his eyes. At first, his face was numb. Gradually, a little moisture filled his eyes, but no tears fell. Then he smiled, and the little tears disappeared.

These faint tears were beyond the script. The director looked at the screen and sighed, "I think Yilan has a talent for acting."

Tang Ruining stood silently behind the director, looking past the enlarged face on the screen and at the person not far away.

The director shouted "Cut!" and praised him for his good acting and his talent. Li Xi lowered his head, smiled embarrassedly, turned to look at Tang Ruining, tilted his head and winked at him.

He still looked at himself with a face full of "hurt". Tang Ruining bit his cheek and it took him a few minutes to feel the pain.

At the beginning of the concert, his face showing a sad smile while looking at the fire made the fans in the audience speechless again, and #江亦兰的像像表演# also became a hot search.