Chapter 7: Start over He died on the day you had the accident. …
Tang Ruining was in the room wearing noise-canceling headphones. He was switching songs when he heard someone knocking on the door.
He took off his headphones, stood up and opened the door. Standing at the door was Jiang Yilan. He was holding a small plate with a few egg tarts on it. Just by looking at the color, you could tell that they were well baked.
"I baked some egg tarts with very little sugar," he said, smiling good-naturedly. "Can we chat?"
The egg tart was placed on the table, but Tang Ruining didn't eat it. He sat back in his chair and waited for him to speak.
"I know we had a lot of conflicts in the past." There were no extra chairs in the room. Tang Ruining didn't say anything, so Li Xi didn't take the initiative to sit on the bed. He stood about one meter away from Tang Ruining and said sincerely, "You don't believe that I don't remember the past. That's okay. You can think of it as me wanting to change after experiencing this accident. I want to work hard to improve my strength, get along well with you, and make this team better."
Tang Ruining looked up at him. Jiang Yilan had dyed his hair pink for this tour, and now the roots of his hair had turned black. His hair was slightly longer and tucked behind his ears, with the ends resting on his neck. He looked very soft, just as harmless as he looked now.
"If you have any dissatisfaction with me, you can tell me and I will try my best to change it."
"If you forget, then everything you did before doesn't count?"
Li Xi shook her head, "Of course not, so can you tell me? What are they, and if I can make up for it."
The arrogance in Jiang Yilan that Tang Ruining used to hate so much, and the sense of superiority in his bones, had disappeared without a trace. If he was really pretending, Tang Ruining thought he shouldn't waste his time on being an idol. He wouldn't understand it anyway, and wasting a minute on entering the entertainment industry would be a waste of talent.
Saying such words with such a face, I'm afraid few people will remain unmoved. But unfortunately, Tang Ruining is one of them.
"Okay, if you don't remember, then I'll tell you." Tang Ruining sneered, "You shouldn't have been here, and you don't have the chance to stand here and say these words. This position is not yours, you stole it."
"Make up for it? Can you make up for it with your life?"
Li Xi was stunned, "...what?"
"You took someone's place and insisted on kicking him out. You know, he died! On the day you had the accident."
Li Xi's heart skipped a beat and she stared blankly at the person in front of her.
"If he had debuted with us, he should have been on the stage that day, on the stage that originally belonged to him, instead of being hit and killed by an out-of-control car on the street. You are tired of being a rich kid, you want to have fun, you want to be famous, and you can make people get out with just a few words, making all their efforts go to waste, making them waste their best years as an idol. Your life has been paved for you, but you insisted on ruining other people's future and even made them lose their lives. How amazing you are."
Tang Ruining stood up from the chair. They were of similar height, but Jiang Yilan was about 1.3cm taller than him. However, he felt the oppressive feeling coming from Tang Ruining.
He stood very close to Li Xi and asked him word by word: "Can you make amends, Jiang Yilan?"
Li Xi didn't know what to say. He was stunned speechless by Tang Ruining's words. He and Tang Ruining were not familiar with each other before. Out of his own sense of justice and regret for the death of his old friend, Tang Ruining hated Jiang Yilan more and more, and felt indignant for his death, which moved Li Xi, but also made him feel helpless.
Li Xi thought that Tang Ruining had forgotten about him a long time ago. The person who almost became his teammate had not had time to leave any trace in his memory.
"…I'm sorry." Li Xi said softly, "I did something wrong."
"You shouldn't say sorry to me. You should go to his grave and kneel down to kowtow to him." Tang Ruining handed the plate of egg tarts back to him intact, sat back in the chair without looking up, and said, "You can leave now."
Li Xi walked to the door with the plate of egg tarts, put his hand on the door handle, paused for a few seconds and then turned around, "Thank you for telling me this today, I really mean it. I will change, and I really mean it. There is a long way to go."
Tang Ruining didn't reply. Li Xi opened the door and went out. Yuan Zhiyan, who was waiting in the living room, turned around and asked, "How is it?"
Li Xi shook her head, gave him the egg tart, and smiled helplessly.
"I told you, Brother Ruining won't eat after six." Yuan Zhiyan happily put the remaining egg tarts into his mouth, and said with puffy cheeks, "Don't be too discouraged. It won't get better in a short time. You two were like that before, how can you reconcile with a plate of egg tarts?"
The egg tarts were a little cold, but Yuan Zhiyan didn’t mind. In the blink of an eye, not even a few crumbs were left on the plate.
Yuan Zhiyan chuckled, "The oven in our dormitory is finally put to use. Xingye brought it here at first, saying he could bake, but it turns out he doesn't have the energy to do it."
"Where is Xingye? Why can't I see him?" Li Wei asked.
"He went to the practice room. He said his voice hasn't been in good condition lately and he needs to adjust it."
"Really? I heard him singing today and he was in pretty good shape."
"Well, that's just the way he is. He demands too much of himself."
Li Xi recalled that when he was supplementing the To5 materials, there was a clip where Rong Xiao comforted Wu Xingye in the backstage, telling him not to be too tense, as this would make it easier to make mistakes. Wu Xingye looked unhappy, as if he was not satisfied with his performance. He just nodded at Rong Xiao without saying anything.
Wu Xingye came back very late. Li Xi just came out to pour water and turned to look at him. "You're back."
The light in the living room was dim. Wu Xingye was startled by the sudden sound. After seeing the person, he exhaled, "You are not asleep yet."
"I'm getting ready for bed." Li Xi raised the cup filled with water and asked, "Are you going to practice singing? Do you want some water?"
Wu Xingye shook his head and looked at the stranger in front of him. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "You... really don't remember anything about the past?"
"I can't say I don't remember anything, I've forgotten most of it."
"Okay." After a pause, Wu Xingye smiled at him, "You are so different from before. The way you are now... is much better than before."
"I'm going to bed, you should go to bed early too." Wu Xingye said.
"Okay, good night."
Two days later, Eris gave them a new lyrics book.
In addition to the part that was already there at the end, the opening paragraph was actually given to Jiang Yilan.
"Jiang Yilan, your voice is actually very suitable for this song, but you sang so badly before that I never thought of giving you more lyrics." Eris said bluntly, "I'll give you a chance this time. I've also discussed it with Maggie and asked you to give it a try. If there's no problem with the recording, then we'll finalize it. You should practice well on your own. The first sentence is very important, especially in a live performance. If the beginning is not good, it will directly affect the people behind and the whole song. Do you understand?"
"I understand." Li Wei nodded seriously, "Thank you, teacher."
This is the first time that such an important part as the opening is assigned to Jiang Yilan. In addition to recognizing his progress, it can also be regarded as a topic to build momentum for the new song.
The recording went more smoothly than expected. Li Xi completed his part very efficiently, which amazed the recording engineer and arranger.
You know, in the past, Jiang Yilan's part was always left to the end to slowly torture everyone.
Li Xi walked out of the recording studio and said, "Thank you teachers for your hard work."
"It's not hard, not hard." The sound engineer was flattered and waved his hands repeatedly, "It's really not hard this time."
Everyone else in the company had heard that Jiang Yilan had become a different person after his injury, and they had also watched his guitar live broadcast, but it was still difficult to adapt to such a shock.
After he finished recording, it was Tang Ruining's turn. Li Xi didn't leave, but waited there and listened for a while.
Although Tang Ruining is the main dancer, he has his own ideas when singing. His pronunciation sounds very comfortable, and he also knows how to adjust his voice according to the style of the song.
After recording a segment, Tang Ruining was not very satisfied with himself. He shook his head at the recording engineer outside the glass and said, "Try again."
He saw Jiang Yilan standing opposite him, looking at him. Jiang Yilan pulled her hair back into a bun today and wore a pair of glasses.
Tang Ruining lowered his eyes and devoted himself to recording again. After two takes, the sound engineer clapped his hands and said, "Very good! Do the first sentence again and let me see which one to choose."
After the recording was over, Jiang Yilan hadn't left yet. He looked into her eyes with a slight smile, and a look of admiration could be seen.
Tang Ruining suddenly discovered that Jiang Yilan was very suitable for wearing glasses. The silver-rimmed frame on his handsome nose softened the contours of his eyebrows and eyes, making him look more elegant. The eyes behind the lenses are bright and lively. When looking at someone, it makes people feel that he is looking at you very seriously.
Tang Ruining took off his headphones and walked out of the recording studio to call the next person. Jiang Yilan still didn't come out, as if he was planning to listen to everyone's recording today.
It turned out that she didn’t stay just to listen to him. Tang Ruining sneered, “I’m bored”, and walked towards the dormitory.
Later, Li Xi asked in the group if they wanted to have hotpot for dinner, and he ordered vegetables and hotpot base from the supermarket to be delivered to their door. Yuan Zhiyan was the one who responded the fastest, sending the word "eat" five times in a row.
When the others came in, the pot was already boiling. Jiang Yilan and Yuan Zhiyan were throwing the side dishes in, and the room was steaming hot.
Li Wei stood up and knocked on Tang Ruining's door. "It's not even six o'clock yet. Would you like to come out for something to eat?"
After getting no response, Yuan Zhiyan knocked on the door twice, then went in and pulled the person out. "It will be six in twenty minutes, why don't you seize the opportunity!"
Tang Ruining's face was full of speechlessness, but he still pulled out a chair and sat down.
"Brother Lan specially prepared the pot before six o'clock, fearing that you would not want to eat at six o'clock." Yuan Zhiyan diligently placed a bowl of prepared dipping sauce in front of him, "Please add more sesame sauce and chopped green onions, as you like."
"Thank you." Tang Ruining said to Yuan Zhiyan.
Li Xi added some chili peppers and found that Jiang Yilan couldn't eat anything spicy at all. The first bite was so spicy that his tongue hurt and his eyes became wet.
Rong Xiao laughed and said, "You never touched spicy food before, why did you put so much chili in it?"
Li Xi was so spicy that she gasped and spoke incoherently: "I'm not familiar with this body..."
Many of the things he used to love to eat no longer taste the same when he puts them in his mouth. His body is rejecting them and he no longer likes them. No wonder there is no chili at all when eating at the Jiang family. It may be a habit developed since childhood.
Li Xi poured himself some coconut milk to relieve the spiciness and prepared a new dipping sauce. The hotpot meal was quite warm and harmonious. As soon as it was six o'clock, Tang Ruining put down his chopsticks, which was very principled. Yuan Zhiyan was still the one who ate the most, but that didn't stop him from chatting non-stop. In the end he shouted that they should buy some beer, as he hadn't had such a happy meal in a long time.
In the swirling hot air, Li Xi raised his glass and said, "I'll toast to everyone with a drink instead of wine. I hope that after today we can forget the unhappiness and start anew."
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