After Being Reborn, He Became An Ace In A Boy Band Chapter 5
byChapter 5: The Streamer Got Mad and Left! Did We Do Hate Today?
While catching up on content these past few days, Li Xun also gained some understanding of To5’s fandom ecosystem through video comments and bullet screens.
Jiang Yilan, with his persona built purely on looks, has many fans but also many haters. He isn’t the most popular member in the group, but his fans, having survived various storms, are highly dedicated, strong fighters, and willing to spend money. It’s common for fans of popular boy groups to fight fiercely, and Li Xun was “lucky” enough to witness scenes where the other four fandoms collectively mocked Jiang Yilan in the bullet screens.
Li Xun also tracked down their debut video. Jiang Yilan’s silver hair debut stunned everyone. In his solo teaser, he slowly walked out of the darkness, the spotlight suddenly illuminating him. The camera cut directly to his heavily made-up but perfectly suited face. The dark eyeshadow and deliberately smudged lipstick made his already beautiful features look even more androgynous.
In every subsequent performance, his makeup remained the heaviest in the group. Makeup that might look jarring on other men, he managed to pull off effortlessly.
The short ten-second solo teaser generated huge buzz. Comments and reposts exclaimed, “This is great, we are saved!”
When the debut MV was released, the heavily edited song made it impossible to gauge his true vocal ability. The dance section was also heavily edited, with few full-body shots, and no Practice Room version was released. However, some people already noticed something was off.
It wasn’t until their first live performance that someone produced an isolated vocal track video without the backing vocals. Once posted, it went viral again. Coupled with Jiang Yilan missing beats and half-assing many dance moves, people laughed and despaired, saying, “This is great, we are doomed!”
The Entertainment Agency naturally knew his skill level, so they consistently marketed him as an “Idol-in-Training Visual/Face of the Group.” Whether he could actually be trained was secondary; generating buzz was the goal.
However, his exceptional looks and physique, coupled with the clear indication that he came from a wealthy family and had an arrogant personality, appealed to many people. The initial derogatory nickname “Young Master” used by haters was eventually adopted and internalized by fans, turning into an affectionate term.
Jiang Yilan debuted amidst massive controversy. Over the past two years, his skills haven’t improved much, but he has mastered the art of fan service.
Some people went from the initial struggle of “Give him some time, he will improve” to outright resignation: “As long as the face is there, the empire stands. So what if he’s like this? Kick him out of To5 if you dare.”
Among the fans, some blindly praised him, some were resigned, some were timid, and some were completely incomprehensible to Li Xun. He went to ask Yuan Zhiyan, the walking encyclopedia of internet memes, “Why are these people who curse the worst also spending money?”
Yuan Zhiyan replied, “Haha! That’s called Insult-Chasing! It’s very mysterious!”
Li Xun: “?”
Yuan Zhiyan had been chatting with him these past few days, highly interested in this Jiang Yilan who was completely different from before. Yuan Zhiyan had previously shown interest in Jiang Yilan, but Jiang Yilan had always acted like he couldn’t be bothered, and even Yuan Zhiyan’s easygoing nature didn’t want to keep trying to warm up a cold butt.
Observing the fandom inevitably led to seeing shippers. Li Xun never expected that the most popular pairing for Jiang Yilan would be Tang Ruining.
He thought it would at least be Rong Xiao? Do Tang Ruining and Jiang Yilan even interact normally?
Out of curiosity, he searched their names on Weibo and quickly found their CP super topic. There were two names, “Tang Jiang” and “Ginger Candy,” a distinction Li Xun understood. The super topic was thriving. While there wasn’t much real-life interaction between the two, the fans’ creative enthusiasm was exceptionally high, and every scroll revealed new fan content.
Li Xun truly couldn’t understand, so he went back to ask Yuan Zhiyan.
Li Xun: [Zhiyan, I have a question]
Yuan Zhiyan: [Ask away!]
Li Xun: [Why is my most popular CP with Tang Ruining?]
[Hahahahahahahahahaha] Yuan Zhiyan sent a long string of laughter. [Because fans think you two have a love-hate relationship.]
[?]
Yuan Zhiyan: [Tang Ruining really hates you.]
Li Xun: …
[And you hate him too,] Yuan Zhiyan added helpfully.
[You just act like you can’t be bothered with everyone else, but you genuinely don’t want to see him, haha.]
[You two were so obvious that Wei Ge had to talk to you both privately many times.]
[But later, when he found out that fans had found a new angle and started shipping you two, Wei Ge stopped caring.]
Yuan Zhiyan sent a video: [Watch this.]
Jiang Yilan clicked on it. It was an edited video with high views and many bullet screens. The title was “Did Tang Jiang Do Hate Today?”
It compiled many instances from various content where Jiang Yilan and Tang Ruining deliberately avoided eye contact, refused physical contact, and the look of disdain on their faces when they were forced to interact.
The footage was comprehensive, including behind-the-scenes clips, variety shows, and even stage performances, demonstrating their discord from every angle.
And the bullet screens were densely packed with “I’m obsessed.”
…What exactly are you shipping?!
One segment showed Jiang Yilan acting cute for fans, while Tang Ruining smirked coldly in the background.
Bullet screens: [That poker face of Tang Ruining only makes such vivid expressions when dealing with Jiang Yilan.] [Who dares say Lanlan isn’t special to him?] [Tang Ruining, you must totally f*ck Jiang Yilan when you get back.] [Get lost, Jiang Yilan is only a top.] [Can the person above look at the title? Go ship your Ginger Candy video!]
The video ended meaningfully with a shot of the five To5 members hugging after winning their first award. Jiang Yilan and Tang Ruining happened to be standing close, and in their excitement, they embraced chaotically. Confetti floated down from the stage, decorating them in celebration.
In moments like that, private grievances were temporarily forgotten, and the joy and emotion were pure. The footage was deliberately slowed down several times, set to moving background music, making it seem as if they were truly close friends who had overcome hardships together, understanding everything about each other through a single hug.
Bullet screens: [Tears.] [The dogs outside can hear how loud I’m crying.] [If you don’t ship this, what are you even doing with your life?] [555 “In a crowded room, speaking of hidden love to the fullest.”] [TRN’s arm veins are popping from the hug, he really loves him T_T]
Li Xun: …I think he was just angry.
Yuan Zhiyan: [That’s why your two fandoms fight the fiercest. It’s obvious you two genuinely don’t get along.]
Yuan Zhiyan: [At first, everyone was just shipping it for fun, but then many people got seriously invested! Now your CP fandom is half trolls, half genuine shippers.]
Li Xun: …
He hadn’t had time to think about what “Do Hate” meant earlier, but after watching the video and looking at the title again, he realized.
In just a few days, Li Xun discovered that there were too many things in this world that surpassed his understanding.
One was his rebirth, and the other was this…
He decided to stay far away from fan creations and closer to the actual teammates.
This afternoon was Tang Ruining’s live stream, and Li Xun clicked in right on time.
What Li Xun didn’t know was that when he entered a member’s live stream using his own account, a highlighted notification would appear on the side: [To5 Jiang Yilan V has entered the live stream]
[Am I seeing things? Who just came in??]
[Jiang Yilan actually watches a member’s stream. I don’t know which is more shocking, this or the fact that he can Play Guitar.]
[Ahhh, hubby, you’re here!!]
[Seriously bad luck…]
Tang Ruining noticed too. His usually calm expression shifted slightly, quickly turning into a frown.
[Hahahaha, he’s frowning!!]
[Hubby, say something!]
[The actual people are in the same room, no one can blame me for shipping this, right?]
Li Xun felt a little awkward, but it wasn’t a good time to immediately leave.
Tang Ruining acted as if he hadn’t seen it, greeting fans and routinely answering questions from the bullet screen.
A few minutes later, Yuan Zhiyan also entered the live stream.
[Yanyan baby!!]
[When is Yanyan streaming?]
[I’ll eat all the chaotic pairings.]
Yuan Zhiyan: [Hello! My stream is in a couple of days, remember to watch~]
Tang Ruining lifted his eyes. “Zhiyan is here.”
[LOL, he’s just ignoring JYL, okay, okay.]
[Our Ginger Candy is still the same flavor, satisfying!]
Yuan Zhiyan: [Lan Ge is here too, haha.]
[Yanyan is the little angel who is nice to everyone.]
[What does this mean? Our Yanyan looks like a child who came in to reconcile his fighting parents.]
[Can the shippers get out?]
[No, nah nah nah.]
Li Xun didn’t know how to reply to Yuan Zhiyan, so he just sent a smiley face, which was met with three enthusiastic smiley faces from Yuan Zhiyan.
Tang Ruining: “The Concert Tour has concluded, and next we will prepare for the recording and MV shooting of the new album.”
He selected bullet screens to answer. “Yes, very soon. I can’t reveal the specific time, but one thing I can say is that the style will be very different this time.”
“Yes, I’ve eaten. My mother made it.”
“Of course it was delicious.”
“I’ve been home these past few days. I’m not sure about the others.”
Li Xun kept the stream open, looking at a guitar score while listening to Tang Ruining chat with fans.
“I didn’t teach him,” Tang Ruining’s voice, several degrees colder, came through the video a few minutes later. “I don’t Play Guitar.”
[Who asked that? Ruining plays the ukulele, fake fan!]
[Hahaha, he can ignore other questions, but anything related to Jiang Yilan must be immediately clarified!]
[If this isn’t love… *sobbing*]
The person on screen was stone-faced. Li Xun felt a little helpless and amused; he really did dislike Jiang Yilan.
Li Xun remembered the time the five of them had a meeting. They weren’t familiar with each other yet. Tang Ruining sat across from him, twirling a pen, lost in thought.
Li Xun looked up and met his gaze. They made eye contact. Li Xun smiled at him, and Tang Ruining paused, then offered a faint smile in return.
What was his mood then? He felt the future was promising, and his teammates seemed like good people. But later, they had no further interaction, and To5 debuted without him. Two years later, Tang Ruining was still the same as Li Xun remembered.
Yuan Zhiyan: [No one taught Lan Ge, he taught himself, right, Lan Ge?]
Li Xun had no choice but to reply: [Yes, that’s right [haha]]
[Why can’t you three just stream together if you’re talking across streams?]
[Actually, one person wasn’t invited [crying face]]
[Troublemakers out.]
[CPGs out.]
Li Xun now deeply regretted not using a burner account to enter.
Tang Ruining: “There’s nothing else special to say. We’ll have a group stream before the comeback.”
His expression had long since returned to normal. He ended the stream calmly. “Signing off, bye-bye. The weather is cold, everyone remember to stay warm and wear more clothes.”
[Holy crap, the streamer got mad and left.]
[JYL, you’ve done too much evil!]
[Nooo! Don’t end the stream, hubby!!]
Tang Ruining always ended his streams decisively, never lingering to say goodbye to fans for too long. Three seconds later, the screen went black.
Li Xun: …Was I really the reason he left?