After Being Reborn, He Became An Ace In A Boy Band Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Starting Anew

He died, on the very day you had your accident.

Tang Ruining was in his room wearing noise-canceling headphones, only hearing a knock on the door during a pause between songs.

He took off his headphones and opened the door. Standing there was Jiang Yilan, holding a small plate with several egg tarts on it. Just by looking at the color, one could tell they were perfectly baked.

“I baked some egg tarts, with very little sugar,” he said, smiling good-naturedly. “Can we talk?”

The egg tarts were placed on the table, but Tang Ruining didn’t touch them. He sat back down in his chair, waiting for Li Xun to speak.

“I know we had a lot of conflicts before.” There were no extra chairs in the room, and since Tang Ruining hadn’t invited him, Li Xun didn’t presume to sit on the bed. He stood about a meter away from Tang Ruining, his tone sincere: “It’s okay if you don’t believe that I don’t remember the past. You can just assume that after this accident, I want to make a change. I want to work hard to improve my skills, I want to get along well with all of you, and I want to make this team better.”

Tang Ruining looked up at him. Jiang Yilan had dyed his hair pink for this Concert Tour, and now the roots were starting to show black. His hair was slightly long, tucked behind his ears, with the ends resting on his neck. It looked soft, just as harmless as he appeared on the surface now.

“If you have any grievances against me, you can tell me, and I will try my best to change.”

“If you forget, does everything you did before just not count?”

Li Xun shook his head. “Of course not. So, can you tell me? What were those things? If I can make amends.”

The arrogance that Tang Ruining had so intensely disliked in the former Jiang Yilan, and the sense of superiority that radiated from his core, had vanished without a trace. If he was truly acting, Tang Ruining thought he shouldn’t waste time being an idol—he clearly wasn’t cut out for it anyway—and delaying his entry into the acting world would be a waste of talent.

Saying such words with a face like that, few people would remain completely unmoved. Unfortunately, Tang Ruining was one of them.

“Fine, since you don’t remember, I’ll tell you.” Tang Ruining sneered. “You shouldn’t even be here, and you shouldn’t have the chance to stand here and say these things. This spot isn’t yours; you stole it.”

“Make amends? Can you make amends with your life?”

Li Xun froze. “…What?”

“You stole someone’s spot and insisted on kicking him out. Do you know? He died! On the very day you had your accident.”

Li Xun’s heart skipped a beat, and he stared blankly at the person in front of him.

“If he had debuted with us back then, he should have been on stage that day, on the stage that rightfully belonged to him, instead of being hit and killed by an out-of-control car on the street. You got tired of being a young master and wanted to play around, wanted fame. A casual word from you could get someone fired, make years of their hard work go to waste, and make them lose the best years of their youth for being an idol. Your entire life, front and back, was paved for you, yet you insisted on destroying someone else’s future, even causing them to lose their life. How amazing you are.”

Tang Ruining stood up from his chair. They were similar in height, with Jiang Yilan being about 1.3 cm taller, but at this moment, Li Xun felt an overwhelming sense of pressure from Tang Ruining.

He stood very close to Li Xun and asked him, word by word: “Can you make amends for that, Jiang Yilan?”

Li Xun didn’t know what to say; he was stunned into silence by Tang Ruining’s words. He and Tang Ruining hadn’t been close before. Tang Ruining, driven by his own sense of justice and regret over the death of an old acquaintance, increasingly disliked Jiang Yilan and sought justice for the deceased. This touched Li Xun, but also left him feeling helpless.

Li Xun thought Tang Ruining had long forgotten about him—the person who almost became his teammate hadn’t even had time to leave a mark in his memory.

“…I’m sorry,” Li Xun said softly. “I was wrong.”

“You shouldn’t be apologizing to me. You should go to his grave and kneel and kowtow to him.” Tang Ruining handed the plate of egg tarts back to him, untouched, and sat back down without looking up. “You can leave now.”

Li Xun carried the plate of egg tarts to the door. His hand rested on the doorknob, and after a few seconds of pause, he turned around. “Thank you for telling me this today, truly. And my intention to change is also genuine. We have a long way to go.”

Tang Ruining didn’t reply. Li Xun opened the door and left. Yuan Zhiyan, who was waiting in the living room, turned his head. “How did it go?”

Li Xun shook his head, handed him the egg tarts, and smiled helplessly.

“I told you, Ruining Ge doesn’t eat after six o’clock.” Yuan Zhiyan, happy to snag the leftovers, stuffed the remaining egg tarts into his mouth, cheeks bulging. “Don’t be too discouraged. Things won’t get better overnight. You two were like that before; you can’t expect to reconcile over a plate of egg tarts.”

The egg tarts were a little cool, but Yuan Zhiyan didn’t mind. In the blink of an eye, there were hardly any crumbs left on the plate.

Yuan Zhiyan chuckled. “Our Company Dormitory oven is finally being put to good use. Xingye brought it over originally, saying he knew how to bake, but he never had the energy to do it.”

“Where is Wu Xingye? I haven’t seen him,” Li Xun asked.

“Oh, he went to the Practice Room. He said his voice hasn’t been in good shape lately and he needs to adjust.”

“Really? I thought his singing sounded quite good today.”

“Ah, that’s just him. He demands too much of himself.”

Li Xun recalled that when he was catching up on To5’s past content, there was a behind-the-scenes clip of Rong Xiao comforting Wu Xingye backstage, telling him not to be too tense, as that would only lead to mistakes. Wu Xingye looked downcast, seemingly dissatisfied with his performance, and only nodded to Rong Xiao without saying anything.

Wu Xingye returned very late. Li Xun happened to be coming out to pour water and turned to see him. “You’re back.”

The light in the living room was dim. Wu Xingye was startled by the sudden voice and sighed when he saw who it was. “You haven’t gone to sleep yet?”

“I was about to.” Li Xun held up the glass full of water and asked, “Did you go practice singing? Do you want some water?”

Wu Xingye shook his head. He looked at the person before him, who was practically a stranger, and hesitated for a moment before asking, “Do you… really not remember anything from before?”

“I wouldn’t say nothing, but I’ve forgotten most of it.”

“That’s probably for the best.” 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 sleep. You should go to bed early too,” Wu Xingye said.

“Okay, good night.”

Two days later, Eris gave them the new lyric sheets.

In addition to the parts they already had, the opening segment was surprisingly assigned to Jiang Yilan.

“Jiang Yilan, your voice is actually very suitable for this song, but you used to sing terribly, so I never considered giving you more lines,” Eris said bluntly. “I’m giving you a chance this time. I’ve discussed it with Maggie, and we’re letting you try. If the recording goes well, we’ll finalize it. Practice hard. The first line is crucial, especially live. If the opening isn’t done well, it directly affects everyone who follows and the entire song. Do you understand?”

“I understand.” Li Xun nodded seriously. “Thank you, Teacher.”

This was the first time such an important opening part had been given to Jiang Yilan. Besides acknowledging his improvement, it also served as a talking point to build momentum for the new song.

The recording went more smoothly than expected. Li Xun completed his parts with high efficiency, leaving the sound engineer and arranger astonished.

In the past, Jiang Yilan’s parts were always saved for last, slowly torturing everyone involved.

Li Xun walked out of the Recording Studio. “Thank you for your hard work, teachers.”

“Not hard at all, not hard at all,” the sound engineer said, flattered, waving his hands repeatedly. “This time was incredibly easy.”

Everyone else in the agency had heard that Jiang Yilan had changed completely after his injury, and they had seen his guitar live stream, but facing the impact directly was still difficult to adjust to.

After he finished, it was Tang Ruining’s turn. Li Xun didn’t leave, staying to listen for a while.

Although Tang Ruining was the Main Dancer, he had his own ideas about singing. His articulation and pronunciation sounded very comfortable, and he knew how to adjust his vocal tone according to the song’s style.

After recording a segment, Tang Ruining was dissatisfied and shook his head at the sound engineer outside the glass. “Again.”

He saw Jiang Yilan standing opposite him, watching. Jiang Yilan had tied his hair back into a small bun at the back of his head and was wearing glasses.

Tang Ruining lowered his eyes and immersed himself back into the recording. After two takes, the sound engineer clapped his hands. “Excellent! Do the first line one more time, just so I can choose which one to use.”

When the recording finished, Jiang Yilan still hadn’t left. His eyes, looking toward Tang Ruining, held a slight smile, showing clear admiration.

Tang Ruining suddenly realized that Jiang Yilan looked very good in glasses. The silver frames rested on his handsome nose, softening the contours of his brows and eyes, adding a touch of refinement. The eyes behind the lenses were bright and spirited, and when he focused on someone, it made them feel like he was truly paying attention.

Tang Ruining took off his headphones and walked out of the Recording Studio to call the next person. Jiang Yilan still hadn’t left; it seemed he intended to listen to everyone recording that day.

So he hadn’t stayed just to listen to him. Tang Ruining scoffed, calling him “bored,” and headed toward the Company Dormitory.

Later that evening, Li Xun asked in the group chat if everyone wanted hot pot for dinner. He would order ingredients and soup base from the supermarket for delivery. Yuan Zhiyan was the quickest to reply, sending five instances of the word “eat.”

When the others arrived, the pot was already boiling. Jiang Yilan and Yuan Zhiyan were tossing side dishes into it, and the room was filled with steam.

Li Xun got up and knocked on Tang Ruining’s door. “It’s not six yet. Want to come out and eat something?”

Receiving no response, Yuan Zhiyan came over, knocked twice, and went straight in, pulling the person out. “It’s only twenty minutes until six! Hurry up and seize the opportunity!”

Tang Ruining’s face was etched with exasperation, but he still pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Lan Ge specifically rushed to get the pot boiling before six, terrified you wouldn’t eat once the clock struck,” Yuan Zhiyan said solicitously, placing a bowl of mixed dipping sauce in front of him. “Lots of sesame paste and lots of scallions, just the way you like it.”

“Thanks,” Tang Ruining said to Yuan Zhiyan.

Li Xun had mixed chili into his own sauce and discovered that Jiang Yilan couldn’t handle any spice at all. The first bite made his tongue burn painfully, and his eyes watered.

Rong Xiao laughed beside him. “You never touched spice before. Why did you put so much chili in?”

Li Xun was inhaling sharply as he spoke indistinctly through the heat: “I’m not very familiar with this body…”

Many things he used to love no longer tasted the same when put in his mouth; his body was rejecting them, developing a dislike. No wonder there was never any chili when eating at the Jiang Residence—it was probably a habit formed since childhood.

Li Xun poured himself some coconut milk to relieve the spice and mixed a new dipping sauce. The hot pot meal was warm and harmonious. As soon as it turned six, Tang Ruining, true to his principles, put down his chopsticks. Yuan Zhiyan was still the one eating the most, but that didn’t stop him from chatting non-stop. Eventually, he clamored that they should have bought some beer, saying it had been a long time since they had enjoyed a meal this much.

In the swirling steam, Li Xun raised his cup and said, “I’ll toast you all with this drink. I hope that after today, we can forget the unpleasantness and start anew.”