After Being Reborn, He Became An Ace In A Boy Band Chapter 10
byChapter 10 Saving the Image and Mirroring It “You can make me hurt.”……
This MV was a pure story version, without any interspersed dance segments. They had recorded a separate dance version MV, which would be released after the official MV.
The MV received excellent feedback. Although the plot wasn’t particularly dramatic or surprising, the visuals and cinematography were beautiful. It moved from the simple happiness of childhood at the start, through the individual struggles of each person in the middle, to the end where they briefly returned to the carefree days of youth. The MV concluded with a shot of the five members closing their eyes, making the entire piece feel like a fleeting, ethereal dream.
[Can we get a JYL camera-only version next time? He doesn’t need to sing or dance, just show his face.]
[He sang quite well, stop nitpicking.]
[How could it not be good? The million-dollar sound engineer got a raise again, fixing his vocals so he could lead the opening, lol.]
[Wow, that’s outrageous. Did your agency stop using sound engineers and switch directly to AI?]
[My husband’s black hair startled me… in a good way.]
[Yilan sang well! Looking forward to the stage performance!!]
[Fans and antis are truly two sides of the same coin, hahahaha, still looking forward to the stage [crying laugh]]
[Is no one shipping this? Why was Tang Ruining looking at Jiang Yilan the whole time in the car? Everyone else was looking out the window.]
[YZY was hugging JYL, RX was wiping WXY’s face—people are digging for crumbs every day. What can’t be shipped?]
……
The next day, the dance MV was released. When fans discovered that the dance break was performed by Jiang Yilan and Tang Ruining together, and that Jiang Yilan actually danced very well, the number of reposts and comments doubled.
Internal fan wars erupted again, with group stans trying to mediate and getting caught in the crossfire. Passersby who had previously mocked Jiang Yilan were astonished by the miracle. Other fans, who preferred not to fight, seized the opportunity to aggressively promote the group to curious onlookers. It was another spectacular day on the internet.
[Could it be a dance double?]
[Dude, are you insane? You might as well say the video is synthesized.]
[The Royal is the Royal, huh? Not only does he have the most screen time in the MV, but his singing parts increased, and now he gets to do the DB with the Main Dancer, huh.]
[He genuinely danced well this time. I can smell the sourness through two screens [sweat]]
[Rong Xiao dances well too, why didn’t they let him dance? What kind of leader is he? When there’s trouble, it’s Rong Xiao; when there’s nothing, it’s Jiang Yilan. Laughable.]
[You WXYF are trying to stir up trouble between two fanbases. Your intentions are too obvious. You’re just upset your bias didn’t sing the opening. What, does the Main Vocalist have to lead every song?]
[Waiting for the live performance to see who gets slapped in the face. Anyway, the one who is always silent in the isolated track is never the Main Vocalist [wink]]
While the fandom buzz was still ongoing, To5 started a live broadcast.
The five members sat in two rows, three on the back sofa and two on cushions in front, with a laptop placed on the coffee table.
“Hi everyone~” Leader Rong Xiao greeted them first, and the others waved along.
They always held a live broadcast whenever a new album or single was released to introduce the song to fans and react to their own MV. It had become a mandatory segment.
Rong Xiao finished the routine introduction of the song, then clicked on the new MV to watch the pure story version together.
“As is customary, none of us have watched the MV beforehand. This is our first time seeing it.”
The screen opened with a close-up of Li Xun’s face. His closed eyes slowly opened, his eyelashes fluttering as he blinked blankly.
“He’s so handsome!” Yuan Zhiyan exclaimed.
As Jiang Yilan’s voice sang the first line, the story began. Rong Xiao took the opportunity to say, “Yilan sang the opening this time. Yilan has improved a lot and sang very well.”
The plot was fast-paced, shifting to a rainy night. Jiang Yilan, wearing a brown trench coat with his hands in his pockets, was drenched in the rain. He showed no reaction, merely walking aimlessly down an empty street until he saw Tang Ruining by the roadside.
A close-up showed his dripping bangs and wet eyebrows. Jiang Yilan’s eyes slowly softened from their initial numbness. He walked into a brightly lit 24-hour convenience store and bought a black umbrella.
Tang Ruining’s scattered gaze slowly cleared upon seeing the approaching figure, revealing undisguised surprise. Jiang Yilan pulled him up, and the two embraced, smiling, the umbrella tilting slightly from the bump.
“Wow, both of them acted so well here,” Yuan Zhiyan marveled.
Rong Xiao agreed, “Seriously, it feels like watching a movie.”
This was the instrumental break, with the sound of rain amplified. The next empty shot was a sunny day, with the five members driving out. Wu Xingye’s clear solo vocals rang out.
Hearing the rain, Tang Ruining felt transported back to the day of the shoot, able to smell the scent that wafted from Jiang Yilan when they suddenly embraced.
Jiang Yilan was sitting diagonally in front of him. Tang Ruining slightly turned his head and could tell from the back of Jiang Yilan’s head that he was concentrating on the MV.
At this moment, the live chat was filled with comments:
[Can someone tell me why Tang Ruining is staring at Jiang Yilan again?]
[It perfectly overlaps with the car scene in the MV right now, hahaha.]
[The look in his eyes is exactly the same, I swear.]
[Insane. TRN looks at everyone with that same dead expression.]
All five members were watching the MV and no one was looking at the live chat. The MV ended with the five tired members lying haphazardly on the villa floor, their eyes closed amidst the colorful confetti scattered everywhere. The screen darkened, the song ended, and all five clapped, praising, “It was shot so well.”
Wu Xingye: “We filmed this MV quite smoothly. Everyone enjoyed it.”
Rong Xiao: “Yes, only Ruining and Yilan suffered a bit from the rain. The rest was filmed very smoothly and was a lot of fun.”
“The rain scene wasn’t too bad, we filmed it indoors,” Li Xun said, turning to Tang Ruining. “The scenes with Ruining were easy to film. We have pretty good chemistry.”
Meeting his eyes, Tang Ruining hummed, “It wasn’t much suffering.”
[Pure fan here, has Jiang Yilan ever called Tang Ruining ‘Rui Ning’ before?]
[Pure CP fan here, no, absolutely not!]
[Pure passerby here, I’m fainting from the shipping…]
[Lanlan has become so much better, Mom is tearing up.]
The tablet showing the live chat was currently held by Yuan Zhiyan. Before the broadcast, Rong Xiao had mentioned that they should subtly bring up Jiang Yilan’s situation. Yuan Zhiyan looked at the comments and thought for a moment before saying, “Did everyone see the duet dance this time? Lan Ge has been practicing very hard recently, and he dances really well.”
Rong Xiao: “He is. Yilan has been so diligent lately. He stays in the Practice Room whenever we don’t have a shoot.”
Li Xun smiled sheepishly, “I should be.”
Wu Xingye also added, “Yilan has changed a lot and is closer to all of us, right?”
This was an awkward statement to follow up on. Trying to avoid mentioning his previous attitude in the group, Li Xun just smiled again.
“Yeah, yeah,” Yuan Zhiyan immediately and honestly chimed in, “Lan Ge is so great now. I was shocked the day he came back!”
“Zhiyan, let me see the tablet,” Tang Ruining suddenly said. Yuan Zhiyan said, “Oh,” and handed him the tablet, forgetting what he had just been talking about. The topic was then steered back to the MV plot by Rong Xiao.
After the live broadcast ended, the topic volume continued to climb. Many people who had always disliked Jiang Yilan insisted that the song must have been severely pitch-corrected and that his flaws would be exposed during the live performance. Fans, naturally, felt vindicated. Regardless of his live singing ability, his significant improvement in dancing was an undeniable, visible fact. This comeback also attracted a large wave of new fans, and the CP super-topic was exceptionally lively. Screenshots of the MV, the live broadcast, and the duet dance were flying everywhere. No one expected that after two years without crumbs, one release would feed them for two years.
[What exactly happened in these three months that caused such a huge change in their relationship? If they don’t tell us, I’m going to start spreading rumors.]
[They fiercely did it.]
[I don’t think that’s a rumor…]
[Why did both of them change their personalities? Is this transmitted via X?]
[No, TRN hasn’t changed his personality, he’s still his usual dead self (sorry, Mom loves you), he just changed his attitude towards JYL [smile]]
[A year ago, I prayed at a certain temple for my CP to go from pure hate to pure love. This year, I’m going back to fulfill my vow [prayer hands]]
[This Comeback’s Crumb Collection (Continuously Updated) 9 pics]
[Rainy Night, one-shot complete, MV plot expansion, pure smut, save image and mirror flip]
[Ahhh, Teacher, you’re back!! Feeding us as soon as you return, wuwuwu, I’m so happy TT]
……
[OMG OMG, go look at the behind-the-scenes footage that was just released!!!]
[I am having a massive, once-in-a-century shock…..]
[I refuse to believe they didn’t intentionally NG that many times!]
[Me neither.]
[Director, ahhh, you’re shipping them too! “Why are you hugging so intimately?” Hahaha, you spoke my mind!]
[You gay men are scaring me to death.]
[This Comeback’s Crumb Collection (Continuously Updated) 18 pics]
[The Night of the MV Shoot, one-shot complete, real-life setting, pure smut, save image and mirror flip]
[Teacher, please… don’t overwork yourself… but also don’t rest…]
……
Tang Ruining swore he only saved the image out of pure curiosity.
He had clicked into this super-topic before, but after scrolling a few times, he felt severe physical discomfort and backed out, never looking again.
This time, Yuan Zhiyan had cheekily told him, “Ge, do you know that your and Lan Ge’s CP fans are going crazy? So many people were shipping you during the live broadcast.” That’s why he curiously clicked into the super-topic again. On his burner account, of course.
He flipped the image over, and as soon as he zoomed in, a few lines of text made him nearly drop his phone.
[…Jiang Yilan almost couldn’t stand, involuntarily arching his neck, exposing his vulnerable spot to Tang Ruining, as if inviting him to leave a mark there.
Tang Ruining bit lightly with restraint, his breath hitting the sensitive area near the ear, causing Jiang Yilan to tremble uncontrollably.
“Does it hurt?”
Jiang Yilan shook his head, looking at him through a thin layer of mist that welled up in his eyes. In those astonishingly beautiful eyes, the tenderness was so abundant it threatened to spill over, filled entirely with Tang Ruining.
“You can make me hurt,” he whispered.]
“…”
Closing his eyes, Tang Ruining felt his temples throbbing, though he wasn’t sure if it was from anger.
He quickly scanned the rest. The content was unbroadcastable, and some of the technical terms were terrifyingly explicit.
He swiftly deleted the image and locked his phone.