Chapter 93: Heat!

At Jiang Lun’s words, everyone’s jaws dropped, and they stared at him in astonishment.

An autograph with his left hand?

It was not impossible, but could he do it well?

Could he keep up the pace?

“Jiang Lun! Don’t force yourself!” Wu Chaoyang said angrily. He was not angry at Jiang Lun, but at himself. “I was wrong about today. I’m sorry! But whatever challenge it is, your health comes first!”

“No need!” Jiang Lun clenched his teeth. “If I say I can do it, then I can!”

“Uh...”

The others exchanged looks. The fans standing behind them had heard him too, and came forward one after another to comfort him.

“Lun Lun, maybe forget it. We’re already so moved!” A cute little girl pouted, and tears actually spilled from her eyes.

A burly man wiped at the corners of his eyes as well. “I didn’t idolize the wrong person!”

“Jiang Lun! Whether you keep going or give up, we’re behind you!”

Someone in the back shouted, and the others joined in at once. “Yes! We’re behind you!”

“Thank you, everyone! Thank you!”

Jiang Lun rubbed his stiff face with his left hand. “I’m fine. If you don’t mind how ugly my left-handed signature looks, then let’s continue!”

“We don’t mind!”

“We really don’t mind!”

Hearing those cries, Jiang Lun felt a lump in his throat and could not speak. He could only nod silently.

The challenge went on.

Jiang Lun was indeed signing with his left hand, though what he was writing was only the first letter of his name and part of his family name.

It was basically drawn out rather than written at all. It looked awful, but the fans did not care.

Throughout the left-handed signing, the traditional Chinese doctor never left his side. He sat nearby massaging Jiang Lun’s right hand. When feeling slowly returned to the right hand, he would switch back, and when the right hand went numb again, he would return to the left.

The certification officer was Chinese, and a woman at that. Seeing Jiang Lun’s determination, she raised no objections at all; on the contrary, she was deeply moved.

She had not said a single word from beginning to end, because that was the rule. But at that moment, she spoke. “Don’t rush. I think this signing record can be broken by you.”

“I’m not doing this for any record.”

Jiang Lun kept signing as he spoke. “I’m doing it for the fans here, to repay their support. I have to keep going!”

Online, as the fans uploaded photo after photo and clip after clip, more and more people began to pay attention.

“Jiang Lun is so pitiful! His right hand won’t be ruined, will it?”

“Behold my divine tiger arm!”

“No food, no water, no bathroom? Is he trying to ascend to heaven?”

“He’s working himself to the bone! I’m so moved!”

But there were discordant voices as well.

“Trying too hard for attention!”

“This is way too extreme!”

“He already has a girlfriend. What difference does it make whether he still has a right hand or not?”

“He must be desperate to sell albums, right?”

One matter, ten thousand people, ten thousand opinions. There are praise and there are criticisms. Jiang Lun was not money; it was impossible for everyone to like him.

Fans of Huang Daming, fans of Liu Pengfei, and people like them would seize any chance to come out and sneer at Jiang Lun a few times.

Most netizens were still very kind. Seeing news like this, they were moved to some extent. Quite a few people nearby, who were not Jiang Lun’s fans at all, also rushed over after seeing the news online to cheer him on.

At twenty minutes past eight in the evening, summer’s sky finally turned dark.

The company brought in several spotlights, bathing the whole stage in brilliant daylight.

After six hours and twenty minutes, the long-awaited moment finally arrived. At that instant, Jiang Lun’s signing event broke the world record, with a total of three thousand albums signed.

When the certification officer announced that the record had been broken, he was already utterly drained, yet he still did not forget to mock himself. “Ah, if only my surname were Ding.”

The staff and fans around him burst into laughter.

Standing on the stage, the certification officer personally announced that the challenge result was genuine and valid, and presented him with the world record certificate on the spot. When Jiang Lun took the certificate, his feelings were complicated beyond words. Looking at the people below the stage and hearing the applause, he did not know what to say.

Suddenly, a figure darted onto the stage and rushed straight at Jiang Lun.

Before he could even react, the person seized his arm and asked in alarm again and again, “What happened to your arm? Can you still move it? Let me see!”

Jiang Lun was just as shocked as everyone else. When he saw who it was, he could not help but give a wry smile. “Why are you here? My arm is fine.”

As he spoke, he lifted his right hand, though it was obvious the effort cost him dearly.

Chen Yingying covered her mouth and cried. Her eyes were red and swollen; ever since she had seen the news and all the way here, she had been crying.

Jiang Lun comforted her softly, “Don’t cry. Everyone’s watching.”

“Let them watch! I don’t care!”

Chen Yingying sniffled. “I only care about you! Who told you to push yourself like this? What if you can never move it again?”

“How could I not be able to move it? Isn’t it still moving?”

“What if there are lasting effects?”

“This... there won’t be. Medicine is so advanced now, and besides, there’s been a traditional doctor beside me the whole time!”

“That still won’t do! You’re not allowed to do this again in the future. It’s too dangerous!”

“Okay, okay! I know!”

In truth, both of Jiang Lun’s arms were badly strained. He could only barely move them.

Glancing around at the watching eyes, he apologized to the certification officer. “Sorry, this is my girlfriend.”

“I could tell.” The officer smiled kindly, then said to Chen Yingying, “Young lady, your boyfriend is very brave. I wish you both happiness.”

Chen Yingying pressed her lips together and said through her tears, “Thank you.”

Beside them, Wu Chaoyang hurried over again to try to intervene. “Yingying, let’s talk about anything else after we get back. There are still so many fans downstairs!”

To his surprise, Chen Yingying actually began complaining at him. “What’s the matter with you? You let him do something so risky?”

Wu Chaoyang did not know whether to laugh or cry. “It was my fault. It was all my mistake. I absolutely won’t arrange an event like this again.”

After the signing event ended, Jiang Lun was not sent straight home. Instead, he was taken to the traditional doctor’s clinic for acupuncture.

Watching the silver needles prick into his arms, Jiang Lun felt pain not in his arms, but in his heart.

“Ah, it seems I’ll have to train my arm strength more in the future. This won’t do.”

Jiang Lun shook his head. “I’ve been living too comfortably. The muscles I built up from carrying boxes all those years are almost gone.”

When the traditional doctor heard that, he looked puzzled. “You used to carry boxes? Do hard labor?”

“Yes.” Jiang Lun gave a bitter smile. “Looking at how I am today, you probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you, would you?”

“What kind of boxes? How heavy?” the doctor asked with surprising seriousness.

Jiang Lun thought for a moment. “Uh... flight cases. The kind that hold stage speakers taller than a person, plus mixing consoles, lighting consoles, and so on.”

“I know what the cause is!”

Unexpectedly, the traditional doctor looked enlightened. “By common sense, if both arms had never been injured and had no old ailments, they could not have become like yours. There was a writer before who was just like you. After one signing event, both arms went numb and he was sent here for treatment. He had signed eight thousand books in fifteen straight hours. His signing volume was much greater than yours.”

“You mean...” Jiang Lun’s face darkened with alarm. “My arm was already injured before? Why didn’t I notice it myself?”

“Probably because you had never encountered something like today’s situation before.”

The doctor said, “You need to pay more attention from now on. If you want to exercise, you have to do it gradually. Look at athletes: when they’re young they don’t take care of themselves, and when they’re old they’re covered in injuries. And construction workers too. They’re full of occupational illnesses.”

Hearing those two examples, Jiang Lun could only say helplessly, “What can you do? It’s all for a living.”

While the two were talking, Chen Yingying came in carrying a bag of takeout. “Time to eat. You’re in this condition, so you need to replenish yourself properly!”

She did not forget to bring a portion for the traditional doctor as well. “Master, I bought you a meal too. Eat with us.”

“No need.” The doctor smiled and waved it away. “You two eat.”

Then he said to Jiang Lun, “I’ll be back in half an hour to remove the needles. Lie still and don’t move around.”

After the doctor left, Chen Yingying sat by the bed with the lunch box in her hands. “Come on, open up. I’ll feed you.”

“I can’t eat.” Jiang Lun shook his head.

“Eat a little. Otherwise your arm won’t get better.”

“I’m not eating.”

“You have to eat.”

“...”

After another hour of endurance, the traditional doctor returned.

Once the needles were removed, he reminded Jiang Lun again, “Be careful when you go back. Starting today, come here every day and I’ll give you a few needles. You’ll be fine in a week.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean, ‘huh’?” Seeing Jiang Lun’s astonishment, the doctor said seriously, “If you don’t want your arms to be crippled when you’re old, then come as I said.”

“Uh... all right.”

Jiang Lun flexed both arms. The acupuncture really had worked; sensation had already returned, but when he clenched his fists, there was still a certain weakness.

Over the next week, he obediently came for acupuncture every day, and his promotional activities were reduced to only a few television appearances. All signing events in other cities were postponed.

Even the planned signing event for The Adventure of the Ghostly Lamp, which he had previously discussed with the publisher, was canceled.

...

Two weeks later, Jiang Lun arrived in Nanjing.

It was not his first time there. When he had previously recorded a program for Jiangnan Television, he had stayed for a day. This time, however, he would not only hold a small fan meeting there, but also appear on two variety shows, meaning he would be in the city for a total of four days.

Chen Yingying came along this time as his assistant. She was terrified of a repeat of the previous signing-event incident, so whenever Jiang Lun had activities during this period, she would join him if she had the time.

The moment they stepped off the plane, they could feel a climate different from that of the capital.

Hot.

In the height of summer, arriving in a city like Nanjing, a blazing furnace of a place, felt as if one might be roasted alive. It seemed that a pinch of cumin would be enough to serve the whole thing up.

Yet Jiang Lun still wore sunglasses, a mask, and a cap, wrapped up tightly.

Just after leaving the airport, Jiang Lun saw a dense sea of people outside. The boys and girls stood there unflinchingly despite the heat, holding up all kinds of signs.

After looking around, though, he found that the names on the signs all belonged to other people. Clearly none of them were there to meet him, and he could not help but feel a little disappointed.