I must have been living under the rocks… JUST read accounts by fans who knew of Lay(Yixing) long before his debut. lol These are accounts of Lay pre-debut, so this is the real Lay behind the cameras~

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Maybe someone has translated all of this already, but here are some excerpts that were really moving so I had to translate and share:

Account from a girl named TangTang who’s been Lay’s loyal fan since 2005:

(note: Lay had his own baidu forum during the times when he was on that Chinese idol-making show back in ‘05. This is a fan who managed that forum throughout all these years.)

On meeting with fans:

[We met up with Lay a couple of times. One of time was on a really warm day, but it got really windy at night. My friend and I were both pretty nervous, but Lay was really easy-going, smiling the whole time, so warm and friendly. He sat there and chatted with us like friends for a while, and he didn’t display any attitude at all. He also played guitar, sang, and danced at our request.  Because my friend wasn’t from Changsha, so we were going to show her around, but after we got outside we realized that it has gotten really cold (I was wearing a short sleeve). Lay looked at us and said “Today the wind’s too strong, TangTang(the fan) is wearing short sleeves, why don’t I show you around next time, let’s go inside, I’ll chat with you some more.” I suddenly realized then that Lay was a very detail-oriented and caring boy.]

On sending Lay to airport:

[Once I went to the airport to send him off to Korea. He asked me a question that I didn’t even know how to answer. When we were sitting there waiting for his plane, Lay took out all the snacks that he was going to bring to Korea to share with me, and asked me if I was thirsty and whether he should buy me water or soda. Later during our chat, he asked me “TangTang, you have been supporting me for many years now right? 1, 2, 3, 4, seems like 4 years now (actually he calculated wrong, it was more than 5 years). I really want to thank you for supporting me all this me. What I want to know is, since I haven’t had any activities in these past 4 years, why did you keep on supporting me?” I really didn’t expect him to ask me that question, I froze for awhile, and still couldn’t come up with any reasonable answer. Maybe it was because of his frankness, maybe it was because he was so easy-going, maybe it was because of many many many things. Now that I think about my answer back then, I think my answer was too silly, even though right now I still can’t give him a clear answer, but now I would say “because you are worth it.”]

On Lay’s life in Korea:

[Later, in order to make it to debut. Lay became more occupied. Practice times became longer and longer, he often stayed to practice till very late into the night before he went back to his dorm. He grew very thin as well. Every time we asked how he was doing, he always replied “I have been fine, please don’t worry about me.” Every time we tell him to take care of his health, rest more, don’t try too hard. He would always reply “I have to have try even harder than other trainees, the only chance I have at debut is to practice even more than others. They are too good.” When he says that, we can’t bear criticize his workaholic ways anymore.]

On Lay’s birthday:

[After Lay’s appearance at Shinee concert, our forum gained more members and the team became more professional. We had a team of staff as well. 20 should be an important milestone in one’s life, so we really want to have a quality birthday celebration for Lay… … …  since we really didn’t have that much money, we couldn’t afford anything too expensive. The gifts we gave him were really plain.  But Lay kept on thanking us nonstop. He also said “TangTang, don’t treat me so well. I don’t even know how to return the favor to you guys anymore. After all, I haven’t made my debut. If I debuted, I can prove that I have at least tried hard, but right now I don’t have anything.”  Lay, we don’t care if you debut or not, your hard work always is visible to our eyes.]