Chapter 22

Qijie could hardly remember how she had made it back. When she came to her senses, she was sitting in her car, which was already parked under her building.

She instinctively raised her hand to wipe away her tears, only to find that they had long since dried.

After a moment of careful recollection, she slowly remembered.

After listening to that song, she had been in tears, feeling as if she could no longer control her sobs. In a panic, she had fled down the stairs, not even sure if her footsteps had awakened the person singing upstairs—she had no time to think about that at the time!

Then, she cried in the car for a long time before starting the engine and driving home.

It was now... half past four in the afternoon.

She instinctively sniffed, turned off the engine, unfastened her seatbelt, leaned back in the seat, and let out a long breath.

At the time, she didn't know what had happened; suddenly, those few lines of lyrics had struck her, and then the tears just wouldn't stop. But what could she do after crying?

She knew she was no longer a teenage girl.

Over the years, she had said and quarreled, been intense and angry, but when she thought about it carefully, even if Lu Liang were willing to break off their engagement now, what could she do? What could she do?

To put it bluntly, she couldn't even find someone to elope with!

Thinking about this, Qijie suddenly felt that her life was quite pitiful.

Even a bit sad.

Born free!

That's right, we are born free.

But... forget it, after so many years, haven't we all gotten used to it?

Lu Liang isn't that bad either!

Life, life, a few decades blink by, isn't it just like that?

Everyone talks about wanting freedom, but how many are really willing to give everything up for it?

But then again, what is freedom?

Heh... are birds free?

The song also said... yes, that song!

At this moment, she suddenly remembered the song, but unfortunately, she only remembered the words "little bird," "flying back and forth," and "because we are born free." The rest... at that moment, she felt so heartbroken, she wanted to find a place to cry. The lyrics had moved and shaken her to the core, but now she had forgotten them all!

Right, I'll go home and look up that song!

She got up to get out of the car, but stopped with the door open. She pulled down the car's mirror and looked at herself—indeed, her eyes were swollen, like peaches!

She really couldn't show her face now!

But fortunately, it was only half past four, so no one should be home!

She looked around and saw that no one was wandering in the neighborhood, so she picked up her laptop bag, took out her keys, and got out of the car. After locking it, she quickly climbed the stairs.

When she got home, sure enough, her parents were not there.

She went to her bedroom, put down her things, and went to wash her face, gently rubbing around her eyes, hoping they would go down before her parents came back. If not... right, she still had a little bit of the face mask left from last time. If they didn't go down by six, she would put on the mask!

With these plans in mind, she dried her face, went back to her bedroom, and opened her laptop.

Desktop computers were not yet popular, and laptops were even rarer. Although the operator had finally launched wireless broadband last year, the speed was really slow.

After the computer started, she found the most popular search engine in the country, thought for a moment, and typed in "little bird," then searched... well, none of the results were relevant.

Thinking for a moment, she added "because we are born free" after "little bird," and clicked "search" with high hopes.

But the results... well, what did this have to do with the "Declaration of Independence"?

"The Internationale"?

"The Declaration of Freedom"?

"The Constitution of the United States"?

"The Happiest People Are the Workers"?

What was this all about!

Qijie frowned and flipped through two pages, then thought for a moment and changed the search to "flying back and forth" plus "born free," and clicked "search."

Well, this time there was something related.

It was also a song, called "Flying Back and Forth."

Qijie had heard this song before, and it was not the same at all.

The other results were still not related to the song.

She frowned, and after a moment, changed the search to "songs about little birds"... nothing.

She frowned again and changed the search to "flying" and "then seeing the truth"... still nothing.

Computers and the internet were new things. In the current domestic situation, those who had computers were mostly well-off, and mostly young. In the eyes of record companies, these people were undoubtedly a group with both the ability to consume and the willingness to buy. Therefore, any record company with some strength had its own website, providing song previews online. So, as long as you searched, you could basically find most of the songs on the market.

But... Qijie couldn't find it.

"Really strange!"

She sat there for a moment, then suddenly remembered other songs she had heard before and tried to search for them. Sure enough, she could find them.

Then, she typed "how many people once admired your youthful beauty" in the search bar... the first time she heard the person on the rooftop singing, this line was in one of the songs. Because of the song's gentle and sad feeling, Qijie had subconsciously remembered this line, and now it came to mind.

But...

Is this related to Yeats' "When You Are Old"?

Well, "When You Are Old" does have a line with a similar meaning.

Then... as usual, she found nothing.

Two songs, and she couldn't find any trace of them online!

Qijie couldn't say whether she was confused or depressed. She got up and walked around the room for a few steps, then sat back down and typed in the few lines of lyrics she could still remember from the songs she had heard on the rooftop, one by one, and tried them.

But she still found nothing.

This time, she was really puzzled.

Thinking for a moment, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she took out her phone from her bag, found Liao Liao's number, and called her.

The call was quickly connected.

"Hello, Lao Liao, it's me, Qijie."

"I know it's you! What's up, finally thinking of your sister?"

"What do you have to think about, I said, I have a question."

"Okay, you're tough, if you say that to my face, I'll be impressed... what's up, hurry up and say it."

"These past few days, I've heard a few songs. At our school, there's a boy, I don't know which grade, but every afternoon after school, he sneaks up to the rooftop to sing. I heard a few songs that were quite nice, so I went online to look up the names of the songs, but I couldn't find anything. What's going on?"

"Hey, I thought it was something big, and you're asking me about this? Miss, do you know how much I make every minute? You're just wasting my time..."

"Stop it, get to the point!"

"What's there to say, just go up and ask! "

"If I wanted to go up and ask, would I need to ask you? He's practicing after school, obviously he doesn't want anyone to hear. You don't know, these high school kids, one is more vain than the other. I don't want to embarrass him."

"You're good... can't find it online?"

"Can't find it!"

"Basically, any song you can hear or buy, you should be able to find online. I know, all the works of our company's singers are on the website, and my songs are there too. You can listen to them for free, just can't download. As long as it's on the website, theoretically, you should be able to find it. If you can't find it, there's only one possibility... whether the boy wrote it himself or heard it somewhere else, it's... an underground song!"

"An underground song?"

"Think about it, how many people write songs in our country every year? How many works are there? But how many songs are actually bought by record companies, producers, and singers? The ones that aren't chosen? They can't see the light of day. Those songs are underground songs."

Qijie suddenly understood.

"Then I..."

"Want to listen? Just go up and ask! You're just too picky!"

Qijie blinked, completely ignoring Liao Liao's words, and thought to herself: It seems that if I want to hear that song often, I'll have to go up and ask?

...

The surroundings were a hazy pink, indistinguishable between mist and gauze, but it was a color that stirred the heart.

In the haze, Li Qian felt a warm and smooth body wriggling in his arms. He instinctively kissed it, and the face seemed to be his ex-girlfriend Xiao Xia from his previous life, but when he looked again, it seemed to have turned into Wang Jinglu... anyway, it wasn't a stranger.

Li Qian felt he was at his limit, and he hugged and kissed her fiercely. She was panting, her face flushed, and she was incredibly alluring. But when she glanced at him, he felt she looked like Teacher Qi...

So he reached down to find the familiar uniform skirt and black stockings, and sure enough, it was Teacher Qi... the feel was so good!

Although she seemed to be his teacher? But... no matter, he couldn't hold back any longer, and he reached to take off his pants, only to find they were already off, and he was fully erect. He was about to mount her, but she suddenly said coldly, "Think carefully, if you really dare to touch me, I won't report you, but I'll buy a gun and kill you myself!"—this voice was definitely Wang Jingsnow, no doubt!

He looked up, and sure enough, it was her!

But at that moment, her cold threats did not scare him; instead, they made the fire in his heart rise even higher! Especially looking at her cold but beautiful face, he became even more excited, and he thought, if I die, I die, but I'll enjoy myself before I do. Then he pounced, grabbed her, and tore off her underwear!

Strangely, he felt incredibly strong, and with a rip, the underwear tore—oh, a pink Hello Kitty!

He smiled lecherously and said, "Sister Xia, I didn't expect you to be so cold on the outside but hot on the inside!"

She looked furious and humiliated!

He was almost at his limit, lifted one of Wang Jingsnow's legs, and thrust...

Sigh!

So good!

The kind of pleasure that makes you shiver!

Then... he suddenly woke up.

The room was pitch black.

The big ceiling fan was slowly turning.

He pushed away the towel and touched his crotch—indeed, it was wet again.

All his senses returned, and he felt sticky.

He sighed softly, found the switch, and turned on the light.

This was the third time since he was reborn!

"Being a virgin is really tough!" he thought.

He got up, carefully opened the door, and slipped to the bathroom, turned on the light, and found some toilet paper. He carefully took off his underwear and wiped it roughly.

Well, he had to wash his underwear again.

He took a basin, filled it with water, and rinsed it once, then changed the water, added detergent, and started scrubbing.

He found it uncomfortable to squat, so he put the basin in the sink.

Looking up, he saw his face in the mirror.

Well, although this face was much better than his previous one, ... the 3-7 parting was really old-fashioned.

Since watching "Kung Fu," he had a reflex to think of the half-exposed buttocks of the barber whenever he saw a 3-7 parting. After that, he had a buzz cut for the last ten years of his previous life.

After washing and hanging up the underwear, he couldn't help yawning. Just as he was about to go back to bed and change his underwear, he suddenly saw his face in the mirror again.

Well, the stubble on his chin and lips was starting to grow, though it was still light and sparse, like down, but... he was seventeen!

Suddenly, Li Qian felt he wanted to shave.

There was a razor next to his father's, and he skillfully applied the shaving cream, spread it evenly, and carefully shaved with the somewhat antique razor.

After shaving, he washed his face, dried it, and looked in the mirror again. Well, he looked less green and more spirited.

Then, he suddenly sighed.

He knew that no matter how well he had planned, he had indeed become impatient in the past two days. Although he had vented by singing in the afternoon, ...

"Should I try submitting a few songs to record companies?"

"No, no, I'm not ready yet! Even if I submit them now, they'll most likely be ignored. Even if someone likes them, they probably won't take them seriously. A good song in the wrong hands... if the singer isn't good, it's a waste!"

"Don't rush, don't rush, we have time. Stay calm! Stay calm..."

...

At 8:03 in the morning, the door was knocked on again.

Then the door was pushed open, and a voice said, "Qijie, if you don't get up, your father and I will finish eating! What's wrong with you today, learning to sleep in? Get up quickly!"

A groan came from the bed, and the blanket moved, and a sleepy, disheveled face peeked out, glanced at the person at the door, and closed its eyes again, mumbling, "Mom... I'm still sleepy..." As she spoke, she pulled the blanket over her head.

A voice from the living room said, "If she doesn't get up, pull off her blanket!"

The person at the door laughed, walked to the bed, and looked at her precious daughter with a bit of concern, "What's wrong? Did you stay up late last night? Why are you still sleepy at eight?"

The blanket reluctantly lifted, and with great effort, consciousness temporarily overcame sleepiness. Qijie勉强 opened her eyes, pouted, and said, "Dad doesn't care about me at all."

Qijie's mother laughed, "This child... come on, you're about to get married, still acting like a child?"

Hearing the word "get married," a string in Qijie's mind suddenly tightened, and she was fully awake. She sat up reluctantly, still pouting, "Mom, my head hurts..."

Qijie's mother shook her head helplessly, reached out to rub her head.

In the living room, Qijie's father said, "I told you, get married early, this is driving me crazy..."

Qijie was even more dissatisfied and couldn't help saying, "Dad, is that how a father should act? You're so eager for me to get married, can't I stay home for one more year? I just care about you and Mom, otherwise..."

Before she could finish, Qijie's father "hmm"ed and said, "If you really care about us, save your energy for after you get married and bother Xiao Liang!"

Qijie didn't say anything, just pouted even more.

...

Actually, Qijie had gone to bed before ten last night, but for some reason, she couldn't sleep. She got up and watched a novel on her laptop until two in the morning, feeling extremely sleepy, and then finally fell asleep.

The reason she couldn't sleep was mainly because... that song.

She really, really liked that song!

But fortunately, the novel she read last night was quite enjoyable. After a good night's sleep, it seemed that all the restlessness had been hidden deep in her heart. As long as she didn't think about it, it was as if it didn't exist!

Life, isn't it just like that!

But she wanted to hear that song again!

...

After Qijie slowly got up and washed up, her parents had already changed into their clothes to go out. Seeing their precious daughter finally up, Qijie's mother brought the breakfast she had kept warm to the table, instructed her to put the dishes in the kitchen after eating, and then left—both were opera enthusiasts, and Qijie's father was even a semi-professional actor in the Jinan Peking Opera Association. They had an opera enthusiasts' event at Daming Lake Park that morning, and both were going to attend.

Seeing her parents leave, Qijie pouted, "There are no parents as irresponsible as you, leaving your daughter at home while you go out to play..."

Qijie's parents were used to this and ignored her, leaving as planned.

...

After eating breakfast