Chapter 28

Jinan Prefecture finally had some rain.

After a heavy downpour, the entire city was filled with a fresh scent.

The best part was that after the rain, the sky remained overcast, and a cool breeze blew. The refreshing feeling was a relief for those who had been suffering in the heat for dozens of days, making every pore on their bodies feel comfortable.

Qi Jie wore a moon-white suit, standing in the arrival hall of Jinan West Station, as pure as a lotus flower. People passing by, even subconsciously, would glance at her.

She had a smile on her face, one earphone in her ear, and her eyes were constantly searching the crowd of people coming out of the station.

In the past five days, she had secretly recorded seven new songs!

Each one was a song that couldn't be bought in music stores!

Each one was a great song!

Each one was a song that she had listened to repeatedly but still hadn't grown tired of!

Although the accompaniment for these songs was always just one guitar, and the recording quality was far inferior to the tapes sold in music stores, they were now Qi Jie's favorite!

As long as she wasn't driving or in class, she would put on her earphones and listen to them!

Another wave of people emerged from the exit. Qi Jie slightly tiptoed to look inside, and then her smile suddenly became radiant.

She took off her earphones, raised her hands, and waved vigorously, "Lao Liao, Lao Liao, over here!"

In the crowd, Liao Liao had already seen her and couldn't help but jump up, waving back with all her might.

The crowd dispersed, and Liao Liao finally walked out. The two of them shouted "Ah!" and rushed to each other, hugging tightly.

"I missed you so much, my beloved concubine!"

"I... go to hell!"

"I mean, isn't this a bit too simple? You should at least have a banner that says 'Warmly Welcoming the Famous Singer Liao Liao to Jinan for Inspection and Guidance'..."

"Go to hell again!"

The two of them laughed and joked for a while before Qi Jie noticed a somewhat slender girl behind Liao Liao, who looked to be in her early twenties and seemed quite sharp—she was carrying two bags.

"This is my assistant, Huang Wenjuan. Just call her Wenjuan!" Liao Liao introduced.

The other two rolled their eyes.

Qi Jie reached out to take the bags, but Huang Wenjuan insisted on keeping them. As an assistant, she couldn't bear to take a salary without carrying the bags.

So Qi Jie didn't insist and led the two of them out of the station.

"Did you come directly from the northeast?"

"No, we stopped in Tianjin to see someone."

"Right, didn't you say you were going to meet some big shots to get songs? How did it go?"

"No success. I didn't even see the one in Siping, who said he was out for inspiration. The one in Tianjin, I couldn't even get in the door. I'm too shy to shout and beg. So... sigh!"

"Did you go to meet them or to crack down on illegal activities? What's this about..."

"Don't mention it, don't mention it. My hope is now on you. But I heard that the one in Jinan, Cao Zhan, is even harder to deal with. He's known for his eccentric personality and bad temper!"

"I mean, are you really here to get songs? Do we have big shots in Jinan?"

"Yes, of course! The Cao Zhan I mentioned is excellent in both lyrics and composition. If it weren't for his bad temper, he could be one of the top people in the industry. He's the one I admire the most in this circle. His style is versatile, and each style has outstanding works, whether grand and majestic or bizarre and eerie. He's amazing! Oh, and I heard he writes movie scripts... in short, he's a genius! By the way, do you know his address? It's called Jing San Xiao Wei Liu... what kind of place is this?"

"Jing San Xiao Wei Liu? It's in the old city area, I know it well! Now it's a bit to the west, but still in the city center. But... that's strange, I've been there many times, and it doesn't seem to be a residential area?"

"Oh, that's not his home address. He has a bookstore there called 'Bu Wen Bookstore.' Look at the name, how unique! In Beijing, many people want to move him there, but he refuses to budge, insisting he's a businessman, not a writer... isn't that funny?"

"We actually have such a person here... how rare! Alright, I'll drive you there! By the way, I've booked a hotel, just a regular one, don't mind it... should we go to the hotel first or eat?"

"Let's eat first, I'm almost starving. By the way, do you have classes? Did you take leave?"

"Don't worry! To welcome you, I switched my classes with other teachers a few days ago. I have no classes today or tomorrow, and then it's the weekend... for these four days, I can provide full accompaniment!"

"Good, I'm very pleased!"

...

Old friends who used to share the same pack of sanitary napkins naturally had endless things to talk about. Huang Wenjuan couldn't get a word in, so after the meal, she went to another room in the hotel, while Liao Liao and Qi Jie entered their deep conversation mode.

They chatted until midnight.

The next morning, the three of them gathered for breakfast, and then Qi Jie drove them straight to Jing San Xiao Wei Liu. As Liao Liao said, they needed to take care of the main business first.

Sure enough, there was a bookstore called "Bu Wen Bookstore" in the Jing San Xiao Wei Liu area.

It had two storefronts, in the old city area, the building was a bit old, but it had a strong cultural atmosphere.

Finding the place, the assistant and driver waited in the car, while Liao Liao took a box of demo tapes she had recorded a few days ago—currently including five songs from her new album and one single she had previously released—and went inside.

Then, in no more than five minutes, she came out again.

Her expression was very blank.

"Why did you come out so quickly? What's that look on your face?"

"..."

"Did you succeed? Fail?"

"..."

"Speak! Did you even see the person you came to see?"

After sitting in the car for a while, Liao Liao gradually came to her senses but was still a bit slow. She just nodded.

"You saw him?"

"I saw him."

"What did he say?"

"He said, 'Oh, I see, you can go now!'"

"…What does that mean?"

"I don't know what he meant either!"

Qi Jie turned to look at Huang Wenjuan, and the two of them exchanged a blank look.

Huang Wenjuan asked, "Did you give him your demo?"

Liao Liao raised her hand, and the CD was still there.

What kind of situation is this!

After thinking for a moment, she said, "Wait here!" and opened the car door, getting out again.

Qi Jie turned to look at Huang Wenjuan in the back seat, pointing to Liao Liao who was entering the bookstore, and asked, "Is she okay? Did something happen to her on the way here?"

Huang Wenjuan shook her head confidently, "No way! Don't worry, Sister, even if I go crazy, she won't!"

"Then what happened just now? What's wrong with her?"

"Maybe... she was scared? You know, we've already been turned away twice on this trip, and those people were so aloof, they wouldn't even say a word. Maybe this time, she met someone who was kind and gentle, and she wasn't used to it?"

This time, it only took two minutes for Liao Liao to come back.

"What did he say?"

Liao Liao spread her empty hands, "I said these are my current songs, and if you have time, I hope you can listen and give me some feedback. He said, 'Oh, put them down.'"

"Then... you came out?"

"Yes, I came out. What else could I do? He kept reading his book and ignored me!"

"Did he agree to give you a song or not?"

Liao Liao frowned, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "You don't know, when he sat there, holding a book and reading, the aura was so strong, I finished what I wanted to say, and he just said 'Oh,' and I didn't know what to say next."

Qi Jie and Huang Wenjuan exchanged a look, both with a "what the hell" expression.

Qi Jie said, "You can be intimidated?"

Huang Wenjuan said, "At least you should have asked if he agreed or not, right?"

Liao Liao looked at the sign of Bu Wen Bookstore, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Let's go back first. I'll rest and come back tomorrow!"

...

It seemed that Liao Liao was really intimidated by Cao Zhan.

For the rest of the day, she was in a daze, and it wasn't until the evening that she started to come back to herself.

Qi Jie privately asked Huang Wenjuan, who wasn't worried about Liao Liao but didn't have much hope for the trip.

In fact, she hadn't had much hope for the trip from the beginning.

But it turned out to be strange!

The next morning, when they went back, the person actually agreed to give them a song!

Although he didn't have one at the moment, he promised to provide one within a month, but that was still an agreement!

This was the first success of their trip!

And according to Liao Liao, after he listened to her demo, he even praised her voice a bit.

This made Liao Liao immediately feel fully energized, shouting that she wanted to go to Daming Lake, Baotu Spring, and Lingyan Temple!

The other two said they had already been there the day before, but she insisted she hadn't!

So, they went.

After two days of sightseeing, everyone was a bit tired. In the evening, Qi Jie took them to buy tickets for the southbound train the next morning, found a place to eat, and then hurried back to the hotel to rest.

When they got back to the room, Liao Liao still had the energy to take a shower, but Qi Jie was so tired that she just lay on the bed and didn't want to get up.

After Liao Liao finished her shower, Qi Jie finally struggled to get up and go to the bathroom.

Liao Liao turned on the air conditioner, felt the cool breeze, and then collapsed on the bed. She turned her head and saw Qi Jie's Walkman.

Subconsciously, she picked up the Walkman, opened it, and saw a blank tape. She didn't know what was recorded on it, so she lost interest—maybe it was private! She shouldn't listen to it without permission.

So she put it back as it was, got up, and started to boil some water.

The shower water splashed, and in the dim yellow light, a slender figure was reflected on the frosted glass door.

Liao Liao shouted, "Hey, beautiful, do you need someone to scrub your back? Free service, guaranteed to be great and fresh!"

The water splashed, but no one responded.

She didn't give up and opened the door to peek in, "Wow, impressive, two years later, and it's grown a lot!"

"Go away! Close the door for me!"

"Please, I'm complimenting you!"

"Who wants your compliments, you orange!"

"You're amazing, how much bigger can an apple be than an orange?"

"But I've evolved into a melon now!"

"Ha! Don't be so vain, you're just a big apple!"

"Go away, go away, no peeking at my shower!"

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