Chapter 40

No one knew what had happened to Qi Jie, except for herself.

Because of a check for twenty thousand yuan, she suddenly became a stranger. Whether in class or after class, she didn't even glance at Li Qian once. Even when Liao Liao repeatedly asked, she wouldn't say a word more.

Just as everyone who knew the situation was baffled, a rumor suddenly spread: Teacher Qi Jie was going to resign!

This news was being passed around by many students, and within less than a morning, everyone was discussing it. However, Li Qian actually knew about this news before they did.

The night before, when Li Qian returned home, his father had already told him what had happened in the academic affairs office: Qi Jie had written a resignation letter. The head of the academic affairs office, who was a close friend of Qi Jie's father, naturally wouldn't let her resign so easily. He immediately called Qi Jie's father, who then came to take Qi Jie away.

As for what happened next, whether she resigned or not, the academic affairs office didn't have a clear answer. However, according to Li Qian's father, the Chinese teaching group for the senior year had already started discussing who would stay for another year to fill Qi Jie's position. It seemed that Qi Jie's resolve was very strong, and even her parents would find it hard to stop her. Despite the widespread discussions among teachers and students, Qi Jie still came to class every day as usual. It seemed that even if she was going to resign, she would wait until after the final exams.

Li Qian was very confused by this sudden change and couldn't understand why Qi Jie had suddenly become so angry that day. But in the end, he didn't feel that he was to blame. However, regardless of who was right or wrong, since Qi Jie had helped him and was his teacher, Li Qian still expressed his willingness to apologize through Liao Liao. Unfortunately, Liao Liao's call back indicated that Qi Jie neither confirmed nor denied it, and even avoided the topic altogether.

So, Li Qian had no choice but to let it go.

If he knew the reason, even if it wasn't his fault, considering that she was his teacher and had helped him a lot, Li Qian would be willing to apologize and not lose face. But the current situation was that he didn't know what the problem was. To be honest, he wasn't even sure if Qi Jie was angry because of him. Her behavior was like a little girl throwing a tantrum. Since Li Qian wasn't her family, relative, or boyfriend, he didn't feel the need to appease her.

Moreover, he had a lot of his own things to deal with!

For example, studying.

Regardless of whether he had a deal with his father, this was the most important thing for him. Reincarnated, Li Qian had a meticulous plan and detailed arrangements for his future. Although Liao Liao's sudden call seemed to have disrupted some of his established rhythm, in the long term, it was still within Li Qian's planned schedule, so it didn't really have any significant impact.

In his plans, as a high school student, he naturally wanted to enjoy his high school life.

Studying, of course, was a part of high school life.

Fortunately, over the past month, he had worked very hard. Although there was only a week left until the final exams, his Russian language tutoring had already started to get on track, and he had completed a rough review of his other subjects. According to his own calculations, fulfilling his initial agreement with his father was no longer a problem.

Then there was singing practice.

To be honest, whether Qi Jie came or not, whether she was angry or not, it didn't affect Li Qian. He still went to the rooftop of the teaching building every day, braving the hot weather and the sun, to practice for an hour, preparing for what he would do during the summer break.

And of course, there was composing.

The arrangements for those five songs were completed over the weekend. After Qi Jie went upstairs, he had already taken out the arrangement sheets and the check, intending to ask her to pass them on. However, due to the check incident, Qi Jie suddenly left in a rage. For the next day, both he and Liao Liao were preoccupied with this matter, so Li Qian kept the arrangements for a few more days. After several careful considerations, revisions, and corrections, he felt that the five arrangements were already quite perfect. He then called Liao Liao again to ask for her address to send the arrangements.

Liao Liao was taken aback when she received the call.

She knew that Li Qian was in his second year of high school and couldn't possibly take leave to go to the capital to do the arrangements. So, after they agreed that Li Qian would be responsible for the arrangements, her plan was to go back and practice the songs. Since the summer break was not far away, she could have Li Qian come to the capital during the break. Although Changsheng Records was not a large company, it had all the necessary equipment for arranging, and a summer break of fifty to sixty days would be enough for the two of them to work together to perfect the arrangements for the five songs. Who knows, Li Qian might even produce the songs and record them!

However, she never expected that just a few days later, Li Qian would call her to say that he had already completed the arrangements—this was absolutely impossible in her view!

As far as she knew, Li Qian only had a guitar and nothing else.

He didn't have the sample library that arrangers valued so much, and he didn't even have a piano, let alone a keyboard!

So, when she received Li Qian's call, her first question was: "Do you have a sample library? Or did you borrow equipment from a studio?"

But Li Qian's answer was: "Uh... no, I did it in my head!"

Liao Liao was speechless.

Of course, even a decade ago, there were no sample libraries. The first sample library in China was introduced from Japan by Dongsheng Records, and then it became popular in the domestic music industry. So, since arrangers could still arrange music without sample libraries, it was clear that it was possible to do so without them.

However, arranging music without a piano or keyboard, relying solely on a guitar and the impressions and feelings of instruments and rhythms in one's head... this was not something just anyone could do.

At the very least, it would take a famous arranger with over ten to twenty years of experience, and they would need to be extremely familiar with the song to achieve this!

Li Qian, of course, had no problem with familiarity, as he had written the songs himself! In terms of talent, ability, and talent, based on his works, Liao Liao couldn't help but doubt, but she didn't completely disbelieve that he had the ability. However, in terms of arranging experience, Liao Liao had no confidence in him at all.

Obviously, his age was a factor; he was only seventeen!

So, after the call, although Liao Liao gave Li Qian a fax number to send the arrangements, she was still somewhat disappointed: she had paid a high price for Li Qian's songs, partly to establish a good relationship with this musical talent, but more importantly, she valued Li Qian's original arrangements. However, a seventeen-year-old, inexperienced arranger, who completed the arrangements for five songs in just a few days... even if the songs were his own and he was extremely familiar with them, it was hard to have confidence in such arrangements!

So, it was likely that he had just done a simple arrangement!

Arranging, in essence, involves adding instruments, vocals, and natural sounds to the vocal part to create the atmosphere and meaning of a song, thereby touching the listener.

So, it can be very complex, but it can also be very simple.

Even the simplest accompaniment, as the ancients said, can be done by tapping a bowl with a chopstick to accompany a song, which can be considered arranging. So, how simple can arranging be?

Liao Liao was naturally very disappointed.

She didn't expect Li Qian to create anything particularly good or classic, as arranging is different from songwriting. Songwriting requires talent, passion, and inspiration, but arranging, while also requiring passion, inspiration, talent, and ability, has a higher starting point.

A good arranger needs to have a deep understanding of the song and a precise grasp of the emotions it conveys. They also need to be extremely familiar with various instruments and vocal parts. Only then can they create arrangements effortlessly.

This was clearly something a seventeen-year-old Li Qian could not do, so what Liao Liao valued most in his arrangements was his grasp of the song's emotions—his version could help Liao Liao more accurately capture the song's emotions and greatly facilitate the work of the subsequent arranger.

But... unfortunately.

Yes, she really felt it was a pity.

Not because of the money she had spent, but because she had lost a highly valuable reference version of the arrangement.

So, when Huang Wenjuan, who was waiting by the fax machine, finally brought over a stack of documents, Liao Liao was not very interested and read them rather absentmindedly.

The first one she read was the arrangement for "Persistence."

The arrangement... was indeed very simple.

In fact, the first half was almost entirely based on the guitar... although this arrangement subtly matched Liao Liao's own feeling of simplicity, clarity, and relying solely on the singer's voice to build up the energy for the second half. However, perhaps because of her previous disappointment, Liao Liao felt somewhat annoyed by such a simple arrangement.

But when she patiently read through the entire arrangement and closed her eyes to savor it, her face showed a look of surprise.

The second song, "Cheers, Friends," seemed even simpler at first glance, but after reading it carefully and imagining her own voice, her surprised expression became even more intense.

It was already past six in the evening, but the artists at the record company didn't follow a regular work schedule. Even in the evening, there were still many artists busy with their own tasks. So, Liao Liao immediately called her assistant and went directly into the recording studio they often used.

Over the next two days, with the help of a mixing engineer at the company, she quickly completed all of Li Qian's arrangements, burned them onto a disc, and listened to them repeatedly—each time, she couldn't help but shake her head in amazement.

Soon, amidst the surprise of many people, the arrangements for the five songs were finalized.

She didn't change a single piece of instrumentation or a single note!

Just as Liao Liao, under the pressure of the entire company and the implicit dissatisfaction of the producer Zhao Meifeng, forcefully finalized the arrangements for the five songs, Cao Zhan's new song actually arrived!

Thus, the production of Liao Liao's album suddenly accelerated. Once Liao Liao practiced the newly arrived songs, they could enter the final stage!

That was, recording!

And at this time, Li Qian's first final exam since his rebirth had arrived as scheduled!