As soon as the school bell rang, before Li Qian could make a run for it, Teacher Qi Jie had already called out his name. "Li Qian, come to my office after school."

  Among bursts of laughter, classmates returned home happily one after another. Li Qian had no choice but to follow Teacher Qi to her office.

  A black tube skirt that fell just above the knee, a pair of slender and shapely calves, delicate ankles, flesh-colored long stockings, and high-heeled sandals with straps... all walking step by step in front of Li Qian.

  Elegant as a cat, sexy as a fox.

  Arriving at the office, Teacher Qi sat down, tapped on the desk and said: "Speak up, what exactly do you want to do?"

  Li Qians head hung very low, his attitude extremely sincere, saying: "Teacher, I was wrong."

  "Wrong? One sentence wrong and its all over?"

  Li Qian was silent.

  Now thinking back, he felt that at that time in class, he was indeed a bit infatuated, although this era seems to be more open to love and marriage, but the respect for teachers is even deeper than before, he openly flirted with the young female teacher in front of so many people in class, this...

  Teacher Qi saw that he wasnt speaking, so she said: "You say such strange things! Whats going on between you and Wang Jinglu? Are you two dating or getting married in the future? I dont care about that now, but cant you just behave yourself in my class? Youre always bursting out laughing, how are your classmates supposed to focus on their studies?"

  Uh, it seems like she didnt even mention teasing the female teacher?

  But thinking carefully, it makes sense. In the eyes of adults, a 17-year-old boy making a joke is at most an expression of affectionate intention, which is not quite close to the word "harassment".

  In simpler terms: Youre just a 17-year-old kid, what do you know about flirting or not?

  At this time, Li Qian didnt dare to look up at her either, afraid of letting her see something again, so he could only say the sentence in a more sincere tone, "Teacher, I was wrong."

  "Know you were wrong? Well, knowing is good!"

  Teacher Qi twisted open the pink thermos cup and took a sip of water, saying: "Other teachers dont have any requirements for this matter either, Im not planning to punish you or anything, its just... can your grades be made to look a bit better?"

  Li Qian looked up at her and then lowered his head.

  Teacher Qi said: "Look at you, such a smart kid, but as soon as you open your mouth, nonsense comes out. I still remember when you first entered high school, you were among the top ten in class. But look at you now, there are 45 people in the class and youre ranked 43rd! I know youre good at Chinese, always have been, but being good at just Chinese isnt enough, okay? From now on, put in more effort in other subjects too!"

  What else can be said? Li Qian could only nod and say: "Good!"

  Teacher Qi thought for a moment and said, "Alright, from now on, in my Chinese class, you can do whatever you want, learn whichever subject you like. Its fine as long as you dont disrupt the class order and dont sleep. You can study math, English, or Russian, its all up to you. I wont say anything else, but looking at your excellent grades in Chinese, yet only scoring 30-40 points in English and Russian, I know youre not putting in effort. Language subjects are all interconnected, if you put in a bit of effort, you wouldnt score so low..."

  …………

  After school in the afternoon, Li Qian finally had time to find a music store and bought a set of strings.

  In his previous life, he played the guitar for over twenty years. Whether it was classical guitar, flamenco guitar, electric guitar, Hawaiian guitar, or piccolo guitar, and so on, there wasnt one that he didnt master. How could a folk guitar worth only a little over a hundred yuan be an exception?

  He quickly changed into a new set of strings and began tuning.

  Guitar tuning, beginners need to rely on piano to tune, but Li Qian doesnt need it at all, the pitch is in his mind.

  Fortunately, although this is a guitar that has been thrown under the bed for at least ten years, the building is still on the third floor and not damp, so the speaker and resonance of this guitar have hardly been affected.

  …………

  Listening to the sound of the guitar coming from inside, Li Qians dad, Li Shuwen, curiously knocked on the door and then pushed it open to poke his head in, "Whats going on? Why are you playing the guitar again?"

  Li Qian held up his guitar, he felt that in his past and future lives combined, he had never been so excited. "I bought a new set of strings this afternoon, I just put them on, Dad, I wrote a song, want to sing it for you?"

  Lis father looked disbelieving, "You learned for three days ten years ago, I remember you shook your head like a rattle drum at that time and refused to learn anymore. Ten years later, you can even change the strings by yourself? And write songs by yourself?"

  Li Qian said seriously: "I have a high talent!"

  Lis father beckoned him over, "Come on, bring it here and let your old man take a look at the draft. Youve got talent, save it for cheating little girls later!"

  "Draft? You mean that tree of yours?"

  Lis father was slightly displeased, "What do you mean by my tree, you little brat dont know a thing. This essay of mine is called Hometown Yellow Flowers, I just finalized the draft. Come on, come give your old man some suggestions."

  Li Qian said: "Dont look, if you want me to show you the script, you have to listen to me sing first. Do you understand what first come, first served means?" Li Dad was a reasonable person and hesitated for a moment. He thought he still needed his son to finish reading it and give some serious suggestions, so he decided to humor him first. So he said: "Okay, okay, you sing, Dad will listen!"

  Li Qian cleared his throat excitedly, made a final test of the strings, and confirmed that the pitch was fine. Then he thought to himself, at Old Lis age, with his deep cultural background, if he were to come up with something like "My Territory" or "Little Apple", his eyebrows would be furrowed in worry. But songs that are too classical, such as Liu Huans "Emotional Complaints", which is a Beijing Opera style, obviously wouldnt be something he could write now.

  After a moments hesitation, Li Qian made up his mind and the clear and beautiful guitar sound accompanied by the clanging of pots and pans in the kitchen and the humming of the exhaust fan began abruptly.

  "When petals leave the flower, fragrance remains"

  Fragrance disappears after the wind rises and the rain falls, no one comes to smell it.

  If love tells me to move on

  I will fight until love is exhausted.

  The heart dies in brilliance

  Love will be reborn from the ashes.

  Unforgettable whispers of tender words

  Offer your smile as sacrifice for me.

  Let your heart die in brilliance

  Let love be reborn in the ashes.

  Scars of wild fire on green grass

  "Look, its another spring breeze."

  …………

  The song is definitely a good one, and its the kind of masterpiece that may not be produced even once a year in the entire music industry. Plus, Li Qians guitar arrangement has a high standard, and his vocals at this point are more powerful than before, although he hasnt practiced much, his breath control is weak, but Li Qian knows how to use it, some small high notes, true and false voice changes, almost effortlessly give the flavor, so the whole song feels great.

  Although Li Qians current strength cant compare to the original singers beautiful and deep emotions, taking it to KTV to fool around with would definitely be enough to shock a room.

  This lifes first performance, although far from perfect, Li Qian was deeply invested and emotional. After the guitar sound faded away, he opened his eyes after a while, looking at Old Li with a bit of tension, asking: "Dad, how was it?"

  Mr. Li seemed to be savoring the moment, and after a daze, he said: "Is this... written by you?"

  "Ah! I wrote it!" Li Qian said.

  Lis father rubbed his chin, and a thoughtful expression slowly appeared on his face. Then, he seemed to have thought of something, raised an eyebrow, and looked at Li Qian with a very conflicted expression.

  Li Qian stared at him with wide eyes.

  Mr. Li walked into the house, pulled over Li Qians computer chair and sat down, thought for a moment, and said seriously: "Xiao Qian, Dad wants to tell you that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, whats most important is finding and playing to your own strengths, this principle... do you understand?"

  Li Qian was a bit confused, "Dad, what do you mean? Whats going on here?"

  Lis dad looked a bit embarrassed, rubbed his hands and said: "No, I mean, he... hey, what Im saying is that if you want to chase after girls, theres no need to sing songs or anything!"

  Li Qian was even more confused, staring at his father with wide eyes and a bewildered expression.

  "My point is... lets say, your mom was pretty back in the day, right? Using your kids slang, she was like a campus belle. Dont look at her now as just a housewife, but back then, she was really something! Ah, never mind about others, take a look at yourself in the mirror, you look more and more like her. And its not just about looks, she was great at reciting poetry, singing songs, acting, hosting... she was always our schools arts champion! Im not bad-looking either, but Im just an ordinary person, with no artistic cells to speak of. Yet in the end, your mom still chased after me!"

  "Wow!" Li Qian had never heard his dad talk about the history of revolution before, and suddenly his eyes lit up. He quickly sat down on the bed, not even bothering to ask about Ges situation, and asked: "Then tell me, how did you attract my mom back then?"

  Lis father straightened his waist, and his eyebrows almost flew up. "Nothing else, our family has good writing skills! This song, anyone can hum a few lines, but can anyone write it? Yes, singing well is not easy, but can she compare to me directly turning it into lead type and getting a large sum of manuscript fees? You say, if I didnt write back then and directly hugged the guitar to sing for your mother, would she have liked me?"

  Li Qian touched his mouth, and suddenly he began to recall. But there was something confusing about it, and he wasnt quite sure.

  "After some thought, he said: I see what you mean. Youre saying that I might as well put my mind to writing a poem or something instead of singing, right? Thats what you mean, isnt it?"

  Mr. Li patted his thigh after listening, and deliberately came over, pointing with his fingers in the direction of the Wang family across the street, while whispering, "Actually, your singing is not bad, but the problem is that those two sisters opposite are professionals, you say you copied this song and sang it to them as if it were your own, can you avoid being exposed in the future? When youre exposed, how embarrassing will it be?"

  I knew it!

  The old man spent so much thought and went around such a big circle, and it ended up here after all!

  He thought this song was plagiarized!

  Moreover, once he thought of himself as a plagiarist, the old man automatically filled in all the details: He had done this to move Wang Jinglu, so he went and copied a song to prepare to say it was his own!

  The thoughts of an old literary youth are indeed complicated!

  But the question is, am I really that stupid?

  Li Qian opened his mouth, wanting to explain something, but... he scratched his head and suddenly didnt know what to say.

  To be honest, in this world, he can proudly say that this song was written by me. But, however, but...

  Mr. Li was extremely pleased with himself, thinking that his education of his son this time was timely and successful. He suddenly felt full of paternal love and thought he had achieved a great deal as a father. He stood up immediately, even forgetting to take the script with him, and walked away. Just before leaving, he felt like something was missing, so he turned back, "Oh right, you sang pretty well... uh, whats the name of this song? Do you have a cassette tape?"

  Li Qian shook his head, with a worried look on his face, "The song is called Fragrance in the Dark."

  Mr. Li didnt notice the tangled thoughts in his sons mind, he just nodded, "This name is not bad, it matches well! Hmm, especially this word, it has a nice atmosphere!"

  …………

  After dinner, Lis father and mother were watching TV series in the living room, while Li Qian was alone in his own room, feeling sad.

  Are people with a bottom line really painful?

  When facing his fathers questioning, he actually thought that if he strongly claimed the song was his original work, he would definitely blush... No wonder he had such a miserable life in his previous life!

  Too sensitive!

  But then, thinking of his struggles in his past life, he suddenly felt a bit more resolute.

  "Damn it, Ive been struggling on the poverty line for my entire life, dragging down the national statistics for over 30 years. Forget about Aston Martin, Ferrari, Porsche, I couldnt even afford a Ford Mustang. This lifetime, at least I should get a Changan CS75 to drive around! Anyway, in this world, Im definitely an original!"

  As soon as I thought of this, everything suddenly became clear before my eyes.

  He quickly took out his locked diary and started writing songs.

  One song after another, with lyrics and melodies, and even some of which he could easily recall the composition route - for a semi-professional songwriter and amateur singer who had been in the music circle for over a decade, this was really too easy. To say the least, there were at least hundreds or thousands of complete songs that he could remember. If triggered by a situation, he could think of even more.

  He was writing in haste when his mobile phone vibrated twice suddenly.

  She picked up her phone and took a glance. It was a text message from Wang Jingluo. She opened it and, as expected, it was blank again.

  Li Qian put down his pen and suddenly thought of that extremely delicate little face, and his emotions became a bit complicated.

  …………

  In the living room, he stared at his son and told him to go out for a walk. As soon as the door opened, he went out. When the door closed, Li Dad proudly nudged Li Mom with his elbow, "I just saved our son! Otherwise, he would have lost face this time, who knows what would have happened!"

  Lis mother turned around in the midst of her busyness and glanced at him, she had been paying attention to the TV series just now, and didnt hear what Lis father said at all. She just saw his smug expression, so she pushed him away, "Dont be ridiculous, Im watching TV. What if our son comes back in the middle of the night? Do you still want to lose face?"

  Mr. Lis face suddenly showed an expression like constipation.