Jinan is finally raining.

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

  The best part is that after the rain, the sky remained gloomy, and a cool breeze blew. That refreshing feeling was like every pore on the body was comfortable for people who had been suffering from the sweltering heat for dozens of days.

  Qijie wore a moon-white suit and stood in the waiting hall of Jinan West Railway Station, as clean and pure as a lotus flower. People coming and going, even if only subconsciously, would take a glance at her.

  She had a smile on her face, with one ear plugged into an earphone, and her eyes searching restlessly among the crowd exiting the station.

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

  Every song is one that can't be bought in a record store!

  Every single one is a great song!

  Every single song is one she's listened to repeatedly yet never gets tired of!

  Although the accompaniment of those songs is forever just that one guitar, although the recording quality of those songs is far inferior to the tapes sold in audio stores, they are now Qijie's favorites!

  As long as she doesn't drive or attend classes, she will wear headphones and listen to it!

  Another wave of passengers poured out from the exit, Qijie tiptoed to look inside, and then her face suddenly lit up with a bright smile.

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

  In the crowd, Liao Liao had also seen her and couldn't help but jump up and wave at her enthusiastically.

  The crowd dispersed, and Liao finally walked out. The two of them shouted "ahhh" as they rushed into each other's arms, hugging tightly.

  "I'd die for you, my beloved concubine!"

  "I'll die too... Go to hell!"

  "I say, isn't this a bit too simple? Why not pull out all the stops and hang up a banner that reads 'Warmly welcome famous singer Ms. Liao Liao to Jinan for inspection and guidance'..."

  "Go die!"

  The two of them were laughing and chatting, and it wasn't until a while later that Qijie noticed that Liao Liao had a somewhat frail-looking girl following behind him. She was probably in her early twenties and looked quite lively - she was carrying two bags.

  "This is my little honey, her name is Huang Wenjuan, just call her Juanzi!" Liao Liao introduced.

  The other two rolled their eyes simultaneously.

  Qijie reached out to take the bag, but Huang Wenjuan insisted on not letting go. As an assistant, if you can't even carry a bag, how can you have the nerve to collect your salary?

  Then Qijie also gave up and took the two of them out of the station.

  "Come directly from Northeast?"

  "No, I stopped for a while at Tianjin Port in between and met someone."

  "By the way, didn't you say you were going to meet some big shots about a song? How did it go?"

  "No results. The one in Siping, I didn't even see the person, said they went out to enjoy the breeze. The one in Tianjin, I couldn't even get through the door, my face is too thin, I really can't bear to shout. So... sigh!"

  "Are you going to sing a song or go on an anti-pornography campaign? How can you still..."

  "Never mind, never mind, my hope is pinned on you now. But it's said that Cao Yun of Jinan Prefecture is even more difficult to deal with, notorious for his eccentric personality and bad temper!"

  "I said, you came to Jinan just to sing a song? We also have big shots in our circle in Jinan?"

  "Yes, of course! The Cao Teng I mentioned earlier, his lyrics and melody are all top-notch. If it weren't for his bad temper, he could have been one of the best in this circle. I can say that among all the lyricists and composers in this circle, he is the one I admire and respect the most. His style is diverse, and each style has an outstanding representative work, either grand or eerie and evil, simply amazing! By the way, it's said that he often writes movie scripts... In short, a versatile talent! Oh, by the way, do you know his address? It's called Jing San Xiao Wei Liu... What kind of place is this?"

  "Three small Wei six? Old city district, I'm familiar with it! Now, the thing is, it's a bit westward, but still considered downtown, however... isn't that right, I've been there many times, and that area doesn't seem to be a residential area?"

  "Oh, that's not his home address, he opened a bookstore there, called... Wenwujia Bookstore. Look at the name, isn't it unique? Many people in Beijing wanted to move him over, but he refused to budge, insisting on calling himself a businessman and refusing to admit he's a literati... is that enough?"

  "We actually have such a person here... it's really rare! Alright, I'll drive you there later! By the way, I've booked a hotel for us, just an ordinary one, don't mind it... should we go to the hotel first or eat dinner first?"

  "Let's eat first, I'm starving! By the way, do you have class? Did you ask for leave?"

  "Don't worry! In order to pick up your elderly family member, I swapped classes with other teachers a few days ago and have no classes for the next two days. Then comes Saturday and Sunday... For these four days, this humble girl can provide full-time accompaniment!"

  "Hmm, We are very pleased!"

  …………

  That year, the good relationship was so close that they used to share the same package of sanitary napkins. The old sisters who had not seen each other for a long time naturally had endless things to talk about. Huang Wenjuan couldn't get a word in edgewise, so after dinner at the hotel, she went very consciously to another room that had been opened. On this side, Liao Liao and Qi Jie automatically entered God mode.

  It was midnight when we finished chatting.

  The next morning, the three of them got together and had breakfast before Qi Jie drove them straight to Jing San Xiao Wei Liu. As Liao Liao put it, they had to take care of the main event first.

  After walking for three small blocks and six big ones, I unexpectedly found a bookstore called "Unrefined Bookstore".

  The facade of the two rooms is old and in the city area, the building is a bit old, but the cultural style is quite sufficient.

  Found the place, the assistant and driver were waiting in the car, Liao Liao took out a box of record samples that had just been produced a few days ago - currently including five songs from her new album that have already been produced, and one single previously released - went inside.

  Then, after five minutes, she came out again.

  The expression is very bewildered.

  "How did you come out so quickly? Ah, what's with this expression?"

  “……”

  "Did it succeed? Did it fail?"

  “……”

  "Speak up! I'm asking you, have you seen the person you wanted to see or not?"

  Liao Liao sat in the car for half a day before he gradually came back to his senses, but still seemed somewhat dull and only nodded when spoken to.

  "Have you seen it?"

  "I've seen it."

  "What did others say?"

  "He said, 'Oh, I see, you can go!'"

  "What does this mean?"

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

  Qijie turned her head and exchanged a glance with Huang Wenjuan, both of them looked bewildered.

  "Then, sis, did you give your little sample?"

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

  What's going on here!

  "After some thought, she said: 'Wait for you!' and then opened the car door and got out again."

  Qijie turned her head to look at Huang Wenjuan in the back row, pointing at Liao Liao who was entering the door, and asked: "Is she... okay? Was she stimulated by something on the way here?"

  Huang Wenjuan shook her head firmly, "That can't happen! Don't worry, sis, even if I go crazy, she won't!"

  "What just happened? What's wrong with her?"

  "Could it be... that she was scared off? You also know, on this road we've taken, we've already had two rejections, and the other party's attitude is particularly arrogant, not even willing to say a word. I reckon this time they ran into someone with a kind heart, but she's actually not used to it?"

  This time it took only two minutes for Liao Liao to come down again.

  "What did you say?"

  Liao Liao waved his hand, empty-handed, "I said this is my current song, if you have time, I hope you can listen to it and give me more criticism and guidance," he said, "Oh, put it down!"

  "Then... you came out?"

  "Yes, I'm coming out! What if I don't? Others will continue reading and won't even bother with me!"

  "So did he agree to sing or not?"

  Liao Liao furrowed his brow, hesitated for a moment, and then said: "You don't know, he sat there with a book in his hand, looking down at it with that kind of demeanor, it was too intimidating. I just finished saying what I wanted to say, and he went 'oh', and I completely didn't know what to say next."

  Qijie subconsciously exchanged a glance with Huang Wenjuan, and both of their faces simultaneously showed an expression as if they had seen a ghost.

  Qijie said: "Are you still being intimidated by others?"

  Huang Wenjuan said: "Then you should at least ask him clearly whether he agreed or not?"

  Liao Liao turned around and looked at the sign of the Wen Shu bookstore, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Let's go back first, I'll go back to rest and come again tomorrow!"

  …………

  Liao Liao seems to have been really intimidated by Cao Yun.

  That day, she walked down from Daming Lake, Tuzhu Spring, and Lingyan Temple, with a soulful look on her face all the way until evening, when she finally regained some of her spirit.

  Qijie privately asked Huang Wenjuan, and Huang Wenjuan was not worried about Liao Liao, but expressed little hope for the outcome of this trip.

  Actually, she didn't have much hope from the start of this trip.

  It's all messed up!

  The next day in the afternoon, they surprisingly agreed to give a song!

  Although they said they didn't have it at hand, they promised to give it within a month, after all!

  This is the first achievement of Liao Liao and her team on this trip!

  Moreover, according to Liao Liao, after they went back and listened to her demo, they even praised Liao Liao's voice twice.

  Liao Lie immediately revived with full health and shouted that he wanted to go to Daming Lake, Tuoquan Spring, and Lingyan Temple!

  The other two said they went yesterday, but she insisted she didn't go!

  Then go.

  After two days of walking around, everyone was a bit tired. In the evening, Qijie took them to the ticket office to buy tickets for the train southbound the next morning, and then they found a place to eat something simple before hurrying back to the hotel to rest.

  Liao Liao still had the energy to take a bath when she got back home, but Qi Jie was so tired that he lay down on the bed and didn't want to get up.

  Liao Liao came out of the bath, and Qi Jie finally struggled to get up and went into the bathroom.

  Then Liao Liao first turned on the air conditioner, stretched out his hand to feel the cool breeze, and only then did he collapse onto the bed like a paralyzed person. He turned his head and found Qi Jie's portable music player beside him.

  Subconsciously, she picked up the Walkman and opened it, pulled out the tape and took a look, surprisingly it was a blank tape. It seemed that she didn't know what she had recorded on it, so she immediately lost interest - who knows if it's private! Of course, she shouldn't secretly listen to it.

  Then she put it back as it was, and a carp jumped up from the bed, lit the water.

  The sound of water splashing in the bathroom, under the dim yellow light, a slender figure was reflected on the frosted glass door.

  "Liao Liao shouted: 'Hey, beautiful girl, need someone to scrub your back? Free service, guaranteed to be refreshing and invigorating!'"

  She was talking loudly, but nobody paid attention to her.

  She didn't give up and went back to turn the door handle and poke her head in, "Huh, okay, it's been two years since we last met, and you've actually grown a lot!"

  "Die on your own! Close the door for me!"

  "Come on, I'm complimenting you!"

  "You're just asking for praise, you silly orange!"

  "You're amazing! How much bigger is an apple than a tangerine?"

  "This girl has already evolved into a cucumber!"

  "Cut! You're just a big apple at best!"

  "Go die, go die! Don't let me see you watching me take a bath!"