It's midsummer and the sun is scorching.

  Li Qian drove his own off-road vehicle, heading south alone.

  The sky is very hot and dry, with the sun shining directly through the windshield with almost no obstruction.

  Li Qian lowered both front car windows, opened his arms, wore sunglasses, and let the hot wind blow freely on his body. He still couldn't help but sweat, and then the sweat would be quickly evaporated by the sun and wind - it was in this state that when he drove out of the house in the morning, only about ten minutes had passed, and he already felt sticky and uncomfortable all over.

  But after half a month of going out alone, he had already gotten used to this uncomfortable state.

  The provincial road is relatively flat, and it's summer, even the hills in northern Shaanxi have a lush feel to them. The wind is still strong, but with the car windows open, it feels even stronger. However, compared to winter and spring, there's much less sand and dust in the air.

  The music in the car was turned up loud, playing Fei Xiang's "Drive Pigs to the West", an album that Li Qian loved very much.

  Occasionally, cars would come head-on on the highway, and at the moment when the two vehicles intersected, the driver of the other vehicle couldn't help but glance over - Li Qian was really too excited, his shouting voice was even louder than the sound of the speakers.

  "When I grow old, with no one to rely on, the sun seems to have abandoned me too. I crouch in a corner, speechless. In that field of flowers over there, my loved girl and I once rolled around..."

  "When you grow old, wrinkles pile up, and even your teeth fall out one by one, you're no longer beautiful, hunching over, gradually feeling that living on has lost its meaning... Want to ride a pig west with me?"

  On both sides of the provincial road, there are mountain slopes one after another.

  Some slopes look green and lush, I wonder if they are planted with wheat? Or maybe they are covered with grass.

  The sky is high and the clouds are light.

  Such a loess plateau, such hot weather, at a speed of 50 miles per hour, is enough to make people who travel alone excited beyond measure.

  Suddenly, in the gap between one song ending and another not yet starting. Li Qian seemed to have heard something, then he subconsciously eased off the accelerator, making the wind noise and tire noise both smaller, then he also pressed the play pause button with a habitual movement.

  The car slowed down. A faint and swaying singing voice floated into the ears with the wind.

  "Up the slope, that slope, ah ya ya ah, down the beam, that beam, can't see that little sister, ah yo yo ah. Good to rest, oh, that snort..."

  The song floats and shakes, entering the bone.

  Li Qian subconsciously stepped on the clutch, shifted gears and pressed the brake.

  The car slowed down and stopped by the side of the road.

  The singing voice is wafting over, can't say it's good, but it's wild and has a lot of flavor in this broken throat.

  Judging from his voice alone, he should be over forty years old.

  Li Qian had one arm resting on the car window and was listening intently with his ear tilted.

  But the singing stopped quickly, Li Qian's ears perked up, and he faintly heard someone shouting, dogs barking, and after a moment, the singing started again. "People think that place is far away. Ah yo yo ah, horses miss that trough, can't put down that affection, ah yo yo ah, running home with that energy..."

  Li Qian smiled and stroked his chin with his right hand.

  His eyesight is not bad, at this time he raised his head to look up and could see a hillside not far away on the other side, where a flock of sheep could be seen on the hillside, and outside the flock, there seemed to be a big dog lying down with a color similar to that of the hillside.

  It's true, looking near but walking far, this saying "gazing at a mountain can exhaust a horse" isn't just for fun.

  He turned his head to look down the mountain and saw a small dirt road not far ahead, so he restarted the car and drove along the bumpy and shaking road to the foot of the mountain slope before stopping. He then rolled up all the windows, pulled out the key, got out of the car and closed the door.

  Climbing up along the mountain slope for about two minutes, I approached a flock of sheep.

  The big yellow dog found a stranger approaching and immediately got up, making a low growling sound as it rushed over.

  Li Qian stopped in his tracks and shouted in a rustic Shaanxi accent towards the top of the mountain: "Old brother, have you seen a dog?"

  Before long, someone stood up on the mountain top and looked down, shouting loudly. The big yellow dog turned around and ran up the slope, looking back at Li Qian while running.

  Li Qian didn't care about it anymore and walked towards the mountain top.

  There were three people on the mountain top, two of whom were slightly older and one slightly younger, probably around twenty years old. All three wore sheepskin scarves, clearly local villagers.

  And by looking at the sheep around, it's clear they are grazing here.

  Li Qian went up to make friends, took out the local cigarettes he always carried with him, first handed one to each person, and then sat down casually on the hillside, chatting idly with them in his awkward local dialect.

  For locals, especially when herding sheep, singing a few songs is just a form of leisure and entertainment to pass the time. Li Qian scattered some tobacco, pulled out a lighter and lit one for each person, asking them to sing, and they really sang for him.

  The old man in his forties just sang "Shang Yi Dao Liang Xia Yi Dao Po", and Li Qian kept praising him, so the old man smiled shyly, puffing on his cigarette and fiddling with his eye bag pot, while singing another folk song that even Li Qian had never heard before, which was quite melodious.

  After finishing the song, the old man pointed to the young fellow beside him and said: "You didn't sing well. You want to hear a tune, let this young man sing for you, he sings well!"

  Li Qian looked at the young man, and the young man didn't feel embarrassed either. He opened his mouth and sang two paragraphs. Indeed, not only was his voice better, but he also sang with great flavor.

  Li Qian listened and continued to scatter incense, continuing to let others sing.

  But this time he refused, asking Li Qian where he came from and why he had to listen to the song.

  Li Qian humbly introduced himself, saying he was a music worker and had come to collect inspiration this time. He also boasted that he wanted to promote domestic folk songs globally.

  Others listened to what he said, pushing the whole world, and were very calm, not knowing that the whole world listening to Shaanxi North's sour tune was a concept, but they were quite interested in Li Qian's music work, so they kept asking.

  What have you been up to?

  I'm just in charge of writing lyrics and composing songs for those who sing. They take my lyrics and compositions to sing, record them on tapes and sell!

  How much money do you make in a month?

  About three thousand yuan per month... I have a relatively low income.

  Wow, you earn a lot! In our village, there are also people who go out to work, and they only make around 1,000 yuan per month. Some even less. You city folks really know how to make money!

  …………

  It has to be said that making money is a universal topic. Once you start talking about it, there's no end of conversation. As we chatted, several people sat at the foot of the mountain in a breezy spot, and before we knew it, we'd been chatting for over half an hour.

  As a result of chatting, Li Qian asked the family to sing. The old man who started singing said, "You are singing for money, you must be better than us, so you also sing a song."

  Li Qian wasn't that kind of person either. He really started singing for them: "The mule with the big head..."

  Li Qian's vocal condition is not bad, at least no worse than that young man, and his breath control has been practiced for over a year, which can be considered as seeing initial results. But to be honest, now when he sings, it's just good enough, in his own opinion, it seems like something is missing - the so-called flavor, which can also be interpreted as recognizability or something. In short, the emotions in his voice are not rich and moving enough.

  In fact, this time he drove out to take a stroll, first on the vast grasslands and then on the Loess Plateau, so-called "adopting the wind", definitely also had this purpose, but more importantly, mainly because he wanted to interact with those folk singers who hadn't received any professional training, even their vocal conditions weren't good, but somehow could sing songs that touched people's hearts, wanting to find the most unique and moving tone for his own voice.

  The vast grassland of Mongolia's long song and horsehead fiddle, that kind of pure and natural high-pitched sound. It gave Li Qian a great deal of inspiration and shock, but just those were not enough, so Li Qian still had to continue on his journey.

  Of course. Just talking about singing skills, Li Qian is still very good at it, after all, he has been singing for more than 20 years in his past and present lives! Although he hasn't received much professional training, through listening and observing, he has understood and mastered many orthodox singing techniques. Plus the ones he practiced and refined on his own, once he opens his mouth to sing, it still sounds very good.

  As expected, after Li Qian finished singing "Hurry to the Spirit", several people nodded in agreement. The old man who was initially singing and attracted Li Qian's attention said: "You little old man sing well, this tune is not bad either, did you compose it yourself?"

  In the timeline that Li Qian had experienced, "Hurry Up, Spirit" seemed to have been born shortly after the founding of the country. Obviously, in this timeline, there was no such work, so Li Qian was naturally the first person to sing it out loud.

  Now Li Qian's face has long been thickened, and he nodded without hesitation, saying: "It was written by myself, how do you think it sounds?"

  Three people all say nice things.

  At this time, several girls happened to ride their bikes down the mountain slope. Five girls, three bicycles, wearing red and green clothes, heard a fresh song coming from the mountain slope that they had never heard before, and stopped their cars not far from Li Qian's off-road vehicle. They stood at the foot of the mountain and listened to the song until it was finished. On the top of the hill, Li Qian was chatting with several people, while the girls below were urging a girl wearing a red short-sleeved shirt, "Yang Jinye, you sing too! Sing for him!"

  The girl was initially reluctant, her face flushing red, but immediately, a bold girl looked up and shouted: "Hey, you can't sing, let Yang Jin Ye sing for you, listen carefully!"

  On top of the mountain, people looked down and saw several girls at the foot of the mountain laughing and pushing a girl in red clothes, "Yang Jinye, you sing, sing for him to hear!"

  That little girl named Yang Jinye continued to hold onto the handlebars of her bicycle and began to sing in a crisp voice: "Zhēng yuè zhēng yuè zhēng, zhēng yuè shí wǔ, guà shàng nà hóng dēng. Hóng dēng nǎ ge guà zài, nǎ ge dà lái mén wài, dān děng nǐ de nà wǔ yā, nǎ ge gē gē gē gē gē shàng gōng lái, āi yōu, nǎ ge āi hài āi……"

  She sings well indeed.

  Li Qian stood at the top of the mountain and looked down in surprise.

  Several Shaanbei men wrapped in sheepskin towels on the hillside were all smiling and listening.

  When the girl at the foot of the mountain finished singing, Li Qian couldn't help but shout loudly: "Singing well!" However, he was momentarily excited and even forgot his own awkward Shaanxi dialect.

  An old man said: "Golden Leaf, she's the best singer among all the young girls in our village!"

  Another old man chuckled and said: "This little old fellow, you also sing, others sing to you, you also sing back!"

  Li Qian smiled, thought for a moment, and felt that his Shaanxi folk song was no match for the young girl's, so he straightened his neck and shouted: "I'll sing you a folk song from another place..."

  Several girls under the mountain burst into laughter, looking up at the top of the mountain with their necks raised, some pushing and shoving each other, don't know what they are saying, anyway that girl named Yang Jinye always has a red face.

  Then, Li Qian cleared his throat and began to sing: "Ah Langhe na, ah Langhe he na, Hele Hele na, ah Langhe na, Hele, give the root. The Ussuri River is long and winding, the blue river water sets off waves, the Hezhe people spread out thousands of nets, the boat is full of fish and the cabin is full..."

  The opening sentences of the long tone immediately made people on and off the mountain quiet down, and then the lyrics and singing style that were extremely "exotic" quickly mesmerized the little girls at the foot of the mountain.

  To sing Shaanbei folk songs, Li Qian may not be able to surpass the local girls even after a few more years of practice, but as soon as he moves out of Shaanbei and looks at the whole country, his level suddenly becomes much more impressive.

  After finishing a song of "Wusuli Boat Song", several little girls at the foot of the mountain were quiet for a moment, then someone pushed Yang Jinye and said: "Go, let him go to your home, you make buns for her to eat!"

  The little girls burst out laughing.

  The little girl named Yang Jinye's face was getting redder and redder.

  But soon, she actually stopped the bicycle with a screech and started walking up the mountain slope. The other little girls, seeing this, noisily stopped their bikes and followed her up the mountain slope.

  The closer you get, the clearer you see. These little girls look like they're all 16 or 17 years old. They should still be in high school. The girl who just walked by singing has a short stature, an oval face, and can't be called beautiful, but she's quite pleasant to look at.

  Several men on the mountain smiled and watched a group of young girls climb up, one old man chuckled and whispered to Li Qian: "This little old fellow, do you have buns to eat?"

  Li Qian didn't know what "bobo" meant, and since there might be some special meaning to it here, he didn't dare to speak carelessly.

  That group of little girls climbed up the mountain slope quickly, and before long they reached the top. The four of them surrounded Yang Jinye and walked to Li Qian's front - when they saw Li Qian from afar, several little girls already couldn't help but shine their eyes. Now that they arrived in front of him, they also couldn't stop chattering and discussing, "Yang Jinye is so lucky, this person looks so handsome!"

  The little girl who called Yang Jinye's name had a blushing and heart-pounding look, but she didn't eat shyly. She walked straight to Li Qian's face, stared at him, and said: "You sing well! Please come to my house for dinner! I can make pancakes and mutton soup!"

  ***

  The first update, 4,000 words!