To be honest, Li Qian was both grateful and a little hesitant when faced with such an invitation.

  Because he really didn't know if eating mantou had any special meaning locally, or if it was just because he had watched too many TV dramas or read too many books with similar plotlines, anyway, he subconsciously worried about such invitations.

  But it's also hard to refuse such enthusiasm.

  At this time, an old man beside him seemed to see something and smiled: "This young man, Golden Leaf invited you to dinner, why didn't you respond? It's not like they're asking you to be the son-in-law of our village!"

  Two men beside him burst out laughing, and Yang Jinye's face turned even redder.

  Li Qian smiled and said: "If that's the case, then I'll go to your house for dinner, thank you!"

  Several girls giggled and teased Yang Jinye, but she ignored them, looked at Li Qian, pointed east with her hand, "Our home is in the village ahead, they all know the way, you can ask them to show you, or you can wait here, we'll go to the county town to buy some things, and be back before noon!"

  Li Qian smiled and asked curiously, "What are you going to buy?"

  Yang Jinye replied bluntly, "Buy a cassette! We heard from the radio that Liao Liao has released a new album, and there's a song called 'Huang Tu Gao Po' which sounds particularly good. Let's go buy her cassette!"

  Li Qian's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he looked at the five girls, asking: "Are you going to buy one plate per person, or..."

  One of the girls didn't wait for him to speak and replied: "We can't afford it, we just pool our money together to buy a plate."

  Li Qian just smiled and said: "Then you don't need to go buy it, I'll give you a disc, my car just happens to have her new album tape!"

  Five girls heard this and suddenly all eyes lit up, Yang Jinye even looked at him with a flowing gaze and said: "Okay, you send the tape to us, we won't go to the county town, I'll make mutton soup and baked buns for you! It just so happens that my brother weighed three catties of mutton yesterday. How can I bear to eat it!"

  …………

  Yang Jinye's home was in a village about three or four miles down the dirt road.

  Three girls, including Yang Jinye, rode bicycles in the front to lead the way. Li Qian drove a car carrying two other girls who insisted on sitting in the car and followed behind, raising dust all the way into the village.

  The Yang family should be the new kiln cave, the yard is spacious and tidy, and there is also a mud dog in the house. As soon as Li Qian stopped the car and was about to get out, the dog blocked the door. Yang Jinye stamped her foot and chased it away, saying to Li Qian: "Don't be afraid of this dog, its guts are very small, you just stamp your foot and it will run away!"

  Li Qian smiled and locked the car, following a few girls into the courtyard.

  Including Yang Jinye's parents and older brother and sister-in-law. There are five people in the Yang family, at this time the weather is hot, and there is no work to be done in the fields for the time being, they are all at home, hearing the noise outside, they have already come out, seeing several girls bringing a tall man into the house, they are all stunned.

  Yang Jinye looks like a very straightforward girl, at home she should also have some say in the matter when facing her family members. Suddenly bringing back a stranger, she didn't feel anything wrong with it either, introducing him by saying: "This person is someone we met on the road, he's particularly good at singing songs. He even sang better than me, so I invited him to come home and have some mutton soup buns! Dad, brother, he works in the city writing albums for those big stars!"

  To be honest, Yang Jinye's family treated Li Qian, this strange guest, with a certain warmth, but at first they were quite reserved. It wasn't until Li Qian explained in his awkward Shaanxi accent that he had come to gather inspiration and wanted to hear local people sing local folk songs that Yang Jinye's father and brother relaxed their attitude somewhat.

  Li Qian saw the situation, and again went back to the car to fetch a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of Xifeng wine. He saw that Yang Jinye had already run into the kitchen to clean up the mutton, and several girls were gathered around the tape recorder in Yang Jinye's house, fiddling with it and listening to songs, completely ignoring this side. Li Qian also deliberately took out 50 yuan and handed it to the old man at home, saying it was for the meal, and asked the old man to sing a few more songs for him.

  Yang Dad initially refused to accept anything or money, but later couldn't resist Li Qian's genuine intention to give. He happily accepted it and said: "What's the point of singing that old tune? We haven't sung it in ages... That kid Jin Ye has been wild since she was little, always liking to sing tunes, I couldn't control her..." However, after saying all this, Yang Dad still had a bit of a stir in his heart. After all, he used to like this when he was young. At this time, Li Qian's encouragement and talk about art and whatnot made him feel a little itchy in the throat. He cleared his throat, opened his mouth, and started singing...

  "Goat, belly handkerchief, three blue roads, we meet face to face easily, but talking is hard, one on that mountain, one in that ditch, we can't get the conversation going, oh, wave goodbye..."

  Have to say, genetics is really very powerful.

  Yang Jinye sings folk songs quite well, but Yang Dad's singing is even more flavorful!

  Li Qian listened to one song, his eyes shining brightly, and asked Yang Dad to sing another one. At this time, someone outside had already entered the door and shouted loudly: "Yang Dandan, how many years have you been singing songs? Why did you suddenly go crazy today..."

  Yang Dad smiled, Li Qian saw someone coming in and hurriedly handed over a cigarette. He let out a loud shout and sang out. Yang Dad seemed to have been hooked again and didn't pay attention to the newcomer, pulling up his voice to continue singing.

  "On the sandy ridge, a pretty sister stands, provoking that magpie to fly full of joy on the tree. With a pale face and willow-like eyebrows, she tosses her double braids, twisting her mouth with a 'ya' sound, her eyes gazing out at the Yellow River's waters, loving you, hating you, how many times...how many times..."

  When Yang Dad's second song was not finished, there were already several people in the yard. Li Qian was scattering incense as soon as he saw people, and everyone was smiling and listening to Yang Dad sing. After Yang Dad finished singing, everyone laughed loudly, and someone else had a sore throat and also sang a song - it must be said that at least from what Li Qian has seen and heard on this trip, the northern part of Shaanxi is indeed very simple and honest in its folk customs. Although everyone is not particularly wealthy, they are all straightforward and enthusiastic when receiving guests once they become familiar with them.

  And as a certain musician from his previous life had said, the farther away from modern cities, the more people can sing and dance...

  Li Qian has finished a pack of cigarettes on his side and has already listened to more than a dozen songs, feeling that he has gained a lot.

  Singing is really an extremely personalized thing.

  Everyone is born with a different voice. Some are good, some are bad, some are high, and some are low. But unless you're tone deaf, heaven has already given you the gift of singing on the day you were born. Even if you only have a broken voice, as long as there's emotion in it, that broken voice can still sing beautiful songs!

  Just like the most rustic farmers in northern Shaanxi. They have been listening to folk songs since childhood, and almost everyone can sing after growing up. Those with good voices can sing high-pitched tunes, while those with poor voices can still produce a few sorrowful and lovesick notes that can make you feel like your soul is wandering outside - for dozens of years, or even decades, they have been singing freely without any rules or constraints. They don't know the vocal techniques summarized in textbooks taught in schools, but each person has their own unique voice, although not everyone sings well, and even if a whole song is sung generally, there are occasionally one or two sentences that make Li Qian's heart move.

  Where is art?

  Art is right here!

  What Li Qian is looking for now is this kind of unique voice line that is full of personal charm.

  So far, he still doesn't have any plans to release an album, but he likes singing and enjoys it, so he always strives to do better.

  In his view, running to this earthy cave to listen to a group of Shaanbei men sing a few sour songs is far more useful and helpful than running to the academy to listen to professors lecture for several days.

  …………

  A group of Shaanbei men gathered at Yang's house, chatting and laughing and singing. In the blink of an eye, it was already noon.

  The men said their goodbyes and headed home for lunch, but the little girls stayed behind in the house hugging the tape recorder. They just kept listening to that one cassette over and over again. But as noon approached, they reluctantly got ready to head home for lunch too. Before leaving, they made a special trip to Yang's kitchen to make plans with Yang Jinye to come back and listen to music in the afternoon. Then they pushed their bikes home together.

  The Yang family's lunch was a big bowl of mutton soup for each person, and the bowl for Li Qian was personally brought over by Yang Jinye. The little girl blinked her eyes and said in a low voice: "I scooped a lot of meat for you, and the buns are baked by me, eat more!" After finishing speaking, she ran away with small steps.

  But just a moment later, Li Qian had just taken a piece of mutton and chewed it twice when he heard Yang Jinye's voice outside, seemingly arguing with her father. Li Qian quickly put down his bowl, but by then, Yang Jinye had already rushed into the cave, handing him 50 yuan, looking wronged, "I invited you to dinner, why did you give me money? I'm not selling food!" Turning her head, she saw the cigarettes and wine on the table and looked even more wronged. Wanting to say something, she stomped her foot instead and turned around to leave the house.

  Then, until he finished this meal, Li Qian didn't see her again.

  For those fifty bucks, Old Yang said he didn't want anything at all, not even the cigarettes and wine, telling Li Qian to take them away later. He said his daughter had told him that they couldn't accept things, let alone money. You city folks go back and tell others, and it'll make our village people lose face! It'll seem like we only care about money here!

  Li Qian did not insist on giving it again and took back the money, but he was determined not to take the thing.

  After finishing dinner, Li Qian asked Ming about Yang Jinye's room, thought for a moment, turned around and went back to open the trunk, took out the new guitar he had bought before leaving this time, along with the guitar case. He took out the notebook and pen from the guitar case, covered it again, thought for a moment, then ran to the front driver's seat to find a large neutral pen, took it and walked back to Yang's house, knocked on the door in front of Yang Jinye's room.

  "Yang Jinye, I've finished eating and I'm leaving, can you open the door..."

  After a moment, Yang Jinye, panting, opened the door and stood at the entrance, staring at Li Qian, as if still fuming.

  Li Qian just smiled and said, "Indeed it was my fault, I shouldn't have given the money, but those cigarettes and wine, let's just say they were a gift from me to your dad and all the neighbors around. Later on, you help me out, help me distribute that pack of cigarettes to everyone, and just say it's me thanking them for singing so many nice songs for me."

  Yang Jinye didn't say anything, just looked at her.

  Don't say, this girl actually doesn't look particularly beautiful, but when she quietly looks at you, there's a kind of inexplicable strange beauty - wild, lively, and bright.

  Li Qian smiled and raised the guitar case, handing it to her, saying: "I didn't mean anything else. You like singing, I like singing too. You treated me to a meal that was very delicious, you sang a song for me, and let me hear so many people sing so many good songs. So, I just wanted to give you a small gift."

  As he spoke, he squatted down, opened the guitar case, took out the guitar and said: "This is a guitar that I used myself. Now, I'll give it to you. Don't refuse, okay?"

  As they spoke, he pulled out a pen and said: "In the future, if you want to sing songs, make music, and encounter any difficulties in the music circle that you can't solve on your own, just take this guitar to Shun Tian Fu to find me! Hmm, wait a few more years, at that time, you'll casually ask around in the music circle, and someone will definitely be able to tell you who I am."

  As soon as he finished speaking, under Yang Jinye's astonished gaze, he took off the pen cap and carefully wrote on the guitar.

  Give to Yang Jinye

  Study hard and sing well!

  Li Qian

  Just as Li Qian finished writing the three characters, Yang Jinye suddenly stretched out her hand and hid the guitar away, frowning with a pained expression. She hastily wiped away the character that Li Qian had just written, "This is such a good guitar, if you're giving it to me, then give it to me, why do you need to write on it? Ah, now it's all smudged..."

  Li Qian stared at her in shock as she rubbed the writing place blacker and blacker.

  After a moment, she ran into the house to fetch a damp towel and carefully wiped it clean. The black ink marks were erased, but even though Li Qian had written very lightly, the beautiful texture of the guitar still left an impression.

  Yang Jinye's face was filled with regret, "Our school has someone who can play this, I've seen it and heard it before, it sounds great! Their guitar is said to be very expensive, looking at it, it's not as beautiful as yours, but they're all ruining your words!"

  At this moment, Li Qian was speechless.

  A moment later, Yang Jinye glared at Li Qian and said: "You gave me the guitar, I accept it, thank you! But in the future, don't casually write on the guitar, that's not good!" After finishing speaking, she hugged the guitar into the house, a moment later she came out again with the guitar, handed Li Qian a notebook and a white paper, staring at Li Qian without blinking, saying: "If you want to write something, can't you do it on paper?"

  That was a high school sophomore math textbook, and it was a torn-off manuscript paper.

  Li Qian hesitated for a moment, then took it and wrote on it ——

  Yang Jinye, your song sounds great.

  ***

  I've been working hard on writing, and it's only now that I've finished the second chapter. Sigh, the more likely a section is to be criticized by some readers for being draggy, the harder it actually is for me to write.

  Next, I will continue writing, but it's unlikely that I can finish the third chapter tonight. If not, I'll post it tomorrow morning or noon. Don't wait!

  Finally, there are only five hours left for the double monthly ticket. One last shout-out to all my fellow students who still have tickets in hand, please support Knife One! Thank you! (.)