In the vast expanse of yellow sand, there is a straight highway.

  A car whizzed by.

  Driving on such roads is either extremely boring or extremely self-indulgent.

  Zhou Mei is very happy.

  Apart from the trunk, in just one morning, she had rummaged through Li Qian's car like a mischievous little girl and turned everything upside down.

  Bring all the tapes and watch them one by one.

  I've heard that too, his voice is great, you didn't know, did you? Actually, he writes many of his own lyrics and compositions, a very famous singer-songwriter in the circle, very talented, but it's said that he can't hold his liquor at all, and it's also said that his drinking behavior is extremely bad.

  "This, ah, your taste is really bad, have you even listened to her songs?"

  "Huh? You're really a fan of mine? Among my several albums, I'm most satisfied with this one, "Daydreamer"."

  Oh, Liao... I heard this girl has been quite popular in the past two years?

  Yeah, that was Runqin's album. At the time, a group of reporters from the media were hyping up my feud with her, but actually we had never even spoken before, so where did this feud come from? I really dislike those newspapers and magazines, they're always sensationalizing and making things up.

  "Hey, why do I only have three cassette tapes? Didn't you say you were a hardcore fan?... Alright, considering you accompanied me for drinks, I won't hold it against you. Later, give me your address and I'll send a set over to you."

  …………

  She went on and on, Li Qian drove seriously all the way, didn't even respond, but she was extremely excited, sitting in the passenger seat, talking non-stop.

  The first day, talking about tapes, singing songs, and a song stage.

  The next day, she talked about her childhood, how she started singing, and that she was in the courtyard of Shuntian House. She couldn't even remember her home address, so she specially took out a small notebook to copy it down onto a cigarette box for Li Qian, putting it into his glove compartment. She said with a smile, "Nowadays university students have nothing better to do all day, you can come find me and we'll go drinking." At the time, she had no idea whether or not Li Qian was going to Shuntian University.

  In the end, he pulled out two big books.

  It's called a big book, but it's actually just a large pile of manuscript paper.

  The first stack was already filled with words, and they were all neatly bound together with a stapler. On the first page, in big letters, it said "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer". The second stack was a bit messy. At the beginning, it looked like everything was in order, but towards the end, there were blank pages and some scribbles that seemed to be written randomly. It was clear that it wasn't finished yet. However, the title had already been decided: "The Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils".

  Yes, all of them are handwritten with a pen.

  She was shocked and exclaimed, "Wow, you can still write?"

  She thought it was, opened and read two paragraphs, she was surprised to find that it was actually a script.

  Li Qian told her, "I just got accepted into the Shuntian Film Academy's photography department this year." Zhou Fen's face lit up with excitement. Despite being strapped in by her seatbelt, she still managed to stretch over and pat Li Qian on the shoulder. She said, "If I ever release an album and need to shoot a music video, I'll definitely ask you to be my photographer!" After saying that, Li Qian didn't react much, but Zhou Fen herself burst out laughing.

  Then, as she began reading the script, the world finally became quiet.

  She smiled, she smiled, she smiled, she was nervous, she was surprised, she worried. She was angry, she smiled, she cried, she cried, she cried...

  She's just like that.

  If she feels that you are not on the same wavelength as her, if she is wary of you, then what you see will forever only be the mask behind which she hides, the one wearing sunglasses. And no matter how hard you try to make amends later, it will never change for a lifetime. But if she feels that you are on the same wavelength as her, if she feels that she can trust you, then good, in that case, without needing any gradual process, very directly, you can see all of the most authentic her.

  Even if it was just a simple encounter on the journey, she never remembered to ask Li Qian what her name was, but felt familiar enough to talk about anything. She could already give Li Qian her home address and invite her over for drinks, she could already cry and laugh freely in front of Li Qian.

  She saw someone die in the story, she looked at Li Qian with a sorrowful face, seeing that Li Qian didn't respond to her for a long time, just focusing on driving, so she made an effort to pull over and hit Li Qian, making Li Qian completely unclear about what happened.

  Then, after reading the entire script of "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer", she was satisfied. She hugged the script, smiled, sighed, and felt happy. Then, after reading half of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", she burst into tears, wailed in sorrow, and begged, "Can't Ah Zhu just not die? I like her so much..."

  Li Qian gave her a cold glance, and she shrank back into her seat, hugging her legs and sulking.

  Finally, Qinghai Lake arrived.

  …………

  Since leaving the Hexi Corridor and heading towards the plateau, the sun seems to have become scorching hot all of a sudden. After Li Qian bought this off-road vehicle, although he had also treated the front windshield to block out most of the ultraviolet rays, it was still not enough. The higher the altitude, the lower the temperature, but the stronger the ultraviolet rays.

  Before the carriage passed Xining Prefecture, Li Qian's straw hat bought from a rural area in Hanzhong Prefecture had already been returned to Zhou Fen.

  By the shores of Qinghai Lake, cool breezes blow gently.

  Along the lakeside road, you can occasionally see people parking and camping, and even occasionally see a few motorhomes that are still very rare in the country.

  Li Qian chose a flat place to turn off the road and drove closer to Qinghai Lake before stopping the car.

  The two got off the car and stood by the lake, gazing into the distance.

  For most of the day, Zhou Fen had been in a bad mood, and she was still sulking because of what happened to Ah Zhu.

  It's nothing, just a bit of a temper.

  Let her drink porridge, she obediently drank porridge, let her eat a boiled egg, although reluctantly, but also obediently ate a boiled egg. Hmm, the amount of wine was slowly controlled by Li Qian to half a catty per day.

  So you can say she's too naive, but absolutely cannot say she's stupid.

  She knows clearly who is good to her and who is bad to her.

  Even her stubbornness is treated differently.

  In just three or four days, her complexion had already begun to look much rosier.

  No one knows their own body better than themselves, and now she has found that even her sorrow and temper have become more vigorous than before. When the train stopped in Xining, she surprisingly ate half a bowl of rice on her own initiative without being forced or persuaded.

  …………

  There were flocks of birds flying over the lake. She stared with her eyes wide open for half a day, still couldn't recognize them, and turned to ask Li Qian, "Hey, what kind of bird is this? Do you know?"

  Li Qian shook his head, "Don't know him. Why should I?"

  Zhou Fen said very seriously but surprisingly, "What you're saying is that after we get back, we'll have to brag about it to our friends. But if they ask what animals are there, I couldn't just say birds, could I? They'd think I'm really bragging!"

  Li Qian nodded and thought for a long time before asking her: "Do you know what kind of birds are by the sea?"

  "This doesn't need consideration," Zhou Fen directly replied, "Seagull, this is definitely available!"

  Li Qian said: "Then go back and tell them, there are lake gulls here!"

  Zhou blinked her eyes. For a moment, she didn't understand what Li Qian meant. Li Qian explained: "Think about it, the ones by the sea are called seagulls, and this big lake is still a saltwater lake, so shouldn't they be called lake gulls?"

  Zhou Fen blinked her eyes thoughtfully and nodded in agreement, saying "Good!"

  …………

  The two of them changed places several times, looking at the lake and watching birds.

  As the sun was high in the sky, Li Qian suggested going back, but Zhou Dun said: "I want to stay a little longer."

  Li Qian nodded and stayed with her.

  Perhaps for Li Qian, coming to Qinghai Lake was just a simple thought, but for Zhou Mei, the meaning might be very different.

  She just stood there, not speaking, not making a fuss, not crying, not laughing. She was simply staring blankly at the distant lake surface, watching the birds flying swiftly by, lost in thought, dazed, and stunned.

  Suddenly, dark clouds have arrived.

  Li Qian looked at the sky with some worry, and at this time, on the asphalt road not far from the lake, cars could be seen speeding eastward from time to time. It was clear that people who came to play also noticed the dark clouds and were in a hurry to return to Xining Prefecture.

  But Zhou Fen stopped and walked, stopped and stood, Li Qian didn't urge her either, accompanying her to stand beside her.

  Around one thirty in the afternoon, dark clouds were pressing down on the city.

  In the blink of an eye, lightning flashed and thunder boomed, heavy rain poured down.

  The two of them hid back in the car, closing all the windows and reclining their seats to the farthest position, half-lying down and watching the heavy rain outside the window.

  The cold rain pattered against the window, and at first no one noticed, but just twenty minutes later, people in the car began to feel very chilly.

  Li Qian took out the blanket and clothes he had brought with him, gave the blanket to Zhou Fen, and put on a coat himself.

  Zhou Fen was still dazed, staring blankly at the blurred car window with the patter of rain, occasionally revealing a smile, and occasionally furrowing her brow, as if she had fallen into a long-forgotten memory, and seemed to be making a difficult choice.

  About forty minutes later, the rain gradually subsided. Li Qian had thought of going back at this point, but he turned his head to look at Zhou Wen a few times and finally decided to wait a little longer - in one's lifetime, it is actually very rare to have several occasions for completely devoted thinking.

  Then, in such a cold and rainy day, Li Qian half-reclined on the chair, and rarely thought of some things.

  The studio is about to be established. The hardware can be slowly set up, and if it's really not possible, buying can't afford it, renting from other companies is also okay, but the software needs to start considering, such as publishing.

  Releasing this thing has always been the most profitable part of the literary industry, but it's also always been the hardest to do. At least for Li Qian himself, he doesn't think he has the ability to directly make a success of releasing, even if his studio has been working on it for several years and its reputation has gradually grown bigger. However, the release channels are still not something that can be easily touched.

  So, whether the studio will make an album for Liao Liao in the future or sign another singer to make an album, it will definitely go through other companies' distribution channels. Although a large portion of the money has to be shared with others, this is also an unavoidable thing. By making their own albums, they can earn and get the part that belongs to the singer and songwriter. For Li Qian, this is already quite satisfying - even if he were reborn or had a huge advantage, he still has a lot of self-awareness. He knows that he cannot be that kind of commercial art superstar who excels in everything.

  Well, okay, let's sign a contract for proxy issuance. As for who to choose, I'll think about it carefully when I get back.

  Then, for the second half of this year's work, um. Firstly, prepare a new album for Liao Liao, that's for sure. Then, in order to counterattack Wu Xing Wu Su and Hua Ge Shang Pin, I should also fulfill my promise to Chen Changsheng as soon as possible, which is already settled, when I promised him, I had already basically considered which four songs to give him.

  Then. Hmm, I guess Huage should be anxious by now, they definitely don't want to let Wu Xingshu's career end like this, so for the next album, what price should it be?

  Cooperation is still necessary, no need to mention personal relationships. Anyway, there are a lot of songs in hand, and the studio needs to be set up with so much money, it's not possible to just leave the money idle. So, on one hand, you can't shout out an astronomical price that would scare people away, but at the same time, the price has to be high enough to make Huage Records feel the pinch...

  …………

  Li Qianzhen was lost in thought when he suddenly felt someone pushing him and woke up with a start.

  But at first glance, he saw Zhou Yan's face full of tears.

  Li Qian was startled and quickly sat up, looking at her. "What's wrong? Are you uncomfortable somewhere? Or are you thinking of something sad?"

  But Zhou Fen pouted and said: "I'm hungry!"

  Li Qian was shocked.

  After a while, he asked: "Are you starving?"

  Zhou Yun nodded.

  Then she wiped away her tears and said: "I haven't felt hungry for a long time. But just now, I suddenly felt hungry, so hungry that my stomach hurts!"

  Li Qian turned his head to look out of the window. It was only three or four o'clock, but outside, dark clouds were densely packed and as black as ink.

  The heavy rain seemed to have let up a bit just now, but it has started pouring again.

  The car window and roof were pattered with raindrops.

  It's not impossible to drive back in this kind of weather, but it's obviously not very safe.

  Li Qian thought for a moment and asked: "What do you want to eat most now?"

  Zhou Fen thought for a moment and said: "My mom's braised pork!"

  Li Qian nodded and asked: "Then what's the second thing you want to eat?"

  Then Zhou Fen thought for a moment and said, "My mom's braised pork balls!" After a pause, without Li Qian asking again, it seemed that the memory of eating was suddenly opened, she hurriedly said: "And also red-braised ribs! My mom's red-braised ribs are especially delicious!"

  With a "crack", Li Qian snapped his fingers!

  "This can be done!" he said.

  Zhou Mei's face was full of surprise.

  Li Qian flipped over, crawling from the driver's seat to the back, and after arriving at the back seat, he put down a chair, stretched his hand into the trunk, and felt around for half a minute. Suddenly, a look of surprise appeared on his face. Seeing Zhou Dun still looking at him in confusion, he quickly pulled out the thing and flashed it in front of Zhou Dun.

  "Ah, braised pork ribs... noodles!"

  …………

  When buying a car, Li Qian had already considered the possibility of having to cook his own food in the wilderness, so he not only chose a model with a 220V power socket inside the car, but also kept a small electric pot, a bag of salt, a pair of chopsticks, a box of instant noodles and dozens of bottles of mineral water in the trunk.

  Then, after more than ten minutes, by the side of Qinghai Lake, in the midst of a heavy downpour, the two of them hid inside the car, each holding a bowl of instant noodles, eating with gusto.

  Zhou Fen even felt that this was the most delicious meal she had ever had in her life so far.

  While eating, she was also watching the heavy rain outside the window. For some reason, she felt that her life was very poetic. With a mouthful of instant noodles, she turned to ask Li Qian, "Hey, you can write screenplays, and you must be able to write poetry too. Write a poem for me to listen."

  Li Qian shook his head, "Don't write." After a pause, he looked at Zhou Fen's face and said, "It won't work."

  Zhou Fen was taken aback for a moment, then lowered her head for a brief moment. When she raised her head again, her smile was as pure and radiant as it had been after drinking wine. "It's okay, you write," she said. "I dislike so-called geniuses, but you're an exception!"

  Li Qian heard this and looked at her seriously for a moment before putting down the instant noodle spoon and nodding.

  Perhaps it was Li Qian's serious expression that made Zhou Fen put down the instant noodle bowl in her hand, looking at him seriously and waiting for something.

  After a long silence, when the hot soup in his hand had gradually cooled down, Li Qian held up the instant noodle bowl and slowly began to read.

  "Sister, tonight I am at Qinghai Lake, shrouded in night"

  Sister, tonight I am alone

  At the end of the prairie, I have nothing in both hands

  Painful when can't hold onto a single tear drop

  Sister, tonight I am at Qinghai Lake

  This is a desolate me in the rainwater

  Apart from those passing by and living there

  Qinghai Lake, Flock of Birds, Off-road Vehicle

  And I... Tonight

  This is the one and only, the last, lyrical.

  This is the only, last, prairie.

  I returned the stone to the stone

  Let victory prevail

  Tonight, Qing Yun belongs only to himself.

  Everything is growing

  Tonight I have nothing but beautiful Qinghai Lake, empty and hollow

  Sister, tonight I don't care about humans, I just want you."

  ***

  I'm afraid some people will scold me for flooding with poetry?

  To be honest, it's just over a hundred words, and I really can't make much money from it. The extra words in any chapter are enough for these words. If this poem didn't have to be written in its entirety to create the atmosphere, I wouldn't bother...

  To be honest, every time I see you discussing in the book review section with such sharp words, I feel a little nervous when writing books.

  In short, one sentence: Please forgive me!