Entertainment: A song that brought his deceased wife back to life.

Luo Qianyu raised her head.

"When was this written?"

Xu Qing sat back on the sofa, picked up her cola, and took another sip.

"It's very early."

Luo Qianyu turned the sheet music over.

There is a line of small pencil writing on the bottom right corner of the back, with a date written on it.

Three years ago.

Luo Qianyu looked at the date.

"Three years ago?"

"Back then, I didn't have the equipment, so I only wrote down the score but didn't record a demo tape. I haven't touched it since."

Luo Qianyu flipped the sheet music back to the front and read it line by line.

She watched for about two minutes.

His mouth opened and then closed again.

"Xu Qing."

"Um."

"This arrangement... I don't fully understand it, but its complexity is just..."

"Not complicated," Xu Qing said. "Standard pop arrangement. Strings, piano, and electronic bass drum."

Luo Qianyu read it again.

"You call this standard? The string section alone has six tracks."

"That's because the paper wasn't big enough to write on. In reality, it would take at least twenty-four tracks to write on."

Luo Qianyu put down the sheet music.

She looked at Xu Qing.

"Were you already prepared?"

Xu Qing did not answer the question.

He tapped the coffee table twice with his finger.

"What did those two judges say again today?"

Luo Qianyu's expression darkened.

"The arrangement is weak. It's just a catchy pop song. It lacks artistic depth."

"right."

Xu Qing placed the Coke can on the coffee table.

"Since they think playing guitar and singing is too simple. Since they want to talk about arrangement and depth."

He looked at Luo Qianyu.

"Then in the next round, we'll give them a little bit of a crushing defeat."

Luo Qianyu stared into his eyes.

"Are you planning to use this song?"

"It's not a matter of whether I plan to use this song or not," Xu Qing said. "It was originally written for you."

Luo Qianyu touched the yellowed sheet music with her hand.

You didn't know me three years ago.

Xu Qing remained silent for two seconds.

"There's a voice in my head."

What was that sound?

"When I was writing this song, there was a voice in my head that kept playing. At the time, I didn't know whose it was."

Xu Qing finished the cola, crushed it, and threw it into the trash can.

"Now I know."

Luo Qianyu lowered her head. Her fingers gripped the edge of the sheet music, and there was a white mark around her fingertips.

She didn't speak for quite a while.

"Xu Qing."

"Um."

"Can you please stop saying things like that when I'm about to cry?"

Are you going to cry again?

"no."

"Don't cry. Your eyes will be swollen tomorrow if you cry."

Luo Qianyu sniffed.

"Can't you be a little gentler when comforting people?"

"cannot."

Luo Qianyu punched him.

Xu Qing caught her fist and didn't let go.

"Drink the porridge. It's all cold now."

Luo Qianyu picked up the bowl with her other hand and took a big gulp.

Xu Qing released her hand and reached for her phone on the dining table.

He opened WeChat and sent a message to Ma Dongteng.

"For the second recording, I need to utilize Penguin Music's recording studio and arrangement team. The string section needs at least eight people. I'll find the best pianos. I'll handle the mixing myself."

Ma Dongteng replied instantly.

"Mr. Xu, do you know what time it is?"

Xu Qing glanced at the time. It was 1:14 AM.

"Know."

Ma Dongteng posted another message.

"Whose? We have three string sections under contract."

"The most expensive one."

Ma Dongteng sent a thumbs-up emoji and added a comment.

"Mr. Xu, are you planning something big?"

Xu Qing did not reply.

He logged out of WeChat and placed his phone on the coffee table.

Luo Qianyu had finished her porridge, but she was still holding the bowl in her hand, tilting her head to look at him.

"Who are you messaging?"

"Ma Dongteng".

"What did you say?"

"Borrow someone."

Luo Qianyu put the bowl down. She picked up the sheet music and looked at it again, her lips moving silently as she hummed the melody in her mind.

"Xu Qing."

"Um."

Where are the lyrics for this song?

Xu Qing tapped her head with her finger.

Luo Qianyu rolled her eyes at him.

"Why don't you just write it down?"

Xu Qing stood up, walked to the desk, sat down, opened the drawer, and took out a pen and a piece of white paper.

Luo Qianyu followed him with the empty bowl and stood behind him watching.

Xu Qing wrote the first line on the paper.

"A haze begins to fall on the distant horizon; how can sorrow be calmed and purified?"

The pen tip never stopped.

"A faint hint of helplessness always lingered on my face."

Luo Qianyu watched as the words appeared line by line.

When Luo Qianyu wrote, "The love between the seabird and the fish was just an accident," she touched his shoulder.

Xu Qing didn't stop.

He wrote all the lyrics in one go.

The last line: "Love is buried deep in the coral sea."

Xu Qing put down his pen.

Luo Qianyu read it from beginning to end.

There was silence for about ten seconds.

"Seabirds and fish fall in love," she murmured.

Then he reached out and drew a crooked bird above the words "seabird". He drew a crooked fish after the word "fish".

Xu Qing glanced at it from the side.

"What did you draw?"

"Seabirds and fish."

"I think it looks like a tadpole."

Luo Qianyu capped the pen and threw it on the table.

"Xu Qing."

"Um."

"Next time, I'm going to leave those two judges speechless."

Xu Qing leaned back in her chair, her hands clasped behind her head.

"Not being able to express it is not enough."

"Then what should we do?"

Xu Qing turned to look at her.

"Let them applaud."

Penguin Music's Class A recording studio.

This studio is notoriously expensive in the industry, with hourly rentals starting at six figures. The soundproof walls are half a meter thick, and the control panel is packed with three rows of faders; the monitor speakers alone are worth an entire apartment.

Xu Qing sat behind the mixing console, with the 24-track string music file in front of him.

Eight string players sat in the adjacent soundbox: four violins, two violas, and two cellos. On the music stand was a score handwritten by Xu Qing.

The principal violinist flipped through two pages of sheet music, glanced up at the control room, and whispered something to the person next to him.

"Who wrote this arrangement? The harmonic progressions are just too bizarre."

Xu Qing pressed the intercom button.

"Starting from the seventeenth measure, the cello part enters with a half-beat delay."

The principal violinist raised his hand, and the string section bowed in unison.

When the first note of the intro floated out, Luo Qianyu stood outside the recording studio, holding the lyric book in her hands, stunned.

Strings. Real strings, layer upon layer, their thickness is frightening. The piano supports them from below, and the rhythm of the drums is perfectly timed to fit between the strings.

She had heard Xu Qing play the guitar and listen to the demos he composed using a mobile app.

But this—

They are not the same thing at all.

Luo Qianyu pushed open the door to the recording studio and walked in. Xu Qing didn't even look up, his fingers adjusting two parameters on the fader.

"Go in. Start from the first line of the chorus."

Luo Qianyu put on her headphones and stood in front of the microphone.

The sound of strings flooded in through my headphones. The piano played the last two notes of the prelude in my left ear, then paused for a moment.

Luo Qianyu opened her mouth.

"Turning away, unable to say goodbye—"

Xu Qing pressed the intercom button.

"stop."

Luo Qianyu shut her mouth.

"Let's try again. You sang too steadily."

Luo Qianyu glanced in the direction of the control room. Behind the glass window, Xu Qing's face was illuminated by the dim light of the mixing console, making his expression difficult to discern.

She took another breath.

"Turning away, unable to say goodbye—"

"stop."

Luo Qianyu pulled her headphones down a little.

"What's wrong?"