Chapter 64: I

In the review section of "I Am Really Not a Star," there were roughly four or five comments, all similar questions.

—— What song is "Year Rings"?

Readers not knowing "Year Rings" is normal, because it's the theme song of the 2015 TV drama "Hua Qian Gu," which hasn't even been produced yet.

The bad news is, while writing, Li Luo slipped this song into his manuscript.

The good news is, it's just a minor subplot with little impact on the main storyline.

Li Luo flipped through the main text, his mouth twitching, unable to suppress a sigh.

The passage about "Year Rings" in the book was simple.

It simply described how the protagonist met a big-name collaborator from before, whose new TV drama was about to air, but who remained dissatisfied with its theme song.

Such plot points, Li Luo had written countless times before.

In short, through a series of coincidences, the protagonist casually composed this song called "Year Rings," which just happened to be heard by the big-name collaborator.

After some back-and-forth, the song was selected as the theme song.

But that wasn't the key point—the key was that the protagonist would use this song to establish a connection with the big-name collaborator, facilitating later plot development.

Just to make the logic hold, Li Luo had specifically designed the content of this so-called new TV drama: a xianxia romance about a tree spirit that had lived for ten million years and a flower bud that had just cultivated into a human.

After all, the lyrics of "Year Rings" forced rhymes with phrases like "tree roots," "fingerprints," and "year rings"—on their own, you couldn't tell what they were even describing.

As a responsible online novel author, Li Luo could only invent a tree spirit to vaguely match these lyrics.

Of course, since it wasn't part of the main plot, it didn't matter how he twisted it, as long as it ultimately connected the protagonist to the big-name collaborator.

But when Li Luo originally wrote it, because it was a minor subplot scribbled in passing, the description of "Year Rings" was only a few hundred words, so he never bothered to check whether the song had been released yet.

In the flow state of immersive writing, a few hundred words might take only a few unconscious minutes—flickering by in a flash.

Thus, a small mishap occurred.

Some readers who enjoyed listening to music while reading the novel, upon reaching this scene, specifically searched for the song—and found nothing.

So they all flocked to the review section to ask.

These days, online novels didn't yet have the "Chapter Comments" feature—only a general comment section, so the impact wasn't yet significant.

But Li Luo, looking at these comments, had planned to rush home and revise this section, replacing it with a TV theme song that already existed before 2014.

Yet when he thought of this, he suddenly turned his head toward Yan Zhusheng, who was about to leave, and an alternative idea surfaced in his mind.

"Yan Zhusheng."

"Hmm?" Yan Zhusheng, slinging her backpack over her shoulder, turned back in confusion, "Is there something else?"

"Do you have anything else this afternoon?"

"Yes." Yan Zhusheng extended her right hand and counted off on her fingers, "Go home, listen to music, read, bathe, sleep."

"… Could I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"I wrote a song, but I only have the guitar melody—how do I record it properly according to standard format?"

"Huh?" Yan Zhusheng froze at this, "You wrote a song?"

"Yeah… sort of."

Confirming his answer, Yan Zhusheng sized up Li Luo—remembering how he'd mastered absolute pitch in just twenty minutes, writing a song didn't seem so astonishing anymore.

Thinking this, she nodded to herself, pondered a moment, then turned and walked out of the classroom: "Come with me."

"Where to?" Li Luo followed behind, shut the classroom door, and hurried after Yan Zhusheng.

"To my place," Yan Zhusheng said, glancing back.

"Huh?"

…

Three o'clock in the afternoon.

Li Luo followed Yan Zhusheng, took a taxi to a place he knew well.

A high-end residential complex near the South Station of the Yinjiang District subway—Yan Zhusheng's home.

"Slippers," Yan Zhusheng said, handing Li Luo a pair as she stepped inside, then changed into her own and walked into the living room.

Li Luo followed her in, gazing at the familiar yet strange room, feeling slightly dazed.

Ten years from now, Yan Zhusheng would still live here—but back then, it had been renovated; the current decor still looked somewhat outdated.

But in terms of interior layout, it was identical to the one ten years later.

"Follow me," Yan Zhusheng didn't linger in the living room, heading straight upstairs.

Li Luo trailed behind, ascending to the second floor, entering a room.

In the center of the room stood a piano, surrounded by various musical instruments and equipment—clearly a small recording studio.

Yan Zhusheng walked to the wall, picked up a guitar, and handed it to Li Luo, then sat at the piano and turned to say, "Sing it—your song."

"Yeah, okay."

Li Luo knew this room too well—he felt not the slightest tension.

In his past life, sitting right here learning guitar, he'd been corrected countless times by Yan Zhusheng on his posture.

Now, revisiting this place, he felt remarkably relaxed.

He cradled the guitar and began to play.

"Circles trace fingerprints~"

"Imprinted on my lips~"

"The bitter kiss marks of memory~"

"Are tree roots~"

Yan Zhusheng closed her eyes, listening intently as Li Luo played.

When the interlude ended, she opened her eyes at the right moment, trying to follow Li Luo's rhythm, her ten fingers landing on the piano keys to accompany the melody.

After singing through it once, Li Luo looked at Yan Zhusheng: "Uh… how was that? Is it okay?"

Yan Zhusheng glanced at him, stood up, walked to a device in the corner, fiddled with it for a while, then sat back down in front of the piano and simply said: "Do it again."

Hearing those words, Li Luo's heart skipped a beat, recalling memories of being dominated by Yan Zhusheng.

Once in teaching mode, Yan Zhusheng instantly turned into a cold, aloof instructor.

"Fine." Li Luo sighed and began playing the guitar and singing again.

After singing it five or six times, Yan Zhusheng finally stopped making him repeat it and stood up to fiddle with the various devices nearby.

Li Luo leaned over to take a look, but couldn't understand what she was doing.

"The basic melody is mostly figured out," Yan Zhusheng said. "Write me some lyrics later."

"And then?"

"Then I'll think about the arrangement," Yan Zhusheng pondered. "I might need to ask a few arrangement teachers for their opinions."

"Huh? Isn't that a bit too much trouble for you?"

"Not at all," Yan Zhusheng shook her head. "It's kind of fun."

Seeing her look genuinely pleased, Li Luo began to understand a little.

With anything related to music, Yan Zhusheng probably never found it troublesome or boring.

"So I don't need to do anything else? When exactly will this be ready?"

"At least next week," Yan Zhusheng estimated. "Come to my place next weekend—by then the arrangement should be about done."

"I've got another song here," Li Luo thought for a moment, then asked boldly. "Can you work on this one too?"

Such a good free ride couldn't be wasted.