Chapter 50: "In the Making of the New Album!"

“Bye-bye, thank you for agreeing to the interview!” After the show was recorded, Lexin waved goodbye to Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng.

Once Lexin and her crew had gone far enough, Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng could finally hold it in no longer; both of them burst into laughter, unable to restrain themselves. The passersby walking near the two glanced over at their reactions as if they were watching a pair of lunatics, making a point to steer clear as they passed, afraid they might catch whatever had infected Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng.

The two could only shrug helplessly.

“Hello! Let me introduce myself again—just call me Ms. Zhou!” Zhang Xiaofeng, having regained her composure, greeted Zhou Ran anew.

“Hello! Then let me introduce myself again as well—just call me Mr. Zhang!” Zhou Ran mimicked Zhang Xiaofeng’s manner of greeting, but halfway through, could hardly contain his laughter, clamping a hand over his mouth as he tried to stifle the giggles.

Zhang Xiaofeng had just gotten her laughter under control, but seeing Zhou Ran struggle so hard not to laugh, she couldn’t help but start snickering again herself.

Yet happy moments are always fleeting. After shopping, Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng had to part ways—each returning to their own home, to their own lives.

...

When Zhou Ran returned to the studio, he took a moment to walk around and look things over. In the month or so he’d been away, the studio had changed quite a bit. His recording room was now fully set up, and Zhou Ran was thoroughly satisfied—it was exactly as he had envisioned.

He had planned the design of the studio long ago: the main color was sky blue, his favorite, accented with touches of black. Seeing the real thing, Zhou Ran could only sum it up in one word: “Perfect!”

It was so comfortable—he could hardly believe it was finally his.

For months, Zhou Ran had wanted to renovate the recording room and have a space of his own. But until now, a lack of money had kept the plan on hold. This time, however, the payment from Chef Huang was more than enough for Zhou Ran to remodel the studio from top to bottom exactly as he wished.

“Oh my god, who are you? Are you Xiao Ran? What happened to you?” Li Mi had been napping comfortably, only to be woken by footsteps in the living room. When she stepped out of her bedroom, she saw a mysterious man wandering around her home.

Terrified, Li Mi quietly grabbed the electric baton she kept nearby, planning to use it if the stranger made any sudden moves. (There’s nothing wrong with a young woman keeping a few self-defense tools at home! You never know when you’ll need them.)

Just as Li Mi was about to swing, fortunately Zhou Ran spoke up in time—otherwise, things would have gotten interesting.

If that baton had landed, tomorrow’s headlines might well have read: “Shocking! Zhou Ran’s agent knocks him out cold! The secret behind the blow revealed!”

Luckily, as soon as Zhou Ran spoke, Li Mi recognized his voice.

“Hahahaha! What happened to you? Did you just crawl out of some remote mountain forest? You look exactly like a vagrant!” Once she realized it was Zhou Ran, Li Mi relaxed, and then couldn’t help but laugh at his wild hairstyle.

Zhou Ran was speechless. He’d just gotten home and was already being roasted—he could practically feel his heart bleeding.

He’d long grown tired of this hairstyle; his hair now covered his eyes, and sometimes even poked him when he tried to look at things. If Chef Huang hadn’t needed this look for the shoot, Zhou Ran would have shaved it off long ago.

This time, Zhou Ran had come back mainly for two things: first, to finally record his debut album. Before he left, only five songs remained to be finished; the lyrics were set, all that was left was to record them when he had time.

He planned to include the songs he’d performed on “Who Is King of Song” in his first album. He’d already decided which ones to record:

“Sunny Day!”
“Dispelling Sorrow!”
“Dream Chaser’s Heart!”
“Searching A Thousand Times!”
“Fragrant Rice Fields!”
“A Laugh Across the Vast Sea!”
“Economy Class!”

As Zhou Ran recalled the songs he’d sung, he marveled at how quickly time had passed. He had already completed seven songs, and yet it felt as if everything had just happened yesterday.

Lin Ting was one of Zhou Ran’s fans, having loved his music since “Sunny Day.” Whenever she stayed up all night to finish assignments, she would listen to his songs for encouragement.

As usual, Lin Ting logged into Zhou Ran’s Weibo account, hoping for any news, though she didn’t expect to find a new song—after all, Zhou Ran had been absent from the internet for over a month. Even the recent, wildly popular “Looking for Zhou Ran” campaign had ended in failure; they’d searched everywhere, but there was no news.

But was it real? When Lin Ting clicked into Zhou Ran’s Weibo, she suddenly saw a new post: “New album in progress!”

Lin Ting was so moved she nearly cried. After such a long wait, fans could finally look forward to new music from Zhou Ran.

For many of Zhou Ran’s fans, no one else’s songs could compare; they got through their days by listening to his tracks on repeat.

In that moment, Lin Ting understood why Zhou Ran had vanished—he’d gone into seclusion to record new music for his fans.

She immediately began to imagine the scene, moved all over again by her own fantasy.

Lin Ting was not the only one who saw the post. Weibo pushed Zhou Ran’s message to all his followers, and soon, countless fans were typing out “Youth Returns!” in the comments.

Clearly, Zhou Ran’s fans could not contain their excitement. And who could blame them? For more than a month, they’d had no news at all, waiting anxiously all the while.

As soon as the new album announcement was posted, it shot to the top of Weibo’s trending topics. Zhou Ran’s move reminded all those who thought he’d faded away of his dominance on the music charts—after all, he’d held the number one spot for two months in a row!