A writer has arrived in the Chinese entertainment industry.

Chapter 109 Lemon

Xu Song's office isn't a typical business office; it's more like a creative studio and study. The whole place is simple and clean, without too many fancy decorations.

A dark solid wood desk stood by the window, on which rested a laptop, a pair of monitoring headphones, a MIDI keyboard, several pens, and a white porcelain teacup. Several books, mostly essays, poems, and historical notes, were piled up at the base of the desk.

In one corner of the office stood a simple bookshelf, which, in addition to books, also displayed several sample CDs of his own albums.

As soon as Su Liu entered, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Teacher Xu, this place is really nice."

Xu Song smiled politely, bent down and took two teacups from the water dispenser, placing them on the small tea table beside him.

"What would you two like to drink? I have tea and coffee."

"Plain water is fine." Su Liu turned her head to look to the side. "Beep beep?"

Chen Duling held Su Liu's hand tightly, her shoulders hunched over, looking like a little hedgehog. "I'll just have plain water, thank you."

The two sat down on the sofa, and Xu Song pulled over the single sofa in front of the desk and sat down.

"Ms. Chen, who contacted me before, mentioned that Teacher Su wanted me to produce the theme song for a TV series, right?"

"That script, or the story synopsis..." Xu Song looked at Su Liu's empty hands and then glanced at Chen Duling's small bag beside him.

"No need for that." Su Liu waved her hand decisively. "Actually, a melody suddenly popped into my head the other day, and it fits this drama quite well."

"A... melody?" Xu Song repeated blankly, still not understanding what was going on.

"That's right. In short, I'll hum a verse, and you'll create a complete song based on that short melody."

"oh""

Xu Song slowly came back to her senses and adjusted her glasses on the bridge of her nose with her fingers.

Although he hasn't sung theme songs for any movies or TV series yet, he did write a song for the online game "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" a couple of years ago.

But things like today, where the client brings a melody to the door... that's really a difficult situation.

Chen Duling, who was standing close to Su Liu, looked at Xu Song's expression and couldn't help but cheer him on, "Come on, Teacher Xu Song! The most devastating moment hasn't come yet!"

"Then... Teacher Su, would you like to start humming a bit now?" Xu Song didn't know how to organize his thoughts.

"Sure, no problem!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Duling immediately tensed up her face and pinched her thigh tightly to prevent herself from laughing out loud.

Immediately afterwards, a sound came out of Su Liu's mouth, "Deng deng deng deng~ deng deng deng deng".

/

When the noise subsided, the office fell silent. Xu Song's usually gentle face, which never seemed to get angry, was now slightly agape, his expression one of utter shock.

Chen Duling kept her head down, her shoulders trembling slightly.

After Su Liu finished humming, he looked at the other party calmly and without fear.

"Teacher Su... Teacher Su..." Xu Song remained stunned for a long time before finally speaking, "What is this?"

"A song, of course," Su Liu said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"A song?" Xu Song quickly pushed the sofa back to his desk, picked up a pen and placed it on the sheet music. "Teacher Su, you...you can do it again."

If his team members saw him like this, they would probably be shocked. This musical prodigy has always been calm and composed, usually traveling and living in different places when he is composing, seeking inspiration in nature. He has never been so at a loss as he is now.

Seeing this, Chen Duling finally couldn't help but speak up, "Su Su, you see, even Teacher Xu Song can't stand you."

"You half-baked idiot, shut up." Su Liu glanced at her, then looked at Xu Song. "Teacher Xu clearly understood, didn't he?"

Xu Song wore a weak smile on his face. "Teacher Su, come on."

So, Su Liu started "thump thump thump" again.

Xu Song listened intently while making notes on the sheet music. After Su Liu finished humming, he frowned slightly as he looked at the notes on the sheet music and said, "Let me try it out in C major first, and you can hear if it's correct."

He muttered to himself, "C major, 4/4 time... la la si..."

Xu Song pressed some keys on the arrangement keyboard for a while, and then a melody came out from the desktop speakers—

As soon as the sound came out, Chen Duling, who had been lounging on the sofa watching the show, suddenly straightened up with her mouth slightly open.

"Wow!" she exclaimed softly, turning to look at Su Liu. "Is that so? Su Su, is this what you're humming?"

Although the sound coming from the speakers was just a monotonous electronic synthesized sound, without any arrangement or instruments, it was already seven or eight parts similar to the original Iemon song.

"You still doubt me?"

"That's because Mr. Xu Song is really good."

Xu Song turned around with a satisfied smile on his face. "This tune is very interesting, Teacher Su. Is there more?"

""

"The rest..." Su Liu recalled that the second verse of Lemon seemed to be no different from the first, so he hummed it again.

"What's wrong, Su Su?" Chen Duling said with a laugh, "Didn't you just repeat yourself again?"

"Forget it, forget it, I'll just hum my climax."

"Wait a minute," Xu Song interrupted him, "They're not exactly the same."

"What?"

"You were just humming the second verse? The pitch was different, so it must have been a different key."

Su Liu simply hummed it out as he remembered it, completely unaware of what the change in pitch meant.

He and Chen Duling stared at each other, looking like two idiots.

"If that's the case, then we can't use C major." Xu Song was completely immersed in his own world.

"Why is the pitch lowered here?" he muttered to himself.

In this focused atmosphere, Su Liu felt that even breathing loudly was an offense. He turned to the side, his lips close to Chen Duling's ear, and whispered, "Is he asking me?"

"Definitely not."

The office was silent. Xu Song pondered repeatedly, sometimes writing and drawing with a pen, sometimes pressing a few keys on the music keyboard. Su Liu and Chen Duling sat side by side, like two students being interrogated in the dean's office, not daring to make a sound.

After a long while, Xu Song finally spoke, "Teacher Su, is there a chorus? Oh, I mean the climax."

"some."

Su Liu started slurring again, but this time Chen Duling didn't laugh at him. Xu Song immediately had a look of sudden realization the moment he heard the chorus.

"Oh, I see!" His soft, gentle voice suddenly rose several octaves. "It's the contrast!"

Xu Song looked at Su Liu in shock. "Teacher Su, did this piece really just suddenly come to mind?"

"What's wrong?"

"It's like this..." Xu Song picked up the sheet music from the table and placed it in front of the two of them. It was covered with scratches. "When I was using C major, I always felt something was off because the descending key part was too strange. But when I heard the chorus, I immediately realized that the first verse should be in B major, and the second verse should be in B-flat major..."

"Teacher Xu," Su Liu quickly interrupted him, "None of us have that much music theory knowledge, could you explain it in simpler terms?"

.

Xu Song immediately realized what was happening. "Oh, sorry." He pointed to the sheet music and continued, "Simply put, B major is bright and open, while bA major is relatively soft and low. This kind of modulation with such a large span creates a feeling of suddenly falling into an abyss. I just didn't understand the meaning of this modulation."

Su Liu and Chen Duling couldn't actually hear the difference between the two tunes; perhaps only a musician's ear could tell.

"Until I heard Teacher Su humming the chorus, the powerful feeling it evoked immediately made me understand."

Xu Song's eyes were incredibly bright at that moment, and he spoke rapidly, "It's the contrast! From the soaring B major register, it suddenly drops a bit to the Bb major register. This design makes the sad emotions of regret and longing no longer a straightforward narration, but rather surge in like a tidal wave. Then, when entering the chorus, there's a sudden sense of relief!"

"This...Teacher Su, is this really a piece of music that suddenly came to mind?" He couldn't help but ask again.

Su Liu only knew that on another timeline, Kenshi Yonezu became a god with this song and became a national-level singer in the island nation.

But he had no idea what made the song so special.

"Yes, that's right!" Su Liu replied confidently.