The accompaniment was recorded four times.

By the third take, Zhou Bin said it was good enough, but Lu Zhixian felt a breath in the harmonica solo wasn't natural enough, so they did it one more time.

After the fourth take, everyone was speechless.

Zhou Yang rested his drumsticks on his legs. "Old Lu, if you do it again, my hands are going to be ruined."

"No more, it's a wrap."

Outside, Zhou Bin saved all the tracks from the four takes and began the preliminary mixing and alignment.

Lu Zhixian told the musicians to take a break while he headed into the recording booth.

"I'll do the vocals myself, you guys don't need to wait."

Zhou Yang and the others didn't leave; they all huddled on the sofa outside, watching.

Lu Zhixian put on the headphones and adjusted the microphone height. Zhou Bin played the accompaniment, and the live-recorded version they just finished came through the monitors.

It was worlds apart from the previous crude MIDI version.

The guitar arpeggios had a lazy, breathing feel; the timbre of the harmonica sounded like it was drifting from a distant field ridge; the drum beats were neither too heavy nor too light; and the low frequency of the bass supported everything from the bottom, as steady as the foundation of an old house.

The red light came on.

Lu Zhixian closed his eyes.

The news footage from last night flashed through his mind—the boy curled up in the corner.

Then, he opened his mouth.

"If you have too many complaints about this world, and you're afraid to keep moving forward after falling..."

His voice wasn't loud, and his breath was relaxed, as if he were sitting in his own courtyard chatting with someone.

Outside the recording booth, Zhou Yang, who had been looking down at his phone, put it away as soon as he heard the first line.

Lao Duan stopped stretching his wrists.

Xiao Qin pushed up his glasses and stared at Lu Zhixian in the booth.

"Why must people be so fragile and depraved? Please turn on the TV and see how many people are working hard and walking on bravely for the sake of life."

The chorus arrived.

"Remember you said home is the only castle, running along with the fragrance of rice and the river. Smile, I know the dreams of childhood."

Zhou Bin's hand rested on the fader, unmoving.

There was no need to move.

The balance of every track was just right. The vocals didn't compete with the instruments, and the instruments didn't overpower the vocals. Everything blended together like a bowl of freshly steamed white rice—no fancy seasoning, but just fragrant.

After the entire song was finished, the recording booth was silent for three seconds.

Zhou Yang leaned back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling.

Lao Fang put down his water cup and spoke his first complete sentence of the day.

"This song is going to be a hit."

"Old Lu, that was just the first take?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just feel... another recording won't be better than this one."

Lu Zhixian thought for a moment. "Let's do one more, just to be safe."

After the second take was finished, Zhou Bin compared the two vocal tracks side by side.

"The first one is better."

Lu Zhixian listened to it himself and nodded. "Use the first take."

The recording session ended.

Zhou Bin began the post-production mixing with Lu Zhixian watching from the side.

The two of them spent nearly two hours at the mixing console, refining every detail from the vocal reverb levels to the panning of the harmonica over and over again.

At 8:00 PM, the final mix was exported.

Lu Zhixian listened to it from start to finish with headphones on.

When he took off the headphones, he said to Zhou Bin, "Brother Zhou, this is the one."

Zhou Bin took off his reading glasses and wiped them. "This song of yours is a completely different style from your last album. 'Xian' made people feel you're impressive; this one makes people feel you're good."

Lu Zhixian smiled but didn't reply.

When he got home that night, he sent the final mix file to Old Zhao.

After listening, Old Zhao was silent for a long time before replying with four words: "Release it tomorrow."

"No warm-up promotion?"

Lu Zhixian asked.

"The poster was already released yesterday, and the comments section is about to explode. If we delay any longer, fans will show up at your door to block you. Tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM, simultaneous release on all platforms."

"Alright."

He thought for a moment, then opened the chat box with Lin Shiya.

"New song goes online tomorrow."

Lin Shiya replied instantly: "Since when? So fast?"

"The recording went smoothly, got it done in a day."

"Send it to me to listen."

Lu Zhixian sent the file over.

The other side was silent for four minutes.

Lin Shiya: "Did you call home after recording this song?"

Lu Zhixian was stunned for a moment.

He indeed hadn't.

He put down his phone, pulled up his contacts, and dialed his mother's number.

The phone rang twice before being picked up.

"Son? Why are you calling at this hour?"

"Nothing, just calling to chat."

"Have you eaten?"

"I have."

"What are you busy with?"

"Just finished recording a song."

"Another new song? Your dad was bragging to people today, saying his son is on the trending searches."

Lu Zhixian leaned against the back of his chair and listened to his mother ramble about family matters for ten minutes. Before hanging up, he said, "You and Dad go to bed early," then placed the phone on the table.

He stared at the ceiling for a while.

He replied to Lin Shiya: "I called."

Lin Shiya: "Mm."

Nothing more was said. But Lu Zhixian knew she understood the song.

---

The next morning at 10:00 AM.

"fragrance of rice" was released on all platforms.

Lu Zhixian posted a Weibo update with the poster Old Zhao made yesterday, and the caption was just one sentence.

"Don't be afraid, look back."

The reposts, comments, and likes—the three numbers began to jump upward.

Ten minutes later, Old Zhao called.

"The real-time playback data for all platforms is out."

"How much?"

"Ten minutes in, Penguin Music alone has broken eight hundred thousand plays."

Lu Zhixian didn't have much of a reaction. "And then?"

"NetEase is also exploding. The comments section already has over nine hundred entries and is still growing. Go see for yourself."

Lu Zhixian hung up and opened NetEase Cloud Music.

The comments section already had one thousand two hundred entries.

The top pinned comment had over thirty thousand likes.

"I cried on the subway when I heard the chorus. A big brother next to me handed me a pack of tissues. Big brother, if you see this comment, thank you."

The second one had twenty-eight thousand.

"I'm a third-year middle school student. I've been under a lot of pressure lately and have been isolated by my classmates for a long time. After listening to this song, I called my mom. She cried on the phone, and I cried too."

The third one had twenty-three thousand.

"What kind of monster is Lu Zhixian? The last song was chatting with you about life and fate, and this one pushes you right back into the rice fields of your childhood. How many sides does this guy have?"

Lu Zhixian swiped the screen and continued looking down.

"A man who only debuted at 28 really writes different songs. Only someone with life experience can write these kinds of lyrics."

"Please, can this song be played on the school radio station? Our school needs it."

"Did anyone notice the timbre of the harmonica? It's incredible, like the sound I used to hear on the way home from school as a kid."

He locked his screen.

At 1:00 PM, the trending searches appeared.

#Lu Zhixian fragrance of rice#

#Call Home After Listening to fragrance of rice#

#fragrance of rice Lyrics#

Three hashtags were simultaneously on the trending list, with the highest one rushing straight to fourth place.

Old Zhao sent another message: "The official Weibo account reposted it."

Lu Zhixian: "What?"

Old Zhao sent over a screenshot.

The official account posted a blog entry, quoting a line from 'fragrance of rice'—'Don't give up so easily, just like I said, if you can't catch one dream, why not just change to another?' The accompanying text was: 'To every one of you who is working hard.'

The number of reposts had already broken one hundred thousand.

Lu Zhixian stared at that screenshot for five seconds.

Old Zhao: "Official media has stepped in. Do you know what this means?"

Lu Zhixian knew.

This song wasn't just a song anymore.

It had become a symbol.

By 3:00 PM, his phone almost never stopped ringing.

Various interview requests, variety show invitations, and brand collaborations—Old Zhao was blocking them all.

Zhou Yang sent a message in the group: "Old Lu, I just opened Weibo and found that my harmonica brother Xiao Qin is on the trending searches."

Lu Zhixian clicked to take a look.

#Who is the fragrance of rice Harmonica Player#

The comments were all digging up Xiao Qin's identity.

Xiao Qin himself sent a voice message in the group, his voice trembling: "Brothers, the owner of my livehouse just called me and said next month's show tickets are all sold out."

Zhou Yang replied with a laughing emoji.

Lu Zhixian typed a line in the group: "It's all thanks to everyone. Without you guys, this song wouldn't have had this effect."

Lao Fang finally popped up and sent two words: "You're welcome."

Zhou Yang: "Lao Fang, can you say a few more words? Every time it's like sending a telegram."

Lao Fang: "No."

The group erupted in laughter.

At 7:00 PM, Lu Zhixian's phone rang again.

Lin Shiya.

"Seen the trending searches?"

"I have."

"Even official media reposted it. Do you know who the last person to get this treatment was?"

"Who?"

"I don't know either, but I haven't had it in the five years since my debut."

Lu Zhixian gave a chuckle.

...

He hung up the phone.

On the phone screen, the trending searches were still rising.

#When is Lu Zhixian's next song coming out#

This hashtag—who knows who pushed it to the top.