Lin Yuan's office work at the composition department was essentially just revising for his exams in a different location. Nobody in the department said anything about his open exam preparations during work hours—
After all, that can also be counted as work.
Composers must always strive to improve themselves, huh.
Though Lin Yuan's improvement seemed a tad too basic.
After the weekend was over, Lin Yuan returned to campus and in mid-November, he finally faced his professional exams!
Inside the examination hall.
As the papers were handed out, the invigilator's gaze was sharpened like a sword: "This classroom has cameras, and my eyes are even more incisive than them. You should all be very clear on the consequences of cheating."
"..."
The examination hall fell silent.
Lin Yuan did not pay any attention to the invigilator's threat and boasting. After all, he had revised thoroughly, and after a quick glance at the paper, he felt confident.
Because the last major topic on the paper was "Life Like A Summer Flower", just as his professor had predicted.
How could the dragon on one's face lose!?
Lin Yuan felt happy and his pen glided on paper as if guided by a deity.
The exam lasted for an hour, and he completed the entire paper, including "Life Like A Summer Flower", in about forty minutes. After reviewing his answers for a further ten minutes, Lin Yuan felt he was secure and proceeded to hand in his paper.
The moment he walked out of the classroom.
Basking in the midday sunlight, Lin Yuan was already looking forward to the treasure chest.
As Lin Yuan expected another Bronze Treasure Chest, Qian Xingyu's manager, Ol' Liu, was bothered today.
Because the download figures of the top two songs on the Newcomer's Chart were incredibly close!
The top song "It's Love, Yeah" had 225,000 downloads.
The second, "Life Like A Summer Flower", had 214,000 downloads.
From last week, Starlight Entertainment suddenly poured a big investment into promoting "Life Like A Summer Flower", with the clear intention to snatch the first place.
Ol' Liu felt a sense of crisis at that time and promptly notified Qian Xingyu to intensify the promotion of his song.
However, Qian Xingyu didn't take it seriously.
The gap between the two songs was quite big. Although "Life Like A Summer Flower" saw a higher increase in numbers, Qian Xingyu, being a special case rookie, didn't consider himself a rookie.
Until today.
Having watched "Life Like A Summer Flower" numbers rapidly rise, with the gap between the two songs diminishing significantly, even the confident Qian Xingyu began to panic, "How did he catch up so quickly?"
"That song is damn eerie."
Ol' Liu gritted his teeth, "No worries, we have a live streaming event later, right? You can call on your fans during the event, and given your influence, we should be able to pull ahead again."
"Alright, alright."
Unlike his aloofness last week, today, Qian Xingyu was very cooperative.
Half an hour later.
Qian Xingyu began his live stream.
The live streaming event was an expensive affair; after much effort from the company, the event pulled in a considerable audience. Not only were his fans present, but also casual viewers from the platform. It was indeed a fantastic platform for promotion.
After greeting the audience.
Qian Xingyu eagerly began his promotional program, "Has everyone listened to my first song 'It's Love, Yeah'? It's currently on top of the Newcomer's Chart, you know! Those who haven't listened yet, don't forget to check it out, and all my stars, also don't forget to support Xingyu by downloading the song."
"Support!"
"Definitely supporting!"
"Xingyu, keep going! Your stars will always stand with you!"
"..."
Seeing the numerous pop-up comments appearing in front of him, Qian Xingyu's smile broadened. Things should go smoothly now, right?
No, he couldn't let his guard down.
Starlight's song was indeed kind of eerie. Qian Xingyu decided to be cautious. Therefore, for the next few dozen minutes, except for interacting with fans and audience as per the event's requirements, he mainly focused on promoting his song.
However.
With five minutes remaining before the live stream ended, Qian Xingyu saw a comment pop up, "Qian Xingyu is busted."
Where was this malicious fan coming from?
Why frame me for no reason?
Qian Xingyu felt slightly angered.
The malicious fan was quickly banned by the admin.
But after a few seconds, new comments began to appear in large numbers, which even the admin couldn't ban in time:
"Qian Xingyu is busted."
"Underdog took the top spot on the Newcomer's Chart."
"Qian Xingyu, you're ranked second now."
"Oh, hell, 'Life Like A Summer Flower' is lit."
"Overthrown, he's been overthrown."
"Surprise, surprise?"
"Your first place has been overtaken by the second."
"..."
It was then that Qian Xingyu realized. Those weren't personal attacks; those comments were all about the Newcomer's Chart.
I've been busted?
Am I the second now?
He suddenly froze in front of the camera.
Manager Ol' Liu knew things would turn disastrous if they continued to stream. He rushed in front of the camera and smiled, "Thank you, everybody, that's the end of Xingyu's live stream!"
With that, Old Liu had the live stream shut down immediately.
"Whew."
Pounding his chest, Old Liu turned to look at Qian Xingyu, only to find him already checking the latest rankings on Newcomers Chart using his phone:
In first place, "Life Like A Summer Flower", with a download count of 233,000.
In second place, "It's Love, Yeah", with a download count of 231,100.
The first place had indeed exploded. And it happened while Qian Xingyu was still live streaming ——
"Streaming disaster."
This phrase appeared in Old Liu's mind.
It was a huge blow to the artists.
Old Liu opened his mouth, trying to comfort the young Qian Xingyu, but he saw Qian Xingyu staring at him with a deep gaze, asking:
"Old Liu, do you think I still stand a chance?"
For some reason, Old Liu felt the air go cold. He braced himself and said, "The company probably won't invest too much money for the newbies. It's not your fault, we've done what we could."
...
The moment Starlight overtook Sand Sea, many people received the news instantly, causing a wave of discussion in the industry.
"Has it really risen to the top?"
"That's too fierce!"
"What a show by Starlight."
"Starlight is probably the first choice for recent graduates from all elite colleges this year."
"How did Dragon Rider lose?"
"..."
When Qian Xingyu claimed the top spot on the Newcomers Chart on his first day, no one had ever thought that the real boss was hidden in the not so noticeable third place.
Meanwhile, in Starlight's songwriting department.
Everyone's gazes were unanimously fixed on the empty seat by the window.
They seemed to once again see the image of "Xian Yu" quietly reciting sophomore foundational courses in their minds.
...
The next day, Lin Yuan was on his way to the classroom to check his results when he received a call from Zhao Jue: "Congratulations, you're first on the Newcomers chart!"
"I know."
Since yesterday, people in the dormitory and his class had been continuously talking about senior Sun Yao Huo's song topping the Newcomers' chart. It would have been hard for Lin Yuan not to know.
"Not bad, keep up the good work."
Although Lin Yuan's reaction was rather mild, Zhao Jue had gotten used to it from past experiences. After encouraging Lin Yuan a few times, he hung up the phone and danced happily in his office.
On arriving at the classroom.
The moment the test papers and report cards were handed out, a voice rang in Lin Yuan's mind: "Your scores are now within the top twenty-five in the class. Congratulations on completing the task assigned by the System!"
Next, a subtitle appeared before Lin Yuan's eyes:
[Task Reward: One Bronze Treasure Box]
With that, Lin Yuan now had two unopened Bronze Treasure Boxes. He decided to save them up like he'd save money. It was indeed fun.
He checked his report card.
This time, Lin Yuan had gone beyond the requirements of the system's task. His scores had impressively made it to the thirteenth position in his class!
"The questions were just suitable for me," Lin Yuan thought to himself.
The exam had "Life Like A Summer Flower", it was practically handing Lin Yuan free marks.
But when Lin Yuan looked at his test paper, he was stunned.
The last question was about interpreting "Life Like A Summer Flower", a full score of twenty, but he had only scored eight!
His high score was due to his high scoring rate for the other questions.
A background music appeared in his mind:
Child ... do you have lots of questions ...
Lin Yuan couldn't help but glance at his classmates' test papers. Most of them had scored more than ten points on the "Life Like A Summer Flower" question. He had scored the least.
As Lin Yuan looked at others' papers,
Others were also looking at his.
It was mainly because Lin Yuan's usual scores were not remarkable, but this time he had made it to the thirteenth place in the class, so everyone was quite surprised.
"Lin Yuan, you're amazing."
"You've been studying hard recently, and it really paid off. You got the thirteenth place!"
"Huh?"
"You've scored high on the previous questions, but your score on the last question, 'Life Like A Summer Flower', is a bit low. Otherwise, you could've made it to the top ten."
"What a pity."
"It seems you didn't prepare well for this question. The teacher did mention that 'Life Like A Summer Flower' would most likely be in the exam."
"You don't understand this song."
The classmates shook their heads, feeling the lost points on this question were a big pity. Some even suggested that Lin Yuan listen to "Life Like A Summer Flower" carefully to understand what the songwriter was trying to express.
Therefore, Lin Yuan's smile froze on his face.
He stared blankly at the big red crosses on his exam paper next to the question about "Life Like A Summer Flower", lost in thought.
This time even the System couldn't bear watching and consoled Lin Yuan: "Even Artist Pu doesn't understand 'Life Like A Summer Flower'."
"So who does understand?" Lin Yuan asked.
"The teacher who marked the paper," the System replied.