I Became an All-round Artist

For Lin Yuan, working in the composition department was merely a change of scenery for his exam preparation. His blatant review of exam materials during work hours didn’t draw any objections from the department—after all, self-improvement is part of the job for a composer, even if Lin Yuan’s study seemed a bit too basic.

 

After the weekend, Lin Yuan returned to campus and, in mid-November, officially faced his professional course exams!

 

In the exam room.

 

As the test papers were handed out, the invigilator’s gaze was as sharp as a knife. "There are cameras in the classroom, and my eyes are sharper than any camera. You all know the consequences of cheating."

 

The room fell silent.

 

Lin Yuan paid no attention to the invigilator's threats or boasts. He was well-prepared, and after a quick first scan of the questions, he felt confident. The final question on the paper was indeed the predicted topic: "Life as Short as Summer Flowers."

 

How could he possibly lose?

 

Lin Yuan was pleased and wrote swiftly, as if guided by a divine hand.

 

The exam was scheduled for an hour, but Lin Yuan finished the entire paper, including the "Life as Short as Summer Flowers" question, in about forty minutes. He then spent ten minutes reviewing his answers. Confident in his performance, he stood up to hand in his paper.

 

As he stepped out of the classroom, bathed in the midday sun, Lin Yuan was already looking forward to his reward chest.

 

Meanwhile, as Lin Yuan eagerly awaited another bronze chest, Qian Xingyu’s agent, Old Liu, was feeling uneasy. Today, the newcomer chart showed that the top two songs were neck and neck!

 

First place, "Is It Love?" with 225,000 downloads.

 

Second place, "Life as Short as Summer Flowers," with 214,000 downloads.

 

Since last week, Star Entertainment had suddenly poured a lot of money into promoting "Life as Short as Summer Flowers," clearly aiming to dethrone the top song.

 

This made Old Liu nervous. He immediately alerted Qian Xingyu, urging him to ramp up the promotion of his song.

 

Qian Xingyu, however, was nonchalant. The gap between the two songs was still significant. Although the growth rate of "Life as Short as Summer Flowers" was higher, Qian Xingyu, as a special newcomer, didn’t really see himself as one.

 

But today, seeing "Life as Short as Summer Flowers" closing the gap, Qian Xingyu began to panic. "How is he catching up so fast?"

 

"This song is something else," Old Liu gritted his teeth. "No worries, you have a live event scheduled soon. During the live stream, rally your fans. With your influence, you should be able to widen the gap again."

 

"Okay, okay," Qian Xingyu, now much more cooperative than last week, agreed.

 

Half an hour later, Qian Xingyu started his live stream.

 

This live stream was a big deal, with significant resources invested by the company. The audience was sizable, including both fans and many casual viewers from the platform. It was indeed an excellent platform for promotion.

 

After greeting the viewers, Qian Xingyu couldn’t wait to start promoting his song: "Have you all listened to my first song, 'Is It Love?' It’s currently number one on the newcomer chart! If you haven’t heard it yet, make sure to check it out. And to all my stars out there, don’t forget to download it to support me."

 

"Support!"

 

"Absolutely!"

 

"Go, Xingyu! The stars will always have your back!"

 

Seeing the flood of supportive comments, Qian Xingyu’s smile grew. It seemed like everything would be fine now.

 

But wait, he couldn't let his guard down. The song from Star Entertainment was indeed something special. Qian Xingyu decided to play it safe, dedicating the remaining time of his live stream, aside from fulfilling the event's requirements, primarily to promoting his song.

 

However, just five minutes before the live stream was set to end, a comment suddenly caught Qian Xingyu’s eye: "Qian Xingyu, you've been overtaken."

 

Where did this troll come from? Why are they trying to tarnish my reputation out of nowhere? Qian Xingyu felt a bit annoyed.

 

But before long, that troll was muted by the moderator.

 

However, just a few seconds later, a flood of similar comments started pouring in. There were so many that the moderator couldn’t keep up with muting them:

 

"Qian Xingyu, you've been overtaken."

 

"There's a new number one on the chart."

 

"Qian Xingyu, you're in second place now."

 

"Oh wow, 'Life as Short as Summer Flowers' is amazing."

 

"Epic fail, epic fail."

 

"Surprised? Shocked?"

 

"The second place just overtook the first."

 

This time, Qian Xingyu realized these weren’t trolls—they were talking about the newcomer chart.

 

Overtaken? I'm in second place now?

 

He froze in front of the camera.

Old Liu, the agent, knew that continuing the live stream would turn into a disaster. He immediately rushed to the camera and smiled, saying, "Thank you all, Xingyu's live stream has ended!"

With that, Old Liu had someone shut down the live stream right away.

"Phew."

Patting his chest, Old Liu turned to look at Qian Xingyu, only to find that Qian Xingyu had already opened the newcomer chart on his phone and was checking the latest data:

First Place: "Life as Short as Summer Flowers," 233,000 downloads.

Second Place: "Is It Love?" 231,100 downloads.

Indeed, the first-place spot had been overtaken, and it happened right while Qian Xingyu was live streaming—

"Live stream crash."

This phrase flashed through Old Liu's mind.

This was a huge blow to the artist.

He opened his mouth, wanting to comfort the young Qian Xingyu, but saw Qian Xingyu staring at him with a distant look and asked:

"Old Liu, do you think I still have a chance?"

For some reason, Old Liu felt a chill in the air and forced himself to say, "The company probably won't invest too much money for the newcomer season. This isn't your fault. We've done everything we can."

…

At the moment when Xingmang overtook Shanhai, many people received the news immediately, and there was a flurry of discussions in the industry.

"Really overtook?"

"That's ruthless!"

"Xingmang's latest move is genius."

"This year, Xingmang is probably the top choice for fresh graduates from elite schools."

"How did Feilong lose?"

"…"

On the day Qian Xingyu first topped the newcomer chart, no one expected that the real big shot was hiding in the less conspicuous third place.

Meanwhile, in Xingmang’s composition department,

Everyone's eyes involuntarily looked towards the empty seat by the window.

They seemed to faintly see "Xian Yu" softly reciting sophomore basic courses again in their minds.

…

The next day, Lin Yuan was walking to the classroom to check his grades when he suddenly received a call from Zhao Jue : "Congratulations, you're number one on the newcomer chart!"

"I already know."

Since yesterday, people in the dorm and class had been discussing Senior Sun Yaohuo's song topping the newcomer chart. It was impossible for Lin Yuan not to know.

"Good job, keep it up."

Although Lin Yuan’s reaction was very calm, after a few previous experiences, Zhao Jue  had become accustomed to it. She only encouraged Lin Yuan with a few words before hanging up the phone, then danced around happily in her office.

Upon arriving at the classroom,

As the exam papers and report cards were handed out, Lin Yuan heard the system's voice in his mind: "Your grades have entered the top 25 in your class. Congratulations, host, for completing the system task!"

Immediately after, subtitles appeared before Lin Yuan's eyes:

[Task Reward: One Bronze Treasure Chest]

Thus, Lin Yuan now had two unopened bronze treasure chests. He decided to save them, just like saving money—quite enjoyable.

Looking at the report card,

Lin Yuan had exceeded the system task this time; his grade had risen to 13th in the class!

"Mainly because the questions suited me," Lin Yuan thought to himself.

The exam had even included "Life as Short as Summer Flowers," practically giving Lin Yuan easy points.

But when Lin Yuan saw his own exam paper, he was stunned.

For the last question, the analysis of "Life as Short as Summer Flowers," worth 20 points, he only scored 8!

His high overall score was because he scored well on other questions.

A background music in his mind played:

"Little friend… Do you have many questions…"

Lin Yuan couldn't help but glance at a few classmates' papers beside him, only to find that almost everyone else had scored over ten points on the "Life as Short as Summer Flowers" question, while he had the lowest score.

Lin Yuan was looking at others' exam papers.

Others were also looking at Lin Yuan's exam paper.

Mainly because Lin Yuan’s grades were not outstanding usually, but this time he had risen to 13th in the class, so everyone was a bit surprised.

"Lin Yuan, impressive."

"I've seen you've been studying hard recently. The results are amazing—you ranked 13th."

"Huh?"

"The earlier questions had very high accuracy, but for the last question, 'Life as Short as Summer Flowers,' your score was really a bit low. Otherwise, you could have been in the top ten."

"What a pity."

"It seems you didn't prepare for this question in advance. Didn't the teacher say it was likely to be on the exam?"

"You don't understand this song."

The classmates shook their heads, feeling it was a pity to lose points on this question. Some even advised Lin Yuan to listen carefully to "Life as Short as Summer Flowers" again, to better understand what the lyricist and composer intended…

Thus, Lin Yuan's smile froze instantly.

He stared blankly at the big red crosses on his exam paper regarding "Life as Short as Summer Flowers," sinking into deep thought.

This time, even the system couldn't watch any longer and couldn't help but actively comfort Lin Yuan: "This question shows that Pu Shu doesn't understand 'Life as Short as Summer Flowers.'"

Lin Yuan: "Then who understands?"

System: "The grading teacher."