I Became an All-round Artist

The group chat was almost killed off by Lin Yuan and Zheng Jing—

After Lin Yuan and Zheng Jing finished their conversation, the chat remained silent for a full two hours.

And it wasn’t just in the group chat. Even within the department, many people were sneaking glances at Lin Yuan, their expressions a bit strange. Clearly, these people were also members of the Xingmang Composers Group and had seen Lin Yuan’s messages in the chat.

“You’ve unwittingly offended a lot of people,” Wu Yong couldn’t help but kindly remind Lin Yuan.

Although he found Lin Yuan’s way of speaking in the chat a bit inappropriate, having seen how seriously Lin Yuan typed, he didn’t think Lin Yuan was trying to draw attention on purpose.

“Why?” Lin Yuan was puzzled.

Faced with Lin Yuan’s confusion, Wu Yong didn’t know how to explain and could only offer a wry smile: “Maybe a lot of people didn’t like the way you talked to Crystal Jie.”

“Why?” Lin Yuan still didn’t understand.

Wu Yong could only shrug helplessly: “I can only say, you’re a bit different from others.”

“Oh.”

This time, Lin Yuan didn’t ask further, although he still couldn’t understand why being different from others would offend anyone.

“It’s not a big deal. At least here in the tenth-floor composing department, everyone is still friendly towards you,” Wu Yong reassured, worried that Lin Yuan’s mentality might be affected. “Besides, we’re all artists; we don’t have too many petty thoughts. No one will trip you up just because they don’t like you. You should work hard. You’re only a sophomore and you’ve already composed a song like ‘Life Like Summer Flowers,’ which shows you have great potential! When you create more good songs in the future, everyone will understand. In Blue Star, it’s always your achievements that speak for you.”

“Okay.”

Lin Yuan nodded.

Seeing that Lin Yuan’s mindset wasn’t too affected, Wu Yong felt somewhat relieved. However, even though he had comforted Lin Yuan, he knew deep down that creating a song of the caliber of “Life Like Summer Flowers” wasn’t something that could be done easily.

Everyone has moments of inspiration.

It’s uncertain when Lin Yuan might create another song of this level. He might even never surpass “Life Like Summer Flowers” in his entire life, and the song could become his only notable work—a common occurrence in the industry.

If that’s the case, then topping the rookie chart might be the peak of Lin Yuan’s composing career.

Just then, Old Zhou suddenly walked in from the doorway, his face looking a bit grim and his voice carrying a hint of anger: “All of you, stop what you’re doing and come to the conference room for a meeting!”

After speaking, Old Zhou was the first to enter the conference room next door, slamming the door behind him with a loud bang.

“What’s going on?”

“Who upset the boss?”

“Could it be related to what Lin Yuan said in the group chat…”

“I don’t know, but I rarely see the boss in such a bad mood.”

“Although Lin Yuan’s remarks in the chat were a bit inappropriate, it shouldn’t have escalated to this point, right? After all, he’s just a sophomore. It’s normal for him to lack some experience in dealing with people.”

“That’s true.”

“Stop guessing and let’s go to the meeting.”

The sound of chairs scraping against the floor filled the room as the people from the composing department got up one after another and followed Old Zhou into the conference room.

Lin Yuan also entered the conference room.

However, some people, worried that Old Zhou’s anger was directed at Lin Yuan’s remarks in the chat, avoided sitting near Lin Yuan to prevent any collateral damage.

Wu Yong hesitated for a moment, then sat down to Lin Yuan’s left.

Next, a man with long hair sat to Lin Yuan’s right, and he proactively extended his hand towards Lin Yuan: “My name is Zheng Han, a 2020 graduate of the Composition Department at Qizhou Art Academy.”

“Hello, Senior.”

Lin Yuan politely shook hands with him. Although he wasn’t very talkative, he could still pick up on certain social cues.

“Is everyone here?”

Old Zhou asked in a deep voice: “I’ve gathered you all to talk about something. The soundtrack for ‘Dance of Fish and Dragon’ has been sent back again.”

“What?”

The crowd was stunned.

It seemed Old Zhou’s anger had nothing to do with Lin Yuan.

“So, what do you all think we should do?” Old Zhou’s sharp gaze swept across the room: “This is a job for your team on the tenth floor, but don’t make me give the assignment to another team.”

No one dared to meet Old Zhou’s gaze.

But since Old Zhou had asked for opinions, they couldn’t just play dead. Avoiding his eyes, they started offering their thoughts hesitantly:

“Boss, isn’t ‘Dance of Fish and Dragon’ asking for too much? It’s not even a top-tier project, just a medium-budget animated film.”

“This is the fourteenth time they’ve rejected our work, isn’t it?”

“Are they expecting a master-level composer from our floor to take on this job?”

“The problem is, none of the master composers on our floor would be interested in this project.”

“If it comes to that, maybe we should get other floors involved, or just let them take the project elsewhere. There are plenty of talented composers in Qizhou, like those at Sand Sea and Shining Silver.”

“Would the company even agree to that? If someone like Sand Sea or Shining Silver gets the job done, it would make Xingmang look incompetent. It’s better to let other floors help out instead.”

“...”

Lin Yuan’s expression remained blank.

He had no idea what everyone was discussing.

Since Wu Yong had been assigned to mentor Lin Yuan, he explained: “Here’s the situation: there’s a large animated film in Qizhou called ‘Dance of Fish and Dragon.’ The post-production is almost done, but they still need a core soundtrack, so they commissioned Xingmang to create it. This task eventually landed on our tenth floor, but our team has already produced fourteen songs for them, and they’ve rejected them all!”

“The key point is…”

Zheng Han, on Lin Yuan’s right, continued: “The fourteen songs that were rejected were all composed by the top talents on our floor. While these people may not be at the level of a master composer, the quality of their work is definitely not low. Many big-name singers usually collaborate with these top talents.”

Lin Yuan understood.

But he chose to remain silent. If so many talented people on the tenth floor couldn’t satisfy this client, he didn’t think he could succeed either—even though he did have some songs in mind.

For projects where specific music is required, the mood of the song must align with the atmosphere of the film. If someone is making a deeply emotional romance movie and you hand them a rap or rock song, no matter how good your music is, it won’t work.

“Stop wasting time,”

Old Zhou rubbed his temples in frustration. "Let's treat this like a desperate situation. Everyone, give 'Dance of the Fish and Dragon' a try. The deadline is one month. I'll send you the client's requirements. Maybe someone will get inspired. If not, according to company policy, this job will have to go to another department."

Inspiration is a tricky thing.

Just because a top composer worked on a piece doesn't mean it's the best. Sometimes, a composer with less impressive track records might suddenly get a burst of inspiration and create a song that the client loves.

This happens occasionally in the music industry.

It's like how Lin Yuan, who’s only in his second year of college, managed to write "Life Like Summer Flowers."

His natural talent for composing is one thing, but it’s also likely that he captured the right inspiration at the right moment, leading to the creation of that song.

This is why Wu Yong believes Lin Yuan might not be able to write something as good as "Life Like Summer Flowers" again in the future.

Because inspiration is a matter of chance!

Old Zhou is casting a wide net because he has no other choice. The tenth floor has already sent out almost all their top composers. He can't really ask a music master to step in, can he?

Well, it’s not impossible.

But it would cost more!

It’s likely that the budget for the movie “Dance of the Fish and Dragon” is limited. The offer from Qizhou isn’t enough to justify bringing in a top composer.

Soon, everyone received a sheet of paper with the music requirements for "Dance of the Fish and Dragon."

Lin Yuan got one too.

Due to confidentiality concerns, "Dance of the Fish and Dragon" only provided a general outline of the story:

It’s a fantasy story about a girl who saved a fish many years ago. Years later, the girl and her family find themselves in danger, and that fish has since crossed the Dragon Gate and transformed into a powerful white dragon. The dragon and the girl reunite...

The music requirements were only threefold:

• Ethereal
• Evocative
• Beautiful

As soon as they saw the requirements, a chorus of groans filled the meeting room.

“Could the client be any more vague? Ethereal, evocative, beautiful? That’s way too broad!”

“I can’t seem to catch any specific direction.”

“And the time frame is too short! Just one month? I can’t compose anything at my pace within a month.”

“A fantasy story… should the music style be more imaginative?”

“It involves both fish and dragons, so maybe it should feel like soaring through the sky? Adding some oboes might work.”

“I think it needs to be tragic and melancholic. Maybe add some bamboo flute elements?”

“Let’s stop guessing. This is too hard; I can’t figure it out.”

“These aren’t the main issues! The real problem is that we’ve already heard the previous rejected pieces, and they were good! But Qizhou still sent them back, which means the feeling they want hasn’t been perfectly captured yet.”

“…”

For composers, creating something ethereal, evocative, and beautiful isn’t that difficult.

But creating a piece so good it touches the heart is no easy task.

It’s like asking for a song that’s supposed to be really energetic and intense.

Everyone here could probably write a song that’s both energetic and intense, but out of a thousand such songs, maybe only one or two would truly make someone feel a surge of adrenaline.

Lin Yuan, however, had an idea.

Aside from his piano piece, he had two other songs.

One was "Combustible and Explosive," which was definitely not suitable as it didn’t match the required mood.

But what about his other song, "Big Fish"?

The style of that song seems to fit the requirements.

Could the system have predicted this?

While contemplating, Lin Yuan overheard Wu Yong complaining, “The clients at Qizhou are impossible! A mere five million budget, and they expect one of our top composers to take the job? If they’re not offering a price that could impress a music master, they shouldn’t be setting such high expectations.”

Lin Yuan quickly asked, “What did you just say?”

Wu Yong paused, “If they’re not offering a price that could impress a music master, they shouldn’t set such high expectations?”

“The sentence before that!”

“Do they expect our music master to step in?”

“Before that!”

“A mere five million budget…”

That was it. Confirming the information he wanted, Lin Yuan nodded vigorously and quickly grabbed the calculator on the table.

“Zero it out!”

The loud beep of the calculator cut through the complaints in the meeting room, drawing everyone’s attention, including that of Old Zhou, the supervisor.

Lin Yuan, however, was focused on his calculations. As the beeps from the calculator filled the room, he continued pressing the keys rapidly:

“5,000,000 times 0.2 times 2 divided by 3 equals 666,666.666666667.”

The room fell silent.

Only the sound of the calculator could be heard.

Everyone knew what Lin Yuan was calculating.

Precisely because they knew, their expressions grew more peculiar in the silence.

A cut of over six hundred thousand?

When the calculation was done, Lin Yuan happily turned off the calculator, looked up at Old Zhou, and said clearly:

“I’ll take the job.”