I Became an All-round Artist

The Next Day.

8:00 AM.

As soon as Lin Yuan arrived at the office, Mr. Zhou called him into his office: "Qi Zhou’s Dance of the Fish and Dragon order is finalized. They’ve decided to officially use your composition, and their movie is set to premiere next week."

"Next week?"

Isn’t that a bit too soon?

Mr. Zhou explained, "Originally, they didn’t need to rush, but the competition in Qi Zhou’s film market is intense. They probably adjusted the schedule last minute to avoid clashing with a blockbuster. But since their post-production was already completed and the promotion was ongoing, all they needed was a great track to match the film. Now that the track is ready, it's normal for them to go ahead with the release."

"Oh."

"After the movie's premiere, our company will also officially release the soundtrack for The Big Fish. I’ll talk to the resources department to get you some prime recommendations. No matter how the movie performs, I think this song will be a hit."

"Thank you."

Lin Yuan left the office.

Twenty minutes later, Mr. Zhou also stepped out of his office, clapping his hands loudly to grab the attention of the department members.

Someone asked, "Boss, what's up?"

With a smile, Mr. Zhou announced, "Dance of the Fish and Dragon has been finalized. Qi Zhou has signed the contract with our company, so there’s no need for you all to force yourselves to compose any more tracks."

"It’s a done deal?"

The team exchanged surprised glances and began discussing:

"Who did it?"

"That’s impressive!"

"Someone actually closed a deal that even a dozen ace composers couldn’t?"

"And they did it so quickly too! How long has it been?"

"Which of our department’s big shots was it?"

"Could it have been one of the top composers?"

"......"

Someone even teased Lin Yuan, "Looks like your five million is out the window. Seems like the Dance of the Fish and Dragon order wasn’t meant for you."

"Haha."

Wu Yong patted Lin Yuan on the shoulder, playfully saying, "Better luck next time."

Everyone burst into laughter.

They all turned to Mr. Zhou, hoping for answers: "Who in our department pulled this off? Boss, stop keeping us in suspense."

"It was..."

Mr. Zhou paused for dramatic effect, but before he could speak, a voice came from outside:

"Who ordered the coffee?"

Lin Yuan raised his hand, "I did."

He had placed the order just after leaving Mr. Zhou’s office.

Several delivery guys entered, each holding a bunch of coffee cups.

One of them addressed Lin Yuan, "There are eighty-six cups in total. Please check your order."

Eighty-six cups.

The exact number of people present in the tenth-floor composing department today.

Lin Yuan nodded, "Thanks."

Seeing so much coffee, Wu Yong was surprised, "Lin Yuan, why did you order so much coffee? Did you buy out the coffee shop?"

"No."

Lin Yuan was brief, "Treating everyone."

Wu Yong burst out laughing, "What’s the occasion? Why so generous all of a sudden, treating us to coffee?"

As if realizing something.

Wu Yong’s laughter abruptly stopped.

The others also quieted down, looking at Lin Yuan with suspicion.

Clearly, they remembered that someone had joked about Lin Yuan treating everyone to coffee if he landed the Qi Zhou order. Could it be…

"I made a promise."

Lin Yuan confirmed their suspicions. Keeping his word was his principle, even though these coffees cost him a lot.

Huh?

Huh?

The members of the tenth-floor composing department looked at each other in stunned silence.

"What are you all waiting for?" Mr. Zhou said, "Why are you all standing around?"

Though the moment he had prepared was disrupted by the delivery guys, the scene before him was rather amusing.

"Damn!"

After a moment of extreme silence, the department erupted in excitement. Lin Yuan became the center of attention, and the composing department filled with exclamations:

"It was really Lin Yuan?"

"Did you bless your calculator or something?"

"This isn’t a newcomer, this is a god!"

"Lin Yuan… no, Teacher Xianyu, I’m not worthy!"

"Whoever said Lin Yuan was clueless, step forward! This guy is clearly the new star of our composing department."

"Stop pretending, Old Wang, it was you who said it."

"I didn’t… How could you make such baseless accusations… You guys are the clueless ones, your whole families are clueless!"

"Xianyu, forever the best!"

Everyone looked at Lin Yuan differently now. No one could simply consider him a lucky newcomer anymore.

This newcomer was seriously impressive!

Of course, they didn’t forget to grab their coffee.

Lin Yuan winced a bit. These coffees had maxed out his credit card. How he would survive the rest of the month was now a serious concern. He really needed to plan better and remember how much he needed to budget each month. Lesson learned.

...

The Dance of the Fish and Dragon order had been a tough challenge for the entire tenth-floor composing department.

What if they hadn’t been able to close the deal?

Clearly, Mr. Zhou wouldn’t have gone as far as asking another company for help, but in the end, he might have had to involve the other floors.

After all, Mr. Zhou wasn’t just in charge of the tenth floor; he was the head of the entire composing department. He had to consider the department as a whole.

No one on the tenth floor wanted to see that happen.

Even though the company’s composing department was one unit and Mr. Zhou was everyone’s boss, there was still competition between the floors.

The "Dance of Fish and Dragons" order from Qizhou belonged to the tenth floor. If it had been completed by another floor, it would have made the tenth floor look incompetent. The tenth-floor composition team would certainly have a hard time holding their heads high in front of their colleagues from other floors.

From this perspective, Lin Yuan was a hero for the tenth floor.

Because of this, when the workday ended that evening, Zheng Han, a senior who graduated from the same school as Lin Yuan and had been quite friendly toward him during meetings, invited him out for dinner. Afterward, Zheng Han even personally drove Lin Yuan back to school.

“Thank you,” Zheng Han suddenly said as Lin Yuan was about to get out of the car.

Lin Yuan was taken aback.

Zheng Han smiled. “At the last meeting, I told you that there were over a dozen top composers on the tenth floor who had their submissions rejected. But there’s one thing I didn’t tell you.”

“What’s that?”

“I was the fourteenth composer whose submission was rejected.”

“So, I took your order.”

“If you had taken an order I could have fulfilled, that would have been stealing. But since I couldn’t complete it, it’s because I wasn’t skilled enough. Still, I didn’t want to see the tenth floor’s order being handled by another floor. That’s why I’m thanking you on behalf of everyone on the tenth floor.”

Lin Yuan responded honestly, “I did it for myself.”

Zheng Han’s smile remained. “Everyone does it for themselves. But if this order had failed, the number of orders assigned to the tenth floor would have decreased, making things difficult for all of us.”

“Oh.”

So that’s why the tenth floor was so unwilling to let go of the "Dance of Fish and Dragons" order. It wasn’t just about honor and pride; it was about tangible benefits.

In other words, the more orders a floor receives, the more opportunities its composers have. If the "Dance of Fish and Dragons" order had originally been assigned to another floor, Lin Yuan wouldn’t have had much of a chance to secure it—unless the other floor couldn’t handle it either.

But the composition department is full of talent. Most orders assigned to a floor are completed without issue; it’s rare for an entire floor to struggle with an order.

Zheng Han continued, “That’s why many floors have a top-tier composer, or ‘Qupapa,’ to lead them. Some floors don’t have a Qupapa, but they have more top composers. So, in terms of overall strength, each floor is pretty evenly matched.”

Lin Yuan nodded. It seemed like there was intense competition within the company.

Zheng Han seemed to read Lin Yuan’s thoughts and added, “It’s not just our company that’s competitive—the entire industry is. There are so many people in Qizhou working in music. I look forward to seeing you become one of our tenth floor’s top composers.”

“Hmm,” Lin Yuan nodded again.