I Became an All-round Artist

"I admit defeat."

Jiang Kui's performance left Sun Yaohuo in awe. He had to give credit where it was due; she was truly a worthy opponent. But what Lin Yuan said next hit Sun Yaohuo even harder.

Lin Yuan, out of the blue, asked Jiang Kui, "Do you have any plans to release a new song?"

Thump! Thump!

Jiang Kui's heart raced. At first, she only wanted to impress Lin Yuan, not to let Sun Yaohuo take all the credit. She never imagined she would actually end up securing an opportunity for collaboration. In that moment, she finally understood why Sun Yaohuo had been working so hard to impress Lin Yuan. "I plan to release a new song after the new year," she said, "but I haven’t found the right piece yet..."

Sun Yaohuo's eyes burned with jealousy, his frustration mounting.

Lin Yuan nodded, "Do you have good lung capacity?"

Jiang Kui eagerly nodded, "Yes! I trained specifically for that during my vocal lessons!"

"What about the revenue split?"

That was Lin Yuan's real concern.

Jiang Kui, quick to catch on, responded without hesitation, "If I get another chance to work with you, I’m open to any arrangement. Whatever split you think is fair works for me!"

"Hmm..."

Lin Yuan slightly furrowed his brow. He really didn't like it when people left things vague, saying "whatever you think is fair." It threw the decision back on him. Too little, and he'd feel guilty. Too much, and he'd feel it was too generous.

Jiang Kui, waiting anxiously for Lin Yuan's reply, suddenly noticed the conversation had stopped. Her heart sank. Did she say something wrong?

At this point, Sun Yaohuo, despite being Jiang Kui’s rival, couldn’t resist helping her out. He casually interjected, "If junior here asked me to collaborate, I wouldn’t take any split."

After having dinner with Lin Yuan last time, Sun Yaohuo had learned a bit about what made Lin Yuan tick.

Jiang Kui quickly echoed, "Right, I don’t need any cut either!"

Hearing this, Lin Yuan relaxed. He wasn’t someone who would take advantage of others. "Alright, let’s stick to the usual split. I have a song that would suit you."

Lin Yuan was referring to Balloon. This song required a female singer with strong lung capacity, and Jiang Kui seemed like the perfect fit. As for the "usual split," it meant the singer would receive 0.5% of the revenue.

There was no way Jiang Kui would refuse. In fact, like Sun Yaohuo, she would’ve been happy to take nothing. Afraid Lin Yuan might change his mind, she nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, yes! That works!"

After the conversation, Jiang Kui glanced gratefully at Sun Yaohuo. She hadn’t realized that Lin Yuan had been deliberating over the revenue split.

Apparently, it worked!

Sun Yaohuo, who had only intended to give Jiang Kui a slight nudge, was surprised to see how well it played out. He realized that perhaps he, too, had a chance in the future.

...

The next day, Lin Yuan sent next month's manuscript to editor Yang Feng’s inbox. After all, the system had already sorted everything into volumes.

It was now late January, and colleges across the country were entering winter break. Students at the Qizhou Academy of Arts were all packing their things, ready to head home.

Lin Yuan wanted to go home as well, so on the last day before the break, he headed to the company to request time off from Old Zhou. According to his contract, whenever he wasn’t in class, he was required to work at the company. Skipping work without approval would count as absenteeism, and he'd get his pay docked. But if he requested leave, everything would be fine.

When Lin Yuan reached the supervisor’s office on the 10th floor of the composition department, he found it empty. He asked a colleague, Wu Yong, where Old Zhou was.

"He's usually on the 22nd floor. What do you need?"

"I need to request leave."

Wu Yong shook his head, "I’d forget about that if I were you. Normally, it’s not hard to request time off, but this time of year is different. A lot of people try to get leave before the new year, and Old Zhou shuts them all down. It’s the busiest time for our department, with many singers releasing new songs after the holiday."

"I’ll give it a try," Lin Yuan said, taking the elevator up to the 22nd floor.

Wu Yong, seeing Lin Yuan’s determination, didn’t say more. He figured Lin Yuan would soon realize how hard it was to get leave at this time of year.

When Lin Yuan reached Old Zhou’s office, he overheard a conversation from inside.

"Leave? No way! I don’t care if you’re a senior composer, I’m not making any exceptions! You know how many singers in the artist department are getting ready to release new songs after the holiday. If you’re thinking of slacking off now, forget it! You want leave? Fine, but not without giving me a quality song first!"

"Okay, I understand," a dejected composer replied as he left Old Zhou’s office.

Seeing Lin Yuan at the door, Old Zhou softened his tone a bit and forced a smile, "Lin Yuan, what brings you here?"

"I’d like to request leave," Lin Yuan replied.

Old Zhou’s smile faded instantly.

Hadn't Lin Yuan just seen what happened to the last person?

Clearing his throat, Old Zhou tried not to sound too harsh, "You’re on winter break now, right? According to your contract, you're supposed to be working during the break."

"Right."

Lin Yuan remembered what Old Zhou had said earlier. "But didn’t you just say that if we bring you a good song, we can take leave?"

Old Zhou nearly choked. "That’s true, but the song has to meet our standards. After all, many artists are planning to release singles or even albums after the holiday, so we need plenty of songs..."

"Will this one work?" Lin Yuan asked, sending Balloon to Old Zhou’s inbox right in front of him.

"A new song?"

Old Zhou stared at Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan nodded, "Yes, it’s new."

Without further words, Old Zhou put on his headphones and listened to the track.

When he finished, his eyes widened slightly.

The quality of this new song was quite good. While it wasn’t on the level of Big Fish, it was catchy enough. Was Lin Yuan’s creative output never-ending? Old Zhou had assumed Lin Yuan was running out of material, yet here he was with another decent song.

"Can I take leave now?" Lin Yuan asked.

Old Zhou nodded mechanically, "Sure... sure. Who’s going to sing this?"

"I’m giving it to Jiang Kui."

Jiang Kui? Old Zhou thought for a moment and nodded, "She does have plans for a new single and is looking for songs. Balloon seems like a good fit. She probably won’t turn it down."

"Okay."

"So, can I go now?" Lin Yuan asked.

Old Zhou could only laugh helplessly. "Fine, you can go. You’ve already done your work before the new year."

After all, there was nothing wrong with Balloon.

Back on the 10th floor, Wu Yong teased Lin Yuan as he returned, "How’d it go? I told you, there’s no way the boss would approve leave right now."

"I got the leave."

Lin Yuan replied while packing his things.

Wu Yong stood there, stunned for a few seconds, then broke into a smile, "No way! The boss was actually so easygoing this year? Ha, I’m going to try too!"

"Sure."

Lin Yuan kept packing his things.

A little while later, as Lin Yuan was about to leave, he ran into Wu Yong again. He asked casually, "So, did you get your leave?"

Wu Yong shot Lin Yuan a look full of resentment, "I got chewed out. You didn’t tell me you exchanged a new song for your leave!"

"Yeah."

Lin Yuan replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "You could do the same."

Wu Yong felt a bit offended. "Why would you think I have a song good enough to exchange for time off?"

Lin Yuan thought for a second. "I thought you could."

With that, Lin Yuan slung his backpack over his shoulder and happily left.

Wu Yong stood there, staring after him. Lin Yuan’s casual tone echoed in his mind, and for a brief moment, he wondered—was writing a decent song really that simple?

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