The class group chat was only the tip of the iceberg.
Compared to the tiny group chat, the forum at Qin Continent Art Academy was abuzz—
"The newcomer season has officially begun! Everyone, go check out senior Yao Huo's new song. It's called 'Life Like A Summer Flower.' Here are the links to various streaming platforms."
"This song is surprisingly good."
"As someone studying arrangement, I have to support senior. By the way, I have to say, senior really lucked out—this arrangement is on another level."
"Both the arrangement and the composition were done by the same person, this 'Xian Yu.' Damn, this guy is legit the real Maestro."
"The composition majors are downloading and supporting senior Yao Huo. P.S.: Not trying to toot our own horn, but this song? The Maestro totally carried."
"Looking forward to tomorrow's noon rankings. Wonder where 'Life Like A Summer Flower' will land?"
"Relax, with this quality, it's definitely not ranking low."
"Who on earth is Xian Yu? Never heard of him before."
"Company: What do you need for a singer? Maestro: As long as they have a mouth, they'll do."
"As a fellow vocal student, I don't mind being just a tool either. I just want to go all out under the Maestro's guidance!"
"A bunch of night owls. Why aren't y'all asleep yet?"
"The long night is coming. From now, I shall watch until my death. Tonight, and every night after."
"Watch your head. If you don't get to sleep, you're gonna drop dead soon."
"..."
Every November, the newcomer season is like a feast for students in the music department.
And if the seats at this feast happen to include alumni from campus, then it's even better.
For this reason, many students downloaded 'Life Like A Summer Flower' without even listening to it, trusting solely on the fact that senior Yao Huo graduated from Qin Art.
...
At 7:30 the next day.
Lin Yuan got up, washed, had breakfast in the cafeteria, and then strolled into the classroom without much rush.
The first class hadn't started yet.
Lin Yuan had already begun reading.
But today, the atmosphere felt a little different. His classmates weren't quietly playing on their phones like usual but were chatting loudly about something.
Lin Yuan frowned slightly.
The noise cut into Lin Yuan's ability to focus on his book.
Naturally, the more the discussion deepened, the harder it was to avoid overhearing snippets of their conversation despite trying.
"Have you listened to 'Life Like A Summer Flower' yet?"
The person asking sat right behind Lin Yuan.
"Of course I have! I stayed up until 2 a.m. last night for this newcomer season, listened to the song, downloaded it, and saved it. Now this song is blowing up on the school forum." A girl lamented her dark circles.
"The song is indeed solid; the composition quality is extremely high. It's worthy of the Maestro label people use for our field."
A bespectacled male classmate said proudly.
"Oh, please! Not every composer deserves the title Maestro. Take someone like you, for instance—artists wouldn't even accept you for free."
"This song's style isn't really my type, but I can admit the composition is impressive."
"Obviously. You electronic music junkies can't appreciate folk music."
"..."
So it was about 'Life Like A Summer Flower.'
Judging by this chatter, the song seemed to have gotten a pretty good response?
Lin Yuan's frown eased, and just like that, he forgave the disruption to his study.
The girl from earlier mentioned downloading the song; each download was worth a single yuan. The company took eighty cents, the "tool" got five cents, and Lin Yuan himself would make fifteen cents—
Suddenly, Lin Yuan felt that the panda-eyed girl who contributed her fifteen cents was quite pretty and charming after all.
...
November 1st, the first day of the newcomer season, was destined to be special.
Today.
All entertainment companies participating in the Qin Continent's newcomer season remained anxious, unable to relax until the fresh talent rankings officially updated at noon.
Even after the rankings dropped.
If their new artists didn't hit the performance benchmarks every company set internally, the tense atmosphere would persist for the next month—
Until the newcomer season wrapped up.
At Starlight Entertainment, the pressure felt even more suffocating, so much so that even coworkers greeted each other more softly than usual.
Especially in the music-related departments!
The underlying reason was that the company's performance in pushing new talents to the rankings had been subpar in recent years, drawing sharp criticism from the higher-ups.
The big boss had thrown fits over it more than once.
This had even led to a cut in quarterly bonuses for several related departments. To make life easier for everyone, the entire company sincerely hoped this year might finally turn things around.
Rumor had it:
Chief agent Zhao Jue made a military pledge to the higher-ups, swearing that this year, the company would crack the top three on the rookie rankings—or she'd voluntarily step down.
This was no minor matter.
If the pledge wasn't fulfilled and Zhao Jue got demoted, it'd be a significant shake-up for a company like Starlight.
After all, Zhao Jue held considerable power.
The rumor's main character, Zhao Jue, had locked herself in her office since morning, lying on her chair with her eyes shut.
*She fell into a state of self-imposed isolation, too afraid to check her phone or her computer, grappling with her own lack of confidence in this year's newcomers.*
"Beep, beep, beep, beep…"
Noon finally arrived.
Today, the alarm sounded sharper and more grating than ever, yanking Zhao Jue out of her isolated state.
"Time for execution."
Zhao Jue opened her eyes, sighed, took a deep breath, and then turned on her computer.
She wasn't the only one.
The entirety of Starlight Entertainment, perhaps even the entire music-related industry, had their sights set on the freshly updated official ranking:
The Fresh Talent Rankings.
But when everyone saw the first name on the list, a collective sigh rippled through the field, their emotions strangely aligned—
Fresh Talent Rankings, Number One:
'It's Love,' singer Qian Xingyu, composer Li Ran, company Sand Sea Entertainment.
Downloads: 88,500.
Ordinarily, companies fiercely compete for the top spot on this list, often sparking combative tensions.
But things were different this year.
A "newcomer" like Qian Xingyu was far too exceptional.
He had managed to debut and skyrocket to fame last month with his first TV series, arriving with built-in popularity.
Who could hope to match that?
Everybody just sighed: "With Qian Xingyu as their trump card, looks like Sand Sea Entertainment's lock on first place is iron-tight for the entire month."
Zhao Jue sighed too.
*Her sigh held envy and jealousy.*
She decided to look at the rankings from the bottom upward.
After all, the rankings only showed the top 100. It wouldn't take long to skim through them.
If the company's newcomers didn't crack the top 100?
What a joke. Starlight Entertainment was one of Qin Continent's top-tier entertainment companies. With such a staggering resource advantage, if a rookie couldn't even make it into the top 100, well, they definitely deserved to pack up and leave.
Zhao Jue's judgment wasn't that poor.
At rank 73, Zhao Jue spotted the first name from her company, causing her to frown slightly.
At rank 55, she spotted the second name, her brows furrowing deeper.
By rank 12, Zhao Jue had already seen eight company names.
Rank 11 belonged to someone outside the company.
Which meant—two names remained.
Two rookies entering the top 10 this year?
Biting her lip, Zhao Jue started scanning the top 10. At rank 9, she spotted the ninth name from the company.
Only one name was left now.
Rank 8… Rank 7… Rank 6… Rank 5…
Finally.
Zhao Jue found the tenth name.
Fresh Talent Rankings, Number Three:
'Life Like A Summer Flower,' singer Sun Yaohuo, composer Xian Yu, company Starlight Entertainment.
Downloads: 33,000.
Zhao Jue's eyes widened, fixating on the third position in the rankings. Her breathing grew rapid. *At this moment, she felt an overwhelming relief, as if narrowly escaping disaster.*
Top three!
It was top three!
As the chief agent, Zhao Jue naturally knew that Xian Yu was Lin Yuan's stage name. *She hadn't expected the one who rescued her from the brink of collapse would be the very person who had pushed her toward the edge—Lin Yuan.*
*Fate truly had a twisted sense of humor.*
No longer concerned with other names on the list, Zhao Jue's smile regained its confident gleam: "No one's getting me demoted now. As long as I hold onto Lin Yuan's third place, I'm safe!"
The consequences of being demoted were simply unthinkable.
Her big, detached villa still had loans on it.
Suddenly standing up from her desk, Zhao Jue dialed a number swiftly: "Get in touch with the heads of several music platforms immediately. I want the highest tier homepage placements Starlight can secure!"
"Understood… Congratulations, Ms. Zhao."
The voice on the other end seemed aware of the news.
Zhao Jue chuckled: "Thanks. You guys in the resources department better keep up the support. After all, this is only day one on the charts."
Day one rankings didn't guarantee final positions.
There were still 29 more days of competition ahead.
But for a powerhouse company like Starlight, defending a day one top-three spot was nearly bulletproof. If worse came to worst, they could always employ the Nine for One strategy as a safety net.
What's Nine for One?
That's when you strategically sacrifice resources for nine other songs in order to boost one high-performing song to maximum exposure. Smaller companies often employed this tactic when they had just one charting song in a season.
In general, Starlight didn't need such strategies—they weren't a small company, after all.
Having wrapped up the call, Zhao Jue seemed to recall something and dialed another number: "Ol' Zhou, is your composing department still hiring?"
"Stop joking around, Little Zhao."
The voice on the line was gruff: "Because of this Fresh Talent Rankings madness, the company made me hire a bunch of rookie composers. Do you really think throwing bodies at a problem like this will solve it? So spare me the trouble—I'm already swamped."
Zhao Jue smiled: "Not even if it's Xian Yu?"
The tone on the other end shifted instantly: "Ms. Zhao, where is Xian Yu? I'd personally sign him. Our composing team is urgently in need of someone like him!"