For Lin Yuan, working in the composition department was basically just a change of location to do some exam prep, and at the office, no one really had a problem with him openly reviewing for his exams—
After all, it could be considered part of his work.
Composers need to improve themselves, right?
Though Lin Yuan's form of "improvement" was a bit basic.
After the weekend, Lin Yuan returned to campus, officially facing his professional course exam in mid-November!
Inside the exam hall.
The test papers were handed out, and the invigilator's sharp gaze cut through the room like a blade, "The classroom has cameras, and my eyes are more precise than any camera. You all know the consequences of cheating."
"..."
The exam hall fell silent.
Lin Yuan paid no attention to the invigilator's warnings or self-praise. *After all, he was well-prepared. Scanning over the test questions, he felt confident.*
The final question on the test, as predicted by his professional course instructor, turned out to be an analysis of "Life Like A Summer Flower."
How could he possibly lose with such a sure thing?
Lin Yuan was thrilled and dove into his writing with fervor.
Given an hour for the exam, he completed the entire test—including the "Life Like A Summer Flower" question—in just 40 minutes. After spending 10 minutes double-checking, Lin Yuan felt solid about his performance and stood up to turn in his paper.
As he stepped out of the classroom.
Basking in the midday sunlight, Lin Yuan was already looking forward to earning another treasure chest.
Meanwhile, as Lin Yuan anticipated yet another Bronze Treasure Chest, Qian Xingyu's manager Ol' Liu was dealing with some agitation today.
On the New Wave Rankings, the top two songs were neck and neck in terms of download numbers!
First place, "It's Love," download count: 225,000.
Second place, "Life Like A Summer Flower," download count: 214,000.
Starting last week, Starlight Entertainment suddenly funneled a ton of money into promoting "Life Like A Summer Flower." The aim was clear: to dethrone the current number one.
Ol' Liu had felt a sense of crisis and immediately informed Qian Xingyu, urging him to ramp up promotion for his song.
But Qian Xingyu had been dismissive.
The gap between the two songs was fairly wide, and while "Life Like A Summer Flower" had a more striking upward trend, Qian Xingyu didn't see himself as an ordinary rookie.
Until now.
As he stared helplessly at the data for "Life Like A Summer Flower" surging closer to his own song's numbers, even someone as confident as Qian Xingyu began to panic, "How is it catching up so fast?"
"This song feels almost cursed."
Ol' Liu ground his teeth, "No worries. Isn't there a livestream event scheduled later? When you go live, rally your fans. Given your influence, you should be able to pull ahead again."
"Alright, alright."
Unlike last week's nonchalant attitude, today Qian Xingyu was full of cooperation.
Half an hour later.
Qian Xingyu started his livestream.
This livestream event was expensive—the company had put a great deal of effort into organizing it. The turnout was impressive, not just fans but a significant number of casual viewers from the streaming platform. It genuinely served as a stellar promotional opportunity.
After greeting the audience.
Qian Xingyu eagerly launched into promotional mode, "Have you all listened to my debut song, 'It's Love'? It's currently ranked first on the New Wave Rankings! If you haven't checked it out yet, make sure to give it a listen. And for my loyal fans out there, don't forget to download and support Xingyu."
"Support!"
"Absolutely!"
"Xingyu, you've got this! Your fans will always have your back!"
"..."
As he watched the flood of supportive comments, Qian Xingyu's smile grew wider. This should settle things, right?
Wait—better not relax just yet.
Starlight's song really did have a strange air about it. Feeling cautious, Qian Xingyu decided to play it safe. Over the next several dozen minutes, aside from fulfilling the event's requirements of engaging with fans and viewers, his main focus remained locked on promoting his song.
But then.
With only five minutes left in the livestream, Qian Xingyu spotted a rather peculiar comment, "Qian Xingyu just got overtaken."
Where did this hater come from?
Why make baseless accusations?
*A flicker of irritation flared in Qian Xingyu's chest.*
This "hater" was quickly muted by the moderators.
But just seconds later, a flood of similar comments erupted, too many for the moderators to handle:
"Qian Xingyu overtaken."
"New Wave Rankings' first place has changed hands."
"Qian Xingyu, you're now second."
"Wow, 'Life Like A Summer Flower' crushed it."
"Total faceplant."
"Surprised? Shocked? Didn't see this coming, huh?"
"Your top spot got flipped by the second-place song."
"..."
Only now did Qian Xingyu realize these weren't random insults; the comments were clearly about the New Wave Rankings.
Overtaken?
I'm second now?
He froze on camera.
Ol' Liu knew continuing the livestream would lead to disaster, so he rushed in front of the camera with a smile, "Thank you, everyone! Xingyu's livestream has concluded!"
With that, Ol' Liu decisively shut down the stream.
"Whew."
Patting his chest, Ol' Liu turned to face Qian Xingyu, only to find that he was already staring blankly at his phone, where he had pulled up the New Wave Rankings to see the updated stats:
First place, "Life Like A Summer Flower," download count: 233,000.
Second place, "It's Love," download count: 231,100.
The top spot had indeed been flipped, and it happened while Qian Xingyu was livestreaming—
"Livestream disaster."
*The phrase surfaced in Ol' Liu's mind.*
*This kind of blow is too immense for an artist.*
He opened his mouth, wanting to console the young Qian Xingyu, but instead found him staring blankly at him with a haunted look, asking, "Ol' Liu, do you think I still have a chance?"
For reasons he didn't understand, Ol' Liu felt a sudden chill in the air. Forced to toughen up, he responded, "The company probably won't invest much more in the rookie season. This isn't your fault; we've done everything we could."
...
Meanwhile, as Starlight overtook Sand Sea, news spread quickly in the industry, triggering a wave of gossip.
"They really pulled it off?"
"Incredible!"
"Starlight just made a killer move."
"Looks like Starlight will be the top choice for elite graduates this year."
"Seriously, how does someone lose with such an obvious advantage?"
"..."
When Qian Xingyu initially topped the New Wave Rankings, no one had anticipated that the real heavy-hitter had been quietly lurking at an unassuming third place.
Back at Starlight's composition department.
All eyes involuntarily drifted toward the window seat.
It was as if they could still faintly see Xian Yu softly reciting his sophomore-level foundation coursework.
...
The next day, Lin Yuan was heading to class to check his results when he received a call from Zhao Jue, "Congrats, you're first on the New Wave Rankings!"
"I already know."
Ever since yesterday, chatter about Senior Sun Yao Huo's song grabbing the top spot on the rankings had been non-stop in the dorm and classroom, so Lin Yuan couldn't have missed it.
"Good, keep up the hard work."
Zhao Jue was used to Lin Yuan's calm reactions, so after offering a few words of encouragement, he hung up. Once alone in his office, though, he couldn't resist dancing around in excitement.
Arriving at the classroom.
As the test scores and exam papers were distributed, Lin Yuan's mind was suddenly interrupted by the System's voice, "Score entered the top 25 in the class. Congrats to the host for completing the System task!"
Soon, a notification appeared before him:
[Task Reward: One Bronze Treasure Chest]
Now Lin Yuan possessed two unopened Bronze Treasure Chests. He decided to save them for later—like hoarding money—it was surprisingly fun.
He glanced at his grade sheet.
This time, Lin Yuan had exceeded the System's expectations, achieving an impressive rank of 13th in class!
"The test really played to my strengths," Lin Yuan thought.
*After all, how could he not ace a test with "Life Like A Summer Flower" thrown in? It was practically free points for him.*
Yet when Lin Yuan looked at his actual test paper, he froze.
The last analysis question about "Life Like A Summer Flower," worth 20 points, had only earned him 8!
His strong overall test performance came from the high scores on other questions.
Suddenly, the bgm in his mind started playing:
Little buddy... do you have lots of questions...
Lin Yuan couldn't help but glance at his classmates' test papers. He found that most of them scored over 10 points on the "Life Like A Summer Flower" question, and his score was the lowest among them.
As Lin Yuan checked others' papers, they also peeked at his.
Given Lin Yuan's typically unimpressive academic performance, his leap to 13th place had caught everyone off guard.
"Lin Yuan, nicely done."
"I've seen you studying hard lately—it definitely paid off, scoring 13th in class."
"Huh?"
"Seems like you got high scores on everything but 'Life Like A Summer Flower.' If you hadn't lost points there, you might've cracked the top 10."
"What a shame."
"Looks like you didn't prepare specifically for that question. Didn't the professor say that 'Life Like A Summer Flower' was highly likely to be tested this time?"
"You don't really understand this song."
His classmates shook their heads, feeling sorry about the wasted points. Some even advised Lin Yuan to carefully listen to "Life Like A Summer Flower" later and try to grasp the interpretation of the piece's composer...
Suddenly, the smile on Lin Yuan's face stiffened.
He stared at the large red marks crossing out "Life Like A Summer Flower" on his paper, lost in thought.
*It seemed even the System could no longer hold back. A rare moment of sympathy came through,* "This question proves that even Pu Shu doesn't understand 'Life Like A Summer Flower.'"
Lin Yuan: "Then who does?"
The System: "The grading professor."