The class group chat was just the tip of the iceberg.

Compared to a small class group, the campus forum of Qinzhou Art Academy was even more lively at the moment—

“The Newcomer Season has officially started, everyone go support Senior Sun Yaohuo’s new song, titled ‘Life Like Summer Flowers.’ Below are the links to the song on various music platforms.”

“This song is unexpectedly good.”

“As someone studying arrangement, I’m here to support our senior. By the way, our senior is quite lucky; the arrangement of this song is quite profound.”

“Both the arrangement and composition are by someone named ‘Xian Yu.’ This guy is truly a Master Composer.”

“Composition Department downloading to support Senior Sun Yaohuo. PS: I’m not just trying to make our Arrangement Department look good, but this song was definitely carried by the Master Composer.”

“Looking forward to the chart release at noon tomorrow. I wonder what rank ‘Life Like Summer Flowers’ will achieve.”

“Don’t worry, with the quality of this song, it won’t rank low.”

“Who is this Xian Yu? I’ve never heard of him before.”

“Company: What do you require from the singer? Master Composer: Just a mouth.”

“As a student from the Vocal Department, I don’t mind being a tool person at all. I just want to perform crazily under the Master Composer’s guidance.”

“A bunch of night owls, still not asleep at this hour?”

“The long night is coming, and from now on, I will stand watch until death. Tonight, and every night.”

“Night, my foot. If you don’t sleep, you’ll drop dead.”

“……”

Every November, the Newcomer Season is a feast for the students of the Music Department.

If there happens to be a senior from the school at this feast, it becomes even more perfect.

For this reason, many alumni downloaded ‘Life Like Summer Flowers’ without even listening to it, just because Sun Yaohuo is a graduate of Qin Yi.

……

The next day at 7:30.

Lin Yuan got up, washed up, had breakfast in the cafeteria, and then leisurely made his way to the classroom.

The first class hadn’t started yet.

Lin Yuan had already begun reading.

However, the atmosphere this morning seemed different from usual. The surrounding classmates were not quietly playing on their phones as they usually did, but were chattering about something.

Lin Yuan frowned slightly.

Because this directly affected his reading efficiency.

Of course, the content of these classmates’ discussions inevitably reached Lin Yuan’s ears as their conversation deepened.

“Have you listened to ‘Life Like Summer Flowers’?”

The person asking this was sitting right behind Lin Yuan.

“Of course, I stayed up until two in the morning for this Newcomer Season, listened to the song, and even downloaded and saved it. Now this song is really popular on the campus forum.” A young girl was lamenting her dark circles.

“The song is indeed good, the composition level is high, worthy of the ‘Master Composer’ title in our field.”

A boy with glasses said proudly.

“Wake up, not every composer deserves the ‘Master Composer’ title. For example, with your level, even if you paid those new singers, they wouldn’t want you.”

“The style of this song doesn’t quite suit my taste, but I admit the composition is impressive.”

“Nonsense, how can an electronic music enthusiast like you appreciate folk music?”

“……”

So they were discussing ‘Life Like Summer Flowers.’

Judging by everyone’s discussion, it seems the song’s response is quite positive?

Lin Yuan’s frown gradually relaxed, and he immediately forgave the surrounding disturbance to his studies.

The young girl just mentioned that she downloaded the song. A song costs one yuan, the company takes eighty cents, the tool person takes five cents, and he ultimately gets fifteen cents—

Suddenly, Lin Yuan found that the young girl who contributed fifteen cents to him, despite her big panda eyes, was quite pretty.

……

As the first day of the Newcomer Season, November 1st was destined to be a special day.

On this day.

All entertainment companies in Qinzhou participating in the Newcomer Season would not be at ease until the official release of the Newcomer Chart at noon.

Even when the Newcomer Chart is released.

If the performance of the newcomers launched by the company does not meet the expectations of the major entertainment companies, this low-pressure atmosphere is likely to continue for a whole month—

Until this Newcomer Season ends.

And this tense and uneasy atmosphere seemed even more pronounced at Starlight Entertainment, so much so that from the start of work this morning, even the greetings between colleagues in various departments seemed quieter than usual.

Especially in some music-related departments!

Mainly because the company’s performance in the newcomer rankings in recent years has been unsatisfactory, causing dissatisfaction among the higher-ups.

The big boss has lost his temper more than once because of this.

For this reason, the quarterly bonuses of several related departments have been cut, so for everyone’s sake, the company sincerely hopes to make a comeback this year.

Moreover, there are rumors in the company:

Chief Agent Zhao Jue has made a military pledge to the higher-ups, promising that the company will produce a top-three newcomer on the Newcomer Chart this year, or she will voluntarily step down.

This is no small matter.

If the military pledge is not fulfilled and Zhao Jue is demoted, it would be a significant personnel change at Starlight.

After all, Zhao Jue holds considerable power.

As the protagonist of the rumor, Zhao Jue locked herself in her office from the morning, lying on her chair with her eyes closed.

She was in a state of self-isolation, not daring to look at her phone or computer because she had no confidence in this year’s newcomers.

“Beep beep beep beep…”

Twelve o’clock finally arrived.

Today’s alarm seemed particularly sharp and piercing, pulling Zhao Jue out of her closed state.

“Let’s get it over with.”

Zhao Jue opened her eyes, sighed, took a deep breath, and then turned on her computer.

Not only Zhao Jue.

The entire Starlight Entertainment, and even the entire music-related industry, were focused on this newly updated official chart:

The Newcomer Chart.

But when they saw the first name on the Newcomer Chart, everyone let out similar sighs, their emotions strangely similar—

First place on the Newcomer Chart:

“It’s Love,” singer Qian Xingyu, composer Li Ran, company Sand Sea Entertainment.

Downloads: 88,500.

In previous years, the first place on the Newcomer Chart would be fiercely contested by major companies, with intense rivalry.

But this year is different.

A “newcomer” like Qian Xingyu is too exceptional.

He managed to debut and become hugely popular with his first TV drama just a month before the Newcomer Season, bringing his own traffic to the stage.

Who can compete with such a “newcomer”?

Everyone could only sigh: “With Qian Xingyu as a trump card, Sha Hai Culture is likely to lock in first place until the end of the month.”

Zhao Jue also sighed.

With envy and jealousy.

Then she decided: to look at the results from the bottom up.

After all, the Newcomer Chart only shows the top 100 rankings, and it doesn’t take much time to look through a hundred names.

As for the company’s newcomers not making it into the top 100?

What a joke, Starlight Entertainment is one of the top entertainment companies in Qinzhou, with inherent resource advantages. If a newcomer can’t make it into the top 100 with Starlight’s level of resource promotion, such a newcomer must pack up and leave.

Zhao Jue’s judgment wasn’t that poor.

At the seventy-third position, Zhao Jue saw the first company newcomer’s name, which made her frown slightly.

At the fifty-fifth position, she saw the second company name, and her frown deepened.

By the twelfth position, Zhao Jue had seen the company’s eighth name.

The eleventh position wasn’t someone from the company.

So, there were only two names left.

This meant that Starlight Entertainment had two in the top ten this year?

Biting her lip, Zhao Jue began to look at the top ten names, and she found the company’s ninth newcomer at the ninth position.

Now there was only one left.

Eighth place… seventh place… sixth place… fifth place…

Finally.

Zhao Jue found the tenth person’s name.

Third place on the Newcomer Chart:

“Life Like Summer Flowers,” singer Sun Yaohuo, composer Xian Yu, company Starlight Entertainment.

Downloads: 33,000.

Zhao Jue’s eyes widened, staring intently at the third place on the Newcomer Chart, her breathing rapid, feeling a sense of relief as if she had narrowly escaped disaster:

Top three!

It’s the top three!

As the Chief Agent, Zhao Jue certainly knew that Xian Yu was the stage name used by Lin Yuan, but she didn’t expect that the person who saved her from the edge of the cliff was the same Lin Yuan who almost pushed her over—

Fate is truly mysterious.

No longer caring about other people’s rankings, Zhao Jue’s smile regained its confidence: “Now no one can remove me. As long as I hold onto Lin Yuan’s third place, I won’t have to be demoted!”

The consequences of demotion were too severe.

There was still a loan on the single-family villa at home.

Suddenly standing up from her seat, Zhao Jue quickly made a phone call: “Immediately contact the heads of several music platforms. I want their homepage recommendation flow, the highest specification Starlight can get!”

“Okay… congratulations, Sister Zhao.”

The person on the other end of the line seemed to know what had happened.

Zhao Jue smiled: “Thank you, your resources department also needs to support us more at this time, after all, this is just the first day’s ranking.”

The first day’s ranking doesn’t represent the final ranking.

There are still twenty-nine days of competition ahead.

However, if a big company like Starlight focuses on defense, getting into the top three on the first day basically eliminates the possibility of a downfall. If necessary, there’s also the “Nine Protect One” strategy as a safety net.

What is “Nine Protect One”?

It’s about appropriately sacrificing the resources of the other nine songs to give “Life Like Summer Flowers” more exposure. This is a strategy often used by smaller companies when they have a high-performing song.

Generally speaking, Starlight doesn’t need to use such a strategy, as Starlight is not a small company.

After finishing the first call, Zhao Jue seemed to think of something and made another call: “Old Zhou, does your Composition Department still need people?”

“Don’t joke around, Little Zhao.”

A gruff male voice came from the other end: “The company forced me to recruit a bunch of new composers for the Newcomer Chart. Is this something that can be solved with a human wave tactic? So don’t add to my troubles, I’m already overwhelmed.”

Zhao Jue smiled: “What about Xian Yu?”

The attitude on the other end of the line instantly took a sharp turn: “Sister Zhao, where is Xian Yu? I can personally sign him. Our Composition Department is really short of people recently!”