All-rounder Artist - Chapter 132: Jump into the Fire Pit_i

“Summer vacation precautions…”

Lin Yuan never thought that he, as a university student, would still receive a “University Students Summer Safety Guide” issued by the school.

He had only received such a thing in primary school.

What’s more amazing is that the content of this guide actually isn’t too different from the “Elementary School Student Summer Vacation Safety Guide”:

Don’t play with fire.

Don’t swim near the river.

Don’t cross on a red light, etc.

If one must mention a difference, it’s probably that the university student’s safety guide mentions avoid nightclubs and dancing, something beyond the realm of primary school students—

Regardless, the annual summer vacation finally arrived.

Returning to the company, Lin Yuan went straight upstairs to see Supervisor Zhou Running.

“You’re here,” 01′ Zhou said, “Do you want some tea?”

Lin Yuan nodded. Considering the high-end tea leaves were free, it would be a waste not to drink it.

“What’s going on?”

01′ Zhou poured a cup of tea for Lin Yuan. He assumed that Lin Yuan wanted to discuss the song “Initial Dream.”

Lin Yuan asked, “Can I go to the Qi Continent for my junior year?”

01′ Zhou was taken aback, but quickly composed himself, asking, “Why?”

Lin Yuan explained the exchange student situation and added, “During those two semesters, I can still write songs over there and email them to you.”

He didn’t want it to affect his work.

01′ Zhou looked at Lin Yuan, pondering, “Did you hear something about the Qi Continent?”

Lin Yuan was taken aback.

Seeing Lin Yuan’s reaction, Ol’ Zhou knew he was clueless. He shook his head with a bitter smile, saying, “You know that Yang Zhongming has returned to the Qin Continent, right?”

Lin Yuan nodded.

Yang Zhongming was a maestro-level figure, a hot topic, so he would occasionally hear his colleagues mentioning it at work.

“Mhm.”

01′ Zhou tapped his fingers on the desk, “Our Starlight company actually has a small branch over there in the Qi Continent. Although Yang Zhongming didn’t pay much attention to the branch while he was in Qi Continent, he would occasionally look after it. Now that Yang Zhongming is back, the situation there has gotten quite bad. After all, the Qi Continent is quite different from our Qin Continent, especially in regard to the music scene. It’s like night and day…”

Lin Yuan nodded, although he wasn’t sure how this was related to him.

“I’ll be straightforward with you.”

01′ Zhou heaved a sigh, “The situation at the branch in Qi Continent isn’t great. The higher-ups have been pressuring me to send someone over for help, but none of our top people want to go. The working conditions there are quite tough, so the issue has remained unresolved. If you decide to go to Qi Continent, this task would fall to you. You won’t be able to avoid or push it away. As one of our top composers, I would rather you not go…”

Lin Yuan remembered that he had overheard 01′ Zhou discussing sending someone to the Qi Continent on the phone.

It seemed like he might be the one chosen to go.

He asked, “Over there, will my job still be to write songs?”

01′ Zhou laughed and said, “Of course.”

Lin Yuan nodded, “I can accept that.”

No matter how different the music environment was, as long as he was writing songs, he wasn’t worried about being incapable.

01′ Zhou stared at Lin Yuan for a while before saying, “Alright then, it’s only for less than a year. If things don’t go well, it’s no big deal. Consider it as me giving you a year-long vacation…”

“So, I don’t need to send my songs back here?”

“No, you’ll have enough headaches managing the mess in Qi Continent, where will you even find time for this side of things? To help with your work, the company will assign you as a special representative from the headquarters. You will be the representative of the composing department assigned by Starlight’s headquarters, a position roughly equivalent to a manager over there.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

From that point onwards, it was pretty much settled for Lin Yuan to go to Qi Continent.

Word somehow spread among the Composition Department on the tenth floor about Lin Yuan going to work in the subsidiary at the Qi Continent.

His co-worker Wu Yong rushed over, asking Lin Yuan, “Why are you jumping into a fire pit in Qi Continent for no reason?”

Lin Yuan asked, puzzled, “A fire pit?”

“Isn’t it just a fire pit? Writing songs over there is much harder, full of demanding clients who know nothing about music yet love to meddle and give orders. It’s not like here in Qin Continent where you have creative freedom!” Wu Yong seemed rather agitated.

“I see.”

Lin Yuan pondered.

Unable to dissuade him, Wu Yong continued, “Others avoid that place like the plague, and you want to go there. Why bother? The branch in Qi Continent is hanging by a thread and it’s expected to go bankrupt within a few years. By then, you’d be held responsible…”

Lin Yuan said, “I will try my best.”

Upon hearing his answer, Wu Yong rolled his eyes.

If efforts could save the subsidiary, would it be in such a mess?

But seeing Lin Yuan’s determination, Wu Yong gave up trying to dissuade him.

In the following days, Lin Yuan went about his normal work routine.

In his free time, Lin Yuan would work on “Zhu Xian.”

Of course, to Lin Yuan, his working hours could also be counted as free time.

Meanwhile, his younger sister, Lin Yao, had finished her college entrance exam and was waiting for the acceptance letter from a university.

Jian Yi had returned home for the vacation.

And Xia Fan had joined the program “Bloom,” either rehearsing or competing.

Everyone occasionally had a little chat about the current state of affairs in the group chat.

In short, everybody had their own respective things to be busy with.

However, when Lin Yuan mentioned in the group chat that he was going to be an exchange student in Qi Continent, Jian Yi was overjoyed.

He had thought that he would be going to the Qi Continent alone, but now he was glad to have Lin Yuan’s company.

We’ll meet at Qi Arts!”

Qi Arts was short for the Qi Continent Art Academy.

After a few minutes, Jian Yi popped back into the group chat, “I looked it up. The students at Qi Arts have separate campuses. I’m at the Performance Academy, while you’re at the Music Academy, which is two kilometers away. It might not be convenient for us to meet up regularly.”

“Just keep grinning.”

Xia Fan popped up in the chat, “Lin Yuan is now an exchange student too. I’ll be the only one left at Qin Arts next year…”

Lin Xuan replied, “Sister will accompany you. By the way, have you finished your competition?”

Xia Fan replied, “It’s over! I’m now in the top twenty nationwide! Don’t leak it out though, we need to keep the viewers in suspense. You guys can watch the TV tonight!”

“Congratulations!”

“Signature!”

“Way to go!”

Everyone was happy for Xia Fan.

That night, both Lin Yuan and Lin Xuan watched the latest episode of “Bloom.”

Recently, as long as “Bloom” was broadcasting, Lin Xuan would watch every episode. Naturally, Lin Yuan had watched them all too.

The show aired every Saturday.

When the host announced Xia Fan as one of the top twenty contestants, Lin Xuan immediately jumped with joy, “Top twenty, top twenty!”

Lin Yuan was a bit confused.

Hadn’t they already known the result in the group chat earlier?

As a good friend, he naturally also followed Xia Fan’s progress.

There were plenty of online discussions about “Bloom” now.

As one of the strong contenders this year, Xia Fan had gained a bit of popularity.

Looking at the current trend, Lin Yuan thought, Xia Fan really might make it to the end of the competition…