I Became an All-round Artist

After the competition, a huge wave of online discussions erupted, with Xia Fan’s name appearing frequently. Moreover, this was the first time that discussions about Xianyu surged to such an extent!

Xianyu was indeed very famous.
All of his works so far had gained significant popularity, with none being overlooked. However, due to his unique behind-the-scenes status, he hadn’t yet had a true breakout moment. But the stage of Bloom had finally made it impossible for anyone to ignore his presence!

“Have you noticed something?”
Someone joked, “Both champions of the last two seasons of Bloom collaborated with Xianyu. Does this mean that future winners of this show need to work with him to truly ‘graduate’ as champions?”
Of course, this was just a joke.

Soon, everyone’s attention shifted back to the song "The First Dream." As Zhao Jue mentioned, the song was officially released in the early hours of August, but not the studio version—it was the live version from Bloom!
Of course, the audio had been technically processed.
For example, much of the audience's cheers and applause were removed, leaving only the screams at the end of the performance.
As Zhao Jue put it, they would release the live version first, and the studio version would come later.
After all, re-recording takes time.
Lin Yuan did have a recorded version, which was his annual evaluation piece, but the live performance might actually be better.

Many viewers who watched the show rushed to download The First Dream.
“This song is definitely going to be a hit!”
“No doubt, this season’s champion track.”
“If this song doesn’t top the charts, it’d be strange—it’s the champion song from Bloom, and it’s also a new release from Xianyu!”

Then someone suddenly remembered, “Aren’t there two top-tier singers releasing songs this August as well?”
“The battle between the two Yus?”
“I just listened to Chen Zhiyu and Jin Shuyu’s songs—Chen Zhiyu’s is really good, better than Jin Shuyu’s!”
“Wait…”
“So Chen Zhiyu…”
“Is going to…”
“Take second place…”

That realization hit like a ton of bricks.
Was Chen Zhiyu about to cement his title as the eternal runner-up?

...

At that same early hour in August, Chen Zhiyu sat nervously in front of his bedroom computer.
He refreshed the major music platforms, but when he saw the top song promotion, his gaze froze, and he seemed to turn into a gray statue—a statue that could be named "The Thinker."
There must be something wrong with the way I’m viewing this.
A full minute later, Chen Zhiyu let out a relieved smile.
System glitches happen all the time, like that one time when he released a song, but the platforms didn’t show it until 1 AM.
He closed the platform and reopened it.
Then, he became a statue again.

His agent appeared in the doorway, smiled slightly, and stepped inside. But when he saw Chen Zhiyu sitting motionless in front of the computer, a strange feeling came over him—this scene was disturbingly familiar.
“Are you alright?”
He cautiously asked.

Chen Zhiyu snapped out of it, smiled warmly at his agent, and beckoned him closer. “I’m fine! This time, everything’s going to be fine. Come, let’s listen to the song together!”

Not bad at all!
The agent heaved a heavy sigh of relief. For a second, he thought something had gone wrong again. But after a moment’s thought, what could possibly go wrong? There’s no Xianyu this month, and Jin Shuyu’s song wasn’t a threat at all.
“What song are we listening to?”
He sat down with a smile, but soon screamed in terror, “Chen Zhiyu, what are you doing!”
“It’s nothing!”
Chen Zhiyu wound his headphone cord around the agent’s neck and, pressing down on the struggling body, muttered, “Let’s die together, let’s die together, let’s die together!”
“Murder!”
The agent shrieked, his face turning pale.

Thankfully, this was a lawful society, so Chen Zhiyu restrained his dark impulses and calmed down.

Five minutes later, they sat side by side, emotionless, as they listened to The First Dream in its entirety.
On the computer screen, the news headline scrolled: "Xia Fan defeats Tang Yue, stunning victory at Bloom! New song ‘The First Dream’ amazes the crowd as Xianyu descends like a god!"
“What nonsense,” the agent said in a flat voice. “Gods don’t descend—Xianyu just released a new song, that’s all. I didn’t think it was all that great.”
“Yeah, nothing special,” Chen Zhiyu sneered.

Both men rose from their seats, zombie-like, and walked to the fridge. They took out the bottle of wine they had saved for celebrating a first-place win but never opened.
“…”
Chen Zhiyu sighed, “I’m afraid I’ll never get to drink this wine. We might as well finish it today.”
The agent nodded. “Indeed.”
He sent a quick message to his wife: “I won’t be home tonight.”
She replied, “That exciting?”
The agent typed back: “I’m staying with him to make sure he doesn’t do something stupid. Sorry.”
His wife replied with a simple: “...”

Just as he was about to put down his phone, the agent noticed something on Weibo. His expression grew odd.
“Zhiyu…”
“What is it?”
Chen Zhiyu was pouring the wine.

The agent’s tone grew complicated. “You’re trending—number one, in fact.”
Chen Zhiyu glanced up at him. “You must be mistaken. I haven’t been on the trending list in two years, and I haven’t even cracked the top ten this year.”
“But you’re on there now,” the agent replied. “Your followers have increased by over a hundred thousand. By the way, how many comments do you usually get on your Weibo posts?”
Chen Zhiyu thought for a moment. “Around ten thousand, I guess.”
The agent said, “Your post announcing the release of your new song now has over a hundred thousand comments… It looks like… you’ve gone viral?”

Could it be that my song actually won?
Chen Zhiyu’s blood rushed to his head as he grabbed the agent’s phone, eagerly checking the comments.

Top comment: “Poor guy.”
Second comment: “Sending hugs.”
Third comment: “Stay strong!”
Fourth comment: “…”

Chen Zhiyu’s face turned more complex than ever. With a look of bitter resignation, he muttered, “I’d rather not be trending at all!”

...

Meanwhile, Jin Shuyu nervously clicked on Chen Zhiyu’s new song. After listening for a few minutes, he frowned.
First place was out of reach.
Glancing at all the promotional banners, Jin Shuyu noticed a push notification: "Xianyu’s new song helps Xia Fan claim the Bloom title, ‘The First Dream’ is released to the public!"
He clicked on it.
Halfway through listening, he took off his headphones, pulled out his phone, and posted on his social media:
“We’re all doomed!”
Along with a picture of a fish.

After a moment of reflection, Jin Shuyu felt this might not be appropriate.
What if someone at his company misinterpreted it?
What if Xianyu thought he was criticizing him?
He quickly set the post’s visibility to:
“Only visible to Chen Zhiyu.”

As two top-tier singers in the industry, it wasn’t unusual for them to be friends, even though they never really chatted.
Five minutes later, Jin Shuyu received his first-ever “like” from Chen Zhiyu.
Two minutes after that, Chen Zhiyu even commented: “Why didn’t you take a few more months off?”
Jin Shuyu replied: “Yeah, why didn’t I?”
Chen Zhiyu responded again: “Some things, you just have to get used to. But, to be honest, your company is pretty ruthless.”
Jin Shuyu replied: “Company decisions—don’t blame the employees.”

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