I Became an All-round Artist

It was now summer break, and not only were students enjoying their vacation, but professors and mentors from various universities were also taking a rare moment of rest.

So, what does one do during a break?
Of course, watch TV shows!

The professors at Qin Yi University chose to watch Blossom.
Firstly, it was the hottest show at the moment, and secondly, one of the contestants, Xia Fan, was a student at Qin Yi. Naturally, they all wanted to cheer her on.

However, after watching the finale, the professors in the composition department of Qin Yi were stunned, especially Hua Li, the mentor of Class 5.

She immediately recognized the song Xia Fan performed—The First Dream.
But that wasn’t the issue. The real shock came when Xia Fan said the song was written by Xian Yu (Envy Fish)!

Hua Li was furious!
She opened the department's group chat and furiously typed several messages:

· "Did you guys watch the Blossom finale?"

· "This is outrageous! Completely outrageous!"

· "Xia Fan claimed this song was by Xian Yu. But it’s clearly Lin Yuan’s song!"

· "I’m shaking with anger! Sweating in the middle of the day!"

· "@everyone, Qin Yi, a century-old institution, must seek justice for Lin Yuan!"

The group chat fell eerily silent for a few seconds.

Class 4 Mentor: "Hua Li, don’t you think you’re the one being a little over the top?"
Class 2 Mentor: "This is way too obvious a brag."
Class 1 Mentor: "Hua Li, maybe you should just leave the chat."
Class 6 Mentor: "Zou Yu? Who’s that?"
Professor Jin: "Lin Yuan is Xian Yu? No wonder his music completely overshadows Zou Yu’s."
Professor Li: "Hahahaha! Our school was hiding such a treasure!"
Professor Wang: "Dong Yi University, utterly defeated!"
Professor Wang (typo): "Dong Yi, shattered!"
Professor Zhang: "I just checked Lin Yuan’s test records. I think I might’ve failed him on his Life Like Summer Flowers exam."
Hua Li: "..."
She pinched her leg and slapped her face before typing again:

· "Ahhh! I’m so sorry, everyone! I was being foolish! Lin Yuan is Xian Yu, and Xian Yu is Lin Yuan! That explains everything!"

Everyone was speechless.
At this point, Professor Shi Cheng @everyone and said, “Now that we all know, please keep this information to yourselves. Lin Yuan doesn’t like too much public attention or distraction. As his mentors, it’s our duty to provide him with a quiet space to create.”
Everyone responded:

· "Understood!"

· "Got it!"

· "Roger that!"

Then, the mentor of Class 3 expressed some concern: "But now that we know Lin Yuan is Xian Yu, Dong Yi must have found out too!"

"Are you joking?" Hua Li quickly retorted, “Dong Yi probably wants to protect this secret even more than we do. What benefit would it bring them to reveal that Lin Yuan is Xian Yu?”

Everyone in the chat: "..."

The mentor of Class 7 chimed in: "My biggest worry now is how Hua Li plans to teach from now on. With Xian Yu in her class, who’s teaching whom?"
Hua Li: "...Stop it!"
She continued: "He wants to go to Qi Zhou as an exchange student. No, he will go to Qi Zhou!"

Meanwhile, over in the composition department group chat at Dong Yi University, the conversation was eerily similar, but their emotions were completely different.

"They figured out that Qin Yi’s student is Xian Yu!"
"I think his name is Lin Yuan?"
"And we brought Zou Yu’s work to challenge them!?"
"How can Zou Yu possibly compete with Xian Yu?"
"I can’t take it anymore; it’s too embarrassing. We should stop visiting Qin Yi altogether."
"Qin Yi set us up for failure!"

The chat was filled with frustration.
Professor Zhang Wenwu quietly @everyone: “Let’s keep this quiet. If the news gets out, it could affect next year’s enrollment in our composition department. Since Qin Yi kept it a secret, they likely want to protect Lin Yuan’s creative space too. Just pretend nothing happened.”

Everyone in the chat: "..."
Professor Zhang, being shrewd, had guessed Qin Yi’s intentions exactly. However, some were now wondering why he had led them into such an awkward situation in the first place.

Despite the various emotions and motivations, both sides chose to keep the secret. The bubble would eventually burst, but no one wanted to be the one to pop it.

By the next day, as people in the industry realized that Xian Yu’s The First Dream had reached the top spot and Chen Zhiyu had once again claimed second place, everyone was laughing uncontrollably. Especially in the Sha Hai (Sand Sea) company group chat, which exploded with joy:

· "Chen Zhiyu: Look up at the sky, why is it just fish?"

· "Chen Zhiyu: Even my breath smells like fish."

· "This is hilarious!"

· "Xian Yu: Brother Zhiyu, it seems we’re destined to meet through fish!"

· "Xian Yu: Surprise, surprise! It’s me again!"

· "Chen Zhiyu: Today, I’ll prove just how strong Xian Yu is!"

· "This is pure comedy gold!"

· "Afraid you’ll fly too far, afraid you’ll leave me behind, most afraid you’ll stay right here forever!"

· "The wings of the big fish have grown vast, I’ve let go of time’s rope."

· "Every tear flows towards you, back to where we first met..."

Good grief.
They even started quoting lyrics from The Big Fish, which seemed all too appropriate.

Sha Hai had every reason to celebrate. After all, Silver Radiance had been soundly defeated by Starshine. Of course, they’d be thrilled and eager to poke fun!

But suddenly, someone in the chat said: “Guys, you need to stop. All of Qinzhou is memeing Chen Zhiyu right now, and his popularity is exploding!”
What?
Everyone was stunned.

The speaker sent a bunch of screenshots into the chat: “Tribe’s top trending search is Chen Zhiyu. News headlines are about Chen Zhiyu. Even today’s hottest meme is Chen Zhiyu. And I just heard from an inside source that a company is offering him 50 million to endorse a fishing rod!”

"Why a fishing rod?"
"Obviously, to catch fish! Who’s better at it than Chen Zhiyu? ...Wait, is that even the point? The point is the 50 million offer! Chen Zhiyu never had this kind of status before!"

"Chen Zhiyu, famous?"
"Second place forever, and he still got famous?"
"What kind of world is this?"

The Sha Hai chat erupted with disbelief. They had been celebrating the defeat of Silver Radiance, but now, Chen Zhiyu had become a viral sensation.
Not only had Silver Radiance and Starshine both won, but now Sha Hai was just left on the sidelines, eating popcorn?

Thud.
The chat fell silent.

Meanwhile, in the Silver Radiance office, Chen Zhiyu was glaring at his manager: "I’d rather starve to death than endorse a fishing rod!"

"They’ve upped the offer to 60 million..."

“What’s that smell? Smells delicious... I’m suddenly feeling a bit hungry. Let’s talk about that fishing rod deal over lunch.”

“Absolutely! By the way... there’s another thing...”
“What now?”
“The company is suggesting you release a new song next month.”
“Why? There’s a Song King competition next month. Why would I throw myself into that mess?”
“Exactly! With the Song King, you can secure second place again! The company has already planned everything out for you.”

Chen Zhiyu stared at his manager and replied, enunciating each word clearly: "Do you think you’re funny?"

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