I Became an All-round Artist

Lin Yuan truly regretted it. He hadn’t realized there were such benefits to taking on disciples. If he had known earlier, he would’ve accepted more disciples to help him earn reputation points. It would definitely be easier than grinding out every single point on his own!

Luckily, he still had Xue Liang…

If, at first, Lin Yuan had only been teaching Xue Liang to complete the system task and permanently obtain Yang Zhongming’s character card, now he genuinely wanted to train Xue Liang into a skilled first disciple, ensuring he would succeed before parting ways.

Under normal circumstances, for Xue Liang to reach that level wouldn’t be easy, even with Lin Yuan’s tutelage—who, on the surface, was simply Lin Yuan but was, in fact, Songwriting Master Yang Zhongming.

However, Lin Yuan had the Teacher’s Aura.

This "Teacher’s Aura" was the ultimate tool for training disciples. No matter how much experience other teachers had, they couldn’t compare to someone with this special advantage. And Lin Yuan? He essentially added the Teacher’s Aura to a songwriting master!

No teacher could guide students better than a songwriting master equipped with this special boost!

So, the next day, after finishing another lesson with Xue Liang, Lin Yuan made a decision: “From now on, you won’t just have the weekend off. Every day, you’ll spend two hours learning from me. I’ll send you my address, and you can come to my place after school.”

Just like the day before, after two hours of studying with Lin Yuan, Xue Liang felt like he had learned an enormous amount. It was far more valuable than self-studying university textbooks or purchasing online courses.

Hearing that he could continue learning two hours each day, Xue Liang couldn’t contain his excitement!

“Thank you, Teacher Lin! Teacher Lin…”

“What is it?”

“Can I call you ‘Master’?”

“Up to you.”

Lin Yuan didn’t care about the title. What did bother him was that his character card’s effect only lasted two hours each day. Using it for Xue Liang meant he couldn’t use it for himself. But to quickly turn Xue Liang into a master, Lin Yuan felt he had no choice but to make this commitment. He figured that in the long run, he would have more than enough time, especially since the character card was his to use whenever he pleased.

“Master!” Xue Liang respectfully bowed.

Lin Yuan nodded.

At that moment, a voice echoed in Lin Yuan’s mind from the system: “Congratulations, host, on acquiring your first disciple. You may now view your disciple’s stats.”

Lin Yuan was intrigued. When he opened the music category, Xue Liang’s information appeared:

Name: Xue Liang
Composition Ability: 409
Relationship: Master-Disciple
Status: Not yet graduated
Other: Locked
Note: Maximum score is 1,000. The industry standard for a certified professional songwriter is 600. Once Xue Liang reaches 600 in composition ability, he will be considered graduated.

So that’s how it works. As long as Xue Liang’s composition ability exceeds 600, he’ll have completed his training.

On that note, Lin Yuan thought, maybe he could find a student who was skilled at painting. A trip to the art society at Qin Yi Academy might be in order to see if there were any promising talents to teach.

“You can go now,” Lin Yuan said.

“Thank you, Master! Goodbye!” Xue Liang gave another deep bow and left Lin Yuan’s office.

…

Not long after Xue Liang left, Gu Qiangyun entered, smiling and holding a few documents in his hands. “Mr. Lin, we’ve received several inquiries recently. There are four in total. Would you like to take a look and see if any interest you?”

Lin Yuan nodded and reviewed the documents. Two of them, like “Liking You,” were OST orders. OST (Original Soundtrack) projects were mostly for TV dramas or films, which were the most common types of orders in Qi Province.

The other two were different—one was a video game project, and the other a private commission.

After some thought, Lin Yuan didn’t immediately make a decision.

“Mr. Lin,” Gu Qiangyun hesitated for a moment before saying, “these are just inquiries, and negotiations are still required. If you’re not interested in any of them, I can filter through more.”

Lin Yuan nodded but pointed to the private commission and said, “Leave this one.”

Gu Qiangyun was surprised. This private project was only valued at 700,000, which he hadn’t expected Lin Yuan to be interested in.

Lin Yuan explained, “I’m saving it for Xue Liang.”

Teaching alone wasn’t enough. To quickly improve Xue Liang’s composition skills, he needed hands-on experience. This commission would serve as a practical test for Xue Liang, Lin Yuan’s way of assessing his progress.

Gu Qiangyun was astonished. He knew that Lin Yuan had been mentoring Xue Liang in composition recently, but could Xue Liang really handle a 700,000-yuan project?

After a brief hesitation, Gu Qiangyun nodded. “Understood.”

Lin Yuan acknowledged this, and Gu Qiangyun left.

The next day, Lin Yuan returned to his regular routine of attending school. When he got home, he noticed with some trepidation that Jian Yi was cooking again. His previous experiences with steak and snail noodles had left him with a bit of a psychological scar, though he had forced himself to finish them.

He wasn’t sure what new culinary horrors Jian Yi might unleash this time.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door. When Lin Yuan opened it, standing there was none other than his sole disciple, Xue Liang.

“Master,” Xue Liang greeted respectfully.

Lin Yuan nodded. “Come in.”

After stepping inside, Xue Liang noticed someone else in the room and quickly greeted them. “Hello, I’m Master’s disciple, Xue Liang.”

“Hello, I’m Jian Yi,” Jian Yi replied, then glanced at Lin Yuan.

“I’m his master,” Lin Yuan explained.

Jian Yi chuckled. “Impressive, Lin Yuan. You’re already taking on disciples? So, should this new friend call me ‘Uncle’?”

Xue Liang seriously replied, “Uncle Jian, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Jian Yi was momentarily stunned by the disciple’s earnestness and quickly waved his hands. “I was just joking. Call me Jian Yi.”

Xue Liang, being the respectful person he was, responded, “I wouldn’t want to be disrespectful. Since you’re Master’s friend, I’ll call you Brother Jian.”

Jian Yi shrugged. “Call me whatever you like.”

Xue Liang’s seriousness made him seem a bit stiff, but he was clearly earnest.

As Jian Yi pondered the situation, he suddenly realized something felt off. Did this mean there was a generation gap between him and Lin Yuan now? Better not dwell on it…

“We should just order takeout,” Lin Yuan said, not trusting Jian Yi’s cooking.

Xue Liang offered, “Are you cooking? I can help.”

“You can cook?” Jian Yi asked.

Xue Liang nodded. “Yes, Master.”

Twenty minutes later, three beautifully presented dishes were placed on the table. Jian Yi looked at Xue Liang with newfound respect. “You’re a cooking master! Brother, you have to teach me sometime!”

Xue Liang humbly replied, “You’re too kind, Brother Jian.”

Lin Yuan took a bite, pleasantly surprised. The taste was on par with a professional chef! Xue Liang was full of hidden talents.

That meal was the first time Lin Yuan had eaten two bowls of rice in a while, showing how much he had suffered from Jian Yi’s previous cooking attempts.

After dinner, Lin Yuan brought Xue Liang into his study.

“Let’s begin our lesson.”

With his character card activated and the Teacher’s Aura surrounding him, Lin Yuan’s expression became serious. Xue Liang, equally focused, treated each lesson with the utmost reverence for his master.

The lesson, like before, lasted two hours.

Afterward, Lin Yuan checked Xue Liang’s composition ability score, and to his surprise, it had increased!

It had been 409 before, but now it was 415.

The rate of improvement was faster than Lin Yuan had expected. Perhaps it wouldn’t be long before Xue Liang could officially graduate…

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