"Do you think I still have a chance?"

To Lin Yuan, working in the composition department was merely another venue for his pre-exam revision. No one in the department commented on his blatant studying during work hours.

After all, it was technically part of his job.

Composers need to continuously improve themselves.

Although Lin Yuan's studies were rather basic.

After the weekend, Lin Yuan returned to campus and by mid-November, his major exam was upon him!

Inside the examination room.

With the distribution of the exam papers, the invigilator glared, his gaze sharp as a knife, "The classroom is equipped with cameras, and my eyes are even sharper than those cameras. You should all be very aware of the consequences of cheating."

Silence filled the room.

Lin Yuan paid no heed to the invigilator's threats and self-praise. Having prepared thoroughly, he felt confident the moment he glanced over the paper.

To his delight, the last big question on the paper was indeed "Life like Summer Flowers," just as his teacher had predicted.

How could he possibly lose with such a hint?

Elated, Lin Yuan's pen moved swiftly across the paper.

The exam was scheduled for an hour. He finished the entire paper, including the question on "Life like Summer Flowers," in just forty minutes. After revising his answers for another ten minutes, he confidently handed in his paper.

Stepping out of the classroom, he was greeted by the bright midday sun. Lin Yuan was already anticipating his reward.

However, as Lin Yuan eagerly awaited another bronze treasure box, Qian Xingyu's manager, Mr. Liu, was somewhat restless today.

On today's trending chart, the download data for the top two songs was dangerously close!

First place, "It's Love", with 225,000 downloads.

Second place, "Life like Summer Flowers", with 214,000 downloads.

Since last week, Starlight Entertainment began heavily promoting "Life like Summer Flowers" with the evident goal of dethroning the first place.

Mr. Liu sensed the impending crisis and immediately informed Qian Xingyu to amplify their song's promotion.

However, Qian Xingyu was initially dismissive.

The gap between the two songs was still quite significant, and while "Life like Summer Flowers" was growing faster, Qian Xingyu, being an exceptional newcomer, didn't view himself as one.

Until today.

Seeing the rapid rise in the numbers for "Life like Summer Flowers" and the narrowing gap between the two songs, even the confident Qian Xingyu became alarmed: "How did he catch up so fast?"

"This song has some magic to it," Mr. Liu muttered, "No worries. Aren't we doing a live broadcast later? During the broadcast, rally your fans. With your influence, we should be able to widen the gap again."

"Okay, okay."

Contrary to his earlier nonchalance, Qian Xingyu was now fully cooperative.

Half an hour later, Qian Xingyu started his live broadcast.

The event was expensive and took considerable effort from the company to organize. The number of participants was vast, comprising not only fans but also many casual viewers from the platform. It was indeed a perfect promotional stage.

After greeting the viewers, Qian Xingyu eagerly began his promotional spiel: "Have you all heard my first song 'It's Love'? It's currently number one on the trending chart! Those who haven't heard it yet, please give it a listen. And my dear fans, don't forget to download and support me."

"Support!"

"Definitely supporting!"

"Go, Xingyu! Your fans will always be your strongest backing!"

...

Seeing the flood of supporting comments, Qian Xingyu's smile widened. Everything should be fine now, right?

But he reminded himself to stay vigilant.

The song by Starlight was truly something extraordinary. To play it safe, Qian Xingyu spent the next few tens of minutes mainly promoting his song in the live broadcast, apart from the scheduled interactions with his fans.

However, with just five minutes left in the live session, he saw a barrage comment that read: "Qian Xingyu has been surpassed."

Where did this hater come from?

Why tarnish his reputation for no reason?

An irritated feeling surged within Qian Xingyu.

The troll was quickly silenced by a moderator.

Yet, a few moments later, another wave of comments emerged, this time so many that the moderators couldn't keep up:

"Qian Xingyu has been surpassed."

"The top of the trending chart has changed hands."

"Qian Xingyu, you're now second."

"Whoa, 'Life like Summer Flowers' rocks!"

"He's done for."

"Surprised? Or expected?"

"Your first place has been taken over by the second."

...

It was then that Qian Xingyu realized they weren't disparaging him out of malice. They were discussing the trending charts.

He's been overtaken?

He's now in second place?

For a moment, he was just stunned, frozen in front of the camera.

Seeing the situation turning south, Manager Liu quickly stepped into the frame and smiled, "Thank you everyone, Xingyu's broadcast has ended!" He immediately had the live broadcast shut down.

"Phew."

Patting his chest, Liu turned to see Qian Xingyu already scrolling through the trending chart on his phone, confronted by the latest stats:

First place, "Life like Summer Flowers" with 233,000 downloads.

Second place, "It's Love" with 231,100 downloads.

He had indeed lost the top spot, and it happened right during his live session.

"Live stream disaster," Liu thought.

This would be a massive blow to any artist.

Opening his mouth to console the young Qian Xingyu, Liu found the singer gazing at him with a deep, probing look, asking, "Manager Liu, do you think I still have a chance?"

For some reason, a chill ran down Liu's spine. He replied, "The company probably won't invest too much into a newcomer. It's not your fault. We did what we could."

...

The moment Starlight overtook Qian Xingyu, many in the industry were immediately buzzing with the news.

"He really overtook him?"

"That's so intense!"

"Starlight's move was brilliant!"

"Starlight will probably be the first choice for graduates from all the top institutions this year."

"How did Qian Xingyu lose?"

...

From the moment Qian Xingyu initially topped the trending chart, no one ever imagined the true dark horse was hiding in third place.

And in the composition department of Starlight Entertainment,

All eyes involuntarily turned to the vacant seat near the window.

They could almost visualize "Xian Yu" quietly revising his second-year basic courses.

...

The next day, as Lin Yuan was on his way to check his exam results, he received a call from Zhao Jue: "Congratulations, you're number one on the trending chart!"

"I already know."

Since yesterday, both his dorm and class had been abuzz with discussions about Senior Sun Yaohuo's song claiming the top spot. It would've been hard for Lin Yuan not to know.

"Good job. Keep it up."

Even though Lin Yuan's reaction was calm, given their previous interactions, Zhao Jue had grown accustomed to it. She gave a few words of encouragement and hung up, then danced joyfully in her office.

Arriving at the classroom,

As soon as the exam papers and grades were distributed, Lin Yuan heard the voice of the system in his mind: "You've made it into the top 25 of your class. Congratulations on completing the system's task!"

Subsequently, words appeared before Lin Yuan's eyes:

[Reward: A Bronze Treasure Chest]

With this, Lin Yuan now had two unopened bronze chests. He decided to save them for now, much like hoarding money, finding delight in the anticipation.

He glanced at his grade sheet.

This time, Lin Yuan had surpassed the system's expectations, ranking a staggering thirteenth in the class!

"The questions were tailored for me," Lin Yuan mused internally.

Having an exam question on "Life like Summer Flowers" was practically a gift to him.

But when Lin Yuan looked at his paper, he was stunned.

On the last question, an analysis of "Life like Summer Flowers" worth twenty marks, he scored just eight!

His high score on the paper was due to his near-perfect performance on the other questions.

A familiar BGM played in his mind:

Little friend... do you have many questions?

Lin Yuan couldn't help but peek at his classmates' papers. To his surprise, the majority scored more than ten marks for the "Life like Summer Flowers" question. His was the lowest.

While Lin Yuan examined others' papers,

They scrutinized his.

Because Lin Yuan's grades weren't usually notable, suddenly landing the thirteenth rank startled everyone.

"Lin Yuan, impressive!"

"You've been revising lately. The results are phenomenal, ranking thirteenth!"

"Eh?"

"You did excellent on the earlier questions. But you scored low on 'Life like Summer Flowers'. Otherwise, you could have made the top ten."

"What a shame."

"You should have prepared for this. Didn't the teacher say that there was a high chance of it being tested?"

"You don't understand that song."

His peers shook their heads, lamenting his lost points. Some even advised him to thoroughly listen to "Life like Summer Flowers" to understand the essence of the song's lyrics and its creator's intentions...

Lin Yuan's smile froze.

He blankly stared at the big red crosses on his paper concerning "Life like Summer Flowers," lost in thought.

It seemed even the system couldn't bear it any longer, offering unsolicited comfort, "This question proves that even the simple and basic interpretations don't understand 'Life like Summer Flowers'."

Lin Yuan: "Then who does?"

System: "The teacher who graded the paper."