Yu Hai knew nothing about the bustling excitement and commotion among the female employees in the company.
He found Xu Nanshan, the head of the Composition Department, who then pulled him over to introduce him to everyone in the department and assign him a workstation.
Afterwards, amidst the astonished and awed gazes of everyone present, Old Xu dragged him into his office.
Xu Nanshan had Yu Hai sit down, poured him a cup of tea, and smiled, "I thought it would be a while longer before you came to the company."
Yu Hai smiled. "My injuries have basically healed, so I came over to get familiar with the environment."
Xu Nanshan naturally had no objection to this. With a smile, he said, "I was actually planning to call you today."
"Is something the matter?" Yu Hai asked curiously.
"There is indeed something." Xu Nanshan sat back down in his office chair, operated his computer to send an email to Yu Hai's inbox, and said, "Director Xie Yun recently shot a martial arts film, which is already in post-production. They'd like to ask for your help in writing a poem. Here are the materials for the film."
Yu Hai was somewhat puzzled. "Write a poem?"
Not write a song?
Xu Nanshan nodded. "I heard that Director Xie Yun got the idea after reading that Xing Xiang Zi you wrote. However, the content of Xing Xiang Zi isn't quite a match for the movie, so he wanted to ask if you might have the inspiration to help write a poem."
In truth, Xie Yun had sent out this collaboration proposal with nothing to lose. His previous attempts to invite literary heavyweights to write a poem had failed, and he had already been on the verge of giving up and choosing an existing ancient poem when someone suddenly recommended and showed him Yu Hai's Xing Xiang Zi Shu Huai published on Weibo. He felt it was written with an incredible touch, though unfortunately it still didn't quite fit the film.
In fact, unbeknownst to Yu Hai, the Xing Xiang Zi he had published had sparked quite a considerable discussion in literary circles.
Many masters who studied classical poetry and lyrics had conducted research into this ci poem.
After all, in modern society, there were simply far too few people capable of writing good classical poetry. Some even commented that he would become a grandmaster of poetry and lyrics in the future.
Nodding in understanding, Yu Hai did not immediately agree, saying only, "I'll take the materials back and have a look first."
Xu Nanshan naturally had no objections.
With official business concluded, Xu Nanshan's expression turned cheerful, and he said in a teasing tone, "The results for Red Rose have been fantastic; its download count has already exceeded five million. Combined with Rice Fragrance and Let's Go Our Separate Ways, you now have three songs with over five million downloads. Would you like to put in a little effort and strive to attain the status of an Ace Composer this year?"
"What is the standard for an Ace Composer?" Yu Hai asked.
Xu Nanshan was somewhat stunned. "You didn't know?"
Yu Hai shook his head.
Xu Nanshan was utterly speechless. For a composer not to know the title promotion standards for composers was indeed quite bizarre.
Yet looking at Yu Hai's face, he comforted himself with the thought that perhaps geniuses simply didn't care about such matters.
"Once you have over five songs with download counts exceeding five million, you can be called an Ace Composer."
The music industry had three tiers for composers: regular composers, Ace Composers, and Grandmaster Composers, with the last also referred to as Grandmaster Composers.
The treatment given by major companies for each tier was worlds apart.
Yet the actual ability of composers at each title tier was truly worlds apart as well.
Some people might write a hugely popular song due to a sudden flash of inspiration, pushing download counts past ten million, only to fade into obscurity afterwards. Such occurrences were by no means rare in the entertainment industry.
Among a thousand regular composers, not even one might successfully advance to an Ace Composer in a given year.
Therefore, status matching ability was a completely normal phenomenon in the composition circle.
Yu Hai nodded to show he understood, then thought for a moment and said, "I'll give it a try!"
This time, even Xu Nanshan was surprised. "You're seriously planning to push for Gold status this year?"
Yu Hai looked at him quizzically. "Wasn't it you who told me to achieve it this year?"
Xu Nanshan opened his mouth and then closed it again.
Fine, a genius's mindset was simply beyond his comprehension.
He waved a hand. "Never mind. There are singer profiles on the company computers. If you want to release a song, find a singer to record it yourself."
"Alright," Yu Hai acknowledged, then immediately took his leave, preparing to head home.
He had only come to check in today and had no intention of staying until the end of the workday. Crucially, he felt a bit hungry and wanted to go home to get something to eat.
Department head Xu Nanshan raised no objections to this, and the others were even less likely to say anything.
The company didn't have rigid attendance rules for composers to begin with; as long as they could deliver works meeting quality standards, it didn't matter if they didn't come to the office at all.
Thus, Yu Hai stepped out of the supervisor's office, walked back to his workstation, picked up his small backpack, gave everyone a casual nod, and happily prepared to head home.
Along the way, he ran into quite a few people who cast curious, covert glances his way.
This made Yu Hai think that the employees at this music company had rather heavy curiosity.
Just as he was about to exit the company building, a male voice suddenly called out from behind: "Teacher Whale Fall!"
Yu Hai looked back to see a young man in his early twenties running towards him. Having perhaps rushed over somewhat hurriedly, the man stopped right in front of Yu Hai, completely out of breath and unable to speak.
Yu Hai stood there waiting for him to catch his breath, while thinking to himself: *Uh, who is this? I don't know him. Have we met before?*
Once the ordinary-looking but thick-haired man caught his breath, he immediately bowed slightly in a respectful manner, extended his right hand, and said, "Hello, Teacher Whale Fall. I am Chen Song. It's our first time meeting. Thank you so much for choosing to let me sing Red Rose. May I invite you to a casual meal?"
Dawn breaking over him, Yu Hai reached out and shook the other man's hand. "Hello. No need to thank me; your vocal skills are good."
Although Yu Hai was hungry, he had no desire to go to crowded places like restaurants, and he deeply resisted dining with unfamiliar people, so he directly refused, "There's no need for dinner; I still have things to do."
Chen Song immediately said, "Since you're busy, we can schedule it for another time. Where is Teacher Whale Fall heading? Shall I drive you?"
Yu Hai hesitated for a moment, but considering that hailing a taxi right outside might not be very convenient, he said somewhat apologetically, "I'm heading to University City. Are you going that way?"
Before Chen Song could reply, several voices chimed in from the side in a flurry of overlapping remarks: "Is Teacher Whale Fall going to University City? I happen to be heading there too. Why not ride in my car?"
"My newly purchased BMW..."
"Teacher Whale Fall can ride in my car..."
Hearing this, Chen Song's expression instantly changed. He quickly brandished his car keys and said to Yu Hai, "I happen to be going near University City to pick up some things. Please wait a moment, Teacher Whale Fall, I'll go bring the car around."
With that, he trotted off without giving anyone else the slightest opportunity.
Taking advantage of the moment, Yu Hai stepped forward, broke away from the gradually closing-in crowd, and headed towards the company's main entrance.
Amidst the lingering, reluctant gazes of the women and the regretful looks of the men, he got into Chen Song's new car.