Chapter 43: The Fan Meeting

As the champion of PigPig Music’s “Voice of the Future” competition, Lin Xiyue still had one reward she had yet to claim—the promised lunch with a mysterious celebrity guest.

PigPig Music scheduled it for about a week later, and Lin Xiyue was actually quite interested.

For a competition of this level, inviting a top-tier superstar would be unnecessary, while inviting a second-tier one would be a bit embarrassing for such a big platform.
So the most likely guest was someone at the quasi–first tier.

Having lunch with a senior of that rank meant she could probably learn a lot.

During the week leading up to the lunch, Lin Xiyue spent her time working with her mom to polish her song. She really did pick up a lot of useful producer tricks along the way.

As for the college entrance exam results, neither Lin Xiyue nor Xia Jinnian were surprised—they were both accepted into the Music Department of Guangnan University.

Their scores were simply too high, and combined with their musical achievements, the school admitted them even without the usual art exam.

The admissions office wasn’t stupid either—this girl was “Top Scorer of Ten Provinces” + “YanZhiNet Best New Artist” + “PigPig Music Newcomer Champion.”

So they not only decided immediately to accept her, but also publicly announced that Lin Xiyue had chosen Guangnan University as her first choice—using her name to attract other top students who hadn’t originally considered Guangnan.

“Should be getting the score any moment now.”

Mother and daughter sat together in front of the computer, with Lin Xiyue furiously refreshing the scoring page on StarWeb.

They had already uploaded the final version of their song. The evaluation result should be coming out around now.

Over the past week, they had already refined the track to the absolute limit. Further polishing wouldn’t improve the quality in any meaningful way.

“Ah?! It’s out!”

The screen refreshed, displaying one number and one letter.

“Score: 3990. Rating: B.”

“What?! We missed it by ten points?!”

Lin Xiyue froze for a moment, then felt a wave of disappointment wash over her.

Ten points wasn’t much—practically negligible in a 10,000-point system.
But it was exactly the difference between A-grade and B-grade, and that probably meant her submission would be filtered out instantly.

But there was nothing more she could do. Even if she rewrote or rebuilt the entire track from scratch, there was no guarantee it would score any higher. Skill capped out where it capped out, and they were out of time.

“You already did amazing. Think about it—your mom has never written anything that scored this high in her whole career. Your lyrics carried this song. And this is your very first public-facing composition. You’ll only get better from here.”

Xu Wei squeezed her daughter’s shoulders. As an experienced old hand, she understood exactly how hard it was to reach a score like this.

It was a combination of her seasoned composition and her daughter’s stunning lyrics—the power of a mother–daughter partnership should not be underestimated.

After discussing it with Xia Jinnian, the three of them recorded a rough demo and attached it to the email along with the sheet music before sending it off.

Of course, Lin Xiyue wasn’t holding her breath. Better to expect nothing than to be crushed later.

Still, even if the submission failed, a nearly 4000-point track paired with her current fanbase would surely outsell Meteor Shower. At the very least, it would be profitable.

By the time they finished, it was already evening—almost time to get off work. Instead of vocal training, Lin Xiyue decided to wander around the company building to relax.

When she passed by the PR department, she peeked inside. Bai Lulu was sitting upright at her desk, drafting what looked like an event planning document.

Honestly, Lin Xiyue originally thought Lulu’s so-called “coming to work at Lin Entertainment” was just an excuse to get close to her.

But surprisingly, Miss Bai not only showed up on time every day, she barely slacked off at all—more dedicated than the actual employees.
Very unexpected.

“Busy, Lulu?”

She patted Bai Lulu’s shoulder. Lulu turned around.

“Huh? Oh—it’s Lady Xiyue! Yup, I’m writing the plan for a fan meeting event.”

“By the way, Lulu, which university did you apply to?”

“Hmm… Guangnan University. Business Administration.”

That answer didn’t surprise Lin Xiyue. From what she knew, Bai Lulu’s grades had always been quite good—though she still didn’t understand why Lulu chose Second High instead of First High.

And besides, even if her grades weren’t good enough, with the Bai family’s influence in Guangnan, getting her admitted wouldn’t be hard.

“So we’re coworkers and schoolmates now~”

“Being schoolmates with Lady Xiyue is my greatest honor!”

“Alright, alright—can you stop saying embarrassing things all the time?”

Lin Xiyue sighed helplessly. Lulu never hid her passionate admiration for her, which always made her feel awkward.

“So what’s this fan meeting thing you’re working on?”

“Oh, this? Apparently, it’s a tradition at Lin Entertainment. Every six months, we host a fan meeting where all artists attend.”

Lulu had clearly gotten the hang of her job already. She explained everything smoothly and confidently.

“It’s basically selling signed photos, signed albums, letting fans take pictures up close—that kind of stuff.”

“But I heard that after the fan meeting, the company reorganizes the next six months of resource allocation based on sales and popularity rankings.”

“But Lady Xiyue doesn’t have to worry about any of that. Auntie Xu would never reduce your resources~”

“And honestly, among the remaining artists at Lin Entertainment, not many are competitive anymore. You and Jinnian might even top the popularity ranking.”

Lulu wasn’t wrong. After years of decline, Lin Entertainment’s current artists topped out at the quasi–second tier at best.

Artists at that level usually had maybe a million followers on StarWeb—and those were accumulated over many years. How active or loyal those fans were was… questionable.

In comparison, thanks to Meteor Shower and the surrounding marketing buzz, both Lin Xiyue and Xia Jinnian had already surpassed one million followers—solidly at third-tier star level. And all of their fans were newly gained, active, and enthusiastic.
Right now, they were arguably the company’s top talents.

But for an entertainment company, relying only on a couple of top performers wasn’t enough. Even the strongest lead artist couldn’t carry a studio full of nobodies. With a roster like that, the company’s overall rating would never rise.