Chapter 59: The Rookie King, Official Recognition

Starting from July 15th, the day "White Fox" was released, exactly a month and a half has passed. In this short span, five songs—all charted! This achievement is unprecedented.

And in these brief weeks, Su Chen, riding the wave of these five songs, successfully ascended to the rank of Silver Composers. This speed is unmatched among all living composers today! In other words, Su Chen has made history.

“Tang Guo is truly the best!”
“From today onward, I’m willing to worship Tang Guo as my idol!”
“Does Tang Guo ever experience creative bottlenecks? How is writing songs as effortless as drinking water?”
“Don’t use your mortal perspective to judge a genius; geniuses don’t know what bottlenecks are! They just pick up the pen and create!”
“Now, all those doubters should finally shut up, right?”
“...”

In just half a day, Su Chen’s fans broke through the one million mark. Currently, there are 1.02 million fans. On the surface, discussions about Tang Guo online are fierce. But in the grand scheme of the internet, composer fandom is still a niche. Otherwise, with these achievements, Su Chen’s fan count wouldn’t stop at a mere million—it could easily reach tens of millions!

This is why, despite all five songs being written by Su Chen, the rate of gaining followers can never catch up to Luo Jiaxing and Qu Anan.

The internet has a long memory. The spat between Mu Qingyun and Su Chen happened just half a month ago. Netizens certainly haven’t forgotten. Now is the time to settle accounts!

Curious netizens have already begun leaving comments under Mu Qingyun’s microblog:

“Hey old man, when are you going to eat your words?”
“Caught you! We’ve got the evidence, time to pay up!”
“Wait, don’t eat yet! I’m heading out for fried chicken later and will bring you a special combo!”
“Congrats on successfully scamming yourself out of food and drink!”
“...”

From start to finish, Mu Qingyun hasn’t responded at all. Since then, he hasn’t appeared anywhere else either. Su Chen doesn’t bother to fuss over it—just a clown, after all.

-------------------------------------

While everyone was still buzzing about Su Chen’s leap to Silver Composer status, a sharp-eyed netizen noticed that Su Chen’s Weilang platform profile had gained a new credential:
August 2023 Composer Chart Rookie King!

Wow! Weilang’s verified badge! Is this official recognition?

Because of this, many rushed to refresh the artist rankings, combing through the data, comparing item by item. At last, someone discovered a change in the ranking rules: the list, originally with 55 items, now had 56.

Item fifty-six: In the artist ranking data, composers now receive the "Rookie King" certification.

Rookie King: Achieved when three songs appear on the Wind and Cloud Chart or Newcomer Chart in one calendar month.

Eligible: All new composers below the Silver rank.

Supplement: This title is automatically evaluated based on monthly data, then manually confirmed by the official team, and once confirmed, it appears on the individual’s microblog account!

So that’s it! This rule was created because of Tang Guo? Incredible!

If, half a month ago, “Rookie King” was just a joke, a media gimmick, now it’s the real deal!

Su Chen appeared calm on the surface, but compared to him, the rest of Star Orange Entertainment was anything but composed, especially Wang Yan, Kong Qishui, and Liu Wenxiong.

“Rookie King! Our company created this title!”
“Who dares call us a small company now?”
“Su Chen, you’ve really given us face this time—big time!”
“...”

Whether or not it brings tangible benefits to the company, at least in terms of reputation, Su Chen has undoubtedly elevated the company’s standing.

The colleagues from the second composition group were ecstatic as well.

“The Rookie King is one of us! Hahahaha!”
“Su Chen is amazing! Who would have thought it just over a month ago?”
“Who says it’s surprising? I knew he was extraordinary the moment he joined the company!”
“Liu must be overjoyed. Look at that grin—it’s practically blossoming!”
“...”

Similar scenes played out in many corners of Star Orange Entertainment.

In the celebrity group chat, Luo Zhe was especially lively.

[Luo Zhe: Powerful! Absolutely powerful!]
[Luo Zhe: Tang Guo becoming legendary is only a matter of time!]
[Luo Zhe: Who is he, really? Does anyone have any inside info? Spill!]
[Luo Zhe: I really want to get to know him—even if it means being his lackey!]
[Luo Zhe: Maybe if he’s in a good mood, he’ll toss me a bone!]
[Luo Zhe: Even his cast-off bones are treasures. Has he ever written a subpar song?]

This joker fired off messages like a machine gun, one after another. Before anyone could reply, he’d sent several more.

Finally, someone doused his enthusiasm.

[Lu Yuanqing: Stop dreaming. Go wash up and sleep. You can have anything in your dreams!]
[Jiang Yan: Stop dreaming. Go wash up and sleep. You can have anything in your dreams!]
[Group member: +1]

Reality check in a second!

A few days later, the heat around “Rookie King” cooled a bit. Only then did people notice that Luo Jiaxing and Qu Anan had quietly entered the ranks of fifth-tier singers.

On Blue Star, the Weilang platform publishes artist data, with ranking lists for every field. Just as composers are divided into Silver and Gold, singers are similarly categorized.

From top to bottom, the tiers are:

First tier: King/Queen
Second tier: First-tier singers
Third tier: Second-tier singers
And so on...
All the way to fifth-tier singers. Below that are debut singers—the so-called “eighteenth-tier”!

Jiang Yan, for example, is a first-tier singer, nearly at the Queen level—hence her nickname “Little Queen,” meaning she’s only a step away from that status.

Xi Siyuan is a second-tier singer. Though a tier behind Jiang Yan, company support gives her the clout to compete.

Su Chen had expected Luo Jiaxing and Qu Anan, with this round of ranking updates, to enter the eighteenth-tier. After all, they’d only debuted a month ago, barely above trainees.

But surprisingly, both had leaped straight to fifth-tier singer status. Maybe the recent publicity helped, maybe their achievements were officially recognized. In any case, the result was a delightful surprise.