PDLP Chapter 363 "Super Boy"
Chapter 363 "Super Boy"
The next morning, when Lu Ran arrived at the company, he found that Shen Yuege had left home even earlier than him.
A note was left on the dining table: "I'm going to the studio. I might be back a little late tonight. Eat dinner by yourself, don't make do."
Lu Ran folded the note, put it in her pocket, and took a taxi to the company.
Although her leg is still a little lame, she can take a taxi by herself without having to ask Shen Yuege to take her every time.
When he arrived at the company, he went to the technical department first and took a look at the progress of "Minecraft".
Old Wang and his core team were reading code in the conference room. Several people were gathered around the whiteboard, discussing something in turn.
Zhao Yiming sat in the corner with three monitors in front of him, the screens filled with Redstone system code, and a cup of coffee that had gone cold next to him.
Lu Ran didn't disturb them; he stood at the door for a while and then left.
Back in his office, he turned on his computer and, as usual, checked the data for League of Legends first.
The peak concurrent online users exceeded 2.3 million, and the data for the ARAM mode increased by 15% compared to last week, indicating that more and more players are starting to relax in ARAM mode between ranked matches.
He glanced at EA's Wildlands again.
The data is still rising, although the rise is slow, but it hasn't fallen.
The game has already surpassed 20 million users in the Chinese market, doubling its user base since its first week of release.
EA is indeed a tough opponent.
Lu Ran shut down the data backend, opened the Minecraft document, and began writing the next phase of product planning.
He decided to change his work style starting today—to only state requirements, not write code.
All the code development was handled by Lao Wang and his team; he was only responsible for setting the direction, reviewing the plans, and making the final decisions.
That way, even if someone asks, "Who wrote this feature?", he can say, "It was done by the team; I was only responsible for submitting the requirements."
Over time, people will get used to the title "Mr. Lu is a product manager" rather than "Mr. Lu is an all-around programmer".
After writing a document for a while, Lu Ran felt a little thirsty, picked up her water glass, and found it was empty.
He stood up to get water from the tea room. As he passed the operations department, he heard Xiao Yang making a phone call inside. His voice was very low, but his tone was excited.
"Yes, yes, that's the direction... Send me the demo first so I can take a look... The cost is negotiable; as long as the quality is good, money is not an issue..."
Lu Ran didn't think much of it and went back to his office after getting the water.
In the afternoon, Zhou Mingzhe came to talk to him about the preparations for the Chengdu branch.
The venue has been booked; it's in an office building in Chengdu High-tech Zone, a bit smaller than the Shanghai headquarters, but sufficient.
The renovation has already started and is expected to be completed by the end of the month.
The training plan for the 63 new employees has been finalized and will officially begin next Monday.
After listening to the report, Lu Ran signed a document: "Brother Zhou, keep an eye on things in Chengdu. Minecraft has just started, so I can't leave right now. I'll go check on it after my leg heals in a while."
"You don't need to go, I'll go." Zhou Mingzhe took the documents. "You keep an eye on Minecraft in Shanghai, I'll manage the Chengdu branch. We have a clear division of labor, so don't work outside your assigned area."
Lu Ran smiled, signed the document, and then looked up at Zhou Mingzhe: "Brother Zhou, I have a question for you."
"ask."
Do you think I sometimes show off too much?
Zhou Mingzhe was taken aback, not expecting him to ask that question. After thinking for a moment, he said, "You're not showing off, you just have too much stuff to keep quiet. Other people who want to make a good game rack their brains for a year and still can't come up with a reliable plan. You, on the other hand, just pull out something every now and then, and they're all good stuff. This isn't showing off, this is being so rich that it accidentally spills out."
"Then I'll leak less in the future."
"It's good if you leak less, but don't stop doing anything just to avoid leaking. You still have to play the games you're supposed to play, and you still have to present what you're supposed to present. As for what others think, you can't control so many people. If one out of a hundred people doubts you, it's enough if the remaining ninety-nine believe you."
Lu Ran nodded: "You're right."
Zhou Mingzhe stood up and left. Lu Ran leaned back in his chair, stared at the ceiling for a while, then picked up his phone and habitually opened the TUTU game section to see what players were discussing.
After flipping through a few pages, he saw a post that had been pushed to the top of the homepage.
The title is: "Has anyone else felt that League of Legends' matchmaking algorithm has improved recently? It used to be a 10-game losing streak, now it's a 50/50 chance. Is it just my imagination?"
After clicking through and taking a look, I found that players generally reported that the matchmaking experience had indeed improved.
Lu Ran knew this was thanks to Lao Wang. Last time, he had suggested to Lao Wang that the matching algorithm be optimized, and Lao Wang and his team spent a week rewriting the algorithm. The players' feedback indicated that it was working well.
He exited the thread and scrolled down again.
A headline caught his attention: "Nationwide Male Singer Audition Program Seeking Theme Songs; Songwriters Wanted, Generous Prizes!"
Lu Ran didn't pay much attention at first. These kinds of recruitment posts appear on TUTU every day, and most of them are scams.
But he glanced at the poster's ID—"Starry Night Tune".
He hadn't seen this ID before, but the words "Star and Moon" made him take a second look.
He clicked into the post and read through the contents carefully.
"Our studio is about to launch a nationwide male singer audition program, and we are now soliciting theme songs from across the internet. Requirements: catchy melody, positive and uplifting lyrics, reflecting the theme of young people pursuing their dreams. No style restrictions; pop, rock, and folk are all acceptable. Duration: three to four minutes. Selected works will be used as the official theme song for the program, and the composer will receive generous compensation and credit."
The email address provided was a QQ email address with the prefix "yue".
Lu Ran stared at the email prefix for a few seconds, his mind starting to race.
studio.
A nationwide audition program for male singers.
He had previously discussed the complete plan for "Super Boy" with Shen Yuege, including the program flow, competition format, and promotional strategies.
Shen Yuege said at the time, "This is a good idea. I'll study it after I'm done with this busy period."
It seems she has already started researching, and is even soliciting theme songs.
But she didn't tell him.
This ID clearly tells you it's Shen Yuege's alternate account.
Lu Ran read the post again and noticed the posting time—around 11 p.m. last night.
Shen Yuege had been in the study for over an hour at that time. He assumed she was dealing with work emails and didn't disturb her.
It turns out they were writing a call for submissions.
He put down his phone, leaned back in his chair, and couldn't help but laugh.
Shen Yuege felt sorry for him because he had been too busy lately and his leg had just recovered, so she didn't want to give him any more work.
But I didn't want to just pick any song to make do, so I publicly solicited suggestions online, hoping to find a good-sounding theme song that would suit the program.
Her intentions were good, and her methods were correct.
But she forgot one thing—he was Lu Ran.
A seasoned programmer.
Lu Ran picked up his phone again, turned on his computer, and logged into his technical backend.
He checked the IP address that posted the message, and the system quickly returned an address.
It is not an IP of Star Moon Studio.
It's the broadband IP address for their villa.
Lu Ran stared at that IP address for several seconds, his lips twitching. Shen Yuege had posted the message using her home computer, without even using a VPN.
She probably thought that using a secondary account would be safe, and never thought about things like IP addresses.
That confirmed it – it was indeed Shen Yuege who posted it.
He closed the search page, leaned back in his chair, and laughed out loud at the ceiling.
Shen Yuege, if you want to hide it from me, at least clean up the traces.
If you post a recruitment notice without even hiding your IP address, isn't that basically telling me "I posted it"?
However, he also understood Shen Yuege's good intentions.
She didn't want to trouble him and wanted to handle the matter herself.
Even if it costs more money or takes more effort, as long as it reduces his workload, she feels it's worth it.
That silly woman.
Lu Ran sat up straight, opened the page of the recruitment post, and read it again.
There are already dozens of replies below, mostly comments like "support" and "looking forward to it," and a few people said they can write songs and left their contact information.
No one submitted anything.
The call for submissions has only been posted for a day, and the fact that there are already responses indicates high engagement; submissions won't be as quick.
Lu Ran thought about it and came up with an idea.
Since Shen Yuege wanted to keep it from him, he would pretend he didn't know.
However, according to the normal process, it might take a long time to receive submissions that meet the required quality standards after she posted that call for submissions.
The quality of online writers varies greatly, and even if someone submits a piece, it's likely just to fill a quota.
If Shen Yuege can't find someone she's satisfied with after all the picking and choosing, she'll still have to come to him in the end.
Rather than letting her wait in vain, he decided to write her a poem instead.
But he can't use his real name, or he'll be exposed. Shen Yuege will know it was him when she sees the name "Lu Ran," and then all his efforts will be for nothing.
He needs a smaller trumpet.
Someone who has absolutely no connection with TuTu Technology, someone Shen Yuege would never guess is him.
Lu Ran sat up straight, opened the email registration page, and began applying for a new email account.
He spent a few minutes coming up with an ID – “Small Town Composer”.
After registering his email address, he also registered a secondary account with the same name on TUTU.
The profile picture is a guitar photo I found randomly online, and the bio says "Independent musician, occasionally writes songs".
After everything was ready, he opened the document and began writing lyrics.
He had heard the theme song of "Super Boy" many times in his previous life.
The song is called "I'm the Brightest Star". The melody is not complicated, but the lyrics are very well written. Every line is related to the experience of the contestants in the talent show - "I used to sing 'I'm the Brightest Star' whenever I wanted". Just this line is enough to touch people.
He remembered the lyricist and composer of that song from his past life.
He closed his eyes, his consciousness sank into the system's light screen, and typed four words in the search bar: I am the most dazzling.
The screen switched, and a complete project package appeared in front of him—sheet music, lyrics, backing track, singing demonstration, everything.
Download, extract, and open the document.
It's not that I can't write, it's that I'm too lazy to write.
The system's one-click download is convenient; anything produced by the system is of high quality.
After downloading, Lu Ran glanced at the lyrics and started humming the melody in his head.
The melody isn't complicated, and the transitions are all very well-structured. The chorus has a clear and memorable point that you can remember after just one listen.
In his past life, when he watched "Super Boy," every time this song played at the beginning of the show, he would feel incredibly energized.
It's not that the song is so amazing, it's that the song and the show's vibe are a perfect match.
Dream chasing, youth, passion, brilliance—each word precisely struck a chord with the contestants and the audience.
This song will never be outdated in this world.
Because pursuing dreams is the same in any world and any era.
Lu Ran copied the lyrics into a new document and began to check them line by line.
We made sure that not a single word was different from the original—not because we were afraid of copyright infringement, but because we felt that the original was already the best, and changing any word would be superfluous.
After checking the lyrics, he opened the sheet music and looked at it again.
The melody is fine, the vocal range is suitable, and it's easy for male voices to sing.
He packaged the lyrics and sheet music and sent them to the email address left by Shen Yuege using the email address of "Roadside Composer".
The email body contained only one sentence: "Hello, I saw the call for submissions and wrote a poem. Please listen to it and see if it suits you."
After sending it, he thought about it and felt it was too cold, so he added a sentence at the end:
"It's free. If you like it, that would be my greatest honor."
...