Chapter 19: The Phone Call

"On your bank card ending in 9527, a transfer of 74,087 yuan has been received, and your account balance is now 74,783 yuan."

December 5th.

Lin Yuan received this payment.

At the same time, he also received a message from the company's finance department: "Your earnings from the downloads of 'Life Like Summer Flowers' and your monthly salary from the composition department have been credited. Starting from the 5th of each month, your song download earnings and your monthly base salary will be deposited into your bank account on time. If you have any questions, please check your account with the finance department."

Finally, he was getting paid.

Lin Yuan was somewhat delighted.

The late arrival of December meant that the newcomer season for this year had come to a complete end.

Thanks to the large-scale promotion the company initiated in the middle of the month, the final download count of "Life Like Summer Flowers" surpassed the half a million mark. This achievement completely exceeded the previous years' newcomer season champions, which indirectly reflected the excellence of Lin Yuan's work.

After deducting nearly ten thousand in taxes, Lin Yuan had over sixty thousand yuan left in his hands.

With his ten thousand yuan base salary, his bank account finally reached over seventy thousand—

Even though, strictly speaking, Lin Yuan hadn't been with the company for a full month.

Perhaps this could be considered a bonus for newcomers from the company.

In his past life, the songs written by newcomers often couldn't fetch such a price, let alone the additional income from future song downloads for Lin Yuan.

In the days to come.

As long as people continued to spend money on downloading "Life Like Summer Flowers," Lin Yuan would keep receiving a steady stream of earnings from this song's downloads.

No wonder there's a saying in the world of composition: "One good song can feed you for a lifetime."

Even if Lin Yuan couldn't come up with any other good works in the future, the income from "Life Like Summer Flowers" alone would be enough to solve his basic living expenses.

Of course, one thing to keep in mind is that the download count for "Life Like Summer Flowers" will gradually decrease in the future. This is because any work will have an audience saturation phase, so the earnings from this song will inevitably decrease over time.

So, it's not a bad idea to produce more songs.

More reputation means more money.

Lin Yuan couldn't help but look forward to the income "Big Fish" would bring him in the future.

Just the custom-made company's share for five million downloads is over six hundred thousand. When you add the share from the download count, it will definitely be substantial.

Next, he could finally do what he had been wanting to do since his arrival in this world.

Lin Yuan made a call to Zhao Jue and asked for a favor.

Then, he took a deep breath, recalled the communication pattern between the original owner and his mother, and, after making sure he was prepared, he called his mother, who was working as a music teacher in their hometown.

The call connected quickly.

A somewhat tired voice came from the other end: "Little Yuan, is your allowance running out again? Mom will send you some."

"It's not that," Lin Yuan hurriedly replied. "I have some good news to share with you."

Before he could finish his sentence, he heard a stranger's voice on the other end: "Chen Jin, the shelves on the east side are empty. Take the list and go to the warehouse to restock..."

The phone suddenly hung up.

But Lin Yuan could imagine his mother's panicked reaction.

Five minutes later, his mother called back, her voice low. "The signal was bad just now."

"Mom," Lin Yuan suddenly felt a pang in his heart. "Don't pretend, you've taken on another part-time job, haven't you?"

"It's mainly because there wasn't much to do at school today," his mother replied somewhat guiltily. "You know, I'm just a music teacher, and today my class was taken by Mr. Huang, the math teacher. I had to find something to do since I had some free time."

Lin Yuan wasn't pleased. "How can the math teacher keep taking your classes!"

His mother laughed. "Don't make things up. The Chinese teacher also likes to take my classes."

Lin Yuan, feeling helpless, said, "Can your health handle it? Don't you remember the time you took three part-time jobs and ended up in the hospital getting an IV because you were too tired?"

"I'm just helping out at the supermarket... Besides, today there was nothing much going on at school."

Lin Yuan retorted, "You overworked yourself with three jobs back then. Don't forget that. You went to the hospital because of it."

"I'm working at the supermarket mainly... By the way, what's the good news you wanted to tell me?"

His mother changed the subject.

Lin Yuan didn't expose her and said, "I've switched to the composition department at work and have started learning to write songs. Last month, one of my songs, 'Life Like Summer Flowers,' became popular, and I earned a hundred thousand yuan."

"A hundred thousand? Writing songs?"

His mother wasn't excited but rather worried. "You're not lying to me, are you? Little Yuan, if something happened, don't be afraid to tell me... You didn't sell an organ, did you?"

His mother's voice even had a hint of crying.

Lin Yuan was speechless. "Why would you think of something like that? I genuinely earned the money by writing songs. You know 'Life Like Summer Flowers,' right?"

"It sounds familiar... Someone in the office might have played it... You wrote it?"

"Yes, I did."

"From your childhood, you've never told lies. Is it really your song?"

"It's truly my song. I'm the composer, and my senior is the singer."

"You... you..."

"You can believe me. I can have our company's management confirm it with you. You know about my contract with Starlight Entertainment from my freshman year, and you even have the contact information for my manager, Sister Zhao. She wouldn't lie to you either."

"I believe you... I believe you... But what about the hundred thousand yuan..."

"The hundred thousand yuan? I'll keep a few tens of thousands for myself, and the rest I'll transfer to you. You don't need to work part-time anymore. I have money now, and I can cover our living expenses!"

"Transfer it to me, please transfer it to me."

His mother spoke with a trembling voice. "Mom will keep it for you. If you have any health issues, we'll have the money for treatment. You don't need to bother our relatives."

"That's not it."

Lin Yuan said, "I hope you can use the money to pay off our family's debts. Over the years, you've spent a lot on my medical bills, and you never told us how much you borrowed."

"We don't need to worry about that... Mom will pay it all back, and as long as Mom is alive, not a single cent will be left unpaid. I'll even calculate the interest!"

"That's good."

Lin Yuan felt a lump in his throat. "Mom, this song will continue to make money in the future, and I've also transferred to the composition department at the company. I have a monthly base salary of over... well, over two thousand. So, the money I earn in the future should be enough for my medical bills. Please, tell me how much debt the family has?"

"Over a hundred thousand."

His mother replied casually.

Lin Yuan insisted, "Tell me the truth."

His mother changed her tone. "It's around two hundred thousand."

Lin Yuan pondered, "You always taught us not to lie from a young age."

There was silence on the other end.

After several seconds, his mother's voice reappeared, sounding heavy, "Including the interest, it's a total of 528,636 yuan."

"Alright."

Lin Yuan said in a cheerful tone, "I'll pay off this debt this year! You should stop working part-time, and please, listen to me. Start by repaying the debt! You don't need to repay it all at once; you can keep twenty thousand for a better life. I'll send you more money in the future. I've just written another song, and I should earn a decent amount."

"Hey."

His mother scolded him, "You've become arrogant. Just because you got lucky and your song became popular, you act as if it's a miracle. You've only just started learning composition, and you expect every song to be a hit."

"I have confidence."

"Alright, alright. You have confidence. But with this money, I need to give some to your sister and share the good news with her. She just graduated recently, and her job isn't easy. She's been using the same phone for five years and hasn't been able to replace it." His mother seemed to be seeking Lin Yuan's opinion.

"I'll handle it."

Lin Yuan smiled, "I'll inform my sister, and I'll buy her a new phone. She's taken care of me for all these years, so it's a chance for me to repay her."

"That makes sense."

His mother felt guilty toward Lin Yuan's sisters because of the sacrifices they had made for him, "But don't forget."

"Sure."

After chatting for nearly half an hour, Lin Yuan repeatedly urged his mother not to take on more part-time jobs, then they reluctantly hung up the phone.

After hanging up, Lin Yuan opened his mobile banking app and transferred 73,000 yuan directly to his mother.

She was quick to accept the money and sent him a voice message through the contact list, "Be careful with the rest of the money. 20,000 is not to be spent carelessly."

"I understand."

Lin Yuan replied with a smile.

He had told his mother about earning a hundred thousand to ease her mind and mentioned the two-thousand base salary to achieve the same goal. In reality, he only had a little over a thousand yuan left.

But that little over a thousand yuan would be enough to last him until next month.

...

Having received the money, Lin Yuan's mother, Chen Jin, still couldn't shake off her worries. To a woman who had never given up on her son's medical treatment, the significance of a hundred thousand yuan was far beyond the monetary value.

She hesitated for a moment and decided to make a call to Zhao Jue, inquiring about Lin Yuan's situation.

After confirming the details, she felt a bit relieved.

Standing in the warehouse, she was lost in thought for a while, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes, startling the workers nearby, "What's wrong with you?"

Chen Jin wiped away her tears, "I'm just happy."

One of the workers chuckled, "What kind of joy brings tears like that?"

"Do you listen to music?"

"What?"

"Listen to the song 'Life Like Summer Flowers.' It's really good!"

"Ah?"

The worker was somewhat puzzled, "Oh... sure, I'll listen to it."