No matter what kind of heights one reached, there would always be doubts. Furthermore, Fang Zhao was so young and had so few works. Even if a global lecture tour could raise his status in the circles of music composition, for many authoritative figures, it was still far from enough.
It was not that Fang Zhao did not speak well, but that was the rule. Although Fang Zhao had indeed produced a few decent pieces and had been invited by Fiery Bird, it did not mean that he could really stand on equal footing with the world-renowned great masters. Works and experience were both important factors.
Fang Zhao did not have enough works, and his experience was not as deep as other great masters. Therefore, during the lecture tour, if each lecture was calculated in terms of an hour, three-quarters of the time would be given to Xue Jing, and the remaining quarter would be given to Fang Zhao. Even if Xue Jing wanted to allocate a portion of his time, he could not.
Everyone acknowledged that Fang Zhao had talent, and that he had outstanding works, but Fang Zhao was still young. Who knew if his talent would be depleted soon?
Something like talent was hard to predict. It could accompany a person for a lifetime, or it could change in the next moment. The veterans in the circle had seen many such examples, so they had reservations about how high Fang Zhao could climb and whether he could live up to Xue Jing's expectations.
But they still approved of Fang Zhao's willingness to share his knowledge. Regardless of the motives behind this approval, on account of Fang Zhao's "selfless sharing," they were willing to praise him in public.
Of course, there were also people who felt that Fang Zhao's style was too narrow. He specialized in heavy music for big scenes, and perhaps it was indeed suitable for those big-budget war movies. But in the eyes of the veterans in the music circle, it was far from enough.
It was not that he had to be comprehensive, but he had to touch on a little in other aspects or produce more works. Otherwise, there would be insufficient evidence to support the title of "great master."
Those who had seen Fang Zhao's resume felt that his foundation was not solid enough. It was only because of Xue Jing's presence and the fact that the Music Association had used him as a model to promote himself.
As the old saying went, a few pieces of music could not prove that he was a master. Every master was proven by time and the accumulation of works.
"Fang Zhao? He is not qualified! "
This was the evaluation that a media reporter got when interviewing a certain master during the lecture tour.
Xue Jing was still worried that Fang Zhao's state of mind would be affected by these evaluations from both inside and outside the industry. After one of his lecture tours, the media once again brought up that great master's evaluation during an interview, wanting to know Fang Zhao's reaction.
But Fang Zhao only had one response: "Oh."
"Oh?!"
Gone?!
The person in charge of the interview was very helpless. You brat, at least give me more reaction!
Fang Zhao did not pay much attention to the mixed reviews in the industry. He was very busy. How would he have the time to look through the reviews of everyone in the industry? He had no interest in watching those.
When Fang Zhao was not teaching, he was always busy. Xue Jing realized that Fang Zhao did not have as much time to teach as he did and did not have as many meetings to attend, yet he was even busier than Xue Jing.
"What are you preparing?" Xue Jing asked.
"Matters over at Muzhou," Fang Zhao replied.
Xue Jing knew that Fang Zhao had partnered with a friend from Muzhou to buy a farm. Xue Jing did not have much interest in farms. Every year, many people would send him some Muzhou agricultural products, and he did not really care for those agricultural products, so he did not ask too much.
Fang Zhao really wasn't lying. He was really very busy. He was editing videos. He had to watch the videos sent over from Dongshan Farm and Shanmu Farm, then edit a portion of them. After that, he would watch the edited video again and listen to it along with the music before making changes.
Editing videos and music. Fang Zhao had roped in people from Silver Wing's virtual projects department to help out. Every piece of work that combined video and music needed to go through many revisions to achieve a satisfactory artistic effect.
Other than that, Fang Zhao would receive reports every day. Wu Yi would also send him some messages, giving him a summary of the situation.
Today, Wu Yi called Fang Zhao.
"That dog of yours..." Wu Yi wanted to say something but stopped.
"What's up?" Fang Zhao asked.
"I told you before. Shepherd dogs have very strong learning abilities," Wu Yi said.
"Mmhm."
"... I used to think that your little Curly Hair did not know how to herd sheep. After coming over, he would surely learn a few skills from the dogs on my farm."
"Mmhm." Fang Zhao indicated that he was listening attentively.
"But now I realize that I was wrong. Ridiculously wrong! All the dogs on my farm have been led astray by that Curly Hair of yours! "
Previously, when Fang Zhao was in Muzhou, he would bring Curly Hair out for a run every night. After Fang Zhao's global lecture tour, Curly Hair retained this habit every day. At night, when other dogs were asleep, he would go out for a run. Fang Zhao had told Wu Yi about this. As long as Curly Hair did not run out of the boundaries of the farm, he could let Curly Hair do as he pleased. This was also training.
At first, Wu Yi personally monitored the surveillance, but after he got used to it, he just reminded the employees on night duty to pay attention. Until one day, when Bingo and a few other dogs on the farm curiously followed Curly Hair out. Every night, the run changed from one dog to a team of dogs.
In the first few days, Wu Yi did not see much of a problem. He even thought that this might be a help to the dogs on his farm. Running more would strengthen their physique, and it would help them in the Eastern and Western region finals. Later, the employees on night duty told Wu Yi that these dogs had actually gone to catch field mice! It was Bingo who had started it. As the previous boss of the farm, Bingo was very familiar with the farm, and naturally, he was familiar with field mice.
Things developed very quickly. This team of dogs would run out every night to catch field mice.
Wu Yi was very vexed. That was something for mousetraps. What were these shepherding dogs doing there!?
Wu Yi had specially hired a team of veterinarians to take care of them to prevent parasites, viruses, and other external factors from affecting their participation in the competition.
And the news that Fang Zhao received from Su Hou was like this:
"Master Zhao, we won! Today was very nerve-wracking. Our guidance was not wrong. Hopefully, we can maintain today's form next time. "
...
"We won again! No mistakes! "
...
"We won again!"
...
"We lost today and only got fourth place. We only added one point. Bingo ate a field mouse and ended up with diarrhea the next day. He did not perform well. Wu Yi said that the 10 million he bet for Master Zhao today is gone. But we earned a lot from the first few rounds. Even if we lose one round, we will still earn it back."
...
"Just one more first place and we can squeeze into the top 10!"
...
"Top 10! Next target, top 8! "
...
"Just one more round! The competition is not small. The other teams are also getting high scores in every round. "
...
"Top 8! Top 8! Top 8 secured! "
...
"Tickets to the finals in hand! Hahahaha! "
In the past two months, Dongshan Farm's points in the Eastern Division rapidly rose to the top. Dongshan Farm's reputation also grew. Everyone knew that Dongshan Farm's lead dog was a small curly-haired dog, and it was especially powerful. With the increase in strength and reputation, the payout rates naturally became lower. Eventually, if Wu Yi did not have the intention of supporting his own people, he would not have placed any more bets. It was pointless.
Following the rise in reputation, many people in the Eastern region knew that Su Hou had bought the farm and changed the name of Xishan Farm to Dongshan Farm, cooperating with Shanmu Farm in the competition. Of course, there were also people who mocked Su Hou for buying an empty farm and having to seek help from other farms. It was simply a disgrace to the Su family.
Su Hou didn't care about those words. What he wanted the most right now was to win one victory after another. Every victory was a boost to his confidence.
Probably because they had run laps together, herded sheep together, caught field mice together, and endured scolding together, the comradeship between the seven dogs had deepened day by day. The most direct manifestation of this was that now, even if Su Hou did not apply for on-the-spot guidance, Curly Hair just had to bark and the other dogs would quickly react.
Only the top eight teams in the preliminaries would be able to decide which four teams would qualify to participate in the Eastern Division's sheep-herding competition. However, this time, the top 80 and 90 teams in Muzhou's Eastern Division had the same points, so they would all enter the Eastern Division's finals. When the time came, the top four teams would be chosen to continue competing with the four teams from Muzhou's Western Division.
Su Hou was so excited that he wished he could run laps in the field to enter the finals with the seventh place in the Eastern Division.
"Master Zhao, can you make it for the Eastern Division's finals?" Su Hou asked over the long-distance call.
"Yes."
"Hey, Master Zhao, actually, what I wanted to ask is... that, didn't you say before that if we could squeeze into the Eastern Division's finals, when the time came, we would use the song you composed as the background music? Hehe, I filmed a pretty good advertisement these past two days. Master Zhao, have you composed the song? " Su Hou knew that Fang Zhao had recorded it in Qingcheng, but it had not been completed before he had embarked on a global lecture tour. Su Hou did not know if it had been completed or not.
"Let me see the video you filmed yourself," Fang Zhao said.
Su Hou sent Fang Zhao the video he had filmed over the past two days that he felt was the best.
When he opened the video, Fang Zhao felt a strong gust of chuunibyou. Su Hou thought that his parkour was very cool, but people watching would think, "This kid is like a convulsing sheep."
"Still use mine," Fang Zhao said.
"Eh? Master Zhao, you also produced it? When did you film it? "
"When you don't know."
Su Hou suddenly had a bad feeling about Fang Zhao's reply.
"… Can I have a look first?" Was he handsome? Was he cool? Would it cause a scream? This was what Su Hou wanted to know the most.
"Sure, but don't spread it yet."
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