Chapter 113

"Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity, Zhou Yi."

By the side of Lushan, Liu Tao, who rushed over immediately after Zhou Yi's arrival to thank him, kept a very low profile, even though she was three years older than Zhou Yi.

But in the entertainment industry, being famous is the only truth.

The most famous work she had acted in so far was "The Outsider's Daughter-in-Law," a production that probably very few people outside Guangdong Province had even seen; her agent had suggested she try submitting a resume to Warner Bros., thinking that since she was born and raised in Jiang Xi Province, she might have some advantage.

The facts proved that Zhou Yi had indeed pulled a string for her, this fellow townsman, which left her pleasantly surprised.

"You're welcome, Sister Tao. I've seen your performance in 'The Outsider's Daughter-in-Law'; it left a very deep impression on me."

While exchanging polite pleasantries, Zhou Yi handed his luggage to his assistant and smiled, greeting her.

To be fair, the young Liu Tao at this moment lacked a bit of the charm possessed by the mature woman who won the Best Actress award for "White Knot" in Zhou Yi's memory.

Actors with Liu Tao's temperament are actually quite rare in the domestic entertainment industry.

Her facial features aren't particularly outstanding, her face shape isn't superior, and even her acting skills aren't from a professional background; she graduated from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

Yet, strangely, this combination creates a surprising gentleness, especially when portraying characters with gentle, maternal traits; this quality of hers adds significant value in such roles.

It's hard to say if it's because she entered the profession later in life, was deeply influenced by things she encountered in her past life, and thus was subtly affected.

Even more amazing is that as she aged, the somewhat rustic look in Liu Tao's eyebrows and eyes from her youth was completely worn away by time. This gentle quality on her didn't disappear; instead, it surpassed her younger self.

This is also why she later stood out playing virtuous wives and mothers, or even roles with a high divine or maternal undertone, more than other types of characters.

Given that her professional ability truly has some merit, Zhou Yi didn't mind helping out his fellow townsman, especially since this fellow townsman would become a top-tier TV actress in the future.

As for Liu Tao's personal private life, which has been heavily criticized, that's none of his business; he's not marrying her. Zhou Yi still had a clear sense of reality; with all the mess under his own butt, he shouldn't be laughing at others when he's only fifty paces away from a hundred.

"By the way, Sister Tao, my own acting probably isn't very good; if I end up needing too many retakes (NGs), I'll have to ask you to be understanding." Considering his acting skills, which were only barely adequate after Zhou Xun's brief training, Zhou Yi was being very considerate to lay his cards on the table before shooting this MV with some plot.

After all, this time it wasn't playing himself; his main job is singing, not acting, so it's normal for his acting to be a bit worse compared to professional actors.

And just as everything was ready, Zhou Yi received a long-overdue call from Chen Hao—

"Yo? The big busy person has returned to the country?"

The moment he saw the contact name, Zhou Yi, after pressing the answer button, immediately made a teasing remark; Liu Tao, seeing this, simply noted the name "Chen Hao" and tactfully moved a bit further away to avoid disturbing him.

"Yeah, and as soon as I returned, I saw the big news you stirred up. Suing in the mainland, suing in Xiangjiang, suing in Taiwan; are you trying to be Sun Wukong causing havoc in Heaven?"

On the other end of the line, Chen Hao, back at the "Fascinating Women" filming location in Shanghai, lowered her gaze to look at the few newspapers she had bought, and a smile inevitably appeared at the corners of her eyes.

"Yeah, but who told them to be so unchivalrous first? In terms of legal meaning, shouldn't this count as self-defense counterattack?"

Zhou Yi, who had casually found a stool to sit on, gazed at Lushan in the distance: "How was the feeling of filming over in Japan?"

"Not great. With the language barrier, all I did was stay in the crew or go out with others who understood Japanese; I didn't buy much."

Speaking of the "Fascinating Women" trip to Japan, Chen Hao's words unusually carried a bit of complaint: "Not knowing Japanese even kills the desire to buy things."

"That's simple; if you want to learn, I can teach you."

"No need, I'm afraid you'll contaminate the purity of my thoughts."

Chen Hao, who knew Zhou Yi's nature all too well, laughed and refused; the black pot she casually dumped on him made Zhou Yi extremely indignant, muttering things like "He really knows some Japanese" under his breath.

This was a skill pack he had chewed out from watching anime and tokusatsu in his past life.

"Alright, stop muttering; I can hear you anyway."

Regarding this man's "I have no silver hidden here" behavior, Chen Hao rebuked him sharply: "With this kind of time, you might as well think about how to wrap things up; this lawsuit doesn't look like it will end anytime soon.

"If you can't handle it, go back to the Imperial Capital first to put down your work and relax; we'll talk once the lawsuit is mostly over."

Sitting among the mountains and forests, Zhou Yi picked at his fingernails; hearing this, a smile inevitably appeared on his face: "I thought you would also advise me to settle privately with those media outlets."

"No one can shake your mind once you've made up your mind to do something, right?"

In the living room of the hotel room, Chen Hao put down the makeup mirror she was holding, pressed her lips which were painted with lipstick, then immediately turned on the speakerphone and started touching up her makeup: "Considering we are still investment partners, when you lose completely, I can reluctantly offer you some help."

Hearing the voice, Zhou Yi asked curiously: "Are you putting on makeup?"

"Mm, I just came back today, have a day off, and I'm preparing to go out shopping with Xue Jianing and the others. Is there anything you want me to buy for you?"

"No need; after I finish shooting the MV, I'll come find you to visit and chat about some things."

Calculating the time and thinking he should have a few days off at the end of May, Zhou Yi yawned as he spoke: "Alright, I'll hang up first; I have to go shoot the MV over here."

"Mm, be careful."

"You too."

The phone hung up, and just as Chen Hao, having finished her makeup, was about to stand up, the hotel room door was suddenly pushed open—

"Chen Hao, are you ready? We should be leaving."

Full of energy, Xue Jianing bounced into the room; behind her were Liu Ruoying and Zhang Yan, two others who were also part of the "Fascinating Women" main cast.

"Ready, coming right up."

Chen Hao, who quickly put away her small makeup mirror and touch-up kit, stood up from the living room sofa; Liu Ruoying, who had entered later, also saw the few newspapers spread on the coffee table, with the front-page headlines all about Zhou Yi suing the media across the two sides of the strait and the three places.

A woman's intuition told her that Chen Hao's phone call just now must have been with Zhou Yi.

"Let's go."

Chen Hao, changed into Shengtian Changfu, smiled and slipped out to go shopping. Among the few of them, except for Liu Ruoying, the other three didn't have much fame in the mainland yet.

At least they wouldn't be surrounded and asked for autographs while walking on the street.

"Chen Hao, Chen Hao, are you going to write your graduation thesis? What's the topic? I can help you reference it..."

Although they were both born in 1978, Xue Jianing, who started school early, got into the Shanghai Theatre Academy in 1995, so naturally she graduated earlier than Chen Hao.

"Graduation thesis? I already have an idea..."

…………………………………………………………

"An idea? Is this your idea?"

May 20, Imperial Capital, Peking University.

With the MVs of Cai Zhuoyan and Zhong Xintong finished, when Zhou Yi's teacher received the draft of his graduation thesis written in advance, for a moment he actually thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Having been a teacher for so many years, he had seen no shortage of works citing classics and authorities; he had even seen "self-created laws." But writing a thesis using his own recent scandal as a case study was the first time in the history of the world.

"You go to the entertainment industry to sing a song, yet I feel like you're just going to do social practice?" After glancing quickly a few times, the teacher fell into deep thought.

This little bastard is a bit off.

Could it be that he only reported people to write his graduation thesis?

Meanwhile, having completed the recording of the "Jiangnan" album and begun working overtime to stock up, Warner, under the dual operations of Zhou Jianhui and Qian Jiang, launched its second step—

While handling the mainland lightly, it relied on the developed news industry in Xiangjiang to shape an image of Zhou Yi as "wronged."

Finally, launch a fierce attack on the Taiwan Island!

May 26. Almost overnight, more than half of the Taiwan Island saw Zhou Yi's name suddenly appear on the front pages of many newspapers and periodicals—

"Zhou Yi's Fury! More Than Half of the Taiwan Island's Print Media Suffer!"

"The First Person in Entertainment History! The Second Batch of Major Names Sued by Zhou Yi!"

"Zhou Yi: He is challenging rumors that cannot be stopped with his own strength!"

"Zhou Yi: Purifying the public opinion environment of the entertainment industry; it is our duty!"

"..."

?

Something is off.

Very off.

The representatives of various record companies, who had expected Zhou Yi to stop after suing a batch to scare the chickens and warn the monkeys, frowned collectively this time, watching helplessly as this legal storm, stirred up solely by Warner, rapidly swept across the entire Taiwan Island and even the entire domestic entertainment industry.

Under Warner's full-throttle promotion, Zhou Yi, who could not appear in the Taiwan Island to promote his new album, created an unparalleled presence in the Taiwan Island market with an extremely domineering and arrogant posture before his album's release, in a way no one had expected!

Damn! What medicine is this little bastard selling in his gourd?

May 28.

Zhou Yi, the lonely hero charging alone with a gun against the "dark forces," reached a level of topic discussion in the Taiwan Island that vaguely rivaled the drama "Meteor Garden," which was currently airing hotly there!

Out of ten people, five were discussing "Meteor Garden," while three or four, or even four or five, were discussing Zhou Yi, this very tough singer, in his hard fight against the rumor-mongering media...

To coordinate with this wave of promotion, Warner specifically adjusted Zhou Yi's official album release date back by a few days, pushing it to June 6, aiming for the auspicious day of "double six for smooth sailing," to wait for public opinion to ferment further.

And when Warner quietly began riding this wave of heat to officially announce that Zhou Yi's new album would be released on June 6, almost all the "victims" realized—

Damn!

Warner, you damn dogs!

Which Wang Ba has such a black heart?!

Going to such extreme lengths just to promote an album?!

Is the paparazzi's time not time?!

Because of Zhou Yi's age, everyone almost immediately ignored the fact that he was only nineteen years old... The Xiangjiang-born manager Qian Jiang directly took the fall!

(End of this chapter)