Chapter 12: Riding on Guo Tianwang's Popularity

"Come, come, I'll toast with tea instead of wine. In the future, I hope Teacher Sun will continue to guide me."

Inside a certain restaurant near the Warner Building.

Zhou Yi pretended to lift a cup of plain water, mimicking a popular martial arts drama plot, and raised his hands in a salute to Sun Yanzi sitting opposite him, though his squinting and winking made him look somewhat insincere.

Zhang Shaohan, holding back her laughter, sat beside Sun Yanzi; seeing this, the corners of her mouth couldn't help but twitch, and then she realized it, instinctively covering them with her hand, her overly conspicuous big eyes filled with amusement.

"In martial arts dramas, becoming a disciple isn't that simple; where is the disciple-taking ceremony?" Sun Yanzi, understanding he was just livening the atmosphere, also adopted a posture, and while grinning, every movement made her look exactly like a senior master from a martial arts novel.

"What kind of martial arts movie did you watch that still has this kind of dross as a disciple-taking ceremony? It seems Singapore's martial arts dramas are already on an outdated version."

Having completed the routine on his own, Zhou Yi sat down, picked up a chopstickful of food and put it in his mouth, mumbling unclearly, "Nowadays, we advocate refusing to give gifts."

"Of course, I watched Brother Xiao Qi's version."

Sun Yanzi, whose eating manner was extremely ladylike, took a sip of tea and retorted, "If you have objections, go find Brother Xiao Qi."

Richie Ren, the king of the Chinese music scene at the end of the 20th century, nicknamed Brother Xiao Qi.

A legendary existence who fought the four Heavenly Kings of Hong Island single-handedly without falling behind; one song, "Too Soft at Heart," swept through men and women, young and old, across both sides of the strait and the mainland, and he actually managed to play the handsome male leads in martial arts dramas purely by his own true skills.

The most typical example is the 1998 version of "The Return of the Condor Heroes."

If his status in the music scene hadn't been high enough and popular enough, it would be hard to imagine him playing Yang Guo, the character whose first meeting with Yang Guo ruined his whole life.

Especially with Principal Louis Koo's jade already set as the standard, the comparison of looks, to put it in a rather offensive way, was simply tragic.

"Then forget it; I'm afraid I can't even get a glimpse of Brother Xiao Qi." Zhou Yi, who had never seen this version of "The Return of the Condor Heroes," simply skipped this topic.

As a person from the future, the versions of "The Return of the Condor Heroes" that left a deep impression on him were actually just two—the Louis Koo version and the Huang Xiaoming version.

Due to the era, his impression of the Huang Xiaoming version of "The Return of the Condor Heroes" was actually even deeper.

"That's simple; just write a song for Brother Xiao Qi and invite him to sing a duet with you, isn't that enough?"

"Do you think writing songs is like buying Chinese cabbage?"

"I think you writing songs is indeed about the same as buying Chinese cabbage."

Sun Yanzi, who had witnessed this man's songwriting speed with her own eyes last night, raised a mischievous smile at the corner of her mouth, then immediately turned her head and passed the topic to Zhang Shaohan beside her to avoid leaving her out: "Miss Zhang, you might not know, the 'Happy Worship' you recorded today is one of the five songs he wrote in four hours."

Hearing this, Zhang Shaohan's eyes immediately widened in shock, and she looked at the man sitting alone opposite with an incredulous gaze: "Four hours? Five songs?"

Zhou Yi raised his hand in a downward pressing gesture, but his expression was exceptionally flamboyant, with an uncontrollable show-off look between his eyebrows: "Low profile, low profile."

The image of the gentle and elegant talented scholar he had shown this morning instantly shattered into pieces.

"So amazing, Mr. Zhou." With the support of talent, plus Zhou Yi was already handsome and majestic, this contrasting behavior actually eliminated much of the strangeness Zhang Shaohan felt in her heart.

"Just call me by my name; I'm only nineteen this year, just one year older than you."

Zhou Yi was obviously made awkward by the repeated "Mr. Zhou," and he spoke up to suggest, "Or you can just call me Brother."

Who becomes a "Mr." at nineteen? This isn't ancient times.

"Uh, okay, okay, Brother Yi."

As a small invisible person in Formosa Records, one of Zhang Shaohan's most important strengths was that she was good at taking advice. While taking advice, she was also smart enough not to use the surname, trying to narrow the distance between the two of them.

"You can call me Sister Yanzi or Sister Stefanie; I'm twenty-two this year, older than both of you." As the oldest of the three present, Sun Yanzi chimed in to increase the familiarity between them.

"No need to be so reserved; we are all the same age, and who knows, maybe we can even go on stage together to receive awards in the future." Zhou Yi, knowing the future career trajectories of these two, said cheerfully.

Although he didn't know why Zhang Shaohan started by debuting in idol dramas, it was obvious that after this woman started releasing albums, she continuously produced several blockbuster hits, including "Invisible Wings," a god-tier song that could be described as gilded.

If it weren't for the unreliable family and plastic best friends backstabbing her in the subsequent period, this woman really could have become a Heavenly Queen-level figure in the Chinese music scene.

After all, her timbre was simply too unique.

Unfortunately, by the time she returned after handling the trivial matters, she had already missed the last bus to becoming a Heavenly Queen.

After a meal of exchange, the three of them, who had truly gotten to know each other in a meaningful sense, had somewhat narrowed the distance between them.

Zhou Yi's playful smiling face, Sun Yanzi's intellectual generosity; both of them knew how to care for her feelings, probably judging her economic situation from her clothing, so they hardly mentioned this aspect at all, instead chatting about interesting things from their student days so she could also jump into the conversation.

For Zhang Shaohan, she hadn't experienced this feeling of laughter and joy for a long time.

Since starting middle school, burdened with the pressure of life, she had spent years, besides studying, rushing to various shopping malls and stores to work part-time.

After coming to the Treasure Island alone last year, the environment was even more lonely; she hardly had a single friend, spending every day either practicing singing or working in clothing stores to earn money; among the people in the company around her, besides Teacher Lin Longxuan, there were hardly a few she could trust.

Entertainment companies, especially those in singer training classes, everyone wants to be famous; they are all competitors.

But here, it was different.

Sun Yanzi was already a singer Warner was about to launch in June; Zhou Yi was a singer-songwriter who made all the songs for a whole album himself, completely not occupying others' song acquisition resources, and he was a man, having absolutely no conflict of interest with her, making it very easy to get along.

"Speaking of which, Brother Yi, you still have a year of studies left; how will you balance that then?" Blinking her big, exquisite eyes like a Barbie doll, Zhang Shaohan was somewhat curious.

"Warner has a partner company in the mainland called Warner Ma Tian; in the future, I will definitely be stationed in the mainland, and at most I'll come to the Treasure Island during the promotion period, which will also make it convenient for me to return to school for exams."

"As for attending classes, as long as I can pass the exams, it doesn't matter whether I attend class or not."

Zhou Yi shrugged, indicating that the Treasure Island was just a stopover for him; wasn't Guo Tianwang, Warner's number one, currently in Hong Island?

The future market would definitely be ruled by the mainland; even with more piracy, as long as the reputation was established, it would be better than this small patch of land in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Hearing this, Zhang Shaohan was lost in thought.

Sun Yanzi made a teasing remark, "Then it looks like if I want to chat with junior brother then, I'll probably have to call."

The only person she could get along with at the company currently, with no competitive pressure and purely interacting as friends, was indeed Zhou Yi.

"How could that be? Senior sister, you are my teacher. If the teacher gives an order, wouldn't I have to carry a plane and rush over from the mainland?"

The exaggerated content paired with a teasing tone made Sun Yanzi and Zhang Shaohan, who had never heard such a description, feel a bit of novelty in their hearts.

Just as she was about to say something, Zhou Yi's mobile phone suddenly rang—

"Hello? President Zhou?"

Seeing the note, Zhou Yi immediately made a shushing gesture and pressed the answer key.

"Zhou Yi, let me ask you something; do you have any objection to riding on someone else's popularity?" Zhou Jianhui, the general manager of Warner, his steady voice came through the phone.

"Riding on popularity?"

"Yes, for example, riding on the popularity of Guo Tianwang in the company."