Chapter 14: Chapter Fourteen: Hello, I

"No need to rearrange the music; if needed, I can write pop dance tracks too."

Facing the two bosses' questions, Zhou Yi pondered carefully before speaking: "But my dance skills are just mediocre—will that even work?"

"To be honest, I've never systematically studied dance. I can just move, catch a bit of rhythm, and show off in front of girls—it's pure amateur stuff."

One is one, two is two; on this point, Zhou Yi never lies.

Unlike so-called "creation," dance—even if you're naturally gifted—requires grueling practice, and even after mastering it, you must maintain consistent training.

Not everyone can be a singing-and-dancing artist; it's exhausting, haven't you noticed Guo Tianwang has been reducing his pop dance output year by year?

"That's fine—we just need to build your name so the public learns there's another young man who can dance, through Guo Fucheng's fame. That's enough."

Zhou Jianhui, who had spent years immersed in advertising before entering the music industry, cited a classic marketing case to explain: "Besides, I personally don't support you fully committing to pop dance. I believe the future of Mandarin pop doesn't need another Guo Fucheng."

"Zhou Yi, you're a newcomer, and from the mainland. You should know mainland pop singers aren't highly recognized in Hong Kong or Taiwan, let alone that you've never debuted before."

"Under these circumstances, releasing an album, what matters most is whether your personal recognizability can attract fans to buy it."

"If your album can attract just a small portion of Guo Fucheng's young pop dance fans for the first wave of traffic, then build on that through word-of-mouth to break out of the niche, you'll draw more listeners and boost sales."

"You're young—you know that when you hear a great song, you can't help sharing it with classmates and friends, especially young girls. That's the key to whether your album will sell well…"

Unlike Sun Yanzi's debut album, which was entirely crafted by Warner's top talents with custom-made songs, Zhou Yi's album was entirely self-written.

Precisely because of this, Zhou Yi's debut album naturally carried far more uncontrollable risks for Warner.

Since Warner had already decided to allocate all its initial promotional resources to promoting Sun Yanzi, the budget available for Zhou Yi was clearly much smaller.

After all, Warner Music doesn't print its own money; these years of decline have left its finances far from ideal.

Since Warner's promotion budget for Sun Yanzi was already fixed, although Zhou Yi's budget was also in process, it was clearly modest—especially since, over the past three years, no meaningful breakthrough had occurred, and the budget Zhou Jianhui secured was relatively meager.

He had been worrying about how to build initial fame when Li Sisong came to tell him about Zhou Yi's morning recording session and the exceptional quality of the songs, so he thought of Guo Fucheng as a natural promotional resource.

Both are male artists; Zhou Yi is taller and better-looking. Promoting him along Guo Fucheng's line—wouldn't that instantly launch his fame?

Leveraging a big-name artist's fame or having a big-name artist personally endorse a newcomer with a similar style has long been a timeless tactic across the global music industry, and Mandarin pop is no exception.

Zhou Yi naturally understood this.

When Zhou Dong debuted, his company even promoted him as "Little Tao Zhe"—and they weren't even from the same company; strictly speaking, that was pure parasitism.

"And my requirements aren't high—just two or three songs in your album with dance elements will do."

Seeing Zhou Yi lost in thought, Zhou Jianhui pressed on, stating his demands for Zhou Yi's debut album: "Two or three dance-influenced pop songs are enough to carry our initial promotion. Combined with your 'Happy Worship,' I believe the A-side of the album can be built entirely along this direction."

"For the B-side, you can try combining these musical elements to write new songs, but don't include your songs like 'Nanshan Nan,' 'Mercury,' or 'Qimei Di'—the style would be too fragmented."

"If you like them, keep them for future genre shifts or include them in a future greatest hits collection as new tracks."

"My suggestion is to write a few pop ballads on the B-side that match the album's overall tone—this ensures mainstream listeners' taste is satisfied. What do you think?"

In a few swift strokes, the雏形 of a debut album centered on the concept of "Asia's Little Dance King" was born.

Dynamic, rhythmic, youthful—boundless future.

This was the promotional image Zhou Jianhui had set for Zhou Yi.

This way, promotional materials wouldn't overlap with Sun Yanzi's image of "natural, clean, simple, and refreshing."

"I understand. No problem with the songs—I can do it."

Zhou Yi immediately agreed, then asked a soul-crushing question: "But what about dancing? Even if it's just pop songs with some dance elements, I still have to be able to dance, right?"

He had a clear sense of his current dance ability.

Fooling around with pretty girls and showing off was fine, but if he actually took the stage, he'd probably get his pants ripped off.

If Hong Kong media wrote headlines like "Asia's Little Dance King's Dancing Suspected to Be a Zombie Reincarnation"… he couldn't bear the humiliation.

"Relax, trust the company, Zhou Yi."

Zhou Jianhui smiled slightly, his glasses making him look especially confident: "When you signed, I told you—aside from singing, the company will handle everything else. That's the company's purpose and value."

"As long as you nod, we'll immediately connect you with the industry's top dance instructors—the company will cover all costs, no burden on you."

Zhou Jianhui spoke these words with conviction.

Warner is still Warner—even if now it's a dragon stranded in shallow waters, a tiger fallen into the plains, its industry connections remain intact.

Not to mention, if you're willing to spend the money, you can hire Michael Jackson's personal choreographer through Warner's global channels.

"Alright, I understand. Then I'll leave all this to you, Manager Zhou."

Zhou Yi nodded, enjoying once again the seamless, luxurious service of a major company.

That's the advantage of leaning on a big tree.

If he'd joined a small label, let alone getting Guo Tianwang to mentor him—he'd probably get warned or mocked just for trying to approach him.

The only regret was that the coming days wouldn't be easy anymore.

Recording in the morning, dance practice in the afternoon—only nights remained his own.

………………………………………………………………

"Sigh…"

"What's wrong, Yi-ge? Did something happen? Why are you sighing?"

More than ten minutes later, in the recording studio's rest area.

When Zhang Shaohan, having washed his face, pushed open the door, he saw Zhou Yi, returned from the general manager's office, slumped in his chair, sighing heavily—he asked instinctively.

"His time is getting split up—he'll have to go dance practice in the afternoons now."

Sitting beside him, chewing an apple, Sun Yanzi wore a pair of monitoring headphones; upon hearing this, she couldn't help but smirk.

As a singer who isn't good at dance, the company had crafted her public image without any dance component—in MVs, just running and jumping counts as victory.

"Dance practice? Isn't that a good thing?" Zhang Shaohan asked, puzzled.

If the company paid for a teacher to train her, she'd be overjoyed—it would prove how much the company valued her.

"The thing is, I just really don't like moving, you know? Dancing is too tiring."

Zhou Yi leaned back, his head resting on the chair's headrest, speaking the kind of callous words only a well-fed man could say: "Thank goodness Manager Zhou didn't demand I become a full-time singing-and-dancing artist."

"..."

Zhang Shaohan widened her exquisite, Barbie-doll-like eyes slightly, momentarily rendered speechless.

For Zhang Shaohan, who had absolutely no experience negotiating amicably with a company, Zhou Yi's words touched upon her blind spot and triggered a envy deep within her heart.

When would she ever receive such treatment? Alas...

Zhang Shaohan, who had won several singing competitions in Canada, had long lost her initial illusions this past year; beaten by reality, she only hoped to debut and earn money as soon as possible to improve her family's impoverished living conditions.

Sun Yanzi, chewing on an apple, pressed her lips into a smile, clearly amused by Zhou Yi's posture: "Friendly reminder, junior brother, did you forget I am also your teacher?"

"...??"

A question mark slowly floated up in Zhou Yi's eyes; he widened his eyes and looked at her in disbelief: "What do you mean?"

"Your vocal method indeed needs correction. I can't help you more since time is limited; I can only briefly introduce you to the basics and change some of your existing bad habits."

A smile that Zhou Yi considered demonic appeared on Sun Yanzi's youthful, radiant face: "Considering you have recording in the morning and dance practice in the afternoon, I can only trouble you to spare two hours tonight and stay at the company a bit longer."

"... Then I truly thank you, senior sister."

Watching helplessly as another appointment was added to his schedule, Zhou Yi slightly bit his back teeth and forced out the words: "Taking time out of your busy schedule to teach me."

"You're welcome. After all, I have nothing to do right now; the preliminary promotions are already done, the materials are all filmed, and the variety shows I should have appeared on are finished; we are just waiting for the broadcast."

Sun Yanzi tossed the fruit core into a trash bin not far away, turned around in her chair, and smiled: "Also, please do not call me senior sister in private; please call me teacher."

"I have eaten your disciple-acceptance meal. Zhang Shaohan is the witness. Right, Zhang Shaohan?"

"Huh? Ah?"

Zhang Shaohan, who had been standing dazedly with her mind wandering, suddenly came to her senses; as she raised her gaze, her large eyes were filled with confusion.

"... You are only 22; what teacher are you being, senior sister?"

"I graduated from university."

"..."

Stunned by that sentence, which blocked all his retorts, Zhou Yi felt somewhat uncomfortable holding it in.

He really hadn't graduated, damn it.

Time passed amidst the laughter and chatter of the three young people in the recording studio.

Early the next morning, Zhou Yi, still washing up at home, received a call from his manager, Qian Jiang—

"A-Yi, the company has found a dance teacher for you; he is a very capable person in the industry. I am waiting for you downstairs and will take you there later."

Due to his roundness, Qian Jiang's suit jacket wasn't buttoned, making his general's belly particularly conspicuous.

"Okay, I understand, Brother Qian. I'll be right there."

Zhou Yi, having sped up his washing, finished in a jiffy, simply changed clothes, put on his shoes, and walked out the door.

After locking up, he looked up and happened to see the urban beauty he had encountered yesterday by the basketball court walking briskly past the corridor corner—

Compared to yesterday's sportswear, she was dressed exceptionally beautifully today, with a touch of star quality in her every gesture.

Hmm? She actually lives on the same floor?

Zhou Yi, not paying much mind to it, hurriedly went downstairs and took his manager's car to the dance training class.

"This dance training class has a sterling reputation in the industry; many big names have studied here briefly, including our company's Guo Tianwang."

On the way, Qian Jiang, driving the car, handed a document to Zhou Yi in the passenger seat and introduced: "Since this training class usually adopts one-on-one teaching, you don't need to worry about the embarrassment of being seen by others in a large class."

"The company has booked Teacher Liu Xiong for you; he is particularly skilled in choreography for male body movements."

Accompanying manager Qian Jiang's introduction, Zhou Yi also saw the profile of his dance teacher in the document.

He looked gentle and refined, with shoulder-length hair tied in a ponytail, appearing to be in his forties, a tall and thin figure.

"Don't underestimate this training class; several of the teachers here have been choreographers for big-name singers in the entertainment industry."

"Do you know Xiao Yaxuan, who was launched by Virgin Records at the end of last year? The song 'The Most Familiar Stranger' that is playing on every street corner right now, she sang it."

Speaking, Qian Jiang even hummed a couple of lines: "Her album sold out, and she is now the hot new star of Virgin Records. Even so, Virgin Records still sent her here to undergo dance training."

"... Xiao Yaxuan is here too?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yi couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, his tone quite surprised.

Soon, he was no longer surprised.

Because after following his manager to complete all the procedures, Zhou Yi, who had been led to a dance studio, hadn't even warmed his seat when he saw a beautiful figure in tight clothes and yoga pants walk out from behind the door—

"Miss Xiao, this is Mr. Zhou Yi from Warner, who needs to use the dance studio after you. We have arranged for him to wait here."

Accompanying the staff member's introduction, Xiao Yaxuan wiped the sweat with a towel hanging around her neck and smiled, greeting the handsome, tall man in front of her: "Hello, I am Xiao Yaxuan."