Chapter 149: Me and My Proud Stubbornness (6k!)

"Deng Shiying! What on earth are you doing?! Hurry up! We'll be late!"

August 7, 2001, 14:24. Outside a street alley in Hong Kong, several ten-year-old middle school girls stood at the intersection, shouting repeatedly toward a classmate in the distance holding a water bottle.

"Coming, coming! Don't rush, don't rush! We're coming right now!"

Hearing this, the girl named Deng Shiying hurriedly increased her running speed, rushing to catch up with her classmates' pace, panting heavily: "Why are you in such a hurry? Zhou Yi's football match isn't starting that soon."

"Of course, we want to take advantage of the small crowd to help the fan club members set up. Don't forget our goal for today; we are going to give Zhou Yi a surprise."

The girl with chin-length short hair criticized Deng Shiying's attitude emphatically: "Don't forget, we need to let Zhou Yi know that no matter what happens, we will stand by his side."

Little Deng Shiying, who had just been panting and planning to rest on the spot, immediately became serious. The group then boarded the bus with high spirits, heading for their destination.

The start of the Holy War led to Zhou Yi's fans, who had bonded through the internet, privately forming multiple fan clubs led by different people; they were members of one such club, having recently put in considerable effort accompanying Zhou Yi as he fought against the multitude.

At the same time, due to Zhou Yi's recent experiences, the community of Zhou Yi's fan clubs, united through the internet, reached a consensus to give him a sudden surprise while he was playing football today.

For this, everyone contributed money if they had it and effort if they could. Deng Shiying, possessing extremely high musical talent, was even selected by the Zhou Yi fan club organization alliance to participate in a crucial segment, despite being only eleven years old.

It was truly miraculous; although little Deng Shiying, a first-year middle school student, had participated in many singing competitions big and small in the past, supporting Zhou Yi this time was exceptionally exciting.

Sitting in her seat on the bus, Deng Shiying, thinking that she would soon be personally cheering for her idol, instinctively raised her hand to her chest, opened her mouth slightly to take a deep breath, and alleviate the nervousness constantly surging from the bottom of her heart.

She was someone who had won many trophies and certificates; she couldn't be nervous, she absolutely couldn't be nervous...

"Hey, did you read the newspaper? When Jackie Chan was promoting his new movie in the United States and accepting an interview, he said he supported Zhou Yi, and even said that if Chow Yun-fat really couldn't find the elevator doors in Hollywood, he could help introduce a back door."

As children whose families didn't lack money, the few of them, whose daily lives consisted of nothing but chasing stars, discussed the fates of the other two major stars in this recent Holy War—

While promoting his new movie "Rush Hour 2" in North America, when asked about the public opinion storm in Hong Kong between Zhou Yi and Chow Yun-fat, Jackie Chan, contrary to his usual demeanor, cheerfully gave a suggestion that instantly shocked everyone's eyes to the ground.

In the public's impression, Jackie Chan rarely made such a "high-spec" evaluation of a peer at promotional events, especially when that peer was Chow Yun-fat.

Zhang Ziyi, who was running promotions with the film crew, had a upturned corner of her mouth that even American AKs couldn't suppress; her look of joy was obvious to anyone.

Heaven has eyes!

You Chow Yun-fat, sitting in a pile of dog shit every day, still thinking of mocking others?

You deserve it!

If Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-fat's conflict belonged to the new grudge stemming from the latter publicly mocking "feeding raisins" after the Golden Horse Awards, then the fate of another kung fu superstar, Li Lianjie, belonged to an old grudge.

The reason was simple; his wife, Li Zhi, had suffered no small amount of bullying from Chow Yun-fat in the past.

He, who was also running events in North America, had already finished promoting his new movie "The Kiss of the Dragon."

Although the box office performance of this movie was unsatisfactory, Li Lianjie still delivered a performance as dominant as in the past in the DVD market; the title of R-rated movie war god still rang loud.

When Hong Kong reporters asked this kung fu superstar about the matter of Zhou Yi fighting Chow Yun-fat, his answer was much more aggressive than Jackie Chan's: "It's too normal for Chow Yun-fat to look down on Zhou Yi; he is just that kind of person deep down.

"Didn't Zhou Yi also say that Chow Yun-fat basically just issued a public apology statement on the surface, but never made a single real apology call in private? I'm very familiar with this."

Li Lianjie, who was in high spirits in the Hollywood B-movie market, had learned the full story through his agent as soon as the incident broke, so he mocked Chow Yun-fat without any psychological or career pressure.

Back then, the three major Chinese superstars—Jackie Chan, Li Lianjie, and Chow Yun-fat—all struggled in Hollywood, but now only Chow Yun-fat has failed so badly that he had to slink back to Hong Kong.

Therefore, since a young person from the mainland dared to openly attack Chow Yun-fat, and without involving personal interests, he, Li Lianjie, didn't mind lending a hand.

The mainland entertainment circle originally had different opinions on Zhou Yi's so strong and high-profile handling of the matter; some felt it was reasonable and appropriate, while others felt it was too rigid and was damaging the unity of the entertainment circles in both places.

But after Jackie Chan and Li Lianjie, these two heavyweight figures, spoke out, the mainland entertainment circle immediately had no opposition; they even joined in to press the matter, wanting to cement Chow Yun-fat's reputation for discriminating against mainland artists—

"Several mainland artists led by Chen Daoming, Zhang Guoli, and Wang Gang have contacted us. They plan to use this opportunity to issue a joint announcement to raise the treatment of mainland artists in the Hong Kong entertainment circle and prohibit discrimination."

On the way to the stadium, Zhou Yi, who was texting Chen Hao, heard Qian Jiang's words, couldn't help but stop pressing the keyboard, and looked up in surprise: "Prohibit discrimination?"

"Yes."

Qian Jiang nodded, his tone somewhat schadenfreude: "I can only say that some big shots in the mainland entertainment circle have been holding grudges for a long time. They originally wanted to act, but they never found an excuse to make a move.

"You know, we Chinese have always emphasized having a legitimate reason for action. Coincidentally, your being discriminated against by Chow Yun-fat gave them this opportunity.

"Even a top-tier superstar like Chow Yun-fat would discriminate against you, a little Guo Tianwang whose popularity is as high as it can get; what about other mainland artists?"

As the only existing figures in the mainland entertainment circle who could match the status of Chow Yun-fat and others, Chen Daoming, Zhang Guoli, and the others had been waiting for this opportunity for far too long.

They possessed no shortage of information about Hong Kong artists discriminating against mainland artists; they just kept retreating before due to concerns about the impact.

Unfortunately, what they got in return was not gratitude, but pushing their luck.

Zhou Yi's appearance was like a timely rain, bringing relief to the anxious and frustrated big shots of the mainland entertainment industry after a long drought—because this matter has now become big enough, and its influence is great enough.

It was one thing to discriminate against others before, but Zhou Yi is now the undisputed number one in the mainland music scene. You dare discriminate against the officially certified number one in the music scene; I dare not think about what you would dare to discriminate against in the future.

When it comes to playing word games, not a single big shot at the top of the entertainment circle in this era is not an expert.

"Of course, no problem; I am very happy to help."

Zhou Yi, naturally delighted by this matter, readily agreed.

This minefield of conflicts between the mainland and Hong Kong entertainment circles, which was supposed to explode in 2004, was instead detonated by him in 2001; in a sense, he also helped Chow Yun-fat "leave his name in history."

Future archaeological excavations of mainland entertainment history on Baijiahao will definitely not lack this segment.

After all, his popularity was much higher than that of the little White Dragon King Bozhao in '04, and Chow Yun-fat's status and position in the Hong Kong entertainment circle were not comparable to Xie Tingfeng or Zhang Weijian in '04.

If he could, he really wanted to personally interview Chow Yun-fat about his feelings at this very moment; the taste of being used as a case of killing the chicken to scare the monkey was not pleasant.

After all, although the fact that Li Lianjie renounced Chinese citizenship and joined American citizenship was highly controversial and left him heavily criticized, at least for now, on the surface, Li Lianjie remained the only Chinese superstar officially second only to Jackie Chan.

The influence was right there.

With his support, plus the influence of Chinese citizen Jackie Chan, which spread across the entire Chinese-speaking world, it was not too surprising that the mainland entertainment circle would unify its opinions so quickly.

Jackie Chan plus Li Lianjie plus Zhou Yi; what do you, Chow Yun-fat, have to withstand that?

Facts proved that this was indeed the case.

When Zhou Yi arrived at the stadium scene and met with a group of Hong Kong stars, he could clearly notice the subtle changes in the faces of those few stars who had been helping Chow Yun-fat smooth things over.

"Welcome, welcome, A-Yi. I've always heard that your skill in football is very deep; I hope to see your style today."

After Qian Jiang left, Anita Mui, as the big sister of the cheerleading squad, approached and started chatting as if nothing had happened. Zeng Zhiwei, who had already changed into his football uniform, also smiled and extended his hand to Zhou Yi: "Yes, yes, A-Yi, the audience here today is very much looking forward to it."

"I will do my best and strive not to disappoint the audience friends who bought tickets to enter."

Zhou Yi, with sharp eyes, had already noticed the cheerleading squad that had come specifically to cheer for him not far away; after shaking hands with the Hong Kong stars, he made an excuse to go to the locker room to change clothes and broke away from their small talk.

Zhou Xun, who had been leaning against the railing watching Xiao Yaxuan, Sun Yanzi, and Zhang Shaohan play football with Fan Bingbin, also saw Zhou Yi hurrying toward her and couldn't help but raise her hand to greet him: "Yo, Zhou Yi, here so early?"

"It's my first time playing football at a Hong Kong stadium; of course I had to come early to get used to the turf. It would be awkward if I made a fool of myself on the field later."

Sun Yanzi, still playing football, failed to catch the ball this time; it flew out diagonally from under her foot and headed straight for Zhou Yi. The latter lightly lifted his foot, and the ball instantly stuck to his foot as if glued, trapped under his sole.

It was a sight that caught everyone's eye—

"How did you do that?" Sun Yanzi asked, somewhat incredulous.

"Why is it that whenever our feet move, the ball flies out as if it has springs installed?" Xiao Yaxuan asked, equally curious.

Fan Bingbin noticed the Anta shoes on Zhou Yi's feet: "You can stop the ball so well without even changing into football boots?"

Zhang Shaohan, who had been busy until now and had only just made time to come over as a cheerleader, smiled and gave the man a hug: "Long time no see, Zhou Yi."

"Long time no see."

Compared to last year, Zhang Shaohan was clearly no longer as awkward or inferior when facing him; instead, she was much more natural and composed.

There really is some truth to the saying that good fortune nourishes a person.

Just as he was chatting with Zhang Shaohan, Xiao Yaxuan, and Zhou Xun, Sun Yanzi squatted down, quietly extended her right hand, and poked the football that Zhou Yi had under his foot with her index finger—the ball was unusually obedient.

Zhou Yi, who felt it, looked over in confusion: "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Sun Yanzi replied, looking up to meet Zhou Yi's gaze with a wide, innocent smile. "I was just curious why you can stop the ball so smoothly."

"Is it possible that I'm actually a professional?"

"Then you shouldn't be here; you should be on the field with the Chinese national team fighting in the Ten-Nation Qualifiers."

Zhou Yi nodded in understanding: "That makes sense. Whenever the national team organizes a friendly match against Singapore, I'll apply to join and play as a striker, aiming to beat Singapore 16-0."

"Beat your head."

Sun Yanzi stood up, laughing and scolding: "Hurry up and change clothes, get to know your teammates, or else be careful no one will pass the ball to you on the field later."

After that cheeky remark, Zhou Yi proudly hummed a little tune, kicked the ball up with one foot, and walked toward the locker room while juggling it, leaving the women watching and marveling.

Sun Yanzi, however, disdainfully pouted: "Starting to show off again."

Yet, her gaze wasn't very convincing—her eyes kept being drawn to the figure walking while juggling the ball. Zhou Yi, playing football, carried a different kind of charm compared to usual.

Inside the stadium's locker room were a crowd of Hong Kong celebrities, some familiar to Zhou Yi, others not.

The first to catch his eye was Yuen Biao—a famous Hong Kong action actor and junior brother of Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan.

"Nice to meet you, Ah Yi. I'm Yuen Biao. Or you can call me by my real name, Lam Chun Chun."

With a background in martial arts, Yuen Biao instinctively sized up Zhou Yi's physique, pinching his arm with a smile: "Your body is well-trained. Jackie Chan was right. Let's spar sometime?"

"No, no, I don't have your foundation, Uncle Yuen," Zhou Yi said with a smile, waving his hands repeatedly to decline.

Under Yuen Biao's guidance, he managed to make acquaintances with some of the teammates he would be playing with later.

Chen Baixiang, whom he had met briefly at the Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards at the end of last year, left the deepest impression on Zhou Yi as the character Zhu Zhishan in Stephen Chow's movie "Flirting Scholar."

Then there were others like Julian Cheung, Li Keqin, Damian Lau, and Kenny Bee—Hong Kong celebrities Zhou Yi had seen on TV in his past life—who greeted him quite kindly.

A starting lineup consists of eleven players. Besides these few, the rest were Hong Kong celebrities like Lau Ching-wan and Kwan Lit-kit, whose fame in mainland China was not particularly high.

Other older superstars were simply sitting on the bench, watching the water cooler.

"Ah Yi, about recent events... I know you might feel quite resentful, but actually, not everyone in Hong Kong views you that way."

After the initial greetings and introductions, Chen Baixiang took the opportunity while changing into football boots to come over and offer some comfort.

"I understand, Brother Ah Lek."

Zhou Yi, now dressed in a red-and-white jersey, bent down to tie his laces without comment, then changed the subject: "By the way, is this a replica of the Arsenal kit?"

"You're the main star of our team today. The footage of you playing football in your Arsenal jersey at school was recorded long ago."

Chen Baixiang's face lit up even more when talking about football: "Play to your heart's content today, Ah Yi. We'll do our best to pass the ball to you."

"Great, then I'll thank you in advance, Brother Ah Lek."

Zhou Yi stood up, bounced in place twice, and followed Chen Baixiang out of the locker room.

Because this charity match was quite formal in scale, after changing into their jerseys, the group was led by staff to a proper player tunnel. Under the cameras' lenses, they held hands with young mascots, waiting to enter the field.

Soon after, the team wearing pale yellow jerseys, led by Eric Tsang, also arrived at the player tunnel. Zhou Yi glanced over and immediately spotted Nicholas Tse walking at the very front.

Like him, Nicholas Tse's number on his back today was 9, clearly indicating he was playing as a striker.

As the two most popular figures present, the cameras instantly locked onto a single position the moment these two appeared together.

"Hope for a good result."

Nicholas Tse, who hadn't played in the previous match, actively extended his hand toward Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi smiled and responded: "Then good luck to you."

"..."

?

Nicholas Tse pondered for a moment, then his gaze subtly swept behind him, taking in Eric Tsang, Huang Qiusheng, and Tony Chan standing there.

From a young person's perspective, he admired Zhou Yi's ability and courage to dare do such a thing.

If it were him being criticized by Chow Yun-fat, the only response would be to be suppressed by the company into saying insincere words, then venting his inner bitterness through the stage.

After the stadium DJ began to hype up the atmosphere, the two teams, led respectively by Zhou Yi and Nicholas Tse, each wearing the captain's armband, slowly walked out of the player tunnel—

The deafening cheers were sharply divided, creating a scene of ice and fire!

"Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi!! Zhou Yi!!!"

"Nicholas! Nicholas!! Nicholas!!!"

As the only presence in the opposing team capable of rivaling Zhou Yi in popularity, Nicholas Tse's appearance instantly drowned out the cheers for all other members of the yellow team.

The cheerleading squad, led by Anita Mui, cheered them on from a dedicated viewing area, attracting many eyes.

In contrast, the stands were continuously shouting Zhou Yi's name.

A group of female idol groups, led by Sun Yanzi, lined up in a row, even holding up a banner with the four large characters "Go Zhou Yi," making Zhou Yi's eyes twitch.

This way of cheering... really has a sense of the era.

Seeing the camera sweep over, Sun Yanzi, with one arm around Xiao Yaxuan and the other pulling Fan Bingbin, bared her teeth in a beaming grin and wildly waved a large "Zhou Yi" banner: "Go Zhou Yi!!"

Standing nearby was Zhang Shaohan, directing people to hold up a banner.

"..."

This is hard to judge.

For a moment, Zhou Yi didn't know whether Sun Yanzi was giving him a surprise or a scare.

Did he need this kind of support?!

Sighing with slight helplessness, at the whistle of a part-time referee, the football match opened amidst the thunderous cheers of the entire stadium—

Having won the right to kick off by guessing the side, Zhou Yi, after receiving the ball, immediately started showing off tricks with the ball.

Xie Tingfeng, who had just kicked off and was standing in front of him blocking the way, was directly tricked by a "cruel tail flick," losing his balance; his body twisted and he almost slipped!

Seeing this, the cheers for "Zhou Yi" from the stands grew even more intense.

Zhou Yi, who had thought he could feel some difficulty from this group, after easily getting past a few people and seeing himself about to be surrounded by a crowd of burly men, casually kicked the ball away—

The ball carved a perfect arc across the field like a scalpel, landing precisely at the feet of a bewildered Chen Baixiang.

Unfortunately, the latter, faced with this sudden pass, couldn't react in time and was directly caught by the goalkeeper rushing out.

"Take it seriously, take it seriously! Pull yourselves together!!!"

Zeng Zhiwei, playing as the attacking midfielder, immediately clapped his hands and shouted loudly: "Ah Yi is very strong!"

It's a bit boring.

Zhou Yi, who had thought he could get some intensity up, smiled at Chen Baixiang, who gave him a thumbs-up, made a gesture indicating no need to worry, and walked back.

This group plays football often, but their skill level isn't high.

Zhou Yi was already pondering whether he needed to slack off until near halftime and just score two goals to end it—he, a striker, had ended up playing as the team's attacking midfielder and brain.

Until the time on the big screen by the sideline reached 12 minutes—

A booming piece of music instantly drowned out all noise; the sudden rock rhythm made everyone on site pause their movements.

Zhou Yi, with the ball at his feet, frowned and looked toward the left rear: on a section of the stands, someone had somehow transported a set of band equipment, and a girl who looked no older than a middle school student was standing at the lead singer's position.

12 minutes and 13 seconds, sound check finished; a clear singing voice, accompanied by the suddenly exploding music, spread throughout the entire stadium!

"Me and my proud strength! Clenching both fists, absolutely not letting go!

"The next stop, is it heaven!

"Even if disappointed, never despair!!!"

The clear female voice, accompanied by the obviously adapted "Stubborn," resounded to the clouds; along with this middle school girl's singing, a huge TIFO secretly made by Zhou Yi's fan club was slowly unfurled on the stands—

Zhou Yi, in fine clothes and on a spirited horse, stood proudly upon the earth; his handsome face and the group singing driven by the female voice caused the entire stadium to tremble!

"Holy crap! What is that?!"

Sun Yanzi, holding the flagpole, had never seen such a huge banner that almost spanned half the stands; she widened her eyes in shock, unable to believe it.

"TIFO... mine?"

Zhou Yi on the field, with the ball at his feet, stared blankly at the huge banner held high by the fans on the stands; the girl's clear singing voice then became gentle, like a love letter written by fans to him; everything was so gently told—

"When you and the world are different

"Then continue to be different

"Persistence for you is overcoming hardness with hardness~"

From gentle to high-pitched, the layered emotions exploded at the peak; the four sides of the stadium's stands were infected by the atmosphere of this group singing—

The players on the field stopped their kicking actions; Zhou Yi, rubbing his nose, pressed his lips together, slowly walked to the sideline, raised both hands high to applaud the fans on the stands, kept the beat, and his eyebrows rose with an emotion that could not be described in words.

Amidst the mountain-roaring, sea-tsunami-like group singing, Xie Tingfeng, standing behind Zhou Yi, seemed to become a background board at this moment, leaving only the deafening... Stubbornness!

December 13th, his birthday.

(End of this chapter)