Chapter 163: The First Challenger

August 2001, Deng Chao, who would be a senior student when school started, felt somewhat anxious.

Although the first TV series he starred in last year, "Yellow Sand Below Is Fertile Soil," performed well, it had not yet aired and had not brought him much increase in fame.

As a student of the Central Academy of Drama, with many famous seniors emerging in the consecutive classes of '95, '96, and '97, Deng Chao, about to enter his senior year, naturally harbored aspirations, hoping to soar like his seniors.

For this reason, he diligently ended his summer vacation early, returned to the Imperial Capital to try his luck, and see if he could continue to squeeze into a few film crews to test the waters.

Originally, his expectation was merely to find a few roles with some lines to hone himself, but to his surprise, on August 25, his teacher actually contacted him, saying there was an opportunity to play the male lead in Zhou Yi's music video, and asked if he was willing to go.

"I'm willing! I'm willing, teacher, I'm willing."

Deng Chao, who never expected to be noticed by the big star Zhou Yi, felt somewhat overwhelmed by the honor.

As a Jiang Xiren, how could he not know Zhou Yi? At a young age, he had already become the calling card emerging from Jiang Xi Province, and "Jiangnan," jokingly called the Jiang Xi scenery promotional video, had even received recognition from the Tourism Bureau.

Only if his brain had been kicked by a donkey would he refuse this opportunity.

But... how did Zhou Yi know him? Could it be that Deng Chao's acting skills had become so famous that even Zhou Yi, a singer, had heard of them?

"You, remember to buy something to thank your senior sister Chen Hao when you have time. The Zhou Yi music video side is short of people, and she happened to return to school yesterday, so she thought of you, who is still quite good in school..."

The teacher on the phone explained the reason in full detail, and the sensible Deng Chao, without saying another word, went back to school to find someone and get Chen Hao's number.

Meanwhile, Huang Bo, who had also received a call from Warner, wore an expression of disbelief; after mixing in the world for many years, his first reaction was that he had encountered a scammer trying to cheat money—

Until he arrived at Warner, met Zhou Yi, and signed his name on the contract.

"Thank you, thank you, really very grateful, Mr. Zhou."

Huang Bo never expected Zhou Yi to still remember him, and he repeatedly thanked him.

"You're welcome, I just happened to think of you; your performance in 'Get On, Go' was very good."

Zhou Yi teased about the previous experience: "Little Zhou Yi, I was deeply impressed by this title before."

Hearing this title again, Huang Bo's face was somewhat embarrassed.

Back then on the bar street, it was necessary for making a living to promote himself this way; now that he had resigned from being a resident singer and was focusing on applying to the Film Academy, the title "Little Zhou Yi" was somewhat ridiculous.

He still had a good sense of self-awareness.

With his looks, calling himself a bankrupt version of Zhou Yi was just putting gold on his face.

"This is the script for the 'Goodbye' music video; familiarize yourself with it. Time is tight; filming starts tomorrow."

"Okay, I will definitely not disappoint you."

Although he was much older than Zhou Yi, Huang Bo still insisted on using the honorific.

He had already seen the script for "Goodbye"; essentially, it was a small theater story that could resonate quite well.

The young protagonist played by Deng Chao and the middle-aged protagonist played by him intersected in the trajectory; former classmates scattered and gathered, gathered and scattered again.

Acting was not very difficult for him.

The most important thing was that he had a lot of scenes.

"In that case, your graduation EP will probably have to be postponed to early September."

Qian Jiang, having planned the time according to the progress schedule, reminded: "Stocking also takes time; you wasted too much time in the crew of 'Those Years'."

"You can't blame me; the company insisted I act." Feeling very innocent, Zhou Yi once again activated his non-stick pan skill, directly pushing the blame out.

"..."

6.

Realizing he was about to take the blame again, Qian Jiang shook his head, scolded with a laugh, and said: "The 'Super Visit' column has already scheduled your special recording time for September 7, with the broadcast time on September 13.

"Also, you must start preparing for the China-Korea Song Festival in November in advance; in October, besides promotion, you also have to rehearse at CCTV.

"As for those award ceremonies, I think I don't need to say much; you are destined for a bumper harvest this year, and you will likely get vomited on with awards then."

The strength of "Jiangnan" exceeded the expectations of all record companies, including Warner; whether in terms of popularity, sales, or reputation, it belonged to the type that exploded off the charts.

More than two months, nearly three months, had passed, and the album "Jiangnan" still had two songs, "Jiangnan" and "Da Cheng Xiao Ai," generally standing in the top ten of major charts.

The new song "Stubborn," although not an album track, was also still in the top ten.

And on the charts in Hong Kong and the mainland, after reaching number one, "Jiangnan" miraculously achieved 11 consecutive weeks and 12 weeks at the top.

Hong Kong 11, Mainland 12.

The reason Hong Kong was 11 weeks champion was that "Stubborn," relying on its popularity, briefly took the number one spot for a few days in the 10th week, interrupting "Jiangnan's" consecutive reign.

The only exception was Taiwan.

In Hong Kong, due to Chow Yun-fat's unexpected absence, the promotion was not as successful as expected, but F4 still maintained extremely high popularity in Taiwan.

After "Jiangnan" was number one for 4 weeks, the previous "Meteor Rain," relying on high-intensity offline activities, overtook it again, securing 7 weeks at number one until the outbreak of the Chow Yun-fat incident.

The feud with God of Gamblers made Zhou Yi once again achieve "the person is clearly not in Taiwan, but Taiwan still spreads his legend."

After briefly stimulating album sales and brushing up his face, this week, "Jiangnan," relying on its popularity, overtook "Meteor Rain" again to sit on the number one throne, achieving the dazzling feat of topping the charts in both sides of the strait and Hong Kong once more.

Xie Tingfeng's Cantonese album, limited by audience issues, could no longer compare with the achievements Zhou Yi had achieved now. Moreover, although the songs in his album "Jade Butterfly" had enough musicality, obviously none were pop songs capable of staying on the charts for a long time.

So now many people are eagerly awaiting Xie Tingfeng's Mandarin album to be released in October, hoping he can end Zhou Yi's strong consecutive reign on the song charts.

Causing Emperor itself to feel pressure, they were extremely cautious about song selection for Xie Tingfeng's Mandarin album, and Warner similarly locked Xie Tingfeng as Zhou Yi's main enemy in the mainland.

Hong Kong will sooner or later be knocked down by Xie Tingfeng; this is beyond doubt, as people have local advantages after all.

But the mainland is Zhou Yi's basic base.

If Warner wants to help Zhou Yi create an incredibly strong record in the mainland, Xie Tingfeng must be guarded against.

However, just as Zhou Yi's graduation EP was being produced in full swing, the appearance of one person made all record companies tremble with excitement—

September 1, 2001, Wang Lihong, the popular singer under Sony Music, released his new album "The One."

This was a singer who had posed no threat to Zhou Yi at all last year; at first, Warner did not care.

But when Wang Lihong's album's title track "The One," leveraging the promotion channels of the mainland pure water brand Wahaha, obtained massive exposure right at the time of release, the suddenly surging popularity instantly drew the attention of the entire music industry.

Before Xie Tingfeng, "The One," written and composed by Wang Lihong himself, took the initiative, launching a charge against Zhou Yi in a stunning manner!

PS: There are two chapters left; they will be a bit dark, so it is recommended to read them after waking up tomorrow~

PS2: There was an error regarding Huang Bo's timeline; he failed the entrance exam for the Beijing Film Academy this time... I have revised the reason in the previous chapter.

(End of this chapter)