Chapter 185

In fact, at this moment, Song Dandan, He Bing, and Feng Yuanzheng had not yet reached the public fame of Chen Daoming and Wang Gang, but the circle was still a circle.

Within the People's Art Theatre circle, news, once spread, still carried significant weight.

Precisely because of this, Chen Daoming, Zhang Guoli, and others who had met Zhou Yi for a simple meal after the Hong Kong incident and jointly issued a signed statement immediately recognized his intent upon hearing this surprising news.

"Interesting. This girl named Chen Hao—she's clearly more than just a rumor with him."

Chen Daoming smiled and put down his phone: "Feng Yuanzheng and the others happened to run into him—saved a lot of trouble."

"Young people—when I was his age with his achievements, I'd have lived even more vividly than he has."

Zhang Guoli, brewing tea, was momentarily lost in memory: "When I was Zhou Yi's age, I was still a stage announcer in the Cultural Troupe."

"I'll call Lao Pu. Not for special treatment, but at least make sure someone watches over her—don't let Chen Hao spend every day serving tea and water at the People's Art Theatre; if she wants to hone her acting, let her focus on honing her acting."

Chen Daoming, aware of some of the People's Art Theatre's bad habits, pulled up the contact labeled Pu Cunxin in his phonebook.

Pu Cunxin, the current pillar of the People's Art Theatre.

"It's only right."

"After Zhou Yi's incident, Hong Kong has become much more subdued. I heard from Yu Rongguang that mainland actors no longer face overt discrimination when they go over—least of all with meals, seating, costumes, and makeup—they dare not mess around anymore."

"After all, none of them want to become an emotional lightning rod and end up as the next Chow Yun-fat."

"In a broader sense, we all owe Zhou Yi a debt for this—we should lend a hand when we can."

Zhang Guoli sipped his tea, sighing softly.

He himself had once been awarded a Second-Class Merit in his youth, yet now in the entertainment industry, he lacked the courage of a child and had to follow in his wake just to raise a banner.

"There's also Fan Bingbin—she's not ordinary with Zhou Yi either; she even went to Hong Kong with him to meet Cheng Long, Yang Shoucheng, and that group."

"Tell Feng Xiaogang and his crew to open their eyes—don't act like they've never seen a woman before."

Just as Chen Daoming was about to call Pu Cunxin, he seemed to remember something and cursed bitterly.

Zhang Guoli, who had just starred in Feng Xiaogang's film A Sigh Last Year, nodded and pulled out his phone—

"Hello? It's Guoli."

………………………………………………………………

"Who?"

Outside the People's Art Theatre gate, Zhou Yi strode out confidently, then turned and gave a V-sign victory gesture toward the lurking paparazzi nearby before opening the car door and getting in.

As soon as he got in, he heard Qian Jiang say a name had been added to tonight's Anta gala guest list—one he never expected.

"Su Mang."

Qian Jiang, who had driven over himself, smiled and explained: "You might not know her name, but this woman wields real influence in China's fashion world."

"This year, her fashion group partnered deeply with the renowned American high-fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar to launch a new publication in mainland China called Fashion Bazaar, focused squarely on fashion and luxury."

"Thus, your styling—widely recognized as setting trends—caught Su Mang's eye. She wants to invite you as the main cover guest."

"How did a fashion person end up at an Anta event to find me?" Zhou Yi, never particularly interested in fashion, found this odd.

Shouldn't she have contacted Qian Jiang directly?

"Because I thought her offer was too low—I turned it down."

Turned it down? Really?

Zhou Yi laughed: "So she's trying a backdoor approach—bypassing you entirely and going straight to the Anta event to talk to me?"

"Yes, that's likely it. So I need to warn you to be careful."

Qian Jiang warned seriously: "She has many models under her. If she sets a trap for you, it'll be bad—this woman has mastered the outside world's tricks very well."

"How much did she offer?"

Zhou Yi was curious.

Fashion was supposed to be the least money-starved industry—how stingy was Su Mang?

"Three million for two shoots, plus your image rights for the next two years for promotion. I turned it down—the image rights weren't negotiable."

Qian Jiang shook his head: "This woman is too greedy; she must think I'm one of those agents who don't understand artists' portrait rights."

Fashion Bazaar, just launching its inaugural issue, indeed needed a heavyweight guest to lend it prestige, so the editorial team, originally planning to feature male artists, immediately set their sights on Zhou Yi, whose styling led trends in mainland China.

After all, attracting male celebrities was already part of their original plan.

"You know what? There really are still a lot of people in mainland China who don't understand this."

Zhou Yi scoffed—he couldn't care less about appearing on Fashion Bazaar, a magazine born with instant prestige.

He had no interest in Su Mang's future fashion charity marketing; he'd rather spend that time, like Run Run Shaw, donating school buildings to remote mountain villages.

But he was very interested in getting paid.

Donating buildings also costs money.

Nearly fifty minutes later, Zhou Yi returned to Warner Ma Tian and entered his private makeup room.

After changing into casual wear the company had already prepared, he slipped on his new Anta shoes, pulled on a baseball cap, and headed with the car to the Anta event venue.

As Anta's spokesperson, fans who had been tipped off that he'd appear near the China World Summit Wing had already gathered outside the venue, holding up signs with his face, eagerly waiting.

"Anta invited many stars tonight to outshine Li-Ning, but as spokesperson, you're the grand finale—you can rest easy on that."

As dusk fell and Zhou Yi, sitting in the chauffeured car, could already see the crowded fans outside the venue, Qian Jiang reminded him: "The host you know—He Jiong from Beijing Foreign Studies University."

"He Jiong?"

Zhou Yi, who had previously gotten along well with He Jiong, raised an eyebrow in surprise: "He hasn't gone to Happy Camp yet?"

That's quite a schedule.

He teaches at Beijing Foreign Studies University every few days, takes on outside gigs, and still flies to Changsha every week to record Happy Camp.

Truly built like iron.

"How would I know? You know him—ask him yourself when you see him."

Qian Jiang told the driver to stop, gave Zhou Yi one last look in his sporty outfit, then stepped out himself, opened the car door, and let Zhou Yi, dressed head to toe in athletic style, reappear on the red carpet—

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

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

From a slightly chaotic start to a unified roar like a mountain call and sea tsunami three or five seconds later, Zhou Yi, dressed in sportswear, received the most enthusiastic cheers from the entire venue the moment he stepped off the car!

Reporters held beyond the red carpet line snapped their shutters wildly; if it weren't that wearing sunglasses would be somewhat disrespectful to fans, Zhou Yi would have put on another pair of pitch-black sunglasses for himself.

"Zhou Yi, wear more! BJ's temperature drops at night! Don't catch a cold!!!"

Zhou Yi, walking up the red carpet, merely waved slightly to both sides, yet his somewhat thin clothes prompted a female fan with an extremely shrill voice to offer such intimate concern.

——?!

Looking closely, this female fan was wearing a tight tank top and a short skirt; Zhou Yi immediately laughed: "You tell me to wear more, yet what you're wearing is very cool; who should be worrying about whom?"

"Seeing you already makes me very hot!!!"

"Hold it! Hold it! Don't talk about topics we shouldn't; if we keep talking, I'm afraid Anta products will terminate our contract on the spot right now." Taking the signature pen, Zhou Yi smiled and began signing randomly.

Thanks to Zhou Yi's consistently fierce performance, the scene of him being forced to be buried in breasts in Taiwan and the phrase "What's wrong with doing it again?" have already begun to circulate as classics in the mainland.

Currently, in the entire mainland entertainment circle, he is the only one who gets along with fans without any distance, able to joke about anything.

He even saw a girl who had previously held up a Flowers Band sign quietly approach to ask for his signature, then pretend nothing happened and sneak back to her own camp.

Of course, during this business of signing, quite a few reporters also took the opportunity to crowd up, constantly asking Zhou Yi questions, regardless of whether he would answer or not—

"Zhou Yi, Zhou Yi, someone saw you and Chen Hao leaving the People's Art Theater this afternoon; may I ask if you went on a date together?"

"No, I was taking her to work; her car broke down."

"Zhou Yi, what are your thoughts on successfully topping the list of Hong Kong women's most wanted to keep as a sugar daddy?"

"Thoughts? Just—hmm? What did you say? Me? Keep as a sugar daddy?"

Zhou Yi, who almost thought he misheard, was truly stunned for a moment, then couldn't hold back his laughter: "There really is such a list?"

"Not just that; over in Hong Kong there's also a ranking of the most wanted boyfriends to date, and a ranking of the most wanted lovers to have an affair with; you rank high on all of them."

"...????"

What kind of nonsense is this?

I can tolerate the boyfriend thing, but what exactly is this ranking of the most wanted lovers to have an affair with?

Is he the kind of person?!

Ah, pfft!

"Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi! May I ask if the equally explosive Zhou Yi Film and Television Company this year is a company you secretly established?"

"After producing its first television drama 'The Tragic Love of Qing River' last year, this company shot to fame; this year it continuously launched 'Wu Lin Wai Shi' and 'Li Li Li Wei Dangguan', directly turning half the sky red, its trajectory being exactly the same as yours."

"Moreover, it is rumored that the female lead of 'Li Li Li Wei Dangguan' was initially intended to be Chen Hao, but because you are the behind-the-scenes boss, she wanted to avoid suspicion, so she refused."

?

Zhou Yi, still signing for fans, looked up upon hearing this: "Hainan Zhou Yi Film and Television Production Company? No, no, no, I have absolutely no relationship with them; I can only say it was a coincidence."

"My name was given by my parents; I can only say it was indeed a coincidence, a beautiful coincidence. My hometown is Shangrao; the family genealogy can verify it."

Reporter: "..."

The reporter, who had originally wanted to pursue further questions, was also rendered speechless by this phrase "the family genealogy can verify it."

In fact, Zhou Ping, the boss of Hainan Zhou Yi Film and Television Production Company, was also somewhat bewildered.

He is from Taiwan; when he renamed the company Zhou Yi Film and Television and officially began producing television dramas, Zhou Yi himself was not yet famous.

Who would have known that there really are parents in this world who would give their child the name Zhou Yi!

Aren't they afraid they won't be able to suppress the feng shui?!

PS: Originally there was enough content for three chapters, but after thinking it over, for the sake of the reading experience, I cut it down to two chapters.