Chapter 193

A hint of confusion appeared in Arakawa Yui's eyes.

Because she wanted to apply to an artist training school, she had already explored domestic stars and idol groups.

Although she had failed every single exam up to now, her reservoir of related knowledge in her mind had become much more complete.

But who is this Zhou Yi?

Rummaging through every corner of her memory, Arakawa Yui could not find any answer.

She didn't know many stars from China, but she certainly knew the most famous one, Jackie Chan; with such an exaggerated promotional slogan for this Zhou Yi, could he possibly be more popular than Jackie Chan?

Picking at grains of rice, Arakawa Yui suddenly felt curious; the finger reaching to change the channel stopped on the remote control, and with wide eyes full of curiosity, she watched through this advertisement from a company she had no idea about.

The man named Zhou Yi, wearing a suit, displayed his height and long legs to the fullest in front of the camera.

Unlike the three-seven-parted long hair popular among men in Japan at the time, his bangs were very short, even to the point of completely exposing his forehead—

Even a close-up shot by the camera failed to reveal any weakness in his facial features or face shape; wearing a long windcoat with a fluttering red-and-white scarf as an accent, an aura of a superstar swept over.

"Today, Warner (Japan) Records officially announces the super star from China—Zhou Yi, hailed as the star of the stars of the stars, will officially release his first English single, 'The Lazy Song', coinciding with the release of Jackie Chan's new movie 'Rush Hour 2'."

"According to Mr. Jackie Chan's own description, this song is an insert track in 'Rush Hour 2', and also his personal favorite song in this movie..."

After watching the promotional ad, Arakawa Yui switched to another TV station and hadn't even managed to pick up two more grains of rice when, in a music recommendation program, the host she often watched was actually recommending this man named "Zhou Yi".

What's going on?

Arakawa Yui, with chopsticks in her mouth, sensed something was wrong.

Especially when she saw that the host was holding a CD to introduce it.

At the same time, in different locations, many Japanese people, just like Arakawa Yui, saw the name "Zhou Yi", and even many newspapers featured this man's image and introduction—

"A Beauty of a Century!"

"China's Star of the Stars of the Stars!"

To open up Zhou Yi's fame, Warner directly landed a heavy blow, using money to pave the way, forcibly imprinting the name Zhou Yi into many people's minds.

Originally, the release of Jackie Chan's new movie today already had huge popularity in Japan; after all, this was a movie starring an Asian who had conquered the American market, and the excellent box office performance in North America directly created the highest North American box office record for Asian films.

With the endorsement of Jackie Chan's reputation, the Japanese, who always worship the strong, naturally would not miss this movie that was fully buffed on its first day of release.

And Zhou Yi's English single 'The Lazy Song' rode this promotional tailwind from Jackie Chan to enter the vision of many Japanese people—

"I think I've seen this name before?"

"Wasn't there someone called the Asian Little Dance King last year? Because the Asian Dance King Guo Fucheng is from the same company as him."

"He looks so young and handsome!!!!"

As the Crown Prince of Warner (China), the promotional resources Zhou Jianhui secured for Zhou Yi were no joke. Although he himself did not go to Japan, materials regarding Zhou Yi were instead being released one after another.

Warner (Japan) even found many musicians to endorse Zhou Yi, publicly praising his English single and his musicality.

During cross-border promotion, the terrifying power of an international giant company truly began to show.

Some TV stations even released a separate clip of Jackie Chan listening to a radio song in a car for promotion; after a "Beautiful Asia, Beautiful Hong Kong", Zhou Yi's highly recognizable voice rang out—

"Today I don't feel like doin' anything

"I just wanna lay in my bed

"Don't feel like pickin' up my phone

"So leave a message at the tone~"

The lazy vocal tone and the rhythmic song made many Japanese people who saw this clip feel somewhat refreshed, especially when combined with Jackie Chan's facial expressions and movements in the car; many people, upon seeing this segment in the cinema, would involuntarily tap their legs or shake their heads.

Because it was an English song and not a Chinese song, this song did not pose much difficulty in understanding for many Japanese people.

Of course, there was another point that could not be ignored—there were many Americans in Japan.

When the exhausted US military personnel stationed in Japan walked into cinemas during their breaks to watch the latest American movies and selected this one by Jackie Chan, Zhou Yi's song, which could be called the song of the lazy, 'The Lazy Song', almost instantly gained their approval—

Screw work! God doesn't want to work today either!

I want to find a girl and start a beautiful new life too!

As a local of Okinawa, Arakawa Yui watched helplessly as this song went from being unknown to riding the heat of 'Rush Hour 2' to start promotion, and then to gaining momentum by leveraging the marketing of Jackie Chan's movie.

The fact that many of her classmates could hum a few lines of this song was ironclad proof.

"Zhou Yi, the Star of the Stars of the Stars from China, this description is so fitting; his temperament is even better than Leon Lai's."

"Right? You think so too? It really feels like a once-in-a-century occurrence. Moreover, he is very tall, unlike Guo Fucheng or Xie Tingfeng who are short, causing long clothes to not look good on them."

"Doesn't Warner sell photobooks? Wait, why aren't they selling them? No, I must write a letter to Warner."

"No, no, no, they do sell them; look, if you buy the deluxe CD, you get a Zhou Yi photobook included, plus two posters..."

Tokyo, Chiyoda Ward.

Chai Zhiping, who was still pouring her heart and soul into negotiating with the Japanese TV station on behalf of F4, upon seeing Warner (Japan)'s efforts, stared at the glaring report on the newspaper reading "China's Strongest Star of the Stars of the Stars" and nearly fainted—

Damn it!

Why are you everywhere?!

You son of a bitch!

Warner, you really dare to promote like this!

Star of the Stars of the Stars? With such exaggerated promotion, does Zhou Yi himself even know?!

…………………………………………

"To be honest, I don't know."

September 28, Imperial Capital, 'Vogue' magazine office, filming location.

After finishing the shoot for the first market magazine under Su Mang's almost devouring fiery gaze, Zhou Yi changed into a normal shirt and trousers; facing Qian Jiang's excited expression as he leaned in, Zhou Yi shook his head: "I don't have any channels in Japan, how would I know how I'm performing there."

"Do you know that your Chinese photobook stock is being bought in Japan?"

"There are many Japanese people who cannot afford the Japanese translated photobooks and are even willing to pool money to find someone to buy your Chinese photobooks and posters sold previously in Hong Kong and Taiwan."

Speaking of this matter, Qian Jiang looked at Zhou Yi with equally fiery eyes: "Last year in Japan, you even rode the coattails of Little Guo Fucheng and the Asian Little Dance King title."

"You've now been directly recognized by that side with the titles 'Beautiful Youth' and 'Star Among Stars,' and your English single even cracked the top 100 of Japan's latest Oricon chart!"

PS: I took a look, and it's not just chapter comments; readers in the group have also been urging me to stockpile chapters first to ensure regular updates later, avoiding chaotic, graveyard-hour releases. I thought it over and agreed it makes sense.

"In that case, let me deduct one chapter today and another tomorrow."

"With two chapters stockpiled, I'll gain an extra day of ample time to write, enabling a positive cycle for me."

PS2: Today's three chapters are shifted to the day after tomorrow; three chapters on the day after tomorrow.

"I'll keep the extra chapter I wrote today as stockpile."

(End of this chapter)