Chapter 215: They Are Busy With Internal Strife

In fact, when the CCTV "China-Korea Song Festival" production team first approached Warner to ask if they could help produce and distribute a DVD, Zhou Jianhui nodded without hesitation.

He hadn't thought much about it at the time; his mind held only one thought: even if it meant a loss, this had to be done well.

Warner had only just entered the mainland market, and for him, this was an opportunity.

Moreover, he was clear that without Zhou Yi, for an occasion as significant as the China-Korea Song Festival to actually produce and distribute a DVD, it was hard to say whether Warner would have any part in it.

Therefore, he immediately sought out Zhou Yi to discuss it with him.

As it turned out, after hearing his idea, Zhou Yi unexpectedly took a different path and proposed such a suggestion, leaving him enlightened—

He understood!

Yi, it has to be you!

If he didn't already have a daughter of roughly the same age, Zhou Jianhui would have married his daughter off to Zhou Yi.

Of course, he seriously suspected that Zhou Yi doing this also had a layer of intent to annoy people. But that didn't matter; anyway, there was no evidence for this thing.

When Qian Jiang returned to the broadcast hall after finishing the call, Zhou Jianhui was just waving goodbye to Zhou Yi and leaving—

"Ah Yi, the custom-made performance costumes are done. You can go back later to try them on and see how they fit; if you're not satisfied, we'll adjust them."

Qian Jiang's tone held some excitement: "The special issue interview time with 'Contemporary Song World' has also been set; it's March 1st after the New Year.

"Also, I don't know if you've heard of Hong Kong's 'Asia Weekly'? It used to be under Time Warner, but was taken over by Ming Pao in '94."

"They want to invite you to be a cover feature; the time is December 1st."

A cover feature for 'Asia Weekly'?

Hearing this, Zhou Yi couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

As a truly international Chinese weekly, 'Asia Weekly's' target audience can be said to be Chinese people across the entire Asian continent, or even the world.

It was originally a subsidiary of the English version of 'Asia Weekly' under Time Warner, but with the rapid rise of the Asian Chinese-speaking region, after the Chinese version of 'Asia Weekly' was acquired by Ming Pao and control was taken away, its influence within the Chinese community actually surpassed that of the former English version of 'Asia Weekly'.

"Why not 'Time Magazine'?"

Zhou Yi was somewhat curious.

Given the nature of those Americans, there was no reason that if 'Asia Weekly' came, 'Time Magazine' wouldn't.

"Oh, 'Time Magazine' is temporarily unavailable right now; they are busy with internal strife."

"..."

6.

Seeing Zhou Yi's expression immediately turn strange, Qian Jiang, fearing he would think he was being perfunctory, further explained the reason.

Although the Chinese version of 'Asia Weekly' has now broken away from Time Warner's control and become Ming Pao's property, the shares and control of the English version of 'Asia Weekly' are still in Time Warner's hands.

But unfortunately, Time Warner's 'Time Magazine' also has an Asian edition.

The two thus formed a long-standing internal struggle, especially after Ming Pao acquired the Chinese version of 'Asia Weekly' in 1994 and, over the following years, made it surpass the English version.

Many people inside Time Warner are now launching another fierce friendly exchange around the resolution that "since we can't beat the Chinese version anyway, we might as well close the English version of 'Asia Weekly' and invest the resources into 'Time Magazine'"—

Including but not limited to slapping the table and saying "Fuck," pointing at the nose and calling someone a "bitch," and so on.

Qian Jiang, like an involved party, talked endlessly for Zhou Yi, reconstructing that passionate yet friendly exchange, where both sides engaged in verbal combat, trading blows back and forth.

"That's fine then; how much money?"

"5 million."

………………………………………………

"How much?!"

At Chen Hao's home, Chen Hao, who had just tasted the saltiness of the rib soup in the kitchen, suddenly widened her eyes, sharply turned her head to look at the man sitting at the dining table spinning a coin, her brow full of disbelief.

"Don't make a fuss; it's just Hong Kong dollars."

Zhou Yi let out a "Gaga" laugh, seemingly very satisfied with Chen Hao's shocked reaction.

"That's still a lot; Hong Kong stars usually only get a few hundred thousand to a million Hong Kong dollars for interviews; even higher-profile Nicholas Tse hasn't received the treatment of a five-million-Hong Kong-dollar cover interview."

"Nonsense, does he have an English single that can compare to mine?"

Zhou Yi disdainfully curled his lip: "He just sells Chinese songs well. Without me, he could be the artist with the highest domestic record sales this year, but with me here, he can just obediently be number two."

On October 30, Nicholas Tse, caught in the whirlwind of the Tse-Fei breakup, released his personal Mandarin album for the year, 'Century Prophecy'.

He, who enjoyed the same treatment as the music world's popularity king like Zhou Yi, quickly topped various sales charts as soon as the album was released, and the song 'Perfume' within the album quickly began to rise in popularity.

That line "I have long been accustomed to your branded perfume scent," combined with the increasingly credible rumors of Nicholas Tse and Wang Fei's breakup, while the heat skyrocketed, also drove the album's sales to surge upward.

If Zhou Yi hadn't interfered, the artist with the highest record sales in the China region in 2001 would have been Nicholas Tse.

"You are quite confident; I see his momentum is also fierce, plus the emotional support from Wang Fei."

Chen Hao, seemingly unintentionally bringing up Wang Fei, was about to ask about Sun Yanzi, but suddenly heard the mobile phone Zhou Yi had placed on the table ring—

Fan Bingbin?

"Hello?"

"Zhou Yi, I've finished the promotion and returned to the Imperial Capital; when can we go out for a meal?"

Fan Bingbin's voice obviously held more vitality compared to when she was in Taiwan; the confidence brought by the success of 'Young Bao Qingtian 2' was self-evident.

"I don't have much time recently; I have to participate in the China-Korea Song Festival soon; maybe in a few days..."

After briefly chatting for a couple of sentences, Zhou Yi hung up the phone.

Picking up the China-Korea Song Festival entry pass that Zhou Yi had given over, Chen Hao, now seated, raised the corner of her mouth with a playful smile: "That Jin Suo?"

"Mm."

"Be careful; this woman isn't simple; even Qiong Yao suppressing her didn't crush her."

Chen Hao, accustomed to the situation, divided the bowls and chopsticks for the man, her movements extremely skilled, her mood obviously good.

Jin Suo wanted to meet but was directly rejected by Zhou Yi; instead, she received the entry pass personally delivered by Zhou Yi.

November 6, CCTV Studio One.

After taking special care to dress and apply light makeup, Chen Hao entered with Qian Jiang and took her seat in the designated audience section below. Some sharp-eyed Zhou Yi fans who had already entered noticed her, and doubt immediately arose in their hearts.

But soon, that doubt was drowned out by the cheers as the celebrities officially entered—

When Zhou Yi appeared wearing a custom white suit with cloud patterns, the scene of even many Korean fans switching sides to scream made many leaders marvel.

I had heard Zhou Yi was popular in Korea, but I didn't expect these Koreans in China to like Zhou Yi so much.

This is truly unique.

"Zhou Yi oppa! Here! Look here! I specifically disguised myself as an An Chixuan fan just to get an entry ticket!"

"..."

The cameras on the sidelines captured this moment precisely, and the unexpected commotion in the audience finally made Zhou Yi unable to hold back a smile.

There was no other reason; it was simply because what the Korean girl held in her hand, besides the South Korean flag, was also an NRG boy group support sign...

PS: The IV drip is finished, the lying-dead period is over!

(End of this chapter)