Chapter 333: Does the Action of Holding the Trophy Hurt You?

"Are you a bit too practiced?"

Three strikes and you're out; under the direction of the perfectionist director Guo Chang, Sun Yanzi, who had been kissed back and forth three times, remained the little noob led by the nose throughout the entire process—even though she had attempted a counterattack.

"Didn't you watch the MV for 'Love Me or Him'?"

Zhou Yi retorted, "If you didn't watch it, I'll punish you by making you go back and watch it three times."

"Why should I watch you kissing another woman in an MV?"

Crumpling the blood-stained tissue into a ball and tossing it into the trash can, Sun Yanzi spoke out with surprising self-righteousness: "I rarely watch MVs; I usually just listen to the songs. After all, only you are so extravagant as to shoot an MV for every single song."

"That's your problem, not mine."

Zhou Yi grinned, and seeing that traces of fake blood still remained on both sides of Sun Yanzi's nose, he pointed to his own nose and reminded her, "Not wiped clean. Both sides here."

"What a hassle."

Quickly pulling out a few more tissues, Sun Yanzi muttered a couple of times, then changed out of her wedding dress into casual home clothes to begin filming the scene of going to the hospital for a checkup.

In Zhou Yi's eyes, the plot of the 'Fairy Tale' MV was actually a very classic condensed version of a melodramatic love story, possessing typical era characteristics—the male and female leads fall in love, and the female lead contracts a terminal illness.

In the year 2005, an era where idol dramas and Korean dramas were rampant, dramas where the female lead got leukemia or cancer were as numerous as the hairs on an ox.

Against this backdrop, this MV, paired with the song, sparked a 'Fairy Tale' craze.

Audiences in 2002 had not yet been bombarded by the massive influx of melodramatic Korean and idol dramas, so the impact of this story, modified by Zhou Yi, was significantly greater—

The bride-to-be, Sun Yanzi, collapsed directly the night before the wedding rehearsal, maxing out the sadness buff.

The next day, at the empty wedding performance, only Zhou Yi, as the male lead, would be seen from behind, playing 'Fairy Tale' alone and shedding silent tears; later, through post-production, the scene of Sun Yanzi practicing the tango alone would be blurred and inserted—

Like an angel from a fairy tale, dancing gracefully behind Zhou Yi as he played the piano in solitude, silently guarding her weeping lover in this wedding without guests or an audience.

Cry! Everyone, cry for me!

After the sweetness comes a sudden plunge into sorrow; trick people in and then slaughter them!

Sun Yanzi, who possessed strong empathy, had her eyes turn red several times while acting out this plot; her state happened to fit the setting of her character in the story being reluctant to leave Zhou Yi.

The only unexpected thing was... Zhou Yi couldn't cry.

That scene of suppressing inner pain and sobbing with tears flowing was something he truly couldn't cry to in front of so many people watching.

Sun Yanzi, whose eyes had been red, couldn't hold back a laugh that broke through her tears upon seeing Zhou Yi fail to hold back tears several times and having to resort to eye drops; her laughter was melodious like a summer breeze, gently brushing over the hearts of everyone present.

"You really are a noob. You can pull off looking cool and acting deep, but why do you fall so flat in scenes like this?"

"Shut up. I'm not an actor; as long as it's good enough, that's fine."

Zhou Yi, mocked by Sun Yanzi, felt somewhat anxious.

What acting skills do I have, what acting skills do you have? We each mind our own business; the big brother doesn't criticize the second brother.

"Hehehe."

Having caught another point to mock Zhou Yi, Sun Yanzi laughed loudly.

The crew members on set also found it somewhat hard to suppress their laughter.

Sometimes, because Zhou Yi knows so many things, many people tend to view him as an omnipotent existence, which is the deification in the mouths of fans.

Many fans tend to shape their idols into perfect people, and management companies and record labels often build this persona according to the fans' wishes.

Only Zhou Yi, this oddball, often creates something he isn't good at to increase the difficulty for himself; commonly known as being bad at it but loving to play, yet the result makes him seem even more real.

Zhou Yi's fans have also given up and let themselves be mocked in this regard; as long as Zhou Yi's records sell well, nothing else matters.

Don't ask; if you ask, it's "How many trophies do you have?" If you ask, it's "Can you make a hundred million in a week?"

"I feel this song should be more popular than A-Du."

Regarding Zhou Yi's opponents in the domestic market this year, a cunning smile appeared on Sun Yanzi's face: "If it becomes more popular, remember to treat me to a meal to thank me for my guest appearance."

In August 2002, after F4 clearly showed signs of waning momentum, the only opponent Zhou Yi had in terms of momentum in the domestic market was the sudden arrival of A-Du.

The popularity of 'He Must Love You' now surpasses even Zhou Yi's 'Jiangnan' from last year and 'Happy Worship' and 'Have to Love' from the year before.

Even the two most favored creators in Taiwan—Tao Zhe's 'Black Ding' and Jay Chou's 'Fantasy'—couldn't match them in terms of popularity.

Especially Jay Chou.

As the only man who fought evenly with Zhou Yi in nominations at this year's Golden Melody Awards, and who debuted in the same year, although he sold well in Taiwan, in the mainland market, A-Du's sales were far ahead of the pack.

The capacity of the mainland's legitimate market, after being proven by Zhou Yi, a native of the mainland, once again made the industry drool with desire.

Yes, piracy is rampant in the mainland, but the population base is huge; even Tao Zhe's 'Black Ding' released a mainland import edition.

As the Taiwan record market gradually weakens, the sales center of the music industry is shifting.

The clearest example: A-Du from Ocean Butterflies is a Singaporean, completely lacking Zhou Yi's 'native' buff, yet as of now still occupies the throne of the sales king; surpassing Jay Chou in total sales thanks to the mainland market, he single-handedly forced Ocean Butterflies to break into the mainland record market—

Ocean Butterflies Music thus became the second overseas record company, after Warner, to successfully break into the mainland record market, and has already begun establishing its Ocean Butterflies (Mainland) headquarters.

With singers like Jay Chou, Tao Zhe, Li Shengjie, Andy Lau, and Jacky Cheung consecutively failing to 'challenge' A-Du, almost all industry insiders have turned their eyes to Zhou Yi, whose reputation is currently at its peak—

Including Ocean Butterflies.

No one questions Zhou Yi's sales internationally, but international is international, and domestic is domestic.

No matter how popular English songs are, they can never have the status of Chinese songs in the Chinese-speaking world; you could blow them up to the sky, but it's useless; the general public has no time to listen to your nonsense.

The universally recognized world's number one pop Guo Tianwang, Michael Jackson, has niche sales and fame in the domestic market, and 'Little Sweetie' Britney Spears is just average.

The others, such as The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Empress, Mariah Carey, and Janet Jackson, are all top-tier CJBs in the domestic market; at best, they just huddle together for warmth in niche circles—

Using them to mock the domestic music scene and prove their own unique taste, claiming that while the world is drunk, they alone are sober.

Once Zhou Yi's new Chinese album flops in the domestic market, A-Du, as his direct competitor, will undoubtedly be gilded.

Originally, even if the outside world was chaotic, it would likely not affect Warner or Zhou Yi.

But unfortunately, the blockbuster album that Warner Records pinned its hopes on for the second half of the year—

The Empress Zhang Huimei, who officially announced the release of her album 'Fever' on August 30th, suffered a Waterloo under the gaze of everyone...

This heavyweight album, produced by Warner with huge investment to align with Zhang Huimei's musical vision, was met with a flood of negative reviews upon its release on September 1st. These came from fans, music critics, and even peers who saw the situation turning sour and decided to stir the pot.

Zhang Huimei, who had just won the Golden Melody Award for Best Female Singer at this year's Golden Melody Awards, should have been in high spirits, but these past two days she has been so struck by this sudden market feedback that she can't bring herself to eat.

This gave Hai Die and even some of A Dou's active fans a sliver of hope—the hope of defeating Zhou Yi.

What if, what if?

What if Zhou Yi, like A-Mei, met with a Waterloo?

A-Mei was far more established than Zhou Yi; she had held the throne of Diva for so many years, her previous album was universally acclaimed with excellent market performance, yet this album directly exploded...

In response, Zhou Yi's champion fans replied very simply—

"Trying to score points by association? Go win an award first, okay?"

"Will Zhou Yi's trophy-holding pose hurt you?"

"Trophy in hand, watching the sour dogs with a smile."

"..."

The accompanying images were all photos of Zhou Yi holding trophies and accepting interviews after the Golden Melody Awards (two editions), the Hong Kong Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards (two editions), the Mainland Music Fengyun Awards, and the Chinese Music Top Ten Awards, etc. —truly showing no martial virtue by bullying A Dou, who had just debuted and hadn't attended any award ceremonies.

And now, another piece of explosive news came from Hong Kong.

Xie Tingfeng, once one of the Twin Wonders alongside Zhou Yi, after disappearing for a long time, finally sat in the defendant's chair, becoming a "fraudster" in the eyes of the world, and even became a case study invited by many Hong Kong programs for law professors to analyze repeatedly—

He has lost all face.

(End of this chapter)