Chapter 367: Vaguely Heard About It

"What does he mean? What does he mean?!"

Almost instantly, Ai Dajin sensed something was wrong; he nearly jumped up, his face darkening as he said, "What does he want to do?!"

Song Ke: "..."

Is it possible he just wanted to mention it briefly?

Thinking this, Song Ke opened his mouth but ultimately did not speak those words—

After all, doing so would be somewhat like deceiving oneself.

Given Zhou Yi's past "revenge for even the slightest grievance" personality, even if Song Ke used Qian Jiang's butt to think, he knew this was definitely brought up by Zhou Yi himself; otherwise, would TVB be so full of energy that they'd specifically find such a text message to put on the show?

He, Ai Dajin, had connections on the mainland, but in Hong Kong... he couldn't say he was completely in the dark, but at the very least, he could be described as having no relatives or friends there.

"Contact Taihe, contact Huayi; while the show hasn't aired yet, see if we can manage public relations to stop it."

Due to Zhou Yi's past glorious track record, Ai Dajin was truly starting to panic.

He never expected Zhou Yi would actually dare to go on a Hong Kong show to discuss this matter.

"I can try Taihe, but Huayi is uncertain; they are originally close to the Hong Kong circle, and Yinghuang, the leader of the Hong Kong circle, has a decent relationship with them. And now, according to industry news, Zhou Yi seems to have wooed Yinghuang."

Song Ke was now also starting to get a headache.

He had been excluded from the Warner power structure by Zhou Jianhui and was basically just waiting to be fired next year; he couldn't use any of Warner's channels.

Meanwhile, Wang Xiaoyu, who was holding Ai Dajin's dirt to show weakness to the enemy, smiled slightly upon receiving the news, and incidentally accepted another sum of money from Warner—

"I'll leave this matter to you, President Wang."

"You are too polite, President Zhou. Brother Yi is someone who has done me a great favor; even if you hadn't said this, I wouldn't just sit by and do nothing."

"Alright then; when you return to the Imperial Capital in a while, we'll have a meal together and talk in person."

The Imperial Capital, Warner Building, President's Office.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Jianhui turned his head to look at the documents placed in the corner of his desk, a cold sneer forming on his lips.

October 28, 2002, Monday.

By all rights, today should have been a very normal day, but for the Hong Kong music scene, this day was somewhat bizarre—

The reason was simply that Hong Kong Xincheng Radio released a new episode of its music chart.

In the past week, thanks to the local Hong Kong forces launching a defense battle, and relying on a series of hype campaigns that successfully reclaimed the number one spot, Zhou Yi had a total of six songs on this chart—

Number One: Zhou Yi "Tong Hua"

Number Two: Chen Yixun "Tomorrow's Today"

Number Three: Wang Fei "Kai Dao Tu Mi" (New Greatest Hits Collection)

Number Four: Zhou Yi "Today You Must Marry Me"

Number Five: Zhou Yi "Baby"

Number Six: Chen Yixun "People Coming and Going"

Number Seven: Zhou Yi "Mom and Dad"

Number Eight: Lu Qiaoyin "Break Up Kindly"

Number Nine: Zhou Yi "Little Dimples"

Number Ten: Zhou Yi "Cheers"

Liu Hua, Zhang Xueyou, plus Yang Qianhua, Chen Huiling, and others, who had been bustling for a week, were ultimately defeated one by one by Zhou Yi due to their songs being released too early and their target audience being too old to campaign effectively; the top ten returned to the situation where Zhou Yi occupied the majority.

But Chen Yixun, Wang Fei, and Lu Qiaoyin became the last hope.

Coincidentally, these three represented the generational transition in Hong Kong—Wang Fei from the older generation, Chen Yixun and Lu Qiaoyin from the new generation.

Because the song "Break Up Kindly" had not only a Cantonese version but also a Mandarin-Cantonese duet version, Wang Lihong, the male singer of the duet version who was also under Sony along with Wang Fei and Lu Qiaoyin, was inevitably asked about Zhou Yi sweeping the charts—

"I haven't heard Zhou Yi say anything about this; perhaps this is just speculation by some media outlets."

Facing the interview, Wang Lihong appeared somewhat cautious.

"Then do you think 'Break Up Kindly' will eventually be kicked off the chart?"

"I don't know; I don't pay much attention to things like charts."

"Then may I ask how the sales of your first solo album released in Japan are?"

"Uh... the company says it's quite good, but I haven't paid attention to these things yet."

When asked about the results of his album released in Japan this year, Wang Lihong's blinking speed noticeably increased; after that, he was forcibly cut off by his manager before answering a few more questions.

And as another victim of Zhou Yi's chart domination, Zhou Jielun's answer was noticeably more casual—

"Jielun, Jielun, may I ask if you have noticed Zhou Yi's recent movements? He wants to dominate the radio charts in Hong Kong; your 'Back to the Past' has already been squeezed out of the top ten by him. Do you know about this?"

"I've vaguely heard about it; not bad, pretty awesome."

Zhou Jielun, who had stopped wearing a baseball cap this year, with a non-mainstream long bangs hairstyle, smiled somewhat shyly: "But I haven't been squeezed out in the mainland or Taiwan, so I feel very gratified."

"Then do you think he will succeed?"

"I don't know, but I wish him success; that way, I can feel immense comfort in my heart. Since so many people have lost, it's not shameful for me to lose to A-Yi, right?"

Zhou Jielun, who had clearly taken a stance supporting Zhou Yi, smiled so cunningly when he said this.

However, while the Taiwan and Hong Kong media asked these male singers these types of questions, when they asked female singers, the tone changed completely—

"Elva, what do you think about Zhou Yi's rumors with A-Sa in Hong Kong?"

Watching Xiao Yaxuan: "Same as you, I read the newspapers."

As the female singer publicly acknowledged to be having an affair with Zhou Yi, Watching Xiao Yaxuan and Sun Yanzi were undoubtedly the two people most questioned after Cai Zuoyan's rumors exploded.

However, compared to Watching Xiao Yaxuan's helplessness, Sun Yanzi's own answer was much more explosive—

"I knew about it long ago; why are you asking me?"

Sun Yanzi, who had already started promoting her new album, curved her eyes into crescent moons and said with a smile: "It's just that I can't say it; otherwise, I would definitely sell this news to you immediately to earn some extra cash, since he exploits me all day long."

Media reporters: "???"

You knew this a long time ago—what's the meaning of that?

"As expected! Hype! I knew it was hype!"

As one of the twin stars most intimately connected to Zhou Yi, Sun Yanzi's words undoubtedly gave Cai Zuoyan's husband-fans a lifeline, allowing them to complete the final stage of their self-deception.

Just as Zhou Yi had planned beforehand, until they saw their idol personally turned into a puff pastry by Zhou Yi with their own eyes, this group would never give up hope.

Some even began to yearn for the fake news released jointly by Warner and Ying Huang—what was the purpose of Zhou Yi's special training of Cai Zuoyan?

They even brought in A Jiao to form Twins together.

Could it be that this overwhelming wealth is about to fall to our family's Twins?

"To be honest, there really is a possibility. Given Zhou Yi's nature, if there really was something going on, he might actually help..."

A ten-year veteran fan of Zhou Yi, uninvited, slipped into the Twins' fan support group and spoke so flowery and exaggeratedly.

And right that evening, with the broadcast of Zhou Yi's special program "SMS Talk Point by Point," whether in Hong Kong, the mainland, or Taiwan, the exploding public opinion all stemmed from him—

Taiwan.

Having just finished promoting her new album on Wu Zongxian's variety show, Sun Yanzi crouched at home. After showering, having shed all her fatigue, she opened a bag of potato chips, turned on the TV, and prepared to see what exactly was going on; but as soon as she crunched a few pieces of potato chips with a crackling sound, she froze in place—

On the TV screen, facing various strange and bizarre questions sent by fans via text message, Zhou Yi answered every single one without exception—

"Zhou Yi, in your heart, who do you think is the best singer in the history of the Chinese music scene? And second? And third?"

After the fan's text message content appeared on the big screen, Zhou Yi, sitting in the chair, held the microphone, pondered for a moment, then smiled: "Myself."

???

The two hosts, a man and a woman, clearly paused for a moment, then quickly turned their heads to look at him: "Yourself?"

"Yes."

Zhou Yi nodded, his tone noticeably more cheerful: "Many people say I'm arrogant. I feel that constant yielding isn't a solution, so I might as well show them my arrogance. I think the first, second, and third in history are all me. If you disagree, come challenge me one-on-one."

Audience: "..."

Sun Yanzi, in front of the TV: "..."

"Ahem, okay. Let's look at the text message content sent by the next viewer from the mainland. He says: Zhou Yi, do you have any opinion on the incident where Ai Dajin caused his ex-girlfriend to commit suicide? Right now, the internet is almost tearing itself apart arguing over the truth or falsehood of this matter."

"Uh? Who?"

At first, Zhou Yi pretended to think for a moment, and the host, following the script, reminded him: "Ai Dajin."

"Ah, I remember now."

Zhou Yi comfortably stretched his neck, his smile extremely sunny: "I vaguely heard about it, but I don't know the specific details."

—?!

In shock, Sun Yanzi, who was chewing potato chips, almost bit her own tongue.

(End of this chapter)