Chapter 374: I Want to Progress So Much

"Xie Tingfeng looks much haggard; it seems those 14 days have caused him quite some trouble."

"Shh, shut up and do your job. No matter what, he's still a big star."

"..."

As Hong Kong's oldest luxury hotel, although the staff here are no strangers to celebrities and dignitaries, Xie Tingfeng's situation is somewhat dramatic—

If he had truly been beaten face-to-face by Zhou Yi in a real fight, he might not have attracted so much attention.

He had only just stepped out, and his first public appearance was at a victory banquet for his "archenemy"...

"But there are indeed quite a few stars at tonight's victory banquet. I didn't expect even her to show up..."

The waiter, a fan of Zhang Manyu, was somewhat excited.

At the turn of the new century, Zhang Manyu, with her film "In the Mood for Love," completely achieved ascension, becoming "Goddess Man" in the mouths of many film fans. Logically, she, who has nothing to do with Zhou Yi, should not possibly appear here.

And Zhang Ziyi, who also attended this victory banquet in full regalia, clearly received far less attention, even though her current press releases already label her an international star.

Moreover, basically anyone with eyes present could clearly see a faint boundary line between her and the several major Hong Kong circles at the scene—

Even Zhang Manyu, who had filmed "Hero" with her, showed no intention of acknowledging her.

If not for figures like Kam Kwok Leung, the chairman of Xincheng Radio, and others being friendly toward mainland artists, Zhang Ziyi's awkwardness would probably have to last a while longer.

Damn it!

What are you pretending to be!

Before, you were just a piece of goods who went out to dine with people for a few thousand bucks!

I hate pretentious people the most!

Zhang Ziyi cursed in her heart, but her body honestly walked toward the area occupied by the Yinghuang faction.

Among the Hong Kong factions close to the mainland circle, the Yinghuang faction is absolutely the leader.

Although she herself is not very well-liked in the mainland circle, at least she wouldn't be ostracized in the current situation.

When Zhou Yi, hand in hand with Fan Xiaopang, walked the red carpet and entered the banquet hall, the gaze of everyone present immediately focused entirely on him—

"Ah Yi, congratulations, congratulations."

Cai Zuoyan, still projecting a girl-next-door vibe in public, raised her hand to greet Zhou Yi, but when her gaze met Fan Xiaopang beside him, a spark of unnamed friction collided.

Fan Xiaopang glanced at her subtly several times—

Why is it another short-haired person?

Could Zhou Yi have a preference for short hair?

"Congratulations, an unprecedented achievement."

After Cai Zuoyan broke the ice, Xie Tingfeng, with his head shaved short, stepped forward voluntarily under the gaze of thousands and extended his hand first to congratulate: "You are very impressive."

Amidst the rising and falling flashes of cameras, this famous Hong Kong people's king put away his arrogance and bowed his head to Zhou Yi—a head he had not bowed even when facing the Four Heavenly Kings plus Wang Jie before—

The scene of the two shaking hands and making peace also signified the complete end of the era of the Two Wonders.

"Thank you."

Although he didn't know if this person was sincere or forced by his company, since he had come, that was enough for Zhou Yi.

And his arrival also completely neutralized the scattered focus in the center of the banquet hall—

After Xie Tingfeng, the center of the entire venue was left with only him, as people coming up to congratulate and seek familiarity were endless.

And when he saw Zhang Ziyi coming up to offer congratulations, his expression was somewhat surprised.

"What's wrong, Zhou Yi, not welcoming me? I haven't properly thanked you in person yet; it's rare to have this chance to see you." Zhang Ziyi gave Zhou Yi a Western-style hug to express her thanks, smiling.

To be fair, at that time, Zhou Yi and she basically didn't even know each other. Although it was just a side effect of her confronting Chow Yun-fat, at least she was one of the beneficiaries.

"That's true, no choice, I'm too famous."

Zhou Yi's utterly unpolite remark actually made Zhang Ziyi cover her mouth and chuckle lightly: "You really are unpolite; only you have the confidence to say that. If anyone else said that and it got out, they'd probably be scolded."

After exchanging contact information, Zhang Ziyi then pretended to bring up the real matter casually: "By the way, Zhou Yi, I heard you took on composing the theme song for a big-budget foreign film. Are you interested in big-budget domestic films? Director Zhang's."

"?"

Huh?

A big-budget domestic film?

Zhou Yi raised an eyebrow in confusion: "'Hero'?"

"Yes."

Zhang Ziyi nodded readily, indicating her purpose for coming tonight besides offering congratulations: "It's Director Zhang's 'Hero'. This film has basically completed all post-production work, but the theme promotional song has not yet been decided.

"Director Zhang originally planned to fly to Hong Kong personally today to talk with you, but unfortunately, post-production on 'Hero' encountered problems again, and he must first resolve the work at hand..."

From Zhang Ziyi's explanation, Zhou Yi finally understood Mozi's plan—

The cost of the film "Hero" was really too high, so high that the more he filmed, the less confident he felt. As a professional veteran director, he basically knew what the final film would look like.

Yet this film also bore the responsibility of being a pathfinder for "opening the Chinese commercial film market."

In order to ensure this film would be a huge hit, Mozi basically thought of every trick he could.

Even, in order to sell for a good price abroad and achieve good box office, he even agreed to let Quentin Tarantino come on as a nominal credit, placing Quentin's name in a prominent position on foreign promotional posters alongside Li Lianjie to attract foreign audiences.

And at this moment in the domestic market, the hottest, most talked-about, and most market-valuable person was undoubtedly Zhou Yi—

Raising Xincheng Radio from Hong Kong's third place to a solid first place "single-handedly"; when Mozi heard this achievement from Kam Kwok Leung, he was completely stunned.

He thought that after working in the industry for so many years, what scenes hadn't he seen?

But this scene he really had never seen.

If he were to join in...

"Hero" has already been filmed, but isn't the music still missing?

Although the music big shot Tan Dun has already completed a full set of instrumental music, and Wang Fei, who was defeated after a fierce battle with Zhou Yi in Hong Kong, has long since been confirmed to sing the theme song, this doesn't mean Mozi has no other options—

Regarding instrumental music, his "Hero" still lacks a song capable of expressing the majestic grandeur of Qin Wang and even the Qin Dynasty.

To be honest, although Tan Dun's work was satisfactory, the piece he composed lacked a certain grandeur in its expression.

"It sounds quite interesting, but I don't have time for now; by the end of next month, I'll have to go to South Korea to record this year's China-Korea Music Festival."

Zhou Yi smiled and refused: "The timing for 'Hero' is too tight."

He himself wasn't particularly interested in 'Hero'; it wasn't for any other reason, but simply because the plot was too crude and boring.

Director Zhang had already exerted his full expertise to save this script with a grand concept but empty content; his extensive use of color could be called a textbook in the history of Chinese cinema, and it once became a necessity for buyers of color televisions in the market to prove their sets' color display prowess—

"My colors are accurate and awesome; how do I prove it? Just play the 'Hero' disc for you, letting your eyes get thoroughly shocked."

Of course, the main reason was still insufficient funds.

The film's existing costs alone had already sunk thirty million US dollars; Zhou Yi didn't think Director Zhang and the people behind him could now offer him an unrefusable price.

"Is that so..."

Zhang Ziyi was obviously somewhat disappointed, but still nodded to show understanding: "Indeed, there's no way around it."

Thirty minutes later.

When the Guinness World Records official appeared on the stage in the center of the banquet hall alongside Zhou Jianhui, president of Warner Music Asia, and Zhou Yi, a wave of enthusiastic applause immediately erupted from the scene; a small cart carrying an ice sculpture with the characters "800" was personally pushed onto the stage by Zhou Yi's agent, Qian Jiang.

With the prestigious Guinness World Record at his side, Zhou Yi held high the golden "trophy" and smashed the ice sculpture into pieces!

His beaming expression was frozen in freshly developed photographs!

And after the customary smashing of the ice sculpture, the flushed Qian Jiang found Zhou Yi and specifically brought two pieces of good news—

"Do you know the National Federation of Youth Leagues and the Musicians Association of China? They have sent you an invitation; do you want to join?"

……………………………………

"Join! You must join! You have no idea how incredibly popular Zhou Yi is abroad!"

In the Imperial Capital, Director Zhang, having finished the last bit of work, received a call from his partner: "Let me tell you, if our soundtrack bears Zhou Yi's name, he will very likely make our copyright sales much easier.

"We will very likely recoup our costs by selling foreign copyrights before the film's release.

"Do you know what the first question those foreign companies ask when they learn our film has such a huge investment is? 'With such a big production, why didn't you hire Spike Zhou for the soundtrack?'

"I've checked; the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' film Zhou Yi is currently working on the soundtrack for is still far off; it might not even be released by May or June next year.

"If we invite him over, then the title of Zhou Yi's first mainland soundtrack film will be ours.

"Even abroad, thanks to his outstanding performance in Jackie Chan's 'Rush Hour 2', we can also... when negotiating copyright sales..."

"..."

Director Zhang rubbed his brow: "But Zhang Ziyi said he has absolutely no time right now."

"Time is like water in a sponge; squeeze it and you'll always find some. Zhang Ziyi's status means nothing to him; once you finish your work, go find him personally to talk."

"... Alright, I'll contact Kwok Leung later and ask him to host, so we can sit down and talk formally."

Instinctively, Director Zhang thought of his friend Kwok Leung. The position of Xincheng Radio Station's stationmaster he currently held was so glorious; asking him to help organize a gathering for a formal discussion should be no problem.

(End of this chapter)