Chapter 39: Zhou Yi and Wang Lin Both Mobilize

On January 1, 2000, the city of Jinshi saw the birth of an urban morning newspaper named "Daily New Report".

This newspaper, established on New Year's Day to secure good fortune, while most mainland morning papers still focused on culture and serious news, "casually" set up an entertainment news department to catch up with the trends in Xiangjiang.

A young man named Han Binjiang saw an opportunity in this and quickly joined the newspaper industry, successfully becoming an entertainment reporter.

He had thought he could make a big splash here and live in the money-filled entertainment industry in another way, but he never expected that the so-called "entertainment news" here differed somewhat from the news he had imagined.

The immediate boss wanted results but, lacking experience, didn't know where to start, so he simply gave a direct death order to his subordinates to get it done; after all, if they failed, their salaries would just be lower.

Since he had always been responsible for entertainment news in the film sector, with the thought that "doing nothing is worse than making a big move," Han Binjiang set his sights on the currently popular domestic female star—

Zhang Ziyi of the Central Academy of Drama's star class.

Unfortunately, he miscalculated.

Zhang Ziyi at this time could not provide him with any news substantial enough to make him famous overnight, even though she was always close to people from Xiangjiang.

Deeply feeling his own inadequacy, he simply started a life of running back and forth between Xiangjiang and the mainland.

His natural keen sense of smell told him that Zhang Ziyi, who could be linked to that bunch from Xiangjiang, must have big secrets.

On June 20, 2000, while in Xiangjiang, after eating a bowl of char siu rice, he paid to buy the latest issue of the industry's senior publication, "Next Week".

With no discoveries in his recent weeks, he prepared to see what news these hard-working seniors had cooked up that could help him earn his writing fees.

Not looking would have been fine, but one look made him jump in fright—

The pages of "Next Week", usually featuring Xiangjiang or the Taiwan Island, this issue surprisingly and rarely printed the word "Mainland".

"Shock! Watching Xiao Yaxuan breaks with her mentor for love, all because of a mainland man!"

On the full-color page, the current rising little songstress Watching Xiao Yaxuan, who had also dominated Xiangjiang with her song "The Most Familiar Stranger", was driving her wine-red Ferrari, with a handsome man sitting in the passenger seat.

Both wore the same style of sunglasses, ignoring everyone else as if exchanging something; it was clear they were talking happily, and Watching Xiao Yaxuan appeared very pleased.

Once the inside pages were opened, it was even more incredible.

Everything from secret meetings and dining to entering and exiting company hotels together, even the news of Watching Xiao Yaxuan breaking with her mentor, leaving Virgin Music to switch to Warner, was written with every detail accounted for.

The reporter seemed to be hiding under that Ferrari, "hearing" all of Watching Xiao Yaxuan's treasonous words.

Since the origin of this news was the Taiwan Island, relying on the few connections he had scraped together over the past six months, Zhuo Wei entrusted someone to quickly buy the major entertainment section newspapers from the Taiwan Island for the past week.

News like "Liu Ruo becomes her mentor's mistress for love" and "Li Zongsheng suspected of cheating, marriage crisis again", which had been chewed over countless times in the past, had vanished; almost all major entertainment publications had given their front pages to a man named Zhou Yi.

Born in 1981, from the mainland, male, a signed artist under Warner Music.

Surrounding him were mostly rumors about his relationship with Watching Xiao Yaxuan, with the rest being various speculations about his background.

At this time, the entertainment publication industry in the Taiwan Island was somewhat lacking compared to Xiangjiang, mostly conventional, with the outrageous not being particularly eye-catching.

At least, that was how Han Binjiang saw it.

However, this allowed him to catch a glimmer of business opportunity.

Upholding the "practical spirit" he hadn't forgotten, under the banner of seeking truth from facts, Han Binjiang decisively applied to his superiors for a sum of funds—

"This broken Xiangjiang, I'm not staying anymore; first, go to the Taiwan Island to find news!"

On June 26, 2000, a blockbuster message was published in the new entertainment section of Jinshi's "Daily New Report"—

"Light of the Mainland Male Stars, the Taiwan Island Little Songstress Watching Xiao Yaxuan Bewitched!"

"Role model of mainland male stars, the first person of the younger generation to bring honor, surely deserves a place among the Four Little Stars of the Millennium!"

…………………………………………………………

"..."

When Zhou Yi saw this newspaper, it was already the afternoon of the 27th.

At that moment, he had just habitually gone to the newsstand to buy a newspaper, preparing to see if any major events were about to happen that he could take advantage of, when he spotted what seemed to be his name on a paper and decisively grabbed it.

After carefully analyzing it, he glanced at the reporter's name—

Author: Zhuo Wei.

Good heavens, an old acquaintance!

Ah, no, a one-sided old acquaintance!

Did this guy debut that early?

Zhou Yi, scratching his fingernails, stared at this name and fell into deep thought.

No wonder he felt the style of this article had somewhat familiar traces from the future; it turned out it was written by the early mainland paparazzi boss.

A piece of writing entirely imagining through rumors, after twisting and turning, forcibly wrote the content of Zhou Yi successfully wooing Li Yijie of Virgin Music home with his looks as if it were bringing honor to the country.

Those who knew it was Watching Xiao Yaxuan; those who didn't would think it was American sweetheart Britney Spears.

"In this era, even the paparazzi still revere the Hong Kong and Taiwan regions..."

Originally, he didn't take it seriously, just sighing and letting it go.

After all, the mainland is so vast, and this "Daily New Report" of Jinshi is a new publication created only at the beginning of this year, with limited influence, currently confined to the Jinshi area alone.

But on June 28, accompanied by another media outlet with considerable influence now entering the fray, Zhou Yi's expression suddenly became somewhat subtle.

"Southern Metropolis Daily" Entertainment Headline: "Mainland Poor Boy Falls for Taiwan Island Rich Heiress?"

As a newspaper industry established in 1997, and one of the three most valued and best-selling sections of the Southern Daily Newspaper Group, the influence of "Southern Metropolis Daily" in the mainland was not comparable to that of "Daily New Report".

With its report, the small media outlets specializing in entertainment in the country immediately found a source for writing fees.

Praising, scolding; in just two short days, Zhou Yi's name actually gained a bit of fame purely through rumors, driven by newspapers led by the Southern faction, despite there being nothing real.

Especially when his father back home called, the very first sentence made Zhou Yi lose his composure: "Yi Yi, I saw in the newspaper that you brought honor to the country? You're dating a foreign girl?"

"Your mother and I are not so backward; you should date if you want, don't worry about the family."

"..."

What the hell, bringing honor to the country!

Putting aside whether he's dating or not, what version did this news turn into after traveling all the way to Jiang Xi Province?

Watching Xiao Yaxuan only studied in Canada; how did her nationality change?

Zhou Yi, who had specially bought several copies of Southern media newspapers, found them increasingly absurd as he read—quite in line with his stereotype of Southern media journalism.

"Winning glory for the country... hahaha, sorry, sorry, I usually don't laugh, but this time I really couldn't hold it back hahaha..."

Cheng Hao, who had also read the newspaper, rushed to Zhou Yi's newly rented house immediately upon discovering this matter to mock him.

She laughed very loudly.

"What are you laughing at? Winning glory for the country is news with great face; do you believe that right now, the number of middle-aged and elderly viewers who know my name is greater than those who know yours?"

Zhou Yi glanced at her sideways, and the latter's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

It seemed... there really was a grain of twisted logic in that?

Having won the right to bark again, Zhou Yi threw all the newspapers into the trash can, whistled a little tune proudly, and walked past her.

"I won't talk to you for now; I still have to go to the company side. Zhou Jianhui has arrived and wants to change the songs."

"Must Love" and "Happy Worship" were the two songs he originally planned to release together to chart, but after seeing the list, Zhou Jianhui directly rejected them and told him to change two songs to chart.

The reason was very realistic—

"Zhou Yi, Zhang Shaohan is from Fomusic Records; you are currently at a time of high exposure. Using these two songs to chart first would be equivalent to sharing your popularity with her, which is not worth it."

It was acceptable to eat into Watching Xiao Yaxuan's popularity, but sharing popularity with Zhang Shaohan, who was also an unknown, was not allowed.

Zhou Jianhui's main principle was authenticity.

"In that case, there's no way around it; let's change to 'Give Me a Song's Time' and 'Love You'."

Zhou Yi, who didn't care at all about this, directly changed the songs.

His initial choice of "Happy Worship" and "Must Love" was simply because he valued the popularity of these two songs on the mainland.

Since they were rejected, let's directly release the Zhou, Wang, Lin trilogy—

"Give Me a Song's Time", "Love You", and "It's Me".

On June 30, amidst a clamor that seemed real yet false, Zhou Yi's self-titled album "Zhou Yi" had quietly arrived at the warehouses of major distributors through Warner's channels, fully stocked.

The three selected songs were sent to major radio stations respectively.