Chapter 398: The First Song Collaborated with Someone Else

Money, strictly speaking, is really not the top consideration for Zhou Yi anymore. The company's promotional channels and hidden resources are what matter.

Although Penguin looks like it's surrounded by crises right now, as long as it survives 2005, it will have no rivals left in the country and will officially ascend to the throne as the hegemon of the instant messaging field.

During this period, QQ must keep expanding outward and promoting itself; the hidden dividends this brings him can hardly be quantified in money.

After clarifying the bottom line on the term and other clauses with Zhou Yi, Qian Jiang, now feeling reassured, brought up the upcoming schedule: "On the 3rd, the day after tomorrow, there's a Coca-Cola event in Shanghai. We need you to make an appearance, and there'll be an interview too.

"On the 5th in the Imperial Capital, the Musicians' Association has specially prepared a ceremony to welcome you in, and in the evening you'll attend an internal Musicians' Association banquet.

"Then on the 6th, fly directly from the Imperial Capital to Seoul to prepare for the China-Korea Song Festival, and along the way promote your album, sell some merchandise, hold a small fan meet — consider it consolidating your fan base over in Korea."

In 2002, Seoul had not yet been renamed from Hanseong. Because last year's third China-Korea Song Festival was held in the Imperial Capital, this year's fourth edition was placed in Korea's Hanseong.

As the lead singer on the Chinese side, Zhou Yi's current status can be said to be the only one China can put forward internationally. For all kinds of big international occasions, Zhou Yi is always the top pick; if he's unavailable, then they'll find someone else.

A typical example is the China-Japan Song Festival held on September 22nd this year. Because Zhou Yi was busy with pre-release promotion for his new album and truly couldn't get away, the organizers could only settle for the next best option and chose Sun Nan.

And it was precisely his outstanding performance at the China-Japan Song Festival that landed him on this year's China-Korea Song Festival roster.

"This time you'll have the treatment of singing two songs solo — that's the only one of its kind in the entire evening gala." Mentioning the China-Korea Song Festival treatment, Qian Jiang was beaming too: "In the whole gala, only you have this kind of treatment."

While other big-name Chinese and Korean singers at best only get one solo plus one collaborative number, Zhou Yi's two solo songs stand out as particularly conspicuous.

"The question now is, what songs are you planning to sing at the China-Korea Song Festival?"

Originally Qian Jiang only wanted to ask which album he'd be singing from this time, but considering that at last year's China-Korea Song Festival he belted out a new song "Yellow Performer," and also brought it to the Spring Festival Gala, he added this line: "By the way, this year's Spring Festival Gala invitation has already come in."

The rehearsal time for the 2003 Year of the Sheep Spring Festival Gala is January 5th, 2003, and the review of each program has already begun.

With Zhou Yi's popularity and status, appearing on the Spring Festival Gala is an absolute certainty—nothing could be more certain; on the official website launched by the CCTV program team, the messages hoping to see Zhou Yi are also the most numerous.

The only point of divergence is whether Zhou Yi sings an old song or, like last year, a new song.

Some fans hope Zhou Yi sings songs already on his album, others hope he sings new songs he hasn't properly released — the two sides have argued themselves into a complete mess in public opinion.

"A new song."

Zhou Yi smiled and answered without hesitation: "Perfect, I'll sing one old song at the China-Korea Song Festival, then sing this new song — consider it an early rehearsal for the Spring Festival Gala."

"Glory? That song isn't suited for the China-Korea Song Festival or the Spring Festival Gala stage, is it?" Qian Jiang frowned instinctively.

Looking at Zhou Yi's current songs, the only one that could be called a new song to perform on stage is "Glory," that concert-exclusive track.

"No, no, of course not."

Zhou Yi, who had been caught off guard hearing the song title Glory, raised an eyebrow, then a smile curled at the corner of his mouth: "It's a different new song."

…………………………………………

"A different new song? Just how much stock do you still have?"

At half past ten in the morning, Watching Xiao Yaxuan, who had woken up and originally planned to come find Zhou Yi for breakfast together, casually grabbed a bun the man hadn't eaten yet and stuffed it in her mouth, asking in a muffled voice.

Zhou Yi shrugged noncommittally: "Don't know, never counted. Also, that thing's gone cold — if you want to eat it, you'd better take it out and have someone heat it up first."

Seeing that after one bite she apparently couldn't stop, Zhou Yi reached for the landline to call someone over, but was cut off by Watching Xiao Yaxuan waving her hand: "It's fine, it's not so cold it can't be eaten — why be so fussy?"

Hearing this, Zhou Yi rather surprisedly sized her up a few times: "You're really not picky."

"Used to it. Back when I was busy to the point of total chaos, I basically just got by on bread, toast, that kind of thing — didn't matter hot or cold." Watching Xiao Yaxuan's cheeks were stuffed full, and while talking she wasn't paying attention, and the soup inside the soup dumpling splashed onto the back of her hand.

Just as she raised her hand to grab a napkin, the phone in her pocket rang at just that moment——

She took it out and saw — it was a call from her own mother.

"Hello? Mom?"

Seeing Watching Xiao Yaxuan reporting to her mother where she was and what she was doing, Zhou Yi, who found it funny, casually pulled her hand over.

At first Watching Xiao Yaxuan, who had assumed this dog of a man was about to do something shady, almost couldn't keep a steady grip on either her phone or her bun — but then she saw him pull out a tissue and, head lowered, wipe the oil slowly running down the back of her hand.

"……Don't worry, Mom, I'm coming home tomorrow."

Watching Xiao Yaxuan simply made up an excuse to end the call with her mother — so fast that the man, who had just finished wiping and crumpled the tissue into a ball, hadn't even had time to throw it in the trash can——

?

"Your mom is still rushing you home? If I may ask, how old are you?"

Zhou Yi couldn't quite hold it together.

"My mom's always been like this — you'll get used to it."

Watching Xiao Yaxuan casually tossed her phone onto the sofa, sat cross-legged, and sighed: "Especially after I entered the entertainment industry. As long as my teacher forgot to tell her or didn't tell her, she'd ask about my situation. Otherwise, why do you think I wanted to leave back then?"

"If it weren't for you showing up and reducing some of my workload, I definitely wouldn't have renewed my contract."

Teacher Yao Qian was always high-pressure at work, and in life her mother, that strong woman, was always high-pressure too — yet both of them meant well, for her own good.

Watching Xiao Yaxuan felt that not having a mental breakdown already counted as pretty good; thankfully there was Zhou Yi, someone who could still listen to her heart.

"Really? Your mom manages you that strictly?"

"You think I'm kidding? She even controls how many cans of Coke I drink in the morning."

The moment her own mother came up, Watching Xiao Yaxuan clearly had a headache too: "One day she found out I'd drunk several cans of Coke at home in the morning, and immediately called Yao Qian to ask him why he wasn't keeping a better eye on me — how could he let me drink so much Coke."

"……"

"So basically my mom and Yao Qian would often call each other behind my back, exchanging all kinds of news about me. Whatever I did at home, Yao Qian knew; whatever I did at the company, Yao Qian would also tell my mom.

"Sometimes I feel like whether I'm at home or at the company, there's this invisible pressure weighing on me so I can't breathe — no personal space at all, no privacy at all. I want to date someone and I'm not even allowed to……"

Clearly, regarding her mother and teacher being "in cahoots" like this, Watching Xiao Yaxuan harbored enormous resentment — otherwise she wouldn't have gone on and on like this.

But her upbringing clearly told her the two of them really didn't have any bad intentions, they were simply doing it for her own good. This contradictory psychology caused her to keep bottling up this resentment.

"But luckily, this year I figure I can hide out in the mainland for a while longer."

At the end, Watching Xiao Yaxuan took a sip of water and let out a long breath: "The Spring Festival Gala invited me."

The Spring Festival Gala — for her, this was still a first.

Honestly speaking, she wasn't unfamiliar with CCTV galas. Back in 2000, just a few months after debuting, she had already taken the stage at CCTV's Lantern Festival Gala — enough to show how much importance the mainland placed on her.

If it weren't for work reasons, she actually should have appeared on the Spring Festival Gala stage last year, just like Sun Yanzi.

"A solo invitation for you?"

"How is that possible? I'd estimate only you could get that kind of treatment."

Regarding Zhou Yi's question born of ignorance, Watching Xiao Yaxuan spread his arms and rested them on the back of the sofa, turning his head to look at Zhou Yi: "You absolutely cannot guess who sang the duet with me."

"Xie Xiaodong?"

The first name that came to Zhou Yi's mind was the Spring Festival Gala's standard duet professional; last year, when Sun Yanzi made her first appearance on the Spring Festival Gala, it was—

"It was Yanzi."

"?"

Zhou Yi slowly typed out a question mark, exclaiming, "Good heavens."

Only CCTV could arrange for Sun and Xiao, both currently dominating half the sky with their fame, to perform a duet together on the gala.

"The program team gave me a setlist and asked me to pick a few songs as backups; we'll see which ones are more suitable for the Spring Festival Gala, and then I'll discuss it with Yanzi. What about you? What song will you sing on the Spring Festival Gala?"

Watching Xiao Yaxuan was somewhat curious.

"Didn't I say? A new song."

"Give me a hint?"

Zhou Yi turned his head to look at her, grinned, and said: "Strictly speaking, this is my first song that is truly a collaboration with someone else, and it's quite special."

"???"