Chapter 43: The Boss and the Second Boss Fight, the Third One Vanishes

Don’t say it, this really hits the vibe—The Yi Weekly sells like crazy for a reason.

Zhou Yi, who had been laughing at it, casually tossed the weekly onto the coffee table in the break room, shifted in his sofa, and chuckled: “But if I remember right, isn’t it famous in Hong Kong for being paparazzi-driven?”

That’s true, but your achievements are too dazzling. Whether online or offline, discussions about you never stop—they won’t let this hotspot slip away.

To be honest, I thought Sun Yanzi was already huge, but you’re even bigger than her.

Qian Jiang, a solidly built man, sat down on the fabric sofa, holding his schedule, and sighed: “You make me feel like I’m not managing a newcomer, but a king of the industry.”

Which newcomer has ever taken on a whole roster of kings and queens?

Who the hell is this Zhou Yi?

Rock Records Tower, meeting room, Taiwan.

Rock Records’ boss Duan Zhongtan had opened all his documents and data, and seated on either side of the table were none other than Rock’s legendary figures—

Luo Dayou and Li Zongsheng.

These two father figures of the Chinese-language music industry together built Rock Records’ golden age; under their guidance, Rock once pushed back every major international label that entered the mainland market.

Yet now, these two music patriarchs were powerless against a young kid from the mainland.

“He’s a student Zhou Jianhui dug up from the mainland—he’s still in college, just finished his third year at Peking University.”

Li Zongsheng adjusted his glasses, staring at the data on the report, his tone filled with admiration: “Incredible—a nineteen-year-old has single-handedly carved out a new path for the industry and discovered a fresh musical direction.”

Album: Zhou Yi.

Lyrics: Zhou Yi.

Composition: Zhou Yi.

Arrangement: Zhou Yi.

Vocals: Zhou Yi.

The album has eleven songs—all written by Zhou Yi.

Others might suspect fraud, but to someone like Li Zongsheng, truth or falsehood is just a matter of a few questions.

The circle is small—if these groundbreaking songs were written by someone else and sold to Zhou Yi by Warner, that person would’ve already blown the whistle.

“Now’s not the time to praise him, Zongsheng. You know he’s our threat.”

Duan Zhongtan rubbed his temples, then turned to Luo Dayou on his left: “What do you think?”

“We can’t stop him. This kid, Zhou Yi, has already gained momentum.”

Luo Dayou, with his gravelly voice, shook his head and tossed the papers onto the table, looking up at the man seated diagonally across from him—

“Kingkiller” Zhou Hua.

“Hua’s ‘Ghost Obsession’ and Liu Ruo’s ‘Love Me So Much’ were both crushed. Now ‘Later’ might not even hold onto the top spot much longer.”

Luo Dayou sighed.

A man who had devoted his life to Chinese-language music, he now felt a tangled mix of emotions, unsure what to say.

Because the melody of ‘Later’ was bought from Japan.

That means ‘Later’ still holds the top spot only because it’s cheating—using a foreign tune.

You’re mixing Chinese and Japanese elements, but Zhou Yi wrote everything himself—purely homegrown.

“I listened to his album. The songs shook me deeply. I even felt lost—how could songs be sung like this? How could melodies and elements be fused like this?”

“Lao Duan, give up. If we fight this album, we’ll lose more than we gain.”

As a veteran of Rock Records, Zhou Hua had every right to speak in this private meeting.

“...I still want to try.”

As boss, Duan Zhongtan clearly couldn’t let go.

In the past two years, after Rock’s restructuring, every new investment failed, and with the financial crisis, the company’s layoffs were nearing 50%.

If not for the enduring power of its kings and queens, Rock might have gone bankrupt already.

Duan Zhongtan had pinned all his hopes on Liu Ruo’s album as Rock’s golden ticket to revival—he couldn’t swallow seeing a kid overtake him.

“No need.”

At this critical moment, Li Zongsheng frowned and stopped him: “Warner hasn’t played any dirty tricks—we shouldn’t either.”

“Besides, Zhou Yi is only nineteen—he’s young, his mental resilience isn’t like those old-timers from the 80s and 90s. Do you want to destroy him?”

“He’s a genius. His success means the industry has gained a new market for others to cultivate. You can’t do this.”

The fact that Li Zongsheng and Luo Dayou had brought Rock to half its empire meant their moral lines were not to be ignored.

“Yeah, and ‘Later’ has had a half-year head start—it might not lose in the end,” Zhou Hua chuckled. “Besides, we can use this momentum for marketing, right?”

Among these genuine musicians, Rock’s boss was finally talked out of his scheming.

On July 16, Rock, unwilling to be overtaken by a newcomer, launched full-scale marketing—and cleverly framed Liu Ruo as the reigning queen waiting to be challenged, subtly elevating her further.

Rock’s artists all stepped forward to cheer for their queen.

The proof? Rock, still wielding half its former empire, moved quickly—within two days, even people who never followed music knew:

A newcomer named Zhou Yi had defeated all Four Kings and now stood before Liu Ruo, ready to challenge her throne.

Many who only bought pirated copies and never cared about status suddenly had one thought:

Is Liu Ruo really that powerful?

Even the Four Kings couldn’t beat her?

Wasn’t she always crushed before?

And how come this newcomer Zhou Yi is so strong too?

“...”

When newspapers flooded with sales figures, airplay rates, and chart comparisons, these pirated-copy listeners—already the audience for the songs—took sudden interest.

People love spectacles, especially big ones.

In this battle that swept the entire Chinese-language music industry, many pirated-copy buyers felt guilty—under Rock’s subtle hints, they believed their piracy had let a greenhorn topple their beloved singer.

That couldn’t stand.

What nonsense—when Liu Ruo was fighting in the industry, how old was Zhou Yi?

At this moment, Liu Ruo’s decades-long queenly foundation finally paid off—

Her vast pirated-copy user base was right there; even a tiny fraction converted could spike ‘Later’s’ numbers.

Thus, through hype alone, Rock Records—barely clinging on as Zhou Yi dominated the charts—miraculously elevated Liu Ruo’s status.

Worse, Rock’s hype campaign also firmly placed Zhou Yi on the table as the sole rival, eliminating any chance of other labels sneaking in.

This left the other struggling labels stunned, especially PolyGram, which had only Zhang Xueyou left as its ace.

Wait, how dare Liu Ruo climb over my God of Songs?

Just because of ‘Later’?

My Xueyou still has ‘Farewell Kiss’ at his peak!

But thanks to its release year, PolyGram could only suffer in silence.

Truthfully, Zhang Xueyou’s late-1999 album included ‘She Came to My Concert’—a classic.

But it was crushed by ‘Later’ upfront and then by ‘Chase the Idol’—a one-of-a-kind in the entire Chinese-language scene with no substitute—leaving him barely holding his ground in Hong Kong.

Even more anxious than PolyGram was Emperor Entertainment, which had entered July with full confidence—

Wait, where’s our Xie Tingfeng?!

Are Warner and Rock conspiring to scam us?!

Our Xie Tingfeng’s ‘Because of Love’ is also a classic! Sales are still at 160,000, ranking in the top ten—why isn’t he included?

Xie Tingfeng’s manager Hu Wenhxi tried to stir the pot and push him onto the table, but barely anyone paid attention.

Even though Xie Tingfeng’s popularity pushed ‘Because of Love’ to third place—

When the top two are fighting, no one cares about rankings behind them.

On July 19, ‘Later,’ fueled by renewed pirated-copy buyers and new/returning purchases, widened its lead over ‘Chase the Idol’ and held firm at number one.

On July 20, Warner copied the tactic, hyping up this so-called “New vs. Old King Battle.”

Elevating Liu Ruo was not only a counter to her earlier help for Zhou Yi, but also successfully branded Zhou Yi as a “strong one.”

Similarly, many young people who bought pirated copies of ‘Zhou Yi’ felt their dreams ignited—

At that moment, Zhou Yi became their avatar; they felt they were charging forward with him, challenging the older generation that held all the power.

How could they not support him?

I’ve hated my bald boss (teacher) who loves Liu Ruo for ages!

Youth never surrenders!

It’s just a CD—buying an original won’t kill me. Buy it!

If you can afford a CD, buy a CD. If you can afford a cassette, buy a cassette. Give everything you’ve got!

Thus, in this fully heated “Throne War,” both sides’ sales data began soaring—

On the 22nd, Liu Ruo’s album sales miraculously rebounded, lifting ‘Later’ with it.

But before Rock could celebrate, ‘Zhou Yi’ surged back, and ‘Chase the Idol’s’ numbers also skyrocketed, pulling far ahead of third-place ‘Because of Love.’

On the 26th, ‘Chase the Idol’ officially surpassed ‘Later’ in sales data from Taiwan’s major record stores, Rose Records, Taiwan Public Radio, and Taipei Music Radio, claiming the number one spot!

‘Zhou Yi’ album’s original sales broke 280,000 and were racing toward 300,000!

In contrast, popular king Xie Tingfeng lost a huge chunk of market share—his album sales barely crossed 220,000, and his lead single ‘Because of Love’ still ranked below ‘Later’ and ‘Chase the Idol.’

But now, except for Xie Tingfeng’s own fans, no one cared about his songs or album anymore.

People were far more interested in the back-and-forth lead changes between ‘Chase the Idol’ and ‘Later,’ eager to sit with a little stool and watch the two singers fight on the ring.

While Liu Ruo was on promotion tours, Zhou Yi was holding autograph sessions—both companies, playing clean, went head-to-head.

On July 28, 2000, “Cherish the Adoration” had not even held the number-one spot for two days before “Later” reclaimed its top position.

The next day, less than twenty-four hours later, “Later,” whose seat had barely warmed, was kicked off by “Cherish the Adoration.”

Zhou Yi felt his hand was nearly smoking from signing autographs.

Liu Ruo was experiencing, for the first time in her decades-long career, how exhausting promotion could be.

How is this newcomer so fierce?!

She’s a veteran diva!

On July 30, “Later” reclaimed the number-one spot again; the weary CEO of Rock Records even considered giving up, but was stopped by Li Zongsheng and Luo Dayou.

On July 31, the relentless “Cherish the Adoration” toppled Rock Records’ small stool once more and proudly crowned itself king.

The battle for first and second place brought Rock Records a surge of new popularity, reaped a large sum of album revenue, and greatly increased Liu Ruo’s exposure.

Zhou Yi, meanwhile, directly stepped onto the ladder Rock Records handed him, using this musical war with Liu Ruo, which began in mid-July, to shed his label as “newcomer” and rapidly ascended to the top tier of the music scene.

Disagree?

If you disagree, try fighting “Later” yourself?

Throughout July, the only one hurt was Xie Tingfeng, ranked third; since mid-July, his newly released album’s attention plummeted as all the heat was sucked up by the top two battling each other…

“Because of Love, So Love” even dropped to sixth.

Yang Shoucheng of Emperor Entertainment nearly pulled out a knife to challenge Warner’s Zhou Jianhui and Rock Records’ Duan Zhongtan.

Those two old bastards aren’t playing fair—they’re pulling dirty tricks here.

He didn’t believe this grand so-called “music war” happened without some prior coordination between them.

August 1,

On the day the monthly chart was finalized, “Cherish the Adoration” still suppressed “Later,” maintaining its number-one position.

Meanwhile, Warner officially announced that Zhou Yi’s self-titled album “Zhou Yi” had surpassed 300,000 sales.

A music newcomer, in just one month, entered the 300,000-club and became Warner’s best-selling artist of the year.

Zhou Yi’s feelings were a mix of pain and joy.

The pain came from sheer exhaustion—on Baodao, promotion ran nonstop, treating artists like beasts of burden.

As for the joy, it was the joy of counting money.

Most importantly, his album didn’t require splitting royalty fees with anyone—he kept every penny for himself.