Chapter 477: Let Sony Suffer, I'll Take the Blame

Wang Lihong felt he was extremely unlucky.

He was truly unlucky.

So unlucky that he was full of pent-up frustration with nowhere to vent, forced to rely on drinking to relieve his boredom.

At first, he was full of expectations for breaking into the Japanese market. He shot documentaries, launched magazine cover promotions, and even released a photo book in Japan before his album was out—the photo book's reception was quite good.

This fully proved that Japanese girls still recognized his looks.

Yet it was precisely the sales of that photo book that gave him and everyone at Sony an unrealistic fantasy—and now the bubble of that fantasy had been brutally popped by reality.

"Bang!" went the sound, and the dream woke up.

The photo book sold because it was cheap; the album simply couldn't sell.

"Welcome back to the Night News. Next, let's take a look at Zhou Yi Jun's latest situation in the United States~"

"Sony Music's former US president, Tang Mi Mottola, has been exposed for suspected racial discrimination and using his power to suppress Zhou Yi Jun's rankings in America."

"But clearly, this suppression had no effect whatsoever under the force of absolute strength. Zhou Yi Jun not only broke through the American blockade on the Asian music scene but also became the first Asian in history to achieve one album and three number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100."

"It is reported that Warner is helping Zhou Yi Jun push for one album and four number-one singles. If successful, Zhou Yi Jun's name will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with legends—"

"Whoosh!" went the sound, and the TV was turned off.

Wang Lihong, whose sense of contrast grew stronger the more news he watched, couldn't sleep after putting down the remote. He simply got up from bed, pulled open the curtains of the hotel suite, and prepared to admire the moon to calm his mind—

But the very next second after he pulled open the curtains, directly opposite the luxury hotel building stood Tokyo's famous shopping destination, where a massive personal poster of Zhou Yi was pasted on the mall's outer wall. The image of him with a slight smile on his lips delivered the most direct shock to Wang Lihong...

Damn it...

The jealousy peculiar to young people made Wang Lihong, standing still, let out a sigh; the curtains he had just opened were pulled shut again by him.

To be honest, as a musician, he greatly admired Zhou Yi's talent.

He had met Zhou Yi at the Global Chinese Music Awards; some of Zhou Yi's views at that time had greatly inspired him, and he had now slightly grasped the thread.

But as a young person, he had to admit that he was truly very jealous of Zhou Yi—jealous of his talent.

If Zhou Yi weren't tall and handsome, it would have been fine; at least he could find some psychological comfort. But Zhou Yi happened to be both tall and handsome, and his singing was a freak of nature—the vocal capabilities that God gifted him were what Wang Lihong envied most.

To be fair, his tone and capabilities were actually not outstanding among singers debuting in the same period.

His ability to stand out now relied entirely on creating songs suited to his own singing style, plus he had always been refining his vocal skills.

How could God favor one person so much?

Before finally pulling the curtains shut, Wang Lihong tilted his head back slightly and took one last look at that towering poster high above.

He was very angry right now.

Not just at Zhou Yi, but mostly at himself.

Ashamed of the uncontrollable jealousy in his heart, yet unable to restrain it, helpless.

"Hey, Addison, I want to go blow off some steam right now."

"Sure, I can't sleep tonight either; I'll take you."

The Japanese agent on the phone was clearly also depressed over the album's failure; hearing this, they immediately agreed.

After breaking up with his girlfriend, Wang Lihong's habit of playing around outside was well concealed by Sony. After all, if this got exposed, Wang Lihong's image as an innocent big boy and a white horse prince would be instantly destroyed.

For secrecy, the Japanese business agent specifically took him to a private club that served only big shots—

Only that the sound system in the club's hallway had just finished playing the song "Because of You" from Zhou Yi's first English album; after the ending, the intro to the next song was still a track from Zhou Yi's first English album, "How Long."

Wang Lihong: "..."

Damn it!

Why is he everywhere?!

Wang Lihong pressed his lips together, feeling inexplicably frustrated in his heart...

Even a private club in Japan was already playing Zhou Yi's ballads, which was enough to show how large a foundation that man had built in Japan; comparing that to himself...

"Should we still use Mr. Zhang, the one you used in America, for registration?"

"Zhou—"

Wang Lihong, distracted and agitated, had Zhou Yi on his mind constantly; hearing this, he almost without thinking blurted it out instinctively.

The moment the words left his mouth, he knew he had said the wrong thing.

After all, there was only an agent with a slightly strange expression accompanying him.

"Don't worry, I get it. Zhou Yi's kind of person has too much pressure; many Japanese singers curse him behind his back, and some even imitate his makeup and hairstyle just to get roasted." The agent, wearing an expression of total understanding, didn't wait for Wang Lihong, who was about to speak but held back, to open his mouth before he hurriedly went out to make arrangements.

The mysterious Mr. Zhou makes his official debut in Japan!

"Achoo!"

United States, New York, Warner Building, lounge.

Zhou Yi, who had finished the theme song for "Pirates of the Caribbean" in fits and starts, suddenly sneezed. Qian Jiang, who had just finished contacting the Caribbean production crew, handed him a box of tissues: "Caught a cold? Don't scare me; did you and Scarlett Johansson get chilled last night working on the empty rooftop of the hotel?"

"Disney people have arrived; they're in Conference Room 3."

"What nonsense is this? Am I that kind of person?"

Rubbing his nose, Zhou Yi laughed and scolded: "I'm not a lustful demon."

Hearing this, Qian Jiang paused, stepped back a few paces, sized him up from head to toe, and shook his head with a "tsk tsk": "That's hard to say; don't you often say that since you like excitement, you should carry it through to the end?"

"Get lost." Zhou Yi flipped him the middle finger.

Qian Jiang chuckled, his round, big face filled with a strong teasing tone: "I'm just reminding you; Sony will definitely try their hardest to dig up dirt on you now, even if they've temporarily cut ties with Tang Mi Mottola."

This move of dragging someone down was something no one had expected.

To be honest, when Zhou Yi, in conjunction with Mariah Carey, proposed this plan to dump all the blame on a scapegoat, Qian Jiang was shocked.

He never expected that after agreeing to Mariah Carey's plan to smear, Zhou Yi would draw inferences from one instance, directly pinning Tang Mi Mottola down using the experiences of the past two years, and incidentally also leveraging Michael Jackson, leaving the currently besieged Tang Mi Mottola momentarily overwhelmed and running to keep up.

He even suspected that two months ago, when Zhou Yi proposed using the concept of "racial discrimination" to stack buffs for himself, he had already thought of this escape route, because the chain of circular proof was running too perfectly; even Michael Jackson wouldn't stand up to refute Zhou Yi but would instead stand on Zhou Yi's side.

But he had no evidence.

Because the two of them—oh no, counting Maria Carey, that makes three people—all had their gun barrels pointed squarely at Tang Mi Mottola.

Zhou Yi could even play the role of a white lotus perfectly, since he had merely added a few strokes to the dirty water plan proposed by Maria Carey;

Although Michael Jackson, currently mired in the pedophilia vortex, had not communicated with him at all, Qian Jiang believed that with the IQ of this man's team, they were probably already opening champagne at home, celebrating the good death of Tang Mi Mottola.

"I certainly know Sony is definitely unwilling to give up; after all, even though Tang Mi has already resigned, that is precisely why we now need more allies."

Waving the sheet music in his hand, Zhou Yi grinned, his smile looking exactly like that of a sunny, cheerful big boy—

"He's a Pirate," the theme song of Pirates of the Caribbean.

It could also be said to be a theme song that ranks among the best in Disney film history, possessing extremely high recognition in both the East and the West.

Many Chinese people might not know what this song is called or where it comes from, but basically everyone would have heard it used as BGM in various high-energy compilation videos.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" was created by Disney for its own namesake theme park; one could say they wrapped a plate of dumplings just for this one dish of vinegar, and the importance they attached to this project is self-evident.

They were now a community of shared interests.

Once the delivery was successfully completed, what Sony would face would not only be the storm-tossed Warner Music, but also the rising sun of Disney.

Was Sony aggrieved?

Putting oneself in Sony's perspective, it was naturally aggrieved.

But Zhou Yi did not care.

Sony had previously tried to harm him and staged false marketing incidents from time to time; since business is business, was there any problem with him returning the favor this time?

No problem.

Never mind that Taiwan Sony is not American Sony; in Zhou Yi's eyes, they were all Sony.

Let Sony suffer a bit; let him bear those empty titles like "Resistance Leader" or "Equality Pioneer."

He was a kind-hearted person and could not bear to see Sony burdened with such a serious empty title, which would make it hard to walk.

(End of this chapter)