Chapter 488: Now It's Zhou Yi vs. Sun Yanzi

Everyone present was a veteran of the entertainment industry, yet after Sun Yanzi spoke those words, they were frozen in place for nearly ten seconds—

Damn, is that even something you can say???

Reporters, who had never experienced such a shock during an interview with a mainland celebrity, came to their senses and scrambled one by one to get to the bottom of it, only to be ruthlessly blocked at the door by bodyguards.

Money!

Performance reviews!

We're flying!

Reporters, who had never imagined top-tier stars would self-expose during an interview, fought desperately with the bodyguards in a brutal struggle of strong men locking men, men piling on men, only to be dragged out like mangy dogs—

They could only watch helplessly as Sun Yanzi hopped and skipped, humming a little tune, into the Warner building, her steps light as a leaping fawn.

"Good morning~"

"Good morning, Yanzi."

"Good morning, Uncle Wu~"

"Morning."

"..."

Inside the vast Warner building, Sun Yanzi, whose face was always beaming with a smile, walked along the path to her teacher's office, greeting every staff member she encountered along the way; her joyful emotions overflowed in every movement, infecting everyone she came into contact with.

"Knock, knock, knock."

In the office, Li Sisong, who was processing documents, instinctively glanced up upon hearing the knock, only to collide directly with the furtive, peeking gaze of his student as she poked her head through the open door—

"I'm not late."

Seeing her teacher there, Sun Yanzi, who had just been sneaking around, immediately straightened her back to bolster her courage: "It was traffic on the road, it was traffic on the road."

"I asked you to prepare the album, and every day it's either wind, rain, or traffic jams."

Upon hearing his student's unconvincing excuse for laziness, Li Sisong, who had thrown down his documents, sighed and took off his glasses to wipe them: "It's just that Zhou Jianhui isn't pressing you right now."

"Hehe, who could blame Zhou Yi for being so impressive?"

Sun Yanzi, who always had a string of big principles ready, happily tucked her chin and pulled over a chair to sit: "There are still A-Mei, Na, and Sammi in the company who need to make albums too; as a junior, I shouldn't fight them for songs, right?"

"Na Ying isn't planning to release one; Zhang Huimei and Zheng Xiuwen aren't currently higher priority than you."

"Huh?"

Sun Yanzi, who had been smiling just a second ago, immediately opened her mouth wide in surprise, selectively ignoring the latter part of that sentence: "Why? Is she breaking her contract?"

"I don't know; I'm not her manager, but apparently it has something to do with her footballer boyfriend."

He pulled a file folder from his desk and tossed it into Yanzi's lap: "This is the arrangement for the theme song of the movie 'Turning Left, Turning Right'; it's all finished, you can listen to it."

'Turning Left, Turning Right,' starring Jin Chengwu and Fan Bingbin, is scheduled for release in September; the theme song 'Meeting' features lyrics by Yi Jiayang, music by Lin Yifeng, and vocals by Sun Yanzi.

Because Warner invested in it, after the production team took shape, people joked that the male lead, Jin Chengwu, was the one who didn't fit in.

Whether it was the female lead, Fan Xiaopang, or the theme song singer, Sun Yanzi, both were people with deep ties to Zhou Yi, and even the film's investment came from Warner Pictures. Many joked that if Zhou Yi had nodded, the male lead role might never have gone to Jin Chengwu.

"Also, if you don't want to release a greatest hits album, then don't; the company won't force you."

Incidentally, Li Sisong also told his student some good news.

Previously, the Warner management was very keen on releasing greatest hits albums; after Zhou Jianhui took office in the late 1990s, although he didn't force it, due to performance pressure, he wouldn't refuse such a method when he first took office, until the arrival of Warner's big boss, Zhou Yi.

Sun Yanzi, who had been playing the role of a tiger borrowing the power of a fox, had previously talked her way out of an English cover album; that was an image and gimmick proposed for her by Chen Ze Shan, which she had rejected.

Not long ago, seeing Sun Yanzi doing nothing at home, watching TV, eating potato chips, and sleeping in every day, Chen Ze Shan proposed releasing a greatest hits album for her to boost sales—scheduled for release right after her new album 'Unfinished.'

"I said, why was Chen Ze Shan trying every trick in the book to get me to release a greatest hits album? Turns out it's because Na isn't releasing an album, so he has to fill the album quota."

Naturally, Sun Yanzi connected the two dots and was powerless to comment.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear—

The next second, Sun Yanzi's phone suddenly rang; a call from Chen Ze Shan made her sigh.

"Hello?"

"Yanzi, good news, good news. You know Zhou Xingchi's new movie 'Kung Fu Hustle,' right? Are you interested in the female lead?"

On the phone, Chen Ze Shan, who was always ready to find work for his top artists, was exceptionally excited this time.

………………………………

"'Kung Fu Hustle'?"

Early the next morning, Zhou Yi, who had stayed up for a full day and night and then slept soundly, finally recovered; the action of chewing his steamed bun paused: "Zhou Xingchi's?"

"Yes, yes."

Sun Yanzi, clearly very excited, sat cross-legged on the chair, nodding like a chick pecking rice while eating a pancake: "He invited me to play the female lead!"

Regardless of his character behind the scenes or his social skills, Zhou Xingchi's influence across the entire Chinese-speaking region was indeed top-tier.

The reputation built by a string of films that could be called classics could not be faked.

Sun Yanzi, who is from Singapore, could even say she grew up watching his movies, and he was indeed one of her favorite Chinese actors.

Moreover, this was a new film painstakingly crafted by Zhou Xingchi after resting for two years; whether it was the script or the plot, it was created with his heart and soul, so his attachment to this film was obvious.

"Can you adjust your schedule?" Cheng Hao, who was drinking soy milk while tearing apart a flower roll, asked curiously.

"That's no problem; the company cancelled my greatest hits album, hehe."

Regarding her own decision previously, which could be called brilliant, Sun Yanzi was incredibly impressed—it was simply too, too, too, too foresighted.

Zhou Yi, lost in thought, said: "No wonder his name appeared on the guest list for the victory celebration."

Before Zhou Yi returned to the country, Warner, which had long been preparing to hold the victory celebration on May 18, had already started working on the relevant matters; Zhou Yi had also glanced at the final confirmed list of entertainment industry guests, which was full of famous figures from the entertainment world.

But the three characters "Zhou Xingchi" near the top of the list had somewhat attracted his attention.

After all, before this, he could be said to have had zero connection with this king of Chinese comedy.

But if it was because they wanted to invite Sun Yanzi to play the female lead, then attending the victory celebration hosted by Warner was no longer in question.

Actually, if he remembered correctly, the female lead candidates Zhou Xingchi initially wanted to invite for 'Kung Fu Hustle' were two people—one was Zhang Huimei, and the other was Sun Yanzi.

After the invitation was sent out, Zhang Huimei, because her previous album had flopped, had to focus entirely on preparing the next one and, with no schedule availability, directly chose to refuse.

On Sun Yanzi's side, she initially agreed, passed the audition, and had even received the script for "Kung Fu," but in the end, she had to give up because her schedule for 2003 was too full.

Two consecutive rejections left Zhou Xingchi somewhat hurt; to avoid such a lack of schedule availability again, he turned his gaze toward a little-known actor with no fame at all, so Huang Shengyi was selected, not only signing a film contract but also signing with Zhou Xingchi's company.

"Then if things go smoothly, won't the two of you face off in the cinema next year?" As if thinking of something, Cheng Hao's eyes lit up, and a smile immediately formed on his lips.

Dragon's "New Police Story" invited Zhou Yi for a cameo, and Zhou Xingchi's "Kung Fu" invited Sun Yanzi as the female lead—

At the same time, Dragon and Zhou Xingchi were also old rivals who had fought to the death at the Hong Kong box office back in the day.

"Oh, right!"

Sun Yanzi had originally been immersed in the joy of Zhou Xingchi inviting her, but with Cheng Hao's mention, her eager gaze immediately turned toward the man who looked like he was starving to death: "Well? Want to bet?"

"Bet your big head! Go back and clean my house first; are you trying to renege on the deal?"

Zhou Yi, not playing along at all, wiped his mouth, let out a satisfied burp under the other's desperate and furious gaze, and said, "Otherwise, be careful I'll take out your contract and make it public."

Cheng Hao, hearing this, suddenly froze in expression: "What contract?"

"I—"

"Don't say it!"

Sun Yanzi, startled, immediately stood up, reached out with both hands to cover the man's mouth, stopped his leaking of secrets, bared her teeth in a feigned ferocious grin, and even ground them together twice.

The threat was plain to see.

(End of this chapter)