Chapter 504: Warner Love Story II

"……"

After calmly thinking and carefully analyzing for a full three seconds, Zhou Yi—who had never expected this person to dare show up on their own—dropped the report in hand and said, "Satisfy him."

Since you want a taste of fame, then off to court with you.

"No problem."

Qian Jiang made an OK gesture: "Then this rhythm of public opinion…"

"Whatever, you handle it however you want. I don't have a girlfriend anyway."

Having graduated from junior high last year, he hadn't chosen to attend high school—because he hadn't passed the entrance exam. Besides, with grades as disastrous as burning books and burying scholars alive, not only would studying be useless, but actually attending high school would require paying an expensive temporary-enrollment fee.

As for Zhou Yi himself speaking up—well, that's obviously a party with vested interests not telling the truth. Everyone in showbiz is a liar, putting on performances left and right. Don't listen to him—take me as the standard!

Therefore, even if it wasn't Sun Yanzi who died before, it doesn't matter—as long as it was Zhou Yi's ex-girlfriend who died, that's enough.

"26 kuai. For the freebie, do you want Lin Junjie or SHE?"

Feeling he couldn't quite save face, Liang Xuhui tossed out this line, then pretended to see a text message and immediately chose to log off and take his leave.

Big liar!

Thinking about how every bit of savings he'd earned from painting and puttying had been completely swindled away, Liang Xuhui couldn't contain his fury. The putty knife used for skim-coating walls was nearly smoking from being swung so hard, but in the end it all came to nothing.

"Hey! You promised one milk-bead counts as three, you only got hit twice, how can you welch on it!"

First, "Bu De Bu Ai" declares being madly in love, then "Hua Tian Cuo" makes a mistake, followed by "Neng Bu Gei Wo Yi Shou Ge De Shi Jian" to explain—"Ai De Jiu Shi Ni"—and finally "Piao Xiang Bei Fang", because he got into Peking University and had to head north;

He greatly envied the life Liang Xuhui described from his big mouth—not only did he learn painting and make money, he even got a girlfriend, supposedly met through QQ. Liang Xuhui even showed him the photo, said she was really pretty, and he was dying of envy.

After pulling strings to follow a paint master as an apprentice to learn painting, having left the school gates he had already fulfilled last year's dream from school—dyeing his hair green!

"Zhou Yi, a graduate of a prestigious university, would still be afraid of this?"

"Wait, isn't that something Zhou Yi wrote for his dead ex-girlfriend? Tencent bought it? Boss, you're pulling a fast one, right?"

Compared to the circle around him that believed everything he said, on the internet those questioning him were not few—for instance, questioning the loophole in this story—what kind of nonsense is a fate that kills wives.

Damn it, why bring up the one pot that shouldn't be lifted!

Women are all liars!

"Where does he get so many ex-girlfriends dying?"

"It's not just this one song, the whole album is written for his dead ex-girlfriend."

Truly·the gossip the masses love to hear and see—what rank are you to deny it.

Then "Da Cheng Xiao Ai" tells of Zhou Yi in the big city of the capital missing his past love, immediately followed by "Ai Wo Hai Shi Ta" about the two fighting after being separated, then the two sitting back-to-back, announcing the breakup with "Bei Dui Bei Yong Bao";

After that comes the sorrowful "Dong Feng Po" after the breakup, and finally "Hui Se Tou Xiang" when the ex-girlfriend's QQ avatar went dark, indicating the two had lost contact—because his ex-girlfriend died of a terminal illness.

The boss nodded with satisfaction, took out from the counter the new album with a Zhou Yi photo cut from god-knows-where as the cover: "'Hui Se Tou Xiang' was created by Zhou Yi around that time, because his ex-girlfriend died again."

"Did you hear? Zhou Yi's new song 'Hui Se Tou Xiang' seems to be mourning his dead ex-girlfriend again?"

"Fine, I'll knock off the change for you—20 kuai, can't go any lower. My cost is 18 kuai, I'm not making much off you, handsome."

Because they're also afraid of dying! Afraid of something happening! Afraid of being killed by the curse!

Knowing he could never control this group of bootleggers, Zhou Yi simply lay flat.

Wait… is that real?

"Would I, running an audio-visual shop, lie to you?"

"But I want a girlfriend too."

"Being a chef is great, learn this and you'll never be unemployed."

Big cities were still okay—although many people believed the rumors, at least they weren't some nth-hand distorted version of the news. Small cities and small towns were different—who knows what kind of mutation these messages underwent in the process of being passed from mouth to mouth.

Even with the triple denial from Warner + Zhou Yi + Sun Yanzi—even though Sun Yanzi herself is still alive and kicking right now—it's useless. Adults only want to believe what they want to believe—

Logical and well-founded, consistent with Zhou Yi's consistent album style, convincing.

What? Didn't lie?

Not listening, not listening, Wang Ba chanting sutras—I say you lied, you definitely lied—then turn around and share this gossip with others, along with the so-called inside story.

Liang Xuhui, puffed up with pride, uploaded his magnum opus online in a flourish, solving from a metaphysics angle why Zhou Yi has endless scandals but no girlfriend, and why no ex-girlfriend has ever come forward to expose him.

It all connects!

Due to the network of relationships in Liang Xuhui's mouth, another young man who had always followed his lead asked: "They want me to learn cooking now, but I want to learn painting with you."

"Holy crap, he actually has connections? Court connections? Then I have to believe it."

"Do you often see in the news that Zhou Yi has this or that scandal, but you've never seen him publicly acknowledge a single girlfriend?

"That's because in '99 he had a master fortune-teller read his fortune—turns out he has a fate that kills wives.

Not far from the black internet café, two kids with holes worn through the knees of their pants from rubbing against the ground were chattering away, heatedly exchanging views on the hundred ways to flick a marble.

Warner itself has used the nickname Ziweixing—doesn't this just mean Zhou Yi also believes in fortune-telling?

Don't say Zhou Yi didn't allow Warner to dare promote this on their own!

Precisely because his reputation as Ziweixing was so resounding, he would believe in the metaphysics of a fate that kills wives, which is why he has so many scandals but not a single girlfriend, which is why none of his past girlfriends would ever step forward to talk about their past with Zhou Yi or expose him as a scumbag—

To be honest, the reason this story could spread so widely, the bootleggers' contribution cannot be overstated—because as long as this story exists, bootleggers can sell more copies while slightly raising the price.

Can't meet her face to face, phone calls won't go through, went to the rental place to find her and she'd moved, her QQ account's avatar just went gray—it's been half a month now.

The increasingly fluffy, long hairstyle has now spread throughout the townships—nobody knows who started it, but this hairstyle has won the welcome of many small-town youths and young men.

A cigarette dangling from his lips, Liang Xuhui didn't even lift his eyelids: "Once you learn it, it'll be way better than my painting. Take your brother's advice—learn this."

"I'm dizzy, did you ever go to school? You actually believe this?"

And beyond that, things like—because I am "Huang Zhong Ren", I want to learn "Li Bai" to revive Chinese culture, carrying forward the grand ideals of "Shao Nian Zhong Guo Shuo" to become the career path of "SuperStar" in the mouths of ex-girlfriends—are also included in this greatest-hits collection.

Facing Liang Xuhui who came in to inquire, the skinny-monkey-shaped boss thumped his chest loudly: "You've heard 'Hui Se Tou Xiang', right? It's the new song Zhou Yi released for this greatest-hits collection. Other stuff like 'SuperStar', 'Li Bai'—songs Zhou Yi has sung or never sung—all got collected in."

"Sure."

"Being a chef is easier to find work, very popular."

"1999?"

"I'm Da Zhu! I, Da Zhu, would definitely be taken out by just two bullets."

"..."

What? You are the real person?

Liang Xuhui, who was very interested in this concept compilation album carefully curated by bootleggers, readily paid up—then, taking the story he heard and combining it with this freshly released album, he began spreading it further to his companions and online, showing off...

In a black internet cafe on the edge of a town square within the Shangrao County jurisdiction, two teenagers wearing tight jeans and T-shirts, while exchanging the truth, also couldn't help but flick their side bangs that had already grown long enough to cover their foreheads—

In the boss's vividly told story, Zhou Yi's love story from the beginning of his journey was said to be earth-shattering and tear-jerking, and this compilation album was also compiled to commemorate that dead love—

"It's already the 21st century, yet people still believe in this so-called 'wife-killing fate'? I'm done."

It's just that parents obviously didn't agree with their children keeping this kind of hairstyle; those who liked to dye their hair in all sorts of colors were even more likely to get beaten by their moms.

"Zhou Yi Warner's second compilation album: 'Warner Love Stories II' is now shockingly on sale! Buy now and get a Lin Junjie or SHE album for free! The event lasts seven days; don't miss this opportunity!"

The boss wore an expression as if you had seen little of the world: "Do you know when OICQ first appeared?"

Now it all connected!

"That's why he never dared to admit to the public that he had a girlfriend, having to treat it as a rumor, understand? Because once he admitted she was his girlfriend, his girlfriend would die, with methods of death including but not limited to—

Liang Xuhui belonged to the latter group.

Liang Xuhui was left dumbfounded—no wonder it's Zhou Yi; even a compilation album maintains some kind of album concept and tone!

Awesome!

"How much?"

"Right."

"Xuhui, is your master still taking apprentices? I don't want to study anymore; I really can't keep studying. My family said I should learn a trade sooner."

"Make it cheaper and I'll take it, boss. The SHE one, three girls are always more pleasing to the eye than one guy."

And behind these two children, a video store with a Zhou Yi poster displayed at its entrance further caught his eye—

No, no, that won't work either; that must mean you were coerced or had a conflict of interest, so you lied.

Facing these refutations and doubts, Liang Xuhui, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, pondered deeply in the internet cafe for over an hour, and while playing games, suddenly had a flash of inspiration, finding the best explanation—"Because he is the Ziwei Star!"

The sweetness of the past seemed like a dream; the huge contrast between before and after left Liang Xuhui unable to move on even now—

Back then, the 'Warner Love Stories · Compilation' including the song 'Ding Xiang Hua' was already outrageous enough, but precisely this kind of tragic love story struck a chord with the general public even more—this could be considered a kind of topsy-turvy in another sense.

"Hit by a car and died, died of an incurable disease, died from a broken bone fall, died from poisoning or choking, and so on and so forth..."

"I don't know, but this time it's real. My third aunt's son's classmate's younger sister works at the Chaoyang District Court in the Imperial Capital; he said Warner sued several people for infringing on Zhou Yi's privacy, isn't that a tacit admission that it's true?"

Especially in third, fourth, fifth-tier cities, and even eighteen-tier small county towns where information didn't circulate easily.

Reasoned and evidence-based, utterly convincing!

Along with the 'Warner Love Stories II' compiled by the elite bootleggers based on Zhou Yi's habits starting to be distributed and selling hotly across the country, this two-in-one version theory also spread, becoming popular throughout the Divine Land and circulating in various QQ groups...

Another wave of newly recruited fangirls was moved to tears, feeling heartache for Zhou Yi, this man who was 'forced' to lock his heart and seal his love...

(End of this chapter)