Chapter 532: Who Else Can Avoid Being Ended by Zhou Yi?

"There are many geniuses in this world, but there is only one Zhou Yi."

"The gap between people is sometimes even greater than the gap between humans and dogs."

"There has never been any so-called 'Twin Stars' or 'Twin Zhus'; they were merely singers who were quite good within the era of Zhou Yi, that is all."

"Once 'Lianshan' sounds, go on stage to accept the award! Zhou Yi is awesome!"

"..."

Whether it was the extremely sickening praise on the variously colored forums of the mainland and Hong Kong, or all the discussions about Zhou Yi in the gloomily colored chat rooms of Taiwan, after this news spread widely, the arguments favoring Zhou Yi immediately gained the upper hand—

The anti-Zhou Yi alliance was retreating step by step.

After closing the web pages and chat rooms, Ning Hao, having finished browsing, paced over to the hotel balcony. While gazing at the Taipei street view, he looked down to light a cigarette, his gaze gradually becoming lost in the hot summer wind—

As an MV director, he was lucky.

Before even graduating, he had landed the big opportunity of 'In the Name of the Father', which not only solved his hunger problem but also completely opened up his fame within the industry.

Not everyone is qualified to have Jiang Wen snatch the director's baton.

Now, riding on Zhou Yi's coattails, he even won the Golden Melody Award for Best Music Video, which had nothing to do with him whatsoever; the boost to his reputation and finances was immediate—just staying in Taiwan for these few days, his phone had already been blown up.

Apart from those offering congratulations, everyone else was coming to negotiate cooperation with him.

Of course, the cooperation they discussed was all about MVs.

Those people certainly knew about the conflicts within the 'In the Name of the Father' crew back then; Jiang Wen's domineering nature was already a well-known secret. But, what did it matter?

Anyway, those who came to find him were just looking for the credentials of a trophy to secure more funding.

He felt as if he had entered a strange loop.

On one hand, he didn't want to be confined to the ranks of MV directors; on the other hand, he had no choice but to struggle within this trade.

"If only I could have the status of Zhou Yi, doing whatever I want..."

After smoking two cigarettes on the balcony, Ning Hao extinguished the burning butts in the ashtray. After coughing twice, he turned and left the hotel room. As one of this year's Golden Melody Award winners, he also had several upcoming interviews from Phoenix TV.

Of course, he knew with his butt what these approaching interviews would ask about; for this reason, he had already prepared a response template—

Upper couplet: I, Ning Hao, am upright and never bow to on-set violence;

Lower couplet: He, Jiang Wen, is pure and has never been involved in on-set bullying.

Horizontal scroll: I, Ning Hao, did not have my director's baton stolen!

"What a load of bullshit!"

Taiwan, Warner Building, Zhou Jianhui's office.

Upon receiving the call, Zhou Jianhui spoke with perfect pronunciation and cursed: "What 'a single flower does not make spring, while one hundred flowers in full blossom bring spring to the garden'? I don't need any of that right now!

"It's too late to want milk after the child is dead!

"Don't pay attention to those people; just arrange things according to the original plan and blow up the reputation of the 'Era of Zhou Yi'."

After leaving a presidential command that brooked no argument, Zhou Jianhui hung up the phone.

With Chinese songs selling one million copies on the Apple Store, combined with this year's Golden Melody Awards, the cumulative effect was immediate. Although this 'one million' was a play on words and not one million per single, at least the total number was correct.

If the sales weren't faked, it wasn't fraud; anyway, the final right of interpretation belonged to Warner.

"Where is Zhou Yi?"

"He and Yanzi should have arrived at the Phoenix TV Taiwan building by now; the interviews specially prepared for this year's Golden Melody Award winners start in two hours."

Phoenix TV Chinese Channel is currently one of the Chinese-language television stations with the largest global viewership, with its headquarters located in Hong Kong.

This television station and Warner are old acquaintances; they have all had a share in the news about Sun Yanzi and Zhou Yi's concerts, the in-venue recordings of the concerts, and the live broadcasts of press conferences.

"The current host of this television station is named Chen Luyu, a former CCTV host.

"After jumping ship to Phoenix TV in 1996, she became the number one host of Phoenix TV in just two years thanks to her outstanding hosting skills. In 2001, Phoenix TV even launched a talk show specifically for her, called 'Luyu's Appointment'."

In the black SUV, Qian Jiang introduced the newly received invitation: "This program has very strong ratings, and she herself has won host awards at various award ceremonies for two consecutive years due to her approachable and unique hosting style.

"Considering you still need to release a Chinese album, I suggest you appear on this program when the time comes, as it is an extremely powerful promotional channel..."

Fearing Zhou Yi wouldn't recognize the big-headed doll in the photo, Qian Jiang talked endlessly, while Zhou Yi, having taken a sip of water, only smiled and nodded without speaking.

He was extremely familiar with Luyu; in the future, her phrase "Really? I don't believe it" would become a legendary meme in the Chinese hosting world. Many people think she is annoying because of this, believing her professional ability is seriously lacking and that she only rose through the ranks by padding her resume.

But in reality, that was just this woman deliberately pretending to be stupid; by using this tactic of playing dumb, she achieved the desired program effect, thereby triggering greater heat and controversy and luring guests into speaking their most honest words.

A person who once won the Best Host award at CCTV and, after switching to Phoenix TV, won the Best Host award for two consecutive years—how could her brain possibly be that stupid? She simply chose a strategy that generated the most comments, that is all.

In a sense, she, who is currently at the peak of her personal career, is an enhanced version of Dou Wentao—both pretend to be confused while knowing the truth.

"It's fine with me, but is she willing to wait?"

Zhou Yi closed the documents in his hand.

He definitely has no time to appear on 'Luyu's Appointment' right now; it's not that he lacks time, but that it would be a pure waste.

Appearing on variety shows is for promotion for him; especially for talk shows with high ratings and a broad audience, the effect is best when bringing a new album.

"That's quite a statement; if you agree to appear on the show now, who wouldn't be willing to wait for you? You are the creator of the new era." Speaking of Zhou Yi's increasingly widespread new nickname, Qian Jiang's face smiled like a sunflower in full bloom.

Just yesterday, a reporter interviewed Ren Xianqi, the king of the previous record era and the number one artist of Rock Records, at the event venue, asking for his opinion on Zhou Yi sweeping the Golden Melody Awards. The questions were sharp and included an element of provocation—

For example: asking if he agreed that Zhou Yi had ended his era, and whether he felt disappointed about it, and so on.

In the years before the arrival of the new century, if one had to choose a mark of the end of an era in the music scene, there was no doubt it would be Ren Xianqi.

With such a distinguished appearance capable of playing handsome leads in all major martial arts dramas, he relied on his unparalleled popularity in the music world; looking at the sales of legitimate albums, he led others of his time, earning the nickname 'buying the album to get the lead role'.

Ren Xianqi's response to this was very magnanimous and open: "There is certainly a sense of loss; I have been trying hard to catch up with the trends of the new era, but unfortunately, I still can't. It's the general trend, so I have to slow down my pace in the music scene and turn to movies instead.

"As for talk of my era being ended, that is simply unavoidable; tell me, who in this world can avoid being ended by Zhou Yi?"

This rhetorical question, taken for granted, directly indicated Ren Xianqi's attitude of flagrant envy and support for Zhou Yi in this storm, while also promoting Warner's underlying 'genius theory'.

Zhou Jielun, who didn't win an award this time, not only had no dissatisfaction with Zhou Yi but continued to eat and party with him after the Golden Melody Awards ended;

Chen Yixun, who snatched a King of Songs trophy from Zhou Yi's hands this time, was even more overjoyed upon hearing this, stating he didn't expect to win himself and was very grateful for the Golden Melody Awards' recognition.

Furthermore, busybodies summarized the division of power in the new era's music scene—on the Hong Kong side, Chen Yixun currently dominates alone; on the Taiwan side, Tao Zhe, Wang Lihong, and Zhou Jielun, the three Golden Melody Award winners, lead the way, jointly forming the current 'Four Heavenly Kings' structure of the Chinese music scene.

"Being able to compete on the same stage as Zhou Yi is a ticket for Guo Tianwang; being able to snatch a Golden Melody Award trophy from his hands is what truly makes a music world Tianwang."

A rumor that sounded unreliable yet strangely thrilling began to spread first within the Taiwan region.

Meanwhile, Ning Hao, who had been arguing on his own behalf, cleared his name in an interview with Phoenix TV: "Yes, I will still collaborate with Zhou Yi on the new album. One song on his new album is called 'Ceasefire Wounds', and I am the one handling the location shooting for its MV."

"To ensure realism, we will use real locations for all the various scenes in the MV, so the cost will be the most expensive MV Zhou Yi has made since his debut."

Considering the psychological shadow Ning Hao had caused last time was quite deep, Warner this time, being rather humane, approached him again right after he won the Golden Melody Award—for no other reason than that this person was not only cheap and easy to use, but also came with built-in cost control abilities.

This was extremely rare among the ranks of MV directors.

"Real location shooting?"

"Yes, for instance, regarding transportation, I have brought in a full thirteen trucks to handle the transportation scenes in the MV..."

Ning Hao, responsible for whetting appetites, gestured with his hands.

Far away in the Imperial Capital, Jiang Wen inexplicably felt a chill down his spine, a constant sensation of coldness at the back of his head.

(End of this chapter)