Chapter 536: Many Thanks to Big Brother Zhou Yi

"I'll take this—oh right, this one, this one, and that one too. Please wrap them all up for me, thank you."

Ginza, inside a luxury boutique.

Xiao Yaxuan, who didn't bat an eye while shopping, made the pretty salesgirl—who hadn't run into such a big spender in a long time—beam with joy, and by extension made her look far more favorably on the man wearing a mask, sunglasses, and a baseball cap.

Obviously, this must be some man who didn't want to reveal who he was, out shopping with his mistress?

Since starting this job, the salesgirl had seen plenty of those side-piece types bringing their sugar daddies in to enjoy a taste of that wicked capitalist pleasure, so she was long used to it.

If Xiao Yaxuan weren't still here, she'd have wanted to go up and cozy up to him herself.

Such a generous sugar daddy was a rare sight even in her career—and most importantly, judging by the exposed skin on his hands, the man was clearly very young—willing to spend money, and young, and from the look of him his build wasn't bad either. Wasn't that better than serving those pot-bellied daddies?

"Miss, may I ask—are you—"

"Card, but not mine."

Saying so, Xiao Yaxuan turned her head, her gaze landing on Zhou Yi, who was browsing the store's clothes: "Use his."

"I thought you were going to say you'd use your own card."

"Then my mom would beat me to death."

Faced with Zhou Yi's teasing, Xiao Yaxuan recalled her extremely strict mother and couldn't help sighing.

Though the salesgirl couldn't understand the Chinese between the two, she quickly switched to English to communicate with Zhou Yi and took his card.

"Your mom?"

Zhou Yi was puzzled: "You're in Japan—your mom can still keep tabs on you?"

"See, that's where we're different."

Xiao Yaxuan leaned against an art display pillar, smiling and shaking her head: "I'm still being controlled by my mom when it comes to spending money."

In Ms. Xiao's own words, the entertainment circle was just too messy, and there were far too many unexpected temptations of every kind; her daughter was this rich, so it was hard to say she wouldn't get sucked in once exposed to it.

Yao Qian could only manage her career, so in daily life she, as the mother, naturally had to keep a closer eye.

"Obviously, in my mom's eyes, her daughter doesn't seem to be twenty-four…"

At this point Xiao Yaxuan pressed her lips together, the tip of her tongue pressed against her throat, sped up her blinking, and turned her head to look at the bustling street scene outside the shop. After a long moment she finally said: "But fourteen."

They say parents are the best teachers, but most of what Xiao Yaxuan had learned from her own parents wasn't exactly pleasant.

"Mr. …"

The returning salesgirl cut off Xiao Yaxuan's reminiscence. Zhou Yi, who had taken the card, looked at her, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth: "Given how you casually drop tens of thousands on a dog you keep at home, I'd say I'm on Auntie's side."

"?"

Xiao Yaxuan slowly typed out a question mark.

No—I'm telling you all this so you'll side with my mom?

Does this girl look like she's short on cash?

"So, my suggestion is—if you want to stash your secret stash and you're afraid of getting caught, you can just stash it with me. I'll keep it safe for free. Auntie will never know what happened."

"…"

Xiao Yaxuan, laden with bags of all sizes, shot him a look: "You're already raking in hundreds of millions, and you're still eyeing my measly little savings? Isn't that a bit much?"

"Who'd say no to more money—especially free money—"

"Ah! Zhou Yi Jun? You're Zhou Yi Jun, aren't you?!"

Just as he was teasing Xiao Yaxuan, two young women elsewhere in the store who had been secretly watching him for a while mustered their courage to step forward and ask, their faces clearly struggling to contain their excitement: "You must be Zhou Yi Jun, right?"

"I'm so familiar with that voice, and that bracelet and the jade Bodhi—they're Zhou Yi Jun's trademark!"

Forget it, it's fine—probably just some model or something.

"Shh."

Not expecting to run into his own fans just by casually stepping out to shop—and in a luxury store of all places—Zhou Yi immediately took off his sunglasses and mask, raised a finger to his lips, and smiled: "Not so loud, you'll disturb the store's business."

The two female fans who had just seen their idol's true face both clapped their hands over their mouths, nodding their heads frantically like little chicks pecking at grain. Muffled "Wu Wu" sounds kept slipping through their fingers, showing just how thrilled they were.

"Zhou Yi Jun, are you really going to duet with Nakajima Miyuki?"

"Zhou Yi Jun, can you write songs in Japanese?"

"Zhou Yi Jun, what do you think about Utada Hikaru's upcoming new album…"

The moment Zhou Yi dropped his disguise, every young customer in the massive store swarmed him, so much so that they even shoved Xiao Yaxuan out of the way—the latter could only step back a few paces and stand there shaking her head helplessly.

But when she looked at Zhou Yi, busy signing autographs and taking photos, the corner of her mouth silently lifted, her eyes full of the man's easy, effortless manner.

"Arigatou, Zhou Yi Jun."

"Arigatou, Zhou Yi-san."

"Ah…"

By the time Zhou Yi had single-handedly satisfied an entire floor's worth of star-chasing girls, his hands and energy were completely drained. Xiao Yaxuan, meanwhile, was happy to take it easy, sitting off to the side leisurely sipping milk tea—she'd even had time to slip out and buy it.

Zhou Yi, whose hands were nearly numb from exhaustion, saw her looking so relaxed and his eyes nearly bulged green.

"Arigatou, Zhou Yi-san."

Before Zhou Yi could speak, Xiao Yaxuan got there first with a sweet smile, preempting him. She nudged a bag on the floor with her toe, hugged her milk tea cup in both hands, and with great seriousness imitated those sakura girls by squeezing her voice up an octave and bowing.

Zhou Yi: "…"

"Enemy Literature! Zhou Yi's New Girlfriend's Taiwan Nickname Is 'Taiwan's Utada Hikaru'!"

"Utada Hikaru's Stand-In? Emperor Zhou Yi Charms a Married Woman?!"

"…"

Facts proved that when it came to stirring up topics, the Japanese entertainment media were even more shameless than Hong Kong tabloids back home—they even dragged in Utada Hikaru, the newlywed who had just finished her honeymoon early and returned to prepare her new album, and played up the so-called "stand-in literature."

"Looking back, at the World Music Awards, Utada Hikaru beat Zhou Yi Jun—who only took the Greater China region's top sales award—with the Asia region's top sales award, and from then on, this Emperor of Asian pop music became utterly obsessed with her…"

"Legend has it that after the news of Utada Hikaru's flash marriage broke, Zhou Yi Jun was devastated, which is why he took up with Elva Xiao Yaxuan—who was marketed by EMI as 'Taiwan's Utada Hikaru' at her debut—as his girlfriend…"

"Xiao Yaxuan, knowing she was a stand-in, stormed off to Taiwan in a rage, without even telling her close teachers or family, just to confront Utada Hikaru…"

"The reason Utada Hikaru ended her honeymoon early is that she believes she cannot lose to Zhou Yi; she wants Zhou Yi to remain in a state of regret forever, becoming the woman he can never obtain..."

"The Emperor is a lovesick man married to a wife; the inside story of Utada Hikaru's flash marriage is exposed, and it turns out it was all for Zhou Yi!"

"..."

Regarding the angles and variety of reporting, and regarding immorality, the bottom line of this group of Japanese entertainment media far exceeded Xiao Yaxuan's imagination—

In less than a day, her phone was blown up by calls.

Utada Hikaru, who was sitting at home with a pot dropped from the sky, was also stunned—Hey buddy, what is this about? That my flash marriage is because Zhou Yi likes married women? Is Zhou Cao Cao reincarnated?

We aren't even that close; we only met once at the World Music Awards ceremony back then, and it was just a nodding acquaintance; we didn't even exchange contact information.

She had seen Xiao Yaxuan a few more times, after all, they were both under EMI; when Xiao Yaxuan first debuted, she also won the Greater China highest sales award trophy at the World Music Awards, belonging to the century's new talent who rivaled divas right from debut.

But, that was limited to having seen her a few more times only.

When did I become her substitute???

Saying it was a good look would be a bit ungrateful; getting an evaluation of 'mediocre appearance' was already considered good. Moreover, due to hormone therapy, her body was slightly fuller compared to the past.

Those fanatics of Ayumi Hamasaki now call her 'Real Xiong Guang' to mock her.

Because Zhou Yi was involved, Utada Hikaru specifically asked her manager what the situation was—the answer was that the media was writing nonsense to gain attention...

You can only blame Virgin Records for the positioning error regarding Xiao Yaxuan when she first debuted and released an album; originally, they planned to develop step by step under the banner of 'Taiwan's Utada Hikaru,' but who would have thought Xiao Yaxuan would directly eat herself into a fat person, with her first personal album going viral across the entire Greater China region and winning the Greater China sales champion of that year.

Originally, the title 'Taiwan's Utada Hikaru' had been discarded by Virgin Records along with Xiao Yaxuan's explosion in popularity, but in Japan, where Xiao Yaxuan had no fame, the media, to give the public an impression as quickly as possible, directly dug up this title again, and from this, they even imagined a whole string of substitute literature...

Don't ask whether this love history is true or not; just ask whether this love history is wild or not.

"Only if it's wild enough will there be sales; look again at how Hong Kong writes about it."

In the hotel suite, speechless Xiao Yaxuan took out several Hong Kong newspapers and placed them before Zhou Yi—

"Zhou Yi's Hands Cramp from Exhaustion, Hundreds of Japanese Beauties Shout Satisfaction!"

"Tokyo is Too Hot! Over a Hundred Japanese Beauties Flow with Pleasure, Zhou Yi Fights a Hundred with Legs Shaking!"

"Zhou Yi is Good for Married Women, Utada Hikaru Marries Another Man for Him..."

Compared to the Zhou Yi-Xiao Yaxuan rumors that had already been chewed over and over, domestically, what could stimulate sales more undoubtedly were Japanese women and Japanese divas.

Originally, the so-called 'bringing glory to the country' was a topic that Zhou Yi's fans, and even passersby old perverts, medium perverts, and small perverts, had always been talking about with great interest; let alone this time, the prefix also had the two words 'Japanese.'

Zhou Yi despised these people's taste: "Besides, if you're going to write, write something good-looking; even write about the slightly older Sakai Izumi, or the newcomer singer Saezaki Yuka, nicknamed the younger version of Sakai Izumi, would do."

If nothing else, write about him stir-frying noodles—

Ah, no, he has quite a few underage fans, which belongs to the kind that is quite criminal.

"You're being picky now, aren't you?"

Xiao Yaxuan, who originally came to complain, couldn't help but lightly kick the man upon hearing this: "Do you know that because of you, now everyone knows I faked it and stayed in Japan instead of going to the US, and my popularity in Japan has surged."

Originally, she was a nobody in Japan, belonging to the category of people who never came to develop the market at all; at most, only some Chinese people in Japan knew her name.

Now, thanks to the nickname 'Taiwan's Utada Hikaru' on her forehead in the past and the so-called ancient grudge between the real Utada Hikaru in Japan and Zhou Yi, her popularity and search volume in Japan skyrocketed in a short time—

Her English name even shot up to the top of Yahoo Japan and Google's hot lists.

This is quite absurd.

Teacher Yao Qian was just about to roar at her over the phone to get back and record songs.

"Isn't rising popularity a good thing? Getting benefits and acting ungrateful, are you? How many people want this kind of popularity but can't get it."

Zhou Yi glanced at her sideways, full of contempt: "Hurry up and say thank you, Brother Zhou Yi?"

Essentially, Xiao Yaxuan's current explosion in popularity in Japan is the same as when she rode on his coattails in Taiwan before debuting—both rely on one party's explosive popularity to drive traffic for the other.

It's just that the Taiwan incident was Zhou Yi's premeditated plan, while this time it was purely an accident that Xiao Yaxuan and Zhou Yi created while playing in Japan.

As everyone knows, regarding Xiao Yaxuan's record plan to go abroad and head international, Virgin has been proceeding in an orderly manner.

Yes, the original singer of this song, which is popular in Europe and America, is actually Xiao Yaxuan; it's just that the English version was taken back by the Blue group to fill in the lyrics and release, resulting in it becoming a huge hit in Europe and America.

Now that Xiao Yaxuan is releasing an English EP, she naturally has to sing the English version of this song too.

An EP of three songs, now only one song is missing.

"Utada Hikaru is also releasing an English album early; I estimate we will clash, or release one after the other."

"Hmm... hard to say; the record contract she signed in America is not with EMI, but with Universal. EMI's high-level executives are very dissatisfied with this, so they want to push me to fight her, and just right now my popularity in Japan has also surged because of you."

The Japanese release is handed to EMI, while the European and American release chose Universal; Utada Hikaru's operation of eating from both sides, relying on her high local popularity in Japan, indeed makes EMI's high-level executives angry—they are not a small company without channels; they are at least an international giant, okay.

As the ace of EMI's Greater China region, Xiao Yaxuan's record sales ability within the Greater China region is already an undeniable existence; even veteran divas like Lin Yilian are not enough for her to fight with one hand.

It's just that compared to Utada Hikaru, she herself lacks confidence.

This is a monster number one or two in Japanese music history.

"Zhou Yi, do you have any stockpiled English songs? I could lose to her before, but I don't want to lose this time." Xiao Yaxuan clenched her ten fingers and raised her eyes to look at the man lost in thought.

She was never anyone's substitute.

"I don't have any stockpiled ones, but I think your experience can be sung into a song."

Looking up and staring at her, Zhou Yi held a smile at the corner of his mouth: "As for the song title, let it be the same as a song in my first English album. Since we are going to ride the coattails, let's ride them to the end."

"First English album... same title?"

"'Because Of You'."

A song telling about the influence of family on children.

Of course, domestically, more people are probably familiar with this song because of that episode of 'Tianxia Football' titled 'Shadow of Beckham'; this song was selected by the program group as the BGM for the most touching part of that episode, thus breaking out of the circle.

(End of this chapter)