Chapter 562: Everyone

Warner's Top Stars All Mobilized to Promote the Movie!

When Sun Yanzi "Meets" Fan Bingbin, What Kind of Spark Will They Ignite?

……

"It is reported that the Beijing premiere of 'Left Walk, Right Walk' was star-studded: not only did the two Bings appear together on stage, but Warner's singing king Zhou Yi made a rare appearance to show support…"

As Warner's first foot in the Chinese market, the artistic romance film 'Left Walk, Right Walk' received substantial promotional investment.

They hired Sun Yanzi to sing the theme song 'Meet,' brought in Zhou Yi to lend his presence, and even pulled in Guo Fucheng and Zheng Xiwen despite their declining status—both publicly expressed their anticipation for the film at various events.

Warner's former top male and female stars, alongside its current ones, all joined the campaign—regardless of the film's actual quality, its early attention was maximized.

"Skipping Yanzi's new song concert to attend the movie premiere? Oh no, isn't Fan Bingbin the fox trying to take over?"

"Take over your head—it's clearly Warner's setup. Didn't you see how Yanzi smiled when she mentioned Zhou Yi at the concert?"

"I'll believe they've broken up only when Yanzi moves out of Zhou Yi's place."

"I also noticed Li Bingbin seemed to be chatting quite happily with Zhou Yi?"

"Oh no, is this pig trying to collect both Bings?"

"Shut the hell up! My Fan Bingbin is pure and virtuous!"

……

Thanks to the massive early attention, in the week-plus following the premiere, online and offline spaces were flooded with marketing, reports, and discussions about the film.

Spectators, critics, those praising Sun Yanzi's theme song, those condemning Zhou Yi as heartless—all of it turned into a chaotic mess of public opinion.

But without exception, every discussion was predicated on the film 'Left Walk, Right Walk'—

Meanwhile, the buzz also pushed the performance of the song 'Meet' even higher.

Since its release alongside the album on August 20, 'Meet''s explosive popularity overshadowed every other female singer's song this summer, and on September 8, it finally topped all major radio charts across Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mainland China—

Dethroning 'Sunny Day,' which had only just reached number one on all charts two weeks prior.

Media reporters who had expected Jay Chou to hold out until Zhou Yi or Wang Lihong released new albums were stunned.

Some Hong Kong reporters rushed to chase Jay Chou during his promotional tour there, trying to provoke a "war" by asking his opinion—unfortunately, Jay Chou's flawless, slippery response was somewhat disappointing—

"I haven't paid much attention to this, but Yanzi's new song is perfectly normal—why are you all making such a big deal?"

Jay Chou was both amused and exasperated.

His new album 'Yeh Ye Hui Mei' had already surpassed one million copies in nationwide sales by August 26; with that baseline, whether or not his songs topped radio charts barely mattered to him.

He continued to dominate in popularity, sales, and artistic depth—within the industry, this album was already ranked among the highest-rated.

"What do you have to say about claims that your new album 'Yeh Ye Hui Mei''s cover plagiarized the promotional poster of the 2002 South Korean horror-thriller 'Rose and Lotus'?"

Seeing that provocation failed, the reporter swiftly switched tracks, asking about the rising plagiarism rumors tied to Jay Chou's album sales—

Predictably, Jay Chou's cheerful expression vanished before their eyes: "I don't know why any reporter would say that—the 'Yeh Ye Hui Mei' cover is 100% original; I've never even heard of that South Korean movie."

In mid-August 2003, after several so-called film experts suddenly accused Jay Chou's new album cover of plagiarizing the poster of the 2002 South Korean horror-thriller 'Rose and Lotus,' online discussions about "Jay Chou's plagiarism" gained some attention.

In this era when these expert filters still held sway, their words carried significant influence.

As media outlets rushed to follow suit, the incident quickly sparked major controversy; by early September, it had stirred widespread online mockery of Jay Chou, with many claiming they'd known all along he was plagiarizing.

Sony was caught off guard and scrambled to manage PR, but the momentum was already set—no matter how hard Good Luck and Sony tried, they couldn't stop the speed of information spreading online—this was why Jay Chou's face turned black.

This should've been a forbidden question—these Hong Kong reporters were incredibly rude.

Jay Chou felt unfairly treated.

He looked left and right—his new album cover had nothing in common with that damn South Korean movie's poster—oh, unless you count both featuring people sitting on sofas as a similarity.

"Hey! Chou! Chou!"

Seeing Jay Chou's face darken and about to leave, the reporters rushed after him—

"Chou, what do you think about claims that Yanzi's new album's title track 'Unfinished' plagiarized Japanese singer Aiko's song 'Cloak'?!"

"Chou, do you also believe Sun Yanzi's new album's title track really plagiarized?"

"Chou…"

Jay Chou, blocked from leaving, slowly raised a question mark: "?"

Why is she being accused of plagiarism too?

On September 8, 2003, eighteen days after its release, Sun Yanzi's new album 'Unfinished' achieved 870,000 genuine sales in mainland China, over 340,000 in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and more, bringing total sales past 1.2 million—making it the second album this year, after Jay Chou's 'Yeh Ye Hui Mei,' to surpass one million genuine sales across Asia.

Warner had already begun urgently preparing a victory celebration for Sun Yanzi.

But at this critical moment, her new album's title track 'Unfinished' was also exposed by so-called experts and netizens as plagiarized—this time from Japanese singer Aiko…

Sun Yanzi herself was stunned.

Wait, where did this song plagiarize?

"Something's off, Yanzi—you must refuse all media questions on this topic. Don't give them room to ferment. These rumors will be handled by the company." Chen Ze Shan, well-versed in marketing, notified her immediately upon noticing the storm.

He fundamentally trusted Li Sisong and his brother—they were veteran top music producers.

But to be cautious, he still needed to find Aiko's song 'Cloak' and verify it himself.

Yet before he could investigate thoroughly, on September 9, Zhou Yi's interview directly ignited the current plagiarism controversy—

September 9, afternoon, outside Warner Building.

Zhou Yi had just finished discussing his MV requirements with director Ning Hao and stepped out of the building—when reporters lying in wait surged forward, surrounding him completely; Ning Hao, who had just left, was shoved to the back…

At twenty-six, standing like a lackey…

"Zhou Yi, do you know about the plagiarism allegations against Yanzi's new album's title track?!"

"Zhou Yi! What's your take on the plagiarism claims against Yanzi and Jay Chou?! Will you cover for them?!"

"Zhou Yi, will you denounce your own kin…"

Journalists jostled forward, clamoring for a big story; only the quick reaction of the bodyguards prevented them from overwhelming Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi frowned tightly: "Plagiarism? What plagiarism? Explain clearly."

"It's just Yanzi—"

"What the fuck are they all bullshitting about!"

Before the reporter could even finish speaking, Zhou Yi's words—which could be called "earth-shattering"—made the reporters' eyes light up, and their hearts instantly surged with wild joy!

Ning Hao, who had been squeezed out, raised his hand several times wanting to remind Zhou Yi to watch his words, but after hearing this, he couldn't help but swallow back the words that had already risen to his throat…

Forget it, this lord has always been this willful…

"Zhou Yi, Zhou Yi! May I ask what you mean by that? Do you think the experts are spreading rumors and slandering her? Or are you choosing to stand on Yanzi's side?"

"Zhou Yi, experts have clearly pointed out that Yanzi's new song is plagiarism. Are you planning to use your credibility to back her up?"

"Zhou Yi, are you clearly supporting plagiarism?"

"Zhou Yi…"

Zhou Yi, who raised his hand to signal the bodyguards that they didn't need to block anyone, let out a disdainful snort: "If the experts told you to go die, would you not go die?"

The reporters: "…"

Your aggressiveness seems a bit over the top.

"And plagiarism—if you want to be allergic to Chinese characters just like that expert, then get the fuck out of China. Stop drumming up this parentless rhythm here."

The reporters: "…"

You're not 'seeming' over the top—you really are over the top!

The reporters, who hadn't seen Zhou Yi go off domestically in a long time, not only felt no shame from being scolded, but each and every one of them had a gleam in their eyes, wishing they could set up a spotlight for Zhou Yi on the spot and shove the microphone right into his mouth.

Just as I said, interviewing Jay Chou and Sun Yanzi was completely useless—it's gotta be Zhou Yi!

Do you understand the gold content of what it means to be a born news saint?!

"Zhou Yi, as a graduate with a degree in law, if you shield Yanzi from the plagiarism—"

"Plagiarize your mother."

Zhou Yi didn't even bother to turn his head, responding directly to the excited questioning voice coming from his left.

Ning Hao felt that Zhou Yi had probably been hanging around Jiang Wen a bit too much lately—the maternal content in his speech, opening and closing his mouth, was a bit high.

"First of all, there is no connection whatsoever between AIko's 'Cape' and Yanzi's 'Unfinished.' The reason some idiots are calling it plagiarism is because there's a line of dialogue in AIko's song…"

Zhou Yi contemptuously pointed out the so-called plagiarism—

In Aiko's song "Cape" MV, there is a scene of her having a conversation with herself in Japanese—

"Who are you?"

"Who am I? I'm you, the twelve-year-old you."

Then some blah blah blah in the middle, and at the end, little Aiko asks, "What is twenty-six-year-old you doing?"

The answer: "Singing."

In essence, this is a run-of-the-mill segment of self-analysis and self-affirmation.

In any country, in any work, segments like "what is future XX-year-old you doing, have you stuck with your childhood dream" and the like are so common in terms of appreciation that they can't be more common.

At the end of Sun Yanzi's new song "Unfinished" MV, the same method of self-dialogue was used to wrap things up, echoing the album's overall theme of "because the musical journey is unfinished, we are always on the way"—

"Who are you?"

"I'm the childhood you."

"Do you still like music after growing up?"

"Of course."

Then, this scene was spliced together by people with ulterior motives—

Utterly ignoring the other elements in the album, they simply extracted these four lines of Japanese, translated them into Chinese, and compared them with the four lines of dialogue in Sun Yanzi's MV, ultimately arriving at the conclusion of "plagiarism."

Because Aiko's album was not stocked or sold domestically at all, even if people wanted to verify it, they had no way to do so, and in the end could only parrot along with the so-called authoritative experts.

Media that loves hot topics saw that this plagiarism claim couldn't hold up at all, so they turned around and omitted the so-called point of plagiarism, directly starting to report that Sun Yanzi's new song "Unfinished" plagiarized a Japanese singer's song—

The public's blind-following mentality and the psychology of loving to create gods and destroy gods were fully unleashed at this moment, instantly driving the formation of this public opinion field.

My assessment: a needle on a prosthetic eye. My appraisal: learned from studying journalism.

The reporters were dumbfounded—

Oh no!

This guy has actually seen that whatever Japanese singer's album?!

Oh right, I forgot this bastard just came back from Japan not long ago…

"…Then what about the plagiarism of Jay Chou's new album cover?"

The reporter, refuted into speechlessness, turned and launched an attack from another angle.

The plagiarism accusations against Sun Yanzi couldn't stand up in front of this guy, so the plagiarism of Jay Chou's album cover—

"That's pure bullshit too. The only thing they have in common is that they're both sitting on European-style sofas."

Zhou Yi snorted, his eyes full of contempt: "Except Jay Chou is one person sitting on a single sofa, while 'Roses and Red Lotuses' is a family portrait composition with two children sprawled on a two-person sofa, and two adults standing behind them."

The reporters: "…"

Something's off, you're off—how have you seen all of this?

"But the experts said—"

"What the experts say must be right? I've been to both Japan and Korea, and I know people there. Could you possibly be clearer and more expert than me?"

Zhou Yi glanced at the reporter who clearly still wanted to make a big story: "Don't just believe everything you hear every single day, always trying to make a big story."

If they had asked about the plagiarism of "Besieged on All Sides," he really could have argued about it.

After all, the arrangement of this song really did cast a shadow of plagiarism over Jay Chou, although it was eventually explained away with string sampling, it still couldn't convince the public—

Everyone believed that if this song hadn't been brought out by Jay Chou himself, he definitely would have been roasted to death.

So many people still questioned afterward that the sampling range had exceeded the limit. It's understandable that the cello passage used as the foundation in your arrangement is quite similar and counts as sampling, but the timing and rhythm of the violin that serves as the finishing touch later are exactly the same—that just doesn't make sense.

Although the arrangement of this song was not by Jay Chou.