Chapter 63: Top Ten Chinese Golden Melodies

December 10, 2000, a day that made He Xiuqiong feel miserable from early morning.

As Qiong Yao's daughter-in-law and the one wielding the company's power, she had not encountered such a situation for a very long time.

"Is the matter confirmed to be true?"

In the office, looking at the man before her who had come to report, He Xiuqiong suppressed the chaotic thoughts in her heart and confirmed it once again.

The middle-aged man with a slicked-back hairstyle identical to the God of Gamblers counted on his index fingers, his face clearly looking unlucky: "Confirmed, Fan Bingbin has indeed hooked up with Zhou Yi's line."

"However, it is currently unclear whether there is a Warner signal behind this."

"It can't be Warner; Warner is currently too busy with the music scene to have time to interfere in the television drama field. It is highly likely that Fan Bingbin saw Zhou Yi rising like a strange army and thought about seeing if defecting to him could bring opportunities."

"Just grasping at straws; Warner has cultivated nothing in the domestic television drama field currently."

The pen in He Xiuqiong's hand tapped the office desk intermittently; after a moment of deep thought, she spoke: "Go and probe Warner's stance."

"Then what about that Zhou Yi?"

"Do you still want to make a move on him? Are you used to acting tyrannically in daily life? He is not like those people begging in the Treasure Island; Warner is the one begging him, understand?"

He Xiuqiong angrily slapped out a newspaper, pointing to the huge headline on the front page: "Look carefully; Warner officially announced just two days ago that Zhou Yi's personal first album has surpassed 1.6 million in official sales across Asia."

"Do you know how much money that is? How great are the conflicts of interest involved?"

"If you dare to make a move on Zhou Yi, you are looking for death; if you want to be liquidated by Warner, do not drag the company into it."

The momentum and connections Warner has accumulated over so many years are no joke; three family-style workshops under Qiong Yao tied together are not enough to fight one legal department of Warner, let alone that behind Warner stands a headquarters that values the Chinese market, which can be called a dimensionality reduction attack.

"... Damn! Where did this pervert come from! Selling to this level at 19 years old."

"Doesn't anyone suspect his songs were not written by himself? A half-grown child of 19, where does he get such high talent?" The slicked-back man was very confused: "Who in the Asian music scene is this perverted at nineteen? Could there be fakes? Is Warner throwing money to cause trouble?"

Speechless, He Xiuqiong glanced at him sideways: "There is a female singer born in '83 next door in RB, two years younger than Zhou Yi, named Utada Hikaru."

"She debuted at fifteen; her first single sold 2.2 million copies, and her second single directly won the title of a gold-content-heavy number-one single."

"Last year, her personal first album sold over two million copies in one week; in nearly a year, her albums sold over 7.3 million copies."

"Do you want to go and question that too?"

"..."

Fuck!

The slicked-back man, who knew nothing about the music circle, touched his forehead, his eyes full of disbelief: "Do singers make money this easily? We have been making television dramas for so many years and can't catch up with two of their albums?"

"It is not that singers make money this easily, but that talented people can make money this easily."

He Xiuqiong sighed helplessly: "The business world is like a battlefield; those who can make money are the bosses. So geniuses like Zhou Yi, who became famous young and possess extremely strong personal talent, capable of writing and producing their own songs, cannot be blacklisted."

"Unless you can unite the entire music industry, the news industry, and even official media to blacklist him, you cannot bring him down. More critically, he is from Peking University's Law School and is currently only a junior; do you know what this means?"

He Xiuqiong paused her tone, her right index finger tapping the desk making a 'du du' sound: "It means a group of alumni and teachers proficient in law stand behind him."

"If you want to challenge Peking University's Law School on non-existent legal issues, then I suggest you resign first and do not get the company involved."

"..."

Looking at the man who fell silent and spoke no more, He Xiuqiong's tightly furrowed brows never relaxed.

Unlike him, she often went to the mainland's television stations and companies on behalf of Qiong Yao to establish friendly cooperative relationships, so she naturally knew very well the gold content on Zhou Yi.

"If it really doesn't work, just throw Fan Bingbin away; anyway, we already have Zhao Wei on hand. Hasn't she always wanted to break the contract with us? Negotiate a private settlement with her, squeeze out some oil and water in the end, and don't really make it look ugly in court."

"Warner in the domestic market is just a music maker; Zhou Yi is indeed very popular in the music scene now, but he simply cannot give Fan Bingbin any resources; by then she will regret it, and might even beg to come back."

He Xiuqiong was very certain.

Soon, three days later, Zhou Yi received a call from Fan Bingbin—

"Zhou Yi, you guessed very right; we don't need to do anything at all. Qiong Yao Company contacted me, requesting me to withdraw the lawsuit, and is willing to negotiate a private settlement on the contract termination issue."

"Thank you, really thank you, thank you."

A huge stone that had been pressing on her heart for a long time was easily shattered like this; Fan Bingbin would not be excited to say otherwise: "They originally insisted on 1 million in termination fees, now it only requires 150,000, which is 50,000 less than my psychological expectation."

"You're welcome, a trivial effort. Wish you a bright future, little classmate Fan."

Sitting in the Warner recording studio, Zhou Yi bit the apple Sun Yanzi had thrown him, smiling and teasing: "Don't forget to bring me along when you become successful in the future."

"... Zhou Yi, you are joking with me again; I am like this, where is there any chance for me to become successful?"

Although she knew it was polite talk, a warm current still surged in Fan Bingbin's heart on the other end of the phone: "But, I am really very thankful to you."

Although the termination money was not yet enough, Fan Bingbin now had no way to open her mouth to ask Zhou Yi for a loan.

She would rather find other people she knew to borrow money from than change the friendship between Zhou Yi and her because of borrowing money.

She felt embarrassed.

Having known him these days, she had gained a little understanding of this man's character, and felt guilty for those dark speculations that would appear in her mind whenever it was late and quiet before.

Men in the entertainment circle are all lustful, but the lustfulness Zhou Yi showed was completely different from her impression.

How to describe it? In Zhou Yi's own words, he is open and aboveboard, never plays crooked tricks, and focuses on mutual consent.

After getting along with him, Fan Bingbin even had a feeling: this man of the same age as her was even better at acting than the old slickers she had ever seen.

She still couldn't distinguish what attitude Zhou Yi actually had towards her.

To say he helped, he didn't follow around busy; he just simply ate a meal with her, analyzed the situation, and then told her to wait for the contract termination;

But if this isn't called helping, Fan Bingbin herself would feel conscience-stricken.

"I really believe your ex-girlfriend can gather two tables of mahjong now; this mouth is better than anyone at bluffing."

Chewing the apple, Sun Yanzi, whose feet in white cotton socks were propped up on the sofa, looked at the man who had hung up the phone with contempt: "Clearly doing nothing, just accompanying her to a gathering that was already on the schedule, using Warner's tiger skin as a bluff, yet making people feel grateful."

"What? Are you unconvinced?"

Putting the Nokia into his pocket, Zhou Yi turned his chair around, tilted his head, and said mockingly: "I am not that kind of man who runs around showing off; this is called attraction; you, a woman, understand nothing."

"This woman named Fan Bingbin looks quite shrewd to me; she shouldn't throw herself at you like Watching Xiao Yaxuan with her love-brained mentality."

"Ah ha, let me correct you; please do not speak nonsense without evidence. Watching Xiao Yaxuan and I are just friendly friends, thank you."

"Say that when her home no longer has your toiletries; last time I went to her place to play and, being tired, simply stayed at her house, I unexpectedly saw male toiletries behind the makeup cabinet in the bathroom, and they were your favorite pink."

Sun Yanzi sneered, her eyes brimming with contempt.

Zhou Yi's expression turned serious; he raised one finger and shook it to correct: "No no no, it's magenta, thank you."

"…"

"Also, please don't use your friendship with Watching Xiao Yaxuan to pry into my privacy. From a legal student's professional standpoint, what you're doing is illegal, Sun Yanzi."

Sun Yanzi threw a pillow at him: "I graduated. And I'm older than you—call me teacher, thank you."

Qian Jiang pushed open the door, still speechless, and saw Warner's hottest duo engaged in a pillow fight inside this soundproof recording room—

locked in a fierce, headlock-worthy standoff.

"Aren't you supposed to be recording?"

Qian Jiang glanced at the chaotic sofa scene and slowly raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Ahem, you probably don't understand art—it's part of singing art: performance art."

Zhou Yi coughed, released his grip on Sun Yanzi, and smoothed his slightly disheveled sweater—tiny fluffs from the pillow still fluttered on the fabric as he spoke.

Seeing this, Zhou Yi bent down and blew gently on the fluff, then offered his agent a polite smile: "Performance art."

"…"

Qian Jiang opened his mouth, then swallowed the words: "OK, whatever. I just came to notify you—the Hong Kong Top Ten Chinese Golden Melody Awards begin on January 19, 2001; you've been nominated."

"Pack your things. Get ready to go to Xiangjiang to collect your award."