Chapter 644

For fans of Zhou Yi, the most discussed topic recently should be what new song their idol will sing on the Spring Festival Gala.

After all, according to insiders working at authoritative media outlets like Sohu and CCTV, apart from the already-released "old song" "Mo Qinghua," Zhou Yi still maintains the tradition of performing a new song every Spring Festival Gala.

But this year he didn't participate in the Korean-Chinese Music Festival, jokingly called "Zhou Yi's New Song Launch."

In previous years, his Spring Festival Gala new songs were always first unveiled at the Korean-Chinese Music Festival, but this year, due to Zhou Yi's schedule and top-level arrangements, the number-one male singer at the Korean-Chinese Music Festival was replaced by Sun Nan—

Who opened with the hit "Rescue," a song with undeniable skill, yet utterly predictable and lacking any surprise.

Precisely because of this, everyone had been wildly discussing Zhou Yi's never-before-heard new song, so intensely that even the momentum of "Rat Loves Rice" couldn't shake it.

At most, people just watched the spectacle and took petty pleasure in the singers crushed by "Rat Loves Rice."

Until "The First Snow of 2002" arrived.

This wasn't just a standard album—it contained three songs already wildly popular in lower-tier markets: besides "The First Snow," there were "Punishment of Impulse" and "Lover."

But Dao Lang's behind-the-scenes company clearly knew not to overreach; they concentrated all resources to push "The First Snow of 2002" to the top during the Lunar New Year month and expand its influence further.

The direct result was that not only Jay Chou and Chen Yixun were defeated, but even Sun Yanzi, one of Warner's twin stars, was surpassed—

Xiao Yaxuan's fans instantly felt immense relief, and they mercilessly mocked Sun Yanzi's fans, who constantly self-proclaimed their idol as "number one after Zhou Yi" and "Deputy Empress."

Jay Chou's, Chen Yixun's, and other singers' fans also felt furious, angrily accusing this unknown singer of buying charts and destroying the Mandarin music industry's ecosystem—

"He needs to apologize for this!"

"What joke is this? How can a song like this be more popular than my Jielun's?"

"Won't my doctor's 'Ten Years' crush this song? How much dirty money did the Pepsi Chart take?"

"I thought Pepsi's big sponsorship would make the whole thing look more respectable, but now it's just as bad."

"Let's just push the data back up."

"Who the hell is even listening to this crap?"

"…"

Unlike previous artists like Ah Du, Dao Lang's sudden emergence was "infamous" online—multiple fanbases regarded this unprincipled stranger as an enemy—but the key issue was, Dao Lang's fans hadn't flooded the internet with any significant number of hardcore followers…

The most common comment on "The First Snow of 2002" was something like, "Hmm, this song's not bad."

Whether Sun Yanzi's fans, Jay Chou's fans, Chen Yixun's fans, or Xiao Yaxuan's fans, none could find anyone to argue with—even on forums, they couldn't locate any hardcore Dao Lang fans, so they huddled together, constantly belittling Dao Lang while desperately trying to boost their idol's chart numbers.

There was no choice: as an unknown "ordinary person," Dao Lang simply didn't have a fan circle in the mainland music scene. No fan circle, no fans—no target to rally against.

They couldn't even land a punch. It was agonizing.

They were practically bursting with internal frustration.

Xie Qing, a hardcore Sun Yanzi fan, found Dao Lang's sudden rise baffling—how could anyone even listen to this guy's songs?

She even wrote a complaint letter to the official Pepsi Chart, condemning Dao Lang for buying charts and cheating, and sneering at the lyrics of "Lover" and "Punishment of Impulse," arguing that anyone who could write such lyrics must be just as vile as Zhou Yi.

Yes, she was solely a fan of Sun Yanzi, not a dual-star supporter; instead, she disliked Zhou Yi because of songs like "Hate Hongloumeng" and "Yeah."

She hated these songs, finding their lyrics utterly immoral.

Especially Zhou Yi.

The fact was, Zhou Yi clearly had the ability to avoid writing such songs—but he deliberately chose to write them, hitting her disgust point dead-on.

What made her feel trapped was that if she wanted to reclaim Sun Yanzi's chart ranking this time, she'd have to grit her teeth and beg for help—appealing to Zhou Yi's fans for assistance.

"It's no use anymore—their radio data is rising too fast; we strongly suspect they're manipulating the charts, but we have no proof. To help Yanzi return to second place, we must unite every possible force, including Zhou Yi's fans."

After struggling all day on the 19th, and seeing on the 20th that the gap wasn't closing but widening, members of Xie Qing's core Sun Yanzi fan group grew frantic.

Even during the New Year holiday, everyone was hearing "The First Snow of 2002"—its popularity was obvious.

With Yanzi currently in a critical phase fighting for the top female spot, and Xiao Yaxuan's bitchy fans still watching hungrily, they had to abandon their prejudice—Dao Lang's offensive was simply too fierce—go get Zhou Yi the Ancestor!

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. With Dao Lang rising so fast, you don't want to see Zhou Yi's unbeaten legend challenged, do you?"

Xie Qing typed furiously, mobilizing her initiative to rally votes for her idol.

But no matter how hard she tried, there was one insurmountable flaw—she had no money.

As a high school student, only in her second year, all her spending came from her parents, and boosting chart numbers always required money.

So she chose to first post on forums like Tianya, calling on all fans to unite and resist Dao Lang…

Unfortunately, this post backfired—

"Feels like the music industry is your family's business? If you don't want someone to be popular, you crush them?"

"You're way too tyrannical."

"Exactly, I say we all pool our strength and push Dao Lang to number one, break Zhou Yi's invincible myth, and make his fans stop bragging everywhere."

"Agreed."

"Agreed…"

Zhou Yi fans watching the drama: "?"

Wait, what's the meaning of this?

What did Zhou Yi ever do to you?

Xie Qing, feeling confused, realized her post had apparently damaged her idol's public image.

"Qingqing, come eat."

"Oh, okay, coming right away."

Her mother's command forced the troubled Xie Qing to temporarily put down her keyboard. The three of them sat happily at the dinner table eating lunch, while the TV in the living room still played a preview of the Spring Festival Gala—until—

"The first snow of 2002 came later than usual…"

"The bus stopping at the eighth floor carried away the last falling yellow leaf~"

When her father's phone rang, Xie Qing froze.

Her father clearly loved this song—he even listened to a short clip before answering…

Oh no…

Xie Qing blinked; she now seemed to understand why there were so few of Dao Lang's fans visible online. If it really used her father as an anchor, people of that age really didn't go online much...

This is way too ridiculous!

Recalling the words she had cursed online, Xie Qing, feeling slightly guilty, buried her head and shoveled rice.

On the TV, in the preview program for the Spring Festival Gala, there happened to be footage of Sun Yanzi being interviewed backstage...

……………………………

"Uh, the rehearsals this year are okay, I feel I'm quite adapted to it, yes."

On the 21st, the day of New Year's Eve.

Putting aside the internal turmoil of the fan circle and various cross-dressing and rhythm controversies, for the general public, this New Year's Eve still needed to be celebrated with great festivity.

CCTV also, as usual, started its Spring Festival Gala coverage, catching the stars who needed to perform on stage tonight backstage.

Sun Yanzi, wrapped in a black oversized down jacket, looked like a penguin draped in thick fur, appearing somewhat silly and somewhat cute: "After all, I'm already a veteran of the Spring Festival Gala; I am a little nervous, but not much."

Sun Yanzi held the microphone in her left hand, raised her right hand, gestured a fingertip universe before the lens, and her eyes curved into crescent moons: "Jie Lun is actually the most nervous one; Zhou Yi said it was the first time he heard him sing so clearly and correctly."

It is well known that since his debut, Zhou Jielun has been criticized for his unclear speech.

"What about Zhou Yi?"

"Him? How could he be nervous? He is the most relaxed of our group; he even has the mind to tease Jie Lun, like doing magic tricks below while he is rehearsing his singing. Or when I am rehearsing, he goes to the cafeteria to bring some food to eat and tempt me."

Talking about Zhou Yi's glorious achievements, Sun Yanzi's teeth itched.

"So can you, on behalf of the vast audience, go backstage and interview them now? As one of our Spring Festival Gala's Blessing Messengers, lead them to send blessings to the vast audience."

"Of course, no problem."

As a small design of carving flowers on fruit for this year's Spring Festival Gala, to cooperate with the theme of "Blessing," the director group also came up with something called "Blessing Messenger," and selecting Sun Yanzi was also because of her Singaporean Chinese identity—

It fits political correctness very well.

Sending blessings to Chinese people all over the world.

In the evening, Xie Qing, who had taken a bath early and was squatting in front of the TV waiting for her idol to appear, saw the footage of Sun Yanzi hopping around and visiting various star celebrities to do guest interviews, and a smile inevitably appeared on her face.

She liked Sun Yanzi; what she liked was that energetic feeling she had.

At the Spring Festival Gala venue, after meeting the older generation like Zhao Benshan, Feng Gong, and Big Sister backstage, Zhou Yi suddenly felt someone poking his back; he turned his head and saw the smiling Sun Yanzi holding a microphone right in his line of sight—

"Hello, this is the Spring Festival Gala's Special Blessing Reporter; may I ask if you are Mr. Zhou Yi?"

"No, I am his younger brother, Ba Gua."

Zhou Yi, turning around, laughed cheerfully: "May I ask, beautiful reporter who just arrived, I seem to find you very familiar; have we met somewhere before?"

"Eh, what a coincidence, I feel the same way; it seems we have met somewhere."

Sun Yanzi tilted her head; her thoughtful expression between her eyebrows was replaced by a smile in less than three seconds: "Wow, that sounds so fake; don't you agree, Jie Lun?"

"We see each other every day at the company, head high or head low, and we even live on floors above and below each other."

Zhou Jielun, who drifted out like a ghost from the side, accurately roasted: "Last time I called to ask A-Yi out to play basketball, he made excuses saying he had to accompany you to record songs."

"Is there a possibility this is an excuse, because you are too bad at playing basketball? I can kick the ball more accurately than you shoot with my feet, so I don't want to play with you," Zhou Yi seriously debunked the rumor.

There were witnesses to this.

"I testify; Zhou Yi really kicks very accurately even with his feet," Sun Yanzi, naturally leaning on Zhou Yi's arm, laughed until she bent forward and backward.