Chapter 650: Who Dares Claim Invincibility?

"Ai yi ai yi, ai yi yi ha o~"

"I congratulate you on getting rich, I congratulate you on being awesome~"

"The best come forward, the rest please leave—more etiquette never hurts!"

"The sky turns azure waiting for misty rain, while I wait for you~"

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

"I love you, love you, just like a rat loves rice…"

"When petals leave the flower, faint fragrance lingers…"

In the first month of 2004, the songs popular on streets and alleys were roughly these types.

Among them, Zhou Yi single-handedly claimed two hits—"Congratulations on Your Wealth" and "Blue and White Porcelain"—showing overwhelming dominance, once again proving to everyone why he was called the Music Emperor.

Sun Yanzi's "Meeting" was seen as divine by her fanbase, but to others it was merely average—neither good nor bad—since its atmosphere simply didn't suit the Spring Festival Gala stage; its inclusion was likely just a free ride on Zhou Yi's coattails.

Of course, the song was popular enough.

The unluckiest was naturally Jay Chou, whose "Dragon Fist" turned him into the lowest of the low in online fan wars—

As his detractors put it, the screenshot of the live audience's silence was enough to shatter Jay Chou's fans.

"Jay Chou sings worse than Xie Tingfeng—back then, when Xie Tingfeng sang on the Spring Festival Gala, the crowd was wildly enthusiastic."

"You fucking asshole! Are Xie Tingfeng fans trying to kick him while he's down? Do you even deserve to?"

"As a bystander, I'll say this fairly: setting aside the singer's own behavior, Zhou Jielun's Gala performance was truly pathetic. I heard he even lip-synced—that makes it even worse."

"Lip-sync your mother! This is live singing!"

"Enough arguing—Zhou Yi is the only king."

"…"

This year's Spring Festival Gala was once again slammed and mocked by netizens, and even Zhao Benshan didn't escape unscathed—"The Water Delivery Man" was criticized as forced sentimentality, while dance and song acts received more praise.

Among them, "Congratulations on Your Wealth," "Good Luck," and "Blue and White Porcelain" stood out the most.

"Good Luck" should have been the brightest dance-song act of this year's Gala, but it ran into the ruthless Zhou Yi and had to settle for third place.

Zhou Yi, with his naturally landslide popularity, single-handedly claimed the top two spots for most popular pop songs, and even lifted Sun Yanzi to third by sharing his audience—her shriek of "Gong! Xi! Fa! Cai!" in "Congratulations on Your Wealth" was the perfect finishing touch.

And this was absent from Zhou Yi's solo version.

Many dual-star fans even wrote letters to Warner, urging them to lock the two up and record a duet—no other lyrics needed, just include that soul-stirring cry: "Gong! Xi! Fa! Cai!"

Some went so far as to swagger over to Xiao Yaxuan's fan blogs and launch attacks, sparking a prolonged, bitter feud between the two core CP fanbases—

And because the "Saint Seiya" series had been widely rebroadcast across the country in recent years, the concept of the "Thousand-Day War" briefly trended online, and both fan circles seized it to fuel endless clashes—

"You stick-thin loser, look at yourself—would Zhou Yi even notice you? What kind of creature likes Sun Yanzi? Probably just a bunch of malnourished, stunted dwarfs."

"You stubborn duck, look at how fat Xiao Yaxuan has gotten—dancing like a duck wiggling its ass. What's she even calling herself a dancer? Just call her Duck Girl. Oh, you like calling her 'sister'? Then call her Duck Sister."

"Oh oh oh, who's still too scared to step foot in the American music scene? Elva took the songs Zhou Yi wrote for her straight to America to build her career. You, a no-account stick, are only fit to be kicked aside after you're old and faded."

"No matter how much you blab, you can't change the fact that Zhou Yi spent this Spring Festival Gala with whom—the duck only squawks stupidly."

"You fucking—"

"I'll fuck your mother—"

The intensity of the CP fan wars spread from mainland big cities to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, inadvertently boosting the popularity of all three sides.

"Congratulations on Your Wealth" grew even more popular overseas over time—

Truly, it went global.

Thanks to its extremely festive atmosphere and auspicious lyrics, and bolstered by Zhou Yi's own fame, Warner easily pushed the song into overseas Chinese communities—

Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, even Tang Renjie in the U. S., and Chinese supermarkets in France, Britain, and other European countries—all were subjected to blanket bombardment of this song.

"Congratulations on Your Wealth" is a blessing embedded in the Chinese cultural DNA—every household says it during the New Year.

Now, Zhou Yi's song has turned this blessing into an actual song. Of course, the altered lyrics about close relatives were dug up by all sorts of media—indeed, he loved playing mahjong and doing business—

But that didn't stop them from becoming symbols representing family and loved ones in the lyrics.

The runaway success of "Congratulations on Your Wealth" wasn't just dominant on domestic charts—it also became a go-to song for overseas Chinese communities celebrating the New Year.

Perhaps because of this, on January 28, the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Zhou Yi's name was mentioned again in the punctually aired "Xinwen Lianbo"—

This time, not for honors or achievements, but for creating a cultural symbol within the global Chinese pop music sphere.

One of the original intentions of the Spring Festival Gala since its inception has been to send New Year blessings to Chinese people at home and abroad.

Zhou Yi not only perfectly fulfilled this goal—he exceeded it.

After a long string of news segments, at the very end of the blessing segment, Zhou Yi and his "Congratulations on Your Wealth" got a ten-second shot—

"Our young singer Zhou Yi extends New Year greetings to overseas Chinese and Chinese diaspora…"

Newspapers including "China Youth Daily" and "Erliu Bao" in Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai all ran identical reports on Zhou Yi composing "Congratulations on Your Wealth" to unite global Chinese.

The tone was lofty, constantly invoking "global Chinese and diaspora."

In short: invincible!

Don't you dare try to claim credit!

Zhou Yi himself felt a bit embarrassed watching it.

And on this same day, the Oscar nominations were officially announced—

As expected, Zhou Yi was nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars for the theme of "Pirates of the Caribbean," standing opposite the heavy favorite "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which was poised to sweep every award.

As a result, even while recording "Today's Legal Talk," Zhou Yi was repeatedly teased about how famous he'd become.

Both the guest professor and the host were acquaintances, making this episode of "Today's Legal Talk" unusually lively with laughter.

"Some say you're too famous, which is why you're targeted with slander and rumors. Do you feel the same pressure in real life? Or sense it?"

Smiling, Sa Beining said: "Like, do you have to check if someone's famous before you befriend them?"

"Uh, how to put it—I just don't care much about these things."

Zhou Yi, seated around the main podium, smiled and clasped his ten fingers before his belly: "I make friends entirely based on my mood; I don't care if they're famous or not, because none are as famous as me."

"Then if you were the lawyer, what crime would you convict those who slander and defame you of?" an old professor from Peking University's Law School interjected, testing on the spot whether Zhou Yi had forgotten his knowledge.

"According to convention, it would certainly be the crime of defamation, since the subject is present, right?"

Zhou Yi smiled and shrugged: "But if I really went up to fight a lawsuit, I probably wouldn't forgive them so simply, after all, they can be punished for multiple crimes combined, and some crimes they commit are actually ones they themselves don't know about."

Sa Beining became interested: "How so?"

"Let me give an example, an example. For instance, for instance, suppose there is a person named Zhang San, who on the internet..."