Chapter 73: Chapter Sixty-Nine

"What, are you very close to Jackie Chan?"

After Zhou Yi finished the call, Watching Xiao Yaxuan, now changed into fresh clothes, walked over, wrapped her arms around the man's neck, lightly bit his earlobe with her red lips, and whispered while exhaling softly.

"Not really close, just chatted with him at a Rock Records celebration party before."

"I heard he rewards himself with a female lead for every movie he shoots. True or false?"

Zhou Yi immediately laughed out loud: "You'll have to ask him when we eat together in a couple of days, if I remember by then."

"Then what about me? I'm all alone in Xiangjiang, unfamiliar with the place and the people, it's very boring."

Both had come to attend the Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards, both were unfamiliar with the place and the people. Watching Xiao Yaxuan had originally thought this trip to Xiangjiang would be like taking a vacation with Zhou Yi, but who would have thought Zhou Yi would be called away immediately by a phone call.

Zhou Yi thought for a moment: "Come with me then?"

Hearing this, Watching Xiao Yaxuan immediately let go of her hands and slumped lazily back into the sofa: "Then forget it, I don't want to end up on the news headlines with you again."

"You didn't say that before."

"No choice, the paparazzi here in Xiangjiang are no joke."

The woman twirled a strand of hair falling to her chest with her fingertips, raised her eyes to glance at him: "I don't have that kind of confidence like you."

Sometimes she truly envied Zhou Yi's attitude of "just do it, failure doesn't matter" in everything he did; she couldn't, there were too many things holding her back.

If she dared to use the same tactics as Zhou Yi this morning to deceive people and play with the paparazzi, her teacher Yao Qian would fly straight from the Taiwan Island to scold her black and blue.

Seeing this, Zhou Yi just smiled slightly: "Then, see you at the awards ceremony tonight."

"See you tonight."

After meeting Watching Xiao Yaxuan, Zhou Yi, now in disguise, quickly left through the hotel's side door, getting into the company car. Signaling the driver to drive back to the company, he simultaneously dialed his agent Qian Jiang's phone—

"Jackie Chan called to invite me to dinner, did you arrange that on your end?"

"What? I haven't even started on my end yet."

Qian Jiang, receiving the call, frowned, thought for a moment, and said: "Maybe he genuinely admires you, which is actually a good thing. When is the dinner? Let me ask about the situation."

"Three days from now."

…………………………………………………………

"Three days from now? That fast?"

Xiangjiang, Jackie Chan's home.

Hearing her husband's reply, Lin Fengjiao could not hide her surprise in her eyes: "Isn't your 'Rush Hour 2' already filming? Do you still have time to find that young man named Zhou Yi?"

"Don't underestimate him, I've interacted with him; this young man named Zhou Yi thinks very quickly."

Sitting on the sofa, Jackie Chan raised his right hand, circling his index finger around his temple several times to emphasize: "Previously, Xie Tingfeng and he fought fiercely on the album sales charts; isn't this asking me to act as a mediator to ease the relationship?"

Xie Tingfeng's agent, Huo Wenxi, is famous for her outstanding handling skills.

"Isn't this industry just like this? Zhou Yi can be said to have risen by stepping on Xie Tingfeng and Liu Ruoying with pure hard power, and with Warner backing him, there's no way to suppress him."

"Liu Ruoying's side has already admitted defeat; Xie Tingfeng's side is of a similar age; I estimate Huo Wenxi wants to pull Zhou Yi into a hype campaign together."

Having seen through the hype tactics of the entertainment industry, Jackie Chan quickly guessed the intentions of Xie Tingfeng's agent.

In this day and age, if singers or actors of similar age show signs of confrontation, it easily grabs the public's attention.

A typical example is the Four Heavenly Kings.

Or, for instance, the "Double Zhou One Cheng" that he, Jackie Chan himself, had marketed.

In the past, the overwhelming marketing press releases of Stephen Chow, Chow Yun-fat, and he, Jackie Chan, were the work of the companies behind them; the momentum they stirred directly etched these three most successful male actors in the minds of their respective fans.

Commonly known as: a war of words breaks through the circle, fans are purified, and then high-quality works attract new fans.

Thus forming a cycle.

Of course, now Stephen Chow and Chow Yun-fat, this "Double Zhou," are no longer worthy of being mentioned in the same breath with him in status, especially Chow Yun-fat who failed to break into Hollywood.

"However, if this happens, Xie Tingfeng's high popularity in the Xiangjiang local market will likely be split off by a portion at the start. Now that Huo Wenxi wants to lower her head first to seek cooperation, she must first produce something that satisfies Warner."

Lin Fengjiao saw it very clearly.

"We'll see at tonight's awards ceremony."

Speaking to this point, Jackie Chan smiled: "If they want to release goodwill, then tonight's awards ceremony should be an excellent occasion."

At the same time, back at the Warner Xiangjiang company building, Zhou Yi also learned about this matter from his agent Qian Jiang, who had rushed over—

"Is Ying Huang lowering their head? I shouldn't have that much energy, right?"

Zhou Yi was very surprised.

Asking Jackie Chan to be a mediator, wanting to cooperate for mutual benefit.

When has the wealthy and powerful Ying Huang ever been so polite to an artist? Even someone like Tsang Chi-wai, who is said to have connections in both the black and white worlds, Yang Shoucheng would just order people to beat him up.

"You are currently the only mainland person to have swept through all the major charts. Five months after your album release, you directly defeated Xie Tingfeng, who released three albums, to win the national annual sales champion."

"Do you know that for some people in the mainland, this is a performance that brings pride and vindication?"

"And, it is said that several establishment figures who also graduated from Peking University are quite optimistic that you can boost the morale of the mainland."

Peking University...?

Then it's fine.

The alumni circle thing, the nepotism is very obvious.

If Zhou Yi himself had to choose, if he saw his junior causing such a huge commotion and bringing glory to the mainland, he would have some bias, at least a little.

"Of course, the most important thing is that the commercial cooperation links with the mainland are currently very tight."

"Huo Wenxi is a very smart agent; since you have already been stamped by the official side as the number one in the mainland, her attitude will naturally change and seek cooperation."

Zhou Yi was truly interested now, playing with words: "How so? They wouldn't want to bundle me and Xie Tingfeng together for marketing, similar to the Four Heavenly Kings?"

If they really bundled them, Xie Tingfeng would definitely lose big this year.

No matter how you put it, Xie Tingfeng's popularity and exposure are at the super top-tier level of the domestic entertainment industry; this is what he fought for solidly over several years.

Zhou Yi's only rival in domestic album sales last year was also Xie Tingfeng.

Little Zhou classmate has only just debuted; his first album hasn't even been sold on the mainland yet. To pose a threat to him, at the earliest, it would have to be 2002.

"Do you remember your experience of trampling the songs of the Four Heavenly Kings underfoot in the Taiwan music scene? Coincidentally, Xie Tingfeng also trampled the Four Heavenly Kings underfoot in Xiangjiang."

Qian Jiang laughed with extra joy: "I don't know if you understand the scene of the two strongmen, Zhang Guorong and Alan Tam, battling for dominance in the music scene back then."

"They are probably trying to recreate that scene, which is why, once everything was ready, Huo Wenxi started it off."

Zhou Yi also laughed very happily.

Isn't this purely a blood bag delivered right to the door?

This year, Xie Tingfeng is at the height of his popularity, while he has only been debuted for a mere half-year; his popularity is still very unstable and needs time or external stimulation to consolidate his domestic fan base.

Reflected in economic performance, the most obvious issue is endorsements.

Xie Tingfeng has been hugely popular for several years, with a huge pile of high-value endorsements on his body;

whereas he, having only debuted for half a year, has few endorsements coming his way, and the prices still need to be negotiated slowly.

The most typical example is Jay Chou; at the start of his debut, his endorsements were individually priced at cabbage prices.

Theoretically speaking, he only needs about two to three years to define his fan base, stabilize his status, and start securing high-value endorsements.

But this olive branch handed over can help him accelerate the building of his fan base, save time, and simultaneously help him negotiate endorsements.

The endorsement fees can even match Xie Tingfeng's.

If one didn't have the foresight of opening the heavenly eye, Ying Huang's plan would be quite good: sacrificing Xie Tingfeng's popularity in the short term to boost Zhou Yi's status and transfuse blood, in exchange for a long-term binding of the two.

A young number one from the Hong Kong circle, and a young number one from the mainland.

But if one didn't have the foresight of opening the heavenly eye, Zhou Yi would never have agreed to this marketing stunt.

Long-term binding with Xie Tingfeng is absolutely losing one's mind; it is purely transfusing blood to him.

"Fine, you handle it."

Zhou Yi, who knew that Xie Tingfeng would permanently exit the Chinese music scene next year due to the "driver taking the blame" scandal, had his mouth twisted into a happy grin.

By then, Xie Tingfeng would be completely useless in the music circle; by then, it would be equivalent to him getting Ying Huang's resource allocation for a year for free.

He won big, that's what it is.