The opening of China Entertainment Group gave Jay Chou a head-on confrontation

Chapter 870 Appreciation for both refined and popular tastes
It has to be you, Zhou Yi, the eternal god of entertainment reporting!
The mainland entertainment industry is so lonely without you. Even the feuds are child's play.

The "Four Dan and Two Bing" (referring to four top actresses and two top actresses) and the "Four Little Fresh Meat" (referring to four popular young actors) are all trivial matters. Their feuds are limited to sarcastic remarks, and none of them are as straightforward as Zhou Yi (a famous Chinese philosopher).

If there were more people like Zhou Yi in the entertainment industry, how could they not achieve great things?
"I've never seen anyone so good at distorting the truth; all his education has been wasted!"

"Respect! Respect! Respect! Zhou Yi himself can be considered a high-level public intellectual who shares his thoughts and opinions with the public. Isn't his insulting behavior just dragging himself into it?!"

"If you're so eager to make a living through mindless patriotism, then I suggest Zhou Yi stop singing pop music. This industry isn't for you. Focus on becoming a singer at various galas instead. Oh, I forgot, your singing skills aren't up to par for a gala singer!"

"If there is no freedom of criticism, then praise is meaningless. I will just say this: freedom of speech is a right that everyone should have."

"Women are meant to be chased around, and mansions are meant to be bought everywhere. You're so good at getting ahead, yet you don't share the money you've earned with the poor."

One stone stirs up a thousand waves—

Many public intellectuals who felt offended took to their personal blogs to denounce Zhou Yi for his "biting the hand that feeds him," attempting to portray him as a traitor who betrayed his class for personal gain.

This group includes experts, professors, scholars, and writers.

Compared to them, people in the entertainment industry are practically beneath their notice. Most of them graduated from prestigious universities like Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, and Sun Yat-sen University. Beijing Film Academy, Central Academy of Drama, Beijing Dance Academy, etc., don't even deserve a mention.

Some people even directly used Zhou Yi's past songs to criticize him—

"Some things can't be covered up just because you got shot. A morally bankrupt artist who loves to violate public order and good morals in his songs doesn't deserve to say these things..."

You're just a pop singer, what are you pretending to be, a cultural vanguard?

Do you look at your own butt? Is it clean?
He writes such vulgar songs, yet he pretends to be sophisticated.

Like Zhou Yi, Dong Yuyu, a graduate of Peking University's law department and former Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, visiting scholar at Keio University, and professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy at Hokkaido University, and now deputy editor-in-chief of Guangming Daily, published her first public article criticizing Zhou Yi's "mad" behavior upon his return.

"Youthful spirit is not a shield; do not drag pop singers into a vulgar trap."

"The gist of this article is that you've made the profession of pop singer increasingly vulgar and mercenary."

"Because of your vigorous promotion of ringback tones, the music market is now flooded with a batch of poorly made ringback tone songs, which is extremely detrimental to the aesthetic shaping of the entire industry."

"And songs like 'Hate Dream of the Red Chamber' and 'Yeah' that you wrote in the past are too tacky."

"More singers might follow your example and take shortcuts by publishing mindless remarks to attract attention instead of verifying information or working hard to improve their skills..."

The recording site of the program "Super Interview".

Sitting on the five-finger sofa, Zhou Yi fiddled with a prop back scratcher in his hand, listening to Dai Jun across from him summarize the criticism and earnest teachings of this senior student.

"Everyone is an individual, so of course I don't care what they say, and I won't care."

Zhou Yi, fiddling with the props, sneered, "How I write songs and how I speak is my freedom. They have no right to interfere in my life. Why aren't they upholding freedom of speech now? It's like throwing stones at a dog and barking."

My heart and my actions are as clear as a mirror!

I'll find another opportunity to report that bastard Dong Yuyu.

Although I don't know exactly when this son of a bitch started being a spy, reporting him is just a convenient thing to do.

Forget about senior students, they're all achievements that contributed to my sainthood.

"Uh, a dog barking when a rock is thrown?"

"If you throw a stone on the side of the road and a dog barks, then the barking dog must have been hit by the stone."

Dai Jun: "..."

You cultured people have a different way of cursing, huh...

"So do you think the changes in the music scene now are good or bad? When you were advocating for ringtones, did you ever think this situation would arise?" Dai Jun asked curiously.

"I foresaw it, but I've always believed that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages."

Zhou Yi has no excuse for being given the inexplicable title of "Father of Ringback Tones" in China: "The music market needs a positive cycle environment, and QQ Music was born based on the current Internet environment."

"The music scene needs more fresh blood, and it also needs to cultivate a larger audience."

"If ringtone music and internet music can be developed properly in the future, the audience cultivated in the Chinese music scene will surely bring a bright future to the music industry."

"Whether it's highbrow or lowbrow, music has its own market. A thriving and diverse music scene is what makes a normal and positive music scene. It should be enjoyed by all, regardless of taste..."

If we hadn't pulled any tricks and had focused on nurturing talent, it wouldn't have taken until the mobile internet era to create fertile ground for a new generation of musicians.

Unfortunately, the future environment is beyond his control; he can only do his best.

"So, one last question, Zhou Yi: will you release a new Chinese album in the second half of this year? I believe this is something that many listeners are also concerned about."

"I think it will happen."

With the back scratcher pressed against his chin, Zhou Yi took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then laughed and said, "I was actually planning to take a break. I had even thought about where to travel in the second half of the year, but these flies are just too annoying. They keep buzzing around as soon as I returned to China."

"?"

The two hosts of "Super Interview" along with hundreds of audience members all raised a question mark.

Dai Jun: "Wait a minute, what does the Book of Changes mean..."

Zhou Yi nodded: "That's exactly what you think. The album title is planned to be 'Appreciated by Both the Refined and the Popular,' but it's currently in the process of creating a new folder; the music hasn't been composed and the lyrics haven't been written yet."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Fight, fight!

"Fight, fight!"

"I want to see rivers of blood!"

"It has to be Zhou Yi. He's back and already stirring things up. This is much more interesting than the usual dramas about the 'Four Dan and Two Bing' (referring to actresses) tearing each other apart."

"Is this the 2.0 version of the Peking University civil war? In the 1.0 version, Robin Li of Baidu backed down. Let's see how this 2.0 version ends."

"Don't even think about it, it won't lead to anything. What can happen from this kind of pure verbal sparring?"

"They both graduated from Peking University's law school, and now one is writing articles and serving as the editor-in-chief of the Guangming Daily, while the other is releasing albums and becoming the top artist at Warner Music? It seems like these two Peking University law graduates are both neglecting their proper professions?"

"The phrase 'a stone hitting a dog and it barks' is quite apt; it should be included in the top ten internet buzzwords of 2005."

The longtime fans, who were already used to Zhou Yi's constant rants, were all eager for a good show, and their gossiping and watching-the-drama-stirring behavior surprised many new fans—New fans: "Don't you need to lend a hand?"

Longtime fan: "What's the point of lending a hand? Zhou Yi charges ahead faster than anyone else. Fans will only hold him back. Don't go out and embarrass yourself."

Why not just lie there and wait for your idol to carry you to success?

Why bother? All that effort and hard work is less effective than a fleeting moment of brilliance from your idol in front of the media.

More than that, they still hope Zhou Yi will personally acknowledge the new album on "Super Interview"—

It's worth noting that after the shooting incident, many fans immediately lost interest in urging for a Chinese album, and some were even prepared that Zhou Yi wouldn't release any more albums in the second half of the year.

People can't be so heartless, can they? We still have to be reasonable and compassionate.

"Although it's wrong to think this way, I really think those people should criticize Zhou Yi more? Maybe while they're criticizing him, Zhou Yi's new song will quickly come to fruition."

"What kind of singer is good at verbal battles..."

"I'm more concerned about what the Book of Changes means by 'appreciating both the refined and the common.' Does the Book of Changes also need to write popular songs like 'Two Butterflies'?"

"It's probably impossible; Zhou Yi couldn't have written a song like that."

"Write another poem, 'I Hate Dream of the Red Chamber,' and another, 'I Like Jin Ping Mei'!"

"It's not as good as 'Dislike Water Margin'."

"There's a beautiful woman in *Water Margin*, and Zhou Yi quickly wrote *Biographies of Beauties in the Late Eastern Han Dynasty*."

"Then let's play 'I Love the Kingdom of Women'..."

"The Kingdom of Women is clearly inferior to 'I Love Female Demons'..."

Soon, the building began to lean.

What kind of leader commands what kind of soldiers? Despite being less capable than his idol, Zhou Yi's personal Baidu Tieba forum has already provided no fewer than thirty song titles for his new album.

Whether something is elegant or not is not important; that's something the I Ching needs to consider.

Since my buddies are all on Tieba (a Chinese online forum), all they need to consider are the mundane aspects.

These days, there are bound to be Warner Bros. officials lurking around on platforms like Baidu Tieba, just in case they get picked up.

"I think it would be better to call it 'I Love a Piece of Wood'."

Sun Yanzi, who was working overtime tonight while tearing up toast, carefully typed a few words and then chose to publish them in front of Zhou Yi.

"Is it because you're skinny?" Zhou Yi joked with a smile.

Sun Yanzi, visibly furious and embarrassed, kicked out, sending her slipper flying, but the man easily dodged it.

"Go to Jaylen's concert by yourself, I don't have time."

After glaring at him fiercely, Sun Yanzi then showed him the schedule she had confirmed with her manager: "I'm going to release my own album and prepare for my own concert."

Sun Yanzi's concert is in Hong Kong again; it was supposed to start in early September.

However, this time, due to the force majeure factor of Zhou Yi being shot, Warner Music decisively chose to pay compensation and postpone the concert's opening time. At that time, Zhou Jianhui didn't even have the heart to ask someone to urge Sun Yanzi.

This is why Zhou Jianhui had Sun Yanzi return to work earlier – the delay didn't mean the concert was cancelled; they still needed to make up for the losses through the concert.

"October 5th or 6th?"

"It's just the end of the National Day holiday, so I hope I can earn some more money back in the next couple of days. Sister Shan said that the company lost a lot of money due to delayed contracts."

When talking about work, Sun Yanzi lazily slumped on the table, her small foot, missing a shoe, resting on the floor: "After the concert, you can release a new album. Don't worry about me. Just go to Tokyo and hold your concert and participate in your China-Japan song festival."

The first official China-Japan Song Festival will be held on the evening of October 29, 2005 at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center. Combined with Zhou Yi's concert in Tokyo, he will basically have to spend October in Japan.

Fortunately, Warner Music also has a branch in Japan, so when Zhou Yi has inspiration, he can record songs directly in Tokyo without having to fly back to China during his free time.

"However, I still think you made too many promises. You shouldn't have said you'd release an album in the second half of the year. That makes your schedule even tighter..."

Sun Yanzi, turning her head slightly, glanced at the man, paused, and said with genuine concern, "There's no need for you to work non-stop."

Over the years, she had long since grown accustomed to Zhou Yi's creative pace, and her only concern was for his health, especially after he was shot.

"No matter how tough or tiring it gets, it'll only be for the next two years. I won't renew this contract when it ends. The usual schedule is to send it out on December 31st."

To outsiders, Zhou Yi's smile was more like a forced one.

In fact, for fans who are not active on Zhouyi's personal Baidu Tieba forum, his statement about his new album has indeed garnered sympathy from many casual viewers.

Putting everything else aside, just looking at this itinerary tells you that it's absolutely hellish for Zhou Yi.

"Only someone with Zhou Yi's creative ability could withstand this kind of intensity, right? Even if he can rest now, he still has to go to Tokyo in October. If he's in China for November and December, the album won't be released until December 31st at the latest..."

"Warner Music, let Zhou Yi take a break. The album can be released next year."

"If Zhou Yi really retires from the music scene, I always feel that it might be the fault of the Warner contract."

"Looking back, maintaining two releases a year for so long is truly outrageous. Warner's top-tier nuclear-powered donkey..."

"He won't have much time off in September either. I heard he has to go to Shenzhen at the end of the month to attend Jay Chou's concert as a surprise guest. This round trip, including rehearsals, will take at least three to five days."

"Ok?"

Where did you get this information?

"Really? Zhou Yi will attend Jay Chou's Shenzhen concert?"

"It's just a guess. Jay Chou has always kept the guest performers for his concerts public, including inviting Tao Zhe when he held the Taipei concert. But for this Shenzhen show, Jay Chou hasn't revealed the guest's identity yet. Sony has also said that this is a super big star who will make all the fans scream."

"Think about it, someone Sony would use the adjective 'superstar' to describe, and who's still keeping it a secret..."

The insider information leaked by the online forum Tianya, known for its eccentric and unconventional sources, quickly became a hot topic for mainstream media.

Sony is playing the riddle, while Warner remains silent;
Sun Yanzi has already boarded a plane to Hong Kong, Zhou Yi is keeping a low profile and can't be found at all, Zhou Jielun knows nothing about it, and only Qian Jiang's phone is ringing off the hook with calls from the media.

On September 27, Zhou Yi, who had been keeping a low profile for a long time, landed in Shenzhen by private jet.

Jay Chou, fully armed and wearing a baseball cap, was officially photographed by the media who were lying in wait!

(End of this chapter)