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

Chapter 987 A Boy's Past

“I think it’s too early to talk about having children now; we’re only a few years old.”

"Why? Do you really have someone else on the side? You would never have said this before."

"Why do you think so."

"What can I think? Last time, wasn't it a woman who drove you home..."

The more she talked, the more frustrated the woman became. Finally, she laid her cards on the table: "Have you really forgotten that you said you would marry me, Li Jiafeng!"

By the end, her voice had become quite loud.

"Shh, shh, don't be so loud. Don't disturb the other people in the hotel in the middle of the night." Helpless, the man quickly made a shushing gesture, signaling his girlfriend to stop making such a fuss.

He really didn't want to argue with his girlfriend, as they finally had a weekend together.

“That’s just a client. I’ve already told you that I take on translation work privately. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be a waste of my expertise? The client was just giving me a ride back because it was on their way. I’m just saving on travel expenses.”

Li Jiafeng patiently comforted his girlfriend, who was anxious.

From junior high to senior year of college, their relationship has been full of ups and downs over the years, and he's long been used to his girlfriend's nervousness, after all, it's a sign that she loves him.

The seven-year itch in a marriage doesn't even last as long as their dating period; they've both gotten used to each other's tempers over the years.

He has indeed been quite busy lately, but isn't that a necessary measure?

After being admitted to Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, he did not study accounting with his girlfriend, but instead studied English (translation and international communication). Starting in his junior year, he tried to use his award certificates to find clients to take on translation jobs, accepting all comers in order to build a good reputation.

As long as I can make money, that's enough.

He's about to graduate this year, and although his translation work won't be very high-end, he'll at least be able to save up a small amount of money for him and his girlfriend after graduation.

Of course, most importantly, he still remembers that summer after the college entrance exam, the embarrassing moment when he and his girlfriend stood outside the gymnasium with a borrowed camera, feeding mosquitoes while listening to a Zhou Yi concert inside—

His girlfriend comforted him, saying it was okay, that listening to the concert outside was still a concert, and he didn't have to pay to get in.

That was an embarrassment and helplessness that he could never forget over the years, and even now, thinking back on it still makes him feel like his toes are digging into the ground.

His original plan was to find a stable job after graduation, get married, and then save up some money to take his girlfriend to see Zhou Yi's concert again—this time, he wanted to bring his girlfriend into the concert venue to see Zhou Yi and give her a big surprise.

As a result, news broke that Zhou Yi's upcoming concert schedule seemed to be a retirement tour.

This completely disrupted Li Jiafeng's plans.

Not knowing when Zhou Yi's next domestic concert would be held, Li Jiafeng gave up his last chance to relax before graduation and immediately added more work to his schedule, wanting to earn more money for a rainy day.

Zhou Yi's concert is definitely very expensive. He's certain that just two scalped tickets alone could fetch an astronomical price, not to mention the suspected retirement tour.

He still has to get married, and there are many other things that will cost him money. But if he could, he really wants to make up for the regrets of the past.

However, because he wanted to surprise his girlfriend, he never told her and just kept taking orders.

It's normal for a girlfriend to become suspicious if the time spent together suddenly decreases without warning.

"Okay, okay, don't be angry anymore, Bibi. The day after tomorrow, I'll take you out for something delicious."

"No."

Fu Yuqin, with her long hair disheveled, leaned against the headboard, turning her head away from him: "I have something to do the day after tomorrow."

"The day after tomorrow."

"I also have things to do the day after tomorrow."

"Didn't you already find a job and settle down for your internship? Why do you still have so many things to do?"

"I want you to manage."

"Okay, okay, when you're done with your work, I'll take you out for something delicious..." Li Jiafeng, who was leaning in to hug his girlfriend, felt her barely struggling to break free and grinned mischievously.

Hotels around schools are often hotbeds of conflict, especially for the graduating class each year.

Feeling inexplicably neglected by her boyfriend, Fu Yuqin was still sulking after leaving the next day, but her actions betrayed her—she still chose to go for an interview to find a good temporary advertising job.

"You're a college student, coming here looking for work?"

"My boyfriend is working too hard earning money all by himself, and I happen to have some free time right now, so I want to help ease his burden..."

..............................

"Ah!"

Zhou Yi was awakened by an itch on his nose. The strange sensation tingled the nerves that govern sneezing in ancient Greece. He struggled to open one eye, still wrapped in a blanket. The woman, her clothes half-undone, had already tied up her long hair and was looking at him with one hand supporting her chin.

Seeing the man wake up groaning, Cheng Hao said softly, "Awake? Time to get up."

The mask of pain instantly replaced the lingering drowsiness, and Zhou Yi subconsciously buried his head in the woman's chest so close to his, instinctively nuzzling her—

The materials of the bra and silk pajamas blended against his soft skin, creating a captivating tactile sensation that rippled and caressed his entire body with each movement. He mumbled, "I don't want to get up, I want to sleep a little longer."

In winter, it's normal to feel so cozy and unwilling to move when you're snuggled up in bed.

Especially when there's a beautiful woman next to him.

"Don't forget you still need to pick up Lang Lang."

Cheng Hao playfully nudged the man's shoulder and said, "Someone traveled all the way from Europe just to appear in your music video, so we can't be rude."

After finishing his concert tour in Europe, Lang Lang took a short break and immediately flew back to China, showing his sincerity.

He could be considered the greatest classical musician of our time, though there may be some controversy. But in terms of their respective fields, he is no less influential than Zhou Yi, the number one pop musician.

As for earning power and worldly influence, that's a problem specific to classical music itself.

Although pop music is inherently superior to classical music in terms of musical attributes, it is clear that the glorious era of classical music has passed, and its secular influence has declined along with the decline of old Europe.

"what……"

Zhou Yi rolled over and lay flat on his back, then pressed his hand to his eyes, adjusting the amount of light covering them before slowly opening them to adjust to the room's brightness. His features scrunched up: "Is it today?"

Old Qian didn't notify him either.

"Uncle Qian called two hours ago. You were still sleeping in, so I answered it for you."

Noticing his confusion at a glance, Cheng Hao lifted the covers and, while getting out of bed, straightened the unbuttoned pajamas: "There's still enough time, so I didn't wake you."

Incidentally, she also carried all the clothes she had picked out from the walk-in closet earlier to the man.

"Oh, I see, that's your fault."

Zhou Yi, who had been wiping his face and forcing himself to turn on his phone, unconsciously yawned. Cheng Hao watched him get up with a smile.

Why didn't you mention this last night when the blanket was swishing and the air was puffing out like a bellows?

It made her have to take an extra shower.

"It's quite cold outside, remember to wear your scarf. I'll be home a little late tonight, so don't wait for me for dinner. Things are busy with the movie, and some things need to be finished before we can start working again after the New Year."

After carefully tying a scarf around the man who was wrapped in a down jacket, Cheng Hao casually gave him a few instructions.

Do you need me to bring you food?

"No need, big star. I'm not without hands and feet. If all else fails, I can just have my secretary call and order food. It's so cold outside, why send food? If it hurts your delicate body, I'm afraid the whole Warner Bros. will come after me."

"Yes, Mr. Cheng."

Zhou Yi gave a perfunctory salute, then immediately reverted to his playful nature: "As you command, Mr. Cheng."

The woman rolled her eyes at him and then added, meticulously, "Lang Lang is from Northeast China. When you invite him to dinner tonight, remember to find a restaurant from Northeast China."

Although she knew Zhou Yi would never forget this, she still couldn't help but ask him about it.

"You book the restaurant, then you can pick me up, and we'll go eat together tonight."

"what?"

Zhou Yi laughed: "It won't hurt to get to know him. Maybe you'll have projects that you'll want to work with him in the future."

Zhou Yi has never been stingy in helping Cheng Hao expand his network, especially with musicians like Lang Lang who are internationally renowned.

"It wouldn't be appropriate for me to attend your team's get-together."

"Why? Do you think I'd stop you from visiting the set?" Zhou Yi hugged her from behind like a roly-poly toy, swaying back and forth as they walked toward the living room.

Cheng Hao felt completely enveloped in the man's broad arms, her body moving at will, her heart filled with sweet joy.

Shortly after 5:30 p.m., Lang Lang's plane officially landed in the capital.

Zhou Yi personally drove to pick up the pianist who had turned down many events to return to China, and finally met the real Lang Lang. At this time, he was already a chubby little boy with a round face, which made him look a bit simple-minded. He didn't look like a piano master at all, but rather like the silly son of someone next door.

Furthermore, her height is at a disadvantage compared to her body type.

Although the official height is listed as 179cm, the actual height is estimated to be around 173-175cm, and that's with insulated shoes.

There was no way Zhou Yi could avoid glancing at those shoes; they were too eye-catching.

Li Yundi isn't tall, but her image management makes her look like a master.

If Lang Lang had the same skill in image management as Li Yundi, and had lost weight and tidied himself up, he wouldn't have been targeted for so many years. Even in the era of short videos, many people still regard Li Yundi's image as that of a great pianist.

However, from another perspective, Lang Lang doesn't need these fancy tricks to prove himself; he can just rely on pure strength.

"Hello, hello Zhouyi."

Lang Lang was quite outgoing. He recognized Zhou Yi immediately after exiting the airport and greeted him warmly in his thick Northeastern Mandarin: "Oh my, it's so cold! I almost shivered when I got off the plane. Let me introduce you, this is my assistant..."

As one of the men with the most expensive double insurance policies in the world, Lang Lang usually doesn't carry heavy items when he travels. Even if he only changes his itinerary to return to China at the last minute, he will definitely have a small team of three people to help him handle all the trivial matters.

"Yeah, this weather's so cold I don't want to work every day. I have no choice, life forces me to." Zhou Yi, joking along, hadn't even finished speaking when someone immediately recognized him the moment he removed his mask and sunglasses—

"Ah! Zhou Yi! Are you Zhou Yi?!"

Perhaps Lang Lang's loud voice was too attention-grabbing, or perhaps someone just happened to be looking this way at that moment—

If Zhou Yi hadn't led his team away so quickly, it would have caused quite a bit of chaos.

When the reporters who had caught wind of the incident arrived as quickly as possible, the Zhou Yi team had already disappeared from the airport and surrounding area.

Sitting in the passenger seat of Zhou Yi's car on their way to the hotel, Lang Lang was incredibly envious and blurted out, "Honestly, I wish I had your popularity. Don't let my arrogant attitude abroad fool you; nobody in China really knows me..."

Zhou Yi was quite arrogant abroad, so his words didn't sound like boasting. Instead, they conveyed genuine honesty, which subtly bridged the gap between them.

Coupled with his relaxed, unadulterated Mandarin, the air was instantly filled with a cheerful atmosphere, making work discussions much easier.

In the piano solo scene in "Turkish Ice Cream", Zhou Yi planned to place two pianos facing each other, and then create a sense of competition and confrontation between him and Lang Lang in front of the camera.

Whether it's Bach or the Turkish March in this song, Lang Lang's mastery is unparalleled. Especially the Turkish March, Lang Lang himself contributed a relaxed yet exquisite version, which was jokingly called the Turkish Flying Song because of its soaring tempo.

Lang Lang himself was quite surprised to see the classical music foundation in the song as soon as he received the sheet music.

As far as he knew, Zhou Yi hadn't studied piano for as long as he had, and he certainly hadn't started learning as a child.

He even inquired about Zhou Yi's classical music knowledge, and ended up having a very pleasant conversation with him.

Yes, he can still talk about the I Ching on paper, he just can't play it out.

As the conversation drew to a close, Lang Lang said with a hint of regret, "If you had gone into classical music back then, I think you would definitely have been very successful."

There are very few people of my generation in China who are into classical studies. This is not a profession that an ordinary family can afford. I was introduced to the I Ching too late.

When Cheng Hao, meticulously dressed and exuding a fragrant aroma, arrived at the music room, the scene that greeted her left her somewhat dazed—

Zhou Yi, with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, sat at the piano just like he used to, with a teacher teaching him.

The difference is that the teacher now seems a bit younger.

After Zhou Yi made money, his piano teacher was a middle-aged man.

Just like before, she didn't disturb Zhou Yi who was learning the piano. She raised her index finger to signal silence to the others and quietly pushed open the door to enter the music room.

"No, not the Book of Changes. Believe me, your emotions can be expressed even more quickly and fully; you have great potential."

Lang Lang, who had already started putting his arm around Lang Lang's shoulder, was delighted at the prospect and immediately began to teach him: "There's no need to be so restrained with 'Turkish March,' you can speed it up like this: 'Duo duo duo duo duo~~~'"

While performing ventriloquism, she also made exaggerated facial expressions, and after finishing, she demonstrated with her hands, her eyes wide open like saucers, and her medium-length hair was tossed around to the rhythm of the melody—

Well, how should I put it? Cheng Hao felt like she had watched an episode of Tom and Jerry.

The main problem was that Lang Lang was playing so cheerfully that it was hard to keep up with the scene, especially with his hand twitching. She didn't understand classical music, and her first reaction was that Lang Lang had touched an electric shock...

"I will try again."

Zhou Yi got excited and enthusiastically rolled up his sleeves again, continuing to play the Turkish March according to his own understanding—playing it with his head bobbing and swaying left and right, but without the facial compensation that Lang Lang had.

Hmm, it seems she still has some idol image to maintain; maybe she learned the wrong things back then.

Cheng Hao remembered that when she saw Zhou Yi learning the zither, he was very serious and meticulous. In order to become proficient as quickly as possible, he didn't even flirt with other women at the music store.

This was incredible for the Book of Changes back then.

"I learned to play the piano at a classmate's house in high school, and only seriously studied with a teacher in college. It's already quite good that I can play like this. No wonder I'm a top student from Peking University. My learning ability is amazing."

As the song ended, Lang Lang, who already understood the limits of the I Ching at this stage, instantly planned in his mind how much effort he would put into adapting to the I Ching when filming the music video.

In a solo match, there has to be a back-and-forth exchange.

He had even mentally planned a passionate performance for the two of them, but when he turned around, he was startled to see someone else emerge from the large music room.

"Ok?"

Zhou Yi, who had also turned around, looked in the direction of the voice and immediately saw Cheng Hao, who was wearing a khaki wool coat and a beige turtleneck sweater: "You're here, so quickly, without saying a word."

"I just wanted to watch you practice the piano a little longer because I saw you so engrossed in it. It's been a long time since I've seen you like this," Cheng Hao said with a smile.

"Let me introduce you, Cheng Hao, this is Lang Lang."

After introducing them to each other, Zhou Yi looked at her again, raising an eyebrow smugly: "So, did you listen to what I played?"

"great."

Cheng Hao smiled and clapped her hands a few times, then stepped into the man's arms: "The best I've ever heard."

Lang Lang, who had been passionately designing his solo performance, suddenly felt somewhat superfluous upon seeing this scene...

"By the way, Zhou Yi, who was your piano teacher before?"

To keep the atmosphere from getting awkward, Lang Lang took the initiative to start a conversation: "I'd really like to meet him."

He really wanted to see who it was that let Zhou Yi go and didn't pull him onto the path of classical studies.

"Oh, he's gone. I heard he went back to his hometown. But the music store is still there. Now, the practice room where I used to practice has become one of the holy sites for fans."

?

You learned piano at a commercial music store?!
Wait a minute, weren't you a poor student back then?
"Speaking of which, I have to thank the angel investors. If it weren't for their generosity, I probably wouldn't have had the money to pursue further education." Zhou Yi, with his arm around Cheng Hao's shoulder, also thought of himself when he was trying to raise money everywhere to try and win every match in the 98 World Cup.

If it weren't for Cheng Hao's generosity, he wouldn't have been able to earn his first pot of gold in Hong Kong so easily through various channels.

The 100,000 yuan in 1998 was borrowed and became part of his initial capital.

The most direct consequence of this was that Cheng Hao, who had already planned to take a good rest, started contacting people everywhere to try and get advertising gigs.

........................

"real or fake?"

"Of course it's true, would I lie to you?"

Late at night in Guangzhou, inside an advertising booth.

After finishing her night shoot, the curly-haired female director handed cash to Fu Yuqin, a girl who came to work there: "Have you seen 'Pink Lady'? When the 'Most Popular Woman' in the show was still studying at the Central Academy of Drama, I helped her get several advertising deals."

"I remember it very clearly. In 98, she was planning to go home for the summer vacation, but suddenly she went crazy and kept asking me to recommend someone for her."

"At the time, I thought she had gotten involved in something she shouldn't have, but when I asked her, I found out that she had fallen for a romantic and had used all the money she had left in her wallet to support him in realizing his dreams, leaving her with very little money."

Fu Yuqin opened her mouth wide in surprise: "Huh?"

The curly-haired female director, with a cigarette dangling from her lips, took off her sunglasses and pointed at her: "I had the same expression as you back then, do you know what she said?"

"Sister Yan, can I tell you this?"

"What's wrong with saying this—"

After a pause, Sister Yan glanced back and forth at the young college student in front of her, a hint of reminiscence in her eyes: "My boyfriend is very tired, and I happen to have some free time right now, so I want to shoot more commercials to help ease his burden..."

"These are her exact words."

The young woman hesitated for a moment: "...Didn't you say it was for her boyfriend to use it to pursue his dreams and make money? If he can make money, it shouldn't be a burden...right?"

"What's the point of making money? She was just afraid that her boyfriend would lose everything, so she worked like a workaholic looking for commercials to film, trying to cover for him so that even if he lost everything, she could still pat her chest and say, 'Don't worry, I still have money.'"

　A milestone of 1000 chapters! woc
　　
　
(End of this chapter)