Chapter 123: Everyone Has a Representative Work? I’m Not Convinced!
On North Fourth Ring Middle Road, the Olympic Building.
After a day-long meeting, Zhang Yimou had just returned to his office to rest. The wall clock showed eleven o’clock at night, but he wasn’t tired at all.
Suddenly.
Singing came from the opposite office.
“Your tears, fragile yet wounded.”
“The pale crescent moon hooks onto the past.”
“The night is too long, congealing into frost.”
“…”
“Isn’t this the main theme song of my movie, Chrysanthemum Terrace?” Zhang Yimou was stunned, slapped his thigh, and laughed, “Look at me, so busy, I forgot Jay Chou’s album was released.”
Zhang Yimou immediately abandoned his plan to leave and reopened his computer.
He searched for Chrysanthemum Terrace on Baidu and indeed, a “battle-damaged” version appeared.
It was the audio source that someone had secretly recorded.
But it didn’t matter, as long as there was something to listen to.
After listening to the entire song, Zhang Yimou felt refreshed.
He slapped the table and laughed, “Good! Zhang Liangying and Jay Chou sang well. This song will definitely be a hit. It’s perfect for promoting Curse of the Golden Flower. I need to tell my assistant to buy some promotional articles.”
The next day.
Chrysanthemum Terrace flooded the internet.
When Jay Chou saw it, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “It must be Zhang Yimou spending money on promotion again. Isn’t he busy with the Olympic opening ceremony? How does he have time to promote a song?”
Work is work, and making money is making money.
Zhang Yimou had a clear distinction.
Before Curse of the Golden Flower was officially released, his mind couldn’t rest; he thought about it every day.
…
A week after Still Fantasy was released, three songs, “A Thousand Miles Away,” “Chrysanthemum Terrace,” and “Listen to Mom,” entered the top ten of the new song charts on major music platforms.
Terrifying!
Especially “Chrysanthemum Terrace,” with the support of Zhang Liangying’s fans, it successively surpassed “Our Anniversary,” “Who Moved My Strings,” “Marry Me Today,” and “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky” to reach the number one spot!
And,
As the ten songs from Jay Chou’s album successively pushed their way up the charts, Zhou Bichang’s only song that entered the top ten was squeezed out.
And it never returned.
From 10th to 11th, then 12th, it dropped to 13th place in half an hour!
Zhou Bichang, sitting at home and constantly refreshing the charts, felt her heart break as she saw her song slide from 10th to 13th place.
Her hand gripping the mouse was trembling.
Feeling depressed until midnight, Zhou Bichang finally left a comment in the comment section of “Chrysanthemum Terrace”: “Heh, is it fun to buy your way to number one by manipulating the charts?”
Jay fans: “Hahaha, are Biqin still corn fans? The sourness is almost overflowing the screen.”
Liangfen fans: “Are the fans of both your groups staring at Liangying every day? You’re not on the same level anymore, no need to force yourselves to compete!”
Zhou Bichang: “Pfft… Quick, give me two pounds of pig’s blood to replenish my blood!”
Damn, the destructive power of words is immense!
Lying in bed with vacant eyes, Zhou Bichang deeply regretted participating in the 2005 Super Girl competition. If she hadn’t participated, she wouldn’t have encountered the shadow of her entire life.
…
Meanwhile.
Someone even more upset than Zhou Bichang had already appeared.
She was the runner-up of the 2005 Super Girl competition, Zhou Bichang’s fellow sufferer – Chun-Chun, Chun-ge, Li Yuchun.
She was going crazy.
She had been holding back for a whole year, exactly one year since the finals ended last August. The album she had been holding back for so long turned out to be this piece of garbage…
“Not a single good song!”
“Damn it, everyone has a representative work, why don’t I??”
“I’ve been set up by capital… Jin Peida, Xiao Ke, David Tao, they definitely didn’t write songs for me seriously. Not a single good one!”
“Ahhh, why does Zhou Bichang have ‘Who Moved My Strings’? If only this song were mine, I would have a representative work.”
“No, I can’t stay at Tianyu anymore, what a terrible place!!”
That night, Li Yuchun tossed and turned.
The next day, when her assistant called her to a fan signing event, she didn’t want to go out, “It’s too embarrassing, an album signing event for this album of mine. What if some Liangfen come to mock me…”
Assistant: “There are over a thousand people here now, all your die-hard fans. You have to go, Chun-Chun.”
Li Yuchun: “Only a thousand people? These fans are a bit weak~”
…
On the other side.
Shen Qing also noticed the speed at which “Chrysanthemum Terrace” was climbing the charts, it was incredibly fast, even faster than “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky,” and it hadn’t budged from the number one spot after reaching it.
Jaylen + Liangying, as expected, could dominate.
It was around this time that Sprite held an event in Beijing, where Jay Chou and Zhang Liangying signed a contract to become endorsers.
Sprite, cool and refreshing, makes your heart soar!
Many fans came to the event, it was almost a sea of people.
The head of Sprite China’s marketing team’s mouth was almost reaching the sky, “This endorsement is so worth it. Two top Chinese singers endorsing it, sales should skyrocket this year.”
On stage.
The media asked questions one after another.
After asking about Sprite-related questions, they moved on to gossip.
Reporter: “Jaylen, what are your estimated sales for your new album? Do you have confidence in surpassing Liangying?”
Jay Chou: “Haha, you’re putting pressure on me. My goal is just to exceed 2.7 million copies. Liangying’s 3.5 million is too terrifying, completely insurmountable.”
Reporter: “Liangying, your new album is released at the end of the month. Do you think it can surpass Jaylen’s Still Fantasy?”
Zhang Liangying: “You’re trying to pit us against each other… Sales are up to the market. Like Jaylen, I haven’t put too much pressure on myself.”
Reporter: “Liangying, recently fans of Zhou Bichang and Li Yuchun have been saying that your ‘The Brightest Star in the Night Sky’ and ‘Chrysanthemum Terrace’ bought their way onto the charts. What are your thoughts on this?”
Zhang Liangying: “Huh? Charts can be bought?”
Reporter: “Your new movies are starting almost simultaneously. Will they compete with each other?”
Jay Chou: “No, that won’t happen. Liangying’s ‘My People, My Country’ is a main theme work, scheduled for release during the Chinese New Year film season. My ‘Secret’ is a youth romance film, different content, possibly releasing next summer.”
…
During the days Zhang Liangying was attending events, Shen Qing also had a lot on his plate.
He not only had to oversee the progress of “My People, My Country” but also review the MVs for nine songs, excluding “Wish.”
The MV director for this project was the same collaborator as last time.
Kuang Sheng’s technical skills were undeniable, and the MVs were indeed well-made, fitting Shen Qing’s aesthetic requirements.
It was estimated that everything would be completed in another half a month. Then, a 4-minute and 30-second clip would be edited from the already filmed segments of “My People, My Country” to serve as the MV for “Wish,” completing the entire album’s production.
During this period, Shen Qing also took time to attend the finals of “Come On! Boys” and signed Xiao Jingteng, Deng Ziqi’s teammate, to his studio.
He and Deng Ziqi had almost completely dominated the stage of “Absolute Singing,” winning the championship with ease, requiring no songs written by Shen Qing.
Their opponents were simply too weak.
Even with Tan Weiwei, Shang Wenjie, and Yu Kewei, it was useless because their male partners were too mediocre and were completely outmatched by Xiao Jingteng.
Shen Qing’s promise to the two of them was to release their first album in the spring of next year. Before that, they could come to Beijing to study vocal techniques or return to Hong Kong and Taipei for studies.
Ultimately, Deng Ziqi returned to Hong Kong due to her studies. Shen Qing found her a vocal teacher, ensuring she studied for ten days each month.
As for Xiao Jingteng, he was wholeheartedly heading to Beijing.
Shen Qing asked him to come after October, at which point he would rent him an apartment in Beijing and have him learn from Liangying first.
Meanwhile, on Dragon TV’s “Come On! Boys,” the ultimate champion was Zhang Jie, the runner-up was Yu Haoming, and the third place was Xu Song.
Shen Qing had no urge to sign any of these individuals.
Less than a week after the finals concluded, Dragon TV transferred 4 million yuan in labor fees and 1 million yuan in song copyright usage fees to Shen Qing and Zhang Liangying.
Truly wealthy and powerful.
…
End of September.
The album, which had been in preparation for several months, finally reached the recording stage.
Early in the morning, Shen Qing and Zhang Liangying arrived at the factory.
Watching the CDs come off the assembly line one by one, Song Ke and Zhang Lu hugged each other excitedly.
Song Ke said with a smile, “Once this album is released, the Chinese music scene will be in turmoil again. I wonder how many people will lose sleep.”
Zhang Lu couldn’t contain his excitement and said, “Shen Qing put in ten layers of effort, I wonder if they can withstand it!”
Shen Qing: Actually, it didn’t take much effort.
After all, it was all ready-made.
On the last day of September, as people were immersed in the upcoming National Day holiday, Zhang Liangying’s fans were already on the move.
At the entrance of the largest audio-visual store in Xidan, when the staff arrived to open at eight o’clock, they were stunned by the crowd.
“Holy crap, this is ten times more terrifying than when Jay Chou’s album went on sale! Don’t these people have jobs?”
“It feels like it’s going to break records. This album will definitely set a new record.”
“I heard someone listened to it last night. Someone posted photos on Tieba, and the poster said it was all killer tracks!”
Wu Xiaotian, a second-year student at Beijing Sport University and the first to get his hands on the album, carefully placed the CD into his bag.
At 67 yuan per CD, he had to protect it meticulously. He planned to keep it as a souvenir.
Then, he opened the cassette tape of “Wish,” which cost over ten yuan, and eagerly put it into his portable player.
As the tape turned, a melodious tune filled the air.
He glanced at the song order on the cassette case and knew that the first song was “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky.”
He had heard this song on Baidu and liked it very much.
The band at his school had even performed it at the welcome party at the beginning of the month.
At first, he felt the song was more suited for a live performance.
But now, hearing the lossless audio quality coming from his headphones, Wu Xiaotian felt a shiver run down his spine.
“Holy crap, lossless audio quality really makes a difference!”
“Liangying’s voice is simply divine, as if touched by God.”
“I’m going back to the dorm to show off!”
An hour later, Wu Xiaotian returned to his dorm.
His roommates were still fast asleep.
He smiled faintly, then pressed the button, and the cassette tape began to whir.
Looking at the five bunk beds, three of them had posters of Zhang Liangying. The thought of their astonished expressions later made Wu Xiaotian want to laugh.
As the music started, the ears or eyes of the five roommates twitched slightly.
One near the door huffed and pulled the covers over his head, “Who is it, playing some damn song so early in the morning?! I’m not listening if it’s not Liangying!”
