Huayu 1992, my entertainment era

"I'm much better now. I'll be discharged from the hospital in a few days. Thank you for making this special trip, brother."

Zhou Ziheng couldn't force him to get up, so he smiled and thanked him.

Zhang Guorong also brought some gifts to visit the patients. After putting the things down, he smiled and replied:

"We are friends after all. I would feel bad if I didn't come."

Zhou Ziheng nodded inwardly after hearing this.

No wonder Leslie Cheung has so many friends in this circle.

This level of emotional intelligence and this way of dealing with people are something that ordinary people can't learn.

There were three succubi in the entertainment industry during this period.

One is Anita Mui, one is Andy Lau, and the other is Leslie Cheung.

The three of them are well-known in the circle for having many friends.

Among them, Andy Lau can become a good guy and an evergreen in the circle, to a certain extent, by learning from Leslie Cheung's way of dealing with people.

You know what, this kind of good thing is really worth learning.

Andy Lau, who has learned the essence of it, has benefited a lot from it.

Leslie Cheung was very busy, he must have come here during his free time from filming.

After sitting for a while, he was about to leave.

Seeing that he was about to leave, Zhou Ziheng simply told him about the idea of ​​forming a group.

"Leon Lai and I want to form a group, tentatively it will be four people, Leon Lai and I represent the present, and we need a singer to represent the past and a singer to represent the future.

Brother, are you interested?"

"Group?" Leslie Cheung, who was about to leave, showed an interested look when he heard this and sat down again.

"Yes, we formed a team that would not affect each other's work.

We might release one or two albums, and if we have time, we can go on a few concert tours together.

Originally, Liming and I wanted to play together just the two of us, but then we thought it would be better to add two more people.

That’s why I thought of you, brother! You and A-Lun are the only singers in Hong Kong who are suitable to represent the past.”

After listening to Zhou Ziheng's explanation, Leslie Cheung became more interested.

He asked, "Do you write the songs for the group's record?"

"Of course!" Zhou Ziheng said with a smile.

For a singer, people are more interested in the songs he writes than his record sales.

Zhang Guorong did not answer immediately, but hesitated for a while before saying:
"I need to go back and talk to my agent, you know, I work a lot and need to adjust.

There is also the issue of the copyright of my songs. The copyrights of many of my songs are in the hands of China Star and PolyGram.

It's definitely no problem for me to sing it myself, but if it's a group singing, I need to negotiate with them."

"There's no rush. Take your time. Call me back when you have news."

"That's for sure. I'll give you an answer whether I can come or not. If I don't come, you can find someone else as soon as possible."

……

Although staying in the hospital is boring, for Zhou Ziheng, this is actually a rare rest time.

He was able to get out of bed in early October.

So, with the help of Cecilia Cheung, he would get out of bed and walk around the hospital from time to time. (Actually, he didn't need help)
Watching fellow patients in the hospital play chess and brag every day is actually a kind of enjoyment.

Very quiet and comfortable.

On October 12, Zhou Ziheng was discharged from the hospital.

On the day he was discharged from the hospital, in addition to the people from the company and the "Flash Point" crew who came to pick him up, a large number of reporters and fans also gathered at the door.

"My injury has recovered and I will be back to work soon. Thank you to the media friends and fans for your concern during this period. Thank you everyone!"

During this period, the media may be the ones who care most about Zhou Ziheng's condition, besides his relatives and friends.

There are people guarding the hospital entrance almost every day.

Several hospital staff even managed to break through the heavy guards and sneak into Zhou Ziheng's ward.

Even Zhou Ziheng had to admit that each of these reporters had the potential to be an agent.

"Hengheng, you must protect yourself!"

"We will always be with you!"

"Hengheng, we love you!"

Compared to the impure motives of journalists, the motives of fans are much purer.

They really care about Zhou Ziheng.

During the time when Zhou Ziheng was hospitalized, after the news spread, fans also came to the hospital every day.

Many of them even sent Zhou Ziheng a lot of gifts through the hospital and the company.

There are flowers, Chinese medicine, and various other greeting cards filled with blessings.

According to people in the company, there were tens of thousands of letters just asking about his condition.

There are from all regions.

Even fans in Japan rushed to Hong Kong to visit him after hearing the news.

"Thank you, thank you all for your concern!"

At the hospital entrance, Zhou Ziheng walked towards the fans, interacted with them cordially and took photos.

These fans are really cute.

Even though he had only shaken his hand, he seemed extremely excited.

Shouting, "I shook hands with Zhou Ziheng, ah! I shook hands with Zhou Ziheng..."

Zhou Ziheng interacted with fans for nearly an hour in total.

Seeing that more and more people were gathering, he got into the car and left amid the reluctant gazes of his fans.

Although "Flash Point" was still being filmed after Zhou Ziheng was injured, there were not many scenes to shoot.

It can almost be said that after Zhou Ziheng was injured, the crew came to a standstill.

Therefore, after being discharged from the hospital, Zhou Ziheng naturally returned to the crew as soon as possible.

It can't be delayed any longer.

The longer you delay, the greater the cost.

Not to mention the equipment of the crew, most of the behind-the-scenes staff are paid on a daily basis.

If there is no filming for a day, the staff’s food, drink, and daily expenses alone will cost a huge amount of money.

So after Zhou Ziheng was discharged from the hospital, the crew of "Flash Point" immediately started working again.

Let’s continue with the previous shooting.

However, Zhou Ziheng still listened to Florence Hui's advice and didn't work so hard when filming the action scenes.

After all, he is not a real martial arts star who makes a living by fighting, so there is no need for him to work as hard as Jackie Chan and others.

For him, being able to fight would only be the icing on the cake.

For now, the huge fan base is actually his most solid foundation.

……

There isn’t much drama left in “Flash Point” itself.

Although the subsequent shooting was delayed for a few days because Zhou Ziheng needed to adapt, the shooting speed was quickly increased after it got on track.

By late October, all scenes for the film were completed.

In this way, Zhou Ziheng can finally get out of it temporarily.

Although he needs to supervise the post-production, it's basically nothing to do.

After the filming finished, Zhou Ziheng invited everyone in the crew to a farewell dinner, and used the remaining money from the filming to give each member of the crew a big red envelope.

This caused everyone to exclaim, "Mr. Zhou is so awesome."

In early November, Zhou Ziheng attended two concerts of Leon Lai.

Participated as a friend.

Prior to this, at the instruction of Zhou Ziheng, the media carried out large-scale publicity on this matter.

This made the number of people attending Leon Lai's two concerts break the record of the number of people attending Leon Lai's concerts in history, with a total of 80,000 people attending the two concerts. With two superstars on the same stage, the attention was immediately maximized.

Zhou Ziheng sang many songs in these two concerts.

He was on stage with Leon Lai almost the entire time.

It is rich in content and can be called the most among all the concerts he has attended.

This matter even caused Faye Wong to keep calling Zhou Ziheng to nag her.

They asked me whether we were friends or not, why didn't I come to support my concert or something like that.

In response to this, Zhou Ziheng could only say that he would definitely go to her concert and sing a few more songs next time he had the chance.

In fact, Zhou Ziheng has participated in Faye Wong’s concerts over the past few years.

He attended more than once.

But each time I only sing one or two songs.

And this time, Leon Lai just spent normal time with him.

This is almost no longer a concert by Leon Lai, but a concert by Zhou Ziheng and Leon Lai alone.

This is why Faye Wong was unhappy.

She was jealous that Zhou Ziheng sang for so long at Leon Lai's concert, but was a bit perfunctory at her own concert.

On November 8th, Liming ended his concert tour and Zhou Ziheng is temporarily out of work.

He doesn't plan to release a solo album in the short term, so he has some free time.

And Leslie Cheung, who decided to join the group "Era-defining" after careful consideration.

The three of them got together.

The main purpose of the gathering is to celebrate the group "Era-Landing".

In addition to the three of them, the record company behind them also sent people over.

Three people who hold a pivotal position in the Chinese music scene are going to form a group.

This is of great importance to the record company behind the trio.

Among these three, any one of them is one of the best in the music industry.

Each individual record can sell for millions.

Not to mention, there is Zhou Ziheng, whose record sales rank first in Asia and are among the best in the world.

Emi, Rolling Stones, Sony.

As soon as the heads of the three companies arrived, they disliked each other and began to disagree over the distribution of the record.

Emi said, I am a leading figure in the world, no doubt about it, after the formation of this group, the record will be released by us.

People from Sony said, you are talking nonsense, Sony almost bought the United States, how can you compare to our strength.

Although the Rolling Stones are not strong enough, they also have something to say: No one understands the Chinese music scene better than me, and I am the eternal god of the Chinese music scene.

Seeing the people from the three record companies arguing, Zhou Ziheng couldn't stand it anymore and said directly:
"I invited you here to discuss the distribution of work. If you keep pushing me, forget about releasing the album. We can just do it ourselves."

Zhou Ziheng really wasn't joking.

If he really wants to do it himself, he can do it.

Hengdong Records is now growing in strength. Although it may be a bit strenuous to be responsible for this superstar-level group, if you put in some effort, the worst that can happen is that the resources are a little lacking.

After being confronted by Zhou Ziheng, the people from the three companies stopped talking and just sat there quietly as if the argument had never happened.

After everyone quieted down, Zhou Ziheng spoke.

“The best way is for several companies to jointly set up a new company to be in charge of our group.

Before that, I have something to say in advance.

First of all, the three of us need to have a share in this new company.

Then, if I release a record in the future, I will definitely be responsible for the songs and the copyright will belong to me.

Then, the [Era-defining] brand belongs to the three of us and has nothing to do with you."

The person in charge of Sony is called An Chengwei. Hearing this, he couldn't help but frowned, "According to what you said, wouldn't we get nothing? Why did we set up a company for you in vain?"

"What do you want? Do you want the brand [Era-defining] or the copyright of my song?"

Zhou Ziheng asked back.

“You can own the brand, but I can’t give you all the copyrights of the songs.

I know that you have great creative talent, Mr. Zhou, but that doesn't mean we must have your songs.

We can ask other people to write songs.

We have a lot of songs in our Sony library.”

"Haha!" Hearing what he said, Zhou Ziheng couldn't help but look at Liming, "Anyway, you only signed the record distribution rights with Sony, so get rid of them and let's have fun on our own!"

Hearing Zhou Ziheng's words, An Chengwei's expression suddenly changed, and he said hurriedly, "Mr. Zhou is too anxious, I'm just making a suggestion!"

“Three of you, we three are not actually your contracted singers. At best, we have just signed the record contract with you.

We are free.

To put it bluntly, even if the three of us leave you behind, we can still have fun.

But we are not the type of people who want to eat alone, so we’ll drag you into this.

I don’t want you to use the same tactics you used to exploit ordinary singers on us.”

After a pause, Zhou Ziheng continued, "You do not have the group's brand or song copyrights, but you can still make money.

The group's records will be distributed by this record company. Apart from the share of the three of us, the rest will be the company's profit.

For you, it is nothing more than investing some money, and the rate of return is actually very high.”

"How much share do you want?" asked the man sent by the Rolling Stones.

"Sixty percent, the group takes sixty percent, and the remaining forty percent is for you. You are responsible for the distribution."

Zhou Ziheng, Leon Lai and Leslie Cheung looked at each other, and Zhou Ziheng spoke.

"Impossible, it's too high. You guys already have a share of the company, and the group also takes such a high share. We won't make any money at all."

Emi's people shook their heads without even thinking about it.

"Forget it, let's play by ourselves!"

Seeing this, Zhou Ziheng spoke directly.

Hearing this, the three people from the record companies smiled bitterly and looked at each other.

They were really being manipulated.

But there's nothing we can do about it.

The three people in front of you are already the top in the industry.

Even if you don't want those three companies, you can play it yourself.

The reason we called them up was simply because we valued their channels and strength in various regions.

"That's what you said! But we need to renegotiate the share of this record company."

"You guys can talk to our agent about this! By the way, my agent will also talk to you about Hengdong."

Zhou Ziheng said this and stood up.

Regarding the company's share, it is best to let the agent negotiate.

But their agents have reached a consensus that the three of them will occupy at least 20% of the company's shares in the name of epoch-making.

Zhang Guorong and Liming also quickly stood up and left the room with Zhou Ziheng.

In the afternoon, the company's shares were discussed.

The new record company invested a total of 10 million.

It was divided into five parts, with Epochal, Rolling Stone, Emi, Sony, and Hengdong Records each holding 20%, and each investing 2 million to form a [Superstar Records]

The 10 million will be used for record production and promotion.

The copyright of the song belongs to Zhou Ziheng, and the group's brand belongs to Zhou Ziheng, Leslie Cheung and Leon Lai.

Then, after the album is released, the group will take 60% first, and the remaining 40% will go to Superstar Records.

(End of this chapter)