Huayu: The Big Players Behind the Scenes

"Hey, not bad! You two, you're finally together?"

At Alfa Records, Jay Chou saw the two holding hands without any attempt to hide it, and a hint of envy flashed in his eyes. If he had known that dating would be so troublesome, he would have preferred to stay behind the scenes, at least there would have been no paparazzi.

"I saw envy in your eyes."

Zhuang Huai'an raised his hand and waved it, saying with a hint of smugness, "And I bet you're thinking to yourself, 'Wow, it was so much better working behind the scenes back then, I didn't have to hide my relationship.'"

"Damn it!"

Jay Chou jumped up from his chair in shock, shielding his assistant, Da Ni, in front of him. "How did you know that? Are you a human or a ghost?"

"Lin Bei is definitely a human being!"

"Oh dear, my young master has started swearing."

"You talk really rudely."

After exchanging a few playful insults, the two burst into laughter and playfully punched each other on the shoulder. That's how inexplicable male friendships can be, leaving Liu Yifei, who was standing nearby, completely bewildered.

"You've come at the perfect time! Come in, let me show you my new album, it's awesome!"

Jay Chou led the two into a room where copper wires were laid out in a grid pattern on the floor, four speakers hung in the four corners of the ceiling, and seven or eight professional equipment racks were placed on the wall facing the door. Two huge speakers stood on either side, exuding an air of extravagance.

"This is a music room that I spent a lot of money to build, with top-of-the-line sound systems. Sit down and have a listen."

Jay Chou pressed Chuang Huai-an onto the sofa in the middle, turned around and walked to the CD player, put in a vinyl record, and a melody of music box and cello came out, which was one of the top masterpieces in the Chinese music scene, "The Seventh Chapter of the Night"!

Although he had heard it many times, Zhuang Huai'an was still immersed in it. After this song, it was "Far Away". When he heard Fei Yuqing's voice, he felt an electric current run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

Wow! That's fucking amazing! Compared to Jay Chou's duet, it's like listening to celestial music, my ears are instantly enlightened. This sound system is truly something else.

After the two songs finished playing, Zhuang Huai'an came to his senses and looked at Jay Chou with a blank expression. "Didn't you say it was a whole album? Is that all?"

"The others are still in production, but let's get these two lead singles out first," Jay Chou asked impatiently, "Huai'an, aren't I awesome?"

"If you have this on you, I'll have to take a look."

"No, I mean, look how amazing I am!"

"The arrangement is unbeatable, the lyrics are great, and the singing is very distinctive," Zhuang Huai'an commented. "But my favorite part is still Xiao Ge's, the sense of story just comes through."

"This guy is really talented; this song was even custom-made for him by Vincent Fang!"

Jay Chou immediately perked up and gossiped, "You don't know, when the guy came to record, he almost nailed it in one take. When he came out of the recording studio, his eyes were red. Actually, there's a story behind it..."

He was referring to the story of Fei Yu-ching's girlfriend, something Fei himself had mentioned on a show, so it wasn't exactly a secret.

"Ah, this young man is so pitiful..." Liu Yifei, with her delicate emotions, listened with tears in her eyes. She really couldn't believe that the gentle and refined Fei Yuqing, who was sometimes quirky, had such a relationship.

Zhuang Huai'an gently patted Liu Yifei's hand. He was also very emotional. Just as the lyrics say, perhaps love shouldn't be too distant in a silent era.

Speaking of which, his favorite song by Jay Chou is "Far Away".

After calming his girlfriend down, the three of them walked out of the sound room, just as Fang Wenshan was walking towards them. After some introductions, they went into his office to make tea.

"Lun, give me a list of your sound systems. I want to get one too and play around with it."

Just as Jay Chou was about to agree, an idea popped into his head: he had finally managed to get a hardcore fan to join him, so he had to rip him off.

"No way, you're so rich, this equipment isn't good enough for you. Let me do some research and get you a top-of-the-line set, so I can enjoy it when I go to Beijing."

"Alright, you can do whatever you want with it."

Zhuang Huai'an saw through Jay Chou's little scheme at a glance, but he didn't care. How expensive could a sound system be? Fifty million? One hundred million?

The grown-up Jay Chou was completely unaware of the power of the dog tycoon.

While sipping his tea, Zhuang Huai'an couldn't resist making a joke.

"Lun, as the ancients said, a true man is born between heaven and earth; how can he remain subservient to others for long? With all your skills, do you really want to work under Wu Zongxian for the rest of your life?"

"No, I'm going solo next year."

Thinking about his bright future, Jay Chou was delighted. "I've already reached an agreement with Brother Xian. After releasing this album, I'll terminate my contract with Alfa."

"Leaving with nothing?"

"No, of course they'll take the copyright!"

Jay Chou explained, "When I signed the contract, my dad was careful and insisted on keeping the song copyright under my personal name. I'm so grateful to him, otherwise I would have suffered a huge loss."

"Huh? Didn't you have a bad relationship with your uncle? You even wrote a diss song about him?" Zhuang Huai'an asked, somewhat puzzled.

"I know, I know."

Before Jay Chou could speak, Liu Yifei, who had regained her composure, said, "That song, 'Dad, I'm Back,' was just a song Jay Chou wrote to reflect social phenomena; it wasn't based on his real experiences. You even wrote 'In the Name of the Father' specifically to explain that, right?"

"Yifei is absolutely right!"

Jay Chou gave Zhuang Huai'an an annoyed look. "You don't even know about this? You're such a fake fan!"

"I have to correct you, I'm a fan, not a 'fan'," Zhuang Huai'an emphasized. "I'm not a mini-fan, so I don't count as a 'fan'!"

"Fine, fine, I'm just a small-time artist, I can't argue with a big director like you." Jay Chou was too lazy to pay attention to him, and he didn't know how this somewhat unserious friend managed to make a healing trilogy.

Zhuang Huai'an: Of course, I'll keep the happiness for myself!

After lunch, the young couple got up to say goodbye, as they still had to take a trip to South Korea.

Zhuang Huai'an's plan was simple: since he hadn't won the Best Actress award for his girlfriend, he would use the prestige of his Grand Slam victory to build up a sufficient fan base for her and prepare for her future career transition.

After "The Return of the Condor Heroes" went overseas, Liu Yifei gained considerable fame in both countries, where she was hailed as the new generation's "Goddess of Geeks." South Korea went even further, calling Liu Yifei "the most beautiful woman in the three thousand years of Goguryeo."

I have no idea where South Korea traces its ancestry, nor do I know when they started counting their three thousand years.

They spent four or five days traveling between the two countries. Promoting the movie was just a side thing; the real trip was a vacation for the young couple.

Afterwards, Liu Yifei returned to Beijing to rest, while Zhuang Huai'an returned to Taiwan again.

After this episode of "Variety Big Brother" aired, the entire Taiwanese entertainment industry was in an uproar. Xiao Qiang, who had been semi-retired due to a scheme orchestrated by the capital behind Kurosawa Chih-lin, returned to the top tier of entertainment just because of a single sentence from Chuang Huai-an. She was inundated with invitations to various programs and shows.

Zhang Shi and Jia Jingwen have firmly established themselves as top-tier actors in the province, while Chen Chuhe has risen directly from an unknown actor to a new generation of idol male god in Taiwan. This is due to Zhuang Huai'an's influence, as well as the support of Da Laodun.

In a certain place, Kurosawa Shirin watched Xiao Qiang's elegant posture on TV, her teeth almost grinding to powder. She had painstakingly imitated Xiao Qiang and finally managed to be pushed to the position of the most beautiful woman, but because of one person and one sentence, she fell off a cliff.

"Damn bitch! These things should have been mine!"

Kurosawa Shirin's face was distorted, making her appear even more ferocious compared to Xiao Qiang on the screen.