Abstract Art Award Winner

Zhou Le had originally planned to go to bed early today.

But because of Naza's invitation, we stayed up until 2 a.m.

They said they'd play a few rounds, but in the end they only played two.

"Why are you so weak today?"

Zhou Le sighed, thinking that it wasn't that he was incapable, but his back ached from practicing dancing yesterday, and he also had a second round of drinks with Wu Jing, and then got up early to work all day.

Before coming, I practiced two units of foreign language with Saito Asuka.

"You can't blame me for this. Blame Brother Jing and the director of Joy of Life. If it weren't for them, I would be full of energy today, and I would have to get up early tomorrow."

Naza thought about it and felt that this reason was acceptable, otherwise this would not be in line with Zhou Le's usual style.

"Then go to sleep early, but do you want me to give you a massage before you go to bed?"

"also."

Zhou Le did not refuse, as he had some free time at the moment.

Although Naza's technique was a bit rough, Zhou Le still closed his eyes and enjoyed it.

And Naza is indeed a legitimate massage therapist.

They've known each other for so long, so their bond is naturally strong. Although neither of them has explicitly stated the final step, they both understand that it wouldn't do anyone any good to do so.

Even if Nazha herself doesn't care, he will still consider Zhou Le's current state, which is definitely not suitable for dating or marriage.

Moreover, Zhou Le has stated on multiple public occasions that he has no intention of dating, let alone getting married.

Or perhaps marriage is just another certificate or piece of paper for them—especially in the entertainment industry, where an extra certificate doesn't actually have much binding force.

Of all these people, how many can maintain that level of commitment?
It's just that it hasn't been made public yet.

Those who did apologize online were mostly just saying it for their fans.

Unless it's someone like Wen Zhang or Ma Yili, where one side relies on the other to develop, even though they've already achieved success, they still have to depend on the other's resources.

But now Nazha feels that she doesn't need to rely on Zhou Le to develop her career. As Tangren's top female star, she can work all year without rest if she wants.

And Zhou Le doesn't need to rely on himself at all.

After massaging for about ten minutes, Zhou Le grabbed Nazha's hand and pulled her to his pillow: "Okay, you're tired too, go to sleep. I'll come back in a few days when I'm more rested."

"Ah."

Naza was as docile as a Persian cat at that moment.

After Zhou Le closed his eyes, Nazha lay on her side looking at Zhou Le's face and gradually fell asleep as well.

Around 6 a.m. on the second day, Zhou Le got up, washed up, and then gently kissed Nazha on the forehead before leaving.

Before leaving, he sent a WeChat message to Nazha: "I'm leaving now. If you miss me after you wake up, send me a message."

I went out and found a small stall, where I ordered a bowl of tofu pudding and three fried dough sticks.

After finishing their meal, they drove to the hotel where Saito Asuka was staying.

"I've arrived and I'm in the parking lot. Call me when you're ready and I'll drive to the hotel entrance to pick you up."

"Onii-chan, wait for me for 5 minutes."

Saito Asuka noticed that Zhou Le seemed to really like the nickname "Onii-chan." Although it was a rather affectionate way of addressing someone in Japan, she felt that Chinese people seemed to like the term more.

So she simply started calling Zhou Le that—of course, only when typing on WeChat; she wouldn't dare call him that in front of strangers on the phone.

But in order for Zhou Le to understand, he specifically used a Chinese input method when typing.

Sure enough, Zhou Le couldn't help but smile when he saw it.

To be fair, Japanese girls are indeed cute. Saito Asuka's only flaw is that she has some slight imperfections in her mouth and teeth.

However, judging from the works of the teachers that Zhou Le has seen, this is a common problem, and overall, the merits outweigh the flaws.

After Saito Asuka got into the car with her manager, assistant, and translator, Zhou Lecai started talking about what happened yesterday.

"What's your opinion on what happened on the show yesterday?"

Saito Asuka thought for a moment: "I asked Yuki-nee, and she said that I'm going to film a movie and a TV series around that time next year. It was arranged beforehand."

"Oh, that's a real shame," Zhou Le exclaimed.

Seeing Zhou Le's expression, Saito Asuka quickly continued, "However, after September next year, I won't be doing anything else except going to events with Nogizaka9. If there are any events then, you can come, right, Yuki-nee?"

Yuki Yamada is Asuka Saito's manager.

They discussed this issue when they got up to do their makeup and eat breakfast in the morning. Although Yamada Yuki is a manager under Nogizaka46, she also felt that it would be great if Saito Asuka could expand into the Chinese market.

"Yes, if there are any events, Asuka can come and participate."

On the way, they chatted for a while about how to introduce themselves when they went to Bilibili's New Year's Eve gala.

The translator chimed in, "When you introduce yourself, I think it'll be simple: 'Hi everyone, I'm Saito Asuka.'"

Saito Asuka nodded; she knew this person well.

"Hello everyone, I'm Da Tou Fei Niao."

"It's Saito Asuka, not Dumb Asuka."

“Silly Asuka,” Saito Asuka said, enunciating each word carefully.

"It's okay, she's fine like this. After all, it's normal for foreigners to not speak standard Mandarin, and it even makes them look cute." Zhou Le felt that there was no need to correct her accent.

Anyway, everyone knows what it means. When Saito Asuka first posted a video on TikTok, the nickname "Dumb Asuka" quickly gained recognition.

Therefore, many people online now refer to him as "Daitou Asuka" instead of "Saito Asuka".

"Feiniao, let me ask you, have you been studying Chinese properly lately?"

Saito Asuka nodded proudly: "Yes, I studied very hard. You see, our conversation is no problem at all."

"What about Japanese?"

"Japanese? Japanese is my mother tongue, of course I know it."

Zhou Le smiled and asked, "So, how do you say 'Come on' in Japanese?"

Saito Asuka thought for a moment: "oioi?"

"How do you say 'nephew' in Japanese?"

“oioi”

Zhou Le had studied Japanese before and discovered that many Japanese texts contained Chinese characters, but also mixed in English.

But as he looked, he discovered something very interesting—many words had different pronunciations, but they sounded almost the same, and they were written exactly the same.

"How do you say 'many'?"

“oioi”

"What about the chase?"

“oioi”

"So if you put it all together, how do you say, 'Come on, chase your little nephew'?"

Saito Asuka: "???" "oioioioioioi..."

But as you talk, your brain starts to get confused. Even though you're saying the same thing, the intonation is different, so your tongue tends to wander.

The group laughed incessantly, and then the translator and agent sitting in the back also started making "oioi" sounds. For a moment, the car was filled with "oioi" noises.

"What are you doing? It's like the call didn't go through. Anyone who didn't know better would think you were arguing."

But after trying for five or six minutes, Saito Asuka finally managed to say it.

"How's it going? I'm pretty good, right?"

"I already said, Japanese is my mother tongue."

"Really?" Zhou Le smiled. "Then how do you say 'shoulder' in Japanese?"

“kata”.

"What about 'stiffness'?"

“kata i”.

"Then how should I say 'I bought a shoulder massager'?"

Saito Asuka: "???"

“ Katatakakakati”

She tried several more times before she was able to repeat it successfully.

Just when she thought Zhou Le hadn't stumped her, Zhou Le said again, "Then I bought a shoulder massager because my shoulders are stiff, but it's hard to use on my shoulders."

“Katakakatakatakiki Kata”

Suddenly, the short, difficult sentence turned into an extremely long, difficult sentence, leaving Saito Asuka completely dumbfounded.

She didn't know what kind of person could say such a thing.

She can remember Chinese sentences, but when she tries to speak Japanese, she often stumbles over her words.

She seemed to sense that her language system had been severely polluted.

The Japanese I've learned since elementary school seems completely different now, and the more I think about it, the more unfamiliar it feels.

He kept trying to talk in the back seat of the car, and in the end he got more and more anxious, and his face turned red.

"Haha, if we really can't explain it, let's stop practicing for now. We're almost there."

"I can definitely do it!" Saito Asuka was indeed anxious. She never expected to be put to an embarrassing situation by a Chinese person in terms of spoken Japanese.

Once she arrived at the rehearsal location, she could no longer think about tongue twisters.

However, when listening to the teacher explain how to sing the song, where to start, and what kind of emotion to use, Saito Asuka would inevitably think of those tongue twisters, which made her somewhat distracted.

Fortunately, Saito Asuka was very skilled, so even though she only absorbed part of what her teacher said, it didn't affect her final performance.

After the lyrics were assigned, everyone started practicing in the room.

Compared to professional singers, Zhou Le's singing ability may not have many advantages, but he excels in stability. As long as he doesn't use overly fancy techniques or hit high notes, he can handle them normally.

The song that Bilibili chose for them is called "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day".

It's a Japanese anime, and its full name is "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day".

However, the music director at Bilibili changed it into a Chinese-Japanese bilingual male-female duet version.

Zhou Le only needs to sing the male part, and his part has been changed to Chinese.

All you need to do when singing is to express your feelings, and the techniques involved aren't particularly difficult.

This is something Zhou Le, who has released songs before, can handle.

As for Saito Asuka, it's even simpler. Japanese is her native language, and this type of song is also her comfort zone.

So they practiced the song to perfection in just one day.

Before leaving that evening, the director told them that they should bring their makeup and costumes directly to the stage the next day to practice their blocking.

The next day, they came back to the site to practice their positioning and skills.

The director watched the two performers from a short distance away.

"Yes, when you two are singing, you can look at each other affectionately, and when you get to the chorus, you can hold hands and walk forward together."

"Take it easy. After all, this is a sweet song. Although the song itself is a bit sad, you can't act like that on stage. Just relax and have a sweet feeling."

They tried it again afterward. It wasn't difficult to act out that feeling in front of the director.

Both of them are actors, and expressing a variety of emotions in accordance with the lyrics is a basic skill for them.

The director was extremely satisfied: "Very good, then you guys start practicing, I'll go take a look over there."

In order to avoid any mishaps during the performance, Zhou Le's plan to take Saito Asuka to try some local delicacies in Beijing could not be fulfilled. Zhou Le himself also dared not eat anything indiscriminately, for fear that his condition would be not good and affect his performance.

No matter how abstract he may seem in everyday life, Zhou Le would never falter at a crucial moment.

Whether at various parties or on the set of a film shoot, Zhou Le would never allow himself to be the one who drags the team down.

Even if he makes a slight mistake, no one will say anything, but this is Zhou Le's own insistence.

However, afterward, the two rehearsed separately, and Zhou Le even tried singing in Japanese.

Saito Asuka was surprised: "You mean you can speak Japanese too?"

"Yes, I study it occasionally, but I feel that Japanese is quite simple. After learning the 50 sounds, it won't be long before you can communicate. For specific song lyrics like these, you just need to memorize them." Zhou Le indeed felt that it was very simple.

"That's amazing, but I feel like you don't have much of an accent when you sing in Japanese, at least I can't tell."

"Really? I guess each word has a specific melody when you sing."

"Really? But the translator said that I still have a very obvious accent when I speak Chinese, and you can tell I'm a foreigner at a glance."

"Then you sing?"

"Sing."

"Shall we try switching?"

"okay."

Later, they switched to Zhou Le speaking Japanese and Saito Asuka speaking Chinese.

After she finished singing, Saito Asuka asked nervously, "How was it?"

"She still has a slight accent, but she's already very good."

But Zhou Le was thinking: after recording the Bilibili New Year's Eve gala on the 16th and watching it on the evening of the 31st, he could post another duet with Saito Asuka, exchanging languages. Compared to Saito Asuka expanding into the Chinese market, Zhou Le was more interested in developing his own market in Japan.

On the one hand, it is true that developing new markets will bring more revenue, but Zhou Le also has the task of promoting culture.

If we can leverage our influence to promote Chinese culture in Japan, that would be of considerable value in united front work.

The same applies to when they wanted to sign Saito Asuka to their side.

On the surface, it appears to be helping the other party expand into the Chinese market and prevent domestic competitors from getting there first.

However, the actual impact of the other party's development here is far less significant than the ease with which Zhou Le spreads his culture through them. (End of Chapter)