Chapter 568: A Summer Night's Promise

"I knew Zhou Yi, that damn dog, couldn't hold back for long."

"Although I don't know Qin Lan, she does look beautiful in the photo, has a great figure, and is another up-and-coming little actress."

"To be honest, isn't the Sun's reach a bit too long? Following him all the way back there?"

"Damn it, where's the Apple Daily? Where's the Next Magazine? Is Li Fei Pig just staying home and cultivating his health? Zhou Yi is such a huge hot topic, and they don't even know to chase it?"

"Is it possible that Li Fei's people dare not enter Shangrao? That place is truly Zhou Yi's hometown; if he got beaten there, no one would help expose it..."

"Does Qian Yijun still dare to hit people?"

"Why not guess why Zhou Yi's haters call him 'Stick'?"

"..."

Unlike Huang Xiaoming's trembling hands and heart, after this news spread, netizens who had already refocused their attention on Zhou Yi due to the public opinion storm began discussing this annual peak production of Zhou Yi's scandals—

They even took an interest in commenting on Qin Lan.

Coincidentally, she had just officially announced the broadcast of 'My Fair Princess 3'; many who criticized the show for its complete cast overhaul began discussing this drama, which faced boycotts from original cast fans due to the actor changes, with the mindset of seeing what kind of person this woman really is.

"Am I the only one concerned about that Japanese star named Masami Nagasawa? She's already 16 years old."

"You can't communicate in the same language, so your concern is useless. That Masami Nagasawa can't even speak English properly, only simple 'hello' and self-introductions; how can she have a deep exchange with Zhou Yi?"

"Zhou Yi doesn't understand Japanese either; didn't you see that during his previous fan meeting in Japan, he specifically used homophonic annotations to sing his responses to Japanese fans?"

"It's said Zhou Yi was even invited to give a speech at his alma mater; damn it, that kid is showing off again."

"How did you know I would be at Shangrao No. 1 High School on Friday, September 12, 2003, at 10:08 AM, watching Zhou Yi's performance up close?"

"Who asked you?!"

"..."

Because Zhou Yi himself does not accept commercial performances, his public appearances are basically limited to album promotion periods, concerts, and fan meetings. Although this inadvertently elevated Zhou Yi's status, it also left many fans complaining about this decision, yet helpless.

Scarcity makes things precious; the entire Warner—no, it should be said the entire Mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan entertainment industries—only Zhou Yi does this.

"The Old Zhou family really has their ancestral grave emitting green smoke."

"Exactly, it's said that upon returning this time, Zhou Yi directly sent money to widen and renovate all the roads inside and outside Zhou Village, even repairing the ancestral hall, and donated a lot of money to renovate the school."

"So glorious?"

"Yes, the couple Zhou Yaoguo and Zhao Ping now have mouths that can't stop smiling from ear to ear; their small supermarket is packed with people every day, and even county leaders and city leaders came specially..."

"They raised a good son..."

"..."

As the 'business' opened by Zhou Yi's father, Yaoguo Convenience Supermarket became a venue visited by many crew members driving over since Zhou Yi returned to Shangrao, with business turnover rising straight up.

The elderly couple, having experienced this kind of treatment after Zhou Yi's previous explosion of fame, were now veterans, focusing on handling things with ease, even chatting with people anytime, anywhere.

Masami Nagasawa and Arakawa Yui, who joined in the fun, although unable to communicate in the same language, could occasionally gesture and guess with the help of a translator. Newspapers in the county and city featured positive news related to Zhou Yi on their front pages for consecutive days, creating a presence that was absolutely maxed out.

When Zhou Yi was filming, many people who came by fame to watch would gather around, including many of his old classmates, which made Zhou Yi feel a bit embarrassed—

After all, back then, they had a conjugate father-son relationship of "I am your father," "I am your father."

"Cut!"

Under the gaze of a huge crowd inside and outside the industry, chief director Ning Hao shouted "Cut" from behind the monitor, and the confused Arakawa Yui, who was at a loss, looked up blankly—

This was a scene of strolling along a country path outside the school; with fields on one side and a ditch on the other, she had forgotten to withdraw her hand, which was holding Zhou Yi's.

"OK, that take was good."

Ning Hao made an OK gesture, and only then did Arakawa Yui, as if waking from a dream, realize she was still tightly holding her idol's hand; she hurriedly pulled it out, then habitually bowed to the crew members around her: "Arigato, everyone worked hard, Arigato gozaimasu..."

This was a habit rooted in her bones, only the tone sounded soft and sticky.

Masami Nagasawa, wearing mature makeup, a T-shirt, and hot shorts, responsible for playing the grown-up version, would also express thanks, but her tone and confidence were relatively less humble, belonging to the lively type of an energetic girl.

It was quite fitting for their respective backgrounds—one was still an obscure Japanese little model, the other was already a Japanese popular super new star.

"Hai, Zhou Yi Jun, this is the afternoon tea I prepared for you."

As soon as Arakawa Yui's scene filming ended, Masami Nagasawa, who had been waiting nearby early with a small basket, immediately ran to Zhou Yi, smiling and showing off her attentiveness; she held the basket handles high in front of the latter, and finally mixed in a half-learned three-character Chinese phrase—

"Xiawucha."

Since cooperating with Zhou Yi, Masami Nagasawa and Arakawa Yui, besides English, occasionally learned some simple Chinese vocabulary privately—

No choice; compared to English, Chinese is simply too difficult.

Even if they could understand some Chinese characters, they really didn't know the pronunciation, so they still had to learn.

"Great, thank you, Yui."

In the basket, a clearly carefully arranged transparent lunch box contained several sandwiches; she was thoughtful.

After a short break, when it was Masami Nagasawa's turn for her scene, the two had become adults returning home together.

Masami Nagasawa, who is 1.68 meters tall, broke the 1.7-meter mark after putting on high-top canvas shoes; holding Zhou Yi's arm, she walked along that country path, looking like a matching scenic line—

Only their conversation was one speaking Japanese and the other speaking Chinese, which directly caused Zhou Yi to burst into laughter several times, forcing several retakes during the hugging scenes.

"Eh, Zhou Yi Jun, are you trying to take advantage of me?"

Infected by the cheerful atmosphere, Masami Nagasawa rolled her eyes, pretending to be angry in a mischievous way, her eyes full of cunning: "If it's Zhou Yi Jun, then it's not impossible~"

Zhou Yi, who was laughing, couldn't help but look her up and down; the latter proudly puffed out her chest and lifted her head—

She developed early; she definitely had size. Plus, her long legs had a great proportion; under the contrast of the T-shirt and hot shorts, striking a pose easily created strong visual impact.

"Sigh, what a pity."

Zhou Yi shook his head, unable to help but sigh: "If it were Gakki, that would be so good."

Masami Nagasawa: "???"

Arakawa Yui, who had been sitting quietly aside after the previous filming: "????"

"Ahhh!!!!"

Masami Nagasawa, who was livening up the atmosphere, spent the whole day being teased by Zhou Yi into screaming like a ground squirrel all over the set; Arakawa Yui, who always sat quietly aside after finishing the corresponding scenes, would unconsciously watch her idol who was "bullying and suppressing" Masami Nagasawa, a silly smile flowing across her face.

"I never expected you to be this kind of Zhou Yi! I want to learn Chinese! I want to learn Chinese to scold you!" by Masami Nagasawa.

"In dreams, anything is possible. You stumble over English, yet you want to learn Chinese? I could learn Japanese with my butt and still be more reliable than you learning Chinese with your brain." — Zhou Yi.

"Impossible! I don't believe it! Then I'll teach you Japanese, and you teach me Chinese. Let's see who learns faster!"

A hint of triumph flashed in Masami Nagasawa's eyes, and then, holding her head high, she made her wager—

Compared to Yui Aragaki, who hadn't even entered the circle yet and was just a little white rabbit, she had already been struggling and fighting in the entertainment industry for two and a half years.

Shooting one MV wasn't enough to tighten the bond between her and Zhou Yi, but she could simply stack on top of that.

Before coming to China, she had heard from her Toho agent that in the coming years, ties between China and Japan across all sectors would become very close; the official China-Japan song gala, already confirmed to restart in the future, would even have the Japanese ambassador publicly stand in support to deliver congratulatory remarks, and would attend in person—

This meant her market could expand into China with Zhou Yi's help.

This May, at the World Table Tennis Championships, the Japanese table tennis newcomer Ai Fukuhara, who lost to China's female table tennis player Zhang Da-Mo-Wang, was an example worth learning from.

On September 10, Teachers' Day, Zhou Yi paused the final stage of filming for the "Qi Li Xiang" MV, carried the three-piece gift set, and gave his former homeroom teachers and subject teachers the treatment of being featured in the newspaper—

"That scene was truly drums booming, firecrackers exploding, red flags waving, and a sea of people."

Sitting on a small stool on the set, the returned Zhou Yi, with his legs crossed, described the scene with an air of being lost in it—Masami Nagasawa and Yui Aragaki, the two of them, squatted on the steps to his left; the former propped her cheek with one hand, the latter with both hands, both blinking their big eyes as they listened to him brag.

"Zhou Yi Jun, ni hao sao a."

Hearing the climax, the two girls, deeply poisoned by Zhou Yi, clapped from the bottom of their hearts; Masami Nagasawa's excited teasing slipped out directly—

Zhou Yi, who had just been speaking with great momentum, immediately choked up. He turned his head to look at these two foreign friends who were saying this while clapping for him. For a moment, he didn't know whether to speak or not, his facial features contorted in frustration...

"Haha!"

Qin Lan and the translator couldn't hold it back; their expression management instantly failed, and they laughed extra loudly.

The Heavenly Dao has cycles; it's karma!

"Your Chinese is quite good; Johnny Depp would surely agree." Qin Lan, smiling like a flower, gave a thumbs-up to the two girls who didn't understand.

"Go, go, go. Have you finished your solo scenes yet, coming here to cause trouble? Get over there."

Zhou Yi raised his hand and slapped away her thumb, his disdain evident; he then turned his head and began teaching these two Japanese friends the real Chinese for praising people—things like "super handsome," "cool to death," "I love you to death," and so on, focusing entirely on narcissism.

The two Japanese friends were stunned, so much so that they were just short of two stiff hairs standing up on their heads to serve as antennas.

The relaxed and harmonious atmosphere of the film set warmed people's hearts.

Zhou Yi's film set left a very beautiful impression on the two women, who were working abroad for the first time—

For Masami Nagasawa, Zhou Yi's personality was indeed very much to her liking.

It would have been even better if Zhou Yi hadn't said that teasing remark.

Fortunately, it was said in China; no one in Japan knows about it.

Pity she has to return to Japan.

Her time in China this time was limited; she had to return to Japan soon to participate in the roadshow promotion for her own movie. Fortunately, she still had a chance.

Moreover, next time she films as the female lead, it will be just her alone, without so many lightbulbs, and she will be able to teach Zhou Yi Japanese properly.

"Zhou Yi Jun, then it's a deal. In the future, when you have time, I will teach you Japanese, and you will teach me Chinese."

In the "Qi Li Xiang" film set after filming the night scenes, Masami Nagasawa, seemingly afraid Zhou Yi would forget, extended her right hand and hooked her little finger—

Under the envious gaze of Yui Aragaki, who sat quietly aside, the agreement was sealed under the moonlight.

"It's a deal."