"So, what exactly happened?"
After seeing Lin Yue off, Xu Qingqiu finally found her chance. She grabbed Chu Tian, insisting he explain himself.
"Haha, would you believe if I said it’s for the new album?"
"New album? Shouldn’t you be recording songs for a new album? Why do I need to learn Cantonese... Cantonese? Are you saying there’s going to be a Cantonese song in the new album?"
Xu Qingqiu was genuinely surprised. She had only heard that Chu Tian was going to produce a new album for her. Given the success of the last one, she had no doubts about his abilities. But no matter what, she had never expected it to include Cantonese songs. "You can write Cantonese songs too?"
"Haha, I know a little," Chu Tian said, a hint of smugness in his voice as he saw her astonished expression.
This only served to annoy Xu Qingqiu further. "You ’know a little’? Can you even speak Cantonese? And you’re writing Cantonese songs?"
As if afraid Chu Tian would do sothing reckless, Xu Qingqiu said anxiously, "Cantonese isn’t the sa as Chinese. The pronunciation and sentence structure are different. It’s not just a matter of singing in Cantonese to make it a Cantonese song."
After all, she had been in the industry for several years and knew a fair bit about these things. "You know, many Cantonese songs can’t be directly translated into Mandarin. In most cases, the Mandarin and Cantonese versions have completely different lyrics."
Seeing her worried expression, Chu Tian just smiled. He waited until she finished before explaining, "Of course, I know that. Don’t worry. You focus on learning it for now. Once I’ve written the song, you can take a look, alright? If it works, you sing it. If not, we’ll just find another one."
Chu Tian’s confidence didn’t just stem from the system; much of it ca from his own abilities. After all, in his previous life, he had planned to expand his influence to the south. Even the countries in the South Asian Archipelago were very receptive to Cantonese. Any singer aspiring to make an impact on the Asian music scene couldn’t afford to ignore Cantonese. Consequently, Chu Tian’s own Cantonese proficiency was very high. He could communicate flawlessly on Hong Kong Island, and many celebrities there found it difficult to detect any accent when chatting with him. This was the true source of his confidence.
He was confident, but Xu Qingqiu wasn’t. "If you can’t even speak Cantonese, where does this confidence co from? Don’t try to force it. It wouldn’t be good if you ended up being ridiculed."
She said this out of concern for Chu Tian. The official announcent of his concert had catapulted him from obscurity into the lilight almost overnight. Although so fans, drawn by his looks, were quite supportive—and he had indeed gained a considerable following—the general online sentint towards him was poor. Many people constantly cursed him and gave him various derogatory nicknas. Terms like "kept man" and "pretty boy" were among the mildest insults; attacks on his family and ancestry were far more vicious. If he were now accused of writing nonsensical songs and provoked a backlash from the Cantonese market, it would put Chu Tian at an even greater disadvantage. Even though his identity as a lyricist and composer hasn’t been revealed, he’d still be the one getting cursed, right? Who could stand being attacked from both sides?
But Chu Tian seed unconcerned. "Who said I don’t speak Cantonese? I never claid I couldn’t."
"What? You can speak Cantonese? When did you learn it? How co I don’t know?" Xu Qingqiu was genuinely astounded now. He’s been under my nose all these years, hasn’t he? How could he have done sothing like this without knowing?
"I taught myself. Did you think I’ve been lazing around all these years? How hard can learning Cantonese be?"
Hearing this, Xu Qingqiu felt there might be so truth to it. She reflected for a mont. True, Chu Tian has always been around, but I didn’t see him all the ti during his university days. And it’s not like I watched his every move, every single day. Maybe he started learning a long ti ago. The only thing she couldn’t quite grasp was whether Chu Tian’s previous dejected state had been genuine or an act. Would he have even been in the mood to learn Cantonese back then? This question flickered through her mind and was quickly dismissed. Instead, she focused on Chu Tian’s last remark.
"What do you an, ’how hard can learning Cantonese be’? Isn’t it difficult?" She recalled her brief exchange with the Cantonese teacher, Lin Yue, that afternoon. She hadn’t understood a single word of the rapid-fire Cantonese that poured from the teacher’s mouth. And now Chu Tian was saying it wasn’t difficult? Is he trying to insult ?
Chu Tian was in a bind. He couldn’t very well tell her he had mories from two lifetis, much less reveal the existence of his system. So, he had to prepare Xu Qingqiu ntally by establishing himself as soone with a natural talent for languages. After all, Cantonese is just the beginning. There might be songs in Japanese, Korean, English, and other languages later on. What if I can’t explain how I learned them when the ti cos? So, out of necessity, he had to adopt the persona of a budding language prodigy.
"Don’t believe ? Want to say a few phrases for you?"
"Alright, go ahead. Let’s hear it." Xu Qingqiu was still skeptical. At the sa ti, a part of her genuinely wanted to hear his Cantonese. It was a mix of suspicion and curiosity that made her want to test him.
"Then listen carefully..." Chu Tian then uttered a short phrase in Cantonese, his expression twisting into a famous codic scowl. He’d not only said it but had also perfectly mimicked the accompanying facial expression. The phrase, along with the image, had just popped into his head subconsciously, and he couldn’t resist.
"What does that an?" Xu Qingqiu hadn’t understood a single word. She looked at him, completely baffled, waiting for an explanation.
"Ahem, no, no, that wasn’t it. I misspoke. That wasn’t the phrase; my throat just hitched. Now, listen again." Chu Tian felt incredibly awkward under her gaze, a cold sweat breaking out on his back. I just blurted out the first thing that ca to mind. It’s all thanks to the toxic influence of the internet from my past life. It ran so deep that the poison still lingers even after transmigration. I nearly caused a disaster. Fortunately, he reacted quickly. He cleared his throat and began to speak properly.
Chu Tian then rattled off a long string of flowing Cantonese. Xu Qingqiu, standing beside him, was utterly dumbfounded. This ti, although she still didn’t understand the aning, she was certain it was genuine Cantonese. At least the intonation and cadence matched her impression of the language perfectly.
"Eh? You really know it? What did that last sentence an?"
"It ans, ’Don’t make promises to lightly. I hate it when people lie to . Even if you say you’re lying because you don’t want to be unhappy, if I find out you’ve lied to , it will make even more upset.’"
In reality, it was just a line from a movie in his past life. Chu Tian had chosen it randomly, without any special aning intended. However, Xu Qingqiu interpreted it as sothing he specifically wanted to say to her. She paused for a mont, then a smile blossod on her face. Slowly, she reached out, gently touched Chu Tian’s cheek, and said with a soft smile, "Don’t worry, I won’t lie to you. If there’s anything, I’ll always tell you first."
"Uh..." That’s not really what I ant; it’s just a movie line, Chu Tian wanted to explain. But when he t Xu Qingqiu’s tender gaze, such distinctions suddenly seed unimportant. Their eyes locked, and the air between them grew thick with unspoken emotion. What followed were the sweet, everyday monts of happiness shared between a couple.
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