You Need to Update Yourself

“Are plane tickets expensive? You look pretty loaded,” Li Yuanying said with a smile, eyeing Su Yang’s watch.

“Uh... That’s just how things are now. Everything I have came from my own hard work. But when I was a kid, my family was dirt-poor. Forget flying—I’d never even been to an airport.”

“Really? Then it must have been incredibly difficult for you to get where you are through your own efforts.”

“Yeah. If you’ve never been poor, you’ll never understand how painful it can be. Anyway, let’s not talk about that. The only thing I care about now—and in the future—is living each day to the fullest and enjoying life.”

Li Yuanying seemed thoughtful as she said, “Can I enjoy it with you?”

“You’re already enjoying it with me right now, aren’t you?”

“I mean... in the future, too.”

“The future?” Su Yang looked her up and down. “You’re not going to work anymore? Not going to make money?”

“I’ve already made enough money. Besides...”

“Besides what?”

“My family isn’t short of money either. Singing is purely a hobby for me. I never pursued it specifically for the money. Even if I did absolutely nothing, I’d still never go hungry in this lifetime.”

“Damn! The gap between people really is huge.”

“Don’t change the subject. Just tell me—are you willing or not?”

“Willing to do what?”

“To enjoy the rest of our lives together.” Li Yuanying blinked at him with a smile.

“Didn’t you say you like singing? Singing isn’t really a job for you—it’s your passion. If you give up doing what you enjoy, your future will be terribly boring.”

“No, it won’t! As long as I’m with you, I won’t be bored. And besides, where can’t I sing?” Li Yuanying leaned toward Su Yang and spoke softly.

The two looked into each other’s eyes. After two seconds of silence, Su Yang laughed. “Haha, we’ll see. Let’s just go with the flow.”

Just then, an announcement echoed through the station’s waiting hall, informing passengers that their train was ready to board.

Su Yang looked at Li Yuanying. “Come on, it’s time to board.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Goodbye, Paris!”

Su Yang turned and glanced toward the station exit before pulling his suitcase and walking with Li Yuanying toward Platform C3.

At 9:50, the two boarded the train bound for Geneva, Switzerland.

Su Yang had bought two business-class seats at the front of the train.

After finding their seats and stowing away their luggage, Li Yuanying happily took the window seat.

Su Yang sat down beside her.

The business-class seats on this train were very spacious, much like those on high-speed trains in China. Passengers were provided with complimentary newspapers, power outlets, and meals.

At ten in the morning, the train departed on schedule. This train to Switzerland could reach a top speed of 320 kilometers per hour—not bad at all.

Once the train picked up speed, a staff member handed each passenger a hot towel before beginning meal service. The food on the train was different from airline meals: each meal was set in advance, and passengers simply ate whatever was served.

The attendant soon brought them two servings of French cuisine and two cups of hot tea.

“I wasn’t planning to eat, but this actually looks pretty good. They even have roast lamb. It’s not a whole leg, but it’s better than nothing,” Su Yang said as he picked up his knife and fork and prepared to dig in.

Li Yuanying glanced at the meal and shook her head. “I don’t really feel like eating.”

“What’s wrong? You don’t like train food?”

“I heard things on trains don’t taste very good,” Li Yuanying said, pouting.

“Haha, you haven’t even tried it. How can you judge it already? Some train food really is awful, but some of it is good. This looks pretty decent to me. I’ll try it first.”

Su Yang speared a piece of roast lamb and put it in his mouth. After chewing a few times, he nodded with satisfaction. “Mm! It’s pretty good. You should try some.”

Li Yuanying eyed him skeptically. “Really?”

“Give it a try. If you don’t like it, I’ll eat it.”

“All right.”

She picked up her fork, speared a piece of lamb, and put it in her mouth. After chewing a few times, she smiled. “Hey, it’s actually pretty good.”

“Haha, I told you I wasn’t lying. Eat up. You’ve only had a few biscuits since this morning. How are you supposed to keep going on that? Come on, eat.”

“Okay.” Li Yuanying smiled and lowered her head to eat.

Whoosh—

The train sped along, and the scenery outside the window blurred past. After the two finished eating, the attendant came by to collect their trays.

By then, the train had already left the Paris metropolitan area, and the scenery outside had opened up as well.

Su Yang turned his head and watched for a while.

The countryside out here actually looked pretty similar to rural China, he thought. If I didn’t know better, no one would ever guess I was in France.

“There’s nothing much to see. I’m going to take a nap.” Su Yang leaned back into the comfortable seat and prepared to doze off.

But the moment he closed his eyes, Li Yuanying leaned over.

Feeling warm breath brushing back and forth across his face, Su Yang opened his eyes and froze.

“What are you doing? Trying to kiss me?”

Li Yuanying had moved her face directly above his and was staring at him without moving.

“Don’t go to sleep!”

“Why not?”

“Didn’t you promise to teach me Chinese?”

“Teach you...? I only know how to speak it. I don’t really know how to teach it.”

“I don’t care. You promised me.” As she spoke, Li Yuanying continued leaning closer.

If she moved a few more centimeters, their lips would really meet.

Su Yang hurriedly turned his face away and sat up. Scratching his head, he said, “So, you want to learn Chinese, right?”

“Yes.”

“All right, then I’ll start by—”

Wait. I only know how to speak it, not teach it! The Language Master lets me speak other languages, but it doesn’t say anything about teaching them...

Forget it. I’ll just wing it.

“So, you want to learn Chinese, right?”

Li Yuanying tilted her head. “Didn’t you just ask me that?”

“Did I? Oh, right. Well, I’ll ask you something else first.”

“Go ahead.”

“How much do you know about Chinese? No, wait, let me put it another way. Can you say a few simple words in Chinese?”

Li Yuanying nodded. “I can say my Chinese name and a few basic words.”

“Really? Then introduce yourself in Chinese first, and tell me every Chinese word you know so far. I’ll listen and see whether you have a knack for it.”

“Sure. Shall I begin?”

“Please.”

Su Yang smiled faintly and leaned back against the seat again. This was more entertaining than sleeping. It was fun teasing a beautiful woman along the way.

Li Yuanying rolled her eyes and said in somewhat clumsy Chinese, “Hello... I am... Li Yuan-ying.”

“You’re ‘Li Yuan-ying’?” Su Yang asked, stunned.

“Mm-hmm. Was my pronunciation standard?” Li Yuanying looked at him expectantly.

“Perfect! Absolutely perfect—if you ignore the fact that it was completely wrong. If I hadn’t already known your name, I wouldn’t have understood a word of what you just said.”

“Ah? Was it really that bad?”

“It wasn’t that terrible. But you can’t really be blamed. Chinese pronunciation is difficult. Speaking it accurately takes a long time to practice. Most importantly, you need to learn pinyin first.”

“Pinyin? I know about that. Our Korean language also has a romanization system, made up of twenty-one consonants and nineteen vowels...”

Li Yuanying was about to say something else, but Su Yang deliberately tilted his head and glared at her. “Stop right there. Are you teaching me, or am I teaching you?”

“Oh, hehe. Sorry about that.”

“If you want to learn Chinese, the first step is to get pinyin down. Repeat after me: a, wo, e…”

“‘A, wo, e’? What does that mean?” Li Yuanying asked, utterly bewildered.

Su Yang covered his forehead with one hand. “Good grief, I really don’t know how to teach!”

He scratched his head, sat up, and pulled out his phone to look up the pinyin chart.

“Damn, this is complicated. Even I, a Chinese person, find it complicated.”

“Let me see.” Li Yuanying leaned over beside Su Yang and stared at it for a long while before grinning foolishly. “I can’t understand it.”

“Of course you can’t. If you could understand it, you’d already know how to speak Chinese.”

“There are finals and initials, and the finals alone are divided into simple finals, compound finals, front nasal finals, back nasal finals, plus the tones… This is…”

—System, if I possess the Language Master skill, why can’t I teach someone else?

【The Language Master skill only allows the host to speak, read, and understand languages, but teaching…】

—Fine, I get it. It still isn’t rigorous enough. You need to update it.

“Yuanying, how about I teach you some simple Chinese sentences or words first?”

“That works. Don’t rush—we can take it slowly.”

“I’m not in a hurry. I’m worried you might be.”

“I’m not in a hurry.”

“Then all right. I’ll start by teaching you how to say your own name. Repeat after me: Li Yuanying.”

…

More than three hours later, the train’s announcement sounded throughout the carriage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we will shortly be arriving at Ruitshi Rinewakerna Station…”

Hearing that, Su Yang finally let out a sigh of relief. “We’re finally here! Yuanying, that’s all for today’s lesson. Get ready to get off.”

“Okay.”

Just then, Su Yang’s WeChat chimed. Yoshie had sent him a message.

“Su-san, have you arrived yet?”

“We’ll be at the station in a moment. What about you?”

“I’m waiting for you two at the station entrance.”

“Okay, I’ll be there soon.”

……