Chapter 353: The Japanese Teacher (10/10)

On the evening of August 16th, Link's first concert in Shanghai concluded.

According to media reports, there were 85,000 audience members at the venue that day, with thousands more outside the stadium. The scene was incredibly lively, making it the largest concert in the music industry in the past three years.

In addition to the large number of attendees, this concert also contributed to several social hot topics.

The first was Link and "Fairy Sister" Chris Liu's performance on stage, which sparked more speculation about their relationship.

Many domestic media outlets picked up on some of Link's scandals from American newspapers.

They claimed he was a playboy with over twenty rumored girlfriends in the European and American entertainment industry, leading a chaotic private life, and not as perfect as the rumors made him out to be, morally inferior to domestic celebrities.

They also strongly hinted that Link and Chris Liu's relationship was not pure.

After seeing these news reports, Chris's fans were disheartened, expressing that their "Fairy Sister" had likely been "tainted" by the "lecherous" Link.

Some more radical fans even started a campaign on Tieba with the slogan "Link get out of China, give us back our Fairy Sister."

The second hot topic was the Chinese song "When You Are Old," which they sang together on stage. It was widely praised by Chinese music fans after the concert, who considered it a classic Chinese song.

Universal Music seized the opportunity to release a compilation album of Link's songs for Chinese fans.

This album contained twelve songs, all popular among Chinese fans, including "See You Again," "Give Me Reason," "Despacito," "All of Me," "Unstoppable," "Never Say Never," and the English version of "When You Are Old."

The Chinese version of "When You Are Old" wasn't suitable for the English album, so it was given to Chris Liu to sing.

Universal also signed a record deal with her, planning to create a Chinese album around the song "When You Are Old."

The third hot topic was the many celebrities who attended Link's concert in Shanghai.

According to photos taken by paparazzi, over forty celebrities came to watch his concert, including film actors, singers, models, and athletes.

The front-page news of the "Southern Metropolis Daily" stated that Link's concert in China had attracted half of the entertainment industry. The newspaper also published many photos of suspected celebrities, including Zhou Xun, Sun Li, Deng Chao, Li Chen, Yang Mi, Tang Yan, Zhou Yadong, Xu Wei, Zheng Jun, and others.

Most of them did not admit it, but a few female celebrities, including Yang Mi, Tang Yan, and Wang Luodan, publicly stated that they were fans of Link and loved his songs.

Actress Zhou Xun also publicly praised Link as a great singer, saying that listening to his concert was a pleasure and that she would continue to watch his next concert.

Actress Li Bingbing also mentioned in an interview that she liked Link's songs and talked about working with him in a movie, expressing her great anticipation for the collaboration.

The fourth hot topic was Link's singing ability and his dedication to music, which sparked heated discussions in the domestic media.

First of all, he sang continuously on stage for two hours and was still able to maintain high energy and stable performance afterwards, proving his top-notch singing skills.

Secondly, he was very kind to his fans. When holding concerts overseas, he would learn the local language and songs in advance. It was said that he could speak six languages, including English, Spanish, Thai, French, Italian, and could understand some Cantonese and Mandarin.

It was said that he was currently learning Korean and Japanese to prepare for his upcoming concerts in Korea and Japan, demonstrating his dedication.

Many media outlets called on domestic singers to learn from Link, actively improve their abilities, bring more and better songs to fans, and strive to make Chinese music go beyond Asia and reach the world.

Link felt helpless about these news reports, especially the fourth hot topic, as it put him on the spot.

He knew Thai because he had lived in Thailand before, and he didn't need to learn it specifically for the concert. The same went for Cantonese and Mandarin.

But with media hype, he was portrayed as a diligent and dedicated singer, saying that he would learn the local language before each concert.

This also led to Korean and Japanese companies organizing concerts to send representatives to meet him, asking about his progress in learning Korean and Japanese, what local songs he planned to sing at the concert, and whether he needed to collaborate with singers.

They also said that fans in both countries were looking forward to him singing a local song at the concert.

Link felt overwhelmed. In order to sell more albums, he could only make time to learn two more languages.

Hearing that he was going to learn Japanese, the Japanese agency quickly presented a stack of female singer profiles and photos, hoping he could choose one to be his Japanese teacher and also serve as his guide for the concert in Japan.

If possible, they also hoped he could promote one or two of them.

Link originally planned to refuse because he had been introduced to more than ten beauties by the organizers when he participated in boxing matches before, with ulterior motives. He was worried that the Japanese side would play some tricks.

But seeing that the information they sent contained many famous female singers, it didn't seem like they were fooling him.

He carefully selected and chose Aragaki Yui, who fit his aesthetic preferences.

She was 22 years old this year and 169 centimeters tall.

Chapter 353: The Japanese Teacher (10/10)

In 2007, she rose to fame for starring in the movie "Sky of Love" and won the Newcomer Award at the 31st Japan Academy Film Prize for her performance.

In 2008, she released her debut single "Make my day," which won second place on the Oricon chart and topped the Billboard Japan chart.

She also released two albums in 2008 and 2009, becoming a multi-talented artist and a popular young star in the Japanese entertainment industry, fluent in English.

"Is this okay?"

Link asked Tahara Yasuhiro, the president of Universal Music Japan's marketing department, holding a photo.

"Hai!"

The other party nodded and said yes without even looking.

Link was a little surprised. The Japanese side was too sincere, sending a popular young star as a Japanese teacher just like that.

"Mr. Tahara, is this convenient?"

"Hai! It's her honor and luck to be chosen by Mr. Baker. It's definitely not inconvenient. Mr. Baker, please take a look at the others. These singers are all willing to be Mr. Baker's Japanese assistants. Please give them a chance to serve you."

Tahara Yasuhiro said politely.

Link looked at the rest. Although they were all good, some were older, some were too young, some were married, and none of them were as pure and outstanding in appearance as Aragaki Yui, nor were they as famous as her.

He said that one Japanese teacher was enough.

Tahara Yasuhiro nodded in agreement, took back the information, and said that he would arrange for Aragaki Yui to come over as soon as possible.

The Korean record company also sent someone over with a stack of information, saying they could arrange a Korean teacher for him.

Link declined. On the one hand, Korean agencies were very strict with female artists, leading to many accidents, and he didn't want to be implicated later.

On the other hand, after the concert, he would join the cast of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" and could learn Korean from Jun Ji-hyun then, so he didn't need to bother anyone else.

Just after sending off the people from the Korean company, Wendi Deng called and asked if he had time for dinner.

She wanted to introduce the film's director, Wayne Wang, and the two female leads to him, so they could get to know each other in advance, making filming more convenient.

Link first apologized to Wendi Deng, saying he had been too busy in Shanghai these past few days with rehearsals, concerts, autograph sessions, and press conferences, so he didn't have time to visit her. Link offered to treat her, Director Wang, and the two female leads to dinner.

Wendi Deng smiled and said that she was the host and that he should follow the local customs. He could treat them to dinner next time when he was not busy.

Link agreed.

(End of Chapter)