Chapter 352: Trip to Japan
Chen Xi personally saw her off at the airport, giving her thousands of instructions, saying many things. She thought for a moment that something was missing, and then stuffed an envelope into Yu Linna’s hand. The envelope contained Japanese yen. She had originally thought of giving her a scarf, but thinking that it was summer now, she gave up on the idea.
Chen Xi was like an old mother who was not at ease with her daughter living alone outside, telling her a lot, for fear that she would not remember it in her heart.
“I know. I’m not a child anymore. I’m already an adult.”
Yu Linna couldn’t help but interrupt her.
“You have to remember these things, you know? That place is a foreign country after all. You’re in an unfamiliar place, and you have an American appearance. Can you not be a little more careful?”
“Actually, I’m Chinese…”
“Stop interrupting. Did you remember or not?”
“Mmm, I’ve remembered, Sister Chen.”
How could Yu Linna dare to say no? It was right to be obedient.
Yu Linna dragged her suitcase, wearing a floral long dress that Sister Chen had ordered her to wear, saying that she couldn’t bring shame to the Chinese people when she went abroad. Chen Xi had specially braided her two pigtails and also tidied up her appearance, making Yu Linna’s current appearance even cuter. Mmm, more like an eleven or twelve-year-old child. (Yu: Painful fist warning)
After entering the boarding gate, Yu Linna safely boarded the plane. It was her first time on a plane, and Yu Linna felt it was quite novel. This trip to Japan was not for fun. It was going to cost a lot of money, but it would be good if she could learn something. It was said that Japanese light novels sold very well in Asia. She was going to have a good lesson.
Originally, Yu Linna had thought that she couldn’t play on her phone on the plane, but after she got on the plane, she found out that she could still use her phone at certain times. Only then did she feel at ease and take out her phone to pass the time.
The neighboring country, Japan, had always been a mysterious place for Yu Linna. After all, she had only seen this country in Japanese anime in the past. She was not very familiar with the living habits, food, and culture of this nation. This time, going to Japan, it would be great if she could get to know it a little.
It would take several hours to fly from her home country to Tokyo, Japan. Yu Linna had boarded in the morning, and by the time she arrived at the Tokyo airport, it was already afternoon. As soon as she got off the plane, she began to try hard to find the person Chen Xi had told her would be there to receive her. In this strange country, the electronic broadcasts were all in Japanese, and she couldn’t understand them. Although Chen Xi had said that the staff of the exchange meeting would send someone over, she didn’t know if it would be smooth. After all, she was not the only one coming to Japan to study.
Later, she saw a person holding a sign in the crowd at the airport. On the sign was written “Shion-sensei, welcome to Japan.” She quickly trotted over.
“Hello, I’m Shion.”
She went over and started a conversation with the very young-looking receptionist.
Clearly, this young staff member was a little stunned. He looked at this little loli, and for a moment, he couldn’t react.
“Little kid, don’t cause trouble.”
This young man was using Japanese. Of course, Yu Linna couldn’t understand it, but she could tell from his tone of voice.
“I really am Shion. I can guarantee it.”
This young man saw that she was speaking Chinese, but her appearance was American, and she also looked very young. He thought for a moment and tried to talk to her in Chinese.
“Hello, are you Shion-sensei?”
“Yes, yes, that’s me.”
To be fair, this young man’s Chinese was not very good. It sounded strange, and he had an accent. But it was already good that he could speak Chinese.
“But the people from Wenqing said that Shion is a 19-year-old girl. You look like you’re only 12.”
“I’m really 19. I’m not lying to you.”
Yu Linna was very helpless and could only explain over and over again.
There was no helping it. It was understandable that he couldn’t recognize her, because Yu Linna had never appeared in public in her home country, nor were there any photos. No one knew what this author looked like. And in Japan, it went without saying. Without a photo, no one would recognize her.
This staff member finally confirmed that Yu Linna was Shion-sensei, picked her up from the airport, hailed a car, and let her get in.
“Then let me introduce myself first. My name is Sato Kazunari. I’m in charge of your accommodation this time. Japan is different from China. If you go out to play, it’s best to find someone familiar with the area, otherwise you’ll get lost. And there might be thieves here, so be careful with your wallet.”
The last sentence was, of course, a joke. Sato just wanted to scare this child-like person.
However, Yu Linna didn’t take it as a big deal at all.
She only knew that this Sato’s Chinese sounded very funny. How should she put it? It was like an old man from the countryside coming to the city and speaking Mandarin, particularly funny. But Yu Linna knew it was too impolite to laugh, so she had been holding it in.
After all, Chinese was one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn.
Yu Linna looked out the car window. The high-rise buildings, the bustling sidewalks, the prosperous scenery—Japan’s level of development was not at all inferior to her home country’s. She had heard that Japan was a country that paid great attention to etiquette, and people were very reserved when they spoke. Thanks to Sato, Yu Linna also had to be very careful when she spoke and didn’t dare to make random jokes. This country, after all, was relatively particular about these things.
Yu Linna was arranged to stay in a hotel. After completing the check-in procedures, Yu Linna would be staying for a long time. The thought of her hard-earned money being thrown away like this made her heart ache a little. But for the sake of studying, for the sake of investment, all of this was worth it.
After tidying up her room, Yu Linna put her computer on the desk and tried to turn it on and connect to the internet. This computer of hers was for work, so there couldn’t be any mistakes. After fumbling around for a while, she still managed to connect to the internet and log into a domestic website. In this way, even if she were abroad, she could still write her manuscript seriously. Although it would be very tiring during this period, she would slowly get used to it.
According to what Sato had said, if she wanted to go out, it was best to have someone familiar with the area with her. But where would she, Yu Linna, find someone familiar in Japan? Plus, this person had also left for other work. Yu Linna just happened to want to go out for a walk, so she put her wallet in her pocket and went out. She thought that since she was in Japan, there should still be people who could speak English. Even if she couldn’t speak Japanese, someone should be able to understand English.
However, she found that she had thought too much.
“Please cook an octopus.”
“すみません、聞き取れません。日本語で話してもいいですか？” (I’m sorry, I can’t understand. Can you speak Japanese?) (Sumimasen, kikitoremasen. Nihongo de hanashite mo ii desu ka?)
See, it had become like this.
You don’t understand, I don’t understand, and we can’t communicate. Yu Linna couldn’t possibly switch to Chinese. She could only speak English.
She had been able to speak English since she was very young. At that time, she had read many English books that others had thrown away, and had also listened to many English tapes, all of which had been discarded by others. And she was also quite interested and learned very quickly. Later, to test her learning results, she had run to tourist attractions that foreigners often went to and tried to communicate with foreigners. At first, she was not very familiar with it, but after a short while, her oral proficiency had improved, as if she were a natural at speaking English. Before long, her accent was almost the same as the foreigners’ in foreign movies. Although it was still a bit stiff, it didn’t affect her communication with others.
And as for Japanese, she had never learned it from beginning to end.
At most, she would learn a few phrases from watching Japanese anime, but for her to speak it was completely impossible.
Like now, she was at a food stall. Although she had taken out Japanese yen, the stall owner clearly didn’t understand what she meant. How many did she want, or did she want all of them? He was stunned.
“Let me help. Little sister, do you need help?”
Suddenly, a young lady’s voice came from behind. She was even speaking English. She turned her head.
A girl, a very beautiful girl, with long black hair tied into a single ponytail, a Yamato Nadeshiko smile on her face, wearing a cool white dress, a straw hat, and a pair of sandals on her feet, and they didn’t look cheap either.
“What’s wrong, little sister? Weren’t you trying to buy something to eat?” the young lady asked again in English.
“Ah, yes. I wanted to buy this takoyaki,” Yu Linna came to her senses and quickly replied.
The young lady asked her again, then translated for the stall owner, which finally allowed Yu Linna to buy the takoyaki. She had come to Japan just to try authentic takoyaki. Although it had been delayed for a long time due to the language barrier, at least she had finally gotten to eat it.
“Thank you. Let me give you one of mine as a reward.”
With that, Yu Linna used a bamboo skewer to pierce one for her.
This black-haired young lady was stunned for a moment, then smiled and accepted it.
“Are you here for a trip to Japan?”
“No, I’m here on business. I’ll probably be staying here for a while, but I don’t know anyone here, so it’s a bit troublesome to go out.”
“You look very cute. Are you American?”
“Actually, I’m Chinese.”
“Really? I couldn’t tell. Chinese-American mixed?”
“Yes.”
“What a coincidence. Actually, I’m also mixed-race. My mother is British, so I’m Japanese-British mixed.”
“No wonder your English is so good.”
The two of them chatted on the roadside, one sentence at a time. This young lady seemed to have found someone to talk to and chatted with Yu Linna for a long time. Although this girl said she was Japanese-British mixed, her appearance was more inclined towards Japanese. This was because her father was a pure Japanese, and her appearance also took after her father. According to her, she had looked more like a British person when she was little, but as she grew up, she looked more and more like a Japanese person.
Not like Yu Linna, who still looked like an American even now.
“Um, miss, what’s your name?”
“My name is Sakurai Reina. And you?”
“My name is Yu Linna.”
“So you really are Chinese.”
“Didn’t I say that from the beginning?”
The two of them smiled. Sakurai Reina continued to take her for a walk in the vicinity. Because Tokyo was a big city after all, it was very easy to get lost here if you weren’t careful. When Sakurai Reina heard that she had come to Japan alone, she was startled and told her that she must have someone she knew when she went abroad, and that it was very dangerous to be outside alone.
Perhaps because Yu Linna’s appearance was too child-like, plus she was in an unfamiliar place and couldn’t speak the language, it was only natural for her to show such an expression.
If Sakurai Reina could speak Chinese, she could communicate with her without any barriers. According to her, she had learned Chinese before, but it didn’t sound very good when she spoke it. She still preferred to speak English with Yu Linna.
“Are there any good movies in Japan? I want to see one.”
“Mmm, I’ll take you to the cinema.”
It was her first time in Tokyo, and Yu Linna just felt that Tokyo was quite big.
