Chapter 126: Beep, beep! High-energy alert ahead!!

On the internet, stories about Bai Qingming were circulating everywhere.

After Liu Guoliang led his team back to the General Administration of Sport, the first thing he did was gather a large stack of cardboard. Then, he told his players:

"Practice! Practice until you drop! From now on, don't think about anything else—just focus on mastering this."

From that day on, the national team members had a brand-new goal.

...

During the day, Bai Qingming waited for Liu Guoliang, but when he didn't show up, he simply went home to eat. By 7:00 PM, he started his daily livestream as usual. As soon as the stream went live, the acronym "YYDS" flooded the chat, followed by a barrage of comments.

"Host, I saw you on TV today!"

"Host, host! I told the people in my village that you're my friend, and they all believed me. They said you're a legend!"

"I told my goddess that you're my brother, and she got so excited she wanted to date me. She even said we could get married without a car or a house, and she wouldn't even ask for a bride price—but she wants to do it soon."

"As someone who's been there, buddy, I advise you to think twice. Maybe it's a 'buy one, get one free' deal, and she's just looking for someone to take the blame."

"A ready-made dad? There’s such a good thing? Getting a kid for free—easy and effortless."

"If you want to live a peaceful life, you’ve got to wear a little green on your head."

"Love is a ray of light, turning you bright green."

The fans were always this eccentric. The chat started off somewhat serious, but within a few sentences, it had completely spiraled off-topic.

Just as Bai Qingming was pondering what content to stream that night, a random PK connection request popped up. Once connected, a blue-eyed, blonde foreigner appeared on the screen. Before Bai Qingming could even speak, the foreigner suddenly shouted:

"I love China!"

For some reason, that was the first thing out of the foreigner's mouth.

"What the hell?" Bai Qingming was taken aback.

But he quickly realized what was happening. With China's rising status on the international stage, more and more foreigners were coming to the country to travel, work, and even settle down. And after spending enough time in China, these foreigners gradually mastered one fundamental skill.

That skill consisted of four words: "I love China!"

In China, foreigners only need to know how to say those four words to enjoy many conveniences. For example, on platforms like Douyin or Kuaishou, foreigners just need to drop that line in their daily life videos to attract a massive number of followers. In short, as long as you can say that sentence and show that you truly love China, it doesn't matter what country you’re from—you’re a good friend to the Chinese people.

Of course, the Japanese are the exception.

Realizing this, Bai Qingming immediately understood why the foreigner had started with that sentence.

"Good evening, buddy. Have you eaten?" The foreigner spoke in standard, fluent Mandarin. If you didn't look at his face and only listened to his voice, you would barely be able to tell he was a foreigner.

Bai Qingming became interested. "Impressive, brother. Your Mandarin is so smooth. How long have you been in China?"

"You're too kind, man. I've been in China for over a year," the foreigner replied honestly.

Bai Qingming couldn't help but be surprised. "Only a year? And your Mandarin is this good?"

It wasn't just Bai Qingming; the fans in the chat were also taken aback. If he had been here for a year and could just hold a conversation, it wouldn't be surprising, but the fact that he spoke so fluently, sounding no different from a native Chinese person, was quite incredible.

Facing Bai Qingming's questioning, the foreigner spoke up. "Personally, I think Chinese is the easiest language in the world."

"I'm an international student. You might think I'm bragging, but even though I've been in China for a year and a half, I actually only spent half a year learning the language."

"More importantly, I didn't even study it deliberately. I just traveled to a few places, and I completely mastered it. I can even speak the dialects of several regions. For example, when addressing a man, you can call him 'handsome guy,' 'tough guy,' or 'little brother'..."

The foreigner talked on and on, even showing off a bit.

At this moment, the word "surprised" wasn't enough to describe the fans in Bai Qingming's chat. After hearing the foreigner's words, everyone was shocked.

"No way, no way. Chinese culture has been passed down for thousands of years, and this foreigner thinks he's got it just because he can speak a bit?"

"English only has 26 letters, but there are thousands of Chinese characters. Some look similar, some have complex strokes—it's not that easy to learn."

"Did I hear that right? I've lived for over twenty years and I wouldn't dare say I've completely mastered Chinese. What makes this foreigner think he has? Did he get a perfect score on his Chinese literature exams?"

"I bet this guy has never heard a Jay Chou song."

...

As everyone knows, Chinese is widely recognized as the most difficult language to learn in the world, bar none. Yet, this foreigner claimed it was the easiest—which was quite absurd. It wasn't that people thought he was arrogant, but rather that he was speaking too definitively. He might know some, but he definitely couldn't know it all. Even the Chinese wouldn't dare make such a claim.

But a foreigner is a foreigner, and you can't blame him for such a perspective; it only shows how naive he is.

Meanwhile, watching the chat, an idea flashed through Bai Qingming's mind.

"Ahem." Bai Qingming coughed and looked at the foreigner on the screen. "Brother, since you're so confident in your Chinese level, how about we do a little test?"

"What kind of test?"

"It's simple. I'll give you a few Chinese questions to answer. If you get them right, you win; if you don't, I win. There's no serious penalty for losing—just send the other person a few gifts as a gesture. How about it?"

"No problem!"

The moment Bai Qingming finished speaking, the foreigner agreed immediately. Clearly, he was extremely confident in his Chinese skills.

Seeing this, Bai Qingming smiled slightly and changed the livestream title to "Teaching a Foreigner Chinese."

The young foreigner thought he had fully mastered the language, but only the Chinese truly knew where the real difficulty of the language lay. Even though it's the mother tongue of China, the tricky part is that sometimes even the Chinese themselves don't recognize the nuances. It can be truly indiscriminate!

Seeing the title change, the fans grew inexplicably excited.

"Make way! The host is about to do something crazy!"

"Beep beep! High-energy warning ahead!"

"Non-combatants, please evacuate immediately!"

"It's happening, it's happening!"

The chat began to scroll rapidly. Bai Qingming spoke:

"Question one. This is a listening comprehension question. Please listen carefully."

"I used to like someone, and now I like someone."

"Tell me, what is the meaning of the phrase 'someone' in these two sentences?"