Peninsula: From Water Injection to Stardom

Seeing that Hirai Momo finally put down her phone, Jiang Yan picked up his chopsticks again and gestured to her, "Finished filming? Hurry up and eat."

"Okay, let's get started (in Japanese)"

Hirai Momo nodded vigorously, put her phone away, and then picked up her chopsticks.

But after looking at them, I didn't know which one to eat first.

Seeing that she was having trouble making a choice, Jiang Yan simply picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork and put it in her bowl, saying, "Try this first, you should like the sweet and sour taste."

Hirai Momo looked at the chunks of meat coated in amber sauce in the bowl, reached over with her chopsticks, picked them up steadily, and put them in her mouth, her expression a mixture of anticipation and nervousness.

But after chewing it a few times, her eyes widened instantly.

A satisfied nasal sound escaped her throat, and Hirai Momo's expression visibly brightened with happiness.

But when Jiang Yan saw her like this, he only felt it was a bit exaggerated and comical.

However, upon further reflection, considering that Hirai Momo would always look like she was enjoying a delicious treat when she ate an egg tart, he began to understand.

"Delicious! This is really delicious!" Hirai Momo said, already eagerly reaching for a second piece with her chopsticks.

"What's the rush? Nobody's going to take it from you." Jiang Yan couldn't help but chuckle as he looked at her.

Hirai Momo puffed out her cheeks and mumbled indistinctly, "Because it's really delicious, much better than that pig's trotter stuff."

"If you like it, I'll take you to eat in China again sometime."

"Really?"

Upon hearing this, Hirai Momo exclaimed happily, "Then it's a deal!"

"Of course, I'm not lying."

Some Chinese restaurants in South Korea have pretty authentic food, but the menu isn't very extensive.

Of course, this doesn't mean that all authentic Chinese food is delicious.

He probably wouldn't want to eat authentic West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce.

Hirai Momo was completely absorbed in the food, eating without any regard for her image, with some sauce on her lips.

However, she seemed to notice that Jiang Yan was still watching her, so she looked up and asked vaguely, "Why aren't you eating?"

When asked this question, Jiang Yan picked up his chopsticks and put a piece into his bowl.

After that, the two of them ate their Chinese meal for about half an hour.

Afterwards, Jiang Yan took a stroll around the neighborhood with Hirai Momo, and of course, he put his mask back on when he was outside.

Hirai Momo took many photos around, and also had Jiang Yan take some for her.

As for the group photo, we already took it during the meal earlier.

Finally, after dropping Hirai Momo off at an intersection not far from her dorm, before parting ways, she asked, "Are you going to the gym again tomorrow?"

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yan shook his head and said, "I have something to do tomorrow, so I probably won't go."

He has a meeting with his stylist tomorrow afternoon to discuss the design of his stage outfits, and it will be quite late by the time the meeting ends.

Upon hearing this, Hirai Momo concealed her slight disappointment and continued, "Then I'll go back to my dorm. Hikaru-san, you should get some rest too."

Jiang Yan nodded and said, "Yes, I will."

After watching the other person walk into the dormitory building, he turned around and quickly left, taking a taxi back to his apartment.

……

A few days later, at the appointed time, CUBE sent people to welcome a Billboard interview team that had flown in from the United States.

The team leader is Matthew Turner, who is also the host responsible for interviewing Jiang Yan.

The two met in a large conference room, where Matthew greeted them warmly: "Hello YanJiang, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Jiang Yan also smiled and politely added, "I'm also very happy that Billboard will come to interview me."

"Haha, this means your song is getting worldwide attention."

"I know, and I feel very fortunate about it."

After a brief greeting, the two sides began the handover process together.

After all, we're not here for tourism; from the moment we enter CUBE, it's already working time.

The two teams spent some time coordinating, with CUBE providing the interview venue and Billboard staff setting up cameras and other equipment on site.

Matthew presented some pre-prepared questions to Jiang Yan for discussion, and the latter glanced at them and indicated that there were no problems.

Next, after the interview venue was set up, both parties entered the camera's view.

Matthew glanced down at the cue cards, checked the procedures one last time, and asked, "Ready?"

Jiang Yan nodded, adjusted his posture, and looked at the camera with a natural expression.

Matthew then gestured towards the camera, and the recording immediately began.

"Hi, this is Billboard. Today we have invited YAN JIANG, the Asian artist who has recently gained much attention." After saying that, Matthew turned to the side and steered the conversation toward Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan nodded slightly and said, "Hi everyone, I'm YAN JIANG."

After a brief self-introduction, the next step was the Q&A session.

Matthew smiled and said, "First of all, congratulations! 'That's What I Like' has surpassed 100 million views on YouTube. That's an amazing achievement. Did you expect that?"

After hearing the question, Jiang Yan shook his head slightly and naturally made a slightly surprised expression: "To be honest, I didn't expect this at all."

"When this song was first released, I didn't think too much about it. I just felt that it was my first attempt and I was already very satisfied that someone would hear it."

He paused for a moment, then continued in a melancholy tone, "But to be honest, this number of views feels a bit unreal to me."

Matthew nodded and continued, "We noticed that this is the first time you've released a song entirely in English. Why did you suddenly choose to make an English song?"

Jiang Yan spoke slowly and deliberately: "Actually, I've always been listening to Western pop music, like the works of great musicians such as Bruno Mars and The Weeknd. I listen to them regularly, and their music has given me a lot of inspiration."

"So when I have the opportunity to write songs myself, I will try to put some of my own favorite things into my work."

Matthew showed great interest after hearing this and continued to ask, "You just mentioned Bruno Mars, so if you were asked who your favorite singer is, what would you answer?"

Jiang Yan replied almost without hesitation, "Of course, Michael Jackson."

Matthew showed no surprise when he heard the name.

Matthew then asked several more questions, including Jiang Yan's sources of inspiration when creating music, and whether he would consider collaborating with European and American musicians in the future.

Jiang Yan answered each question in detail, providing a relatively complete response to each one.

The entire interview recording went very smoothly, with no awkward silences or hiccups.

Finally, Matthew gave a brief closing speech to the camera, the camera indicator light went out, and the recording ended smoothly.