Les Interprètes Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Cheng Jia Yang

Ｓｐｒｉｎｇ　ｃａｍｅ　ｕｎｅｘｐｅｃｔｅｄｌｙ　ｉｎ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｃｉｔｙ. It is a pity it isn’t a beautiful season, Inner Mongolia had a sandstorm blowing. Qiao Fei and I changed our plans of going to the countryside and decided to go to a Thai restaurant instead to eat this weekend at noon.

The restaurant was nicely decorated, lush, filled with the fragrance of bamboo leaves ｗｉｔｈ　Buddhist music playing. Fei ｃｕｒｉｏｕｓｌｙ　looked around.

“Not bad right?” I said. “I came here before with a friend and thought that you would like it.”

“It is indeed not bad.” The waiter served us aｎ opened　ｃｏｃｏｎｕｔ and Fei drank a sip and said, “It tastes good.”

“If you like it，ｃａｎ　ｗｅ go on a trip there during the holidays?” I asked in a pleasing tone.

She looked at me and said: “Yeah sure, if we have time.”

I was very happy, and prayed inside my heart that n.o.body would find out about such an unpromising scene of me.

Fei looked behind me and smiled, and at the same time someone tapped on my shoulder. I looked back and saw that it was Xu Dong’s ex-lover, female star Wu Jia Yi.

“h.e.l.lo, Jia Yang.” The woman said hi to me enthusiastically. “Eating with a friend?”

“h.e.l.lo.” I was not good at dealing with such situations and while I was still thinking about how to get out of it, Fei pulled out a chair and said: “Please sit.”

“Thank you.” The female star sat down, shook hands with Fei and said: “h.e.l.lo, I am Wu Jia Yi.”

“I know, I’m your fan. My name is Qiao Fei.”

Okay, I　let them talk. I paused to think of a plan. What if she asked about Xu Dong? What if she asked me to convey a message to him? What if she said “all of you guys are equally bad”? What should I do?

“Your name is Fei?”, Wu Jia Yi asked. “Jia Yang asked me for my autograph before, it was for you Ｉ’ｍ　ｇｕｅｓｓｉｎｇ?”

Memorizing scripts sure helped, her memory was really good.

“That’s right.”

“That was……”

I waited as she slowly brought the topic closer to Xu Dong.

“．．．ａt a premiere of one of my movies, Jia Yang is ｏｎｅ　ｏｆ　ｍｙ　 friend’s friend.”

“That’s right, friends.” I laughed.

“By the way, Jia Yang, how is Xu Dong?” She finally brought up the main topic.

What should I say to her? Tell her that Xu Dong is going to get married to a wise and virtuous woman from a rich family? I cｏｕｌｄｎ’ｔ do such a cruel thing. Furthermore, she might not not know about it　ｙｅｔ. Ｉ　ｓｈｏｕｌｄｎ’ｔ　ｂｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｏｎｅ　ｔｏ　ｔｅｌｌ　ｈｅｒ　ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｔｈｉｓ.

“I haven’t seen him in a long time　ａｎｄ　Ｉ　don’t know what he has been up to lately.”

At this moment, ｔｈｅ　ｗｏｍａｎ　ｇａｖｅ　ａ　ｌｏｎｇ　ｓｉｇｈ.”Ah, he is the kind of person that will be with you all the time when he is on good terms with you. But when you are on bad terms with him, he won’t even give you a call.”

What she said made her sound really pitiful. I watched as Qiao Fei looked at this future Best Actress’s performance without blinking.

“Never mind.” Wu Jia Yi stood up. “I still have a few friends waiting for me over there. Jia Yang, help me send my greetings to Xu Dong when you see him.”

I stood up to send her off. Afterwards, l dedicated　ｄｉｎｎｅｒ to　ｔａｌｋｉｎｇ　ａｂｏｕｔ　 this subject to satisfy Qiao Fei’s curiosity.

“It’s nothing.” I tried to ｇｒａｚｅ　ｏｖｅｒ　ｉｔ. “It’s just that my friend used to date with Miss Wu before, and now my friend is going to get married so he wants to cut off all ties with her and end their relations.h.i.+p.”

“End it just like that? He didn’t even give her an explanation？　Ｈｅ　ｄｉｄｎ’ｔ　ｅｖｅｎ　ｃａｌｌ　ｈｅｒ　ａｔ　ｌｅａｓｔ　ｏｎｃｅ？”

Talking about this, I ｂｅｇａｎ　ｔｏ　feel that what Xu Dong ｗａｓ doing ｗａｓ　also not very good. When they were together, they loved so pa.s.sionately that they had no one else in their eyes. But now he ｄｉｄｎ’t even have the basic courtesy to explain　ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ　ｔｏ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｗｏｍａｎ. This ｗａｓｎ’t his usual style.

“Err.” I looked at Fei, she just kept looking at me. “I also don’t know how to explain this to you.”

“It’s okay, you can’t say anything. But really！Ｅven a person like Wu Jia Yi cｏｕｌｄ get dumped.”

“You don’t have to pity them. It’ｓ impossible for them to get married　ａｎｙｗａｙｓ.”

“Why?”

“Family background.” I blurted.

Fei did not continue ｔｏ　ｓａｙ　anything.

“Quickly order your food. I’m hungry.” I said, “What ｗｏｕｌｄ　ｙｏｕ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｔｏ　eat?” I pa.s.sed the menu to her and accidentally hit a small saucer, causing it to drop to the ground with a crisp sound.

“How did you manage to meet her? What did you say about me?” Xu Dong knew I met Wu Jia Yi and was so nervous as if he　ｈａｄ stepped on ｔｈｅ tail of a mouse.

“I said I never met you, and don’t know anything. That’s what I said.”

He drank some whisky to calm himself down and after a long time said, “What about her? What did she say?”

“She said, when you guys were together, you both cｌｕｎｇ to　ｅａｃｈ　ｏｔｈｅｒ everyday. But after breaking up, you don’t even give her a single call.”

Xu Dong rubbed his temples. “Ah, never mind, never mind.”

I went over to pat him on his shoulders.

“Next time you see her, answer her the same thing and say that you never saw me.”:

“This world isn’t a small place,ｗｈｅｒｅ　ｗｏｕｌｄ　Ｉ　ｇｏ　ｔｏ　ｓｅｅ　ｔｈｉｓ　ｆｅｍａｌｅ　ｓｔａｒ　ｏｆｔｅｎ?”

“It’s hard to say, maybe she went to look for you because she couldn’t find me.”

At this point, I really hａｄ nothing　ｅｌｓｅ to say. I ｈａｄ　watched as the two of them loved each other so much they couldn’t part. At times, Xu Dong is like a wife full of complains, unable to let go easily like Wu Jia Yi and ｗａｓ even scared of this woman to such an extent. Feelings sure make people sigh in impａｔｉｅｎｃｅ.

Qiao Fei

Zhou Xian Fu said, “Xiao Qiao, you prepare for this afternoon’s talk. You and Mich.e.l.le will be translating.

“What talk?”

“Ｔｈｅ　French enterprise and Yantai local leaders’ discussion about a joint venture, search up the information online.”

I finally waited for this day but it came so suddenｌｙ that I don’t have enough time to prepare for it. Ｉ　ｓｅａｒｃｈｅｄ online　ａｎｄ, flippｅｄ　ｔｈｒｏｕｇｈ the dictionary, looking for information materials. The fax from the China representative about the presentation materials finally came during my lunch break. At least it would not be so rushed. I was very happy and started laughing ｂｕｔ saw Yang Yan Yan ｈｏｌｄｉｎｇ　ａｎ　ｅｘｐｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ opposite me. She looked at me with slanting eyes, having a expression that seemed as if she despised me.

At this talk, I finally got into trouble because of someone.

Ｗｅ　ｓｐｌｉｔ　ｕｐ　ｏｕｒ　ｊｏｂｓ　ｓｏ　ｔｈａｔ　I dｉｄ the interpretation of Chinese to French while she dｉｄ the interpretation of French to Chinese. Initially it went pretty smoothly, and I got into my role very quickly and interpreted rather smoothly because of the preparation work I had did beforehand. However, there were a few difficulties that I encountered in the middle of the talk. China’s representative introduced the tax concessions given to foreign-funded enterprises and mentioned ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ　about　ｔｈｅ “Three Free Five Minus” and ｓｏｍｅ　other policies. I didn’t even understand the meaning in Chinese and had no choice but to force myself to interpret it literally and after interpreting it, I looked at the foreigner and saw that his expression seemed confused. They also looked at Yang Yan Yan and hoped that ｓｉｎｃｅ　ｓｈｅ　ｗａｓ　ｏｌｄｅｒ，　ｓｈｅ　would be more experienced in　ｍａｋｉｎｇ　ｔｈｅ　ｍｅａｎｉｎｇ　ｂｅｔｔｅｒ. However she just bent her head down if she was taking notes, acting as if the matter was none of her concern.

After the talk ended, the French representative said to the China representative, “Thank you for your presentation, we will go back to study it and contact you as soon as possible.”

The French side knew how to give face to the China side. Ｉｎ　ｓａｙｉｎｇ　ｔｈｉｓ，　ｔｈｅｙ　ｉｍｐｌｉｅｄ that the joint venture would not happen.

I told Cheng Jia Yang about this, and all I could see was Yang Yan Yan’s face. I was already not feeling angry ｏｎｌｙ　ｆｅｌｔ　baffｌｅｄ. Even if ｗｅ were strangers that never worked together before, she should at least have　ｈａｄ some team spirit and helpｅｄ me out since we ｗｅre all interpreters anyways.

“I know this person,” Jia Yang said. “Ah, she actually went　ｔｏ　ｔｈａｔ　ｅｘｔｅｎｔ； you didn’t mention ｔｈｉｓ　ｐｅｒｓｏｎ　ｔｏ　ｍｅ in the first place.”

“I feel that this person is not worth mentioning.” I said.

“She is actually a decent interpreter, but because of an incident, she got transferred out. After so many years, she still didn’t change her temperament.”

“What happened to her?”

“She originally did simultaneous interpretation in our department. There was this time where she had to pair up with another person to do translation for a global meeting, the person she paired up with was even her senior. In the end, when her senior was interpreting, I don’t know what was　ｗｒｏｎｇ, maybe ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ　ｈａｄ　ｈａｐｐｅｎｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｈｅｒ　ｈｅａｌｔｈ　ｂｕｔ she couldn’t continue interpreting.

“Yang Yan Yan didn’t take over?”

“Nope, she waited until it was her time before she opened her mouth to speak. 　Ｉｎ　ｔhat meeting, the french interpretation was suspended for six minutes.”

“Wow, what a drag. How was the matter resolved in the end?”

“Because of health reasons, that senior got transferred out of the Inst.i.tute and got transferred over to the Chinese emba.s.sy of Belgium. On the other hand, Yang Yan Yan had to suffer the punishment and got transferred out of our department.

“Who asked her to be so uncooperative?”

“Ah, but you can’t say such things.” Jia Yang said, “You have never done simultaneous interpretation so you don’t really understand. It’s like you are mentally collapsing on a string, unable to even relax for a moment, and there is great mental stress. That is why the time for translation can not be more than 15 minutes and immediate rest is required. I think that Yang Yanyan was also overloaded that day, otherwise she would not have been so irresponsible.”

　　“……＂

“Do you know? Shanghai has an Ｅnglish interpreter that does simultaneous interpretation and worked for a year, earning ａｂｏｕｔ　３００，０００ but then tired herself out until she was only left with one kidney. I heard that when Yang Yan Yan was in the department, she was ａprofessional in her specialｔｙ, but I’m not sure if she is married or not now.”

“Ah, now I feeｌｂａｄ for ｈｅｒ　after hearing what you said. Never mind then, I can only blame myself for lacking in terms of skills and having inadequate preparation. If only I knew how to interpret ｔｈｅ　“Three Free Five Minus”　ｐｏｌｉｃｙ．．． then I wｏｕｌｄｎ’t have to depend on others already. ＂

“h.e.l.lo， miss, there are more　ｏｐｐｏｒｔｕｎｉｔｉｅｓ to come in the fuｔｕｒｅ，　ｋｅｅｐ　ｐｒａｃｔｉｃｉｎｇ, I have faith in you, you definitely can become an outstanding interpreter.” Jia Yang said.

“That’s　ｗｈａｔ you think?” I was pretty pleased ｔｏ　ｈｅａｒ　ｉｔ.

“Of course, you　ａｒｅ　ｓｐｅｃｉａｌ　ｉｎ　ｔｈａｔ　ｙｏｕ　 can ｆｏｃｕｓ　ｏｎ　ｍａｎｙ　ｔｈｉｎｇｓ　ａｔ　ｔｈｅ　ｓａｍｅ　ｔｉｍｅ.” He said, grinning.  

I can never ｔｅｌｌ　ｉｆ he is complimenting me or just being sarcastic ｓｏ　Ｉ　ｉｍｍｅｄｉａｔｅｌｙ spread yogurt all over his mouth in a flash.

“Come, let’s eat together.” He wanted to hug me and make me eat the yogurt on his mouth, but I used my elbow to resist.

“We are already like an old married couple, what are you being shy about?”

“Annoying.”

“Ah speaking of this, Fei, do you want to go abroad to study for a period of time?”

I looked at him.

“I ｋｎｏｗ an international student.”　（Ｔｈｉｓ　ｉｓ　Ｑｉａｏ　Ｆｅｉ　ｓｐｅａｋｉｎｇ）

“Is it a man or a woman?”

“Woman.” I glared at hｉｍ, “From Montpellier.”　Ｓｐｅａｋｉｎｇ　ｏｆ　ｓｕｃｈ，　ｔｈａｔ　ｐｌａｃｅ　ｗａｓ　ｐｒｅｔｔｙ　ｇｒｅａｔ, it is located near the Mediterranean coast,　ｃｌｏｓｅ　ｔｏ, Cannes , Ma.r.s.eille and　outrageously beautiful.

“Oh Montpellier, it is indeed decent. Their third university has a very famous translation training centre. And the city is indeed very beautiful, it has a friendly relations.h.i.+p with the capital. Why, you want to go there?”

“Just casually talking about it.” I sat up, “I just want to finish my studies here, and find a good job after I graduate. I’ll talk about going there after I earn enough money.” I stretched and kissed Cheng Jia Yang, “Bro, you have done　ｓｏ　ｍｕｃｈ　ｆｏｒ　ｍｅ　ａｌｒｅａｄｙ, you don’t have to　ｂｕｓｙ　ｙｏｕｒｓｅｌｆ　ｏｕｔ　ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ　ｏｆ　ｍｅ.”