After Crossing Over to the Republic of China, I've Become a Heartthrob Chapter 8

Trying Hard to Look Good

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Richard Hotel, six o'clock at night, the lights are on.

Shi Yao followed behind Ling Junde and entered the magnificent lobby, where in the middle of the room, there was a promotional banner [Macquarie Bank and Keming Corporation in partnership].

Macquarie Bank, named after its first managing director, Mackellar, was a British financial institution established in 1858 in Shanghai and Hong Kong and was responsible for trade settlements in India, Australia and China.

The University has the saying "Keming Junde". Keming Company, founded by Ling Junde, is the largest foreign trade group in China and one of the most important members of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce.

He had previously hired an interpreter who was quite good at his job, handling everyday business conversations without any major problems, but in formal meetings, he made a lot of mistakes.

Ling Junde asked why. The man replied that he could do ordinary interpreting with a short memory, whereas in conference interpreting, the speakers were often so long-winded that it was difficult to remember everything, so he was not up to the task. It was not just him personally, but the whole Chamber of Commerce, or even the whole country, even the gods could not do it.

Ling Junde relayed this to Shi Yao and asked if he could offer a solution.

Shi Yao asked, "Isn't it true that even the gods can't do it? Why do you think I can do it?"

"I asked President Song if he had a suitable candidate, and he recommended you."

"So it's because of Song Yuan!"

"His recommendation is indeed part of the reason," Ling Junde fetched a glass of champagne from the waiter's tray, "I would like to believe you too."

"You're not afraid of flipping?"

"That's the way it is in business, reward and risk go hand in hand, don't they?"

"That's right," Shi Yao said, "I can try."

Ordinary interpreters in the Republic of China struggled to do accurate conference interpreting because they did not have a systematic interpretation note-taking system, nor did they have professional training in interpreting.

When Shi Yao was studying abroad, he studied 'Applied Translation Studies', the school offered courses related to 'Interpretation Notes', 'Liaison Interpreting', 'Conference Interpreting' and 'Simultaneous Interpreting', so ordinary business meetings are no problem at all.

Ling Junde asked, "What do you need from me?"

"A4 paper and a pen."

"What's A4 paper?"

Shi Yao: "... It's plain white paper."

Ling Junde ordered someone to fetch a pen and paper, and then said to Shi Yao, "I'm a bit curious, what are you going to do? Write down all the words of the speaker? That's not possible."

"I have my own symbols."

The attendant fetched a pen and paper, and Shi Yao drew a circle, adding a line in the middle: "See? This one represents the globe." He drew a triangular symbol, "This one stands for government." Then he added a small circle next to the triangular symbol, "This represents political leaders."

Ling Junde found this interesting: "So how do you describe me in your symbol system?"

Shi Yao drew a banknote with the dollar sign in the middle.

Ling Junde: ?

With Shi Yao's help, the whole meeting went particularly smoothly and the cooperation agreement between Keming Company and Macquarie Bank was successfully signed. Even the foreign representative was very impressed with his translation performance.

On the way to send him back, Ling Junde took out a thick pile of American dollars from his briefcase and asked in an extremely sincere tone, "Would you like to consider becoming my personal translator?"

Receiving the heavy pile of cash, in Shi Yao's eyes, Ling Junde's whole image shone brightly!

"But I'm working for the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce now."

"You work for them, but it's just nine to five, after hours, at night."

"Okay! But you have to keep it a secret for me, Song Liao is particularly meticulous, and if he finds out I'm screwed. We'd better be sneaky."

Ling Junde: ?

When he arrived at the Song residence and returned to his room, Shi Yao was racking his brain on how he was going to explain to Song Liao that he had stood him up tonight. Unexpectedly, after Song Liao found out, although he was a little upset, he eventually asked him patiently, "If I allow you to do these things, will you like me again?"

Shi Yao was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer at all.

"Shi Yao," Song Liao said, "you have always liked me, haven't you?"

If it was the original Shi Yao, maybe he had.

Should I coax him?

As Shi Yao struggled, Song Liao's face turned extremely pale: "Do whatever you want, I don't care!"

With a bang, Young Master Liao slammed the door again and left.

Shi Yao: ......?

The next morning, before dawn, Shi Yao was awakened by Cai Zhu's call, "Master Shi, it's time for you to get up!"

Shi Yao looked at her with sleepy eyes, "What time is it?"

"Six o'clock."

"Six o'clock? Get up?" Shi Yao said, "Don't call for me unless the earth explodes, thank you."

"What 'qiu', Master Shi, today is your school day." (Angel: Earth in Mandarin in 'dìqiú'.)

"School??" Shi Yao was completely awake, "School for what?"

He thought about how he finally got rid of his painful student life after he managed to muddle through to university in modern times, how come he still had to go to school after crossing over to the Republic of China?

"Don't you remember? You are now in your first year of university, majoring in foreign literature in the Humanities Department at Nanyang University."

"But it's only six o'clock? What university starts at six?"

"Because your academic performance is not satisfactory, Young Master Liao has enrolled you in a cram school."

Song Liao, I really thank you.

Also, aren't cramming classes illegal now? Oh, it's the Republic of China now, so there's nothing wrong with that.

While getting up slowly, Shi Yao asked, "What kind of cram school?"

"English."

Shi Yao immediately lay back down, "Then I won't go."

"But..."

"No buts, I have four 8s in IELTS, I can more or less teach him."

"What's IELTS?"

"You don't need to know, in short, you can understand that my English has improved by leaps and bounds since I was struck by lightning, and all such cramming classes will be cancelled in future."

"But you have a morning class at nine in the morning."

"Good Cai Zhu, leave me alone. Nanyang University, right? I promise to be there at nine."

Opening his eyes again, it was nine fifteen.

What time did the morning class start again? Nine o'clock?

He washed up quickly, put on his Zhongshan-style school uniform, which looked quite handsome, and looked at himself in the mirror for almost five minutes before picking up the canvas school bag that Cai Zhu had prepared for him and leaving for school.

Shi Yao had planned to take a taxi, but the taxis in the Republic of China were so shady that they charged five yuan!

You know, the average person in the Republic of China only earns ten yuan a month!

To save his money for a wife, he preferred to walk.

After asking n people on the way, it was nearly half past ten when he arrived at Nanyang University.

Pulling the course schedule out of his school bag, he found the classroom on the ground floor according to the information on it.

The class was in session inside.

Shi Yao tried to sneak in through the back door, but unfortunately it was already locked.

Enter through the front door and receive the attention of the whole class plus the teacher? He didn't want to do that.

The other side of the classroom was next to the flower garden, so Shi Yao decided to go in through the window.

The seat by the window in the last row of the classroom was empty.

In the modern era, he was the worst of the worst, and he had done this kind of thing a lot.

Just as he was climbing into the classroom with ease, he heard a voice like a pearl, with a bit of teasing: "I wonder what your opinion is on this issue, Shi Yao?"

Shi Yao had just sat down and hadn't even had time to stuff his school bag into the desk drawer when he was called by name. He stood up abruptly, meeting the man's eyes.

He saw a field of pine trees and bamboo that looked like the bright moon, just like a winter plum standing in the frost and snow; a little bit of elegance and a little bit of pride, a handsome immortal aura that will not falter.

Han Pu, wearing a white shirt and light grey tie tied with a simple and elegant Windsor knot, stood at the podium and looked at him quietly.

The class was 'Outline of the History of World Literature' and the lecturer was Professor Han Pu.

The question he asked was whether translated literature should be classified as foreign literature or as national literature.

If translated literature belongs to foreign literature, then the translated text, which has been taken out of its own literary and cultural context, is very different from the foreign literature originally written in a foreign language.

If translated literature belongs to the country, but the translated text itself comes from the original foreign language, how can it be called national?

Shi Yao had just climbed in from outside, so naturally he could not have known about his question and was in a dilemma. A low laugh came from not far away, and Jacob flashed a wink at him: "Xiao Yao Yao, Professor Han's question is, does translated literature belong to foreign literature, or to national literature? What's your point?" Shi Yao knew that Jacob was the original owner's classmate at Nanyang University, but what he didn't expect was that he was actually in the same class!

Jacob's intimate nickname for him naturally caused laughter, and as everyone's attention turned to him for a moment, Shi Yao had a bright idea and asked rhetorically, "What's your point of view, Professor?"

When Shi Yao was a student in modern times, he would often fool his teachers like this; when he was a teacher, he would often fool his students like this too. If the other party followed the topic down the line, not only could he leave himself room for thought, he could also take the opportunity to follow suit.

But not only did Han Pu not fall for the trick, he instead walked from the podium to his side: "What interests me, Mr. Shi, is your point of view."

Why doesn't this professor play by the rules!

Shi Yao blushed a little because he was nervous, seeing that Han Pu was just a step away from him.

This professor was quite good-looking, and Zhou Dunyi's 'Ai Lian Shuo' immediately jumped into his mind: straight in the middle and straight on the outside, without vines or branches, fragrance that is distant and clear, a pavilion of pure plants that can be viewed from afar but not played with.

If, and he meant if, he could tease this strict and noble professor, it would be very interesting.

Han Pu was unaware of the jumbled thoughts in his head and prompted, "Mr. Shi, you're lost in thought."

"Oh oh oh, sorry!" Remembering that he had read Itamar Even-Zohar's 'Polysystem Theory of Translation' and Xie Tianzhen's 'Translation Studies', Shi Yao replied, "From the perspective of translation, the attribution of translated literature should be based on the nationality of the translator; however, such a division is inevitably controversial. According to the view of a polysystem, why can't the multiple attributes of translated literature be recognised?"

"Your point of view, Mr. Shi, is very interesting." Han Pu seemed to have fallen into serious thought, but a moment later, he turned his words around again, "But this does not offset your disciplinary offence of being late and climbing through the window; after class, come to my office."

Shi Yao: ?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: March 8, 2023