AWB Chapter 15 Competitors
Chapter 15 Competitors
Zheng Ziqi's home is in a small courtyard about 3 miles away from the factory. The courtyard is surrounded by an adobe wall.
As soon as I reached the edge of the yard, I heard dogs barking inside.
"Don't call me, I'm back."
Zheng Ziqi shouted loudly into the courtyard.
Sure enough, the barking stopped immediately upon hearing Zheng Ziqi's voice.
Pushing open the courtyard gate, I saw a yellow mongrel wagging its tail as it walked over.
Zhao Yuan habitually stepped back. In his previous life, he had been bitten by a dog when he was a child, and he had been afraid of dogs ever since.
Zheng Ziqi noticed that Zhaoyuan was afraid of dogs, and said to the dog.
"Little Huang, move aside."
"My dog, Xiao Huang, doesn't bite, so don't worry."
Zheng Ziqi said.
After hearing Zheng Ziqi's words, Zhao Yuan carefully followed him into the main room. Upon hearing its master's words, Little Huang wagged its tail and walked towards a nearby doghouse.
A woman in her 30s was standing in the main room, and a child of about 3 years old was sitting opposite her, being fed.
"dad."
As soon as the child saw Zheng Ziqi, he jumped off the stool and ran over.
Zheng Ziqi picked up the child and said:
“This is my wife, Zhong Shumei. Shumei, this is Zhaoyuan, the English translator at the factory. He lives far away and can’t go back today, so he’ll stay here for the night.”
"Hello, sister-in-law, I'm here to trouble you."
Zhao Yuan shouted.
"Brother Zhao, don't be so polite. Please sit down for a while. Don't be shy. Make yourself at home. I'll feed Bao'er first and then tidy up the back room. Ziqi, please make some tea first."
Zhong Shumei took the child from Zheng Ziqi and began feeding him again.
Zheng Ziqi walked to the table at the back of the main room, picked up a teacup, brewed two cups of fennel tea, brought them over, and handed one to Zhaoyuan.
The two began to drink tea.
The two chatted about various everyday things.
Zhong Shumei has already prepared a room for Zhaoyuan.
"I'm going to sleep now. I got up early this morning."
Zhao Yuan stood up first and put down his teacup.
"Go to sleep. County Chief Yang is coming tomorrow. Do you want to meet him?"
Zheng Ziqi asked.
"Okay."
"Zhao Yuan said. Zhao Yuan wasn't afraid of meeting these leaders at all; in his previous life, he had met far more leaders than the county magistrate."
Silent all night.
The next morning, when Zhao Yuan got up, Zhong Shumei had already prepared breakfast and put it on the table. Zheng Ziqi was washing his face, probably having just gotten up as well.
"Good morning, Director Zheng. Your wife has already prepared breakfast so early."
Zhao Yuan said.
“The children have all gone to school after breakfast, but Bao’er hasn’t gotten up yet. Once he gets up, there’s nothing I can do.”
Zhong Shumei said as she set out the bowls and chopsticks.
After breakfast, Zheng Ziqi led Zhao Yuan on foot to the factory.
Not long after I arrived at the factory, an old-fashioned 212 Jeep drove up to the road in front of the factory gate.
"County Chief Yang is here. Let's go to the door to greet him."
Zheng Ziqi said to Wang Fugui and the others.
Zhao Yuan followed along and walked towards the factory gate.
The jeep drove straight to the office door and stopped.
The car door opened, and County Chief Yang got out of the passenger seat. A pretty young woman, about 158cm tall, got out of the back seat. She had her hair in a ponytail, wore a floral top, and baggy black trousers. She looked quite energetic and attractive.
"Hello, County Chief Yang, welcome to Xiongxiong Fireworks Factory for your inspection."
Zheng Ziqi quickly went up to greet him and shook hands with County Chief Yang.
"This is Comrade Zhang Hua, a top student who graduated from Huzhou University. She was recently assigned to the county office to be in charge of export translation work for our county. I brought her here today to take a look."
As he shook hands with Zheng Ziqi, County Chief Yang introduced the girl standing next to him.
"Welcome, welcome."
Zheng Ziqi said to Zhang Hua with a smile.
"Thank you. I am Zhang Hua. I hope to use what I have learned to help businesses in our county in the future."
Zhang Hua said confidently.
"He's a really good comrade with a high level of political awareness."
County Chief Yang praised him.
"Come on, please come to the conference room and have a seat."
Zheng Ziqi gestured for him to enter.
Wang Fugui led everyone to a meeting room on the left and had them sit down.
Soon a woman brought in some fennel tea.
After everyone sat down, Zheng Ziqi began to introduce Zhaoyuan to County Magistrate Yang.
“County Chief Yang, this is Zhaoyuan, the translator I told you about yesterday. He lives far away in Daguang Commune. He stayed at my house last night. Let’s meet and chat today.”
Zheng Ziqi said.
"Hello, County Chief Yang, I am Zhaoyuan."
Zhao Yuan stood up and introduced himself.
County Magistrate Yang looked up at Zhao Yuan and said:
"Zhaoyuan, which school did you graduate from?"
"I am self-taught. I went to junior high school. When I was a child, I stayed at the home of a relative in Huzhou for a period of time. His family had a lot of English books. My relative had studied abroad and often taught us to communicate in English."
Zhao Yuan brought out the excuse he had prepared the night before; he had indeed been away from home for a long period of time when he was a child. He couldn't very well say it was a memory from his past life, or he would be mistaken for a monster.
"Self-taught, able to translate, and even speak with foreigners?"
County Chief Yang cast a suspicious glance at him.
“County Chief Yang, I’ve read what Brother Zhao translated. Although my English is limited, I think his fluency and handwriting are quite good. Why don’t you give it a try?”
"How much does each of these fireworks cost? How do I order them? Which fireworks company are you from?" Zheng Ziqi brought over two sheets of paper and two pens. Zhang Hua and Zhao Yuan, please translate this at the same time. Let's see how well you two do it.
County Chief Yang said to Zheng Ziqi.
"Okay, I'll send it over right away."
As Zheng Ziqi spoke, he made a gesture toward Wang Fugui.
Wang Fugui pushed open the door and went out, quickly returning with paper and pen.
Zhang Hua and Zhao Yuan each took paper and pen and sat down at the table to write.
County Chief Yang observed Zhao Yuan's expression.
Zhao Yuan showed no sign of tension. He was writing quickly and fluently, and soon looked up to hand the translated paper to County Magistrate Yang.
Zhang Hua wrote on the paper and crossed it out again. Upon hearing that Zhao Yuan had finished translating, he became even more anxious.
"Zhang Hua, don't rush, take your time. Being fast isn't necessarily good."
As County Head Yang took the paper from Zhao Yuan, he comforted Zhang Hua.
On the paper, Zhao Yuan wrote one line of Chinese and one line of English, the handwriting neat and tidy, without a trace of hesitation or pause, as if it had been written in one go.
County Magistrate Yang looked up at Zhao Yuan in surprise. He thought to himself: This kid might actually have some talent.
After a while, Zhang Hua finished translating. County Chief Yang took the paper from Zhang Hua and saw that it was covered with marks and rewrites, indicating obvious uncertainty.
"Ziqi, go and get your factory's brochure."
County Chief Yang said to Zheng Ziqi.
"Okay, I'll go get it."
Wang Fugui spoke as he walked out.
Soon Wang Fugui brought over the factory's introduction.
"Zhaoyuan, could you give a brief introduction to this factory in English?"
County Chief Yang said to Zhao Yuan.
"OK."
Zhao Yuan took the paper with the introduction.
"BearBear Fireworks Factory was established in 1956, specializing in the production of fireworks and firecrackers, and currently has 28 kinds of products..." (in English).
Zhao Yuan quickly and fluently translated the introduction into English.
County Magistrate Yang suddenly stood up, walked towards Zhao Yuan, and shook Zhao Yuan's hand, saying:
"Brother Zhao, we've been looking for a translator like you for a long time. Come back to the county with me later. I have some documents that you can translate for me. Our county wants to sell fireworks abroad, but finding a good translator is too difficult."
"Okay, I'll give it a try."
Zhao Yuan said modestly.
"Come with me to visit a few other factories. Fireworks are our leading industry, and the county wants to make this industry bigger and stronger."
County Chief Yang said.
"I think I can trust them in foreign trade; they have no problem communicating with foreigners in English."
"I'm going to seize this opportunity," Zhao Yuan said confidently. He knew that the county's fireworks had gone global in his previous life, generating billions of yuan a year. With his involvement, he should be able to increase that number even further.
"Great. Come on, let's go check out the other factories together, and then we'll go back together."
County Magistrate Yang stood up, preparing to leave.
“Zhang Hua, don’t feel guilty. You still need more practice and will improve gradually. Communicate more with Zhao Yuan.”
County Chief Yang said to Zhang Hua.
"Yes, County Chief Yang."
Zhang Hua said.
"County Chief Yang, please wait a moment. I need to talk to Zhaoyuan about something. We've arranged to go to Huacheng the day after tomorrow."
Zheng Ziqi pulled Zhao Yuan to his office.
"Brother Zhao, this is 100 yuan for the translation fee. This is my office phone number. We've arranged to travel to Huacheng together the day after tomorrow. We'll meet at the train station; the train leaves at 3:00 PM."
As he spoke, Zheng Ziqi handed Zhao Yuan 100 yuan and a piece of paper with a phone number written on it.
Zhao Yuan took the money and the phone and put them into his bag.
"Director Zheng, is your trip to Huacheng to discuss business with foreign businessmen, or is it just a visit?"
Zhao Yuan asked.
"My cousin arranged a meeting with a foreign businessman for me. I'm going to meet him this time."
Zheng Ziqi said.
"If we reach an agreement and can sign the contract, we will sign it right away."
Zhao Yuan asked.
"If we can reach an agreement, we'll sign it right away."
Zheng Ziqi said.
"I'm not sure what to do, so I'll go and see first."
Zheng Ziqi continued.
"Then you need to bring your company's relevant documents and your personal documents. You will need to open a foreign exchange bank account for transactions."
"Zhao Yuan prompted."
"Oh, okay, I'll contact my cousin later to see what documents I need to bring."
Zheng Ziqi said.
Zhao Yuan was about to go out.
Wang Fugui pushed the door open and came in, carrying a box of things.
"This is a box of small fireworks. Brother Zhao, you can take it back and let your child try it out. The outer packaging is also inside."
As he spoke, Wang Fugui handed the box to Zhaoyuan.
Zhao Yuan took the box and followed Zheng Ziqi out the door.