Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The next morning, upon getting out of bed, Lin Yao sensed that the vibe between the little couple seemed a bit unusual.
Li Shulan’s eyes sparkled when she saw her. “Sister Lin, you’re so impressive!”
Lin Yao was a little puzzled but accepted the young girl’s admiring gaze with a playful smile. “Aren’t I?”
Li Shulan had always been gentle and mild-mannered, but at the moment, she was unable to conceal the joy in her eyes. “How impressive, how could you tell that I have a baby?”
“Huh?” The smile on Lin Yao’s face suddenly froze, and there was disbelief on her face. “You have a baby?” How soon!
Li Shulan could barely contain her joy as she said, “I didn’t take it seriously when you asked me if I was pregnant yesterday, but my husband was a little worried. He went to the pharmacy last night and bought a pregnancy test. I tested it this morning, and the result showed that I am indeed pregnant! Sister Lin is truly impressive, I am truly grateful!”
Li Shulan’s boyfriend was tall and handsome, but he didn’t talk much, and his temperament was a bit gloomy.
He coldly glanced at Li Shulan and Lin Yao, especially at Lin Yao, and then went out without saying a word.
Lin Yao suddenly realized that there was something a bit off about what Li Shulan said. What did Li Shulan being pregnant have to do with her?
Besides, Li Shulan becoming pregnant so quickly was the work of her boyfriend, so he was the impressive one, but why was she profusely showering Lin Yao with praise?
Lin Yao felt very glad that she was a female. If she’d been a man, no doubt Li Shulan’s boyfriend would have beaten her up.
But Li Shulan being pregnant didn’t exactly have nothing at all to do with her.
From now on, they would probably get married and have the baby. Where would they live then, would they still rent with her?
How could it be!
Li Shulan was only eighteen years old this year, and her boyfriend was only about twenty-three or twenty-four…they haven’t even reached the normal age to become a parent yet.
Lin Yao didn’t know how to describe her inner feelings, so she asked, “What are you going to do next?”
Li Shulan was an exceedingly gentle-natured girl, and there was a motherly quality to her when she smiled. “Of course we’ll have the baby first.”
Lin Yao wanted to ask Li Shulan whether or not she’d gotten the marriage certificate? Arranged the ceremony? Did the elders on both sides know that the two of them were together? But asking these questions would be raining on her parade, so she refrained from asking.
In the end, Lin Yao only managed to say, “That’s great.”
Li Shulan was still immersed in the joy of imminent motherhood. She held Lin Yao’s hand firmly and said, “Sister Lin, I’m cooking a few more dishes tonight. Let’s celebrate together. Thank you for taking care of us.”
Lin Yao was a little surprised since she hadn’t taken care of Li Shulan at all, but Li Shulan had been taking care of her instead.
Both Li Shulan and Jiang Mingshu have the Shu character in their names, but she and Jiang Mingshu were two people with completely different temperaments. Li Shulan was truly a gentle and virtuous woman.
Lin Yao had never seen a gentler and sweeter girl than her in her entire life.
Unfortunately, they would be moving away soon, so she would have to search for new tenants again.
Perhaps this would be their last supper together?
Lin Yao was thinking about the need to find a tenant again, and although she felt a little sad inside, she still had a smile on her face. “Don’t exhaust yourself so much now that you’re pregnant. I hear that you have to pay special attention in the first three months, so you need more rest.”
Li Shulan’s little face blushed. “How much trouble is cooking? Sister Lin must dine with us tonight.”
Lin Yao didn’t know why Li Shulan blushed so easily. She gently curled her lips and said, “Then I’ll consider this a treat from the baby.”
Li Shulan smiled heartily. Her smile was like the warm sun in winter, needed more than ever. “Well then, it’s a promise.”
******
By December, Hang City was already covered in snow, and some places had already snowed more than once.
Lin Yao had been working at Lingyun Industry for almost two months now. During that period, she discovered that from time to time she would receive calls similar to the call from the foreigner about a month ago.
Some impatient foreigners liked to specify on the phone what product they needed and their requirements for the product, then explain what problems they had encountered in the past and ask if she could resolve these problems for them?
If they could reach an agreement, they would place an order immediately, but if not, they would immediately find another company.
Although Lin Yao couldn’t understand what the foreigner was saying at first, the Spartan training she underwent during this period gradually began to show its uses. She could understand them even if they had weird accents. Communication was no longer an issue.
After more than a month of getting along, Lin Yao successfully mingled with the six foreign trade salesmen in the company. She finally figured out why no one understood that initial foreigner’s phone call.
Lin Yun used to operate a hotel in Guangzhou. Jian Wen was a high school English teacher. Zheng Yuning used to do exporting for a garment accessories factory. As for the others, they have exported fabrics and curtains before… but none of them had ever exported machinery products.
It wasn’t that there hadn’t been any females doing foreign trade export in the machinery industry before, nor was it that Lin Yun didn’t want to recruit foreign trade salespersons with experience in the mechanical industry. It was just a coincidence that she had recruited foreign trade salespersons from other industries.
For this reason, despite the fact that Jian Wen and Zheng Yuning spoke English pretty well, they still couldn’t understand what the foreigner was saying on the phone.
For example, the foreigner asked on the phone: could they surface polishing chrome plating process on a product model? That sort of question, even if it was asked in Chinese, would still have been impossible to answer.
Even though they all spoke Chinese, that still didn’t mean that they could all understand advanced mathematical jargon. The same was true for English. This was caused by a lack of technical knowledge regarding industry jargon.
The more she learned, the more she felt that she still had too much to learn, whether it was English and professional knowledge, or being tactful and personable!
Lin Yao obviously wasn’t the only one who thought so. When she was about to leave work, she heard Jian Wen call the New World Language Training School from a newspaper ad, then consult about the language training classes in detail.
After she hung up the phone, Lin Yao couldn’t help but ask, “Do you plan to work part-time as a teacher at New World Language Training School?”
Jian Wen curled lips slightly. “No, I’m going to learn a foreign language.”
Lin Yao was stunned and asked, “You’re going to study a second foreign language?” The expert was indeed an expert and had really high standards for herself. Proficiency in English was apparently not enough!
Lin Yao majored in international trade and had studied a second foreign language as well. She studied Japanese and achieved a mediocre N4 level as well.
The reality was that most Japanese people who did business with Chinese people were almost all fluent in English or Chinese, so her second foreign language hadn’t had the opportunity to come in handy yet.
Jian Wen said, “No, I’m going to learn English.”
“What?” Lin Yao was shocked, “Are you kidding me?!”
Jian Wen spoke English very well, and the epic quote that she uttered a month ago, “That foreigner’s English was terrible” still rang in her ears, but now she says she wants to learn English?
Jian Wen explained with an impassive expression, “I was an English major, and the courses included classical English, English language and literature… In addition, I’ve also studied some English classic novels and poetry, but these things aren’t used in the workplace at all.”
It suddenly dawned on Lin Yao, those were the courses that a prestigious English major took?
Lin Yao had long before discovered that even the College English CET-4 vocabulary wasn’t very useful at work. The English language and literature courses Jian Wen mentioned were probably even more useless.
But it was still somewhat over the top for a level eight expert like Jian Wen to sign up for an English training class, and it might look like she was trying to ruin their business.
She kindly tried to dissuade her, “Your English basics are really good, and you’re very fluent verbally, so there’s no need for you to go to those so-called language training classes. Even the teacher might not speak English as well as you.”
Jian Wen smiled bitterly, “I’m going to sign up for a business English course.”
“That’s even more unnecessary, I’ve studied business English…”
Lin Yao thought about her subpar English, and couldn’t help but blush. “I mean, business English is very simple, I can lend you a book for you to read. There’s no need to register for a course.”
Jian Wen raised her eyebrows. “Shall we go check it out together?”
The implication was that Lin Yao needed the class more than she did.
Of course, that was an indisputable fact.
Lin Yao felt a little tempted.
Her self-studying during this period had certainly been fruitful, but she had hit a plateau recently. If she wanted to improve further…perhaps she should go to a training class or night school first?