Volume 1 Chapter 57 Translator

"Auntie, did you drop this handbag?" Su Wan asked in a soft, gentle voice when she saw someone leading a child back toward her.

"Yes, yes, yes. Thank you so much, comrade. I was in such a hurry just now that I forgot to take my handbag from the sink."

Xie Bailing said with deep gratitude. As she took the handbag and felt around inside, she let out a sigh of relief upon finding the foreign books still there.

Noticing the patches on Su Wan's worn-out clothes, the holes in the cloth shoes on her feet, and the insulated food container in her hand, she assumed someone in Su Wan's family must be hospitalized.

Overcome with momentary pity, she took a handmade crocheted coin purse out of her handbag, pulled out a one-yuan note, and handed it to Su Wan. "Comrade, this also took up your time. Please take this as a token of my gratitude."

"It's nothing, Auntie. I happen to be waiting for someone anyway." Su Wan quickly refused. Then, noticing a foreign book with an English title inside the handbag—after all, people who knew English in this era were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns—she asked out of curiosity, "Is this book *Kissinger's Memoirs*?"

Xie Bailing was momentarily stunned, quite surprised that a country girl like her could read English. "You know English?"

"I've studied it a little." Su Wan nodded. As a university graduate from a prestigious double-first-class institution who had also worked in foreign trade where all contracts were entirely in English, how could she possibly not know English?

Xie Bailing's eyes filled with pleasant surprise. She had thought that with Su Wan's rural background, having even a primary school education would be a stretch, yet she had actually studied English, which meant her educational attainment was at least high school level. She probed further, "Then can you understand the contents of this book?"

Su Wan lowered her head, took the book, and flipped to the first page. Having actually read *Kissinger's Memoirs* in her past life—though she had long forgotten the specific details—she quickly translated the first paragraph upon seeing the English typesetting.

Xie Bailing was thoroughly astonished, though she didn't know much English herself and had no way of knowing if Su Wan was correct. "Comrade, could you read the content out loud in English?"

"Certainly." In her modern-day foreign trade work, Su Wan had inevitably dealt with foreigners every day, holding online meetings, so her pronunciation was extremely authentic, fluent, and standard.

Xie Bailing had entertained foreign guests before, and Su Wan's pronunciation was almost identical to theirs. Just by listening, she could tell it was far more than just "a little bit" of studying.

The way she looked at Su Wan was like discovering a glittering piece of gold in the desert. Once again looking at Su Wan in disbelief, she asked, "Comrade, did you study abroad before? Your English accent is so standard."

"No. My employer's family had a radio that could pick up foreign-language broadcasts, and I practiced every day by listening to it," Su Wan fabricated an excuse, wanting to leave soon after.

Her pronunciation was indeed too standard. In this era, being able to speak English at all was already remarkable, but for someone from the countryside to not only speak it but do so with such fluency and precision—it wouldn't do if someone mistook her for a spy.

"Then you aren't going to school right now?" Xie Bailing hadn't suspected her in that direction.

If she were a spy or secret agent, how could she so easily expose the fact that she knew foreign languages?

"I'll be starting the third year of high school when the term begins. Right now, I'm working part-time as a nanny. I originally wanted to earn some tuition money to lighten the burden on my family, but the employer's original nanny has returned, so I won't be able to work here next month." Su Wan tried to make her background information as detailed as possible to avoid suspicion and being reported.

To have such a high level of English by the third year of high school, and yet be reduced to working as a nanny—it was truly a pity.

Thinking that the Peking Publishing House needed to publish a few foreign novels and was short of translators, Xie Bailing figured she could recommend Su Wan to go and give it a try.

"What is your name, classmate? I'll write you a recommendation letter to the Peking Publishing House. When you get there, look for Director Miao of the publishing house and see if you can apply for a position as a temporary translator." Xie Bailing quickly rummaged through her handbag for paper and pen.

Wasn't this Peking Publishing House the very same newspaper office that had published her exam scores last time? Editor-in-Chief Li inside was related to Fang Yu and her mother.

Su Wan was overjoyed. "Thank you, Auntie. My name is Su Wan."

Su Wan? Xie Bailing's hand writing the recommendation letter paused. Why did this name sound just like the Su Wan her husband kept talking about and insisted on bringing to Peking for her studies?

However, Xie Bailing didn't dwell on it; it was just a coincidence of having the same first and last name.

This Su Wan was gentle, courteous, well-mannered, and possessed exceptional English skills, yet she still knew to go out and find work to supplement her family's income.

That other Su Wan was deceitful, lazy, gluttonous, and of poor moral character—completely spoiled by her family.

Her academic performance was an absolute mess; she was the epitome of a problem student.

If she could have this gentle and quiet Su Wan date her son, she would raise all ten thousand of her hands in agreement.

"Auntie, are you an associate professor at Huabei University? No wonder you have such an air of elegance." Su Wan glanced at the recommendation letter and saw the signature of Associate Professor Xie Bailing, her clear eyes brightening.

Although she had guessed the other party was an intellectual, she hadn't expected her to be an associate professor at a university.

She truly had met a noble benefactor today.

The dimples on her cheeks were sweet and clear, and her face showed genuine respect.

Xie Bailing said, "This recommendation letter is merely a stepping stone. Whether you can get hired still depends on your own abilities."

Then, taking another look at Su Wan's attire, she asked with concern, "Do you have any other clothes at home? The Peking Publishing House is a major newspaper office, after all. You always want to leave a good impression."

"Professor Xie, I do." Su Wan smiled sweetly, then bowed deeply. "I truly, deeply thank you for giving me this opportunity."

Then she could rest easy. Xie Bailing smiled warmly. Although she wanted to chat a bit more with Su Wan and ask who had taught her foreign languages, she had her son on her mind and hurried away, holding Huo Xinyi's hand.

Looking at the recommendation letter in her hand, Su Wan, who had just been worrying about finding a job, never expected to find a path forward so quickly.

The income of a translator in this era was extremely high, calculated per thousand words. Depending on the translated literary work, the higher the quality of the work, the higher the rate per thousand words.

Often, translating just a few thousand words of a work could equal a normal worker's monthly salary.

Su Wan carefully tucked the recommendation letter away against her inner garments for safekeeping.

She had thought Auntie Hong would take quite a while longer to come down, but after only half an hour, Auntie Hong emerged from the ward.

Su Wan felt somewhat impatient to return to the Huo family residence and watch how Su Xiaohui would put on her performance.

Huo Family Residence

"It really is true that rivers and mountains may change, but human nature is hard to alter. She only pretended for a month before she couldn't keep up the act anymore, beating Xiaohui's face into such a state for no good reason." Old Mrs. Huo sat on the sofa with a gloomy expression.

Hearing Xiaohui say that Su Wan would be coming back next month, she had been thinking of having Su Wan cook meals and brew soups for Huo Xiaohan.