Just as Zhou Xuan was about to leave the office and walk down, a woman who looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old walked in from outside. She was quite beautiful. When she walked in, everyone in the office immediately became serious and started to work diligently.
Zhou Xuan knew that this woman must be a leader, if not a very high-ranking one, but at least an official.
The woman entered without noticing the staff in the office, and hurriedly said, "Everyone, stop! Everyone, stop! Is there anyone who speaks Icebird and Sudanese languages?"
The people in the hall fell silent. Most of them had at least a bachelor's degree, but the two languages the woman spoke were not the languages of major countries in the world, so very few people knew them. When choosing a language major in university, people usually choose countries with good economies and rapid development. English goes without saying, and when choosing a second or third language, most people choose Japanese, Korean, or languages from European countries. In a small country like Iceland, there would definitely be no one who knows them, and Sudan is not much better. It is a small African country, and Africa itself has a lot of languages, so even fewer people know them.
The woman knew that it was nearly impossible to find anyone in the office who could speak both languages, so she immediately said, "There's been an unexpected situation. The businesspeople from these two places, and they're very important guests, can't come because their translator suddenly fell ill. But they have an important business investment meeting scheduled at the Municipal Party Committee today, and without a translator, it will be canceled. Do you know anyone who can come immediately, someone who speaks both languages?" The people in the hall remained silent. At least eight or nine out of ten people spoke English, and quite a few spoke German, French, and Japanese. There were also a few people who spoke European Latin languages, such as Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, but it was difficult to find anyone who spoke Icelandic and Sudanese languages.
Seeing that no one responded, the woman became so anxious that her eyebrows furrowed, beads of sweat appeared on her forehead and nose, and she gripped the manuscript paper tightly in her hands.
Zhou Xuan paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered his language converter. With this device, he could understand and communicate with even animal languages, so the languages of these two countries were nothing. According to the alien monster, he could communicate with almost any language from Earth.
After a moment of hesitation, Zhou Xuan casually said, "I... I know a little bit, is that alright?"
The woman looked up and immediately saw Zhou Xuan. Although Zhou Xuan hesitated, she grasped at his words as if they were a lifeline, and exclaimed with delight, "Even a little bit of knowledge is fine, but could you call someone over right away? I can send someone and a car to pick them up immediately!" Zhou Xuan said awkwardly, "No need to pick them up, I'll be fine on my own..."
The woman paused, tilted her head, and stared intently at Zhou Xuan. She hadn't expected Zhou Xuan to be talking about himself. After a moment's thought, she asked, "Do you speak Icebird Language or Sudanese Language?"
While asking, he thought that this person might know a little bit of one of the languages. But at this point, nothing was worse than trying anything. However, judging from Zhou Xuan's hesitant expression and his young and ordinary appearance, he probably only knew a tiny bit, and not very well.
Zhou Xuan said awkwardly, "Both...both of them know a little bit..."
The woman was overjoyed. Without thinking twice, she took a few steps forward, grabbed Zhou Xuan, and pulled him outside, saying, "Alright, alright, as long as you finish this task today, I'll give you credit!"
He dragged Zhou Xuan into the alleyway outside the office building before letting go and leading the way, while turning back to ask, "What's your name? I don't think I've seen you before. Which department are you in?"
The office is divided into many departments, such as the Communist Youth League Committee, the Party Members Department, the Secretary's Department, the Discipline Inspection Commission Department, etc., each responsible for a corresponding part of the work. Because this is the Municipal Party Committee Office, it does not handle municipal affairs, which is in another office building.
The woman who asked Zhou Xuan was actually Luo Qing, the director of the business group in charge of foreign affairs projects in the municipal party committee office. She was not actually from the party committee, but from the municipal government. However, she was extremely anxious about this matter today. She couldn't find anyone in the municipal government building who could speak both languages, so she rushed to the municipal party committee office to inquire. It turned out that she was desperate and had probably figured that she couldn't find anyone. Because of the urgency, it was impossible to find a translator in a short time. But she didn't expect that she would actually find Zhou Xuan.
However, seeing Zhou Xuan's condition, Luo Qing was still a little worried, wondering if he could really handle it, and asked again, "Do you really know both languages? Which university do you study at?"
In her memory, it seems that universities, both domestically and internationally, rarely offer courses in these two languages. She's not sure about universities abroad, but domestically, they probably don't.
Zhou Xuan blushed and chuckled, "I didn't go to university, but... I studied with a friend for a while..."
Luo Qing was stunned for a moment, then stopped in her tracks and exclaimed in surprise, "You didn't learn it at school, but from a friend? How long did you study it?"
Zhou Xuan's face turned even redder, and he stammered, "I learned... I learned for a..." He finally managed to swallow the word "a day" and changed it to "a year" before finally getting it out!
Volume 1, Chapter 570: Lifesaving
Zhou Xuan's words made Luo Qing's face turn pale. He was indeed desperate and grasped at Zhou Xuan as a lifeline after finding no other way out. But when he heard that Zhou Xuan had only studied for a year, and judging from his expression, even that year was a bit of an exaggeration.
It's obvious that even if you study a foreign language for several years, you might not see much progress. In fact, Zhou Xuan is learning two foreign languages in a year. He might just be able to read them and then do a mechanical translation that doesn't make any sense at all!
Luo Qing stared at Zhou Xuan, then gritted her teeth and asked, "Then you better be honest with me, do you know these two languages or not? If something goes wrong on the spot, it could ruin everything, and you...you..."
At this point, Luo Qing became even more angry. If we're talking about taking responsibility for something bad, what responsibility could a translator who was just temporarily brought in possibly have?
At worst, we'll just give her a scolding. Do you think we can make him jail for years or lock him up for ten days or half a month? Don't even mention that's impossible. We can't even give him a financial penalty. Afterwards, she'll be the one who gets scolded by her superiors or has to take responsibility!
Zhou Xuan remained unambiguous about this, nodding and saying, "Yes...yes..."
Luo Qing was both amused and exasperated by his expression, and genuinely worried, but then she thought, what could she do now? Even if she had to force him into it, there was no other way. If she were to test his knowledge of the two foreign languages now, he could just spout nonsense, and she wouldn't understand him anyway.
Fortunately, Luo Qing didn't ask Zhou Xuan to say anything, because a language converter first needs to select a communication partner. Without a partner, how can it communicate? Without communication, it naturally has no way to select a language system.
Luo Qing acted swiftly and expediently, not having time to say more to Zhou Xuan. He quickly took him to the parking lot near the mayor's building, then drove out himself, called Zhou Xuan into the car, and drove off in a hurry.
Luo Qing's car was a slightly worn Audi, of course, a municipal leader's service vehicle. He picked up Zhou Xuan and drove towards the city center.
Zhou Xuan then realized he hadn't told Wei Haihe's secretary, Tang Jie, that he'd be in trouble if Tang Jie couldn't find him when he returned. He reached for his phone, but realized he didn't have it with him. Even if he had, he didn't know Tang Jie's number. If he wanted to call, he could only call Fu Yuanshan and ask him to pass on the message. Of course, he had to consider Tang Jie's feelings and couldn't go directly to Wei Haihe. If he told Wei Haihe directly, Tang Jie would be his secretary, and he was the one who arranged for Zhou Xuan to be taken care of. That would be a dereliction of duty!
But then Zhou Xuan thought about it again and found it a bit funny. Luo Qing must have a cell phone, right? Even if she did, he didn't know Fu Yuanshan's phone number. All cell phone numbers are stored in the phone. Once you leave the phone, Zhou Xuan wouldn't know a single number. So there was no way to contact her now. He should just finish what he needed to do for Luo Qing as soon as possible and then come back.
As Luo Qing drove, he asked, "What's your name?"
"My surname is Zhou, and my name is Zhou Xuan," Zhou Xuan replied casually. Then he thought that Wei Haihe and Fu Yuanshan's meeting wouldn't be over in a short time. He should have some time to get this done as soon as possible. It probably wouldn't be a problem. After all, it wasn't a big deal that he came with Fu Yuanshan.
Luo Qing hummed in agreement. The name was very ordinary, and she didn't remember it. As she drove, she was still thinking about what would happen next. If Zhou Xuan was someone who couldn't translate at all, then she would have to take full responsibility. It was impossible for her not to worry about this now.
Luo Qing was taking Zhou Xuan to a five-star hotel in Beijing. Both guests were staying at the hotel. After parking the car in the hotel parking lot, Luo Qing took Zhou Xuan up the elevator from the hotel lobby to the 37th floor, and then took the elevator down.
In the alleyway, Luo Qing patted her chest, which was heaving with tension, and then whispered to Zhou Xuan, "We've arrived. We need to meet the Sudanese guests first. Zhou Xuan, are you sure you speak Sudanese?"
Zhou Xuan reached out and touched the switching instrument on his wrist. He remained calm, smiled, and nodded, saying, "Yes, I'm sure I can do it!"
Luo Qing frowned, her expression still unsettled. After all, she didn't trust Zhou Xuan. Her task today was to bring these two guests to the city, where Mayor Chen would personally receive them and take them to visit the New District High-Tech Park. The city's goal was for these two guests from Iceland and Sudan to visit the park and bring back valuable feedback and investment intentions. If they couldn't even get this first step right, then all the subsequent investment negotiations would be for naught.
The Sudanese guest's room was 3709. At the door, Luo Qing took a deep breath before gently knocking.
The room was filled with chattering voices, which Zhou Xuan couldn't understand, and Luo Qing couldn't understand them either. However, a woman's Mandarin voice followed, and Zhou Xuan quickly pressed the language switching button. After connecting with the Sudanese man in the room, the chattering voices immediately turned into a stream of radio waves that he could understand and entered his brain.
"Quick... quick, call a doctor! Quick, call an ambulance!"
A few women speaking Mandarin also chimed in, saying, "What should we do... we can't understand a word he's saying..."
"Do you speak English?"
Then the woman's voice asked in English again: "Sir, can you understand me?"
"I don't understand, I don't know what you're saying, call an ambulance right away..."
It was that Sudanese man's voice again, sounding urgent and alarmed. Zhou Xuan quickly said to Luo Qing, "That Sudanese man said to call an ambulance..."
Upon hearing that Zhou Xuan could understand what the Sudanese were saying, Luo Qing was quite surprised. No matter how advanced his understanding was, it was better than pretending to understand. It seemed that simple communication should be no problem. However, when Luo Qing heard Zhou Xuan say that the Sudanese had called an ambulance, he was startled and quickly pushed open the door to enter!