Chapter 99 Do you speak German?

  It was just after 8 o'clock in the morning when Zhang Changzhang, the director of the tire factory, anxiously made a phone call outside the administrative office building in the plant area.

  "Old leader, what do you think we should do about this? The German side originally brought a translator, but that guy didn't get sick at the right time, and suddenly came down with acute pancreatitis and was hospitalized."

  "You also know that our state-owned factory had never thought of dealing with those foreign devils before, let alone specially allocating such talents."

  "I looked, but you also know that in this small place, it's really hard to find such talent. They said that specialized German translators are hard to find, then they said that German is actually similar to English, and asked if an English translator would do. This was already ridiculous, and then they added that they couldn't guarantee it would work! What kind of thing is this?!"

  "Hello, hello......" Zhang Changlang hung up the phone with a gloomy face.

  The original tire factory had been performing poorly, and just in time for the state-owned enterprise reform, a leader who had risen from the tire factory thought of a way to help the factory contact a German company to invest. But who knew that the German company's inspection team came to the factory, their translator suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized. This was good, language barriers, the originally planned inspection task was forced to terminate. Now a group of German devils are still sitting in the office waiting.

  Just as Director Zhang was getting anxious outside the office building, Chen Chu Fan's father happened to arrive in front of the office building. He came to pick up his retirement application form.

  Because the factory's efficiency has been getting worse and worse, sometimes wages can't even be paid out, and there is also the risk of layoffs. Therefore, many old employees who are about the same age as Chen Chu Fan's father, although they have not yet reached retirement age, have chosen to take early retirement. After handling early retirement, although the salary will be much lower, it has the advantage that the monthly salary will be paid on time, and there is no risk of layoffs. Moreover, after taking early retirement, relying on their skills, they can still find a job elsewhere, so in this way, the salary is even better than continuing to stay in the factory.

  Of course, handling internal retirement is also a matter of relationship, and the age is also tight. For male workers, they must be at least 55 years old to handle it. Chen Chufan's father happened to be at this age.

  "Old Chen, come to handle matters?"

  The Zhang family and the Chen family used to be neighbors, and Director Zhang and Chen Chufan's father had worked in the same workshop before. At that time, the current Director Zhang was just a workshop director. So the two families are quite familiar with each other.

  It wasn't until later, as Director Zhang's career advanced and both families moved away, that they gradually drifted apart. Especially after Chen Chufan's mother was laid off, Old Chen had even sought out the current Director Zhang, but was politely declined, leaving their relationship to only a nodding acquaintance.

  "En." Chen Dad nodded and directly bypassed Director Zhang, stepping up onto the stairs leading into the office building.

  "Hey, wait a minute, Old Chen. I heard your son is going abroad to study soon?" asked Director Zhang.

  "What's wrong?" Chen Chufan's father stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the factory director.

  "What about your son's foreign language skills? Can he speak German?" Zhang Chang asked hopefully, completely treating a dead mouse as if it were alive.

  It's not Zhang Chang's fault either, he was also forced to do so. At present, the German guests are still sitting in the conference room of the office building and can't find a translator, others have turned around and left. Not only did the investment go up in smoke, but he will definitely be scolded by his superior leader again.

  "German? I don't know about that, probably won't be, he's going to M country for further study." Chen Chufan's dad looked puzzled, and indeed he had never cared about these issues.

  "Is he at home now?" Manager Zhang continued to ask.

  "He's at home with his mom!"

  "Why don't you quickly call and ask, if your son really understands German, it would be a great help to the factory." Manager Zhang said hastily, eagerly picking up his mobile phone "What's your home number again?"

  Chen Chufan's father had no idea about the predicament Zhang Dachang was facing at this time, but was confused by Zhang's sudden politeness and vaguely reported a string of numbers.

  He handed over the big brother to Chen Chufan's father after dialing the phone, and Director Zhang began to wait anxiously beside him.

  .,........

  Chen Chufan was actually feeling quite depressed at home, and it had already been the third day since he returned. On the first night, he had the idea of making some money, so Chen Chufan decided to go out and look for a job, doing some part-time work for a few days. But he was stopped dead in his tracks by his mother.

  Firstly, the weather is too hot and my mother doesn't want me to go out every day. Secondly, I'm about to go abroad and it's unknown when we can meet again, so of course she wants me to stay at home and let her take a few more glances at me.

  Chen Chufan had no choice but to stay at home every day, accompanying his mother and doing household chores. Occasionally, he would make a phone call to Han Xiaohui.

  The days are very quiet, but indeed a bit boring.

  When the phone rang, Chen Chufan was accompanying his mother watching TV and chatting. Hearing the phone ring, Chen Chufan thought it was Xiaohui calling again, so he quickly ran to answer the phone.

  "Hello, who is it?" Chen Chufan asked as he picked up the phone.

  "Fanfan, it's Dad. Dad wants to ask you something, can you speak German?" His father's voice came from the other end of the phone.

  "What's up? What happened, what's wrong?"

  "You're really good at this?" Even Chen Zhenquan was a little surprised, didn't his own son go to M country for further study? How come he still knows German?

  Director Zhang, who was on the side, heard Chen Zhenquan's words and excitedly snatched the phone that was in conversation. He rushed to the phone and said: "Hey Xiao Chen, I'm your Uncle Zhang, the one who used to live next door to you. How is your German speaking level? Can you have a basic conversation?"

  Chen Chufan was still wondering why his father suddenly asked about this topic, when another person's voice came from the phone. He did have some impression of this Zhang uncle, but Chen Chufan really didn't have much memory of him.

  "Shouldn't conversation be no big deal? What's wrong? Is there something?"

  "Ah, that's great! Little Chen, can you come to the office building in the factory right away? It's hard to explain over the phone, just come and we'll talk about it. Your dad is here too! Hurry up, Little Chen!" Manager Zhang said excitedly.

  "Oh!" Chen Chufan responded with a sound and hung up the phone.

  "What's wrong?" Mom asked on one side.

  "I don't know. An uncle with the surname Zhang asked me to go to the office building of the factory, saying he was our old neighbor. Who is it?" Chen Chufan asked his mother.

  "Is your surname Zhang? Won't you be Director Zhang? What does he want with you?"

  "I don't know, ask me if I can speak German. Let me go take a look, Dad is there too!"

  Having said that, Chen Chufan stood up and walked out of the house.

  .............

  At the entrance of the office building, Director Zhang was warmly pulling Chen Zhenquan to chat.

  "Old Chen, you've raised a good son! He hasn't even graduated from university yet? He's already learned German, he'll definitely be a talent in the future! Unlike my son, who studied for two years and still can't do anything useful. When he comes back on holiday, all he does is eat and sleep!"

  Chen Zhenquan was uneasy at this time. He had heard that the factory had found a German company to invest, but he never thought that this matter would have anything to do with his son. Moreover, if it were really dealing with the German investment company, it would be a big deal related to the development of the factory. As for his son's German level, he was not sure at all, and if because of his son's poor German level, he rashly took on this matter and delayed the development of the factory, that would be a great sin.

  Chen Chufan's father couldn't help but feel a little worried. Ignoring Zhang Changzhang's praise of his son, he asked with concern: "Zhang Changzhang, what brings you here so early in the morning to look for someone who speaks German?"

  "Lao Chen, you don't know!" Zhang Changzhang then told Chen Chufan's father about the unlucky thing that had happened to him since early morning.

  As soon as he heard it was really about a German manufacturer coming to negotiate a big deal, Chen Zhenquan became somewhat flustered.

  "Director Zhang, I don't know how good my son's German is! Children's words are not to be taken lightly, I think you'd better look for professional translators, or else Fanfan will mess things up and it won't be good!"

  "Old Chen, aren't you being too modest? Your son said there's no problem with the conversation, what are you worrying about?! Don't worry, this time, your son is going to do a good job. I'm putting my word here, our factory will definitely not treat your family unfairly!" Zhang Factory Director heard Chen Zhenquan say this and couldn't help but feel a bit anxious. If he could find a professional translator earlier, would he still need to look for your son?

  To be honest, Director Zhang was also unsure whether Chen Chufan could really handle the German translation task at this time. But what can you do? A dead mouse is better than no mouse doctor. Even if the level is a bit poor, it's okay to roughly translate the meaning, after all, it's better than going up yourself and staring big-eyed with those Germans.

  "But......" Chen Zhenquan's words were cut off by Director Zhang before he could finish speaking.

  "I'm telling you, Old Chen, don't be like that, I believe in your son, can't you even trust your own son?" Manager Zhang hastily covered Chen Zhenquan's mouth, now his hopes were all pinned on Chen's son, he couldn't let Chen Zhenquan ruin his own good fortune.

  The two didn't chat for long before Chen Chufan appeared at the factory gate. The entire factory area was just that big, basically down the mountain and across a street, it was also there.

  As soon as he saw Chen Chufan's figure from afar, Director Zhang didn't even give Chen Zhenzhou a chance to greet his own son, and instead proactively went up to him, opening his mouth with great enthusiasm: "Ah, little Chen, you've grown taller again! You're really making progress now! By the way, hurry up and come upstairs with me. There are some German friends coming to the factory for inspection, and their translator suddenly fell ill and is hospitalized. This important task of translation, I'm entrusting it all to you!"

  The director Zhang's words sound quite heartwarming, but if he really had a choice, would he entrust this task to an undergraduate who hadn't even graduated? It's worth doubting.