Chapter 100: Who did you say wasn't good enough?

  Director Zhang pulled Chen Chufan into the office building and headed straight to the conference room. Chen Zhenquan thought for a moment, still worried that his son would get involved in such a big thing, so he followed behind the two men. Originally, as an ordinary worker, Chen Zhenquan was not qualified to intervene in this matter, but since he had a son who understood German, Director Zhang did not say much about Chen Zhenquan's actions of following them on his own initiative.

  At the entrance of the conference room, a man in his thirties, dressed neatly, was pacing back and forth anxiously. Seeing Director Zhang leading a young man to appear in the corridor, he hurriedly went forward: "Old Zhang, is this the professional translator you were looking for?"

  "Secretary Wang, you can't find anyone on the government side, where am I supposed to find a professional German translator at this hour?! This kid is the son of an old employee in our factory, yes, Chen Zhenquan's son. He's still a university student and knows some German. Isn't that why he's here to help out?" Manager Zhang explained, pointing to Chen Zhenquan who was following behind him.

  Wang Shu looked at Chen Chufan standing behind Director Zhang with a suspicious gaze. Still a student? What's the big deal about being a university student? I'm a graduate of a prestigious university myself!

  "Director Zhang, will this kid work out? This is a political task, and we're receiving foreign friends. Moreover, our leader has finally managed to secure this opportunity after great effort, don't mess it up!"

  Don't even get me started on Chen Chufan. You say the factory director is about the same age as your father, so it's okay to call him "my child". But then this Zhang Factory Director, who looks like he's only in his 20s or 30s, also calls himself "my child", who are you calling a child?! Besides, whether I'm capable or not is something you should ask me about. What does it mean that you're asking Zhang Factory Director? Are you looking down on me?!

  Especially when Director Zhang introduced himself, he even pointed to his own father, but Secretary Wang didn't even give his own father a glance, which made Chen Chufan feel even more uncomfortable.

  If it were six months ago, Chen Chufan wouldn't have minded these details at all. But now it's different, Little Chen can't stand someone showing off in front of his family members.

  Before Zhang Changlang could respond, Chen Chufan spoke up and bid farewell: "Uncle Zhang, since you don't trust me to be the translator, I'll leave first."

  Having said that, Chen Chufan didn't wait for either of them to say anything and turned around to pull his father away, preparing to leave.

  "Hey, wait a minute!" Director Zhang hastily stopped Little Chen and his father, then turned to Secretary Wang and said, "Come on, Secretary Wang, it's getting late, we should at least give that young man a try!"

  Chen Chufan's words also made Secretary Wang unhappy. Speaking of Secretary Wang's identity, it is not low, and he is the special secretary of Mayor Liao of S City District. Mayor Liao is one of the vice mayors of S City with a high ranking, mainly responsible for industry and investment promotion. So this time, when the German company came to invest in the tire factory, he let his secretary take care of it all the way.

  Although in front of Mayor Liao, Secretary Wang has always been a humble and courteous figure. However, facing these entrepreneurs who often try to curry favor, Secretary Wang still has an air of arrogance. Today, being suddenly confronted by a student, he is naturally not pleased.

  "I'm telling you, Old Zhang, this is a case of seeking medical attention in desperation! Do you think university students are valuable these days? Our city government is full of such university graduates, each one looking down on others, and what do they end up doing? Just menial tasks! And he's not even graduated yet! Nowadays kids memorize two German vocabulary words and dare to say they can speak German! You actually believe them?" Secretary Wang said disdainfully.

  After hearing this, Chen Chufan didn't think much of it. Recently, he had encountered many influential people, such as Han Xiaohui's father, Secretary Han, and Police Station Director Chen. Even the old monk from Huiyuan Temple was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

  As he came into contact with more influential people, his horizons broadened greatly. Moreover, Chen Chufan was still a student after all and didn't understand the intricacies of Z Country's officialdom. So Chen Chufan really hadn't taken a small secretary seriously and wasn't bothered to argue with him either. For now, he just wanted to leave and not get involved in these people's messy affairs.

  But being told by Wang's secretary made Chen Zhenquan unhappy. What does this young man mean? Does he look down on his own son? Since the implementation of family planning, which worker in the enterprise is not a single child or daughter? It can be said that they value their offspring more than themselves. By saying that his own son is not good in front of him, it's like slapping himself in the face, so Chen Shifu, who has always been honest, became unhappy.

  Then Mr. Chen shook off his son's hand, turned around and scolded: "How can you talk like that? You don't even try and you know my son is not good enough? Are you good enough? If you're so capable, why don't you go translate?! No wonder the economy is getting worse and worse, it's all because of you young people who only know how to talk nonsense!"

  Chen Chufan was delighted listening on one side. He really didn't know that his father, who usually didn't talk much, had a set of skills when it came to scolding people.

  Chen Zhenquan's words made Secretary Wang even more furious, but he was confident in his status and didn't want to quarrel with an old worker here. Instead, he vented his anger at Director Zhang: "Director Zhang, what kind of quality do the employees in your factory have? You bring someone like this into the office building? I think this tire factory has really fallen, no wonder it's been losing money for years!"

  Director Zhang didn't expect that the German speaker he had finally found would end up making both sides unhappy, and himself stuck in the middle becoming a scapegoat. He couldn't help but feel annoyed. But on one hand was someone he had invited himself, and on the other hand was the secretary of the vice mayor with real power in the municipal government, neither of whom could be easily offended. Just as he was struggling to find the right words, the door to the conference room opened.

  Germans are particular about time and efficiency. At 8 o'clock sharp, they arrived at the tire factory area, but the evaluation work that was supposed to start early was postponed due to the sudden illness of the translator.

  This unexpected German could be understood, but for more than an hour now, the host had not found a substitute translator, which made them somewhat annoyed. Moreover, hearing someone arguing outside the conference room, Paul Webber, the leader of this German inspection team, walked out directly.

  "What are you doing? Can't you find a translator in over an hour? I'm truly disappointed in your work efficiency!" Paul Weber complained to Secretary Wang as soon as he walked out.

  Unfortunately, Paul Weber's complaint was a complete waste of breath. Wang Shu, who had just been teaching Zhang Chang with his head held high, looked at Paul Weber with a confused expression. He didn't understand a word of German and could only guess from Mr. Weber's impatient expression that the German man was unlikely to be praising him.

  Before Secretary Wang could think of how to respond, Chen Chufan, who was somewhat annoyed, spoke up.

  "Hello, sir. The problem we're facing now isn't that we can't find a translator, but rather the young man in front of you is questioning whether my German skills are insufficient to take on the responsibility of translation." A fluent and standard German sentence left everyone except Paul Weber stunned.

  Paul Weber was delighted to have found a translator, which meant that his group could start working immediately. It's worth noting that the Germans' rigid character makes them very particular about time and efficiency. However, the boy's words left him somewhat perplexed. Such excellent German skills couldn't even handle the task of translation - the Chinese were truly too modest.

  "Oh my god, you Chinese are really something... I don't know how to describe it! If it weren't for your Oriental appearance, I would have suspected that you were one of us. Nice to meet you, my name is Paul Weber, and I'm in charge of this inspection work. Hope we can cooperate happily!" Paul Weber ignored the stunned Wang Secretary and Zhang Factory Director standing aside, walked straight up to Chen Chufan and shook hands with him.

  Although no one in the audience understood German, the conversation between the two was more like two birds chirping and chattering away, but no one was foolish. From Chen Chufan's fluent language and the German's delighted expression, they both understood a fact, that is, Xiao Chen's German level was extremely high. As for how high it was, they couldn't evaluate, but at least being a translator was more than enough.

  This fact made Secretary Wang very unhappy. The previous minute he was still sarcastically saying that someone only knew two words and dared to claim that they could speak German. But the next minute, that person was able to have a fluent conversation with his German friend in German, this is a slap in the face, a loud one, and he couldn't even get angry about it.

  Not only did he not have the means to make a scene, but he also had to swallow his pride and think of a way to mend his relationship with this young man. Secretary Wang was very clear about this point. The Germans in front of him were extremely important financial gods for the city, and no matter what the results of their inspection at the tire factory were, they would definitely meet with their leaders in the end. And he didn't understand German, if that kid said something bad about him in front of these Germans, and then these Germans passed it on to his leader's ears, his future prospects would be worrying.

  How about changing a translator? Damn it, if German translators were that easy to find, would it have become like this now?

  Who can become a factory director if they are not an all-around figure? Seeing Chen Chufan's German level so high, while being overjoyed, of course, also thought of Secretary Wang's mood at this time. Taking advantage of Chen Chufan's pause in conversation with Paul Weber, he quickly began to mediate.

  "Little Chen, help me tell Secretary Wang that the inspection work is about to begin and ask them to wait in the conference room for a few minutes. I'll go arrange for the factory's technical personnel to be responsible for explaining."

  The technical personnel in charge of interpretation at the factory had already prepared, but Director Zhang said so just to give Chen Chufan and Secretary Wang some time to mediate.

  Chen Chufan nodded and said to Mr. Paul Weber standing in front of him: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Paul Weber. My name is Chen Chufan, I'm still a student. Just now, Director Zhang from the tire factory asked you to take a short rest in the conference room. He's going to arrange for the technical personnel responsible for on-site interpretation right away, and we can start this inspection work immediately."