Chapter 2

In the 1990s, Fengcheng had only one translation company—the Fengcheng Translation Agency before Li Shanshan, which was quite renowned. Its founder was Lin Jingxuan, an outstanding graduate of Shanghai International Studies University.

He was a sent-down youth who entered university the year the college entrance exam was reinstated. At thirty, still a student, he began taking on translation assignments, earning his first pot of gold. After graduation, he partnered with some classmates to open a translation company in Shanghai. The business flourished, and they gradually established branches in various cities, Fengcheng Translation Agency being one of them.

After marrying Zhou Yuqi, Li Shanshan naturally entered the circle of the wealthy. While accompanying Zhou Yuqi to Shanghai to expand business, she encountered Lin Jingxuan, who had handed over his company to partners and opened a trading firm himself.

He once remarked that even after more than a decade of development and up to the turn of the millennium, foreign language talent was still in short supply.

As long as someone had adequate foreign language skills and passed the assessment, their company would hire them, providing many university graduates who had not been assigned jobs with employment opportunities.

Their Fengcheng Translation Agency was located on the ground floor of Fengcheng Tower, sharing the prime floor with several other companies.

Fengcheng Tower was a landmark building in Fengcheng, standing 19 and a half stories tall in the city center’s prime area. Completed six years prior, it still loomed tall and majestic decades later without any sign of fading.

After marriage, Li Shanshan gained 30% ownership of Fengcheng Tower, earning generous annual rental income.

Those past times were unbearable to recall.

The Fengcheng Tower of today was no longer within her reach.

Li Shanshan raised her hand and knocked on the door of Fengcheng Translation Agency.

After receiving permission to enter, she stepped inside and spoke fluent English to the receptionist in the outer room: “Excuse me, sir, my name is Li Shanshan. I’m a student at Huaihua Senior High School in Lingshan County. I heard your company is recruiting professional translators. I wonder if there are any positions I might be qualified for? My English is decent; I am comfortable with both interpretation and translation. I hope your company will consider me.”

The receptionist, Mr. Wang, raised an eyebrow as he looked at the young woman who had boldly recommended herself.

Her clothing and the frostbite on her hands and face suggested a humble background, yet her finely shaped eyebrows and confident demeanor were extraordinary.

The key point was her expressive ability.

“Your spoken English is quite good!” Mr. Wang adjusted his glasses perched on his nose and casually handed Li Shanshan a document on the desk. “Translate this for me.”

The document was not long, about four or five pages, concerning mechanical topics with many technical terms.

Li Shanshan began reading from the first sentence with extremely standard pronunciation and fluent delivery.

Her voice was clear and gentle, very pleasant to the ear.

Holding an identical copy of the document, Mr. Wang listened attentively from beginning to end and said without hesitation, “Xiao Li, wait here a moment. I’ll call inside.”

He picked up the receiver and dialed, briefly explaining the situation.

A few minutes later, he smiled and told Li Shanshan, “You’re just in time. There’s a particularly urgent assignment that must be completed within three hours, paying eight hundred yuan. Payment will be made immediately upon acceptance. Would you like to try?”

“Yes!” Li Shanshan replied without hesitation.

“All right, I’ll have someone bring the documents over.” Mr. Wang spoke a few words into the phone, hung up, and pointed to a bulky computer opposite him. “You’ll use this computer later. By the way, Xiao Li, do you know how to type on a computer?”

Li Shanshan nodded. “Don’t worry, I can use a computer.”

She had gone to the United States with Zhou Yuqi at the end of 1998 to register their marriage. That model of computer was still in use then, and with the Internet just emerging, she had studied it carefully, opening up a new world.

Mr. Wang nodded. “Good, have a seat and wait a moment.”

He stood up, poured a glass of hot water for Li Shanshan, then returned to his seat to continue translating unfinished documents.

After four or five minutes, a tall woman in her twenties wearing a red down jacket pushed open the door from the inner room. She held freshly printed documents in her hand. “Mr. Wang, where’s the translator you mentioned?”

“This is her, Li Shanshan.” Mr. Wang pointed to Li Shanshan. “I’ve assessed her; the young lady’s skills are quite good.”

He didn’t ask anything else. It was unnecessary.

The woman was very surprised. “So young?”

Li Shanshan had already stood when the woman entered and smiled upon hearing this. “Translation depends on professional ability; age doesn’t matter.”

“You’re right.” The woman agreed, handing her the documents. “I’m Wu Yue. I handle printing, receiving translations, and paying fees. You can call me Sister Wu. Take a look and see if you can finish translating this within three hours.”

Li Shanshan carefully examined it and found it was a medical research paper containing many obscure technical terms, but it posed no difficulty for her.

After marrying Zhou Yuqi, she had taken several foreign language courses with foreign teachers and traveled abroad frequently. Immersed in foreign language environments, she had improved rapidly, soon speaking as fluently as her native tongue. Later, she studied overseas and accompanied her child as a study companion. To speak without false modesty, her level was far beyond most people today.

“I think three hours is absolutely doable,” she told Wu Yue.

In fact, she only took two hours.

She sent the translation via the email Wu Yue provided. Shortly after, she received a call confirming acceptance and payment from their side.

Wu Yue handed Li Shanshan eight hundred yuan. “The head office wants to know if you’re interested in a long-term collaboration. There’s work for both translation and interpretation, and the pay won’t shortchange you.”

What responded was a growling noise.

Wu Yue and Mr. Wang looked down and realized the sound was coming from Li Shanshan’s stomach.

She had left Huaihua Town after ten in the morning, came straight to Fengcheng Translation Agency without eating or drinking, and spent two hours translating the documents. Of course she was starving.

Mr. Wang quickly said, “You were too busy to eat, huh? I have some biscuits here; have a bite first.”

He pulled a pack of calcium-enriched milk biscuits from the drawer, opened it, and poured her some more water.

Li Shanshan, never shy and unfamiliar with courtesy, thanked them, drank water to soothe her throat, and ate two biscuits to appease her empty stomach. Then she said to Wu Yue, “Sister Wu, I’m very willing to cooperate with your company, but I’m still in school. My family lives in the countryside, far from the city. I don’t have a computer at home, so I only have time to come into the city on days off.”

Wu Yue frowned.

That was a bit difficult to arrange.

“But...” Li Shanshan changed the subject, “I came to the city to raise tuition money. I’ve already asked my homeroom teacher for a week’s leave. I’ll go back in the evening and come back to the city early tomorrow.”

Staying in a hotel was not an option; public security in the 1990s was not very good.

Wu Yue was pleased. “Good. I’ll organize the urgent assignments for you. You can start directly tomorrow. For translation, we’ll arrange it like this. As for interpretation... you need to cultivate a better image first.”

Although Li Shanshan’s features were quite delicate, her skin was in poor condition, and her dressing was rather rustic.

Li Shanshan smiled and nodded. “I’ll start with translation.”

They agreed she would come at eight o’clock the next day.

Mr. Wang said, “It’s already past three. Xiao Li, if you plan to go home, leave early. The days are short and nights long; it gets dark around five. It’s not safe on the road.”

Li Shanshan appreciated his kindness and politely took her leave.

When Mr. Wang saw her out, he stuffed the opened pack of calcium milk biscuits into her bag. “Eat this on the way.”

Li Shanshan accepted without hesitation. “Thank you.”

After leaving the translation agency, she went to the clothing and footwear wholesale market, which was already taking shape.

This wholesale market had formed in the early 1990s and still bustled with crowds thirty years later. The once crude market with only canopy stalls had become a towering wholesale mall, developing impressively.

Winter clothes were more expensive and heavier than summer wear, and Li Shanshan’s capital was limited. She decided to wholesale socks!

She found a stall specializing in socks and first checked the quality, then asked, “Brother, what’s the price for your thick socks? What’s the minimum order?”

By “thick socks” it meant relatively thick compared to stockings, but not too thick.

The owner was a middle-aged man with thick eyebrows and large eyes, broad shoulders, and tall stature. His brows carried a rugged air. He looked up and said, “Minimum order is 100 jin, whether men’s or women’s socks. Four yuan per jin.”

Li Shanshan’s eyes lit up. “How many pairs in one jin?”

“Twenty pairs.” The owner took a bundle and weighed it for her. “This bundle has 200 pairs, about 10 jin, give or take. It all weighs roughly the same, so it costs 40 yuan per bundle.”

Li Shanshan immediately said, “I want 200 jin, 4,000 pairs—3,000 women’s socks and 1,000 men’s.”

She personally selected the patterns.

Especially those matching rural tastes.

Men’s socks were in black, white, and gray; women’s socks were colorful with floral designs.

Filled into two red, blue, and white woven bags, heavy beyond her strength, the owner surnamed Hu helped carry them to the bus stop across the street.

Li Shanshan boarded a bus, paying fifty cents to ride to the departure point of the bus back to her hometown.

The bus ran three trips a day, with the last leaving at 5:30 p.m.

Passing several townships and villages, the bus was crowded with passengers. Luckily, Li Shanshan came early and had a seat, slipping the woven bags under it.

The ticket collector did not charge extra because many passengers brought large bags on board.

Xiao Lizhuang was the final stop, arriving after eight at night.

The crowded bus was now empty, with only Li Shanshan left. As she carried the woven bags off the bus, she saw her father waiting with a flashlight. Behind him was a Phoenix-brand two-eight bicycle.

“Dad!” she called happily, waving.

Her father hurried forward and took the bags. “Shanshan, why are you home so late? What’s in these?”

“The homeroom teacher urged me to pay tuition. I have studied English for years and am quite proficient. Introduced by other teachers, I went to Fengcheng to do some translation. I took an urgent assignment from the head office and earned 800 yuan,” Li Shanshan told her father truthfully. “Then I went to wholesale two bags of socks. Tomorrow is market day—you can take them to sell at the stall. It’s much easier than construction work.”

Her father was stunned, then filled with guilt.

“How can I let you earn money? Aren’t you still going to school?” He didn’t mind the 800 yuan.

“Yes, I’m going back after paying tuition. Without paying, the homeroom teacher won’t let me return,” Li Shanshan did not lie. She lifted the woven bags onto the back of the bicycle. “Dad, sell the socks at the market at fixed prices: two yuan a pair, five yuan for three pairs, ten yuan for eight pairs. We’ll earn money together, and life will get better soon.”

Her father was rough but didn’t sense anything wrong. “No class tomorrow, right? I’ll sell the socks, what will you do?”

“I have to take the bus back to Fengcheng early in the morning. There are more translation jobs waiting for me; I can earn a few hundred more at least,” Li Shanshan explained her plan. “The teacher recommended me; it’s a big company—no worries.”

Her father trusted his beloved daughter and nodded, then suddenly realized, “Translate what? You actually earned 800 yuan?”

He pushed the bicycle ahead while Li Shanshan followed, carrying the woven bags. “I translate Chinese into English or English into Chinese. In a situation where foreign language talent is scarce, this line of work is very profitable. This is how knowledge changes destiny.”