translator

Chapter 24 Thrilling Journey
1
jofi
I sent Jiayang away and walked on the street by myself.

It is already spring, the weather is getting warmer, the ice and snow are melting, and the mild and humid sea breeze is blowing on the face, which makes people feel happy.

I passed by the pet market, intending to buy some food for the little tortoise. The owner of the small shop said, "Is it to feed the Brazilian tortoise? Then buy small crucian carp and loach, which they like to eat most."

"is it?"

"That's right. It's spring now, so you can feed it. The tortoise can eat and drink, and it's growing fast."

"Great. Give me the same one catty."

I took the fish home and put them in the fish tank. The little turtle became energetic all of a sudden. There was killing in the clear water, and the whole journey was bloody.

At this time, someone called me, and I saw the number, and it was a senior sister, with a tone of almost collapsed voice: "Feifei, if you don't come back, I will die."

"What?" I said, "I'm suspended."

"Have you not received a call from the Personnel Department yet? They will call you soon. Neither you nor Jiayang are here. There is not enough manpower now. Even the director and deputy director have to do big jobs."

"Okay," I said, "I'm going to help."

I put down her phone, and the Personnel Department called, not only informing me to return to work immediately, but also saying that my trainee status since graduation will soon be changed to a formal civil servant establishment.

This seems to be a gift that came suddenly, needless to say, it comes from Jiayang's parents, so it makes people feel unreal.

I sat down, drank a glass of water, and I was like, what am I going to do?
I am a person with a memory. I am not used to accepting gifts after being reviled by others. I feel uneasy and have to be grateful, which makes me too uncomfortable.

But another thought came to me, and the decision was made in an instant. I put on my overcoat, left the house, and went to the Ministry.Along the way, in the spring breeze, the footsteps are getting faster and faster, wishing to fly.

Not only for Jiayang, I don't want to put him in a dilemma and work hard on myself; but also for my own ideals over the years, the hard work, grievances, and sweat all the way make me cherish the achievements I have already made.At this time, no matter who the reason is, I can't give up.

Cheng Jiayang

We got off the plane in Kinshasa, met by the African foreign minister and my ambassador to that country, and accompanied my father to meet the president.

During the meeting, my father took a tough attitude and sternly asked the authorities to strengthen security measures for the engineering and technical personnel of the railway construction aided by our country.

On the one hand, the black president expressed condolences and regrets to the people who died in the line of duty in our country. On the other hand, he began to use various excuses to prevaricate and refused to increase the budget and strengthen security measures.

My father said: "You have to see clearly who your friends are. If you don't fulfill the morals you should have, and if you refuse to do what you should do for your friends, you will only betray yourself in the end."

I translated my father's words to the other party, and the president relaxed a little on the issue of increasing the police force to ensure our safety, but the price was huge.During the subsequent talks, officials from the African Ministry of Commerce discussed with my father the issue of additional interest-free loans.

My father said to me in Chinese: "Jiayang, look, the struggle with foreigners is more explicit than children's games. You ask them, how much money can buy our lives?"

After the talks, the African side arranged a simple meal, but my father refused and asked to quickly receive the remains of the compatriots back home.

We were received at the Capital Hospital, and before the local sergeants carried the coffin onto the vehicle, my father put on gloves and covered the coffin with the national flag himself.

We drove from the hospital to the airport. On both sides of the bumpy road, there was an endless West African desert. Under the setting sun, pink light appeared from the ground, which was a strange sight.

The security personnel who accompanied us were two armed staff officers from the Security Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.Now that the mission is coming to an end, the two of them did not relax at all, and kept looking out the car window. I think every industry has its own way, and professionals are respected.

My father said, "You did a good job just now."

"Thank you. Do you still think I'm a kid?" I said, "Maybe I'm not as good as you were then, but I'm pretty good in this line of work now."

He looked at me with a smile in the corner of his eyes: "Who said you are inferior to me? Times are different. Back then, if I had such a beautiful voice, I could have been a minister a few years earlier."

"That's right, I studied at Paris III, and you practiced your listening comprehension by listening to Sihanouk's speech recordings." I said, "So, it's not surprising, Dad, don't you don't like listening, I said you seem to have a little bit of an Indochinese accent."

"Is it your turn to tell me?"

I giggled and looked at my father who had recovered his serious face.

suddenly--

Gunfire.

The guard cars in front and behind were blown up, and the black driver turned around and said to us, "It's a guerrilla." Before he could finish speaking, he was shot in the head.

Our guards pushed my father and me under the car seat, blocked us with their bodies, pulled out their pistols, and loaded them.I heard machine gunfire, explosions, the panting of several of us; I smelled gunpowder smoke and blood.

This is a scene I have never experienced in my life. My heart seems to be jumping out of my chest, and my sweat is streaming down like blood.

It seemed as long as a century, and the gunfire suddenly stopped.

After a long time of no movement, the car door was suddenly opened, and a group of heavily armed black soldiers stood outside.

The government guards were wiped out.

Bright red blood flowed to my feet.

We are the only living people here.

The leading one came out to speak. He was tall and strong, with hard knotted purple muscles and black streaks drawn with charcoal.

He had no intention of killing us, and said to us in French: "Come out."

The four of us got out of the car, and the bodyguards were still in front of us.

The father himself stood up and asked the one who spoke, "Are you the boss?"

"Colonel Guerrilla, Kofi Taioka."

"I am, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Cheng."

"I know." Taigang said, "We came prepared."

"Very well," said the father, "stay with me and you can get anything. Let my colleagues go back."

Tai Gang put the machine gun on his back and folded his hands in front of his chest: "It's me who has the final say here."

"Do you know what's behind my car?" His father was about the same height as Taigang, facing each other without flinching. "The remains of my compatriots, we Chinese, die and do not stay in foreign countries. Please let my colleagues send the dead back to China .” He looked back at us and said in Chinese, “You must send the coffin back safely.”

The two bodyguards said: "Minister..."

"Shut up." He interrupted them without even a single wave in his voice, "What is the purpose of our trip?"

My shock could not have been greater, and my father, who remained here by himself, asked us to escort the coffin home.

Our car was still able to start, but Taigang's people got out of the way, and my father urged us to go on the road.

One of my feet had already gone up, and I retracted it again. I said to Tai Gang: "Leave me, I am Mr. Cheng's son, and you will have more bargaining chips."

Taigang smiled, showing his white teeth, with a cruel expression: "It's really lively."

This time my father was shocked, watching me close the car door for the two bodyguards, I said: "Comrade, Shunfeng."

We then got on the truck where the guerrillas were ambushing behind the mountain pack and marched across the desert to an unknown place.

I found that these people, Taigang and his subordinates, were not a group of stragglers and mobs. This group of black soldiers were strong, well-trained, and well-groomed. No wonder they could successfully attack us so easily.As I watched them, I was watched by someone else, my father.

When the car was bumping, he helped me up, held my hand, looked at my face, and suddenly felt emotional: "This man, I really have nothing to say, why did he grow so big? Fight with me, play tricks on me, and come over to die with me."

I smiled: "Suddenly? Are you startled?"

"Do you regret coming here with Dad?" he asked me.

I thought about it and said, "A little bit." I looked at him, "Dad, if I don't come, I will register my marriage with her now.

"However, it was she who told me that you were going to visit alone, and it was she who asked me to accompany you.

"If it was her now, she would do the same thing."

My father let go of my hand, raised his head, and looked at the twilight sky: "I can imagine, didn't this girl apply to go to Côte d'Ivoire?"

"Yes." I said.

"Why are you so stubborn?" He looked at me, "In the future, be careful of suffering."

"It's almost as if I let her suffer."

The father didn't smile, but there were soft lines on his face: "Jiayang, let her come when we get back, we want to see her."

"Okay, Dad, okay." My eyes were wet.

Fei, I am on a road getting closer and closer to you, how about you, what are you doing?
jofi
My senior sister and I worked overtime at the unit until eleven o'clock before returning home.Before leaving, I asked the director who was still at his desk preparing materials: "Do you have any news about Jiayang?"

He glanced at me: "Can I tell you some news? The minister and his party have already left the hospital and are about to return. Girl, go back and rest. Everyone will help you."

When I got home, I found that the smell was wrong. I ran to the house to see that the culprit was the killing field of the little tortoise, and the whole fish tank was dirty.

The full tortoise is having fun in the fish tank.

I'm so angry, I came back in the middle of the night, and I still have to clean them up.

That can't be helped.This is a little trouble that Jiayang gave me.

I held my breath to change water, rinse, and scrub them longer than I could bathe myself.

After finally finishing it, I lay on the bed, hugged the quilt, and smelled the smell of Jiayang carefully.

2
jofi
The next day I went to work, and there was a lot of translation to be done. It was the materials for the upcoming International Conference on Disaster Reduction. The materials presented by the African representatives included photos of the locust plague spreading, and billions of food plants turned pink The huge locusts devoured the villages, hunger and panic engulfed the villages, and the flies covered the emaciated children and cried on the shoulders of their naked mothers.

Depressed, I stood up and walked to the window.So, what are we here to complain about?Eat well, dress warmly, and do what I have wanted to do for many years in the warm spring.Occasionally, psychological and emotional difficulties and turmoil add something worth savoring to life.

So, I'm so lucky.

And my Jiayang, he is in Africa, did he successfully complete the task with his father?By his father's side, did he behave well?Is he getting ready to come back?There are always some unforeseen events in foreign affairs, and Jiayang may be busy with his own work, so he hasn't called me until now.

Cheng Jiayang

My phone fell to the floor, landing next to a pair of little black feet.I looked up and saw a black boy, only four or five years old, with a strong body and shining eyes, holding food for me and my father in his hand.

He put the food on the ground, picked up my phone, looked at it, and asked me in one French word: "What?"

"Phone." I took it over and turned on the screen. Although there is no signal in this desert, there is a picture of Fei on it, which is very important to me.

The phone chimes and her smile appears on the screen.I let him have a look.

The boy asked me again with one word: "Who?"

"My wife," I said.

My father is behind.

The boy took a closer look, and finally bestowed a word: "She is beautiful."

"Of course," I said, seeing the boy smile, showing his lovely white teeth, "what's your name?"

"Kazan." Another person answered for him. It was Colonel Taigang who entered the tent, took the boy out with one hand, and turned to me and said, "My son."

He brought water, put it next to the food that Kazan brought, and said to my father and me, "Please."

Father said, "Thank you."

He sat down, took a sip of water, and said to Tai Gang: "It's not easy to give us this clear water, what do you want?"

"My comrades-in-arms. They are in the hands of the government army. You are here to replace them." He stood up to leave and looked at my father, "I know, you are a big shot, but my comrades-in-arms are more important , I only give the government, that is, you, two days." He left after speaking.My father said to me, "Jiayang, eat and drink."

The food delivered was mashed yams, which smelled like sawdust mixed with raw potatoes. My father said, "Chew it finer, so it won't hurt your stomach."

He didn't drink much clear water, so he left it for me.I took a sip and felt my eyes sour. Looking at him, my voice choked up: "Father, at your age, you still want to do this."

He smiled, patted my shoulder, but said nothing.

The temperature in the desert varies greatly between night and day.

My father and I lay in the tent guarded by soldiers, shivering a little from the cold.

The little boy Kazan came in, took the blanket in his hand, and still refused to leave after handing it over to me. He stood aside and looked at me.

I put the blanket over my father, looked at the black boy, and said, "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer, but still looked at me.

I see.Taking out the phone from his pocket: "Is this it?"

He said: "Phone." After taking it, he pressed the screen to turn it on, fiddled with it novelty, and the key made a blistering sound, which made him even happier.

I asked him, "What does Kazan mean?"

He might not understand this French phrase, so he thought about it carefully and said, "Green grass."

I nodded: "Oh. Where's Mom?"

He looked at me and said very clearly in French: "Mama was killed by white people and traitors."

When Kazan left, he returned the phone to me, and I lay beside my father, who had already fallen asleep in this harsh environment.

I feel really tired. I gradually close my eyes and I am about to fall asleep. I vaguely hear the singing of an indigenous man. I don’t understand what it means. I just feel that the tone is low and sad, and there are hundreds of years of suffering surging in the living body. in a person's throat.

The next day, it was exposed to the scorching sun.Looking at the sun, it was almost noon. Kazan came to deliver food, and his father followed him. Colonel Taigang held an old-fashioned cassette tape recorder in his hand and said to us: "Say something here, and we will send it to the government and to the embassy."

Father refused to speak.

I know his calmness and determination, but I am not so strong. There are some things that I have wanted to say to a person for a long time, but now that the time has really come, I must let her know.

I said, "Qiaofei, I'm Jiayang..."

After talking to Fei, I realized that my tears flowed out.

Taigang asked his subordinates to take the tape recorder away, looked at me, and asked me, "Cheng is your father?"

"Yes." I said.

"You don't look like that."

"It's not just you saying that."

"I thought you were a man of backbone. You could leave, but you stayed here with him."

"I'm."

"Who were you talking to just now?"

"My wife."

He looked at me and nodded: "How long have you been married?"

"Not yet, I planned to go back and get married."

"Say something?"

I thought about it: "No matter what happens, I want her to live happily as before; there is one more thing I haven't said all the time, I love her."

Taigang said: "There were good days, and we shouldn't give up."

I looked into his black eyes: "What about you? What kind of life do you live? What kind of life does your people live? What kind of life do you let others live?"

Taigang said: "The days used to be peaceful, eating, sleeping, farming, making love, having children, until the white man came.

"Taught us religion, guns, condoms, and murdered one's own brother, set us off in civil war.

"And what they took was oil, diamonds and gold."

"We're here to build the railroad."

"The tranquility should not be disturbed." He stood up and walked to the door, turning his back on me and said, "The tape, your wife, she will see it."

3
jofi
Three days passed, including the day he left, 82 hours.

I have no news of Jiayang.

In the office, bureau, and ministry, no one discussed, asked, or informed.

However, what I know is that the body of the dead engineer has been brought back, while Jiayang and his father are still there.

I drink tea, eat, work, feed the little turtles in Jiayang, change their water, and choose a photo studio with Bobo who is preparing to take wedding photos.

I showed her my ring and I said, "How about it, is it cool?"

She opened her mouth wide in surprise: "Wow, when did you catch the rich man?"

"That's right, it's indeed the rich man," I said with a smile, "Do you still remember Cheng Jiayang?"

She was even more surprised. Thinking about it, she shook her head like a rattle: "Qiaofei, I don't believe it. You treat me like a steamed bun."

I snorted: "You wait, he will come back from a business trip in Africa soon, I want to get married before you." I looked at her, and then at myself in the opposite mirror, I didn't know who I was saying, "You wait."

On the day of the Disaster Reduction Conference, my senior sister and I worked as simultaneous interpreters for representatives from the French-speaking regions attending the conference. We were well prepared and in good condition.At noon, the director came over, shook my hand, congratulated me first, and then whispered in my ear: "Qiao Fei, someone wants to see you." I followed him to a secret office in the exhibition center, opened the A look at the door, but they are all acquaintances.

Cheng Jiaming and his mother.

Jia Ming said, "Qiao Fei, sit down."

I said: "There is a dinner party below, I am going to accompany the leader."

Jiayang's mother said, "Qiaofei, sit down."

Her voice is not as arrogant and domineering as when I met me that day, but it sounds gentle and tired at the moment.

I'm really, really scared.

What are they going to say to me?
I don't want to stay here, I don't want to see them until Jiayang comes back.

I want to go.

Suddenly, Jiayang's voice was heard.

It was indistinct, but it was his voice: "Fei, this is Jiayang, I'm sorry for making you wait for me, I will go back as soon as possible.

"..."

"If you can't for a while, I think you still have to live happily.

"You know, I'm the happiest when I'm with you.

"Also, I kept forgetting to tell you, I love you."

I didn't move for a long time, just stood there in a daze.

Jiaming walked up to me and said, "Jiayang and my father were held hostage by anti-government forces in Africa, and we lost contact. This is their audio tape sent by the other party. After technical analysis, it is indeed Jiayang."

I felt as if I didn't quite understand what he said, so I said, "Yes, I know, this is Jiayang. Where is he now?"

"Now, the national and local governments and the army are actively rescuing."

I looked back at him: "Is that so?"

Jiaming nodded.

I stretched my waist: "I think something is wrong, isn't it still in the rescue?" I looked at Jiayang's mother, "If he was rescued, please ask him to call me."

I was about to leave when I heard Jiayang's mother say, "Qiaofei, we want you to know because you have the right.

"Are you anxious and uncomfortable? Why don't you take a break and let other translators do it next."

These are caring and warm words, but I don't think it's necessary.

She doesn't know me.

I turned my back to her and said clearly, "Thank you. I'm a little anxious, but if it's Jiayang, will he not continue at this time?" I walked towards the door, still saying to them, " I'm in this business, I'm a translator."

Cheng Jiayang

Taigang took me out of the tent and said to my father and me: "I'm sorry, the government has not shown any signs of compromise, so this person must be killed first." He looked at me, "I won't say sorry to you, I will tell you You are not wrong."

His father was a man. At this time, his face didn't change color and his heart didn't beat. He just said to Taigang word by word: "It's good that you know the end yourself. I will ask you to pay back ten times." Look at me again, for a long time, with eyes Shining, "Jiayang, you are a good boy."

I didn't speak, just smiled at my father.

After walking a few steps to the outside, I remembered to ask Taigang: "Is that tape sent?"

"Sent away."

"very good."

Where are they going to take me for execution?I was pushed forward by the black colonel.

I suddenly saw Kazan standing not far away, and I said to Tai Gang: "I have something to say to your son."

Taigang pondered, and finally beckoned my son to come over. I put the phone in the boy's palm and said to him: "You keep this one, you are the same as my wife, her name is Qingcao."

(End of this chapter)