Always By Your Side

Chapter 3: Interview in Fuliang

After a battle between heaven and earth, Yuanyuan accepted the “back door” opened by Cheng Shenghua. It was because of his words: I can only open the door for you, but the road after going out depends on how well you walk.

And what Cheng Shenghua was introducing her to was a job as a magazine editor that fully met her principles.

Two days later, Yuanyuan walked into the Journal Centre Building. This was her first formal job in all twenty-three years of her life. As the editor-in-chief was an old classmate of President Cheng, he took the time to meet with Yuanyuan very kindly, and then he personally called HR and gave them instructions.

The office of the editorial department was very large, and inside it was crowded with people in the dark. It was completely different from the literary, fresh editorial office Yuanyuan had imagined. The people walking inside were all very busy, and seeing that someone had come in, most of them didn’t have much of a reaction. What was she to do?

Yuanyuan was led to a corner seat by a member of HR. Before leaving, he pointed at an office and told Yuanyuan: “Your editor-in-chief is Zhang Yueren, and that is his office. He is not in right now. Remember to report to him when he comes.”

He paused, hesitated, then said: “Editor Zhang is our backbone here. The editor-in-chief really admires him. But, you know, competent people are generally a little temperamental.”

Yuanyuan looked at the HR employee, and her heart was suffocated with a smile. She could estimate that because the editor-in-chief had personally recruited her, this employee wanted to build a good relationship with her. But he didn’t dare to speak malicious words about Zhang Yueren, so he could only mention it to her in a round-about way. Yuanyuan smiled and nodded: “Thank you, I will work hard.”

As soon as the HR employee left, Zhang Yueren came.

Zhang Yueren was about forty years old, very tall at about 1.8 metres, thin, and his hair was somewhat messy, as if he had forgotten to take care of it when he went out that morning. In addition to being dressed head-to-toe in Chinese-style linen clothes, he looked quite like a down-and-out artist.

Yuanyuan hurried into his office to introduce herself to him. Zhang Yueren lifted his eyes to look at her once, and without expression, he directly asked: “What are you able to do?”

In university, Yuanyuan had participated in the journalism club, and so she replied resoundingly: “I can interview.”

Immediately she regretted her mouth being so fast. Because as soon as Zhang Yueren finished listening, he narrowed his eyes, raised the corners of his mouth, and threw some assignments her way.

“As sweet as honey, you smile so sweetly, as if flowers are blooming in the spring breeze…” 

The long-distance bus was playing Teresa Teng’s1 song, and the early morning’s tender red sunlight filtered through the bus’s mottled window panes, casting light on Yuanyuan’s slender fingers. Immersed in “Tian Mi Mi”, the bus moved towards Jingdezhen2. Yuanyuan looked out the window and couldn’t help but sigh ruefully. This was her first job, but before she could even warm her seat, she had been sent out…

She still remembered three days ago, when she had seen editor-in-chief Zhang Yueren for the first time, and he had given her an assignment: To do a special topic on ceramics in Jingdezhen, the capital of porcelain.

At the time, she couldn’t help being weak and asked: “Are there any colleagues who would like to come with me?”

The editor-in-chief directly threw out one line: “This is not like school, you’re here so you can get started directly. I will give you three days in Jingdezhen, and when you come back I want the completed manuscript. I will send the specific requirements to your email. It’s due after next Monday, so you can take these two days to look at the relevant material first.” As he spoke, he gave her a business card and told her to connect with Gao Ling, the contact on the card. Gao Ling was the person in charge over there that would arrange her itinerary in Jingdezhen.

In accordance with her principle of not humiliating Uncle Shenghua, she hardened her scalp and accepted the assignment. As for the editor-in-chief Zhang Yueren, her first impression of him was this: Concise and comprehensive, highly efficient.

During the next two days of the weekend, she was immersed in the materials. Throughout those two days, Uncle Shenghua went to another part of the country to purchase medicinal ingredients and was not at home. Cheng Bai also couldn’t be seen. But when she went out that morning, her mother told her that Cheng Bai had come back at four o’clock in the morning.

Yuanyuan looked at her mother who was speaking with a worried expression on her face. She couldn’t help but answer with the sentence: “Cheng Bai’s age is not young anymore. Once in a while it’s normal to eat, drink, gamble, and stay out all night. It’s normal, it’s normal.” Then she was taught a lesson by her mother.

After more than four hours, Jingdezhen arrived at last. Yuanyuan got out of the bus and went to the exit to find Xiao Li, who had come to receive her. Xiao Li had a baby face and looked about Yuanyuan’s age, taciturn and simple.

The place they were going to was Xiao Li’s boss, Gao Ling’s, zhuangzi3. Yuanyuan recalled when she had phoned Gao Ling two days earlier for some matters. Even if it was only a brief exchange, Yuanyuan felt that this Beijing-sounding Boss Gao conducted himself in a refreshing manner without putting on airs.

Gao Ling could be regarded as an out-and-out celebrity in the circle. He was famous not because he had a zhuangzi on the mountainside outskirts of Jingdezhen, nor for his excellent porcelain-making skills, but because he owned a wood kiln. Yuanyuan originally didn’t know what a firewood kiln was, but she had learned about it from a lot of the materials she had read in the past two days – owning a firewood kiln was really amazing! First of all, burning a wood kiln required nearly two-thousand catties of pine wood at a time. Without considerable financial resources, it was absolutely unaffordable. To put it in rougher terms, it was simply burning RMB4. Secondly, firewood kilns couldn’t be burned only with money. If there was no experienced team, especially a national treasure of a master to oversee everything, then the money would simply burn down without even the ashes remaining.

Yuanyuan sat in the car while Xiao Li drove all the way through the urban area and out of the city, gradually getting rid of the noisy crowd as they went up the mountain. After half an hour on the mountain road, an obscured building emerged among the green pines and cypresses. The gray-tiled roof and white walls appeared in front of Yuanyuan.

Xiao Li drove the car to the gate. Yuanyuan got out of the car, and Xiao Li rapidly took her luggage out of the trunk, then led Yuanyuan all the way into the zhuangzi.

Seeing that Xiao Li was going to the guest room to get Yuanyuan settled down, Yuanyuan couldn’t help but say: “Xiao Li, where is Teacher Gao, I wonder if I can see him first?” Originally, she wanted to call him Boss Gao, but after thinking about it, nowadays the nouveau riche all loved to pretend to be cultural people, and “teacher” sounded more suitable to his character.

“The boss went to the ceramic craft seminar in the city, and he won’t be back in the afternoon. He asked me to say sorry to you. If you have any requests, please mention them to me.”

Yuanyuan was not surprised. After all, he was a big boss, and there were many human affairs.

Yuanyuan smiled and replied: “Okay, thank you!”

Xiao Li nodded without saying anything and led her to proceed onward.

As soon as Yuanyuan entered the guest room, her phone rang, and from a glance it was Cheng Bai’s number. She hesitated over and over, but nevertheless picked up: “Hello?”

There was a pause for two seconds on the other end. “Wrong number,” a somewhat hoarse voice said without panicking or rushing. Immediately, the phone hung up. 

Yuanyuan frowned, was he playing with her?!

Cheng Bai truly had dialed her by mistake. He massaged his temples. These days he had been busy with hospital leaders from other provinces. He had come back today after another major operation, and was really tired. He had wanted to call a classmate, yet it was as if the demons and gods were at work, and he inexplicably called her.

Reportedly, she had gone to Jingdezhen for an interview. Cheng Bai looked at the phone in his hand like he had gone out of his mind, and then dialed the number of the person he had meant to call.

When Gao Ling came back, it was close to dusk. This meeting had been co-sponsored by Jingdezhen Porcelain Research Institute and Jinghai Ceramic Museum. He hadn’t planned to go, but after learning that Fu Beichen was also participating, he had changed his mind.

Fu Beichen was a young leader in the domestic ceramics industry that he had always wanted to befriend. Today, it could be regarded as having his wish fulfilled.

After Gao Ling asked Xiao Li where the person Cheng Yuanyuan was, he walked quickly towards the earthenware house. Gao Ling was a very faithful person. This was well-known in his circle of friends and also publicly. He had previously promised his old friend, Zhang Yueren, that he would entertain this new “kid” from their agency. However, he had made her wait for half the day. Naturally, he felt very apologetic.

The earthenware house was an old-fashioned, single-story clay-tile house with only two windows and wooden lattice panels.

When Gao Ling walked to the door, he saw the earthenware room illuminated by the setting sun. At the small square world by the window, there was a delicate figure of a woman standing there with a long ponytail, earnestly watching the earthenware master slowly pull out a shallow basin in the afterglow of the setting sun.

Gao Ling coughed lightly at the door. The master raised his head and saw him, promptly greeting him: “Boss Gao.” Yuanyuan looked over at the sound. The person standing at the door was tall and big, dressed in a short-sleeved plaid shirt. He was full of vigour.

Yuanyuan immediately smiled and greeted him: “Hello, Teacher Gao.”

“Hello, hello. I apologize, today I was indeed thoughtless with receiving my guest,” Gao Ling said with regret. “If your Lao Zhang knew I neglected one of his people, I suspect he’d want to swing at my face.”

Yuanyuan’s heart told her that this “Lao Zhang”5 should be the editor-in-chief Zhang Yueren. So she could only laugh along.

Gao Ling thought of something, then his face lit up with delight: “But tomorrow, I think perhaps I can compensate you!”6

Compensate? Could it be that he wanted to give her a piece of wood-kiln-fired porcelain? Then she would not be disappointed, because it was said that even a small cup was worth tens of thousands! Yuanyuan’s eyes lit up a little, but her mouth still replied: “It’s okay, Teacher Gao, you’re a busy person. Today I actually learned a lot from the masters here.”

Gao Ling stopped pursuing the matter and just smiled: “It’s not too early now, shall I take you to dinner first?”

It seemed that he didn’t intend to persuade her further. Yuanyuan thought this person was bewildering and interesting, so she nodded, indicating that she would listen to his arrangements.

The second day, when Yuanyuan knew what Boss Gao’s compensation was, she deeply felt that she really was a commoner. Gao Ling’s so-called compensation was not at all the tens of thousands of wood kiln cups she had imagined, but unexpectedly to take her along to meet a “big person” from the porcelain industry.

“Speaking of which, Mr. Fu is from your city, Jinghai. He was in Europe studying before, and only returned not too long ago. He does research on functional porcelain, there are not many people doing this in China. So as soon as he came back, he attracted much attention…”

Listening to Gao Ling talk about this Mr. Fu’s research, Yuanyuan’s heart secretly mused: It seemed that this Mr. Fu was truly not that simple if he could make Boss Gao, who was so rich and had status in the ceramics industry, revere him like this. 

But Yuanyuan was really grateful to Gao Ling. Gao Ling had originally made an appointment with Mr. Fu alone, but he had taken her with him, saying that she would benefit greatly from communicating with Mr. Fu.

 

I hope this chapter is okay…There were a few sentences I really, really struggled with, and after wracking my brain for ages on them I finally just did my best to interpret what I think the author meant. I don’t think you’ll be able to tell because the sentences aren’t really relevant to the story at all. But hopefully my Mandarin gets better so that this doesn’t keep happening…

Teresa Teng was a famous Taiwanese musician known as Asia’s eternal queen of pop. She’s a huge cultural icon. You may know her other songs such as The Moon Represents My Heart. I got the translated Tian Mi Mi lyrics from lyrictranslate, and you can listen to Tian Mi Mi here. Return.Jingdezhen is a city in Jiangxi province. According to Wikipedia, they have been producing Chinese ceramics for at least 1000 years. The city has 2000 years of well-documented history. The title of this chapter, Interview in Fuliang, refers to Fuliang County in Jingdezhen. Return.I had to look up zhuangzi in the dictionary, which was very difficult because the philosopher kept coming up instead. From what I gather it can be a place of work, a manor, a villa, or even a farm, so I imagine Gao Ling’s zhuangzi is an estate that he lives in, but also where he operates his business? I decided to keep the original pinyin because I don’t know how to interpret it yet. Return.Renminbi, Chinese currency. Return.“Lao” is a prefix that is commonly used with your friends or family. I suppose it’s like a nickname or term of endearment. Return.In the raws, Gao Ling says that he can compensate Cheng Bai, which I think is a typo. I changed it since the context is that he wants to compensate Cheng Yuanyuan. If it’s a mistake on my part, I’ll come back and correct this later. The author seems to have done the same thing in the next chapter, so perhaps I’m missing something. Return.