Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

Conference Room 1, Management Committee of High-tech Zone.

The atmosphere was so awkward you could practically dig a three-bedroom apartment out of your toes.

Beside the enormous oval conference table, on one side sat the senior management team from the German Braun Group, dressed in suits and with serious expressions. On the other side was the Ningzhou reception delegation, led by Mayor Lu Chen and Management Committee Director Wang Dawei.

Between the two sides lies an invisible chasm called "language".

Wang Dawei's disastrous opening line, "very very good," had extremely serious consequences.

Although the German president, Mr. Hans, maintained a basic gentlemanly demeanor on the surface, the undisguised disappointment and...contempt in his eyes were like needles pricking the faces of every Chinese person present.

He obviously misunderstood.

He thought that the Mr. Liu Ming who wrote that beautifully written German letter and was Professor Smith Pang's "prized student" was the fat man in front of him who couldn't even speak a complete sentence of English.

This huge psychological gap made him almost lose all hope for the upcoming talks.

"Mr. President, shall we...?"

The German vice president next to Hans asked in a low voice in German, implying, "Why don't we leave and not waste any more time?"

Hans nodded slightly.

He turned his head and looked at the little translator who had been completely "out of the loop" from beginning to end.

Please inform Mr. Wang that due to a tight schedule, we may need to shorten today's visit.

The young translator was stunned.

Although she graduated with a degree in German, her studies focused on everyday language and literary translation. Sentences like these, which contain a lot of business jargon and subtext, were like gibberish to her.

She only understood the phrases "tight schedule" and "shortened inspection".

Her face turned pale with nervousness. She looked at Wang Dawei for help and stammered, "Um... Mr. Hans said... they... they have an urgent matter... and want to... want to leave early..."

"What?"

Wang Dawei panicked as soon as he heard that!

Damn it, they're leaving before they've even had a chance to sit down properly?

If this gets out, where will he, as the director of the management committee, put his face?

He quickly winked at the young translator and whispered, "Tell him! Tell him we've prepared the most sumptuous lunch ever! There's... there's German dark beer! And... and German sausages! Make sure he does his best to come!"

The young translator almost cried.

She had absolutely no idea how to say "German sausage" in German!

The scene fell into a suffocating silence.

The German team, watching the group of people exchanging glances and whispering amongst themselves, finally lost all patience.

Hans stood up.

He straightened his tie and put on that polite but distant smile again.

"Herr Bürgermeister, es tut mir sehr leid." (Mr. Mayor, I'm very sorry.)

He bowed slightly to Mayor Lu Chen, who looked completely bewildered.

"I think there might be some misunderstanding between us. Our visit today seems rather inappropriate."

"Perhaps we should talk about it another time."

After saying that, he prepared to leave with his team.

Finished!

It's all over!

Wang Dawei felt a sudden darkness before his eyes and almost fainted on the spot!

Mayor Lu Chen's face was extremely grim!

Because of a foolish translation and an even more foolish farce of "stealing credit," a super project with an investment of up to 5 billion is about to fly away right under my nose?

If this gets out, he, the mayor, will become a laughing stock in the entire Jiangnan Province!

At this critical moment!

"Herr Hans, please wait a moment."

A clear, steady voice, with a pure London accent and fluent German, suddenly rang out from the conference room door!

That sound, like heavenly music, instantly captivated everyone's ears!

Everyone instinctively turned around to look!

Suddenly, the heavy mahogany door to the conference room was pushed open.

A tall, well-built young man in a casual suit leaned against the doorframe, a confident and composed smile on his face.

—Liu Ming!

Hans was also stunned.

He looked at the young man at the door, who looked exactly like the one in the invitation photo. In his blue eyes, which had become somewhat cloudy with disappointment, a glimmer of hope instantly rekindled!

"Sie sind...?" he asked somewhat uncertainly.

Liu Ming did not answer him immediately.

He simply walked in slowly.

He ignored Wang Dawei's horrified gaze, as if he had seen a ghost.

They also ignored Mayor Lu Chen's surprised and astonished gaze.

He walked straight to the young translator, who was practically burying her head in the ground, and took the simultaneous interpretation device from her hands—a device that felt like a hot potato to her.

Then, he looked at the dignified yet bewildered old German man on the platform and smiled.

He pressed the microphone switch.

He spoke in German that was even more fluent and pure than before, even carrying a hint of aristocratic accent—the kind of German one would only hear in European high society—enough to enunciate each word clearly:

"Respected Mr. Hans, my name is Liu Ming."

"Entschuldigen Sie die Verspätung." (I'm sorry I'm late.)

"So wie es aussieht, hat mein Kollege gerade einen kleinen Scherz mit Ihnen gemacht." (It seems my colleague just played a little joke on you.)

"Die eigentliche Verhandlung..." (The real negotiation...)

He paused, and his deep eyes sparkled with a dazzling light, like diamonds!

"...fängt jetzt erst an." (...now, it's just the beginning.)