After being startled by Zhang Yurong, Sun Hui lost all sense of emotion and went to complete the last bit of work, feeling apprehensive. Li Yan also took the stairs down to the business department on the seventeenth floor.
Business Director Ye Jiahong wasn't in his office; he wasn't really in such a hurry to hire people—he just didn't want to see Li Yan loafing around in the office.
After returning to his office and sitting for a while, he saw that the interviews had taken up the whole afternoon, and it wouldn't be long before it was time to leave work. Li Yan wasn't interested in idling away any longer, so he turned off the computer that had been on standby all afternoon and went down to the break room on the seventeenth floor. There was a smoking room inside the break room, and since he hadn't smoked all afternoon, one cigarette would just pass the time.
He had just taken a few puffs when he heard a voice outside. Li Yan focused on listening. Even through the door of the smoking room, the voice was quiet, but he could still clearly make out who it was.
The girl speaking outside was called Huang Ying, a pretty and cute girl who hadn't graduated long ago and was also a clerk in the business department. Compared to Li Yan, who was coasting along as an administrative clerk, she had much more work to do.
Realizing it was Huang Ying and that she wasn't chatting with other colleagues but talking on the phone, Li Yan stopped purposely listening to her affairs.
However, since there was no one else in the break room outside, and Huang Ying wasn't aware that there was someone in the smoking room, plus she was speaking near the inside, Li Yan's good hearing caught her words even though he wasn't deliberately listening.
"...Well, you'll have to wait a bit longer... Yes, I'll come over after work, but there's quite a bit to do today, so I'll have to work overtime for a bit... It won't delay your return to school... Sis knows you won't mind... Take good care of mom... I'll head to the hospital right after work... No more talking, I need to hurry..."
After Huang Ying finished her call, she left the break room in hurried steps, which was a bit different from her usual self.
Li Yan blew out a puff of smoke: Is Huang Ying's mom hospitalized? Is she rushing to the hospital later to take over the care? She looked as usual, didn't seem like it.
Working at a big company with good benefits, the competitive pressure is imaginable, especially for ordinary employees. Unless there is no other choice, they wouldn't dare to take a leave easily. Li Yan couldn't help with that situation, but he might be able to assist Huang Ying in wrapping up her tasks so she could leave for the hospital earlier.
The big office was already crowded with people; many salespeople who had gone out to meet clients had returned. Most were women, and since it was close to the end of the workday, they had completed their tasks, and now they were chatting about where to have fun, shop, or eat at night, or discussing the newly bought clothes, handbags, and accessories among them.
Li Yan opened his computer, came up behind Huang Ying, and saw her busy at her computer, then leaned against the partition to watch for a moment.
"Ah? Li Yan? Is there something you need me to do?" Huang Ying noticed someone behind her, took a moment to look back, saw Li Yan, paused, and put on a smile.
When Li Yan first came, he familiarized himself with the environment by following her. He hadn't progressed much these months; whenever there was a situation, he would ask Huang Ying, and she would always patiently answer.
"No, I see that you seem to still have work. Is it urgent? Can you teach me to do it?" Li Yan gestured at what was in front of her.
Huang Ying hesitated a bit. From what she knew in these months, getting Li Yan to voluntarily learn to work was really rare. At other times, she would've been happy to show him. But today...
"I'm sorry, it's not that urgent. As long as it's sent out tonight, it's fine, just…" Huang Ying apologized, "You see, it's almost time to get off work. Next time when you're free, I'll reach out to you."
She glanced at the time, smiled apologetically, and continued working. At this moment, another internal call came in from a salesperson assigning her some tasks, so she listened while jotting down notes on a sticky note.
Li Yan already had a rough understanding that what was making her stay late wasn't the daily pre-off hours routine but that stack of documents she seemed to be translating into a foreign language to send to overseas clients.
Seeing her put down the phone and prioritize attending to the tasks just mentioned, Li Yan reached over to take the stack of documents she had been working on and then set down the page she was translating.
"You...?"
"Just translating? I think I can help. You take care of other things first, then check mine when it's done. Let me give it a try." Without waiting for a surprised, slightly open-mouthed Huang Ying to respond, Li Yan went straight back to his computer.
...
Translating, especially with many technical terms, was indeed a bit dull for Li Yan. But since he took it on, he focused earnestly on the translation as he had nothing else to do.
When the workday was over, everyone else had left. Huang Ying, having finished her routine tasks, quickly grabbed the half-translated documents to continue working on them.
Ten minutes later, Huang Ying came to Li Yan's side and whispered, "How's it going?"
"I've translated three pages, two more to go. I've sent them to you to check if they're too off." Li Yan handed over the three translated A4 sheets to her.
Huang Ying initially wanted to tell him it's okay if it's too hard, that he could leave now since the workday is over. But she didn't want to discourage him. Unexpectedly, the usually idle Li Yan, when working, was so efficient, even faster than she herself.
Li Yan chuckled: "Don't be surprised. You're too honest; why not use some tools? Look here, I've opened several online translators and dictionaries."
"Oh..." Huang Ying smoothed her hair, smiled shyly, "You're clever."
"Heh, go see how the translation turned out. If it's rubbish, you'll have to redo it yourself..." Li Yan continued his own work.
Huang Ying suspected that the quality might be an issue, given how quickly it was done. But seeing how many tools he used, it shouldn't be rubbish...
Out of responsibility for her work, Huang Ying carefully checked Li Yan's translated text word by word. It turned out that except for a few mistakes in technical terms, the translation was overall very good. For her to reach such a level, she would need more time!
Are translation tools really that effective?
"All done."
"Who's done?" Huang Ying looked up, confused.
Li Yan placed the other two pages on her desk, "All translated and sent over."
"Oh... really, thank you so much. Your translation is excellent!" Huang Ying sincerely thanked him. The result from the previous three pages made her trust that the next two wouldn't be worse, and just having to check rather than translate saved her at least half the time.
"Thank you for the encouragement, check it over, I'll leave after you finish." Li Yan said and returned to his desk.
Ah? Despite her surprise, Huang Ying wondered what he meant by this. Usually, they would chat and joke around and had a good relationship, but he had never waited alone for her like this before.
Her face warmed, and she quickly shook her head to focus on completing her checking. Then, after organizing everything together, she sent it to the overseas client's email.
"Li Yan?"
Getting up to look, Huang Ying found that Li Yan had already left without her noticing, feeling slightly disappointed, she packed up her things, turned off the lights, and left.