Chapter 24 (1/2)

Foreign Languages are Actually Easy

Xia Lei worked from afternoon to night.

Ma Xiao-An could not help and he had to get up early the next day to open for business so Xia Lei asked him to go home. He continued using the lathe to process new parts. He had already finished welding all the broken parts in the afternoon and he was now left with the other pieces. He would be finished with the job once these were done.

Ning Jing had nothing to do, so she sat at Xia Lei’s desk, browsing through the books he’d brought. She flipped through two books on machining, then held up ‘Contemporary German for University’ and spoke in surprise, “Master Xia, are you learning German on your own?”

“Yeah, it’s always good to expand one’s knowledge,” replied Xia Lei offhandedly.

“Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” Ning Jing spoke German all of a sudden.

Xia Lei’s left eye twitched and the matching words in German appeared in his head as well as the pronunciation and grammar. It was fascinating. This was his first time hearing someone speak German but he understood what Ning Jing was saying. She said: Do you speak German?

“Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” repeated Ning Jing, this time with a hint of a challenge in her voice. She obviously didn’t believe that a welder could understand German.

Xia Lei thought of an answer. There was no book in front of him, but his left eye displayed word after word of German, and the appropriate grammar and pronunciation appeared in his head, joining together to form a sentence. This was an extremely complicated and miraculous process but it took only a few seconds.

A smile appeared in the corners of Xia Lei’s mouth as he said, “Ich kann Deutsch, aber ich spreche nicht sehr gut.”

He said: I can speak German but not very well.

Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei in surprise and was still for a bit before she spoke again, “You really can speak German. What made you want to learn German? It’s not a common foreign language – you should pick English if you wanted to learn a foreign language since it is used more widely.”

A few minutes later, Xia Lei spoke, “Mademoiselle, je parle un peu le français.”

“You…” Ning Jing could sit still no longer and she stood, gaping at Xia Lei with round eyes. “You just spoke… French?”

Xia Lei grinned, “Yes, I said I also speak a little French.”

“Heavens! You have such hidden depths! I know English and German but not French. You’re more amazing than I am!” praised Ning Jing. She was starting to look at Xia Lei in a whole new light.

“How can I be? I’m just learning some simple phrases because of boredom. You earned your Doctorate at such a young age – you’re the amazing one. I really admire you.”

“Oh, no, no, no, I should be the one admiring you. You have such great workmanship at such a young age and you even taught yourself German and French. This shows how clever and ambitious you are in improving yourself. Such a positive attitude towards life is something I should emulate,” said Ning Jing.

“Hehe… Are we going to keep going?” Xia Lei grinned, then turned his attention back to the work at hand.

Ning Jing kept staring at Xia Lei, unable to tear her gaze away from him. ‘It’s laughable that I did not believe him one bit when I first met him. I actually looked down on him. It is rare to find someone of his skill in this entire country and on top of that he also taught himself German and French. Other than my Doctorate, what do I have that is better than him?’ thought Ning Jing.

She was full of admiration and just a touch of shame.

She had no idea but the man she admired now was just a diamond in the rough. No one can tell how Xia Lei will grow and develop in the future!

“All right, finally done.” Xia Lei switched off the lathe, removed the gear he had been working on and put it under the lamp for inspection.

Ning Jing cleared her head of her jumbled thoughts and moved to Xia Lei’s side to look at the gear. “Is this the last part?”

“Yes, it’s the last one,” said Xia Lei.

“You finished the job more quickly than I’d expected. I thought it would take the whole night.” Her lips quirked, “I was going to ask you where I could sleep for the night.”

“You weren’t thinking of spending the night here, were you?”

“You don’t even have a bed here. There isn’t a place for me to sleep even if I wanted to.”

Xia Lei was about to say that he had a foldable bed but stopped himself from saying it for fear that it would lead to a misunderstanding. He changed his words, “I’ll send you home, Big Sister Ning. Are you going home or back to the Archaeological Bureau?”

Ning Jing looked at Xia Lei, all smiles, “Are you going to send me home, and have me drive you back?”

Xia Lei then remembered he did not have a car. He laughed awkwardly and didn’t mention sending her home again.

“Accompany me to the Archaeological Bureau, then. I need your help,” said Ning Jing.

“Are you going to put it together and make it move tonight?” asked Xia Lei.

Ning Jing nodded. “It is a marvel. I can’t wait to unlock its mysteries.”

“Okay, I’ll go with you to the Archaeological Bureau.” He wanted to know the answer to the origins of the compass and its secrets too.

Half an hour later, Xia Lei and Ning Jing arrived at the Archaeological Bureau. This time, they went to an archaeological studio instead of the display room.

The studio was fairly large but it was filled with artifacts waiting for restoration such as porcelain, stone and other relics, making the space seem cramped and small. Ning Jing cleared a worktable to make space, then gingerly placed the compass, repaired parts and copies of parts on it.

“Aren’t you going to call Professor Huang, Big Sister Ning?” asked Xia Lei.