Chapter 132: “I Have a Proper Job”
Fortunately, Principal Chen was sitting when he spit out his water—all of it landed on the table rather than on anyone.
He didn’t even bother wiping it up. Face dark, he barked, “Little Su, don’t mess around!”
A high school student like you? Sure, you have English classes, but how much could you have possibly learned? You think you’re better than Li Xia and the others, who are all university graduates?!
“This isn’t a small matter! If you screw it up, it’ll be a disgrace to the entire country!”
Li Xia curled her lip. “Exactly. Even we college grads couldn’t do it, and you think a backwater hick like you can? You didn’t even finish junior high, did you?”
A tall young man chimed in, “At least we can hold a conversation with them. You probably won’t understand a single word! Don’t go making things worse.”
Yu Dandan’s eyes glinted. Smiling, she said, “Since this comrade volunteered, she must be confident. Why don’t we let her try? Who knows—maybe she’s qualified!”
Su He saw right through her fake-sweet act.
This Yu Dandan was deliberately egging her on—trying to set her up to fail and embarrass herself. Compared to Li Xia, Yu Dandan was clearly more scheming.
Su He ignored her and slung on her small satchel. Turning to Yue Zhongcheng, she said, “Comrade, take me over there.”
Yue Zhongcheng had a good impression of Su He—after all, she had helped the train crew “generate revenue” with a quick 200 yuan idea.
Still, he hesitated. “Comrade Little Su, those foreign guests are already agitated, especially after what just happened. If you mess up again, the situation might get out of hand. So I need to confirm—do you really speak English?”
Su He smiled and rattled off a few sentences.
None of the train crew spoke English, and Principal Chen had studied Russian. All eyes turned to Li Xia’s group.
Li Xia sneered, “With that kind of English? Please—”
Yu Dandan quickly cut in, “Comrade Su He speaks very fast, so we couldn’t quite catch it, but her level seems higher than ours.”
Su He shot her a half-smile. She had deliberately spouted nonsense just now—anyone with even basic English knowledge would know how ridiculous it sounded.
Clearly, Yu Dandan was hoping to see her make a fool of herself in front of the foreign guests.
A hypocrite is worse than an honest villain.
Yue Zhongcheng felt a little more reassured. “Alright, Comrade Little Su, come with me to the soft sleeper carriage.”
Principal Chen still felt uneasy. “Little Su—”
Su He reassured him with a smile. “Don’t worry, Principal. I know what I’m doing.”
Seeing her so confident, he couldn’t say anything more.
Once Su He and Yue Zhongcheng were gone, Li Xia grumbled, “What was that gibberish she just said? Her word order and grammar were all off—and some of her pronunciation was downright weird. She’s just begging to embarrass herself!”
Principal Chen’s face darkened instantly. He shot a cold glance at Yu Dandan but said nothing.
As much as he disliked Yu Dandan, the real issue was with Su He herself.
This girl was usually sharp as a whip—why would she do something so foolish today?
But then again, Su He was young, sure, but also incredibly reliable. It was hard to imagine her making such a rookie mistake.
One moment he thought everything would be fine. The next, he worried she’d cause an international incident. His heart was all over the place.
He even went as far as the entrance to the soft sleeper carriage, but there were guards posted, so he had to return to his seat.
*
Meanwhile, Su He followed the crew into the soft sleeper section.
Just as they entered, an older man wearing glasses approached them, eyeing Su He with a frown.
He was already distrustful of young people—especially after the last four had all claimed to be top university grads and yet couldn’t even understand what the foreign guests were saying.
“Which university did you graduate from?” the man asked sternly.
Su He replied politely, “I graduated from Beiliao Province No. 2 High School. I haven’t attended college.”
The man blinked in surprise before snapping, “What nonsense is this?!”
Yue Zhongcheng almost burst into tears.
Good grief, you’ve really thrown me under the bus here!
Still, he quickly added, “Though Comrade Su hasn’t gone to college, she really does speak English. The others just now even said her level is quite high.”
The older man sneered, “And you believe those four idiots?
Take her back. If no one else is available, call the scheduling office at Lucheng Station and have them send up a high school English teacher at the next stop.”
Yue Zhongcheng groaned inwardly. They’d be arriving at Lucheng in just half an hour—no way they’d make it in time. It could delay departure and mess up the whole train schedule.
But since the man had spoken, he couldn’t argue—he could only nod in reply.
At that moment, Su He frowned and said, “One of the foreigners inside is insulting Chinese people, saying we’re ignorant country bumpkins.”
The man’s face darkened. “Is that true?”
Su He nodded. “He also said we treat foreigners like they’re our ancestors—acting like servants around them!”
The old man was so angry he snapped the arm off his glasses.
“I knew these damn foreigners were no good! If this were decades ago, I’d have grabbed a rifle and mowed them down!”
Su He: “…”
And here I thought you were a refined gentleman! Turns out that was all for show!
She wasn’t lying—there really was a foreigner mouthing off inside.
While most foreign guests were courteous, there were always a few who came in with prejudices or hidden agendas. That’s why China assigned people to accompany them throughout their visits.
“But to be fair, the other guests are trying to calm him down. Most of them are decent.”
The old man took a deep breath, trying to compose himself. He eyed Su He suspiciously. “You’re not making this up, are you? If you’re lying about something like this, I’ll—”
Su He calmly pulled out her badges: her Huaihua Commune liaison ID, special correspondent card, night school external tutor certificate, and business credentials from three different factories—textile, mechanical, and food processing.
The latter two had been issued specially to make business trips easier… and whether she’d return them was another matter entirely.
“See? I’m a person with official positions. I stand by what I say.”
The old man and Yue Zhongcheng: “…”
Are you… in the business of collecting credentials or something?!
