Chapter 5 — I Hide Eight Languages For Three Years

“So why don't you stand up?”

“I… I'm scared…”

"Afraid of what? Afraid of being used? Afraid of high salary?"

I shook my head, tears kept falling.

“I'm afraid… afraid of everything happening again…”

Tham Vien frowned: "Repeat what?" I took a deep breath, my voice trembling: "Before, I worked in City N for half a year. Because I knew many languages, I was turned into a free translator. The dirty work and heavy work were pushed to me, and the credit was given to someone else. I got sick... and no one cared."

“So I swear… I will never make a living from languages again.”

Tham Vien looked at me and was silent for a long time. At that moment, the room door was suddenly knocked.

"Enter." he said.

The door opened and Luu Phong rushed in, his face pale.

“Boss Tham, there is an urgent matter.”

“What?”

“There's a problem on Alvarez's side.” Luu Phong gulped, "Fernando just called. He said last night at the party, he heard someone talking privately in perfect Spanish."

Tham Vien's face changed. Luu Phong continued: "He said the content of that conversation... was related to his company's internal situation. He suspected that someone was deliberately hiding their language ability. Now he is very dissatisfied, asking us to explain, otherwise we will reconsider cooperation." Tham Vien's eyes stopped on me. My mind is blank. Luu Phong also looked at me, his eyes complicated. At that moment, my phone rang. It's Tran Lam. Tham Vien signaled me to listen. My hands were shaking, I picked up the phone.

“Luc Vy!” Tran Lam's voice was very urgent, "Go back to your office quickly, something big has happened!"

“What?”

“Finance department, Tien Quoc An has just submitted a resignation letter, asking to leave immediately!”

I was stunned: "Why?"

“Not sure, but before he left, he left something behind.” Tran Lam's voice trembled slightly, "A paper bag, with your name written on the outside."

The phone in my hand almost fell down. Tham Vien and Luu Phong looked at me at the same time. The air in the room seemed to be drained away. Tham Vien put down the phone and looked at me: "After the party ends, I will have someone check all the cameras." He pressed the remote and the screen on the wall lit up. The image appears. That was the recording in the hall last night. The moment he said the Spanish sentence, the reaction of more than two hundred people. Most were confused, some were curious. But two people... in that moment slightly frowned. One is Tien Quoc An. The remaining person... is me. The image stopped just as I frowned. Tham Vien's voice rang out in the room: "Do you know why I frowned?" My whole body was cold.

"Because of that sentence, I intentionally said a grammatical error. People who are really good at Spanish, when they hear an error, their first reaction will be to frown."

“It's a test.”

“Tian Quoc An passed, he stood up.”

“And you… don't.”

Tham Vien stepped in front of me.

"Now tell me. Why do you have to hide? In the past three years, what have you been able to do that I don't know about?"

I raised my head, tears blurring my eyes. At that moment, the desk phone rang. Tham Vien picked up the phone, listened for a few seconds, and his face immediately changed. He put down the receiver firmly and looked at Luu Phong: "Notify all leaders, there will be an emergency meeting in ten minutes." Luu Phong was bewildered: "What happened?" Tham Vien looked at me with complicated eyes.

“The paper bag left by Tien Quoc An… was opened.”

“What's inside?”

“A complete investigation report. About all the things Project failures due to language issues over the past three years.”

He stopped.

“There is… a list.”

The meeting room quickly filled up with people. Senior leaders were present one after another. Tham Vien let me come in with him. I sat in the corner, my heart beating so fast it felt like it was about to burst. Qian Guo'an's report was projected on the big screen. First page: Summary of project losses due to language errors in the past three years. Total amount: one hundred and twenty million. The whole room was as quiet as paper. Tham Vien turned to the second page. The second page is a time table. Every time a problem occurs due to a translation error, there is a note next to it.

“July 2021, email dispute with country D customer. Actual issue handled by sales assistant Luc Vy, attributed to 'good English proficiency'.”

“March 2022, payment method dispute with water supplier F. Business assistant Luc Vy proposed an adjustment plan, which was attributed to 'intuition'.”

“In September 2022, negotiations with country J customers broke down. Business assistant Luc Vy had the opportunity to intervene but did not act, resulting in a loss of about eight million."

“In April 2023, the contract with country K's partner had vague wording. Business assistant Luc Vy, when reviewing, pointed out the risk, which was attributed to 'document search'."

The list is very long. Line by line, arranged in chronological order. Every line… has my name on it. All the leaders turned to look.