Chapter 16: Rose Apple

The man in the suit snapped, 'What did you say?!'

"Didn't catch that? Then I'll say it again……"

"Cough cough!"

At that moment, the middle-aged person seated in the chief position gave two dry coughs: 'Enough, this isn't the place to argue.'

The man in the suit opened his mouth to speak again: 'Jiang Dao……'

Jiang Dao raised a hand to interrupt him: 'Arguing won't solve the problem; this is a seminar—if there are disagreements, let's lay them out on the table.'

As for this Jiang Dao, Chen Ci wasn't very familiar with him, but to hold this position he must have some ability.

"Little Chen, you started this, so you speak first."

Chen Ci was a little surprised that this Jiang Dao actually knew his surname.

"Actually, it's nothing—I just didn't expect New Oriental's hiring standards for teachers to be so low. If Li Qingzhao knew her poems were being translated like this, she'd probably turn in her grave."

"Haha……"

"Hmph!"

A few more jeers rang out, and the man in the suit glared, letting out a cold snort.

At this, Jiang Dao also furrowed his brow: 'Speak properly, no snide remarks.'

"All right." Chen Ci nodded, saying seriously, "Perhaps none of you here understand English very well, so you don't feel anything."

As he spoke, Chen Ci glanced at the reactions around him—it seemed his guess was correct.

"Let me be frank: Teacher Yu's translation…… I'm embarrassed to call it classical poetry. It doesn't rhyme at all, and from start to finish there isn't a single elevated word."

"That's why I wanted to ask Teacher Yu: Are you specially tutoring elementary school students?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Dao gave a light cough, but said nothing.

He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and gestured for Chen Ci to continue.

"I'll give everyone Teacher Yu's English version, then re‑translate it into what I just heard."

Hearing that, everyone in the meeting room suddenly became interested, quietly awaiting Chen Ci's performance.

All I saw was him moving his neck, clearing his throat, and then he started right away.

"Last night it rained so hard it was like dogs, I slept too deeply to sober up. I asked the maid Haitang—she said heaven hadn't sent it away. You know what you know, the green is fat, the red has no meat."

"Pfft!"

"Hahaha……"

Actually, from the moment Chen Ci opened his mouth and spoke the first sentence, someone could barely hold back laughter.

However, Chen Ci was articulate and spoke quickly, so some people hadn't reacted yet.

He said it all in one breath, and it erupted completely.

For a moment the scene was somewhat hard to control, and even Jiang Dao couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Little Chen, you……"

Jiang Dao's words were cut off by his own laughter; turning his head, he saw Teacher Yu approaching with a dark face.

Jiang Dao waved his hand: 'Stop laughing, everyone, be more serious……'

"All right, this request is a bit high—even he himself finds it hard to do."

Fortunately, it still had some effect; the laughter in the meeting room died down considerably, no longer so unrestrained.

"English is inherently shallow and lowly; it can't show the beauty of Chinese……"

Good grief, Teacher Yu had been holding his tongue for so long, and yet he actually managed to unleash a big move.

Chen Ci also couldn't help taking a deep breath, looking at him with newfound respect.

"Although I'd really like to agree with what you said, you weren't just saying earlier that you wanted to promote traditional culture so that foreigners could also feel the charm of Tang and Song poetry, were you?"

"If you translate it like this, Li Qingzhao would become Li Kui. If this is what you call charm, are you really promoting traditional culture—or just smearing it?"

"You!"

Teacher Yu's face flushed red and he couldn't speak; Jiang Dao saw the situation turning bad and was about to smooth things over with a couple of sentences.

But Teacher Yu suddenly said, 'If you think you can do better, then you translate it!'

As soon as those words were spoken, the whole hall fell silent, with only the occasional sound of someone breathing.

"Um."

Chen Ci also froze on the spot—this was the real‑life version of 'if you can do it, you do it,' and he hadn't expected to run into it himself.

Seeing him also silent, Teacher Yu instantly turned his anger into joy, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smile, thinking he had finally cornered Chen Ci and won back a point.

Everyone in the meeting room also focused their gaze on Chen Ci, curiously awaiting his response.

After several full seconds, Chen Ci remained silent in response; someone secretly shook their head—indeed, it was still too hard.

For a moment the scene grew a little awkward; all I saw was Teacher Yu giving a cold smile: 'Young people, you still need to study more……'

Jiang Dao also spoke up: 'Little Chen, you……'

"Got it."

"What do you mean?" Jiang Dao immediately corrected himself.

"I have a bit of confidence, though it definitely can't match the original version by the Yi'an Hermit. I'll do my best to try to convey one‑ten‑thousandth of the original poem's charm."

"Oh? Then give it a try."

Jiang Dao's eyes flickered with something unusual, and everyone else looked curious as well.

This time Chen Ci didn't keep them waiting long either; he got ready to start right away.

Only this time Chen Ci's speech was much slower, he changed his tone, and his gaze was fixed firmly on Teacher Yu.

The meaning was obvious: others might not understand, but you'd better listen carefully.

"Latenightwindhowledwithlightshower."

Stillhungoverdespitemyheavyslumber.

Askforshadestoberolledfromsill.

Wastoldmyhaitangblossomedstill.

Chen Ci's tone was low and deep, yet not like the traditional recitation style.

The last word of each sentence is clearly emphasized, making it more like quietly singing, with a special rhythm.

Ohhoneybutdon'tyouknow.

Tistheseasonredsebbandgreensflow......

After finishing the translation, Chen Ci did not stop immediately, and his gaze never left Teacher Yu.

Li Qingzhao's ci poetry pays the most attention to rhythm, known as the King of Rhythm, and she once criticized Su Shi for having uneven rhythm.

I can't compare with Su Shi, and I'm even farther from Li Qingzhao. Fortunately, using English gave me the courage to play with rhythm.

shower and wind correspond to rain and wind, the sill of rolling up the bead curtain rhymes with begonia's still, the rest you can slowly feel yourself.

At this moment, Teacher Yu's expression was dazed and stiff, his tightly furrowed brow seeming to still say he couldn't believe it.

Good!

I don't know who started the applause first, but the others paused briefly.

Many of them didn't understand a thing, but that didn't stop them from clapping; Director Jiang also joined in.

No, no...

The originally dazed Teacher Yu suddenly started shaking his head, his eyes darting around, muttering under his breath.

Chen Ci felt a jolt in his heart, wondering if he had somehow fallen ill from anger.

"Haha!" Teacher Yu suddenly burst out laughing.

Oh oh, Chen Ci thought to himself, "Done for, is my brain really messed up?"

Begonia, begonia you didn't translate, you don't know the word begonia, right? It's indeed a rather obscure word; I'll teach you b-e-g...

Teacher Yu even started spelling it out in front of Chen Ci, who felt a bit helpless.

He obviously likes peace, so why does someone just like to stick out their face for him to hit?

No need, begonia in English refers to the begonia genus in the begonia family, which is not the same plant as the begonia flower in Li Qingzhao's verse, which belongs to the rose family and apple genus.

Chen Ci's series of words sounded like a tongue twister, but Teacher Yu still wasn't convinced.

Even if it's whatever rose-apple, it should have an English scientific name; what's the point of using pinyin?

Chen Ci smiled helplessly, sighing...