As for the money Kong Mingqing stuffed over, Lin Jie persistently declined, saying, "This is just neighbors helping each other, how can I take your money?"
"If I accept it, Grandpa will definitely scold me in his dreams! If you really feel bad, Brother Kong, just give me that surgical first aid kit, I really like it!"
Seeing that Lin Jie sincerely didn't want to take the money, Kong Mingqing kept it in mind, no longer insisting, he patted Lin Jie on the shoulder and said, "If there's anything you need my help with in the future, just say it directly. If I say no, I don't deserve my last name!"
"I'll get the first aid kit for you in a bit."
"That was bought by Zhang Li out of worry for my job, just in case. It's been at home for over two years, I didn't think it would actually come in handy. If you need any medicine or medical equipment in the future, just tell Zhang Li, she has the connections!"
Kong Mingqing had to go to the hospital to care for Zhang Li. After picking up the first aid kit, he bid farewell and left!
Lin Jie reorganized the contents of the first aid kit, then started preparing dinner.
But soon received a call from Zhang Xiaoxiao, saying that there would be a client viewing a house that night, and she wouldn't be home for dinner. Lin Miao wouldn't be home until after ten!
Lin Jie lost the mood to cook, so he casually made a bowl of vegetable egg noodles!
After dinner, he washed the blood-stained pajamas, and Lin Jie opened his second-hand laptop to check his emails.
He had left several posts on several translation websites and related forums, stating that he was skilled in German, especially translating German medical papers, with fast translation speed and high-quality, affordable service. He had left his email for contact.
Lin Jie had already researched the market price for translations.
The price for translating foreign to Chinese was roughly one to two hundred per thousand words, with English being the cheapest. The more rare the language, the higher the price; for papers and similar scientific articles, the price could increase by 20% to 50%.
For translating from Chinese to foreign, the price would increase by 20% to 50% on top of the base price for foreign to Chinese!
Knowing those prices, Lin Jie was quite frustrated, realizing he had been used as cheap labor for translating those papers for Doctor Gao Quanhai at Binhai Tongren Hospital.
He opened his mailbox, only to be disappointed to find that although there were many emails, all were spam!
Frustrated, he was about to select all to delete when suddenly a new email popped up with the subject, "German Medical Paper Translation, Urgent, Please Contact Immediately."
Lin Jie was overjoyed and immediately opened the email!
The email contents were similar to the subject, except for a signature by Luo Shanshan and a phone number.
Lin Jie immediately used his phone to dial the number, discovering it was actually local!
The call connected quickly, and a tired female voice came from the other side, "This is Luo Shanshan, who is this?"
"This is Lin Jie, I just received your email about translating German papers!"
Lin Jie deliberately lowered his voice, making it deeper to seem more mature!
From the phone, Luo Shanshan immediately asked, "Oh! In your post, you mentioned your translation speed is fast, how fast can you be?"
"I can do simultaneous interpretation!" Lin Jie confidently replied!
"Really? These are German medical papers, with many professional terms!"
On the other end, Luo Shanshan was obviously a bit skeptical, but immediately asked excitedly, "Are you a colleague in medicine who studied in Germany?"
"Sort of!" Lin Jie vaguely replied!
"Great! These papers are quite urgent, if they could be done tonight, that would be best."
As soon as she finished speaking, Luo Shanshan's urgent voice came through again, "Your number is also from Binhai, are you currently in Binhai? Convenient to meet? I'd like to consult you in person about some medical term translations!"
"Regarding payment, I won't disappoint you."
Lin Jie was moved by the "won't let you down" payment, and told her roughly where he was.
Unexpectedly, the person was quite familiar with the area and immediately suggested a nearby coffee shop as the meeting place.
About half an hour later, Lin Jie, dressed in sneakers, khakis, and a long-sleeved T-shirt, came to the Blue Mountain Coffee Shop, a place he had only passed by before but never entered.
After waiting for more than ten minutes and drinking a glass of lemon water, Lin Jie saw a tall young woman with medium-length hair, carrying a leather bag, walking quickly towards his booth!
She was wearing low-heeled leather shoes, fitted jeans, a short-sleeved T-shirt, her appearance was fairly elegant, though wearing light makeup, she couldn't hide the tiredness on her face!
Lin Jie guessed that she might have just gotten off work from the hospital!
As she approached, Lin Jie quickly stood up, asking, "Ms. Luo Shanshan?"
The newcomer looked Lin Jie up and down a few times, furrowed her brow, and with a face full of disbelief and faint anger in her eyes, asked, "Are you that Lin... Jie I spoke to on the phone?"
Lin Jie naturally understood the reason for her performance; it was just that he seemed a bit too young, so he quickly explained, "I am indeed Lin Jie, please believe me, I absolutely haven't deceived you."
"Now that I'm in front of you, isn't it said that a mule or horse is known by running it? You can test me."
Luo Shanshan snorted coldly, said no more, directly took a printed paper from her bag, tossed it to Lin Jie, and said coldly, "Translate, now!"
She may look average, but her temper is certainly big.
Lin Jie thought to himself, and began to read the paper in hand, casually reciting: "Localization, minimally invasive hemilaminectomy for clinical application on intradural tumors of the spinal canal."
"Abstract: Objective to explore the methods and effects of minimally invasive hemilaminectomy under localization for intradural spinal tumors..."
Lin Jie recited two or three dozen sentences without pausing, then stopped and said to Luo Shanshan, who was already sitting across from him, "Have I proved my ability now?"
Luo Shanshan hurriedly nodded, showing an apologetic smile, and said, "Sorry, I judged you by appearance! Here are four papers in total, could you please translate them?"
Saying this, she took out a stack of papers from her bag and placed them in front of Lin Jie.
Lin Jie also sat down, glanced over the titles of the papers, and casually translated, "MRI diagnosis of intradural-extramedullary tumors in the spinal canal, Clinical analysis of posterior laminectomy for surgical resection of intradural tumors in the spine..."
He placed the papers back on the coffee table, saying, "These are all papers regarding intradural tumors, for me, there's no difficulty. Let's talk about payment first!"
"Oh, right, payment issue!"
Luo Shanshan took out six thousand yuan from her bag, placed it on the coffee table, and said softly, "I know the market price for German medical paper translation is about two hundred per thousand characters!"
"These four papers are about twenty thousand characters in total, as long as you finish translating tonight, this six thousand is yours!"
Lin Jie's eyes lit up, and he softly said, "Your phone can record, right?"
"Of course it can!"
In the next two hours, Lin Jie drank five glasses of lemon water, went to the restroom once, and finally completed the translation of the four papers.
Luo Shanshan put away her phone, smiled brightly, and said, "The day after tomorrow, a German expert will come to our hospital to perform a spinal tumor resection surgery for a patient. We can observe his surgery on-site and also have a medical exchange."
"I have a few medical questions to consult this German expert on!"
"I wonder if you have time the day after tomorrow, I'd like you to be my on-site interpreter? Four thousand a day, how about it?"
For such easy yet profitable work, Lin Jie naturally had the time.
The two agreed on the time and place to meet the day after tomorrow, and after Luo Shanshan settled the bill, she hurriedly bid farewell to Lin Jie and left.
With six thousand yuan in his pocket, Lin Jie left the coffee shop in a good mood.
He checked the time, it was almost ten o'clock, so he didn't go straight home but headed to the nearby route 82 bus stop to wait for Lin Miao to get off work.
Lin Jie's luck wasn't bad, he only waited less than ten minutes before the bus arrived!
As soon as the bus stopped, he saw a familiar figure slowly alight from the door, unfolding a folded white cane, he quickly went up to greet her.
Lin Miao stopped, tilted her head, and a smile spread across her face, she called, "Brother!"
"Miaomiao, it's me!"
Lin Jie stepped forward and took her hand, happily saying, "I just got a translation job tonight. I just finished with the client at that Blue Mountain Coffee, made six thousand, impressive right?"
Lin Miao hugged Lin Jie's arm, joyfully jumping twice, exclaiming, "Wow... Brother, you're amazing, you made in one night what I earn in a month!"
Lin Jie chuckled smugly, "That's right, and who do you think your brother is! I didn't get a chance to make supper tonight, I'll take you to Xianghe Noodle House for a celebration!"
"Okay, I haven't eaten there in a long time!"
Lin Miao showed a look of longing, tilted her small head, and asked, "Didn't Sister Xiaoxiao join us?"
"Before dinner, she called saying she had a client viewing a house, so she didn't come back for dinner. And then I went out to meet a client, I guess she should be back by now. I'll give her a call!"
Lin Jie took out his phone and dialed Zhang Xiaoxiao's number.
The phone rang for a long time, but no one answered!
Just as Lin Jie was about to hang up, the call connected, and Zhang Xiaoxiao's voice came through, choked with sobs, indistinct, "Lin Jie, where are you? I'm dying, hurry back!"