"In a mont, you’ll turn to page eleven, where there’s an illustration and a table. I’ll count to five, and you’ll close it imdiately and start copying it exactly as it is."
Zhou Jiao understood what was going on. They were testing if she had the sa photographic mory as her grandfather, indicating there was a task they wanted her to complete.
This could be a big deal or a minor matter. All she could do was try her best to rember without showing all her cards. Otherwise, a heap of trouble would follow her.
She didn’t like living a thrilling and exciting life; a stable and warm family life was her pursuit. However, since things had co to this point, she couldn’t let her grandfather’s reputation be tarnished.
She smiled at the two sitting across from her, "Alright, I’ll do my best."
"Don’t hide your talents, show all your skills to the uncles."
"Uh, your dad has praised you many tis, you can’t let him lose face this ti."
Faced with their seemingly sincere encouragent, Zhou Jiao smiled without speaking. She wasn’t naive; she understood that the more outstanding one was, the heavier the burden. Unfortunately, she had always been self-centered, lacking any grand dedication to sacrifice her small family for the greater good.
"Alright, let’s begin!" Shi Dashen watched her open the page quickly, counted off quickly, "One... two... three, four, five, close it."
Zhou Jiao looked at him speechlessly, questioning his thods. Was this five? Even a photocopier wasn’t that fast. Although she already rembered it, she couldn’t foolishly let him set her up.
Shi Dashen’s usually stern face softened as he saw Zhou Jiao blinking, looking at him with grievances, and couldn’t help but smile.
He coughed, "It doesn’t count just now, let’s do it again."
Zhou Jiao tried again, and this ti the counting speed was finally normal. After closing the book, she silently pulled out a sheet of blank paper, which had been prepared earlier, and quickly began copying.
To avoid appearing abnormal, she started very quickly, then pretended to think and recall in the latter part.
Shi Dashen looked at the completed paper, checked it over, gave her a complex look, and passed it to the colleague next to him for review.
"Girl, if we ask you to rember this table, how long can you retain it? Can you copy it again two months later?"
Zhou Jiao watched the person next to her comparing the docunt, tilted her head and hesitated, "Let’s see how many mistakes there are. I’m not confident. If it’s needed, I’ll make an effort to recall it often, so it shouldn’t be easy to forget."
Shi Dashen nodded and looked at his colleague, who nodded back and told Zhou Jiao, "You made three mistakes. The key issue is the ti was too short. Currently, you should master seven or eight languages."
Zhou Jiao knew he was testing her and shook her head, chuckling, "I’m not a genius. Currently, I can only handle four, and even then, conversations with international students aren’t smooth."
Shi Dashen pointed at her with his finger, "That Polish girl can communicate with you in Polish, German, French, and Italian. That’s four, plus your Russian and English fluency, making it six."
Zhou Jiao shook her head in bewildernt, "No, she usually talks to in Chinese and only occasionally jokes in those languages, like ’eat,’ ’beautiful,’ those simple words. I don’t know most of the languages from other countries."
There’s no way Zhou Jiao would reveal herself in front of foreigners. She was certain they were testing her. Other than her father and Zhang Guoqing, no one knew how much she had learned in college over the past three years. So languages could be disclosed just to access newspapers, magazines, and books in the library.
Shi Dashen shook his head. This child, just like her father, wouldn’t reveal anything truthful. No wonder Old Zhou was sitting calmly next door, not worried at all.
"Well, those are secondary. Your German and English should be no problem in conversation, right?"
There was no hiding this; her father was publicly fluent in German, and Zhou Jiao nodded affirmatively.
"Great, next I have a small notebook here. I want you to ntally calculate the total amount as fast as possible." Shi Dashen took a ledger-sized "small notebook" from the drawer and handed it to her.
This ti, Zhou Jiao couldn’t afford to play tricks. Previously, she had slipped up at the Lin Family, and they could find out. She deliberately delayed, calculated the total, and handed it to him.
Shi Dashen and his colleague finally burst into laughter.
"She’s the one."
"Alright, stop tornting the child or Old Zhou will beat you later."
Shi Dashen nodded and looked at Zhou Jiao, "There’s a task for you this ti, do you have confidence in completing it?"
What? Without even knowing the task, deciding if she can complete it first. Could Zhou Jiao say she didn’t want to take it?
She stood up and nodded solemnly.
Shi Dashen patted her shoulder with satisfaction, "Good job. This task isn’t easy, but it isn’t dangerous either. I’ll pair you with soone familiar to accompany you."
Zhou Jiao nodded again. She realized that knowing English and having a good mory hinted at what the task might be. Having soone accompany her was basically mutual surveillance. It seed like she was going abroad!
Shi Dashen opened the drawer, and this ti took out a genuinely small notebook.
As he handed it over to Zhou Jiao, he said, "morize the confidentiality code, and your father will inform you of the details. The specific task will be revealed when you depart the day after tomorrow. You might be gone for two to three months, so settle your children first. As for school, there’s no need to return for now. We’ll tell the school that you and so other students are going south for an exchange."
Zhou Jiao nodded in agreent.
The day after tomorrow? The tiline was really tight. This was too sudden, and she had to reassure her husband or else he’d worry himself sick. As for confidentiality, what was that even?
"Alright, that’s settled. Your dad’s working next door, do you want to go find him? If you want to go ho, let Xiao Wei take you back."
Zhou Jiao figured that this Xiao Wei was likely one of the people who picked her up earlier. However, she didn’t plan to have soone accompany her ho; it wouldn’t take long to walk back.
After saying goodbye to them, she left the conference room, followed the direction pointed out by the security guard at the door, and entered an office. Oh gosh, her dad was really busy, holding multiple positions by himself. Did he plan to overwork?
Zhou Xiaozheng smiled as he watched his daughter co in, "All done? I’ve already arranged for soone to pick up Xiao Wu. Stay with dad for a while, when these things are wrapped up, we’ll leave together."
Zhou Jiao interpreted the underlying ssage and felt like a mouse stealing oil, nodding joyfully. It seed this task wasn’t too complicated, otherwise her dad would be worried, and he wouldn’t have that proud look.
Going abroad, going abroad was wonderful... She wanted to see what the outside world was like now. Most importantly, she had many foreign bank savings books, constantly making her itch.
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