Chapter 49: Chill
Translated by: kevin1782
Edited by: Isalee
Three years without a smoke, Gao Yang slowly exhaled smoke ring. There were already a dozen plus cigarette b.u.t.ts at his feet. Most of them weren’t even completely used up. Most were still pretty long. Blended cigarettes were too hard for Gao Yang. He was still used to the Virginian [1] cigarettes.
Gao Yang who was vexed and greatly troubled extinguished the cigarette, then looked at Tribo who was very calm and composed. He suddenly felt a surge of anger in him. He walked and sat in front of Tribo who was cleaning his arms. He slapped Tribo’s head and growled, “You callous baloney! Old Ruski’s still being operated on and there you are, cleaning your arms! Clean your a.s.s! Under normal circ.u.mstances, shouldn’t you be consoling me and telling that Grolev will definitely be alright[2]!”
Tribo dazedly lifted his head, and said after blankly looking at Gao Yang, “Ah! Ah? Oh, isn’t the old Ruski’s doing the operation now? Worry about what? He’s not giving birth so why pace to and fro so nervously?”
“You, you, you little …”
Gao Yang was totally speechless. He pointed at Trib and said “You” for almost half the day but didn’t know what to say. Maybe to Tribo, sending the old Ruski into the operating room meant that he’d be alright. Gao Yang on the other hand didn’t know how to explain to this cretin. Grolev was in a patient ward-turned operating theater and operated on by a seemingly unreliable man; the operation had already lasted at least four hours and counting with no sound or whatsoever. If all those meant that Grolev was gonna be alright, either Tribo was really dumb or his heart was great enough to harbor all emotions [3].
Seeing Gao Yang so overwrought with nervousness, a calm Arab sitting at the side suddenly said, “Quiet. If your friend’s salvageable, he’ll be okay. If your friend’s not, then it’d be futile no matter who you find to help. I already told you, the old man who went in is Libya’s best doctor, an international one. The reason the operation hasn’t ended probably means that the situation’s pretty good.”
Gao Yang chuckled bitterly and said, “Thank you, Mr. Abdullah. I believe you, but I’m still worried.”
Abdullah was the deputy manager that Morgan had sent. He was forty plus, and appearance-wise seemed to be no different from the locals. What gave him away was his mannerism of speech and demeanor. A typical American. According to Yang, Abdullah was a Libyan but had gone to America since a very young age.
Abdullah stood up and asked for the cigarette box and lighter from Yang. After he gave himself a stick he calmly said, “You said you wanted to smoke but you didn’t say that you wanted to smoke them all. Not to say that you wasted them. You have to know that this is an Arabic country, cigarettes are hard to come by.”
“Sorry, I am a little nervous. Please understand, the one having the operation is my friend, I can’t calm down.”
Abdullah glanced at Tribo before he eyed Gao Yang and suddenly said, “Compared to your sniper friend, he’s a lot calmer than you. He’s not displayed any vexness. You should learn from him.”
Gao Yang opened his mouth and stared dumbfounded for a while before he said shamefacedly, “Please, that’s not composure, he’s just a dumb cretin who doesn’t give a f*ck, okay? You know what’s a natural simpleton?”
Abdullah shook his head and said, “You’re angsty[4]. The question is, does that help your friend inside? If not, why don’t you learn from that sniper and be more composed?”
Gao Yang was dumbfounded. He digested in detail and found it to be somewhat true. Tribo could be callous, but it could be said that he could keep his cool whenever and wherever. This quality was very essential for a sniper. And most successful snipers had this quality.
Gao Yang scratched his head and felt ashamed. He sat back in his seat. He forced himself to somewhat calm down. At this moment, Tribo who didn’t understand anything they had said suddenly told Yang, “Bro Yang, if old Ruski’s alright, you gotta think about how to get back.”
Gao Yang laughed bitterly and replied, “Don’t tease me, go back to China? We don’t know how that old Ruski’s doing, and what’s more, how do I get back?”
Abdullah used a strange accented Mandarin Chinese and said, “Mr. Morgan instructed us to send you back when an opportunity pops up. He said you missed your homeland very, very much. If you’re willing, I can arrange to have you guys to leave at once.”
Gao Yang was astonished. “You know Mandarin Chinese?”
“I know twelve languages. As for Chinese, apart from Mandarin, I know how to speak Cantonese and Sichuan dialects. A little bit for Shanghainese Chinese. You can use the dialect you like to converse with me.”
Gao Yang shook his head and said, “Forget it, I can only speak Mandarin. If you speak Cantonese with me it’s worse than you talking to me in English. Alright, I know why Mr. Morgan made you his deputy manager. You’re a Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) talent, right?”
Abdullah puckered his lips to the side and replied, “That’s in the past. You haven’t answered me yet. Do you wanna leave?”
Of course Yang wanted to go back. He nodded eagerly with strength. Gao Yang puzzingly asked, “Isn’t the airport closed? When we came the plane landed on a highway. You plan to take off from the highway? Or should I say, you can send us out of Libya and go off from another country? But I don’t have my pa.s.sport, I can’t get a ticket!”
Abdullah smiled and replied, “Just leave those matters to me. Don’t care about the others.”
Abdullah’s voice just fell and the ever-closed doors of the theater finally opened. A gray-haired old fellow with a jaded look leaned to one the side of the door and said, “Operation’s very successful. He is completely out of danger. As long as the drug’s off he will wake up. I did as you asked. When are you getting my family out of Libya?”
Abdullah was expressionless as he spoke. “Please excuse me. My friend’s going in, and as for your request, no need to worry. When the person you operated on fully convalesces, I will send you to any country you wish.”
Gao Yang knew why Abdullah could find the best surgeon in Libya. It wasn’t that he could pay him lots of money, it was the fact that during chaotic times he could still send the surgeon’s family overseas.
Gao Yang and Tribo entered the theater after proffering their sincere grat.i.tude. There were a man and lady looking after Grolev; they were the doctor’s a.s.sistants. The lady was the surgeon’s daughter.
Seeing Grolev’s stable exchange of gas into and out of his lungs, Gao Yang exhaled in relaxation. He was lying on the bed and seemed to be out of danger. He now only wanted to find a place to have a good rest. Tribo calmly nodded and shrugged at Gsao Yang after that. His face was full of composure and coolness as he said, “See, I told you it’d be okay. Got yourself angsty half the day for nothing. Bro Yang, no offense, but, sometimes you just lack equanimity. Chill.”
Translator’s note(s):
1. Tobacco types: Gonna be alright, happy 22, stay 22 always haha! (sorry if it ain"t funny)
3. Extremely composed in the heart such that it was described as big-hearted (visualize!). He could harbor every emotion in his heart. Second meaning can be that a person’s thirst for knowledge is very great, such that all knowledge isn’t enough for one’s bank in the heart, which means that the person’s mind is very open.
4. Angsty: negative energy and vexed, acute but unspecific feeling of anxiety. Chill man.