"Teacher Ding?"
Why is Teacher Ding here?
Qiu Xi and Song Daiyao followed Li Minglan's gaze.
They saw Ding Yujing walking in, smiling cheerily with Grandma Ge.
Li Minglan looked at Qiu Xi. "Didn't your master say you were back from Xiao Su's place a couple of days ago? Then this old Ding guy heard about it and said he wanted to come over and see."
Hearing this, Qiu Xi nodded. She thought it made sense.
Teacher Ding's training had only started for less than a week before she went to Teacher Su's.
Now that she was back, and school was about to start again, she really needed to catch up.
Thinking of this, Qiu Xi's head started to ache again.
However, Song Daiyao, beside her, didn't know any of this. She was still immersed in the topic of how to practice.
"Grandma Li, Teacher Ding is here, so what? How are we going to practice?"
"Isn't Xiao Xi's master here? Today, they'll be your sparring partners."
This was something she had discussed with her husband last night.
It was also a good opportunity to see how Xiao Xi's progress was going.
Seeing their confused looks, Li Minglan explained further, "In a moment, the two old fellows will exchange their views based on the news content I provide. One will speak English, and the other French. What you need to do is translate on the spot. This time, the difficulty will be lower, and you'll just need to translate into Chinese."
As soon as Li Minglan finished speaking, the two were a bit stunned.
Song Daiyao, in particular, felt that her level might not be up to par.
She had witnessed Grandpa Du's capabilities during the time she had been studying with him. Although he was old, his vast knowledge had not diminished at all.
Not to mention anything else, his fluent command of several languages was already enough to impress her.
And Teacher Ding, she had interacted with her even more. Last semester, they had attended every session they could.
They had truly learned a lot from Teacher Ding.
Therefore, neither of these two elders could be easily matched.
Before they even started, she was already worried for herself.
She wasn't like Xiao Xi... Casual conversations were always easy for her.
But for her, it was indeed a bit overwhelming.
Qiu Xi had initially felt that it was no big deal, but after seeing Song Daiyao, she became a little concerned.
"Daiyao, it's okay. Think about it, if you follow Teacher Yang Yue later, it will be like this too."
"So, it's better to adapt to it in advance..."
"Xiao Xi! What are you talking about? I know, it's fine."
Song Daiyao naturally understood. She was just a little afraid of embarrassing herself the first time.
But then she thought, it was better to be embarrassed here than to be embarrassed outside.
Besides, it was all about learning. Essentially, there was no such thing as embarrassment, it was just her process of studying hard.
Who could be a master from the very beginning?
Qiu Xi smiled as she listened. "Yeah! I was thinking about it the wrong way."
Li Minglan watched from the side, nodding with a gratified smile.
"Alright, if you're ready, we'll start in a moment. I'll go and ask the two old fellows to get ready."
"Grandma Li, should we let Teacher Ding rest for a while, and start later?"
She had just come in, and hadn't even had a drink of water yet.
As soon as Song Daiyao finished speaking, Ding Yujing, who was walking over, heard her.
He immediately shouted, "Rest what? I'm not that old yet!"
"......"
That voice... as expected of Teacher Ding!
After hearing this, Qiu Xi and Song Daiyao had no more objections and looked at Li Minglan.
Since Grandma Li had arranged it, they would just listen.
"Alright, since that's the case, let's start directly. We'll finish early, and then we can rest properly later."
Li Minglan thought about it. It was better to start early.
After it was over, they could chat, and she would still have time to comment on the girls' performance.
This would save a lot of time later, and it would be good for the two of them to give Xiao Xi some more pointers.
With that in mind, Li Minglan spoke again, "Qiu Xi, call your master, and bring the materials. Go to the small house behind the courtyard. We'll practice there."
The house behind was small, but it was very quiet, and the space was just right. It was the most suitable place for this training now.
"Okay, I'll go now."
As soon as Li Minglan finished speaking, Qiu Xi headed towards her study.
She took the paper, pen, and some materials that Grandma Li had prepared earlier, then went to call her master, and the two of them walked towards the small house at the back.
"Come, get the paper and pen ready."
Li Minglan handed over the materials and said, "Old man, this is the information for you. Take a look first, and then just chat about it casually."
"Mhm."
Both of them hadn't taken it seriously, thinking it was just a casual chat.
However, upon seeing the content on the thin two pages, they realized it wasn't that simple.
The topics prepared this time were not those everyday small talks about family matters.
What was given was actually a topic related to current affairs.
Current affairs were different from everyday topics. They not only involved specialized vocabulary but even some newly emerging terms for which there might not yet be corresponding words.
If it were just a casual chat, it would be fine, but there was also a requirement to revolve around the central point and express their own practical thoughts.
They were not like others who could only talk. They had been involved in these matters for most of their lives, and their way of thinking was different.
Therefore, this training, which they thought would be very simple, seemed to be quite challenging.
"Alright, if you're ready, let's begin."
Time was running out, and she still had to chat with Sister Jiao. She needed to speed things up here as well.
Even though the question was difficult, it was indeed not simple. But these were things she had mentioned to the two girls recently.
Perhaps they would struggle a bit to deal with it, but as long as they could calm down, there would be no major problems if they took it slowly.
Du Bin and Ding Yujing, who didn't know the details, looked at each other upon hearing this and could only nod.
Then they gestured to the two girls and prepared to begin.
The two girls, still unaware of the nature of the task, only thought it was some simple daily conversation, so they didn't feel any pressure.
Holding the paper and pen, they were already focused and ready, just waiting for the two to start.
Du Bin started first, speaking in French.
At first, Qiu Xi didn't find any problems and thought it was very simple and everyday.
She saw that the beginning was a greeting, and then he asked about their recent lives, reading newspapers and news.
Song Daiyao, listening to Teacher Ding's English, also decided that it wasn't difficult.
Until after two sentences, things seemed to change all at once.