When He Comes, Close Your Eyes [Ding Mo]

1

The blue clouds covered the mountains from a distance while a thin layer of snow could be seen on the forest trail. The air felt cold and refreshing, smelling of pine and snow. It was a nice and comfortable scent, making it ideal for a slow walk.

Alighting from the bus, Jian Yao looked around until she spotted a stone path. Following the path for 10 minutes, Jian Yao saw the grey-ish green roof of a European styled cottage.  Ever since she could remember things, she had always seen this cottage at the outskirt of the hillside.

Despite the fact that twenty years had passed, this cottage didn’t feel outdated at all even when compared to the modern infrastructure nowadays. This cottage had been left unoccupied for the past few years and there were even rumours that it was a haunted house.

Jian Yao had believed it when she was younger, since the house was always sitting alone amidst the darkness at the outskirt of the hillside. It was only when she got older then she learnt the truth. It turned out the truth was just that the owner of the house had went oversea with his son when his wife passed away.

However, the house that stood in front of Jian Yao now was different from her memory. This cottage was given a fresh coat of paint and she could see the lights shining from inside, the weeds surrounding the cottage was also pulled out.

Jian Yao was a fourth year student majoring in English. The reason she was here today was because her middle school teacher had introduced a part time translator job to her after knowing that she was on holiday. Although the pay was rather good, her teacher had mentioned that this employer was very picky. This employer had rejected all of the previous applicants that her teacher had referred.

Removing her gloves, Jian Yao knocked on the front door. A man who looked to be in his twenties, wearing a thin sweater with black trousers, greeted her. He was tall, thin and had delicate features.

“Jian Yao?” He asked, giving her a cheeky smile.

Jian Yao’s cheeks were red, possibly from the coldness. Her breath came out in white mist and her eyes were slightly wet. “Yes, I am Jian Yao. Nice to meet you.”

“Come in,” the man stepped aside to let Jian Yao entered.

Layers of dark purple curtains lined the window, there were large velvet couches with curved backrest. At the corner of the house, Jian Yao saw a fireplace with logs in it. This felt very much like a typical European styled cottage. At the side of the house, a deep brown wooden staircase led up to the second floor which was really quiet as though there wasn’t anyone there.

The only thing that felt out of place in this cottage was the metal railings that were fitted on the windows, not allowing much sunrays to come into the house. With his sleeves rolled up, the man washed his hands before handing a cup of tea to Jian Yao and gestured for her to sit down. When he sat down opposite her, Jian Yao caught a very faint but familiar scent from him. A scent which Jian Yao couldn’t quite remember where she had smell it before.

The man gave Jian Yao a friendly smile, “I am Fu Zi Yu and the owner of this place is called Bao Jin Yan. We are currently looking for a translator to translate his English documents into Chinese.”

Jian Yao nodded, wondering if the owner was related to the previous owner of the house or maybe he was a new owner.

Zi Yu took out a stack of papers and a pen, handing it over to Jian Yao. “So, let’s not waste any more time and start the test to see if you are qualified for this job. Within half an hour, please translate all the English articles here.”

Jian Yao flipped through the articles before looking up, “Is there a computer here?”

Zi Yu shook his head and a helpless smile appeared on his face. “Jin Yan likes things to be handwritten.”