Chapter 85 Like You

Chapter 85 Like You

After Louis and the others left, Leandro picked up the cup from the stone table and reminded him, "Stephen, if you reach too far you'll break your arm."

Stephen withdrew his gaze and sat down on the stone bench.

"Some things should have been mine." Stephen's voice was steady and without a ripple.

Leandro took a sip of coffee. "Don't go coveting things that don't belong to you."

Stephen's eyes darkened, but he didn't respond.

The atmosphere inside the car was a bit oppressive.

Louis loosened his tie, somewhat unable to control his emotions.

He only lost his rationality when it came to matters involving Elisa.

"Is that journal really that important?" He stared at her, his voice carrying a bone-chilling coldness.

Elisa turned her head away. "It's my grandmother's keepsake."

"Important enough for you to throw away your principles and owe Stephen a favor?" Louis reached out, grabbed her chin, and forced her to turn her head.

Elisa was forced to face the violent anger churning in his eyes.

"I'm just taking back what belongs to me, that's all."

Louis's jaw tightened. He didn't respond, his eyes showing struggle and faintly containing some pain.

His lips moved, but the words on the tip of his tongue remained unspoken.

"I don't want you getting too close to him."

After a long silence, he spoke up.

"I know."

Elisa looked at his profile.

"I have a question."

"What?"

"Between Stephen and me, who's more important?"

Elisa was stunned, then answered easily, "You're more important."

Louis's breathing hitched.

"Louis, the person I like has always been you."

Elisa leaned closer, looking into his eyes without flinching.

Louis suddenly froze. The restless and anxious emotions that had been churning were extinguished like a basin of warm water had been poured over them, disappearing completely.

"Annoying."

Despite his words, his reddened ears betrayed his current emotions.

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, a week had gone by.

Angelina, holding a folder in her hand, pushed open the door to Leandro's office.

"Godfather." Angelina placed the folder on the desk with both hands.

Leandro looked up from the pile of documents, his brows furrowing.

"That tariff regulation you tested me on last time." Angelina lifted her chin, her tone carrying undisguised pride, "I figured it out."

Leandro took the folder and opened it.

Inside were two pages. The Zephyria and Valeria language variants had been translated into fluent English, even with detailed annotations of obscure word roots and logical deduction diagrams.

Leandro's eyes swept across the pages, a trace of something unusual flashing in them.

"You translated this yourself?"

"I asked outside experts for guidance, but every word root, every step of deduction—I stayed up several nights, learning bit by bit and breaking it down myself." Angelina's tone was firm, "Godfather, I told you, as long as you give me time and resources, I can learn better than anyone."

Leandro looked at those clearly organized drafts without directly commenting.

He picked up the internal phone on his desk and pressed a button.

"Elisa, come here for a moment."

The smile on Angelina's face faded slightly, but she quickly regained her confidence.

During this time, she had really thoroughly digested this deduction logic. Even if Elisa came today, she could definitely argue her case.

A minute later, Elisa pushed the door open and entered.

Seeing Angelina, she didn't stop but walked straight to the desk.

"Take a look at this translation." Leandro handed over the folder.

Elisa took it, her eyes quickly scanning the pages. In just ten seconds, her gaze stopped on the third line.

"Very smooth." Elisa spoke.

Angelina immediately laughed, "Did you hear that? Even Elisa admits my translation is fine."

"But it's completely wrong." Elisa continued.

Angelina's face darkened. "Elisa, what do you mean! Don't deliberately nitpick here."

Elisa looked at her, her eyes showing no emotion.

"In the early fourteenth century, the Ghostwood Forest section of the Gold Trade Route was at the border between Silverpeak City and Everglade City. The trade settlement on this route used silver coins as common currency—gold coins weren't in circulation at all."

Elisa pointed at the word root on the page.

"The deduction formula you learned isn't wrong in itself. But that word that looks like 'gold coin' is actually a quantifier mixed with local dialects, meaning 'horses.' The accurate meaning of the third line is 'offset the tariff with three horses.'"

Angelina was stunned. "That's impossible! The teacher who taught me clearly said..."

"The teacher who taught you used modern Zephyria language systems to work backwards, and what they taught you was the most rigid academic evolutionary path." Elisa took a red pen and circled two places on her deduction draft, "You're applying modern logic to ancient documents, putting verbs first, completely ignoring the historical habit of mandatory verb placement at the end under local language influence."

Elisa threw the draft back in front of Angelina.

"You did study very hard, and you can explain the grammatical structure. But translation divorced from historical context is just empty talk. You've been led into a misconception by so-called experts."

Looking at those circled errors in red, Angelina's mind went "buzz."

Precisely because she had really worked hard to learn over the past half month, she completely understood what Elisa was saying—and precisely because she understood, she realized even more clearly how absurd the underlying logic she had been so proud of was.

Leandro snorted coldly and closed the documents on his desk.

"Translation isn't about memorizing a few formulas and mechanically applying them. Without understanding historical context and local customs, what you translate is just waste paper."

"Angelina, with your temperament, you can't do this work."

Angelina's whole body stiffened. Frustration and humiliation intertwined, causing a ring of angry red to appear around her eyes.

Not only did she not turn and leave, she actually stepped forward abruptly. She bit her lip, her eyes showing a stubborn obsession with not admitting defeat.

"Godfather, I can endure hardship, and I can explain the deduction steps! Since I have the foundation, as long as someone guides me on the history, I can definitely succeed!"

Leandro sat in his chair, looking up at her.

Those eyes that had seen all the vicissitudes of life showed no emotion.

"Angelina, what you should be doing is properly learning singing and dancing, not forcing yourself into a field that doesn't suit you."

Leandro's voice was cold and heavy.

"I won't teach you. Give it up."