Mr. Zhang’s eyes widened in absolute shock.
The three delegates beside him sat up straight, their jaws dropping in unison.
Vance, who didn't understand a single word of Mandarin, smirked triumphantly, assuming Maya was stumbling through a pre-memorized phrase she had looked up on her phone.
"Ha! Look at that!" Vance shouted, clapping his hands together. "She memorized a line! Nice try, kid, but that doesn't count as a conversation! Pay up or get out!"
Before Vance could finish his sentence, Maya turned her gaze smoothly to the second investor, Mr. Chen, who hailed from Guangdong province. Without missing a beat, she shifted her pitch, her cadence, and her vocabulary entirely, switching seamlessly into rapid, melodious Cantonese:
*"If you would prefer to converse in Cantonese, Mr. Chen, I would be delighted to recommend our steamed black cod, prepared with ginger and scallions, which pairs exceptionally well with the 2018 vintage you have selected."*
Mr. Chen gasped, slapping his hand against his knee in sheer delight. *"My goodness!"* he exclaimed in Cantonese, leaning forward. *"Your Guangzhou accent is cleaner than my own daughter's!"*
Vance’s smirk began to falter. The smug, superior posture he had maintained began to stiffen as he looked around the table, noticing the sheer awe on his guests' faces.
"What... what are you doing?" Vance muttered, his brow furrowing. "Stick to the deal! I said Chinese!"
Maya turned back to Vance. She looked down at him with a quiet, unyielding gaze that carried the full weight of her intellect.
"Mandarin and Cantonese are both major linguistic branches of the Chinese language family, Mr. Vance," Maya said in clear, crisp English. "Which specific dialect would you like me to use to take your order? Perhaps Shanghainese?"
She turned back to Mr. Zhang, seamlessly dropping into the complex, soft tones of the local Wu dialect native to Shanghai:
*"Or perhaps your native regional tongue, Mr. Zhang? I studied under Professor Chen at Peking University during my fellowship in 2022."*
Mr. Zhang stood up from his chair entirely, his hands clapping together in pure admiration. *"Brilliant!"* he shouted in English, his face beaming. *"Absolutely brilliant! Young lady, your scholarship is profound!"*