"Yes!" The secretary nodded and relayed the latest orders. Then came another round of extremely meticulous checks. Everything that could be dismantled was taken apart, and every accessible space was thoroughly inspected.
Furthermore, a mobile X-ray machine was brought in to scan the aircraft. The process took nearly three hours. The results, however, remained the same: nothing. Not only was the body nowhere to be found, but Huang He himself had completely vanished without a trace.
"Could Huang He have used a disguise? Is he hidden among the accompanying personnel?" Professor Parkinson's forehead broke out in a sweat upon hearing the outcome. He began to suspect the person might be among the entourage.
As a result, these detained personnel from Jiangnan Group were once again forced to provide blood samples for DNA testing.
Of course, it was impossible to verify identities using DNA. However, Goldman Sachs did possess a DNA sample of Huang He, which could be directly compared to confirm if it belonged to him.
Naturally, there were still no results. Huang He remained completely untraceable.
"Could it be that the airport has been secretly controlled by Huang He? Did he escape with the help of airport staff working from the inside?" Professor Parkinson was beginning to question every possibility frantically. He even started to suspect his secretary was colluding with Huang He to deceive him.
Compared to the terrifying experience of Mr. Huang's private jet being completely stripped and dismantled, this ordinary Boeing executive jet had a much smoother journey. After takeoff, everything was perfect, with no incidents.
Moreover, since the aircraft wasn't carrying a large number of passengers but rather ordinary staff, the captain and first officer could even leave the cockpit simultaneously, entrusting the flying to autopilot. They could then go to the passenger cabin to rest or chat with the crew.
Or, they could chat with the passengers directly.
Thus, the captain approached a Jiangnan Group employee seated in a more remote area, wearing a mask and appearing somewhat subdued. He asked in English, "Sir, may we have a chat?"
Unexpectedly, the employee replied in Chinese, "English, no," indicating he didn't speak English at all.
If the captain had been more astute and observant, he would have found it strange that Jiangnan Group would send an employee to Europe for business who couldn't speak English.
However, the captain clearly lacked such attention to detail. Wasn't it normal for a Chinese person not to know English?
Furthermore, a Chinese person who couldn't speak English seemed more suitable for his purpose. So, the captain switched to broken Chinese and said, "We two, chat?"
"You speak Chinese!" the employee asked with some surprise.
"I am learning Chinese!" The captain's Chinese was actually slow and awkward, with a very strange and twisted accent, and he spoke word by word. However, for ease of reading, it has been converted to fluent Chinese. "There are still 4 hours left in the journey. I'd like to practice my speaking skills. I hope you can help me!"
"I see!" The employee nodded and then asked curiously and somewhat puzzled, "Captain, I recall you usually fly the European and American routes. Why have you suddenly decided to learn Chinese?"
The captain, not dwelling on why the employee knew his usual routes, answered sincerely, "My son is a big fan of the Chinese animation 'Sword Girl.' He's very interested in Chinese famous swords and martial arts, and hopes to study in China in the future. His Chinese is even more fluent than mine."
"I want to understand his world and also travel to China with him in the future, so I need to learn Chinese!" While the captain's stated reason was entirely for his son, this wasn't entirely true. An adult rarely changes easily; the older they are, the more stubborn they become. The only thing that can truly prompt them to change is economic gain.
Routes from Europe to America were no longer profitable. Conversely, European routes to China were becoming increasingly lucrative due to the rising frequency of trade and growing economic ties between the continents. Thus, he hoped to learn Chinese and have the opportunity to switch to routes between China and Europe.
However, the captain didn't expect his explanation to make the employee burst into laughter. Even through the mask, it was evident that the person was smiling broadly.
"Is my Chinese that funny?" the captain asked worriedly, assuming his accent, grammar, or pronunciation was laughable.
"No, I was just reminded of something that happened when I was a child! Seeing the current situation, it made me laugh." the employee said, still chuckling.
"What was it? I'm very curious!" the captain asked eagerly.
"Do you know? In China, English is a compulsory subject. Many Chinese students study English systematically from a young age. However, because English exams are conducted on paper, the English Chinese people learn is basically written English. They can write beautiful English essays, but speaking fluent English is very difficult."
"In junior high, I had an English teacher who was very dedicated and had many foreign friends. So, she set up an English corner in our class... Hmm, you might not understand what an English corner is. It's basically finding a corner in a room, and that corner is specifically used for learning and practicing English, as well as displaying various English newspapers and articles!"
"In addition, every week she would invite one of her foreign friends to our class. This friend would stay in the English corner, and all of us students would take turns chatting with this foreign friend for two minutes each. This would last for two class periods, thereby enhancing our spoken English abilities."
"The other students in the class loved it, but there were always some who were not so cooperative. For instance, whenever it was my turn to chat with a foreign friend, I would avoid it. Even if I went up, I wouldn't say a word, making the entire class very awkward."
"My English teacher was very angry. One day, she called me into her office and asked me why I wasn't studying English properly!"
"I said I really disliked English. Then the teacher asked me, 'Why do you dislike English? Hasn't English offended you?'"
"Actually, the real reason I disliked English back then was perhaps because I'm naturally not good at learning languages. Seeing English felt like a jumble of words, and I couldn't memorize many words in an hour. After trying hard, my grades actually declined, which led to my fear of English. Consequently, I convinced myself that I would never be able to learn English well, so I gave up studying it."
"Of course, I couldn't tell my English teacher such an embarrassing reason. So, I told her that we Chinese should have backbone. If we can't even learn our own language well, why learn a foreign language? I am Chinese, and I don't need to learn English."
"My teacher was very angry. She told me not to bring up narrow nationalism. Learning English is for your own good. If a person doesn't know English, they will inevitably be left behind by the world in the future!"
"I was still unconvinced by my teacher's words. I told her that I thought English was useless. My parents never spoke a word of English in their lives because they never interacted with any English-speaking foreigners. Learning English was completely useless."
"My teacher became even more angry. She had a very broad perspective, so she then told me that the future would be an era of great global integration. The Earth would become a village, and people from different countries would become very close. Traveling from America to China might take less than a day. The global economy would be increasingly interconnected and developing, and at that time, a common language would definitely be needed to connect the entire world."
"Currently, English is the most widely spoken language in the world. Once you learn English, you can do business in various countries around the world and understand economic and technical data from different countries. English is a skill that everyone will need to master in the future. China didn't need English in the past because it didn't interact much with the outside world. But the future will not be like that; everyone will need English."
"I was still unconvinced. I said that no matter how the future develops, the number of people who need to use English in their daily work will only be a minority, perhaps only about 1‰ of the total national population."
"Yet, every Chinese child has to learn English from the first grade of primary school until around 25 years old, when they graduate from university. If everyone lives to be 100 years old, then one-fourth of their time will be spent in school."
"Furthermore, unlike other major subjects, English is one of the three subjects in the college entrance examination, generally accounting for about 1/5 of a school's total class time. Also, because Chinese people generally lack an English learning environment, half of the extracurricular tutoring classes in society are for English. Therefore, English might ultimately account for about 1/3 of the entire learning career, which is around 8 years, equivalent to 8% of one's entire life."
"And unlike other core subjects, Chinese is the foundation of a Chinese person's life and knowledge that every Chinese person needs. Mathematics is also the same; not only is math needed in all aspects of daily life, but it also helps us build sound logical thinking."
"As for subjects in either liberal arts or science, they enrich a person's depth and help them determine their future development direction, representing more specialized skills. These subjects are all indispensable in a student's life and are beneficial once learned."
"But with English, unless you are in a profession that absolutely requires the use of English, you might never have any connection with English in your entire life. English will only become a forgotten skill after university graduation."
"Now, asking 100% of a country's population to spend 8% of their lives learning a skill that they have only a 1‰ chance of using – is that appropriate? Is that cost-effective? Isn't that a waste of our time??"
"So, I decided to give up learning English and use that time for things that are more beneficial to me, rather than wasting 8% of my life."
"My English teacher was stunned by my argument. For a moment, she didn't know how to refute me. Finally, she helplessly asked, 'Are you sure you won't need to use English in your life?'"
"What did you reply?" the captain asked, completely engrossed.
"I told my teacher that no one knows the future. In most cases, I probably won't need to use English. But if, by chance, I end up in that 1‰ situation where English is needed, then I can solve the problem in another way."
"What way?" the captain continued to ask.
"Let English speakers learn Chinese. Let foreigners adapt to me, instead of me adapting to you foreigners!" the employee said calmly.
"Who are you..." The captain was completely bewildered and instinctively asked.
"We must have entered Chinese airspace by now!" Huang He stood up, extended his hand, and removed his mask. He said to the captain, "Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Huang He. I am the richest man in the world!"