The incident passed quietly. Huang Qunsheng got up early the next morning, and after having woken Huang Xuan up, he started packing. He would go to Sao Paulo University as a visiting scholar. For the sake of safety, Huang Xuan had to follow his father.
Xihuang Industrial Company found them a small villa, which was about 300 square meters, less than two km away from the university. If they got up early in the morning, they could even walk there. Huang Qunsheng loved the surroundings and took it readily. Huang Xuan didn’t have much say in this kind of issue. He would have to audit classes at Foreign Language Academy of Sao Paulo University and spend three hours per day learning from a tutor, whose name was Da Silva, Huang Qunsheng’s interpreter offered by Xihuang Industrial Company before a better candidate appeared. Da Silva was over 30, a person of mixed blood between Chinese and Brazilian, who spoke bad Chinese but interpreted Portuguese correctly.
The official language of Brazil is Portuguese. However, because it is geographically far from Portugal and because of years of political and cultural influence, Portuguese dictionaries aren’t of much use here. Brazilians usually could speak basic Spanish but didn’t speak English well. Certainly, even if every Brazilian could speak English fluently, it wouldn’t help Hung Xuan much. Rolin could be the interpreter, but considering the distance, he was too cheap to speak. According to him, “Saving energy is superior to communicating.” Huang Xuan’s father could only speak English and a little Latin, and often had difficulty talking with Brazilians. Luckily, the staff of Sao Paulo University spoke good English and could communicate with Huang Qunsheng freely.
Regarding the language, Zhang Xinyi couldn’t do much either but hoped that Huang Qunsheng could spend some time educating Huang Xuan. As to the result, the past 15 years spoke for themselves.
Rolin was working hard to translate materials, but since his energy supply totally depended on Huang Xuan, the domestic supply couldn’t meet the base’s increasing needs anymore. To transmit energy to the base from Brazil, the base had to be moved. Whether or not it was worth it was a major question.
Brazil’s nuclear power was developed, but it was state-owned. On the other hand, it was the world’s biggest bioenergy producer, mainly in biodiesel and ethanol fuel. It produced 2.1 billion L of ethanol fuel every year. When this number was translated, Huang Xuan seemed to have heard Rolin swallow his saliva.
“Actually, I do not only consume electricity,” said Rolin.
Huang Xuan was tempted by the number too, but it was like at home right now. His mom had told him to watch more and talk less. He looked at the materials on the computer and couldn’t make his decision. “Rolin, what about me buying out another energy-consuming enterprise like an aluminum factory?” he pried.
“It’ll do.” Rolin didn’t show much enthusiasm. “In one week or so, the base will have enough energy to be upgraded to level 21. Then it will daily consume 500,000 kWh of energy, which requires not only a steady energy channel but also an adequate supply. Otherwise, it won’t be necessary to move the base.”
“How can it be unnecessary? I need your help,” Huang Xuan thought. However, according to the industrial electricity cost at home, 500,000 kWh would cost ¥300,000, which meant nine million per month. Although he had 200 million dollars right now, the operating rights belonged to his parents. All he could dispose of was just about one million.
Thinking this, he sighed. Half a month ago, he had had ten million, but now he had been demoted by one grade. He was afraid that he would be in debt in a few days.
“Rolin, the auction of ancient books is in the next few days, isn’t it?” Thinking of what he had got at the last auction, Huang Xuan felt his needs for the auction had become a lot stronger.
“In three days.”
“Then contact Liu Ziqing for me. Even if I can’t be on the spot, I want to hear about it.”
“OK.” Rolin had become more and more civil as Huang Xuan gave him more and more energy. The mention of killing never happened again. Privately, Huang Xuan thought it was not only related to authority but also due to priority. Of course, he was just guessing.
Soon, Liu Ziqing was on the phone. Huang Xuan skipped the courtesy and asked directly, “Mr. Liu, how’s the preparation for the auction going?”
“We’ve invited about 150 customers. Most of them are wealthy enough to vie for your articles.” He then congratulated him by saying, “I’ve heard that you have gone to Brazil to study. Will you come back for the auction?”
Naturally, going to Brazil to study was just an excuse. Huang Xuan could at most be called a visitor. He smiled and replied, “I won’t, but I need a favor.”
“Sure. Go ahead, please.”
“It’s about the currency. As you know, I am in Brazil now and, of course, use reals and dollars in my daily life. Therefore, I hope you can convert the money into US dollars and wire it into my account.”
Liu Ziqing hesitated. It was troublesome to exchange ten million RMB into US dollars. However, he considered it for only a few seconds and then said with a smile, “No problem. But since it isn’t stipulated in the contract, I need to ask my company for instructions. Besides, the time of payment will be delayed.”
“OK,” Huang Xuan responded. “Five million RMB shall be deposited into my domestic account; the rest shall all be exchanged for US dollars or reals. If it is too much trouble, you can directly wire RMB into my account. As to the specific account information and terms of payment, I will notify you some other time.”
“No worries,” Liu Ziqing agreed repeatedly. Although Huang Xuan had said that RMB was also acceptable, as an auction house in fierce competition, Sothebys wouldn’t throw its customers into inconvenience.
The talked ended as it was time for Huang Xuan to have the Portuguese class. Da Silva was a responsible teacher. It would be more precise to say that he was a Brazilian who was happy to teach somebody. Judging from the speed at which he talked, it would be fair to say that he made good use of every minute of the three hours.
Huang Xuan was a beginner while Da Silva could only be counted as a Brazilian who studied Chinese. More importantly, Huang Xuan wasn’t interested at all. He just stood there miserably. Watching Da Silva’s mouth moving, he said in a voice nearly inaudible, “Rolin, is there any way that I can speak Portuguese at once? I barely know any English. It’s unbelievable to make me study another language.”
“There’s no way,” Rolin answered seriously.
“You have to know Portuguese even when you are buying a pack of tissues,” Huang Xuan said resignedly. “Can you help me? How about ten million kWh of electricity? Don’t you have some kind of technology from tens of thousands of years later? Did you need to learn a new language when you traveled to another space and time before?”
Evidently, Rolin loved the terms Huang Xuan had put forward, but he still answered honestly, “The base doesn’t have the function of assisting in studying until level 21, and even if it does, the learning will still take a long time. In addition, I suggest you learn the language well, which helps a lot during plane travels.”
Hearing the words “take a long time”, Huang Xuan was bored and said, “What’s the use? You can translate anyway.”
“There’re some things I don’t understand and only humans can. When that happens, you will lose a lot of opportunities.”
“Whatever.” Huang Xuan didn’t care.
Da Silva, who was teaching happily, didn’t notice his only student was absent-minded. Huang Xuan was staring at the textbook on the desk in a daze when Rolin said, “Huang Xuan, are you interested in traveling to another plane?”
This was the third time Rolin had invited Huang Xuan. Every time Huang Xuan had refused before, which wasn’t strange because, after the freshness, the unadventurous Huang Xuan would rather watch a boring movie or gossip than go to a territory beyond his cognitive ability.
If he hadn’t been sent to Brazil, he would have lost interest in Rolin. The properties under his name had been more than 200 million dollars, which would make him on some kind of fortune list at home. He was satisfied with his life. There was no point traveling to another plane.
He hesitated, looked at Da Silva who was talking excitedly, and then whispered, “You know, I can’t go back now. And didn’t you say that the base couldn’t be moved right now?”
“Plane travel can be done without moving the base,” Rolin answered Huang Xuan’s question with some contempt. Then he raised his voice and continued, “but it will consume more energy. The age of planes is all about energy! Energy!” If it had been before, Rolin would have minded the loss of energy, but now he understood that only by opening the channels could the needs be met.
Huang Xuan covered his forehead with his hand. “Sh! Whatever!”
Seeing that Huang Xuan finally had some interest in traveling to another plane, Rolin became excited and said right away, “To get ready, we need the equivalent, a warehouse, energy…”