Chapter 624
The Water of Immortality, This is Unfair!!! Wang Yifei is a terrible student!
In Washington, D.C., in an office building near the Pentagon, is the office address of a Navy supplier.
William Hart was having a long conversation with a well-dressed white man—well, actually, they were talking about vulgar and offensive language.
"Last week, I had the honor of being taken to the island by the eldest son of the Wood family, Andy. Do you know how much crazier the island is than I imagined?"
Let's go to the island!!!
In the upper echelons of American society, there has always been a legend about going to the island.
The scenic Gulf of Mexico is dotted with numerous islands, a significant portion of which are privately owned and protected by law.
Some of these islands are very famous in high society, or rather, for ordinary wealthy people, the existence of these islands is fatally alluring.
Once you set foot on the island, it means you've truly reached the top of American high society, the real ruling class in America.
So when William Henhart opened his mouth, Andy was immediately tempted.
As the head of the Navy's procurement department, Andy is a senior military officer with high qualifications and strong abilities, and his family background is also quite impressive.
But getting to the island is simply impossible.
Why?
Because access to the island is by invitation only, you cannot get on the island without receiving an invitation.
If you're not part of that circle, you can't force your way in.
After Andy listened to William Hart talk about the many activities on the island, he was incredibly envious.
Perverted games involving pedophilia or group sex are just child's play.
What truly made Andy's eyes light up was the Immortality Water!!!
Andy is 73 years old this year. He is very old. The yellow earth has reached his neck and even his forehead. He may kick the bucket at any time.
Because at this age, his health is deteriorating day by day, and he is well aware of this.
It was precisely because Andy knew this that he was terrified and rushed to find various ways to prolong his life.
This is also why he is so unwilling to leave his current position and has been clinging to it.
It wasn't just because the position could bring him a lot of benefits, but also because it would give him the opportunity to access the highest echelons of American society and the so-called "eternal water."
The so-called "immortal water" is actually a type of stem cell extracted from certain special groups.
As is well known, stem cells are a type of cell with unlimited or immortal self-renewal capacity, capable of producing at least one type of highly differentiated daughter cells.
For more than half a century, numerous biologists and medical scientists have conducted many experiments and explorations on methods of immortality. The United States, as the world's richest country, is actually controlled by the Rockefeller, Morgan, Rothschild and other powerful families.
These kinds of people all have one thing in common: they have a lot of money!
Their wealth is beyond description; they are richer than a country. So, in their eyes, money is no different from a string of numbers.
What is a huge sum of money that an ordinary person might not earn in their entire life could be more than the cost of a single meal for these people.
Therefore, the characteristic of such people is that they hope to live longer, or even immortality.
Take, for example, the famous David Rockefeller. He's still alive, but he's had several heart transplants.
If it weren't for the possibility of a heart transplant, David Rockefeller would have died long ago.
Stem cells represent the greatest scientific achievement of scientists over the past half-century.
The island William Hart mentioned has a highly skilled technical team capable of extracting these stem cells.
To 'drink' this eternal life water—well, it's actually just getting an injection—would cost at least $250,000 each time.
The key is that you have to make a reservation, and you have to be from a certain social class on the island; otherwise, don't even think about it.
During his last visit to the island, William Hart witnessed firsthand the entire process of the Wood family's eldest son receiving the immortality potion.
For the Wood family, spending such a sum of money is certainly not a large amount; they can easily afford it.
"According to the introduction, such a bottle of immortality water can extend a person's life by at least two years."
Hearing William Hart's words, Andy became even more envious.
But there was nothing he could do; he couldn't get in touch with them.
Just then, William Hart's phone rang, and he quickly hung up.
"Andy, they called us from China! Haha, they've probably given in, that's great!"
Andy was also delighted to hear this.
The two men were already envisioning that once China accepted their offer of ten million US dollars per arresting cable for each aircraft carrier, William Hart could contact the California Steel Sales Company and purchase them from them.
California Steel Sales Company is one of Want Want Group's front-end companies in the United States. Guizhou Steel Cable Company's steel cables were sold to William Hart through this company, and then William Hart contacted Andy and sold them to the U.S. Navy.
If he remembered correctly, California Steel Sales Company should still have more than two thousand arresting cables for aircraft carriers. If it weren't for the fact that US aircraft carriers couldn't handle so many arresting cables, they would have bought them all long ago.
So he and Andy could have earned a considerable commission, but it's a real shame.
But soon, William Hart's expression froze.
The aircraft carrier parts procurement representative on the other end of the phone actually said that China had decided to develop its own aircraft carrier arresting gear and did not intend to purchase it from the United States.
"What did you say? What the hell? Are you drunk? A ten-million-dollar arresting cable is already incredibly cheap. You have to understand, these are the arresting cables supplied to our Nimitz-class aircraft carriers; they represent the world's most advanced technology."
William Hart, on the other end of the phone, was still boasting.
Little did they know, back in China, a middle-aged man speaking fluent American English was about to burst out.
William Hart's words were just too funny.
Only Americans would do something so self-deceptive.
If the leader hadn't been there, the middle-aged man would definitely have burst out laughing.
After politely ending the call, the middle-aged man burst into laughter.
But William Hart on the other side was completely distraught, since China had indeed rejected the procurement plan and decided to develop its own technology.
Even at this point, Lao Zhao and his team still refused to tell the truth, to inform the American side that they hadn't developed it themselves but had directly purchased it from Guizhou Steel Cable Company. They're like Ninja Turtles!
"Investigate! We must find out the truth, Andy!"
William Hart's face was contorted with rage, his eyes red-rimmed, and he said viciously:
"Something must have happened, otherwise China wouldn't be taking such a tough stance. Developing its own aircraft carrier arresting gear? Hmph, how could China possibly succeed in developing it with its technological level? Even if they did, do they have such advanced manufacturing capabilities?"
"And the costs are certainly not low, after all, our costs at the California steel sales company are also quite high."
Upon hearing this, Andy nodded with a serious expression.
He was certainly well aware of the implications behind the Chinese representative's refusal to make the purchase.
Even if China didn't develop it independently, they must have found other alternatives; otherwise, they wouldn't have such a strong stance of rejection.
Based on his understanding of the Chinese people, he knew that people from this country with over 5,000 years of history were accustomed to leaving room for maneuver in their actions, so that they could meet again in the future.
Humility is a fine quality of the Chinese people.
Therefore, a thorough investigation is necessary.
A few days later, Andy finally found some clues through the intelligence gathering of their Navy's ocean-going sheepdogs.
That means the arresting gear on China's aircraft carrier is not domestically developed, but has already been procured.
However, it is unknown where the product was purchased from.
Andy immediately contacted William Hart: "Could it be that California Steel Sales Company sold it to them?"
The latter shook his head decisively: "Impossible!"
"What if the profits are large enough?"
William Hart remained silent for a moment, then said, "I'll make the contact."
A few minutes later, William Hart chuckled and hung up the phone.
The California steel sales company said that if William Hart wanted steel cables, he could come over immediately to sign a contract; they wouldn't mind having 500 or 1,000 cables.
Even if you purchase 2,000 units, they can be delivered to your door within half a month.
With this assurance, William Hart knew that it wasn't the California Steel Sales Company that was selling to China.
So who exactly is it?
While William Hart and Andy were busy looking for someone, Wang Yifei, who was far away in Harbin, quietly left the city.
She has already submitted an application to the Harbin Astronaut Training Center and plans to go to the Chengdu Astronaut Training Center for training.
Furthermore, she didn't want her father and others to know about this, so when she submitted the application, she specifically discussed it with her superiors.
Wang Yifei's escape from home didn't cause much of a stir, because Wang Duoyu wasn't home at all.
Liu Xiaoli's attention was also drawn to Wang Junxian's illness and hospitalization, as she had to take care of the child, so she couldn't keep Wang Yifei with her.
The house suddenly felt much quieter.
Time suddenly seemed to be fast-forwarded.
April arrived quickly, and the Qingming Festival was just around the corner. However, Wang Duoyu unexpectedly did not go home. He had already called Liu Xiaoli by video to "report" that he would not be going home this year.
When the Qingming Festival comes, the eldest and third sons will be the ones to uphold the family's reputation.
As for Wang Yifei, she also did not go home and remained in Chengdu.
The Qingming Festival passed quickly, and it was already mid-April. Wang Junkang sent a message that he had spoken with Guan Xin's parents and they said they would be free during the May Day holiday, at which time the two families could sit down and have a chat.
Since that's the case, let's take this opportunity to arrange a meeting.
However, at this time, Wang Junkang and his family could not contact Wang Duoyu, which made Liu Xiaoli very anxious.
When Wang Yifei learned that she couldn't contact her father, she immediately pouted: "Big Fish Brother must have already gone to heaven. Humph, he can live a carefree life and get whatever he wants. Why can't I?"
She now knows a considerable amount more about her father.
On an academic level, her father's achievements are very high, something Wang Yifei has heard about since she was a child, and she's long been tired of hearing about it.
On the business front, the sheer size of Want Want Group is unimaginable. Wang Yifei even believes that her father and the executives of Want Want Group must have other businesses that they are keeping from her and her three brothers.
Because of the previous year-end summary meeting, none of the four siblings participated from beginning to end; they only briefly attended the first two days of the meeting, and that was all.
Besides academia and business, her father, Brother Dayu, is also an astronaut, a professor at Harbin Institute of Technology, and holds many other positions, so many that even Wang Yifei herself is not sure exactly how many.
So she was very unhappy about this. Why could no one say anything about what her father did, but she had to be talked to by her parents in turn because she wanted to be both a star and an astronaut?
This is not fair!
"Third Brother, Sister Xiaoli, don't worry. Brother Dayu is probably busy. He'll contact us soon, either today or tomorrow. He won't be missing for long."
Wang Yifei's words of comfort aroused Liu Xiaoli's suspicion:
"Sissi, do you know where your dad went? Is he with you?"
"Xiaoli, what are you thinking? I'm trying to avoid him, how could I possibly be with Brother Dayu?" Wang Yifei rolled her eyes and said irritably.
Liu Xiaoli also agreed, because last time when they were in her hometown of Harbin, Wang Yifei had been avoiding her father. If her father hadn't gone on a business trip the next day, Wang Yifei probably would have made even more excuses.
However, Liu Xiaoli always felt that her daughter in the video call must know some secrets about her father.
Otherwise, how could she be so certain that her father would call back in the next couple of days?
It's just that Liu Xiaoli isn't very bright; otherwise, she probably would have already thought of astronauts by now!
Because their shared secret is that he is an astronaut, and since Wang Duoyu has been unable to contact the outside world recently, he is most likely an astronaut.
After all, if it was just a research retreat, how could Wang Yifei, a "bad student," possibly know when her father would finish his retreat?
A day and a half later, Wang Duoyu finally took the initiative to contact Liu Xiaoli.
The latter breathed a sigh of relief and said with a look of surprise:
"Where did you go? Sisi said you would definitely contact me yesterday or today, and I was quite surprised at the time. I didn't expect her to guess right."
Wang Duoyu didn't explain much, simply stating a sentence in his office.
Because the background he was in was indeed a research institute, and there were several researchers working behind the glass windows behind him.
After explaining, he asked what was wrong at home.
He has so many children, and before his lunar landing, Wang Junxian was hospitalized. Although it wasn't serious, he was still hospitalized, so he was bound to care about him.
Also, the third brother, Wang Junkang, is probably about to start discussing his marriage; these things can't be delayed. (End of Chapter)