Chapter 134: Departure to the U.S. and a "Familiar Face"
By early June, Yang Wendong, Wei Zetao, and an assistant were preparing to depart for the United States.
At Kai Tak Airport, Yang had been a few times before—but only to pick people up. He had never actually been inside the waiting area himself. Now, standing here, it felt like a scene straight out of an old American film.
Everyone waiting for the flight was packed into a large hall. Seating was scarce, so most people were standing.
"Too bad there's no first class," Yang muttered after standing for a while. The crowd was too much. Even though Hong Kong's population wasn't large and few people were wealthy, the airport was tiny.
After waiting over an hour, a voice finally came over the loudspeaker: the flight to Tokyo was ready for boarding.
"Let's go, Mr. Yang," Wei Zetao reminded him.
"Alright," Yang nodded and followed the crowd. In this era, there were no direct flights to the U.S. They had to transit through Japan and Alaska before finally reaching the American mainland—an exhausting journey.
If time hadn't been tight, taking a ship would have been far more comfortable.
Soon the crowd boarded. Yang found his seat based on the number on his ticket: a window-side row with two seats. Unfortunately, he hadn't secured the actual window seat—perhaps because such seats were hot commodities even back then.
Wei was seated elsewhere; they had booked late and couldn't sit together. No big deal.
Just then, a soft voice came from beside him. "Excuse me, could you let me through? My seat's inside."
Yang looked up—and was surprised to see a familiar face. "Bai Yujie?"
"Um…" the girl looked slightly surprised too. Then she said, "You must know my sister?"
"Oh, you're the older one?"
Everything clicked for Yang. No wonder she didn't recognize him.
He'd actually seen this twin sister before—during his first visit to Hong Kong University. After attending Professor Yang's lecture, they'd passed each other briefly on campus.
Back then, he hadn't known they were twins and almost mistook her for her sister.
But of course, she wouldn't remember him. She'd only glanced at him while passing by. Who'd memorize a stranger's face after a two-second encounter?
Unlike the crime dramas in his past life, where witnesses somehow recalled a stranger's face, height, weight, and outfit from weeks ago—pure fiction.
"Mind if I pass?" Bai Yushan said again, slightly blushing from being stared at. The plane aisle was narrow and crowded, and standing there was awkward.
"Oh, sorry!" Yang immediately realized he had been staring too long. She was undeniably stunning—on par with a Miss Hong Kong finalist. And being a twin made it even more striking. It was hard not to be momentarily stunned.
If both sisters stood together, they could stop traffic.
Still, leaving someone standing was rude.
Yang tried to stand up, but the aisle was crammed with people moving backward. With Bai Yushan blocking the way, he had no choice but to press himself against the seat, legs spread slightly to leave a narrow passage.
Bai Yushan understood and quickly squeezed past between his legs.
"Sorry!" she murmured again.
"No worries. It's only right to let you in," Yang replied with a smile. He noticed that this older sister was quite different from Bai Yujie.
During lunch at the university cafeteria, Yujie had been cheerful and outgoing. This one was more reserved, didn't talk much, and even blushed under his gaze.
Bai Yushan noticed that Yang occasionally glanced her way again and turned to look out the window to avoid eye contact. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great, and the strong reflection on the plane's window glass allowed her to see Yang's face clearly in the reflection anyway.
Noticing her discomfort, Yang smiled and broke the silence. "I guess you could say I'm friends with Bai Yujie. I knew she had a twin, but I didn't know your name."
Bai Yushan turned back, curiosity piqued. "You know my sister? Are you classmates?"
"No…" Yang chuckled. "We've met a few times. Chatted over the phone a couple of times. So, more like acquaintances."
"Your last name is Yang, right?" Bai Yushan asked, a bit uncertain.
"Yes, Yang Wendong." Yang was surprised she knew.
"So it is you," Bai Yushan said with a hint of recognition.
Yang raised an eyebrow. "Why? Something wrong?"
"No… nothing." She quickly shook her head.
"Oh…"
Yang didn't press further and instead changed the topic. "So what's your name, if I may ask?"
After a brief pause, she replied, "I'm Bai Yushan."
Since he already knew her sister and had given his own name, there was no harm in saying it.
"Yushan? That's a lovely name," Yang complimented.
She glanced sideways at him. "What makes it lovely?"
"Uh…" Yang was momentarily caught off guard. Wasn't that just a standard polite compliment?
Still, since she asked, he smiled and explained, "The character 'Yu' (玉) symbolizes beauty, purity, and nobility. 'Shan' (姗) means graceful, elegant, and unhurried.
Together, it conveys an image of poised elegance and refined charm.
And with the surname Bai (白), it adds the finishing touch—like a stroke of genius."
Bai Yushan blinked, a little stunned. "That's… surprisingly poetic. Most language teachers I know couldn't come up with something like that off the cuff."
"Haha." Yang chuckled. "You flatter me. Honestly, I was only able to recall those phrases because I saw you. Normally, we've all learned these words—but without something to trigger them, we forget."
"..." That was clearly a compliment. Her blush, which had just faded, returned full force.
Curious, she asked, "My sister mentioned your education level isn't very high. Did you really learn all this just from work?"
"Yeah." Yang nodded.
He always told people he didn't have a high level of education. How low exactly, he left vague—intentionally.
That ambiguity helped him dodge awkward questions. It was a simple way to hide the fact that he had once been functionally illiterate.
After all, if he revealed too much, people might start asking about the details—and that was something he couldn't afford.
"Incredible," Bai Yushan said in amazement.
Yang Wendong didn't want to dwell too much on the topic and quickly shifted the conversation. "I heard you're top of your class in math and the arts?"
"Among my peers, yes," Bai Yushan nodded, clearly more animated at the mention of her strengths. She glanced at Yang Wendong again, then pulled a small Rubik's Cube out of her pocket. "But I never imagined I'd be completely stumped by a toy your company created."
Yang chuckled. "Just being able to solve one face is already impressive. This thing contains extremely complex mathematical logic. To fully understand it requires serious dedication—probably only top-tier professors from international universities who specialize in mathematics could actually figure it out."
Historically, the method for solving the Rubik's Cube didn't emerge until long after its popularization. The Hungarian professor who invented it is said to have known the solution early on, but never published it—so it was never verified.
He probably kept it to himself for the same reason Yang was keeping it secret now—the mystery of the Rubik's Cube was what gave it its early popularity.
"I can only reliably restore one side," Bai Yushan said, shaking her head. "But I haven't been able to devise a consistent method for restoring one face from any starting position."
"That's still really good," Yang praised.
Most people would get dizzy after turning the cube a few times and then give up. Only a rare few had the perseverance to keep trying—and that alone made her stand out.
"Then… can I watch how you solve it?" she asked, clearly curious.
"Sure," Yang said casually. Letting her watch didn't matter. Even if she saw it a hundred or a thousand times, the odds of her learning it were still next to none. At that point, she might as well try deriving the algorithm herself.
Yang took the cube, scrambled it, and with a series of quick, practiced twists, restored it in under a minute.
"You—how are you so fast?" Bai Yushan stared in shock. This was even quicker than what her sister had described.
Yang shrugged. "Practice makes perfect."
"Is this trip to the U.S. to promote the Rubik's Cube?" she asked.
Yang nodded with a smile. "Yes, there's an international toy expo in New York. We're planning to showcase the Rubik's Cube there."
"Your company must be doing really well to afford something like that," Bai Yushan said, surprised. "One of my uncles runs a toy factory too, and he'd never consider spending money on a trip like that."
Yang smiled. "We're building our own brand. We don't want to just be laborers for other companies. Hong Kong's manufacturing may look impressive now, but in truth, it's just doing the grunt work for foreign corporations."
Bai Yushan nodded. "That's true. One of our professors analyzed Hong Kong's industry too, and came to the same conclusion. I'm curious about your company's boss—he must be very capable and ambitious."
"Oh, definitely," Yang said with a grin.
He still wasn't famous in Hong Kong yet.
Even though tens of thousands of people had used Post-it notes, few knew that Deli was a Hong Kong-based company.
Yang handed the Rubik's Cube back to her and, seeing she had no more questions about it, changed the topic again. "Are you traveling to the U.S. alone?"
"Yes." Bai Yushan nodded. Since she had asked him earlier about his purpose, it only made sense to answer now that she was asked.
Yang looked surprised. "You're traveling alone? A beautiful young woman like you—aren't you worried about safety?"
She gave a small smirk and countered, "Why would I be? The U.S. and U.K. are very safe. Plenty of Hong Kong students travel solo. As long as you don't wander into sketchy areas, it's fine.
When I land, I'm going straight to the university, and my cousin—who's already studying there—will be picking me up. So I doubt there'll be any issues."
"Fair enough." Yang nodded.
He realized he had subconsciously projected the modern-day U.S. onto this era.
Right now, America was at its peak—economically dominant, a global creditor, and a manufacturing powerhouse. Crime rates in prosperous nations tend to be lower. It's a basic rule: countries that focus on economic development usually do so to suppress violent crime.
Also, the groups known for unrest in later decades didn't hold much power yet. There were disturbances, yes, but they were small-scale and not influential enough to cause trouble on their own.
He then asked, "It's June now—are you going to check out future schools? Planning to study abroad?"
"Maybe," she replied. "I'm just going to look around for now."
She hesitated, then asked, "You've been working already. Do you think I should go?"
"That's a decision only you can make," Yang said, smiling. "Let me teach you a basic rule of survival in society: unless someone is your direct family, never give advice on major life decisions.
Things like buying a house, choosing a career, getting married—people might follow your advice and, if things go well, they won't feel particularly grateful. But if it goes badly, they'll blame you."
"Good point," Bai Yushan nodded. That wasn't something she'd learned at university.
Yang continued, "As for higher education—yes, in places like the U.S., everyone has degrees now, so competition is fierce. Spending a few extra years to get a better one might be worth it.
But Hong Kong is a different story. We're in a period of rapid growth. Here, sometimes investing that same time and money in something else—like a business—could yield better returns.
And since you study economics, I don't need to lecture you on what investment means."
In the 1980s, families would bankrupt themselves to send a child abroad for school, only to find that the student, upon returning, could never earn enough in a lifetime to make up for the value of the home they had to sell to fund their education.
"Yeah…" Bai Yushan fell into deep thought.
Yang didn't say more. They'd just met again, and had already chatted quite a bit. It was enough.
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