Chapter 179: Flight to Country S
The female teacher send them to the gate and leave afterwards. She also cannot stay long and need to return with the school bus. After saying goodbye, they go on their way.
While passing through the scanner, Bai Yi Yang forgot to take out her water bottle, so it was confiscated. It was the same with a bunch of stuff in Ruby An backpack which exceed the fluid restriction. Ruby An was devastated and Sir Austin feels guilty for forgetting to remind them earlier.
"They are so strict.." Ruby An said.
"International flight is like that." Bai Yi Yang sigh and pat her shoulder.
When they passed through the immigration, Sir Austin collected their passports and ID cards with the letters from the government. Bai Yi Yang have her passport now, she made it after the last trip to Country J. But, even though they don't have any, they will be able to travel because of the letter, it's just that they need to wait for a while at the counter to settle the matter. They only passed the immigration checkpoint at 12.13 pm.
"Which gate are we again?" Sir Austin ask. He is slightly sweaty because he was asked by the immigration officers with many questions, he freak out a bit.
"Gate 7." Bai Yi Yang said. She is in charge of holding their boarding pass and passport. Li Jian Yu is in charge of pushing the small trolley with their cabin baggage, Sir Austin just need to act as the leader.
Well, their team is actually a bit pitiful, she heard, the other teams from the three big cities have more than 10 people in their team, each team have 5 students and more than 5 staff and teachers. How grand is that compared to them 4 students and 1 teacher. Everything need to be done on their own. Well, this must be the feeling of being an underdog.
"Gate 7 is not far. I can see the number." Bai Yi Yang said pointing at the left wing. There are a total of 15 gates in City Nan airport, it's not as big as City Bei but it is still an international airport, that's why they can fly straight to Country S.
"Good, good. Let's go." Sir Austin feel assured that she have a reliable student. He is already panicked when they passed through the immigration, so he is really a bit out of it. Gate 7 is really not far, they arrived in no time and find seats. Waiting there, there are a lot of foreigners, the people there is made of 70% foreigners and the rest are local.
"Do they need to question us like that, it was a bit scary." Ruby An said. She already slumped to one of the seat next to Li Jian Yu.
"It's for safety, it's natural for them to do that." Bai Yi Yang said. Ruby An think for a while and nod.
"Sir, I will go buy some drinks from Starbucks. What do you want?" Bai Yi Yang ask.
"Then I will go too." Ruby An also volunteer. She stood up and hug Bai Yi Yang arm.
"Caffe Latte, Grande for me. Get anything that you want to eat." Sir Austin said as he pull out his card and give it to Bai Yi Yang.
"I don't drink coffee.." Wang Yi Lin said.
"Actually I don't drink coffee too.." Ruby An suddenly realised, she is just excited to the thought of buying food.
"No problem, they also sell non-coffee drinks." Bai Yi Yang said.
"Then you choose for me. I am fine with anything." Wang Yi Lin said.
"Hot or cold?" Bai Yi Yang ask.
"Hot." Wang Yi Lin answers.
"Cold." Li Jian Yu answer at the same time.
So, other than Sir Austin order, Bai Yi Yang and Ruby and went to Starbucks armed with Bai Yi Yang's limited knowledge. Since there are 3 people in front of them, Bai Yi Yang open her mobile phone and search for secret menu. She knows that things like this exist, customising their own drinks. This is one of the reason why people buy Starbucks drinks.
"They are not in the menu.." Ruby An said, comparing the one on the menu and the one in Bai Yi Yang phone.
"Trust me." Bai Yi Yang grinned. Actually, she also don't know how to order, she don't drink coffee, she only drink tea even in the her previous life. So, this is also an experiment for her.
"Okay, I trust you, then I want this one." Ruby An point at a drink on the screen, it looks delicious.
When it was the two girls turn, Bai Yi Yang ask if they can customise their drinks which is actually doable. So, she made an order for Sir Austin first before moving on to their drinks.
"I want Venti Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte with 2 pumps of white mocha sauce and 2 pumps of apple brown sugar syrup, finish with extra caramel drizzle and cinnamon dolce topping." This is for herself, they called this the Hocus Pocus Latte. She doesn't know how it taste like but it looks delicious.
"One Venti Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade with light kiwi base and light strawberry puree, with vanilla sweet cream cold foam topping." This is Ruby An choice. She doesn't know if it will taste good but at least the colour is pretty.
"One crème Frappuccino with 3 pumps of caramel and 3 pumps of toffee nut syrup. And lastly Hazelnut signature hot chocolate, grande." Bai Yi Yang said, finishing up their drinks order. Other than that, she and Ruby An also choose different type of muffins and croissants.
"You sounds like native English speaker." Ruby An praise Bai Yi Yang. If it were her, she may not be able to said it fluently. Bai Yi Yang only laugh as they return to pay at the counter after choosing the dessert.
"Did we buy too much?" Ruby An said when they went to pay at the counter. Indeed, they bought a lot. The total come out more than 300 yuan. Ruby An panic and wanted to take out her allowance money to pay.
"No need. What will Sir Austin said when he knows this." Bai Yi Yang said. She payed it it with Sir Austin card and they waited for their drinks. It didn't take long since the people in front of them didn't order much.
When their drinks come out, Ruby An was excited seeing the delicious looking drinks. She excitedly help carry the drinks and Bai Yi Yang carry the food. Sir Austin smile when he saw the two excited girls coming back with various colourful drinks in their hands. It reminds him of his daughter.
"Let's eat." Ruby An said as she took a seat. She distributed the drinks to respective person. Other than Sir Austin and Li Jian Yu drinks, the three girls share their drinks and chat while having the muffins.
"It's delicious." Ruby An said.
"You don't know this but Yi Yang come up with these drinks. It's not in the menu. It's good to trust her." Ruby An said.
"It taste good." Wang Yi Lin agree. Bai Yi Yang drinks taste a bit like coffee but it's delicious. The muffins and croissants is also delicious. She actually feels better now, she is just worried that she won't be able to tolerate the 6 hours plane ride too, luckily the female teacher gave her medication.
"Then eat a bit more and take another pill." Sir Austin said. The plane ride to Country S takes 6 hours and 15 minutes, they will stay for a long time in flight.
"Okay." Wang Yi Lin nod.
They eat and chat for a while while waiting for the plane to arrive. They were a bit hungry so they finished the food they bought and their drinks is also almost done. When they queue up to enter the plane, they quickly finished their drinks , so they ends up being one of the last people to enter the plane. Since they are seated in one row, it wasn't much hassle. The three girls sit together and Sir Austin and Li Jian Yu is seated together with a foreigner man travelling alone.
The beginning of the journey was fine, when the flight stabilise, they were served with lunch. The girls is excited as they chat and Sir Austin just sleep while Li Jian Yu listen to songs with earphones. Wang Yi Lin is good now after the medicine takes effect, so the girls become very chatty with each other.
"Business class? For real?" Bai Yi Yang ask. Then, the teams from City Zhou is really walking on flowery road. They have many crew with them, what more using business class flights.
"Yes. When I know that our team made it, I immediately my research. Sir Austin show us the participants from our country so I try searching them on social media, from City Zhou, one is an international school and the other one is an elite school. The one from City Shang and City Bei is also from famous high school. I guess we are the only underdog." Ruby An said with a sigh.
"Then? What else did you find out?" Wang Yi Lin also a bit interested.
"The two teams from City Bei and City Shang are old contestant but they weren't treated as good as the one from City Zhou, the reason is because one of the participant from City Zhou has Dongfang Group behind him." Ruby An said.
"Dongfang Group?" Wang Yi Lin looks confuse but Bai Yi Yang have heard that name before. Then, it's not uncommon for the teams from City Zhou to be treated as royalty. If it is Dongfang family, then Bai Yi Yang think it is really possible.
After the last conversation about Dongfang family with Zhang Yong, Bai Yi Yang ask TongTong to find out about them. It's just that TongTong warn her early on that some things, it didn't dare to tell her. It ask Bai Yi Yang first if she really wanted to know, which Bai Yi Yang choose not to know. So her knowledge about Dongfang Group is also superficial. Dongfang Group is a giant company that carry not only City Zhou but also the cities surrounding it.
Dongfang Family is an old family which goes back hundred years ago, they started with mining industry, then when they started rising, they expand to other fields of business. They are old rich family that have survived many ups and downs, and now they are unbreakable, there are internal struggles just like other big families but they are united when outsiders are attacking them, that's why they are able to last to this days, still going strong.
These days, Dongfang Group most notable source of income is transportation, they cover land, air and water. It's not that obvious in City Nan, but apparently in City Zhou and the nearby city like City Shan and City Qing, without Dongfang Group, the it won't be able to operate. That's how vast their influence is.
Other big things that they are involved in are the construction sector, manufacturing industry, news media industry, electronic industry and food industry. Bai Yi Yang doesn't feel their presence that much before but she found out that half of Brand P's shares are hold by Dongfang Group, G Supermarket chains in their town is also owned by Dongfang Group and her siblings favourite snacks are produced in Dongfang Group's factories. Right, they may not own the airlines in City Nan, but they also have big shares in this airline that they are currently using now.
When she found out about this, she find it a bit scary and immediately stopped reading about Dongfang Group. Why didn't she hear about them before when they are this big? Is it that they are so good at being low key, unlike the other famous rich people who is listed in Forbes, she estimate that they are far more richer. In the dark, they accumulate their wealth, watching those famous people flaunting their richness in open while controlling the matter from behind. No wonder they were able to keep the legacy.
"I just know that they are super rich and they own airplanes." Ruby An said.
"Then, isn't this a bit unfair? But well, it's not like they cheated or anything. In the end, they still have the ability." Wang Yi Lin said.
"I think the Dongfang family must have given a lot of sponsorship so that the children of their family will have a pleasant experience. Don't worry about it. Anyway, if a team were to get Gold, then most probably it's our team or the one from City Shang." Ruby An said.
"BaYi High School?" Wang Yi Lin ask. Even she knows that BaYi High School is amazing. Their school has won gold a few times. They are legend in this competition.
"Yes ah. 2 years ago, they won a gold. This time, they most probably will get it again." Ruby An said.
"Where did you get all these information?" Bai Yi Yang ask.
"Of course from Sir Austin. How will I know all these stuff." Ruby An grinned.
"I see, then their advisor must be amazing." Bai Yi Yang add.
"Yes. Sir Austin know that teacher. Actually I was also inspired by Senior Qiu to join the R&D club, he is my idol." Ruby An said.
"Who is this Senior Qiu?" Bai Yi Yang ask, she never heard of any predecessor in their school. They are the first one.
"The team leader of BaYi High School, Qiu Jiang." Wang Yi Lin said.
"You also know this person?" Bai Yi Yang ask. If Wang Yi Lin knows, then this person must be amazing.
"Yes. I watch their presentation video as references. He is very good, I think he is the best." Wang Yi Lin nod.
Qiu Jiang is not only handsome, he is also very charismatic and intelligent. When he step onto the stage, his words is fluent and he is very confident. He have been representing the country since he is in Grade 10, his team has won 1 gold and 1 silver, he is also a legend.
"Then, I also want to meet him in person, see if he is really as good as you say." Bai Yi Yang said. Is she finally meeting a rival?
"Of course you are the best. It's just that we are a team, I had praise you many time and need someone else to praise. If Qiu Jiang is the best in mortal realm, then you are comparable to gods." Ruby An said trying to please Bai Yi Yang. Bai Yi Yang just laugh and brush her off.