Chapter 75: 74, Special Reward: Angkor Golden Buddha Statue, Reunion With Comrade Shao Sishen
The airplane left Thailand and flew over the Laos Plateau, with the sun high in the sky.
The child, tightly held by his mother, finally fell asleep, and the woman, exhausted from the emotional ups and downs along the way, also nodded off occasionally.
Fang Wen also felt a bit tired and took out a bottle of Shanhaiguan salt soda to drink a couple of sips.
Drinking too much water on an airplane was a consensus among pilots in those days.
When the airplane crossed the mountain range at the national border, the remaining range was about 200 kilometers, less than an hour’s journey.
Fang Wen calculated in his mind.
He had to figure out what went wrong on this flight.
If it couldn’t be resolved, he would refuse the next trip.
An hour later, the airplane landed at the French military airport.
After the airplane stopped, Kuang Anming ran over, excitedly waving the hat in his hand.
“Sis.”
The woman looked over and happily waved: “Third brother.”
The child bounced and shouted: “Third uncle, flying in the airplane was so fun.”
Fang Wen said: “Let’s get down and stretch our legs. There’s still several hours of flight ahead; moving around will get the blood circulating.”
Then, the woman climbed down the boarding ladder, and Fang Wen also carried the child down.
As soon as they got down, the woman began describing the thrilling moment of takeoff.
“Third brother, you wouldn’t believe it, the Liu family made their move. They wanted to capture me and little Yun to threaten father. They fired guns and killed people.”
Kuang Anming looked at a loss.
Seeing the situation, Fang Wen knew it was pointless to ask him; they still had to return to Guangzhou.
So he said nothing and instead picked up the oil pipe to refuel the auxiliary fuel tank.
After half an hour of rest and refueling, the airplane took off again, and after four hours of flight, it finally flew back over Guangzhou City at sunset.
The airplane circled once and landed at Dashatou Airport.
Only at this moment did the woman regain her original demeanor, holding her son with one hand and descending the boarding ladder alone.
The servants waiting beside the airplane hurried over to take the sleeping child and coaxed him away.
Then, she said seriously: “Mr. Fang, I know you have many questions. For the next flight, can we talk?”
Mr. Kuang beside her said: “This is my second sister, Kuang Mingzhu. Mr. Fang, let’s talk after you come down.”
Only then did Fang Wen come down from the airplane and walk with the two to an unoccupied area beside the airplane.
“Things have changed. You said at the beginning that the airport reception was all arranged, but how do you explain what happened at Suthep Airport?”
“It was an accident. We underestimated the situation; some people targeted our family, but unable to take our family’s industry, they went after the family members.” Kuang Mingzhu explained.
“If that’s the case, I won’t fly to Suthep Airport again; it’s too dangerous.” Fang Wen refused directly.
Mr. Kuang was immediately shocked: “Mr. Fang, you can’t just give up halfway like this.”
“No way, this time we luckily took off after spotting the situation early. Going there again would be suicide.” Fang Wen refused again.
Seeing Fang Wen’s firm attitude, Kuang Mingzhu made a decision.
“I heard Mr. Fang is short on money lately. I have a suggestion.” She paused, then looked at Mr. Kuang, “Eldest brother, give him that Buddha statue.”
Mr. Kuang’s face was full of pain, but he still agreed.
Then, the three went to the auxiliary fuel tank area and took out all the cargo from inside.
Inside were ledgers, receipts, IOUs, and gold and silver implements.
The most special among them was a Buddha statue.
Thailand was a nation of Buddhists, and their Buddha statues were exquisitely made with precious materials; this one was just like that.
“Mr. Fang, if you agree to fly once more, this golden Buddha is yours.”
Fang Wen did not take it with his hands. Since he had crossed over and possessed supernatural ability, he respected matters of faith whether he believed or not.
He examined this golden Buddha; its surface gleamed with gold, its design unique, with four faces front, back, left, and right, each with a different expression.
Kuang Mingzhu introduced: “This is a Buddha statue from the Sukhothai period. Before that, Thailand was territory of the Angkor Dynasty; the four-faced Buddha was brought by Khmer people from India. It has been continuously passed down and gilded and repaired to maintain this condition. Our family only acquired it recently; its value is definitely high, even more so in the eyes of Thais. If you agree to fly once more, on top of the original price, plus this Buddha statue.”
Hearing this from Kuang Mingzhu, Fang Wen was a bit tempted.
The golden Buddha was indeed beautiful; he couldn’t help but pick it up and look at it in his hands.
The moment he touched the golden Buddha, he felt something strange.
For some reason, mechanical perception actually connected with the golden Buddha.
But this time, he obtained a very faint trace of energy from the golden Buddha, like a trickle, not continuously absorbed, and barely perceptible.
This absorption of strange energy seemed to help his mechanical perception ability!
Fang Wen was very clear about his own position; everything he currently possessed was related to mechanical perception, and any method to enhance this ability must be obtained.
But he couldn’t put himself in danger for the golden Buddha.
He put down the golden Buddha and said seriously:
“Flying to Suthep Airport is absolutely out of the question. But if you can find another landing point, I can consider flying once more. Also, this time it must be strictly confidential; no more leaks.”
The Kuang siblings were immediately delighted and quickly sent this news via telegram to the Thailand area.
More than an hour later, a reply telegram came.
It said that although there was no suitable airport north of Thailand, there was a temple ruin with stone slab pavement still well preserved, which should be usable for landing.
Fang Wen shook his head: “Ancient stone pavement won’t work; it might jolt due to gaps, and the hydraulic landing gear can’t withstand that recoil. A leveled hard dirt road surface would be best.”
Then, this suggestion was immediately sent back.
Half an hour later, a telegram reply came.
The other side said the hard dirt road surface could be arranged; the issue was how to pinpoint the location.
This was indeed a big problem; a temporary airport in the woods was hard to spot from the sky, and even Fang Wen had taken a lot of time finding Suthep Airport last time.
Moreover, the geographic coordinates provided were just map marks, without prominent ground reference objects for verification.
This made it even harder.
Fang Wen hesitated, unsure if he could succeed.
Seeing Fang Wen like this, the Kuang siblings were secretly anxious but didn’t want to say too much.
Until Mr. Kuang received a report from his subordinate, he immediately said with a hearty laugh: “Mr. Fang, do you still remember Shao Sishen?”
“Shao Sishen! He’s still alive?” Fang Wen said in surprised delight.
That day bombing the Izumo, Shao Sishen of the Guangdong Air Force had his airplane hit; Fang Wen had watched Shao Sishen’s airplane crash into the sea.
Later, he had flown over the sea surface to check and asked the Axe Gang to help inquire with fishermen, but found nothing.
He had thought Shao Sishen had died in battle, but now he heard his name again.
Immediately, Fang Wen set aside all other thoughts and asked eagerly:
“Where is he?”
“Right here in Guangzhou. He heard you were coming and specially sent someone to contact us, wanting to see you.”
With the sole thought of reuniting with his comrade, Fang Wen said without hesitation: “Let’s go, take me to see him.”
The Kuang siblings were naturally happy for this chance to deepen communication with Fang Wen, so the three left the airport and took a car to a nearby restaurant.
The car stopped outside the restaurant, and Fang Wen jumped out eagerly, rushing upstairs two steps at a time.
After going upstairs, he looked around left and right.
Where was he?
Someone in the distance waved at him.
Looking at the man, Fang Wen felt a pang of sorrow for some reason.
The once dashing Shao Sishen now had a long knife scar on the right side of his face and leaned on a crutch.
Fang Wen hurried over and grabbed Shao Sishen’s shoulders with both hands.
“You’re alive, that’s great.”
Shao Sishen turned his head, sighed, and said emotionally: “Yeah, good fortune; being alive is more than enough.”
Helping Shao Sishen sit down, Fang Wen asked with concern: “That day after you crashed into the sea, I went looking for you and asked the Axe Gang to get fishermen to search, but there was no sign of you.”
Shao Sishen recalled that day’s events.
“After the airplane crashed into the sea and the fuel tank exploded, I had to jump into the water. Then the airplane sank, and I clung to a wooden board drifting on the sea, dazed and carried south by the currents, until I was rescued by a passing fishing boat and brought to shore. Later, they notified Guangzhou, and the aviation team picked me up, treated me, and now I’m like this; I can’t fly airplanes anymore.”
Indeed, he couldn’t fly; Shao Sishen’s injuries weren’t just on his face—his right leg was lame, his right hand had lost half its mobility, making even movement difficult, so how could he continue piloting airplanes?
Looking at his former comrade’s condition, Fang Wen recalled the memories of fighting together that day. That night, Shao Sishen piloted while he was machine gunner and bombardier; not only did they damage a Type 3 fighter jet, force back those two sneaking Type 3 fighter jets, destroy the Japanese Army’s ammunition depot, but also gave the ground Japanese Army a strafing blow with dive strafing.
But now, he was disfigured, lost normal mobility, and his bright future was gone.
Fang Wen couldn’t help asking: “So what do you plan to do from now on?”
Shao Sishen looked up in thought and replied after a long while: “I still want to fly.”
This was the obsession of someone devoted to flying, but unfortunately, he had lost the capital.
“Still with the aviation team?” Fang Wen continued asking.
Shao Sishen shook his head but said nothing.
Clearly, he could no longer stay with the aviation team.
This reminded Fang Wen of one of his plans.
Taishan Airlines couldn’t rely on just him as pilot; they needed to train more pilots in the future.
But instructors in this field were in high demand; even graduates of Nanyuan Aviation were already in various aviation-related positions and wouldn’t come to Taishan Airlines.
He probed:
“Why don’t you come to Taishan Airlines? We need an aircraft piloting training commissioner. Though we’re civil aviation, the environment and pay are decent, and as general manager, I won’t let anyone bully you.”
“I’m not afraid of being bullied; anyone who’ll have me is fine.” Shao Sishen showed his first smile in a long time.
Reuniting with his old comrade solved his problem and found Taishan Airlines an experienced instructor; Fang Wen was very happy.
He and Shao Sishen drank and chatted happily, and the Kuang siblings nearby joined the conversation.
Through the exchange, Fang Wen learned that Shao Sishen was originally from an overseas Chinese family with ties to the Kuang family, often interacting. This time the Kuang family renting the Dashatou Airport runway in Guangzhou was through Shao Sishen.
Later in the talk, Shao Sishen learned the visitor was his old comrade, leading to this meeting.
Then, everyone discussed the secret flight to Thailand.
Shao Sishen said: “Fang Wen, we’ve cooperated before. This time you pilot, how about I be the navigator?”
His proposal tempted Fang Wen.
From that cooperation, Fang Wen knew Shao Sishen had solid piloting skills and a strong sense of direction, always reacting timely in their teamwork.
Could he bring him on this flight?
Fang Wen immediately stopped drinking and seriously asked the Kuang siblings to bring the map.
He and Shao Sishen found a clean table in the restaurant, spread out the map, and discussed.
“The first half of this flight should be fine; the key is after takeoff from the French military airport transfer. Look here, that’s their new flight landing point.”
Shao Sishen leaned on his crutch and bent over to look.
“This is very remote; no geographic landmarks around for reference objects, not even villages or towns. Easy to get lost.”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking; I need a prominent reference object to pinpoint the location in the wooded area.”
“I can use the compass to determine direction, remind you anytime based on the map, narrowing down the target location to make it easier to find.”
“You’ve studied flight navigation?”
“I specially studied it abroad.”
The exchange with Shao Sishen gave Fang Wen an idea.
He was already doing two people’s work by navigating while flying; if Shao Sishen helped, it would reduce his pressure.
The issue was, if Shao Sishen was on the airplane, where would the person they were picking up sit?
Use the method from Fang Shouxin and Shunzi last time, hang a seat stool for someone to sit on?
He raised the issue tactfully.
Mr. Kuang hesitated to speak.
But Kuang Mingzhu smiled: “This time we’re picking up my dad; he’s shrewd, small stature, under 1.6 meters, about 110 pounds. Can he fit?”
That small? Fang Wen pictured the Kuang family patriarch, much shorter than Shunzi, definitely able to squeeze into the rear pilot seat.
With the flight plan set, Fang Wen felt the risk was low—at worst, return to the French military transfer airport if unable to find the destination. For that Buddha statue with mysterious power, Fang Wen agreed.
Then, after a day of maintenance in Guangzhou, the Qingyun Hao took off early from Dashatou Airport.
Abandoning his crutch, Shao Sishen climbed into the rear pilot seat with effort, spread the map with his trembling right hand, held the compass in his left, occasionally turned to look at the sun, observed the ground, and reported real-time navigation data to Fang Wen.
Their cooperation was as tacit as that day cooperating to bomb the Japanese Army.
