Chapter 140 The Name I Can’t Call
At La Ciotat Pier, a group of people were anxiously waiting. There was also a small band nearby, and it looked like there was going to be a welcoming ceremony.
"We're back!" Fabian pointed at the sea, where a white sailboat appeared in the distance. It was Xiao Peng's 'Red Head Boat'.
When Xiao Peng sailed the boat to the shore, the band on the shore started playing the famous song "Ode to Joy", which was quite appropriate for the occasion!
Xiao Peng threw the rope to Fabian: "Why all this fuss?"
His current image is not very good. He has an unshaven chin, a ski cap on his head, and a dirty jacket. Now he can be described as "completely unsightly".
Fabian and Pascal didn't mind his dirtiness but took turns hugging Xiao Peng. "Our hero is back, how could we not welcome him? You've been out at sea for a month and a half while we've been enjoying life on shore. This doesn't feel right at all!"
Xiao Peng smiled and said, "You guys still have a conscience! It's okay, don't worry. Now it's your turn to get busy."
Moro, who was standing by, came over anxiously with his daughter Cathy. "Boss, did you find anything?"
Xiao Peng didn't answer him, but touched Cathy's head: "Cathy, do you miss your uncle?"
Cathy blinked: "Uncle Xiao, I will miss you if you bring me a gift."
Xiao Peng laughed heartily; "I actually brought you a gift."
He waved towards the boat, and Hem and Haha came out a little warily. Haha handed a small box to Cathy.
After Cathy opened it, she exclaimed, "Wow, what a beautiful conch!"
In the box was a conch about six or seven centimeters long, but unlike the common conchs, its shell was covered with thorns, but the color was very beautiful, with a white shell and red spikes.
Xiao Peng shook his head: "It's a pity that it died. I tried to keep it alive but failed."
Moreau stretched his head to take a look. "Is this a spiny ball snail? I've never seen this kind of spiny ball snail before."
Xiao Peng grinned and said, "I found a lot of them on the seabed. They live next to hot springs. I caught a few, but they tasted terrible, so I saved them as gifts for my children."
Pascal said, "Hot spring? Damn it! What on earth did you do?"
Hot springs, commonly known as "black chimneys," are the cracks in the craters of submarine volcanoes. Because the Strait of Tunisia and the Tyrrhenian Sea lie at the junction of the European and African plates, there are many submarine volcanoes.
The problem is that the temperature of this "hot spring" is very high, and the temperature at the vent can reach 400 to 600 degrees, so even submersibles are reluctant to get close to the hot spring!
Xiao Peng shrugged without explaining. Instead, he called Hem and Haha over to him. "These are Hem and Haha. Don't laugh at me for naming them like that. It's just that their names are too difficult to pronounce. Have you solved the problem of their identities? Did you find the translator I asked you to find?"
Pascal brought two people, both in suits and ties. He introduced them, "This is Conseil, professor of African studies at the University of Aix-Marseille; and this is Asya, the Arabic translator. The identity issue has basically been resolved. We only need some verification, such as the origin of our names."
Xiao Peng quickly went to work with Kang Si and Asya to translate and inquire about the origins of Heng Heng and Ha Ha.
He waited for the results with great anticipation, but the results for both were unsatisfactory.
Hahaha was too young, not even six years old this year. She only remembered that her mother asked her to leave home with an uncle. They took a long car ride to the seaside and boarded a boat with many people. They were then locked in a large yard on an island. Later, they left the island and went to Sicily. Then the uncle disappeared. She lived alone in Sicily and later met Hengheng. They lived there together. Later, Hengheng took her and hid on Xiao Peng's boat. Xiao Peng knew what happened next.
After hearing this, Xiao Peng wanted to kill someone.
How evil can human nature be? You can see it from what happened to Haha!
To quickly secure asylum in European countries, some refugees bring their children along, feigning pity. These children may not be their biological children; some are stolen or obtained through deception. Once granted refugee status in Europe, they abandon their children, discarding the burden and seeking a new life on their own.
'Haha' To have to go through these things at such a young age... Xiao Peng felt distressed just thinking about it.
But he also knew the real name of "Haha", which was Amir, which means "princess" in Arabic.
Which "princess" would have such an experience?
As for the "humph"? Xiao Peng was completely helpless - even the translator couldn't understand her language.
"Mr. Xiao, I'm really sorry." Kang Si said apologetically, "I don't understand the language this lady is speaking."
Seeing Xiao Peng's confused look, Kongs explained, "There are about two thousand languages in Africa! These languages are roughly divided into five language families. For example, many North Africans speak Arabic or its derivatives, which are called the 'Afro-Asiatic' language family. People further south speak the 'Nilo-Saharan' language family, and further south are the 'Niger-Congo' and 'Austronesian' languages. In addition, a considerable number of descendants of immigrants speak Indo-European languages."
At this point, Conse paused and continued, "This lady's language may belong to the Niger-Congo language family, but I can only say 'maybe'. The relationships between the various languages in the Niger-Congo language family are quite sparse. My personal guess is that the language she speaks may be that of the Dogon or Dinka people, but I'm just guessing. After all, with nearly a thousand ethnic groups in Africa, it's really difficult to find her origin."
After Kang Sidu said this, what else could Xiao Peng say? He could only thank him and said, "Do you know her name?"
Conse looked bewildered. "I just heard her name, but I only remember the general pronunciation. It was something like 'Yebebechi Yaqiya-Ami Aissia-Nozukolantweye-Kenyatta-Labraza-Abtuwain.' It's probably something like that. Most people in African cities have normal names, but many people in tribes just pick whatever comes to mind, often with long strings of names."
Xiao Peng nodded. He knew about this. For example, let's talk about the NBA's "Uncle Mu." His full name is Dikembe Mutombo-Mupolendo-Mukamba-Jean-Jacques Wamutombo. Anyone who can pronounce his full name is definitely in love. The same thing happened to former NBA big men like Manute Bol of the Washington Bullets and Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls. Both fall into the category of "unpronounceable full names."
Now Xiao Peng has such a person by his side.
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