"I've finished reading it." Antonio looked up and stubbornly shook his head. "No, this won't do. It really won't."
Song He nodded. "It really won't."
Antonio brightened. "You've changed your mind?"
"Their application was poorly written, so I came today to correct it for them." Song He explained in halting spoken English. "I've just revised their objective: to create an entirely new eukaryote, without being constrained by forms found on Earth."
Antonio's mouth fell open. He stood stunned for several seconds. "Isn't that even harder?"
Song He helplessly switched back to Mandarin and looked at the students. "Which of you three is good at spoken English?"
"Me!" Cha Xinran raised his hand. "My father works in diplomacy, and I grew up in a multilingual environment. Spoken English is no problem for me!"
"Then interpret simultaneously for Antonio." Song He said, "I haven't spoken English in a long time. Switching languages interrupts my train of thought."
Cha Xinran nodded, carried his chair closer to Antonio, and quietly translated for him.
"Next, let's organize the relevant knowledge: how to create an entirely new eukaryote." Song He said, "What's the most crucial and difficult point? Who can tell me?"
The three students looked at one another and thought as fast as they could.
"The cell nucleus is difficult to make." Yu Banmeng began. "The nucleolus mass-produces new ribosomal RNA. The nuclear pore complexes embedded in the double-layered nuclear membrane are extremely complicated; it takes dozens of proteins to form a single nuclear pore. The nuclear lamina—the protein meshwork lining the inner nuclear membrane—has to be elastic. In short... it takes hundreds of proteins working together to form a cell nucleus, which is vastly different from the nucleoid structure of prokaryotic cells!"
"Well said, but that isn't the most crucial point." Song He shook