Chapter 2189: The Tension at the Dining Table Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by Aelryinth “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Kay Beny. I’ve been to China on academic trips, but I don’t remember seeing such a young lecturer there.” First Prince Beny had come over without them realizing it. He had a doubtful grin on his face. The lecturers who were invited to the Aorus Sacred Institute had to have a certain reputation at the international level. Most lecturers who had come today already knew one another. Even if they were not familiar with a person, they would know who the person was just by hearing their names. First Prince Beny did not put too much attention on the lecturers from China. It was normal to see new faces at a gathering, but he did not feel comfortable when he saw the student union’s president Sharjah standing behind them like a little girl. Sharjah was such an otherworldly girl. Why would she find this yellow-skinned man who did not stand out in the slightest attractive? First Prince Beny did not think his class was really that interesting. First Prince Beny meant to claim the limelight during the gathering. The crowd’s attention had to be on him at all times, no matter where he went. Even Yesemia had been looking at Mo Fan after she stopped talking. As a matter of fact, she had never seen the young lecturer from China before, either. Not everyone was eligible to be a lecturer at the Aorus Sacred Institute. Yesemia was not a fan of the concept of merging different Elements, either. She would even describe it as forbidden. When she recalled how Sharjah had contradicted her in front of the crowd, she decided to side with First Prince Beny. “That’s right, I almost forgot we have some Chinese lecturers who did a fantastic job teaching their classes. They couldn’t make it to the opening ceremony, so I believe this is a great chance to ask them to introduce themselves. I’ve been quite active in the academic field for the past few years, yet I’ve never seen them before. They must have great contributions in certain fields to be invited to our Aorus Sacred Institute as guest lecturers here as exceptions!” Yesemia chimed in with false warmth. Mo Fan glanced at Sharjah with a wry smile when he saw many people looking at him. He could have muddled along if he had remained unnoticed. After all, he was not really a lecturer, yet Sharjah had brought him so much unwanted attention for no reason! “This is bad, we are fakes after all. If they ask us some tricky questions, it’s going to expose us. We don’t know if Herr Casa is one of the Black Vatican, but I’m sure he’s related to them somehow. It’s going to be difficult to continue the investigation if we inadvertently alert them now,” Zhao Manyan whispered to Mu Bai. “We’ve gone too far. We should have let Mo Fan talk about magic duels. He wouldn’t have any problem with that,” Mu Bai agreed with a slight hint of regret. Mo Fan remained perfectly calm while the others were doubting him. He said confidently, “My name is Mo Yifan, I’m a mentor of the national team. Unlike others who like to show their face in public, I spend most of my time in the labs and conduct experiments that are related to my field. If it wasn’t for my mentor Feng Zhoulong, who insisted on sending me here to get some fresh air, I think I would still be in Guangzhou enjoying the delicacies there. The food here sucks!” The gathering had a buffet served with local fruit, smoked deer meat, salads, roasted chickens... but apart from the fruit, everything else was almost tasteless. They were almost like dried rations compared to the delicacies in Guangzhou! Mo Fan was so fussy about eating. The one thing he disliked about foreign countries was eating was just a survival instinct there, instead of something he could enjoy. “I see. You normally live in seclusion instead of showing your face in public. Most of us are like that too, but if you keep shutting yourself away and do experiments in isolation, you will eventually fall down a cliff. You will learn a lot more by attending exchange programs like this. If you don’t like our food, we do have Chinese restaurants here, but we are used to having high expectations on certain details. The hygiene, ingredients, and service of Chinese restaurants are quite undesirable, so they aren’t suitable for occasions like this,” Yesemia replied. “I’m a strange person. I would rather enjoy delicacies in a junkyard than eating trash in a luxurious hall!” Mo Fan responded instantly. Yesemia pulled a long face. She had checked every dish in the restaurant first, treating the gathering very seriously. She purposely prepared the favorite food for the guest lecturers who were from different countries. That being said, she had not prepared any Chinese dishes. She believed it was unnecessary to prepare Chinese dishes for three Chinese lecturers whose names she had never heard before. She assumed they were only young and inexperienced lecturers, so they would just accept whatever dishes she had prepared for them. Besides, the food was already so delicious! To her surprise, Mo Fan had described their food as trash! He had claimed the food they ate was trash! Didn’t he realize he would offend everyone by saying that? “I’m sorry, Lecturer Mo Yifan, you and your colleagues came late, so it’s the student union’s fault for not preparing Chinese dishes in time. I will make sure some are served tomorrow,” Sharjah intervened. The tense atmosphere eased a little after Sharjah spoke up. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖 There were guest lecturers from nine countries, but only the delicacies of eight countries were served. Not a single Chinese dish was served, which obviously indicated Yesemia did not treat the Chinese lecturers seriously. She was also biased toward Chinese cuisine if she believed it was inappropriate for a gathering like this. Mo Fan had driven everyone’s attention to the food because he would surely be exposed if they began arguing about some academic topics. He had noticed there was not a single dish from his country among the items that were served in the buffet. He had been to a lot of similar meetings, so he knew the buffet was supposed to include the dishes of the countries the guest lecturers were from! In simple words, they were not treating the Chinese lecturers seriously! He might be a fake, but he was displeased when he realized the lecturers of his country were being mistreated! “Oh, so the student union has failed to perform their duties. I was planning to make an exception and tutor you privately, but I shall cancel it as your punishment. Come to my class if you want to learn more about merging different Elements. I’ll be expecting your attendance,” Mo Fan said. Sharjah was startled, and stared at Mo Fan with an innocent and confused face.