1149 Expedition Plan (1/2)
Wei Kang opened the door for Zhang Zian so that he could come into the room. All of the other members of the expedition team had arrived as well.
He He sat in the corner playing with the hem of her shirt, seemingly unhappy about something. Wei Kang had probably scolded her again.
”My apologies for coming late.” Zhang Zian apologized first.
”No worries. You're right on time. We were previously discussing the academic exchange that we will have today. You didn't have to come in the first place.” Wei Kang invited him to sit, sighing. ”Gosh! I was too relaxed yesterday and overlooked things. We nearly got ourselves into deep trouble! I had been spoiling her too much!”
To the careful Wei Kang, yesterday's events were a huge deal. Thank goodness they hadn't brought the Chinese Embassy into the situation, or he would definitely have to face some sort of repercussions when they returned to Binhai University. He might even lose the chance to ever bring another team overseas for expeditions.
Before Zhang Zian had helped out, they'd had a chance to call the Chinese Embassy. Even if they hadn't known the number, they could've just as easily looked it up online. But it was exactly because of the repercussions that they decided not to call—to prevent Wei Kang from being wrongly punished due to He He's stubbornness. It wasn't fair, but it was definitely a lesson to remember.
After a night of painful consideration and thought, he'd finally decided that from today onwards, no matter where he went, he would bring his students with him and forbid them from moving out on their own.
”Let me just reinforce the discipline. We are about to enter the month of Ramadan in Egypt. We should try to not eat or drink anything in public in the day, or it will just be extremely rude, and we might anger the locals,” he said sternly, looking at He He. Just like many ladies, she liked to snack.
After receiving a horrifying number of calls from Wei Kang, He He had returned to the Four Seasons Hotel and hadn't gone out since. She had been forced to write a 5,000-word letter of reflection after she showered and changed, and she had to read it out in front of everyone else.
She really had learned her lesson this time. Not only had she emerged from the situation with a myriad of bruises, but her newly purchased phone had been stolen as well. She'd become a lot more obedient, nodding her head silently to show that she understood.
Seeing how down He He was, he wanted to make the mood a little lighter, so he pulled up the sleeve of his T-shirt and showed off his well-toned biceps, announcing loudly, ”That's nothing. After we enter the month of Ramadan, the locals won't be eating or drinking. They'll definitely be weak from starvation. If anything like yesterday happened again, I could take on ten men by myself!”
”Don't be so confident,” Zhang Zian reminded him. ”Some of the locals still eat in secret, and their sickly appearance might just be a façade. Besides, don't you know that people get easily irritated when they're hungry and thirsty? It's best not to try and pick a fight with anyone during Ramadan.”
Gao Ke chuckled, brushing him off. ”You get strong by eating and exercising, and I really haven't starved before. How do you know that they will become agitated when hungry?”
Zhang Zian thought that Fina must be the best example of this. It was extremely cranky in the morning before it had its breakfast...
”Xiao Zhang is right. As much as you can, don't go to crowded places like the Khan el-Khalili market,” Wei Kang reminded them. ”There have been more than one case of assault towards tourists in that area. Even if you have to go, make sure to stay away from European tourists so you don't get dragged into it. The locals are still friendlier towards the Chinese tourists. They mainly attack the European tourists.” The only thing on his mind was self-preservation.
Wei Kang's words dragged everyone back into the harsh, cold reality.