Mysterious Mr.Richard novel Chapter 71

This event was held by the medical faculty, while Dr. Wale was chosen as the main spokesperson. He gave the lecture like a class. His audiences behaved carefully like the students. So in the end, when it came to Q&A session, almost no one dared to throw a question at him.

"Does anyone have questions about my speech?" Dr. Wale put on a straight face and said unhappily, "When I was your age, my teachers would be chased after by me and then bombarded by my questions for I was afraid that they might have not enough time to answer all the questions."

Audiences became even quieter after Dr. Wale mentioned this experience.

Alex and Pearl exchanged a tacit look and giggled

It was common knowledge Dr. Wale liked to ask quizzes. Whoever was unable to answer his question would be scolded. So, who would dare to ask him questions now? The more they argued with him, the more scoldings they might get.

Dead silence took over the whole meeting room. It was so quiet here that one could probably hear the sound of a small pin falling to the ground.

"Ahem... Do you really have no questions to ask?" Pearl faked a cough. She then adjusted her microphone to the right position, saying, "Dr. Wale, these students must be way better than we were. So they don't have any questions about today's topic now."

Dr. Wale's face  obviously showed his displeasure.

Nathan Morgan, the head of the medical faculty, broke out in a cold sweat for her words as he stood next to Pearl.

Pearl looked around at the audience and continued, "Well, if you don't have any academic questions for Dr. Wale, you could ask him some casual questions. Like, you can start by asking him how to cook pork ribs."

Everyone was taken aback.

But Pearl remained calm. "The pigs are all well-fed in our science labs. What dishes can be made from which of their body parts is a whole new knowledge. I know the best soy-braised pork should use the streaky pork as the main ingredients. By the way, how we should cut the meat accordingly is also a hard knowledge too."

Alex faked a cough besides Pearl. He knew every pair of ears under the stage could hear him clearly, but he still pretended to lower his voice to whisper to her, "Pearl, stop talking this. I am afraid Dr. Wale will find out your truth. You know, the one which you ate all of his pigs those days."

As soon as Alex finished his words, students in the auditoriums could no longer hold their laughter.

One student laughed first, the next followed. Soon, it became a domino effect that everyone began to laugh to tears. The serious atmosphere immediately became more vibrant.

After a while, Dr. Wale coughed twice, loudly enough for everyone to hear him. The students soon pursed their lips. Once again, no one dared make any sound.

Dr. Wale then said, "Why do you teach them such rubbish?"

Pearl replied confidently, "I had done the experiments with the pig at that time. And we can not just let it go to waste. In fact, it's Mrs. Harrison's that cooked the pork ribs for us for I knew nothing about cooking back then. Besides, Dr. Wale, I'm sure you had your fair share of it too, right?"

"You sure are very reasonable," Dr. Wale's words were full of sarcasm.

"Yep, it's very reasonable."

Again the whole room was taken over by students' hysterical laughs. They wondered who she was that had the guts to argue with Dr. Wale. No one had ever seen people talking with Dr. Wale like this before. The room became lively again.

"Do you know who is she? When did she graduate? She is so interesting, isn't she?"

"I heard she's Dr. Wale's prized student, who's our senior by ten years."

"She's so pretty with a very charming demeanor!"

"I heard she's also a Deputy Chief Surgeon. It's impressive that she has got such a demanding position at such a young age. I remember few of our seniors has achieved such a feat."

……

People here and there were all discussing Pearl based on her details printed on posters provided by the publicity committee of the event.

The energetic atmosphere improved Dr. Wale's mood slightly. He took the initiative to introduce Pearl to the students, "This is your senior. She went abroad to pursue a doctorate before. I don't know how many skills she has learned there. But judging from her today's behavior, I know she threw away all of her manners. She's even encouraging you to eat the lab pigs now. Then from now on, any pig missing from your labs should be counted into her bill." 

As soon as Dr. Wale said that, another heated discussion started in the room.

After a wave of crazy laughter subsided. Pearl put up a solemn face and said calmly, "Okay, now, we should back to today's main topic now. I'm sure that you may have many questions but are just afraid to voice them out. Don't be afraid of being scolded. Well, I was also scolded by Dr. Wale many times before. Am I right, Dr. Wale?"

Dr. Wale snorted with a disgusted look.

Pearl then shared her experience. Once she, as a bold and naive freshman, asked Dr. Wale some stupid questions and it ended up with a few turns of his terrible scolding. The audience found her experience very relatable.

If someone excellent like Pearl was once scolded by Dr. Wale too, then why would they be afraid of losing faces?

Pearl looked at her juniors with a gentle smile and said to them, "This meeting is not a class nor a presentation. We are here to answer all your questions. Perhaps we are the ones who should be afraid of you for whom knows if you would ask some questions that we don't know."

Gradually, students began to raised their hands. Then a boy asked, "Ms Yonng, I have a question for you."

 "Yes, you may proceed."

……

Pearl's attitude was gentle and modest. No matter what questions they asked, she would always be very patient to answer them one by one. She even managed to take care of the feelings of the teachers next to her by leaving some advanced questions to those professors like Dr. Wale to answer. Soon a vigorous debate took over the room.

Students kept asking questions, the air becoming high-spirited.

Standing at one corner of the back stage, a figure was staring at Pearl with admiration, just like back then. She was always so elegant and calm, who could not only communicate well with students but also showed respect to the teachers at the same time.

A student's excited voice came to him, "Mr. Miller, don't you think Ms Yonng is awesome? She even went to the Africa to fight the pandemic there!"

Alexander's mind drifted away. He seemed to be reminiscing the past. "She had always been that way. As I know, practicing medicine is always her passion. She is a true doctor. An honest and benevolent doctor!"

After the event ended, Nathan showered Pearl with praise. 

"Dr. Wale, you're really a capable teacher who produces such a capable student! It's been a while since our department was so active!"

Dr. Wale took a glance at Pearl. Although his attitude was still very indifferent, his eyes were full of pride as he replied, "Then you can ask her come here to help you more often. But I must warn you talking is all she good at."

"Not just a small meeting. If Pearl is interested, I would like to hire her to a teacher here. Students begin to ask if she could teach classes here now. I think our enrollment rate will skyrocket as long as Pearl can join us," Nathan smiled as he spoke to Dr. Wale.

"Me?" Pearl hesitated.

She did know how long she would stay in the country. But a work contract here would bind her for at least five years. Besides, if she really accepted this job offer, she would have to take students under her belt. Then she could not just leave whenever she wanted anymore.

"Yes. Is there any problem?" Nathan looked at Pearl inquiringly.

Pearl denied in a hurry, "No, Dr. Morgan. I graduated from here. It's my honor to be offered a job here. But I still need some time to prepare myself. Dr. Wale knows that I'm currently quite occupied with work at the hospital."

But somehow, Dr. Wale's face darkened.