At the start, I tricked the school beauty, and ended up with twins?

Evening.

Sea Catch Hot Pot Restaurant at Haidong University East Gate.

Gu Yu, Lin Xinyue, and Boss Pu settled into their seats one by one.

Until the appetizers were served, Gu Yu had not figured out why everyone was gathering for hot pot tonight.

"Is there something to celebrate?"

Gu Yu looked around and noticed that Hu Xiaoya was nowhere to be seen.

Thinking back, he seemed to have seen Hu Xiaoya discussing something about money with Boss Pu when he returned to the apartment in the evening.

He wondered if it had something to do with this.

Could it be that Hu Xiaoya had received her salary and was treating everyone to dinner?

But he had heard from Boss Pu that Hu Xiaoya had only earned three to four thousand from a part-time job last month.

Hu Xiaoya had joined Ideal Paradise this month, and Ideal Paradise pays its salaries on the tenth.

It was still almost half a month until the company would pay the salaries!

Could it be that Hu Xiaoya had won the lottery?

Seeing the puzzled look on Gu Yu's face, Lin Xinyue gave him a mysterious smile, "Today's hot pot is specifically to thank you!"

"Thank me?"

Gu Yu still did not understand.

He hadn't recently helped Hu Xiaoya with anything significant; surely she wouldn't treat everyone to dinner just because he had referred her for a job at the company, right?

There were six people here, and a hot pot meal would cost at least five hundred.

He knew Hu Xiaoya's financial situation, and five hundred yuan must be a significant expense for her.

"No need... thank me for what? I haven't done anything."

Gu Yu intended to stand up and leave but was stopped by Lin Xinyue, who glared at him.

"This is a thank-you dinner prepared for you; if you leave, Ya will blame me!"

Lin Xinyue pouted.

Thinking back to the scene when her best friend pleaded with her in the evening, she also felt helpless.

Although she told her that there was no need for a thank-you dinner for Gu Yu.

But Hu Xiaoya still insisted on treating everyone to this meal.

Having no choice, she had agreed to bring Gu Yu over for the dinner.

Hearing his girlfriend say this, Gu Yu had no choice but to agree.

Since everything had already been arranged ahead of time, leaving now would seem like a slap in Hu Xiaoya's face.
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He just had to calmly stay in his seat and wait for the guest of honor to arrive.

It took about five minutes.

Hu Xiaoya finally arrived, panting and rushed in from the entrance of the restaurant.

The first thing she did when she got to the table was to pick up the juice in front of Boss Pu and take a big gulp.

She vigorously wiped her mouth with her arm and looked around at everyone, "I'm so sorry for being late!"

"I was just waiting for someone at the door."

Everyone smiled at her, and no one minded her being late.

Gu Yu leaned in to see who she was waiting for behind her.

Since all the familiar faces were already here, could it perhaps be a friend of Hu Xiaoya's?

But as he peered around, he did not see any of Hu Xiaoya's acquaintances; instead, he was surprised to see one of his own,

Liu Ermao!

Ermao today had his hair slicked back and was wearing a formal black suit as he strode over.

Upon seeing Gu Yu, he immediately shouted, "Yu!"

Gu Yu looked at him, surprised, "Ermao, what are you doing here?"

Before he could finish, he turned to Hu Xiaoya, "You didn't invite him, did you?"

Without waiting for Liu Ermao to explain, Hu Xiaoya quickly answered, "Yes! It was me who invited her! Besides you and colleagues, he is the one who helped me the most!"

Hu Xiaoya sat down naturally next to Boss Pu, squeezing in a bit.

Although their relationship wasn't officially confirmed, it was evident to any observer that the two of them were completely in a couple's relationship.

Seeing her best friend take the initiative, Lin Xinyue looked at Gu Yu who was sitting half a meter away from her and suddenly felt a bit annoyed.

She grabbed Gu Yu's arm and forcibly pulled him to sit right next to her.

But she still complained, "Look at you, hogging half the bench and not even offering to make room for others."

Gu Yu, unaware of her subtle intentions, nodded repeatedly, "That's my fault!"

"But this might make it difficult to reach for the dishes, right?"

He moved his arm a bit, finding it not very flexible.

"Oh, come on, squeeze in, squeeze in and make it lively!"

Lin Xinyue said with a giggle.

Gu Yu turned his head and glanced to her right, noticing there was still space for at least one person...

So why squeeze together?

He still didn't understand...

But since Lin Xinyue said so, he didn't move anymore.

When Liu Ermao saw that Gu Yu was pulled over by Lin Xinyue to make space for him, he quickly sat down.

"Good evening, everyone!"

Liu Ermao greeted the people in front of him, including Boss Pu.

It wasn't too awkward.

They had all met each other more or less.

Everyone nodded and responded with a smile, but they didn't know what to say to start a conversation.

Fortunately, today's main venue was hosted by Hu Xiaoya.

Seeing that everyone was silent, she took the initiative to explain the reason for organizing this gathering.

"The reason I gathered everyone here for hot pot today is mainly to thank you all for helping me out!"

"And I have some good news to announce to everyone! The money I was scammed out of at work has been recovered! Now I'm no longer in debt!"

Hu Xiaoya shouted excitedly, waving her arms.

She now felt completely transparent, without a shadow of debt hanging over her.

"Recovered!?"

Apart from Hu Xiaoya herself, Gu Yu was probably the person who understood this matter the most.

After all, from consulting with lawyers to asking Liu Ermao for help, he had been involved throughout.

Now hearing that the case had been cracked,

he was truly overjoyed.

Not just because his friend's problem had been solved, but also because the criminals had been brought to justice.

"That gang from Yue Tian Capital was sentenced to ten years each, and most of the victims, like Hu Xiaoya, got their money back,"

Liu Ermao said with a smile,

although his face appeared happy, his eyes could not hide the fatigue.

In recent times, he had been running back and forth between Modu and Kun Mountain, infiltrating the fraud organization to provide evidence to the police.

It had been truly exhausting, both mentally and physically.

"Wasn't that gang said to be very cunning? The type that changes location after firing a shot? How did you manage to expose them?"

With the matter resolved, Gu Yu was even more curious about the process.

Just as Liu Ermao poured himself a cup of hot water, upon hearing Gu Yu's question, he looked around, then whispered to everyone, "I went undercover, you understand 'undercover,' right?"

"Whoa! Badass! Mission Impossible, right?"

Qin Shan immediately got excited upon hearing this. Such a plot could totally be written into his novel!

"Um... pretty much! I spent two weeks, and successfully became the business manager at Yue Tian Capital..."

Liu Ermao nodded.

"What? Two weeks? How did you do that?"

Yu Shutong, who usually kept quiet, couldn't help but curse in astonishment.

That was too incredible!

"Didn't I used to work in collections? I'm very familiar with those lending institutions, and many of the institutions scammed by Yue Tian Capital were ones I knew, so I staged scenarios with these institutions, pretending to secure a large sum of loan funds from them!"

"Yue Tian Capital, no, when it was in Kun Mountain it should be called Yue Tian Capital, they saw that every time I negotiated with a lending institution, I succeeded!"

"They valued me highly and promoted me frantically..."

"Man! If the police had been a bit later, I would have become the fourth major partner at Yue Tian Capital!"

Reminiscing about the old times, Liu Ermao felt a deep sense of relief.

If he hadn't turned over a new leaf, he might really have ended up committing crimes with Yue Tian Capital.

Fortunately, the police kept reminding him not to stray from the right path.

"Is this the legendary, 'Undercover for five years, I almost became the most wanted criminal?'"

Qin Shan gave a big thumbs up continuously.

"Now I've got material for the new book!"

He was all smiles.