‘Oh? A genius?’
Although Ivy didn’t quite understand, if she had to choose someone to trust, it would definitely be Gu Chen.
Soon, the barbecue arrived, sizzling with oil and fragrant aroma.
“Mm, this is really delicious.”
The aroma whetted her appetite, so she took a big bite, her face full of happiness.
She didn’t expect such a small shop to have such delicious skill.
It seemed she could come here to eat whenever she had free time.
Gu Chen smiled.
She planned to go home after finishing, since school was tomorrow and there wasn’t much time to waste.
“What a coincidence, you’re here to eat too?”
Just after a few skewers, a familiar voice sounded.
“Teacher Li?”
Gu Chen instantly knew who it was.
She turned to look and saw that she was also at the barbecue shop!
What a coincidence…
“Teacher Li, are you here to buy food too?” Ivy stopped what she was doing to greet her.
“Yeah, since we’re all here, why not share a table? I’ve already ordered.”
Li Yanqiu nodded and very naturally sat down between the two of them, acting as if she’d known them forever.
Gu Chen frowned.
She had just come to eat with Ivy when Li Yanqiu showed up.
If it were anyone else, it would be a coincidence, but with Li Yanqiu, it was obviously suspicious.
Because Gu Chen remembered her saying that she didn’t like barbecue, that the spices were too strong.
‘Is she following me here?’
Combined with what happened during the day, Gu Chen had good reason to suspect.
Sure enough, as soon as she sat down, she focused on Ivy, asking about her family background and birth address, as if trying to find a flaw in her story.
“I see. So Teacher Ivy’s circumstances are pretty good. Then why did you cross the ocean to find work here? And you left before finishing your studies—aren’t you afraid you won’t graduate?”
At this point, Li Yanqiu finally noticed something off.
A rich American girl suddenly giving up her studies to come here? Definitely not normal.
“She’s here to find someone…”
Gu Chen couldn’t listen anymore and answered for her.
“Find someone? Who? Did you find them?” Li Yanqiu ignored Gu Chen and kept asking.
“Not yet,” Ivy answered patiently.
“I see. I wonder who Teacher Ivy is looking for. Maybe I can help you find them,” Li Yanqiu said, curiosity growing, clearly intent on getting to the bottom of it.
“Ahem. Teacher Li, have a kidney to nourish yourself.”
Gu Chen saw the bad situation and quickly interrupted.
She put some of her own food onto Li Yanqiu’s plate and tried to signal with her eyes, hoping she would stop asking—it was very rude!
This was personal privacy; continuing to ask would be really impolite!
Li Yanqiu shot back a look that said “figure it out yourself,” with a helpless expression.
But at least she finally shut up and didn’t say anything more.
“Suddenly not that hungry. You two eat.”
She slowly stood up and smiled. “Sorry, I talked a bit too much just now.”
Ivy didn’t think much of it, assuming Li Yanqiu was just being friendly, and didn’t try to stop her.
“Okay.”
In the end, the food they ordered plus what Li Yanqiu had ordered made two huge platters—they couldn’t finish it all.
They could only pack the leftovers to take back for Dad, which also counted as treating him.
After eating and drinking their fill, Gu Chen sent Ivy back to the school gate, then rode her electric bike home.
“Hah~~~”
Yawning, she opened the door and found the living room light on.
“Dad, you’re back.”
“Here, Ivy treated us. There’s a lot left over. You can eat it while you’re home.”
Seeing that he was already home, Gu Chen walked over and handed him the barbecue.
“Not bad, kid. You’re learning to take care of your old dad.”
Dad took it, but the food had already gone a bit cold, so he put it in the fridge. He’d already eaten anyway.
Since he was back, Gu Chen decided to ask him directly.
“By the way, how did things go with Boss Guo?”
Those pieces of evidence were all obtained through Ivy’s hard work.
She didn’t know how much they’d help, but she hoped they’d make that guy pay.
After all the bad things he’d done, it was time for him to face the consequences.
“Pretty smoothly. Those pieces of evidence were very useful. After the police submitted them, they arrested Boss Guo at noon. When his streamers found out, they also rushed to report him, saying they were victims of commercial fraud and had signed an overlord contract. This has attracted attention, and they’re currently interrogating him.”
Dad summarized the situation briefly.
“That’s good. Let him pay back all his debts at once.”
Since that was the case, there shouldn’t be any problems. She could finally relax.
The victims, including Dad, weren’t being too harsh—they only wanted compensation.
Counting the streamers, they’d been cheated out of about two million in income.
There was no need to put him in jail; just make him cough up the money.
The rest was back taxes and fines.
“Yeah, but that guy was pretty funny. When they questioned him, he kept shouting for his lawyer, saying he wouldn’t say anything until his lawyer got there. Obviously watched too many Hong Kong movies.”
“Haha, it looks like all his talent went into brainwashing.”
Gu Chen couldn’t help laughing.
Using capitalist tricks under socialism—he really was one of a kind.
But she was still a little worried, so she turned and asked, “Is the lawyer he hired any good? Can he get Boss Guo off the hook?”
“I don’t know.
I was there watching for a bit.
The lawyer was pretty young, last name… Zhang, I think.
Not sure how good he is.”
“Mm. I hope that lawyer Zhang doesn’t argue that two-million fine out of existence.”
Gu Chen nodded.
It was too early to worry about all that.
The trial would be a long process—there might not even be a result this year.
But the partnership was definitely over.
The question now was whether to find a new streaming company or try to promote on their own.
And she had only one request: don’t reveal any personal information.
Otherwise, she’d never be able to show her face at school again!
Seeing how late it was, Gu Chen didn’t chat any longer.
She went back to her room, took a shower, and changed into clean clothes.
She also sent a message to Long Fei, telling her about Boss Guo.
She asked her to go file a report the next day too.
The more people, the faster the process.
The next morning, Gu Chen was woken up by her alarm clock again.
She slowly got up, washed up, and headed to school.
“What’s going on?”
Just as she reached the gate, she saw a line in front.
They seemed to be all commuting students from the school.
“You can’t bring this in. Either throw it away or leave it here.”
The security guard checked the commuting students’ bags and found a lot of outside breakfast.
He took it away.
Only after confirming everything was fine did he let them through.
No one knew what was going on.
Gu Chen’s heart skipped a beat, immediately feeling a sense of dread.
“What the heck? No breakfast allowed anymore?”