At this moment, a portly male classmate stood up, holding a trident-shaped key, and pointed at the manager. "I heard this hotel is under Santiloman." He then pointed at Zhang Ming, "This man is a director from the headquarters of Santiloman. If you want to keep your job, you'd better handle this quickly."
Why did he stand up to speak for this woman? Because he had just added her as a friend and they had already arranged to chat privately that evening.
So, if not now, when should he make a move?
Lu Qiaoya frowned, lost in thought.
"I'll pay for this dress."
All eyes turned to Xiao Xun, who had spoken. If he hadn't said anything, no one would have noticed him.
Zhang Ming knew Xiao Xun could afford it but wondered why he was stepping in.
Then he stood up and went to Xiao Xun's side, patting his shoulder. "Third brother, I'll handle this. You don't need to worry about it, okay?"
Xiao Xun glanced at Zhang Ming and nodded. "Okay."
Upon hearing that Zhang Ming was a director at Santiloman, the manager dared not be negligent. "Director Zhang, how do you wish to handle this?"
"It's nothing. You guys carry on with your work!"
The manager, as if granted a great pardon, was about to leave.
"Wait."
All eyes turned to Xiao Xun again. Xiao Xun calmly said, "Let's put the dress aside for now. What about the assault?"
The manager was taken aback, thinking, "What assault?"
He shot a glare at the waitress and then turned to Xiao Xun, "Sir, our hotel's service staff are all professionally trained and guaranteed not to retaliate if attacked or insult if insulted. Is there perhaps some misunderstanding here?"
Xiao Xun pointed at the woman. "No misunderstanding. I didn't say your waitress assaulted someone. She slapped the waitress just now. How do you explain that?"
Everyone fell silent, thinking, "Why is there a contrarian here? We're all classmates; we can't side with a waitress, can we?"
Zhang Ming walked to Xiao Xun's side and whispered, "Didn't we agree I'd handle this?"
Xiao Xun feigned sudden realization. "Oh! My apologies. I just felt you were handling it unfairly and couldn't help but say something."
Seeing the blame shifting to her, the woman became indignant. She walked directly to Xiao Xun. "Why are you acting like a big shot here? Do you need to play the good guy? So what if I hit her?"
Saying that, she turned, picked up her dress, and threw it directly at Xiao Xun. "If you're not happy, you pay for it! As long as you pay, I'll apologize to the waitress."
Xiao Xun picked up the dress and saw the tag. "Oh! No wonder! It seems the hotel couldn't wash it for her, nor could she wash it herself, so she insisted the hotel pay. Turns out it's non-refundable!"
The woman blushed. "That's none of your business."
The other women nearby began to whisper. Earlier, while chatting outside, she had presented herself as a socialite, but now her facade was cracking.
Women are perceptive. Although their whispers were quiet, to her, they sounded like heavy hammer blows, like thunderclaps by her ears. Sweat began to stream down her face.
And the "culprit" who caused all this was Xiao Xun.
She pointed at Xiao Xun. "You have the nerve to talk about me? As if you're so rich. We're all just ordinary folks. I just wanted to look good seeing my old classmates, what's wrong with that? Unlike you, who just throws on a curtain and comes out."
Xiao Xun looked at his clothes. Although they weren't designer, he felt he shouldn't be spoken to like that. He was displeased. "At least I'm genuine, unlike you who's vain and superficial."
"You're genuine? You're genuinely incompetent. Look around your dormmates, who isn't better off than you? Zhang Ming is a director at Santiloman, Wang Pinggang is a rich second generation, and Lu Qiaoya, you can't even compare. You worthless bum, you still have the nerve to stand up for others? Aren't you ashamed?"
Zhang Ming's face instantly turned red, whether from anger or embarrassment. He roared, "Enough! You shut up! Xiao Xun is my good brother, my benefactor. You are not allowed to talk about him like that."
Xiao Xun put a hand on Zhang Ming's arm and picked up the dress. "Fine. You said it. I'll pay for this dress, and you don't need to apologize to the waitress. Have the waitress return that slap, alright?"
The woman, still furious, shouted, "Fine."
Then she added, "But I'm telling you, don't you dare pull out a credit card to show off. I don't have a POS machine."
Xiao Xun patted his pockets. He had left in a hurry and hadn't brought his wallet. He was accustomed to not carrying money in his other life, and now he was caught in an awkward situation.
"Who carries cash these days? I'll scan the code for you, okay?"
The woman gritted her teeth. "Fine, why not?"
Xiao Xun patted his pockets again. His phone was also in the car. "I forgot my phone. I'll go get it."
Quite a few people started to chuckle, whispering, "He's broke but still pretends to be someone."
Xiao Xun took out his car keys and handed them to the manager next to him. "Could you please get my phone for me?"
Everyone who saw Xiao Xun's car keys was stunned. The woman, although her socialite persona was fake, recognized the logo. "Getting a lighter? You're quite well-equipped!"
As the manager took the keys, Xiao Xun's face became more familiar. His hairstyle was so ugly that she couldn't quite place him immediately.
While she was hesitating, Lu Qiaoya, seated in the center, raised his hand and spoke. "No need to trouble you. I'll pay for the dress."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Ming quickly moved behind Lu Qiaoya and patted his shoulder. "How can we let you, the boss, pay? We agreed I would handle it just now."
The reason for his deference to Lu Qiaoya was not just his status and background, but more importantly, Lu Qiaoya was returning to China to take on the role of CTO at Longtan Group. Longtan Group had just completed the acquisition of Santiloman Group, making Lu Qiaoya's position undeniable. Perhaps, relying on this powerful backing, he could become the general manager, or even the president, of Santiloman.
This was why Zhang Ming had gone to such lengths. He feared that if he called alone, people wouldn't come.
Zhang Ming also wanted to showcase his capabilities. If he had to pay for this dress himself, he could only resort to cashing out from his credit card, as he had been stretched thin financially recently with all the new outfits he had acquired.
Lu Qiaoya reached into his clutch bag and placed a stack of cash on the table. "We're all old acquaintances. There's no need to make things so stiff over a dress. Consider this dress a gift to Xiao Qi."
Everyone present knew that the stack of cash was undoubtedly worth far more than the dress itself.
Zhang Ming, despite his limited means, wanted to maintain his image. As the initiator of this reunion, he had to mediate any incidents.
He picked up the money Lu Qiaoya had placed on the table and pushed it back to him.
They pushed it back and forth for a while. The president of the student association also advised Lu Qiaoya to accept the money. When the president spoke, almost everyone urged Lu Qiaoya to keep it.
Lu Qiaoya then relented. He looked at Xiao Xun. "Third brother, where are you working now?"
Xiao Xun looked at Lu Qiaoya. "I'm currently unemployed, I suppose."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Qi immediately scoffed at Xiao Xun, thinking, "As expected, he's just a show-off."
Lu Qiaoya extended an olive branch. "Oh! I remember back when we were studying, your computer skills were quite impressive. Are you interested in joining my team?"
Xiao Xun had no particular inclination at the moment, but he was curious about what Lu Qiaoya was doing now. So, he asked, "Boss, where are you working now?"
Lu Qiaoya smiled. "It's nothing special. I started a small company abroad, and later it was acquired by Longtan Group. So they asked me to come back and be a junior leader in their main company."
Everyone exclaimed in surprise. Indeed, comparing people made you want to die, and comparing goods made you want to throw them away.
The fact that he started his own company and was acquired by Longtan Group, and that Lu Qiaoya was appointed their CTO, spoke volumes about his exceptional talent.