"My god! Is the entire school here? Is our junior going to be completely broke again after today?" Lu Ziyu marveled as he surveyed the sea of people, noting that some were already seated at the tables, waiting to eat.
It was his first time seeing such a grand spectacle. The school cafeteria didn’t count—that was absolutely nothing compared to this!
As for why Gan Lan might become broke again, one had to trace it back to the recent Star Network incident. The fact that she had borrowed money from Professor Ye had been exposed! In short, every detail of her past had been dug up. Now, she had absolutely no secrets left on the Star Network.
Yan Yifei sniffed the fragrant aroma permeating the air. Hearing Lu Ziyu’s words, he wasn’t worried in the slightest. At worst, he would just go to her live stream and shower her with gifts. How could she possibly become broke again?
Pinpointing Gan Lan’s exact location from among the millions of people in the crowd, he walked toward her.
"Hey! Captain, wait for me," Lu Ziyu called out, hurriedly picking up his pace to keep up with Yan Yifei.
Gan Lan put down the plate in her hand and looked up gently at the two approaching men. "You’re here? I’ll take you to your seats. I specifically saved a spot for you guys. You can sit with Wen Ningyue and the others.
"Here, sit in these spots. I made those myself, but you’ll have to wait a bit longer. If you want anything to eat, just grab it from the table over there. I’ve already prepared some dipping sauces next to the ingredients for you to try, or you can mix your own.
"I need to get back to work now. I’ll come eat with you guys in a bit!" she added, shaking her slightly sore hands as she pointed to the ingredient station, which was set up somewhat like a buffet hot pot.
"Mhm, go ahead and do your thing. We’ll handle it ourselves." Lu Ziyu’s eyes were already glued to the ingredient table. He was already mentally calculating what he would grab to cook first, completely indifferent to whether Gan Lan stayed by their side or not.
Yan Yifei sat at the table, pursing his lips before telling Gan Lan, "Thank you for your hard work. You’ve already done an excellent job."
Gan Lan shook her head and smiled. "It’s not hard work at all. I love watching you all eat the food I make." After saying that, she called out in response to someone shouting for her in the distance and hurried over to them.
Yan Yifei automatically filtered out the word "all" from her sentence. His brows relaxed, and his previous gloominess was instantly swept away. As he watched Gan Lan’s departing back, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
Gao Haiyang and Mu Hanyu, who arrived shortly after, witnessed this very scene. Gao Haiyang had grown somewhat immune to Yan Yifei’s unusually frequent smiles lately, but when Mu Hanyu saw his smile, she thought it was directed at her and happily ran toward him.
Catching sight of Mu Hanyu from the corner of his eye, Yan Yifei immediately dropped his smile. A wave of annoyance washed over him. How could this person be so oblivious to reading the room? And why did Gao Haiyang have to bring this annoying pest along?
"Captain, why did you guys come first by yourselves? I almost couldn’t find you. I’ve been wandering around forever. If I hadn’t run into Junior Gan Lan, I’d probably still be searching," Gao Haiyang said, curling his lips.
Although Lu Ziyu wanted to watch the drama unfold between Yan Yifei and Mu Hanyu, he had also witnessed her unreasonable, relentless pestering over the years and genuinely sympathized with Yan Yifei. Besides, eating a meal with Mu Hanyu was downright uncomfortable.
"Why did you bring her? Our junior didn’t even invite her!" Lu Ziyu whispered to Gao Haiyang, his tone rather unceremonious.
"It’s not like you don’t know! She kept tugging on my sleeve, and I couldn’t shake her off. Plus, I can’t beat her in a fight!" Gao Haiyang replied, sounding wronged.
"You weakling! You can’t even beat a girl from the Pharmacy Department! Could you be any more useless?" Lu Ziyu spat in disdain.
Gao Haiyang snorted and turned his head, deciding to ignore him. So what if he couldn’t win a fight?
Meanwhile, seeing Mu Hanyu take the seat right next to him, Yan Yifei immediately stood up. He pointed to his previous seat and told Gao Haiyang, "You sit here!"
Mu Hanyu’s eyes turned slightly red as she looked over at Yan Yifei. Was she really that annoying to him?
Yan Yifei didn’t even spare her a glance. He simply sat down in his new spot, his eyes scanning the area for Gan Lan’s figure.
Mu Hanyu knew she could be pretty annoying at times, but she really, really liked him. Seeing Yan Yifei avoid her like the plague was truly hurtful.
Gao Haiyang curled his lips and walked over to sit in Yan Yifei’s original seat. There was nothing he could do. Since he was the one who brought her here, he had to suffer the consequences.
Wang Bin and Wen Ningyue sprinted over the moment their classes ended, with Wu Mingyu arriving closely behind them.
At a quarter past six, Gan Lan walked to the center of the plaza with a microphone. "I now announce that the hot pot banquet has officially begun! Thank you all for your support and encouragement. Eat and drink to your heart’s content."
This was Gan Lan’s second time standing in the center of this venue, though she harbored entirely different feelings this time.
The first time, she had applied for a live competition to prove she hadn’t plagiarized. Although her opponent had run away halfway through, the competition had essentially morphed into a teaching conference.
But this time, she was spending someone else’s Credit Points to host her own treat. Her mood went without saying—she even felt an incredible sense of satisfaction! This was something she had never experienced in her past life.
Looking at the densely packed crowd in the plaza, all waiting in eager anticipation for the banquet to start, she found the feeling truly indescribable.
The interstellar population was truly massive. There were at least thirty million people here today. The school’s total population, including students and faculty, was only a little over ten million, so the rest were likely viewers from her live stream and students from the neighboring academy.
She was confident that Huaxia hot pot would become an absolute sensation across the entire Mingyang Star tomorrow.
There was nothing that a good hot pot meal couldn’t solve; and if one meal couldn’t solve it, then two definitely would!
"I’m sure I don’t need to explain how to eat hot pot one by one, right? The upperclassmen have already learned how, so if you have any questions, you can ask them." As soon as Gan Lan finished speaking, she was met with thunderous applause, along with loud screams and declarations of love.
"Gan Lan, I love you! You are my one and only goddess!"
Many others in the crowd soon followed suit, joining in the uproar to confess their love.
Stepping down from the stage, Gan Lan stumbled and almost tripped. It was truly her first time hearing so many people passionately confess their love, and she felt rather embarrassed.
Seeing Gan Lan nearly fall, the crowd erupted in loud laughter. "Haha, our junior is definitely blushing!"
Gan Lan was speechless. They really thought they knew everything! Whatever, she wasn’t going to stoop to their level. She had been busy all day and was starving to death. She needed to hurry up and eat some hot pot.
"Ah! You can actually eat it like this? This lotus root is so good."
"I think the beef is the best, though the rest is great too."
"Pork belly is the absolute best! I won’t accept any arguments!"
Passing by table after table, Gan Lan occasionally caught snippets of their loud, lively discussions. She felt quite proud. After all, at every single table she walked past, people were raving about how delicious the hot pot was. It gave her a profound sense of accomplishment and immense pride that she came from the culinary nation of Huaxia. Seeing this group of people make such a fuss over the food brought her great delight.
Professor Ye and the Dean had also arrived, so she decided to check if the teachers needed anything first.
Gan Lan greeted them one by one. "Principal, Vice Principal, Dean, Professor Ye, Mr. Liang Cong—hello, teachers.
"Is the food to your liking? If you need anything at all, just let me know and I’ll fetch it for you."
Hearing Gan Lan’s offer, the old man waved his hand. "No need. You’ve been busy all day, so hurry up and get something to eat. I know you feel uncomfortable hanging around a bunch of teachers like us. Run along, we can get things ourselves. You did a great job with the banquet today!"
The rest of the teachers eagerly chimed in with their praises. "You did exceptionally well. It’s so fun, and the flavors are unexpectedly exquisite."
Gan Lan nodded and left it at that. It was true that staying with the teachers felt a bit awkward. "Alright then, I’ll go grab a bite. Enjoy your meal, teachers."
After Gan Lan left, the Principal and Vice Principal, who were seated at the table, watched her retreating figure and nodded approvingly.
"This student is truly quite impressive. Very generous!"
The old man scoffed in triumph. "Like I needed you to tell me that! Make sure you give Gan Lan a fifty percent discount!"
"Alright, alright, we’ll definitely give her a discount. We can’t be stingy after she’s treated us to such a feast—a discount is a must!" the young Vice Principal in casual attire agreed.
Having secured the promise, the Dean nodded in satisfaction. Gan Lan’s budget of over a hundred million Credit Points definitely wouldn’t be enough to cover all this, so he was using this opportunity to negotiate a discount for her.
The teachers fell speechless. The Dean was becoming increasingly calculating these days. It seemed this student had thoroughly won him over; otherwise, he wouldn’t have gone out of his way to explicitly ask for a discount on her behalf.