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

Just then, a hand landed on his shoulder, and a familiar voice came from behind his ear.

"Old Hu, what's wrong? You look a bit down."

Hearing this voice, Hu Shuo felt a surge of joy and quickly turned around only to see, sure enough, Kang Jia who had been missing for two days.

"Kang, how did you come back?" Hu Shuo softly punched Kang Jia, slightly resenting him for leaving without saying goodbye.

"I came back to check on you guys," he replied.

Kang Jia smiled slightly, his gaze falling on the classmates who had just been whispering among themselves, his expression a bit complex.

He had come around from the back door, catching every word of the discussions along the way.

He hadn't expected that Hu Shuo, who had always stood in front of Bi Jian defending everyone's rights, had such a poor reputation among his peers.

Some people even blatantly slandered Hu Shuo's reputation, accusing him of taking bribes and selling out.

It was truly disheartening.

"Kang, you didn't even think to take me with you when you left, that's not very brotherly!" Hu Shuo pretended to be angry, although he knew why Kang Jia had left quietly.

It was nothing more than the fear that these classmates wouldn't let him go, with too many entanglements, and he might have stayed out of soft-heartedness.

"Haha, we'll talk about that later. Let's solve the salary issue first."

Kang Jia patted Hu Shuo on the shoulder and then looked towards Manager Zhou and Manager Tang, who were still frowning at him.

"Money, you must give us enough, the base salary plus overtime for developing 'Simulating Billionaire,' not a cent less, all of it must be given to us!"

Kang Jia stood tall, pointing at the two managers as he spoke.

Hu Shuo's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Kang Jia in front of him.

Just two days away from Sword Barrier Network, and how had Kang gotten so bold?

If this annoyed Tang Zhou, wouldn't the half base salary that he had just painstakingly negotiated also go down the drain?

They had no labor contract, no internship agreement, it was completely "under the table work." How much they were paid was entirely dependent on what Manager Zhou and Manager Tang felt like giving.

But if this really pissed them off and they decided not to pay, then they really wouldn't be able to get a cent!

Sure enough, Fatty Tang, who had just been all smiles, suddenly darkened his face.

Manager Zhou also turned his expression into a long face, clearly angered.

"Kang Jia, you deserted the company at a critical moment. Since you've left, why come back?"

"Do you realize how much loss your absence as a technical manager has caused our company over these two days? And you still want to take money? Dream on."

"We haven't fined you yet, and that's generous enough!"

Fatty Tang looked at Kang Jia coldly, his face full of displeasure.

Zhou Dan too pointed at Kang Jia and preemptively accused him.

Initially, considering Hu Shuo's face, they had still planned to spend some money to gain a good reputation.

Now with Kang Jia suddenly showing up and bossing them around, they weren't willing to give that face anymore.

"In my opinion, none of you deserve a penny! Ungrateful wretches. The company has treated you well, and now you think about stripping us of our assets!"

Zhou Dan immediately reneged on what had previously been agreed with Hu Shuo, bombarding everyone with his tirade.

Hu Shuo was dumbfounded; the concessions he had painfully negotiated for so long were nullified by a single statement from Kang.

"Kang, this..."

Hu Shuo opened his mouth, wanting to suggest that Kang lower his head a bit, but seeing that Kang still looked serious, he swallowed his words.

The classmates behind them started talking again.

"Damn, we were finally about to get half the salary, and now Kang has to screw it up!"

"Yeah! He ran off without wanting his money, and now he's made us lose out too!"

"It's over, we won't get even a thousand yuan now."

"I don't think Kang is that kind of person..."

"Cut it, the fact now is that Kang has pissed off Manager Zhou and Manager Tang, and the half salary we just negotiated is also going down the drain!"

"…"

Hu Shuo's forehead veins bulged, and his fists clenched with a cracking noise.

He immediately started cursing at everyone:

"Enough! You ungrateful lot, who among you hasn't been helped by Kang during your time at the company?"

"Xiao Qi, have you forgotten that night when you couldn't finish the module, and Kang stayed up all night to get it done for you?"

"Hong Yun, last month when you spent all your money on dating, who lent you money for food?"

"..."

"One by one, I tolerated your gossips behind my back, but slandering Kang, I, Hu Shuo, will be the first to not accept it!"

Hu Shuo, unable to bear it anymore, listed all the past incidents where everyone had been helped by Kang.

Since childhood, Hu Shuo had dealt with manure in his village and sold rotten fruits by the roadside; he had heard all sorts of gossip and could endure others badmouthing him due to his thick skin.

But Kang Jia was truly a genuinely kind person, usually quiet but deeply caring towards everyone.

Yet these people wouldn't stand up for him and even stabbed him in the back.

This was intolerable!

He now just wanted to leave Sword Barrier with Kang, letting this ungrateful group handle their own wage disputes!

"Old Hu, we are all classmates, don't take it too much to heart, we'll still need to face each other in future."

Kang Jia once again showed his kind nature, soothingly patting Hu Shuo's shoulder.

Then he turned back and continued speaking to Zhou Dan:

"I don't care what excuses you have, since you are key managers at Sword Barrier Network, you must pay us for our hard work during this period."

"That's the hard-earned money of our seventeen workers, night and day, earned with our physical labor, and not a penny should be missing!"

Kang Jia stretched out his hand, righteously demanding their wages from Zhou Dan and Fatty Tang.

"Tch, that sounds magnanimous, do you really think we'll pay? You're just a bunch of used-up donkeys with no value left, get lost!"

Zhou Dan scoffed, paying no mind to Kang Jia's words.

Now that things had come to this, the two sides had essentially broken off relations, so there was no point in pretending.

Whether playing the good cop or the bad cop, putting on a stern face now was the way to go.

"Haha, if you really had the ability, you would bring the labor bureau or someone influential to claim your wages. Do you have that?"

Fatty Tang also wore a mocking expression, his words laced with ridicule.

A bunch of poor students, what kind of backing could they possibly have? If they had any real power, they wouldn't have come to Sword Barrier Network in the first place.

"You!" Hu Shuo's teeth were almost crushed in anger, wishing he could rush up and slap their disgusting faces.

Kang Jia stopped him, shaking his head at him.

Then he looked towards the company's back door.

"Tang Qibing, Zhou Dan, you've really opened my eyes, Qin Hong. Have you forgotten what we talked about the day before yesterday?"

Qin Hong strode in, her face as cold as ice.

She had just listened outside with Gu Yu and others for a long time and had seen through these people completely.

"When you release the students' salaries, the one million deposit you pressed down at the incubator will also be returned to you."

"I've said it, a penny less from the wages, a penny less from the deposit. You wouldn't doubt the capabilities of Qin Hong, would you?"

Qin Hong's gaze swept coldly over the two, viewing them like two clowns jumping around.

"Sister, so cool!"

Lin Xinyue was deeply impressed by the imposing aura of this mature woman.

Gu Yu was also surprised as he looked at Qin Hong.

He initially thought Qin Hong was just a regular dean's assistant, but now, it seemed she had other impressive abilities!

————

PS: Many of the plots here are adapted from my own experiences, whether you believe them or not, reality is even more disgusting than this.

Just take it as a joke.