The entire audience burst into laughter.

"Hahaha, this is 20,000 yuan, not 200 or 2,000! Don't come crying to Miss Su later and begging her to pay for it."

"Waiter, don't listen to him, he definitely doesn't have the money to pay."

The waiter, being a professionally trained individual, maintained a polite smile upon hearing this and simply said to Zhou Yi, "Yes, sir, I'll pack three portions for you right away."

Then he quietly walked out and closed the door to the private room.

Xu Ping's heart skipped a beat. He had never seen so much money before. He said uneasily, "Brother, you've really messed things up. What if she doesn't pay?"

Zhou Yi calmly waved his hand: "Don't worry, I won't be the one who loses face later."

Seeing Zhou Yi's unwavering resolve, Xu Ping decided against further persuasion.

He noticed that Zhou Yi hadn't eaten much, so why did he pack three portions to take home?

After waiting for another ten minutes or so, everyone had finished eating.

Su Qingjiao still hadn't returned, and Hermione was starting to feel uneasy. At this point, everyone began to feel anxious and suggested that they go look for Su Qingjiao.

Just as a few people were about to get up, the door to the private room was knocked on again.

Everyone's faces lit up with joy, and they looked towards the door.

"Honorable guests, here is your bill. May I ask which guest is set to pay?" A beautiful and elegant waitress entered the room.

This beautiful woman, who is clearly so stunning, appears to everyone as a vengeful debt collector.

Everyone looked at each other, but no one dared to speak.

The waiter, still flashing his standard eight-tooth smile, repeated, "Which VIP is set to pay the bill?"

If Hao Min continued to remain silent, it would be suspected that she was trying to renege on her debt, so someone nudged her with their elbow.

"Hao Min, why don't you give Miss Su a call?"

Hao Min knew Su Qingjiao's secret the most, and she panicked the most. She immediately and nervously made a video call to Su Qingjiao, but the call was automatically disconnected without being answered.

This...this...

Why aren't you answering?

At this point, everyone finally began to panic.

Seeing that Hao Min's calls went unanswered, the other classmates also took out their phones to call Su Qingjiao.

A few minutes later, everyone's faces turned pale.

"What does it mean that Miss Su isn't answering her phone? She just went out and suddenly disappeared. Could it be that she doesn't want to...?"

No way.

Did Su Qingjiao skip out on the bill?!

But they were able to come here to eat today because Miss Su said she would pay the bill!

One of the quick-witted people immediately stood up and said nervously, "Well, I'll go check the door. Miss Su is probably still there."

Seeing someone trying to sneak out of the bill, who cares who pays? Let's just leave and worry about it later!

A dozen or so people suddenly stood up: "We'll go with you to see it."

Everyone present knew they were trying to sneak out; with so much money, how could these students possibly afford it! Someone immediately sneered:

"Don't even think about sneaking away. With Miss Su gone, everyone is responsible for this bill."

Even when the waitress saw this, she maintained her gentle and sweet demeanor.

She smiled and kindly reminded everyone, but changed the way she addressed the guests: "For the safety of our customers, the restaurant has surveillance cameras everywhere. In this information age, everything is open and transparent."

“If the amount exceeds three thousand yuan, the police can open a case for investigation.”

"If a customer can afford to dine at Black Pearl, they must be quite well-off."

After a pause, the waiter added, "It's okay if you don't have any money on you right now. The restaurant closes at midnight, so you can call your family to pay."

"If all else fails, you can apply for Alipay's Jiebei or use a credit card; our store supports both."

The students: "......."

Perhaps knowing they couldn't pay, and since Miss Su, who could pay, was nowhere to be seen, the waiter simply opened the door to the private room.

As soon as everyone looked up, they could see several security guards holding stun batons standing outside the private room.

The powerful deterrent made them give up any thoughts of skipping out on paying.

Thinking about this exorbitantly priced lunch, everyone's faces grew increasingly grim, as if they had just eaten not a delicious and expensive meal, but rather disgusting excrement.

What should I do? What should I do?!

For an average family, seven thousand yuan is equivalent to a month's salary for an office worker!

How could these students afford it?

At this moment—

“It seems Miss Su has left. There’s no point in investigating why she skipped out on the bill now. Luckily, we had a set meal, so let’s each pay our own.” The male classmate, whose family owns a small processing plant, suddenly spoke up, dividing the bill among the group.

His family has some money, but they still can't afford his monthly living expenses.

But he couldn't possibly come up with tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan to be a sucker.

If no one speaks up and no one pays the bill, some 'smart' people will morally blackmail them, forcing a few wealthy people in the class to step in and chip in to pay the bill together.

Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that no one else was making this suggestion, he quickly stood up and told the waiter, "We all ate the set meals per person, so we'll each pay our own way."

"I'll pay six thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight yuan, okay?"

The waiter nodded politely and took out a QR code for payment: "Yes, sir. Cash, please go to the front desk."

"You can scan the code here."

Without saying a word, the boy paid with his own money.

The cost of more than half a month's living expenses really stung him, but for the sake of his pride, he couldn't show his pain. After paying, he swaggered out of the private room.

The few students in the class who could afford to pay exchanged glances, then quickly scanned the code and left with long faces.

A meal costs nearly 7,000 yuan!

Not everyone can produce it immediately.

Most of the students stood there helplessly, watching those who had paid leave.

As more and more people left, someone blushed and asked to borrow money: "Wait, we're such good friends, don't leave me behind, lend me some money, I swear I'll pay you back."

The person who borrowed money showed everyone their change: "It's not that I don't want to help you, I really don't have any money. This meal cost me two months' worth of living expenses, so I'll be going now."

"If you have a credit card, use it. If you don't, hurry up and borrow money from your family."

After saying that, he left the private room with a swift movement.

Those who could afford it all left.

Those who are pampered by their parents can only call them to ask for money.

The remaining students were at a loss and scared by the seven thousand yuan: "Waaah, what should I do, what should I do... If my parents find out I'm being held here, they'll beat me to death."

One of the female students suddenly broke down and cried.

Her parents are from the countryside and have a strong preference for sons over daughters. Seven thousand yuan is a month's salary for both of them combined!

How could she dare to call her parents for help?

"Mom, waaaaah, it's me! Please don't tell Dad, I'm being held at the restaurant, they want me to pay..."

"Dad, could you transfer five thousand yuan to me? I..." Some people had no choice but to call their parents crying.