I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

Chen Ya replied with a smile, "Yes."

He paused for a moment, then said, "What I'm more curious about is, sir, how did you come to know me? Where have you seen me before?"

Old Master Lu looked very unhappy, or rather, he always had a sour face, though it wasn't necessarily directed at Chen Ya.

Anyway, he always had this expression whenever Chen Ya saw him.

"Two years ago, I met you once, at the Ministry of State Security," Grandpa Lu said in a low voice. "You were on some kind of mission in Japan, weren't you? You made quite a big fuss about it."

Chen Ya was slightly taken aback, then gave a thumbs up: "You're amazing."

If we turn back time 20 years, from the perspective of Old Master Lu, it would be a novel about having incredible connections and a sense of exhilaration.

Their sons were all outstanding, and their former subordinates were all powerful figures. Once they entered the business world, they immediately became successful and quickly became a prominent family.

If Chen Ya hadn't had a system that truly gave him an unfair advantage, he would never have been able to compare with a prestigious family like the Lu family.

"I'm not that great, I'm old. I just have a lot of old subordinates."

After finishing his sentence, Old Master Lu sighed, his voice filled with weariness.

Chen Ya stared at him, wondering what he was trying to do by telling her all this.

He was indeed quite surprised that Old Master Lu was able to see him there.

Two years ago, that was when Beichen encountered a bottleneck.

As Beichen gradually rose to prominence globally, it coincided with a period of great power rivalry, leading to the company's first experience of being technologically hampered.

At that time, the company was on the verge of collapse. In order to solve this problem, he went to Japan under cover.

After returning, all the technical problems were resolved, and he also managed to upgrade his "ace spy" title in the system to the highest level.

As a side effect, he brought home a cat-like girl named Ruriko, who stayed at his house and did nothing but eat and drink all day.

Old Master Lu stared at Chen Ya for a while, then suddenly said, "I'm here to negotiate with you."

Chen Ya slightly raised his eyes: "What are the conditions?"

……

……

As the fireworks gradually faded, the words "Happy Wedding" disappeared into the air, and the four characters "Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity, and Happiness" in the distance also vanished.

The entire main hall fell into a deathly silence.

Not only were the visitors unaware of what was happening, but even the members of the Lu family were confused.

Inside the main hall, the lights that had been dimmed were turned on again, and people saw two men stride in aggressively from the entrance.

A member of the Lu family guarding the entrance asked, "Who are you? How did you get up here?" Before he could finish his question, he was pushed aside.

Committee Member Gao stood up, squinted at the other side, and looked somewhat surprised and uncertain.

The two people walked up to him and his great-grandmother and bowed deeply.

Who are you?

As Commissioner Gao asked the question, he looked at the two people in front of him: one was burly and strong, and the other was thin and wiry.

"Hello, Great-Grandma, hello, Committee Member Gao, I am Pei Hu," the burly man said with a smile. "This is Cui Lingfeng."

Committee Member Gao stared at the two of them. He knew Pei Hu, a well-known entrepreneur who had recently risen to prominence, and whose actions were somewhat ruthless and not in line with established families, so he hadn't invited him.

As for who Cui Lingfeng, who was beside him, he had no idea.

I wonder what they're doing here.

Seemingly guessing his thoughts, Pei Hu said loudly, "I am here on behalf of Beichen's boss and founder, specifically to present three birthday gifts to Old Master Lu on his birthday!"

These words caused an uproar in the audience.

Chapter 297 Three Gifts

"I am here on behalf of Beichen's boss and founder, specifically to present three birthday gifts to Old Master Lu on his birthday!"

Upon hearing Pei Hu's words, the entire audience erupted in uproar, and guests from all sides began to discuss the matter animatedly.

"The boss of Beichen? He just said the boss of Beichen?"

"Does Old Master Lu still know the owner of Beichen? He even came all the way here to wish him a happy birthday?"

"So, this was the trump card the Lu family had been hiding?"

"Don't be ridiculous. How could the boss of Beichen possibly come to give gifts to Old Master Lu? As a rising force, if Beichen were to collude with established families, wouldn't that be tantamount to being complicit in corruption?"

"Don't talk nonsense. Old Master Lu has connections everywhere. I don't believe that Beichen has grown so big without the help of powerful families."

"But speaking of which, those fireworks weren't set off by the Lu family, were they? Who set them off then?"

...For a moment, discussions arose, and the entire main hall became noisy.

Those present were either business elites or group leaders, possessing more inside information than the average person.

This is precisely why their debate became even more intense.

Although those who attended Old Master Lu's birthday banquet were all people with good relations with the aristocratic families, some of them still found it quite unacceptable that Boss Beichen would send a congratulatory gift to Old Master Lu.

If the business world were to be divided into two factions, one would be companies controlled by established families and elites, while the other would be the entrepreneurial force of the new generation.

For a long time, to succeed in starting a business, one had to curry favor with established families; otherwise, the business would surely fail.

Beichen Company is unique in that it has never given any attitude to aristocratic families, and at the same time, it has become the strongest company in the world.

Therefore, for many startups, although they themselves bow to the established families, Beichen represents a totem in their hearts.

The idea that "I can bow my head, but Beichen cannot" holds a significant place in many people's subconscious.

For the scions of powerful families, the arrival of Beichen's boss to offer birthday greetings was tantamount to the enemy emperor personally coming to pay tribute and submit to them. Naturally, they were overjoyed.

This is the root of the controversy. It's also why Pei Hu's statement about delivering gifts on behalf of Boss Beichen caused such a huge uproar.

Committee Member Gao squinted at Pei Hu and said, "You said you're here to deliver a gift on behalf of the boss of Beichen? Are you and the boss of Beichen very familiar with each other? I've never heard of you before."

Pei Hu smiled broadly and said, "I'm very familiar with you. I used to be Mr. Chen's driver, so I was one of his confidants."

His words caused another uproar in the audience.

Although Pei Hu came from humble beginnings, he was still quite a figure in his own right. His sudden revelation that he used to drive for Boss Beichen naturally caused a sensation.

There was another thing that excited them: Pei Hu had just mentioned "President Chen".

For many years, these people have never known the real founder and boss of Beichen, only some people have speculated that such a person may exist.

Today, Pei Hu not only officially announced the existence of Beichen's boss, but also revealed that his surname is "Chen".

Among the Three Heroes of Beichen, none of them had the surname Chen.

Liu Ruying looked at Pei Hu on the stage and raised her eyebrows slightly in surprise.

She knew, of course, that Pei Hu had once been Chen Ya's driver, but she hadn't expected him to say it so easily in front of so many people.

He also has his own company. If this matter is exposed, how will he establish his authority in his own company in the future?

Liu Ruying thought to herself that Pei Hu was so open about it because he didn't think it was shameful to have driven for Chen Ya.

She couldn't help but wonder just how high Chen Ya's status was in the hearts of these people in the past.

Seeing the stunned Committee Member Gao, Pei Hu continued, "I know that what I said cannot be verified, but one of the three heroes of Beichen, Mr. Ishikawa Dongshi, is also here. We can ask him to testify to our relationship."

His words caused another uproar.

"Is President Shi here too? I didn't see him before."

Where is Mr. Shi?

At this moment, Lu Ruixiang and her family, who were sitting in the side hall, suddenly became nervous.

The side hall and the main hall were pseudo-partitions, with no thick wall in between, and the sound system was shared, so they naturally heard Pei Hu's words.

Lu Ruixiang, Chen Sheng, and Chen Hai all became apprehensive when they heard Pei Hu mention Ishikawa Dong.

Because they realized that they had made a huge oversight.

They didn't even inform the host family about Ishikawa Dong's sudden attendance at the Lu family's birthday banquet!

They were too shocked to notice the sudden arrival of Shi Chuandong and Zhao Yuanhai.

They thought that the host family knew they were coming and had deliberately arranged for them to be here.

When Ishikawa Toru, who was standing next to him, heard himself being called out, he looked up and adjusted his glasses.

Zhao Yuanhai, standing to the side, said, "President Shi, would you like to go and make a statement?"

Ishikawa Dong hesitated for a moment: "Let's go..."

He is in an unstable transitional state between social anxiety and social awkwardness; he is socially awkward in small circles but socially awkward among many unfamiliar people.

Zhao Yuanhai noticed his hesitation and said, "I'll go with you."

The two of them walked down from their seats, one after the other, and headed towards the front of the main hall.

When the two appeared in the sight of all the guests in the main hall, it immediately sparked even more whispers.

"It really is President Shi! He's really here!"

"And that's Zhao Yuanhai, Zhao Yuanhai from the Beijing branch, he's here too!"

"The Lu family actually arranged for them to sit in the side hall; I don't know what they were thinking..."

The two strode towards the main hall. Ishikawa Dong met Pei Hu's gaze, stood at the front of the table, and tried to raise his voice as he said, "Brother Hu does have a very good relationship with our...our boss. He used to be the boss's driver."

After Ishikawa Takashi finished speaking, the whispers from the audience grew louder.

Miao Aoxue, sitting in the audience, turned pale and asked in a low voice, "The boss of Beichen they're talking about, is he... Chen Ya?"

Li Jiayi, sitting to the side, shook his head. He didn't know, and he couldn't believe it.

Yang Changshuo and Cao Kunguan, on the other hand, remained calmly seated, with expressions of waiting to see the performance.

"The first gift that President Chen gave to Old Master Lu... you can come over now."

Pei Hu waved to the door, and a woman slowly walked in.

Upon seeing the woman, many people present simultaneously let out a soft "Eh."

"Mom?" Lu Ningna suddenly stood up, her face showing surprise.

The woman who appeared at the door was the matriarch of the Lu family, Lu Yuanlong's first wife, and Lu Ningna's biological mother.

The woman walked over, sobbing, and slowly opened her arms to Lu Ningna. Lu Ningna ran off her seat and threw herself into the woman's arms.

Pei Hu said, "My boss confirmed that this Mrs. Chai is not closely related to the Aihua Company's alleged monopoly and illegal operations, so she was granted bail. We brought her here as our first gift."

Both Mrs. Yu and Committee Member Gao turned pale. Although the scene of the mother and daughter reuniting was very touching, the guests sitting below were more surprised than sympathetic when they discussed it.

Aihua Company is involved in one of the largest economic crime cases in recent years. In principle, even if Mrs. Chai was not involved, the investigation would still take a long time.

That's why this strange scene occurred: Beichen's boss bailed out the Lu family members. It wasn't that Beichen overstepped his bounds, but rather that there were things the Lu family couldn't do that Beichen could.

Simply put, Bei Chen took a shortcut and used the principle of doing things expediently to get the Lu family out of trouble.

Of course, the old foxes like Committee Member Gao wouldn't be so presumptuous as to think that Beichen Company was showing goodwill to them and that they should take action. On the contrary, Beichen was still flexing its muscles and demonstrating in a subtle way.

Otherwise, why would they send the person back in front of so many people, at Old Master Lu's birthday banquet? Wouldn't it have been easier to just secretly bring the person back?

Lu Ningna, sobbing uncontrollably, lifted her head from her mother's arms and looked at Pei Hu with a hint of resentment.

If she was still confused and didn't understand the truth before, she should have understood it by now.

She already knew the true identity of that carefree, nonchalant man who had locked himself up for three days.

Today, he released his mother, claiming it was a birthday gift for Old Master Lu, but in reality, it was a gift for himself.

Pei Hu smiled and said, "The second big gift is about to be revealed... Let's get started!"

Suddenly, a noise came from the doorway, followed by a scream.

Suddenly, people saw that the lean man that Pei Hu had brought was already at the door, kneeling on one knee with a man under his body.

"What are you doing? You barbarian! Do you know who I am? Let go of me!"

Cui Lingfeng twisted the man's hands behind his back and lifted them a little higher, causing the man to scream in pain.

"Zuo Wenzong, don't shout! Do you think you can escape?"