Chapter 267 The Cunning Old Man

Kong Wan, clutching the box in her hand, ran all the way.

Squeezing through the crevice, they quickly returned to the cave they had been in before.

She ran along the path the strange old man had shown her, and when she looked back, she realized that the strange old man had not chased after her.

Wait a minute, two or three minutes have passed. Even if they were slow, they would have caught up by now.

Don't let her age scare you into fainting.

With a heavy heart, she carefully put away the ginseng box and returned to the crevice in the cave—

Upon closer inspection, she almost burst out laughing. It turned out that the strange old man had gotten stuck in his haste to cross the crevice.

Upon seeing her, the strange old man shuffled away while shouting, "You brat, this ginseng is mine. If you know what's good for you, return it right now!"

Kong Wange chuckled: "Brother Yao, you're joking. You yourself said it's wild ginseng. Since it's wild ginseng, it's unclaimed. How can you say it's yours? Whoever gets it should own it."

"Bullshit! Let me tell you, I discovered this ginseng ten years ago and waited until today to dig it up, just to let it grow to be a hundred years old. I've taken care of it for ten years, chatting with it during the day and drinking tea with it at night. It's like my child. How can it not be mine!"

Kong Wange coughed lightly and said, "Brother Yao, to be honest, I discovered this sacred mountain eighteen years ago. Last year I accompanied it to watch the sunrise, and next year I will accompany it to watch the sea. It's like my family. So can I say that the entire sacred mountain is mine?"

"You..." the strange old man gritted his teeth and said, "You're twisting my words. I'm not going to argue with you. I'm just asking you whether you're going to pay me back or not!"

Kong Wange shook her head, her tone firm: "I won't return it."

A century-old ginseng is worth 50 points; if you get it, you're basically guaranteed a good score on today's exam.

Kong Wange would never give up this opportunity no matter what.

However, she did not do this very well.

She bowed deeply to the strange old man and said, "Senior, due to the circumstances, I have offended you greatly today, so I will take my leave now. I will definitely make amends to you another time."

"You don't need to apologize. I'm warning you, if you dare take the ginseng today, once I get out of here, I'll make sure you can't stay at the Imperial Academy anymore!!"

"You...you should come out first!" After saying that, Kong Wange turned and ran away in a flash.

"Ugh, you brat! You're making me so angry! I'm so angry!"

Anger unleashes a person's potential, and with a single effort, Yao Lao managed to squeeze through the protruding rock that was blocking him!

His clothes were torn in the sharp part of the tear, exposing his skin and flesh, but he had no time to care. After slowly moving out, he immediately chased after Kong Wange in the direction she had slipped away.

Don't chase me or shout, "You brat, give me back my ginseng!"

After leaving the cave, Kong Wange ran at least two kilometers before daring to stop and rest.

The old man was in his fifties, with a loud voice and good stamina. He chased her all this way without taking a break.

If she hadn't wandered into a place she didn't even recognize, she really wouldn't have been able to shake him off.

Kong Wange found a smooth, large rock nearby, sat down, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Once her breathing had calmed down, she took the walnut box out of her bosom.

She had already looked at the ginseng when the old doctor was admiring it, but she felt she should take another look before she felt at ease.

However, before she could even open her peach wood box, she faintly heard people talking in the dense forest.

It vaguely sounded like Wen Xiaoxiao's voice.

She paused slightly, then quickly hid the box in her handbag and got up to walk towards the direction of the sound.

As she quietly circled around behind the tree, she saw Wen Xiaoxiao and Zhao Xiaohe, along with several other people, surrounding the three of them in a clearing in the woods.

"While we're still willing to talk to you nicely, let's advise you to obediently hand over the ginseng you've picked, or you'll end up being forced to drink the penalty cup."

Wen Xiaoxiao crossed her arms and spoke while looking arrogantly at the three people standing in front of her.

Kong Wange recognized these three people. The girl in the lead was named Leng Jun, the first place winner of the Ling Shu Competition. She was accompanied by a man and a woman, both of whom had come from the Ling Shu Competition.

At this moment, all three of them glared angrily at Wen Xiaoxiao and Zhao Xiaohe's group.

Leng Jun was clearly the leader of the three. She said angrily, "Wen Xiaoxiao and Zhao Xiaohe, do you think you can act lawlessly just because you have a good family background? You openly stole other people's ginseng. This is breaking the exam rules!"

Wen Xiaoxiao laughed when she heard this: "Oh my, that's funny. The rules don't say you can't steal. Listen up, if you don't want to be robbed by others, then do what we do and find more people to team up with. Since you don't have good relationships and no background, you deserve to be robbed!"

"Besides, we didn't steal it. Who saw us? It was clearly a gift from you guys, everyone, right?"

Zhao Xiaohe, Li Jing, and others immediately chimed in, "That's right!"

"You..." Leng Jun's eyes turned red with anger, but the other side had the upper hand and he could not struggle any longer.

The two people next to her clearly realized this as well. One of them, a girl in an orange T-shirt who looked rather introverted, sighed and whispered, "Jun Jun, why don't we just give it to them?"

Another boy in a white T-shirt and glasses stammered, "Little...Ju, the ginseng was...we dug it up with great difficulty, why...give it to them!"

The girl called Little Orange said, "Fine, we won't give it to them. Let them come and take it from us. And then what? Not only will we lose the ginseng, but we'll also get injured!"

The boy with glasses gritted his teeth and remained silent; faced with sheer numbers, the three of them were absolutely outnumbered.

"We haven't reached an agreement yet. Let me tell you, the assessment deadline is approaching, and our patience is running out."

This time it was Zhao Xiaohe who spoke. The disheveled and delicate state she had shown when she was trapped on the edge of the cliff this morning was now completely gone. Facing several weaker classmates, her arrogance was no less than Wen Xiaoxiao's, and was even more overbearing.

Kong Wange hid behind a tree and, seeing the bulging bags on their backs, could easily guess how many people they had robbed before!

Although she had essentially stolen the century-old ginseng, she would never steal from a fellow test-taker; that was a matter of principle.

Although Kong Wange was furious, she wasn't foolish enough to rush out to help. After all, Wen Xiaoxiao and her group outnumbered her and were powerful. If she went out, she wouldn't be able to help at all, and would only be robbed.

As she racked her brains for a solution.

Suddenly, a strong voice came from the other side of the woods.

"Oh dear, after listening for so long, I'm really worried about the intelligence of you little kids. What use are you to the ginseng you're trying to take from these three brats..."

Following the sound, the eccentric old man leisurely walked out of the forest.

Kong Wange hid behind the tree, a sense of foreboding instantly rising within her.

The next second, the premonition came true. The strange old man pointed into the air at the place where Kong Wange was hiding, and said gloatingly, "Didn't you notice that there was someone hiding there? If you want to rob someone, rob that person! I saw it, there's a hundred-year-old ginseng in her bag!"