Chapter 1 The Psychopath Who Stole Cookies
"Liars! They're all big liars!"
Ning Jinli kicked aside several boxes of near-expiry cookies piled up in the warehouse, squatted on the ground, and burst into tears.
She thought her uncle had taken pity on her and had given her a factory from her grandfather's estate. But after completing the inheritance procedures, she learned that the factory had stopped operating and was on the verge of bankruptcy, leaving her with a debt of 70 million! Her boyfriend dumped her because of this.
She was devastated, unaware that a box of cookies had rolled out of the back door of the warehouse and vanished in an instant...
Inside a cave.
Xiao Qidi sat with his back against the rock wall, holding a broken, blood-stained battle sword on the ground.
He and dozens of his soldiers had been trapped there for many days, suffering from extreme thirst and hunger.
The soldiers were starving and could be found at any moment by the bandits who were chasing and attacking them.
Suddenly, a cardboard box fell down beside him.
He instinctively swung his sword!
Bang!
The cardboard box burst open, and the packaging bag ruptured.
Cookies were scattered all over the floor, emitting a rich aroma.
"What...is this?"
Xiao Qidi was greatly alarmed.
Using the sunlight filtering through the cracks above the cave, he picked up a piece, smelled it, and couldn't resist putting it in his mouth.
Delicious! Crispy! Sweet!
It's food!
He grabbed the cookies and wolfed them down!
Although he was so hungry he could eat a whole cow, he tried his best to hold back. Once he regained some strength, he shook the other soldiers awake and stuffed a few pieces into each of their mouths.
The soldiers were both surprised and delighted, and almost burst into tears.
"Your Majesty! This...where did this come from?"
"I've never seen anything so sweet before, it's delicious!"
"Your Majesty, is there any more?"
Xiao Qidi walked to the spot where he had just been sitting and touched the spot where he had been leaning against.
The rock face his fingers touched rippled like water in his eyes, forming a passage.
He hesitated for a moment, then strode inside.
"Your...Your Majesty?!"
The soldiers were terrified.
A perfectly healthy person just vanished?
Xiao Qidi felt his vision suddenly brighten, and a large room he had never seen before appeared in front of him.
The room was filled with many boxes just like the ones from before.
There was also a woman squatting on the ground.
Without a second thought, he rushed to the box and swung his knife down!
Whoosh—
The cookie leaked out.
Yes, these are it!
Overjoyed, he picked up several boxes and headed back.
"Stop! Who... are you?" Ning Jinli looked up, tears streaming down her face, her eyes filled with astonishment.
She had no idea when this young man in tattered, ancient armor had appeared.
Judging from his appearance, he is eighteen years old.
He has broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs. He is tall and upright, and I estimate he is over 1.9 meters tall.
Her face was dirty, but it couldn't hide her stunningly beautiful appearance; there was a gloomy yet domineering aura between her brows and eyes.
Xiao Qidi stopped in his tracks. "I am Xiao Qidi, the King of Xuan Kingdom."
Ning Jinli was stunned for a moment, wiped away her tears and stood up, "Are you...cosplaying, little brother?"
Emperor Xiao Qidi of Xuan Kingdom was the first emperor in history to establish a unified dynasty.
He also pioneered the title of emperor, which was used by rulers throughout the feudal period for more than two thousand years, who honored him as the Xuanzu Emperor.
Modern cosplay enthusiasts often imitate him, but they usually cosplay the image of the emperor after he destroyed six vassal states and established the Xuan Dynasty.
The guy in front of me is dressed up as Xiao Qidi during the reign of the Xuan Kingdom's monarch.
They even grabbed a broken knife and started slashing around, and after they finished, they tried to steal a few boxes of medicine.
Too immersed in the role? Or was it a robbery?
Or perhaps... a mental illness?
Xiao Qidi couldn't understand what she was saying, so he turned around and looked her over, only to find that she was wearing very little clothing. He frowned and said:
"Girl, you clearly have plenty of food and should be well-off, so why are you so poorly clothed?"
"ah?"
Ning Jinli's brain short-circuited.
Rich my ass!
Besides, it's so hot outside, how can wearing a tank top and shorts be considered inadequately clothed?
That kid is really crazy! What a waste that he's so tall and handsome.
Xiao Qidi was busy delivering food to the soldiers and then walked towards the back door of the warehouse.
Ning Jinli was about to say that she only opened the back door to let in some fresh air, because the outside was overgrown with weeds and she couldn't walk through it, but then she saw the person disappear as soon as she stepped out the door!
She stood there, stunned, goosebumps rising all over her body.
Holy crap...
It was haunted?!
Xiao Qidi returned to the cave and put down several boxes of biscuits.
"You two come with me to move some more," he instructed directly. "The rest of you, quickly fill your stomachs."
"Your Majesty...where did you just go?"
The soldiers were all dumbfounded.
Xiao Qidi pointed behind him.
"Can't you see this passage? Let me find out what's going on, and then I'll take you away from here."
"Come with me."
He turned his head and went back.
The two soldiers who were called out gave chase despite their fears, only to bump their heads against the rock wall.
"Miss, is there any water?" Xiao Qidi walked up to Ning Jinli.
Ning Jinli was so frightened that her face turned pale and she retreated repeatedly.
That ghost has appeared again!
Xiao Qidi thought he had been mistaken for a robber, so he took out two gold bars from his pocket and threw them to her.
"Young lady, I won't take it for nothing. Would two gold bars be enough to buy you some food and water?"
Ning Jinli caught it instinctively.
It's not big, but it's heavy and feels substantial.
The two together weigh about a pound, and according to the current market price, they can sell for around 300,000 yuan!
The pressure of extreme financial hardship helped her overcome her fear of ghosts.
To be honest, her parents died early, and she was ripped off by her uncle right after graduating from university. Her boyfriend also dumped her because of this, and she is more resentful than a ghost!
"not enough?"
Seeing her in a daze, Xiao Qidi assumed that two gold bars wouldn't be enough to buy such fine food, so he took out a jade pendant and tossed it to her.
She quickly accepted them, holding the gold bars and jade pendant in one hand and pointing to the corner with the other, "Take any cookies you like, and those two cases of bottled water are left over there, you can have those too."
Xiao Qidi walked over, looking at the sealed plastic bottle of water with a puzzled expression.
This is something never seen before.
Let's move it first and talk about it later.
"Miss, I need more. I'll come back later."
Xiao Qidi gave a brief instruction, then shouldered two cases of bottled water and several large boxes of biscuits, disappearing again through the back door of the warehouse.
It took Ning Jinli a while to come to her senses.
That's not right...
Do ghosts need to eat and drink?
"Oh well, who cares!" Ning Jinli decided to immediately go to the city center to find a shop to sell gold bars.
——
Inside the cave.
Xiao Qidi learned from the crowd that he was the only one who could see the passage in the rock wall.
This dispelled his idea of taking them away from there.
He took the bottled water, tried it briefly, unscrewed the cap, took a small sip himself, and then handed it to the others.
When you've been thirsty for too long, you can drink even the dirtiest water, let alone this clean water, which tastes like sweet wine.
But each person only took a small sip, and dozens of people managed to drink the entire bottle.
As for the food that the king had just brought, they didn't touch it at all.
“Your Majesty, we have recovered our strength and now volunteer to lure the enemy and cover Your Majesty’s escape from the bandits’ encirclement,” a leading soldier said on behalf of the group, his eyes red. “Please, Your Majesty… take this food and water back and distribute it to the villagers.”
After he finished speaking, everyone knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly with tears in their eyes.
They were all ordinary soldiers from nearby villages, born and raised here.
This place is located on the border of Xuan Kingdom. It has been drought-stricken for more than half a year, and bandits have taken the opportunity to cause trouble, seizing water sources and plundering supplies.
If any family refused to hand over their stored grain, the bandits would chop up their children into pieces and roast them to eat.
No woman could escape their rape and humiliation.
The villagers lacked food and water and were harassed by bandits. Local officials either died at the hands of the bandits or fled.
In their despair, King Xiao Qidi arrived and personally led the few remaining soldiers who were determined to defend their homeland to the death to fight against the bandits.
The power of the Xuan Kingdom's government is in the hands of the current prime minister, and according to the laws of the Xuan Kingdom, the monarch must be at least twenty years old before he can rule in his own right.
The prime minister turned a blind eye to the suffering of people in such a small place.
Everyone knew that Xiao Qidi had risked his life to help them despite receiving no help from the court; this young emperor had truly done his best.
Now, they are willing to die as long as it allows the king to escape and the villagers to taste such delicious food and clean water.
Xiao Qidi looked at the soldiers kneeling before him, his chapped lips slightly parted.
"I order you to finish all of this, take turns on guard duty, rest up, and come out of the cave with me when it gets dark. You must all return home alive, not one of you can be missing."
Xiao Qidi had only stayed with his soldiers because he didn't want to abandon them after they had fallen into the bandits' ambush.
They were led to evade encirclement and suppression, and hidden in this secluded mountain cave.
Otherwise, with his military strength, breaking out on his own wouldn't be a problem.
"Your Majesty!" The soldiers cried, tears streaming down their faces.
Xiao Qidi waved his hand, then fell into deep thought, clutching the plastic wrapper and the empty bottle.
These things are quite peculiar and will surely lure those bandits who are obsessed with treasure.
A plan to lure and kill him came to mind.
After the bandits are defeated, go back to that strange room and ask the woman if she has more food and water.
It might solve the drought and hunger problems of the villagers here.
She would be willing to pay any price to help alleviate the drought and hunger of the villagers in this area.
On the other side—
Ning Jinli went to the city and found a gold recycling shop.
He made 310,000 yuan by selling two gold bars.
As she walked out of the jewelry store and looked at the bustling streets, she felt like she was in a dream.
She was a carefree rich girl who was well cared for by her parents when she was young.
But when she was twelve, her parents died unexpectedly, her grandfather fell ill and never recovered, her uncle took over the family business and kicked her out of the Ning family.
Not long ago, my grandfather passed away. My uncle said that she had had a tough ten years, so he would leave her a factory to inherit.
She thought her hard times were over, but little did she know she had fallen into a trap.
Now, Kari has a large sum of money she has never seen before.
Compared to the factory's 70 million yuan debt, this is a drop in the ocean, but it's still better than being penniless.
Oh, and there's also a jade pendant.
There happened to be an antique shop nearby, so I decided to go and see how much I could sell it for!
Not far away, a luxury car that had just driven by turned around and stopped on the side of the road.
"Dad, what's wrong?"
Ning Yao, who was sitting in the passenger seat playing on her phone, noticed something was wrong.
Ning Hai gripped the steering wheel, staring intently at Ning Jinli's retreating figure ahead. "I just saw your cousin come out of that gold recycling shop next door."
Ning Yao was very surprised.
"She's selling gold? Could it be that the old man secretly gave it to her before he died?!"
"That shouldn't be the case. I've been keeping a close eye on her; the old man hasn't had a chance. Anyway, you go to the store and inquire first, while I continue to follow her."
"OK!"
Ning Yao got off the bus decisively.
Ning Hai drove at a distance behind Ning Jinli.
A short while later, Ning Jinli entered an antique shop.
"Welcome! What type of antique would you like to buy, beautiful lady?"
The portly shop owner casually asked a question, then secretly sized up Ning Jinli while adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses.
She has a beautiful face and a good figure, but her clothes and appearance are very ordinary.
He was very young, with a student-like appearance and clear eyes; he was clearly a naive graduate who had just entered the workforce.
Ning Jinli looked around and saw things she didn't recognize everywhere, and they all looked expensive.
The boss then said, "You've come at the right time. I'm free today, so I'm personally serving guests. I guarantee you'll be satisfied with the things I recommend, and the price is negotiable."
Ning Jinli whispered, "I think, I'll sell things."
“Sell? What can you sell?” The boss frowned, his tone sneer. “Heh, go ask around and find out what kind of place I, Master Wu, am. This is the best antique shop in the entire Xinghan City, not a junkyard.”
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