Chapter Twelve: The Choice
"Little doll, your days are numbered. In three days, your intestines will turn into a puddle of rotten flesh." The bald old man said with a sly smile: "If you don't want to die... it's easy to avoid that fate. Just obediently do as I say, and if you do well, I'll naturally give you the antidote."
Su Tang had been tormented until his face was ashen, and he stared blankly at the bald old man.
"Heh heh…… little doll, do you want to learn some top-notch martial arts techniques?" The bald old man squatted down in front of Su Tang: "I'm a man of my word, as long as you listen and obey, when I leave, I'll give you a few techniques. Whether or not you can grasp them is up to you."
Upon hearing Wu Kou, Su Tang struggled to say: "You old... want me to do what?"
"It's simple, just pour the powder from here into the well of Xiaolingbao." The bald old man took out a small iron box and handed it to Su Tang.
Su Tang's eyes kept rolling, seemingly weighing the pros and cons. Finally, he gritted his teeth and took over the iron box in the bald old man's palm.
"Hahaha..." The bald old man let out a relieved laugh, then patted Su Tang's shoulder: "Little girl, wait for a moment."
The bald old man stood up and made a gesture, leading the crowd to a place tens of meters away from Su Tang, where they whispered something.
They thought Su Tang couldn't hear, but in fact every word was heard very clearly. The bald old man asked Liu Ming Sheng some questions about Su Tang, and Liu Ming Sheng looked down on Su Tang from the bottom of his heart, so he wouldn't say anything good, such as cowardice, weakness, foolishness, etc., and Liu Ming Sheng's evaluation matched Su Tang's performance just now.
In a moment, the bald old man led the crowd back and asked: "Little doll, does Xiaolingbao have a flagpole?"
"Yes..." Su Tang replied in a low voice.
"After putting the medicine powder in the well, pay attention to a certain point. When they drink the well water and see someone fainting, immediately find a white cloth and raise it on the flagpole, understand?"
"I understand..." Su Tang nodded.
The bald old man pondered for a moment, then asked: "Little girl, when those people entered Xiaolinbao, did you see anything... strange?"
"You always say..." Su Tang asked with a bitter face.
"Never mind, let's just forget it. Whatever you see, tell me exactly what it is."
Su Tang told the truth, mentioning the silver-white giant tiger, the big man, and the carriage, but when he was about to mention the guests taking out their tokens, Su Tang's eyes rolled over and he concealed this part, only highlighting the guests' generosity and magnanimity, repeatedly mentioning the bag of gold coins several times.
That bald old man was a clever person, he had understood what Su Tang was thinking about early on and didn't think much of it. After Su Tang finished speaking, he smiled and said: "Little kid, don't you still owe Black Wind Fortress a lot of money? I'll take care of it for you, consider the debt written off."
Su Tang's spirit suddenly shook: "You old... keep your word?"
"Of course."
Liu Ming Sheng looked somewhat unwilling, opened his mouth to say something, but swallowed his words again, apparently he was very afraid of the bald old man.
"Alright, little doll, tidy up and go back." The bald old man said: "Be smart yourself, don't get caught off guard." For this useless young master Su Tang, he didn't have any vigilance at all. A small poisonous pill was enough, no matter how much he struggled, he couldn't escape his control. Compared to that, he was more worried that Su Tang would be caught in the act of poisoning someone.
Su Tang stumbled to his feet, then suddenly staggered and almost fell over. Fortunately, the bald old man stretched out a hand to steady him. Seeing Su Tang in such a state, the disdainful looks on the faces of the men around him, including Liu Ming Sheng's, grew even stronger.
Su Tang Mai opened his legs and ran down the mountain, stumbling and staggering. The bald old man coughed softly: "Alright, you all find a place to rest and recover your strength."
"Fei Lao, can this useless thing accomplish anything?" Liu Ming Sheng said with a curl of his lip.
"Let's just try it out, if it works, we won't have to go through a lot of trouble, if not..." The bald old man said: "Wait until tonight to talk about it."
"Fei Lao, what if that kid gets caught? He'll definitely give us up." A man said: "What if they escape?"
"Run? Where can you run to?" The bald old man sneered.
"Why bother?" said one of them. The dark-faced man said: "Fei Lao, let's just kill him directly!"
"You fool, I'm thinking for your own good. What else do you know besides fighting and killing?" The bald old man shouted: "Do you think others are kittens or puppies waiting for you to chop? Last month, we lost six people. This time, I don't want to see any more casualties."
Su Tang was running with clumsy movements, and accidentally tripped over a branch, falling heavily into the grass. At the same time, he spat out the black pellet that had been pressed under his tongue onto his palm, got up and continued to run forward.
Those people could only vaguely see Su Tang's back, if they had a chance to look straight into Su Tang's eyes, they would definitely be frightened.
Su Tang's eyes were filled with ferocity, he had originally wanted to stay out of this matter and avoid it, but those people's actions had thoroughly provoked him.
You're threatening and poisonous, treating me like a puppet? As for what martial arts techniques, who believes you is an idiot!
Those guys don't seem like good people, if they win, the safety of Xiaolingbao including Su Tang will be hard to guarantee, plus the reason of Liu Ming Sheng, he won't put his bets on those guys no matter what.
So there's only one way left, must stand firmly on the guests' standpoint, but what about the odds of winning? Or... what method should be used to increase the odds of winning?
Running halfway, they coincidentally met Zhu Er, Ke Er and all the family members of Xiao Linbao. Upon hearing the farmer's report, Su Tang approached the Black Forest again. Zhu Er almost fainted on the spot. Immediately, she let Shang Bin gather the family members to prepare for entering the forest to search for Su Tang.
Seeing Su Tang was fine and even knew how to come back, Zhu'er felt extremely wronged after letting out a sigh of relief. With tears in her eyes, she said to Su Tang: "Young Master, you've just recovered from your illness, why are you running around again? This is...". Zhu'er originally wanted to say that it was as if he didn't want anyone to live, but looking at the surrounding house servants, she could only choose to shut her mouth. Even if Su Tang made a big fuss, in front of everyone, she had to give him some face.
"I know, I know..." Su Tang smiled and said: "I won't go to that broken forest again, I swear!" What Su Tang said was true, he had discovered that the black forest was unlucky for him, every time he went there, something bad would happen.
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