Selling Ning Rongrong

"Go ahead," Lin Yuan said as he stepped forward.

After hesitating for a moment, the little beggar said seriously, "I just stole someone's wallet. When I opened it, I found it was full of Gold Soul Coins. He's looking everywhere for me right now, and I'll give you half."

As she spoke, she pulled a heavy pouch from her clothes. A quick glance showed that it contained well over a hundred Gold Soul Coins.

Lin Yuan pretended to be greatly tempted. "How am I supposed to get you out?"

"It's simple. You only need to draw the attention of the soldiers guarding the South City Gate. I'll take the chance to slip out. As long as you help me escape, I'll give you half the Gold Soul Coins. This is the deposit."

As she spoke, the little beggar took out ten Gold Soul Coins from the pouch and handed them to Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan accepted the coins and said, "Fine." Then he headed toward the city gate Ning Rongrong had indicated.

Interestingly enough, passing through this gate would lead all the way to Shrek Academy.

Perhaps because that earlier shout had drawn everyone in another direction, the two of them encountered no obstacles along the way.

When they reached the city gate, the little beggar gave Lin Yuan an encouraging look.

Lin Yuan nodded and walked up beside the gate guards.

But instead of drawing the guards' attention away for the little beggar, he suddenly pointed at her and said, "You're looking for Ning Rongrong, right? She's here."

The little beggar froze. Then, as if she had gone mad, she ran back in the direction they had come from.

Lin Yuan did not stop her. He merely watched quietly, because he had already sensed a Soul Emperor hiding nearby.

Sure enough, before the little beggar had gone far, a middle-aged woman suddenly appeared, scooped her up around the waist, and said, "Sorry, Miss. I am acting on the Sect Master's orders."

As she spoke, she carried the little beggar toward Lin Yuan. No matter how the other party struggled, he remained unmoved.

"Hello. Thank you for helping us find our young miss."

The middle-aged woman formally expressed her gratitude to Lin Yuan.

"It's nothing. Just give me the reward. I trust the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, one of the Upper Three Sects, won't go back on its word?" Lin Yuan looked every bit the mercenary.

"Of course." The middle-aged woman took out a gold card from her clothes and handed it to Lin Yuan.

Only then did Ning Rongrong finally come to her senses. She glared at Lin Yuan through gritted teeth. "You bastard! I trusted you so much, and you actually dared sell me out! I'm not done with you..."

"Can't be helped. Your sect offered too much. Besides, didn't Miss Ning deceive me first? I merely played along. Still, let me remind you of something: next time you disguise yourself as a beggar, try to make it more convincing. A beggar wouldn't have a neck as fair and tender as yours." Laughing loudly, Lin Yuan walked out through the city gate.

Only Ning Rongrong's hysterical voice remained behind him. "Bastard! I'll never let you off..."

With his back to her, Lin Yuan waved his hand and soon vanished from sight.

"Enough, Miss. Come back to the sect with me," the middle-aged female Soul Master said.

Ning Rongrong refused firmly. "I'm not going back."

She had no intention of going back. Once she did, she would be forced to face that dull blockhead Long Aotian, who knew only how to fawn over her.

She was only twelve. She did not want to get married, and even if she did, it should be because she had found her own love.

Not like this, being casually promised to someone else like merchandise.

She, Ning Rongrong, was a person—a living, breathing person—not a tool for a political marriage.

"Sorry, Miss. Those are the Sect Master's orders," the middle-aged woman repeated.

"If you dare take me back, I'll castrate Long Aotian. When my father and my two grandfathers hold someone accountable, I'll put all the blame on you."

Ning Rongrong threatened.

"This..." The middle-aged woman immediately hesitated. The little demon before her was fully capable of doing such a thing, and Long Aotian would never be on guard against her.

If Ning Rongrong really did castrate Long Aotian...

She did not know whether Ning Rongrong would be punished, but she would definitely be made the scapegoat to appease Long Aotian and the two sect-protecting Douluo.

Seeing that she had the middle-aged woman in her grasp, Ning Rongrong curled her lips and said seriously:

"How about this? Put me down first. I won't run. After I take a bath, send me to Shrek Academy. Then report back to my father and tell him I want to study at Shrek. If he refuses, you can come take me back. How about that?"

"Fine. I'll return and report to the Sect Master right away." Left with no alternative, the middle-aged woman had no choice but to agree.

Ning Rongrong looked in the direction Lin Yuan had left, then considered that he was about the same age as her. It was not hard to tell that he was heading to Shrek as well.

Originally, that had been her plan too. She wanted to use studying as an excuse to avoid the political marriage.

Who would have thought that she, Ning Rongrong, clever all her life, would lose to that brat?

It was utterly infuriating.

If she did not get even, then she would not be Ning Rongrong.

Naturally, Lin Yuan had no idea that Ning Rongrong had set her sights on him. Even if he knew, he would not have cared.

After all, he had acted that way only because it was the reasonable thing for a normal person to do.

If he had refused Ning Rongrong's Gold Soul Coins and declined to expose her clumsy disguise, that would have been more likely to arouse suspicion.

After leaving the South City Gate, Lin Yuan followed the road south. Farmland stretched along both sides of the road.

From time to time, he saw scattered parents with children beside them. They appeared to be here to register for Shrek Academy's entrance examination.

It made Lin Yuan admire Flender's marketing methods. Because of the Dragon Snake Family's demands for accountability, things had clearly been terrible last year.

Yet only a year had passed, and all the negative rumors had vanished without a trace.

It was as though the deaths of Meng Baichuan and Meng Yiran, along with the dozens of students killed or injured before, had never happened.

Lin Yuan leisurely followed behind the scattered crowd and was in no hurry to reach Shrek Academy.

He simply observed without drawing attention while savoring this rare peaceful time as an ordinary person.

Even when he spotted Xiao Wu, Tang San, and Zhu Qing, he paid them no mind and merely continued following behind at an unhurried pace.

Xiao Wu and Tang San thought they had mistaken him for someone else before, so naturally they had no intention of greeting him.

As for Zhu Qing, she had never even met him.

By the time Lin Yuan arrived at Shrek Academy, there were already more than a hundred applicants.

Lin Yuan was not in a hurry either. He quietly took his place at the very back of the line.

Before long, eight or nine out of every ten people left. After seeing those ahead of them fail to meet Shrek's admission requirements and waste their registration fees for nothing, they knew they could not pass Shrek Academy's entrance examination.

It was worth mentioning that when those people tried to get their registration fees back, Dai Mubai still drove them away.

However, because Lin Yuan had robbed him three years ago, Dai Mubai had lived in "relative poverty" for quite a long time. Even now, despite receiving a monthly subsidy of one hundred Gold Soul Coins after advancing to Soul Elder,

he still had not recovered. He was dressed extremely plainly.

He looked exactly like a ruined man who had squandered his entire family fortune.