Chapter 41

At first Mazi looked calm and composed. However, when he saw Qin Feng lift the gold nugget, his face turned almost green with shock. The spectators' reactions were equally remarkable. Their initial disdain transformed into surprise, followed by cheering and applause.

These spectators were all participants like Qin Feng. They were comrades-in-arms, sharing the same hopes. Even if the items presented weren't theirs, they wished for someone to succeed in taking them.

That such is human nature.

"Is this alright?" Qin Feng asked the old man as he placed the gold nugget beside him.

The fourth son's face twitched. This young man is something else, he thought. Not even adult man could lift that piece of gold, let alone a child! He had even tampered with it to make it immovable. If not for the crowd, he would have caused a scene right then and there.

"Fourth son, say something. The boy lifted the gold nugget are you going to admit defeat?" someone from the crowd urged.

"Ah, it seems this week is unlucky again. A strongman has appeared, and I must concede defeat," the man lamented, looking more distressed as if he'd lost his parents.

"I don't want this piece of gold. I want this bag of gold coins," Qin Feng declared, putting down the gold and picking up a bag of gold coins instead.

"Do you want gold coins?!" Mazi's fourth son exclaimed, his eyes nearly popping out.

"Yes, this piece of gold is too heavy. I'll take the bag of gold coins instead," Qin Feng replied with a clever nod. But no one noticed the playful glint in his eyes.

Qin Feng had seen such tricks too many times before. On Earth, banks and real estate developers often used similar tactics. He had initially hoped for some honesty, but when he touched the so-called gold nugget, he realized it wasn't real.

If it were normal gold, Qin Feng could have easily lifted it with his strength, but it took him a great deal of effort to move this piece of gold. He didn't know what method the other party used, but it weighed at least one hundred pounds.

If it were real gold, how could it be so small and weigh over a hundred pounds? And if it did weigh more than a hundred pounds, it would be worth tens of thousands of gold coins. If someone had tens of thousands of gold coins, why wouldn't they buy land, build a house, and quietly retire? Why would they go through the trouble of setting this up?

Qin Feng guessed it was probably a piece of fake gold filled with other materials or that the entire base was just a magnet, holding it in place. Initially, he was unsure if he was right, but now, seeing the liar's expression, he was more convinced of his theory. The bag of gold coins was real money; he wasn't sure what the so-called gold nugget was.

"Child, this piece of gold is worth thousands of gold coins. Choosing the bag of gold coins means you'll lose out," someone said.

"Yeah, yeah, if you can't lift it, we can help you get it back," others chimed in.

The people around gathered and tried to persuade Qin Feng. The man with the pockmarked face looked at Qin Feng with a sad and worried expression.

Indeed, Qin Feng was right. The piece of gold was fake, a prop for their scam, but the bag of gold coins was real. To make the scam more convincing, the entire gang had brought out all their gold coins. If fewer people were around, they would kick the boy for taking the bag of gold. But with so many people present, if they made a move, they might not even beat the boy before others would attack them.

Any action on their part would make it obvious to anyone with half a brain that it was a scam. They had been running this scam for over two months; if exposed, they wouldn't be able to escape. Now, they had to rely on the crowd to persuade the boy.

"Thank you, uncles and aunts, for your kindness," Qin Feng said to the onlookers. "But my dad taught me to be considerate of others. If I take the uncle's gold, wouldn't he suffer a loss? Besides, this gold is so heavy. I struggled to move it; I'd rather just take this bag of gold coins."

Of course, Qin Feng made this up on the spot to make choosing the bag of gold coins seem more reasonable. However, he didn't realize that as soon as he finished speaking, the old man glared at him fiercely. His eyes seemed to say, "To hell with your good intentions! You could lift the gold, but now you say it's too heavy?"

"Oh, what a good boy! Look at how well-raised he is," someone in the crowd praised after Qin Feng spoke.

It was indeed rare for a child to be so considerate.

"Thank you, uncles and aunts. It's getting late, so I'll head back now," Qin Feng said as he grabbed the bag of gold coins and ran off.

"Hey!!" Mazi tried to stop Qin Feng but was blocked by the crowd.

"Fourth son, we're so happy for you. Who would have thought you'd encounter such a sensible child? If it were us, you'd probably end up with nothing."

"Yes, we wouldn't miss this opportunity," others chimed in.

However, they didn't notice the fourth son's face turning almost purple with frustration. The gold nugget was fake, worth at most a single gold coin, while the bag Qin Feng took contained 500 real gold coins! If it weren't for the crowd, he would have shoved the two people blocking him and beaten Qin Feng on the spot.

Meanwhile, Qin Feng ran quickly, almost nonstop, towards Notting College. However, such a large bag of gold was indeed too conspicuous.

It would be nice if Xiaosan were here, Qin Feng thought. Without a soul guide, carrying this bag around was quite inconvenient.

"Ding! Ding Ding!!!"

On the street in front of Notting College, the sound of metal being struck caught Qin Feng's attention. This sound was different from the usual clanging of metal; it seemed more powerful, almost like the Chaotic Cloak Hammer technique.

"Is that...?"

Qin Feng stopped because he saw a familiar figure in the blacksmith's shop, forging pig iron with a hammer.

"Xiaosan!"

Qin Feng ran into the blacksmith shop without hesitation.

"Brother Feng?"

Tang San was surprised to see Qin Feng carrying a large bag.

"Come here," Qin Feng gestured to Tang San.

Everyone in the shop was focused on their work, so no one paid much attention to Qin Feng and Tang San. Besides, it was common for children to have playmates, and the blacksmith shop was full of men who didn't care much about two kids.

"What happened?" Tang San asked, surprised to see his brother looking so anxious.

"Do you have a toilet here?" Qin Feng asked.

Tang San rolled his eyes. So that was why Qin Feng came in so hurriedly.

"Go straight ahead and turn right," Tang San directed. He had familiarized himself with the shop after testing his soul force in the afternoon.

"Come with me," Qin Feng said, dragging Tang San along to the toilet.

"Brother Feng, what's the matter? Why did you have to come here to tell me?" Tang San asked, irritated and curious as they closed the door.

Inside, Qin Feng quickly explained his situation to Tang San.

"I managed to get this bag of gold coins, but it's too conspicuous to carry around. Do you have any way to help me store it?" Qin Feng asked.

Tang San thought for a moment, then nodded. "I can help you with that. Let's find a safer place first."

With Tang San's assistance, Qin Feng felt a sense of relief. Together, they would figure out a way to keep the gold coins safe.

This is a blacksmith's shop filled with men, so the hygiene of the toilet was as expected.

"Of course it's important," Qin Feng said with a slight smile, then a dazzling golden light flashed in the toilet!

"Brother Feng!" Tang San stared at Qin Feng in shock, his jaw almost dropping to the ground. This bag conservatively held four or five hundred gold coins, an amount Tang San had never seen in his life! Back in the village, they only saw one or two copper coins a month. Except for the gold coin he received today, he had never seen one before.

"Use your soul guide to store it," Qin Feng pointed to the soul guide on Tang San's waist.

Tang San, speechless and wide-eyed, nodded and gently transferred the bag of gold coins into his soul guide. Qin Feng felt relieved seeing the gold safely stored away.

After they left the toilet, Tang San informed the boss and then slipped out the back door of the iron shop with Qin Feng.

"Brother Feng, where did you get so much money?" Tang San asked incredulously. He couldn't believe a six or seven-year-old child could gather so much money in an afternoon. Did he rob a bank? But even then, it shouldn't be possible to steal so much money. After all, this was 500 gold coins!

Qin Feng chuckled, "It's a long story. Let's find a safe place to talk."

"This is the reward I got from playing a game this afternoon. Those scammers wanted to trick me out of my gold coins, but in the end, they lost their own money!" Qin Feng said cheerfully, putting his hands behind his head.

Now that they had entered the Notting Junior Soul Master Academy, they felt safer and were less cautious than before.

"Playing games? Scammers? Brother Feng, what's going on?" Tang San asked, feeling more confused. He couldn't keep up with Qin Feng's story.

Seeing that Tang San was genuinely puzzled, Qin Feng explained everything that had happened to him that day.

However, as Qin Feng and Tang San walked along the campus trail, they didn't notice several shadows blending into the darkness of Notting College. Taking advantage of the night, these figures followed closely behind them, like venomous snakes waiting to strike.