Chapter 1614 — A Coincidental Plan

"Hmph!" Zhong Yongliang had indeed seen the street full of them last time, but he was still in a foul mood now. He gave a cold snort and said, "Always dropping the ball at the crucial moment! What is wrong with you!"

"Let me look again — they've got to be here somewhere..." Gao Xiaofu wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with some embarrassment, "Don't worry, Brother Liang, I swear I'll find one..."

"Forget it. If there really aren't any, so be it." Zhong Yongliang waved his hand in resignation, thinking to himself: I'll just bide my time for now. Once Zhang Naipao returns from his apprenticeship and crushes Wei Zhao under his heel, Gu Mengyao will be mine for the taking! Then we'll see who can protect her!

Even An Jianwen would be nothing but a minor character compared to Paozi's status in that ancient sect!

"Hey — there's a grass-snake seller over there!" Gao Xiaofu suddenly spotted a stall not far away, where an old man with a little girl was selling grass snakes.

"Oh? There really is?" Zhong Yongliang looked in the direction Gao Xiaofu was pointing and indeed saw the grass-snake stall. "Well then — what are you waiting for? Hurry up and go buy one!"

"On it!" Gao Xiaofu rushed over to the stall in three long strides and said to the old man, "Hey — how much for a grass snake?"

Zhu Lingtou's entire purpose in coming here was to sell a grass snake to Wei Zhao — not to anyone else. So he hadn't set up his stall at all, but had been watching from a distance until he saw Wei Zhao's group approaching before putting it out. He hadn't expected a dark horse to come charging in mid-journey, demanding to buy a grass snake!

These grass snakes had been tampered with — how could Zhu Lingtou sell one to Gao Xiaofu? He was about to refuse, but then he thought: if I say I won't sell, won't Chen Xi get suspicious? With that in mind, he had no choice but to say, "Two thousand apiece!"

"What?!" Gao Xiaofu was stunned. Two thousand for a grass snake? Did the old man think these were gold-plated? He had checked the market rates before — a grass snake went for ten or twenty yuan. Two thousand? Wasn't this just an open robbery?

"Two thousand apiece! If you're not buying, get out of the way!" Seeing Wei Zhao and the others approaching, Zhu Lingtou had no patience for dawdling with Gao Xiaofu and wanted to get rid of him as fast as possible.

Damned old geezer — you really know how to fleece people! Gao Xiaofu had been about to bargain, but the old man was chasing him off outright, leaving him no choice. He thought to himself: fine, two thousand is two thousand — what else can I do, since this old geezer is the only game in town?

"Fine! Two thousand, here!" Gao Xiaofu pulled out his wallet, drew out two thousand yuan, and tossed it onto the stall. He had no time to haggle — Gu Mengyao was about to walk right over.

"You're actually buying at that price?!" Zhu Lingtou was so furious he wanted to curse. Are you insane? Got money with nowhere to spend it? Two thousand yuan for a lousy grass snake? At that price you could hire a crew to go up the mountain and catch a whole basket!

Chen Xi's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe a lousy snake could sell for two thousand yuan! When Grandpa Zhu had first named that price, Chen Xi had nearly jumped out of his skin, wondering if Grandpa Zhu had misspoken. These grass snakes had been given to them by someone else — they cost nothing, there was no overhead. Besides, even if you bought them outright, they wouldn't be anywhere near this expensive!

He had been about to protest, but before he could, the man in front of him actually paid up!

"Why are you such a nagging old fool? Here's your money — now hand over the snake!" Gao Xiaofu was furious too. The old man charging an outrageous price was one thing, but taking the money and still acting like he didn't want to sell? Did he think it wasn't enough?

"You're buying even at that price?" Zhu Lingtou was nearly speechless. Why was it that at the crucial moment, a lunatic always had to show up?

"Are you out of your mind, old man? Forget it — I'll grab one myself!" Gao Xiaofu ignored Zhu Lingtou and reached straight into his snake basket, pulled out a grass snake, and turned to leave!

If Zhu Lingtou had wanted to stop him, he easily could have — with his Earth-rank skills, stopping Gao Xiaofu would have been child's play. But the critical problem was that Wei Zhao was nearby. If he revealed his abilities and Wei Zhao noticed, every one of his future plans would be ruined beyond repair! So all he could do was watch helplessly as Gao Xiaofu walked off with a grass snake, silently cursing his bad luck. It looked like today's operation was most likely not going to happen.

Gao Xiaofu had studied grass snakes before and had looked up their behavior. He knew how to hold one so that it wouldn't bite, and he also knew how to provoke one into biting.

Yet as he ran back, triumphant, grass snake in hand, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his arm. He looked down — and discovered the grass snake had bitten him!

"Ahhhh!" Gao Xiaofu let out a bloodcurdling scream. The pain was unbearable. He couldn't fathom how the grass snake had suddenly bitten him. He had even specifically learned from the snake sellers how to handle grass snakes — but today all that knowledge had been useless!

How could he have known that these grass snakes had all been fed drugs by Zhu Lingtou and had turned into vicious, maddened things?

Gao Xiaofu, reeling from the pain, reflexively hurled the snake away. It slithered into the mountain grass in an instant and vanished without a trace.

Meanwhile, the bite wound on Gao Xiaofu's arm had swelled up alarmingly high, as though he had been poisoned. Staring at his own arm, he was badly frightened. Weren't grass snakes supposed to be non-venomous? Even if bitten, there shouldn't be such a dramatic reaction. Could it be... that the snake that bit him had been a venomous one?

"Wow — Little Liang! Gao Xiaofu got bitten by a snake! Hurry and go suck the poison out for him!" Shen Yushu saw Gao Xiaofu hopping around in agony and cried out to Zhong Yongliang with undisguised excitement. "Go on — give us a demonstration of how to treat it!"

"What?" Zhong Yongliang was stunned. He had never imagined that Gao Xiaofu would go off to buy a grass snake and end up bitten by one himself — and it might not even be a grass snake, but a venomous one!

"Zhong Yongliang, hurry and go see — what do we do? Aren't you the expert at treating snake venom?" The other classmates, recalling what Gao Xiaofu had said before they set out, urged Zhong Yongliang quickly.

"That's right, Zhong Yongliang — look, Gao Xiaofu seems to be in a lot of pain. Hurry and help him suck the venom out! Out of all of us classmates, you're the only one who knows how!" another classmate added anxiously.

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