Chapter 254: Misunderstanding

Frantic with worry, her brothers ran to the school gate. Looking across the street at the curb, they immediately spotted Yun Jiao standing among a few delinquents.

"You’re messing with my sister? I’ll kill you!"

Yun Xiaowu roared and charged forward like an angry little bull without a second thought.

Before Brother Mao could even figure out what was happening, the charging Yun Xiaowu slammed into his stomach, making him cry out in misery.

He collapsed to the ground, his body instantly curling up like a shrimp.

"I don’t give a damn if you’re Brother Mao or Brother Cat! You dare bully my sister, I’ll beat you to death!"

Yun Xiaoqi and the others rushed over as well.

Everything happened so fast that Yun Jiao didn’t even have time to stop them.

The scene devolved into utter chaos.

"Who the hell are you little brats? Hiss... Stop! Stop it!"

"Who’s bullying your sister? Who the hell are you!"

Yun Jiao ran over and grabbed her brother. "Fifth Brother, stop fighting."

Brother Mao, having recovered, shoved Yun Xiaowu to the ground.

There was a significant difference in their age, height, and build. Plus, unlike Yun Jiao, they didn’t have astonishing strength. Naturally, Brother Mao wasn’t going to be pinned down and beaten by a kid seven or eight years younger than him for long.

By the time Yun Jiao finally managed to pull the two groups apart, they were all surrounded.

"Teacher, it’s them! They’re fighting."

A teacher from the school ran out, and his expression grew darker and darker as he took in the scene.

A few minutes later...

Yun Jiao, Yun Xiaowu and his brothers, and Brother Mao and his crew were all taken to the principal’s office.

"Alright, explain yourselves. Why were you fighting?"

Yun Xiaowu shielded Yun Jiao behind him and shot Brother Mao a vicious glare.

"There were so many of them, and they’re so much older! They were bullying my little sister!"

Yun Jiao: ... ’No, that’s not it! Just listen to me!’

"No, Brother..."

Brother Mao’s temper flared. "Who was bullying your sister? Do I look like the kind of person who picks on the weak? Which one of your eyes saw me bullying her? We were just standing there minding our own business."

Yun Jiao said, "It’s a misunderstanding."

After everyone argued and talked over each other, the principal finally managed to sort out what had happened.

It was a misunderstanding, but...

"You’re all grown up. Couldn’t you find something better to do than extort protection money from students? Do you have any idea that what you’re doing is illegal?"

Brother Mao, bruised and swollen, clutched his stomach and stubbornly stuck his neck out.

"It’s a transaction. They give us money, we protect them. It’s consensual. How is that illegal?"

"What do you mean consensual? If you weren’t surrounding and threatening people, would they willingly give you money?"

Brother Mao pointed at Yun Jiao. "What do you mean unwilling? She gave it to us voluntarily."

Instantly, all eyes fell on Yun Jiao.

Yun Jiao’s pretty little face looked completely innocent, with a hint of daze and confusion.

Suddenly the center of attention, she didn’t seem to have processed what was going on.

’Oh, right. I was just spacing out a moment ago.’

Facing this fair, delicate, and instantly stunning little girl, the principal subconsciously softened his voice a great deal as he questioned her.

"Young lady, tell me, did you give them the money voluntarily?"

Yun Jiao nodded. "Mhm."

The principal was speechless. ’This child is way too gullible. How could her parents possibly feel safe letting her come pick up her brothers by herself?’

"Then why did you give them money?"

As he asked, the principal didn’t forget to shoot another glare at Brother Mao and his cronies.

’What does a little kid like her know? These rotten kids probably tricked her.’

Yun Jiao said, "Because they said they would protect my brothers."

Little Yun Jiao’s policy was to answer every question asked, and with complete honesty.

"Five yuan to protect my brothers for a whole month. It’s not a bad deal."

Her brothers were instantly moved beyond words.

"Sister, we don’t need them to protect us. We can protect ourselves."

Yun Xiaoqi nodded. "Exactly. There are so many of us brothers. Who would dare bully us?"

"That’s not necessarily true."

Brother Mao mumbled, "You guys are dressed pretty well, you could easily become a target. We’re reasonable, but some unreasonable types have been hanging around here lately."

"Just the day before yesterday, some little fat kid from your school with the surname Li got cornered and threatened. If we hadn’t seen it and stepped in to help, he would’ve been robbed of everything he had and gotten a beating on top of it."

The principal frowned upon hearing this. ’Is that really happening?’

’I’ll have to get the teachers to investigate the area outside the school properly.’

’But even though they’re teachers, their authority is limited to the school grounds. Outside, the students scatter in every direction. The teachers can’t exactly escort each and every student home, can they?’

Since this was a voluntary transaction between Brother Mao and Yun Jiao, and the principal could see that while these kids were a bit rough around the edges, they weren’t bad at heart.

As a teacher, his professional instincts kicked in, and he began to lecture Brother Mao and his crew.

"You’re all old enough. Don’t just wander around outside all day. Find something to do so you can at least fill your stomachs and give your families less to worry about."

Brother Mao lowered his head. "You think we don’t want to?"

"But someone has to be willing to hire us."

The principal opened his mouth, but in the end, he just sighed.

In today’s society, it was hard enough for adults to find jobs, let alone a few teenagers.

Even setting up a street stall required capital to buy inventory.

"All of you, go on home now. And no more fighting."

He took out three yuan and handed it to Brother Mao. "Take this to get your injuries looked at. Don’t waste it."

Brother Mao grinned and took the money. "Well, don’t mind if we do. My stomach is really hurting. That kid packs a serious punch."

After leaving the school, Brother Mao was about to say goodbye to Yun Jiao and the others.

Yun Jiao said, "To the hospital."

Brother Mao snorted. "You don’t have to tell me. Doing business with you was a total loss. You never said I had to protect *so many* brothers. I thought it was just one! And on top of that, your brother nearly broke my bones the moment we met."

Yun Xiaowu and the others knew it was a misunderstanding now.

He scratched his head. "Sorry about that. I hit you without knowing what was going on."

Yun Jiao said, "Let’s go. To the hospital. Get checked out. I’ll pay."

Since her brother had been the one to hit them, Yun Jiao naturally felt she should pay for their medical expenses.

Brother Mao was reluctant at first, but Yun Xiaowu and the others eventually pushed and shoved him all the way to the hospital.

After an examination, it turned out they only had superficial injuries.

Aside from that, they were a bit malnourished.

Brother Mao and his friends didn’t seem to care about that.

The doctor just gave them a simple warning. These days, plenty of people were malnourished.

The cost for several people to see the doctor, get their wounds treated and bandaged, and pick up some medicine and bandages came out to a little over ten yuan in total. Yun Jiao paid for it all.

Brother Mao and his crew were stunned, staring at Yun Jiao as if she were some kind of rare creature.

’Wait a minute, how old is this kid? How is she carrying so much money on her!’

Brother Mao had assumed the five yuan she gave him earlier was all the money she had. He never expected her to pull out another ten yuan now without even batting an eye.