A Huge Misunderstanding

"What are you hesitating for? What the hell are you doing?"

Yao Xiaona wore an expression of exasperation, as though iron had failed to become steel. Shaking her head, she said, "I thought pushing you a little would make you hit rock bottom, bounce back, and finally come to your senses. I never expected you to be this hopeless. Come on, you're coming with me to see the homeroom teacher. You don't deserve to stay at our school."

The protagonist was being bullied! Someone was bullying the protagonist!

Li Jinshui trembled with rage. Ignoring Yao Xiaona, he slowly closed his eyes and steadied his emotions.

Getting angry was useless. It was all because he wasn't strong enough!

Looks like I, Li Jinshui, wasn't the protagonist of some ordinary power fantasy. These waters ran deep...

I get it. This was a battle of wits!

A protagonist whose strength and intelligence advanced side by side!

Li Jinshui suddenly opened his eyes, grabbed the steak from the table again, and savagely bit into it.

"Li Jinshui, you're still eating?" Yao Xiaona's face was full of disbelief.

"What the fuck does that have to do with you?" Li Jinshui said expressionlessly.

"Me? I'm doing this for your own good. How can you..." Yao Xiaona's big eyes widened, and she looked both furious and aggrieved.

"For my own good? Ha!"

Li Jinshui immediately raised his voice and shouted at the people around him, "Hey, everyone, did you see that? I bought this meat with my own money, but this person won't let me eat it and even says it's for my own good. Is there any justice left in this world?"

"Uh, well..." The students hesitated.

At first glance, Yao Xiaona seemed to have a point. Eating it like this really was wasteful.

But it was Li Jinshui's own money. How he wanted to spend it was his business, and it really wasn't anyone else's place to stop him.

"There's something I didn't want to bring up, but now I really can't take it anymore."

Li Jinshui spoke again, his voice brimming with emotion. "Everyone, let me ask you this: why do we work so hard at martial arts? Isn't it to improve our strength, get into university, and find a good job after graduation?"

"I got lucky and found a job as a security guard, saving myself several years of detours. But what happened? This Class Monitor Yao used her connections to get me fired, costing me several months' worth of wages."

"Left with no choice, I returned to my old school, thinking I'd eat some Exotic Beast Meat to ease my depressed mood, but then..."

At that point, Li Jinshui immediately began howling, "Psychological counselor, I don't feel right!"

Wait... was that true?

The many students present all turned to look at Yao Xiaona.

"I..." Yao Xiaona panicked at once, her face flushing red as she explained, "That's not what happened. I asked the property manager to fire you because it really was for your own good!"

"Wow—"

This time, the crowd that had only half believed Li Jinshui instantly erupted.

"I know that senior. She's from Class 6, Year Three, and she's even the class monitor. I never thought she was that kind of person."

"That's too cruel, isn't it? How could she make someone lose their job?"

"That was a security guard position! The hottest iron rice bowl around these days."

"Am I the only one who thinks something's off? Doesn't this Student Li have a Lineage? Why would he become a security guard?"

"What the fuck do you know? The infighting in big Lineages is a mess. Maybe he lost the fight and had to become a security guard. People like us have to work our asses off to get into university, then compete for positions after graduation just to become security guards."

This time, the crowd's discussion was loud. They pointed at Yao Xiaona and whispered among themselves.

Yao Xiaona was dumbfounded. She had never encountered a scene like this before and wanted to explain herself.

Li Jinshui hurriedly swallowed a mouthful of meat and shouted, "Are kings, marquises, generals, and ministers born with special blood? Class Monitor Yao, you rely on your family power to bully ordinary people like us. I've had enough today! You have to compensate me for my lost wages and return my hard-earned money!"

"I... you..." Yao Xiaona's eyes reddened with anger. She pointed at Li Jinshui, shocked and furious.

But faced with the countless looks and accusations around her, panic filled her heart.

"Return my hard-earned money!" Li Jinshui raised an arm and cried out.

"Enough, Student Li..." A classmate beside them couldn't stand it anymore and tried to dissuade him.

Li Jinshui said, "Return my hard-earned money!"

"The class monitor only meant well, even if she messed it up..." Another student spoke up.

Li Jinshui said, "Return my hard-earned money!"

"Are you ever going to stop?" Several classmates frowned.

Li Jinshui said, "Return my hard-earned money!"

"Enough!" Yao Xiaona finally couldn't hold back any longer. Gritting her teeth, she stared at Li Jinshui, her lips trembling slightly. "How much?"

"One... cough."

Li Jinshui hurriedly stopped himself from opening his lion's mouth. He held up three fingers. "Forty thousand." Then he quickly added another finger.

A male classmate's expression darkened. "Li Jinshui, don't go too far..."

"Fine, I'll pay!" Yao Xiaona shouted through gritted teeth. Her eyes were already damp, and she looked like she had suffered a grievance yet stubbornly forced herself to stay strong.

"..."

Seeing that look on her face, Li Jinshui's heart suddenly clenched.

Fuck, I asked for too little!

"What? Class Monitor, don't give it to him! How could a security guard earn that much? He's clearly taking advantage of the situation to extort you. You..." The boy beside her hurriedly tried to stop her.

"Stop talking. I meddled where I shouldn't have. I'm the reason he lost his job. I'll pay!"

As Yao Xiaona spoke, she took out her phone and stared straight at Li Jinshui, her eyes full of disappointment and anger.

Li Jinshui didn't care about any of that. He immediately opened his payment QR code and held it out.

"Beep—"

Both of them kept straight faces, each unhappy in their own way, but the transfer went through smoothly.

"Is that enough, Li Jinshui? Are you satisfied now?" Like a pure white lotus hurt by a scumbag, Yao Xiaona maintained her last shred of stubbornness as she questioned him coldly.

When Li Jinshui saw that forty thousand had actually landed in his account just like that, his expression changed faster than a Sichuan opera face.

"Class Monitor, it's a misunderstanding—a huge misunderstanding!"

He strode forward and grabbed Yao Xiaona's hand, his face full of heart-wrenching remorse. "You may not believe this, but I suddenly realized my mistake. So you really were doing this for my own good. I was too narrow-minded to understand your painstaking intentions sooner."

"W-what?" Yao Xiaona's eyes widened. She hadn't quite processed it yet.

"Don't worry, Class Monitor. From now on, I'll study diligently and train hard in martial arts. A martial artist must fight for every inch, and I'll definitely fight my way into prominence. From now on, we'll encourage each other. Let's agree to meet again at the pinnacle of martial arts!" Li Jinshui's voice was firm and sonorous, displaying his determination for the martial path.

Everyone present was stunned speechless.

How did this guy even do that?

He had just managed to fleece forty thousand out of her?

"Senior, I don't want to work hard anymore!" A first-year boy cried out on the spot and came sprinting over.

Seeing this, the others followed suit. One after another, they shouted things like, "I willingly surrender to depravity!" and "I'm mud that can't be plastered onto a wall!" before swarming forward.

"Y-you... what are you doing?" Yao Xiaona had been out of the loop almost the entire time. Before she could recover from Li Jinshui's drastic shift, the scene before her gave her another fright.

"Back off, all of you! Take another step forward, and don't blame us for using force!"

"Go get a teacher, quick."

Fortunately, the students around Yao Xiaona all stepped forward and shielded her behind them, rebuking the other students. Still, the scene remained rather chaotic for a time.

Li Jinshui had already slipped away amid the confusion. Carrying the half-eaten steak on a fork, he went to the service window, had an auntie quickly pack it up, grabbed the plastic bag, and ran outside.