The Matchstick-Selling Santa Claus / Collective Punishment

"Hey, Afu, what's up? If not, I'm hanging up. I'm in a bit of a bind right now!"

Yuxian answered the phone. He was in a terrible mood. His Little Jeanne, was the most obedient among the children, but this had happened. He never expected it.

Afu quickly asked, "Is Master looking for Little Jeanne?"

Upon hearing this, Yuxian immediately realized that Little Jeanne had run off to Afu's place.

Sure enough, Little Jeanne's voice came through the phone, "I don't want to go back. He already has Jeanne d'Arc, why is he still looking for me? I'm just a pitiful child that nobody wants."

"Chirp chirp!"

Little Jeanne stroked the Hippogriff's feathers and whispered, "Good Hippogriff, from now on I'll stay with you and never go back to that home."

Yuxian was both annoyed and amused.

He instructed Afu, "Don't let her run around."

After hanging up the phone, Yuxian sat there silently, without saying a word.

Mash came over and said, "Senpai, it's not too late yet. There should be a car to take us to Afu's place. Let's set off now."

Yuxian looked up at Mash and said calmly, "I'm not going."

"Senior..."

Mash wanted to say something more, Yuxian shook his head and interrupted her, "Let her be. This kind of thing should never be tolerated. If there is a first time, there will be a second time. We must stop it from the source."

He turned to the other children and said, "I've told you many times, you must never Independent Action. If you don't listen, I really won't want you anymore!"

Yuxian was very angry. This kind of behavior was absolutely not something to be encouraged. It was extremely dangerous for a child to go out alone, regardless of her identity.

If it's a group activity with the children in their Yuxian, it can be taken as their fooling around and laughed off.

However, this kind of solo travel is definitely not what he wants to see.

This world is safe, but what about the next world? And the world after that?

He couldn't bear the pain of losing any of his children; it was an unimaginable catastrophe.

The children lowered their heads; they finally realized that Yuxian was genuinely angry this time, not just pretending to be angry like before.

"Master, please forgive Little Jeanne this time, okay? We'll definitely listen to you from now on."

The fact that the children stepped forward to plead for Little Jeanne brought comfort to Yuxian.

However, this time Yuxian will not pick things up heavily and put them down lightly as before.

He said sternly, "No! She must be punished this time!"

Jeanne d'Arc also came over to plead for Little Jeanne, saying, "Master, it was my fault this time. I was too careless in my methods, which made her rebellious. Otherwise, I would go and bring her back."

Yuxian said coldly, "It has nothing to do with you. This is her problem. She ran away from home after suffering the slightest grievance. It seems I was too lenient with her before."

"If everyone were like her, what would become of us in the future?"

Yuxian absolutely will not allow such a thing to happen again; this is the last time.

As for Little Jeanne, Yuxian planned to leave her out for two days. He looked at everyone present and said, "None of you are allowed to go and bring her back!"

Chapter 412, Section 41: The Match Santa Claus

The children went back to their room with their heads down; they were very worried about Little Jeanne.

"Should we try to persuade her to come back?"

The proposal was agreed upon by everyone. Now, it was clear that Yuxian was genuinely angry, and they felt that Little Jeanne was going to suffer a severe punishment.

She picked up her phone and texted Little Jeanne: "Come back quickly, Master is really angry!"

Little Jeanne, still indignant while holding the Hippogriff, was completely deaf to her friend's advice.

She replied, "I'm not going back!"

"What can we do? She refuses to come back."

"Tell me more."

So a message was sent. "Master is angry and doesn't want you anymore. He's not even going to come and get you back."

When Little Jeanne saw this, she panicked. What should she do?

But then she thought to herself that she was unwilling to go back so dejectedly, so she replied, "Are you really angry? Or are you just pretending?"

"It's true! When Mash said she was going to pick you up, Master disagreed."

Little Jeanne fidgeted restlessly, her heart filled with anxiety.

"Hmph! Fine, if he doesn't want me, then so be it. I don't want him either!"

She snorted softly, ready to fight to the end, and sent a message: "You don't need to persuade me, I've made up my mind, I'll live with Hippogriff from now on."

The children looked at each other, puzzled as to why Little Jeanne was so stubborn.

Little did they know that Little Jeanne was now in a difficult situation, and admitting her mistake at this moment was not her style.

"Christmas is coming soon, are you really not coming back?" The children continued to persuade her, and they began to use roundabout tactics to win over Little Jeanne.

Little Jeanne Arc then realized that Christmas was just around the corner, her special day.

"There are still several days left, let's talk about it then." Little Jeanne was still trying to hold on.

The children were in a dilemma; no matter how they tried to persuade Little Jeanne, she simply refused to come back.

"Shall we go find her and bring her back?"

"If we leave now, Master will really go crazy! No, no!"

"What should we do then?"

They had no better solution and scratched their heads anxiously.

"It's too late today. Let's go see Mash first thing tomorrow morning and see if she can help. Maybe she can. If all else fails, we can find someone to bring Little Jeanne back. Once she's back, the Master will surely have a solution."

The children were helpless; this was all they could do now. They had lost all enjoyment of playing, and it was a terrible experience.

At Afu's house, Little Jeanne still clung to Hippogriff and refused to let go.

When Afu came to ask her to eat, she wouldn't go; when he asked her to go to sleep, she wouldn't go either.

Afu was very anxious, but he couldn't do anything about it. He wasn't exactly a man who knew how to handle children.

Fortunately, Afu was very careful and kept the place where Hippogriff lived very clean.

But cleanliness also has its downsides. On Christmas Eve, the weather was very cold, and the cold wind blowing in through the door made Little Jeanne shiver.

The Hippogriff's feathers were fine for keeping warm, but Little Jeanne clearly couldn't. She clung to the Hippogriff for warmth, her face showing a pitiful expression.

"I'm probably going to freeze to death on Christmas Eve like the little match girl."

Little Jeanne whispered to Hippogriff, "Hippogriff, don't you think it's especially tragic for a Santa Claus like me to freeze to death on Christmas Eve?"

"Chirp chirp!"

"You think so too?" Little Jeanne continued, "My Master really doesn't want me anymore, what should I do..."

As Little Jeanne spoke, she slowly fell asleep. She had traveled alone from the city to the countryside, and was quite tired. Coupled with her unhappy mood, she felt even more exhausted.

The Hippogriff looked down at Little Jeanne, who was sleeping soundly against its back, and gently covered her with its wings to shield her from the wind.

Afu walked in carrying a large quilt and saw that Little Jeanne of Little Jeanne.

He gently patted Hippogriff's head and instructed, "Don't sleep too soundly tonight, keep an eye on her."

Hippogriff rubbed against Afu's palm and nodded.

"She's already asleep." Afu typed this message and sent it.

Early in the morning, the children found Mash doing chores.

"Sister Mash, we're going to bring Little Jeanne back."

Mash quickly stopped what she was doing. "Don't make things worse. If you leave now, who knows what will happen to the senior?"

"What should we do? Mash, please think of something! We're all so worried!"

The children pestered Mash, insisting that she come up with an idea; they couldn't stand just waiting around.

"Sigh..." Mash sighed and said, "Don't run around. I'll go talk to the senior and see if he's calmed down after a night's sleep."

The children nodded repeatedly, indicating that they would not run around and were waiting for Mash's good news.

Mash searched the house but couldn't find Yuxian Xian.

"Where did the senior go?"

"I don't know. He was already gone when we woke up. We thought he was too angry to sleep and was outside."

The children said they didn't know either.

"Oh no! Could it be that Master has also run away from home?!"

The children panicked and started running around aimlessly, bumping into each other without even noticing.

Mash quickly reassured them and led them to the sofa, where they sat down one by one.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something." Mash knew Yuxian wouldn't run around, but she was more worried that the children might do something irrational in their anxiety.

In fact, Yuxian night and got up and went out as soon as it was light.

He was now standing in the backyard of Afu's house, at the entrance to Hippogriff's residence.

Seeing Little Jeanne sleeping there so pitifully, Yuxian didn't know whether to feel sorry for her or angry.

"Please buy me a box of matches, please buy me a box! I'm Santa Claus, I have to deliver presents to everyone, I can't freeze to death here."

Yuxian by the murmured words of Little Jeanne in her sleep.

Santa Claus, can't you be a little more ambitious?

Little Jeanne finally woke up slowly, opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was Yuxian standing in front of her.

She rubbed her eyes hard and realized it was indeed Yuxian, then burst into tears.

"I must have frozen to death because I didn't sell the matches, that's why I met my Master in heaven."

Yuxian pursed his lips, the words that were on the tip of his tongue suddenly stuck in his throat.

"Get up and go wash up!"

His face hardened, and after uttering those words, he left without looking back.

Upon hearing this, Little Jeanne immediately stopped crying. She blinked hard and asked the Hippogriff beside her, "Hippogriff, am I really still alive?"

Even the Hippogriff couldn't stand it this time. It folded its wings and flung the quilt off Little Jeanne. A gust of cold wind came, and Little Jeanne immediately shivered and hugged her arms tightly.

She burst into laughter through her tears, "It seems she really is still alive..."

Section 413, Chapter Forty-Two: Collective Liability

Yuxian was chatting with Afu in the restaurant.

After washing up, Little Jeanne timidly entered, keeping her head down and not daring to look at Yuxian, only occasionally glancing at his expression.

"Sit down! Eat!"

Yuxian gave the order without turning his head. He continued chatting with Afu, ignoring Little Jeanne and not even glancing at her.

Little Jeanne sat down obediently, eating the breakfast prepared by Afu, not daring to make a sound.

At this moment, Little Jeanne had no hope whatsoever. She knew things were going badly, and she wanted to keep a low profile as much as possible. Resisting would only lead to her death.