"The stuff at this little shop is no good. I’ll take you somewhere better."
They walked to the road outside the village that led to town, then went to a very remote spot.
Chen Jing looked around and called out toward a certain spot.
Soon, two men walked out.
One was shifty-eyed. The other was a sturdy-looking middle-aged man, but his eyes were full of greedy viciousness.
The two men’s eyes lit up the moment they saw Yun Jiao.
Chen Jing pushed Yun Jiao forward. "So? This ’product’ is worth the money, right?"
The two men looked at Yun Jiao, their eyes full of satisfaction.
"She’ll do. Here’s your money."
Two hundred yuan—twenty "Great Unity" ten-yuan bills.
Chen Jing counted the money on the spot. Then, in a great mood, she said to Yun Jiao, "Jiaojiao, Auntie has some things to do. If you want anything, just ask these two uncles to buy it for you."
Yun Jiao asked her, "Did you just sell me?"
Under her piercingly clear gaze, Chen Jing felt a little uncomfortable. "Don’t you blame me."
The two men were about to grab Yun Jiao, but she suddenly darted to the middle-aged man’s side, yanked down his pants, and snatched the dagger he had hidden there.
"What are you doing?!"
No one expected Yun Jiao to be so fast, much less to so accurately grab the dagger.
Yun Jiao took off running with the dagger, making a face at them. "Idiots!"
"Son of a bitch! After her! You get back here, or I’ll skin you alive when we catch you!"
"WHIZZ... THWACK!"
"Ah! What was that?"
"Who?! Who the hell hit me!"
"It stinks."
"WHIZZ! WHIZZ!"
Countless mud balls and rocks, caked in pig and cow dung, rained down on them.
"BLECH..."
"Get out here! Show yourselves, damn it!"
Yun Jiao pulled out her own slingshot and with a WHIZZ, hit Chen Jing, who had already run some distance away.
"AHHH!!!"
She let out a piercing scream and fell to her knees, collapsing to the ground.
The two men found something to barely use as cover and scrambled messily through the cornfield, finally forcing Yun Xiaowu and the others out of hiding.
"Little sister, come over here."
Yun Jiao ran over.
At this point, what was there for the two traffickers not to understand? They were all in it together!
’Dammit, to think we were tricked by a bunch of kids!’
"Give me the knife you’ve got."
His own knife had been stolen by Yun Jiao, and his pants were ripped. ’Damn it,’ he thought, ’I’ve never been this pathetic.’
The middle-aged man was clearly more ruthless. He was willing to risk the pain of the slingshot to grab one of the children.
Yun Jiao drew her slingshot and fired directly at the wrist of the hand holding the dagger.
"AHHH!!!"
The shot blew a bloody hole right through his wrist.
"It hurts... it fucking hurts!"
He clutched his wrist, his face pale and veins bulging from the pain.
He looked up toward Yun Jiao and saw the little girl was unnervingly calm, her pair of blue-black eyes fixed on him.
In that instant, a chill went down the middle-aged man’s spine.
He gave up on grabbing anyone and turned to run.
Yun Jiao drew her slingshot again, aiming for the back of the man’s knee.
"WHIZZ..."
"AAAAHHHH!!!"
Seeing this, the shifty-eyed man also tried to scramble away.
The end result was the same for both: Yun Jiao shot them until they couldn’t even crawl.
The three traffickers lay on the ground, wailing in agony.
Yun Jiao’s expression changed in a flash, becoming clear and innocent.
"Brother, I hit them!"
Her voice was filled with naive joy.
Yun Xiaowu and the others cheered excitedly. "Let’s go, let’s go beat up the traffickers!"
Yun Xiaowu and the others charged forward.
Worried her brothers might be in danger, Yun Jiao followed them, picking up a rock along the way.
The middle-aged man was cunning and was indeed planning to counterattack, hoping to grab anyone as a hostage.
But just as his expression turned vicious and he reached out, Yun Jiao smashed his good hand with the rock.
There was even the sound of a CRACK.
"AAAAHHHH!!!"
He contorted in pain.
Yun Xiaowu and the others froze for a second, staring blankly at Yun Jiao.
Yun Jiao dropped the rock. "Brother, he was about to grab you!"
Yun Xiaowu got angry and also found a rock to start hitting him with—the man stank too much to use his fists.
"You still want to grab us? We’ll beat you to death!"
Yun Jiao said, "Brother, they have money on them."
Instantly, Yun Xiaowu and his brothers’ eyes lit up, and they started searching the men’s pockets.
The middle-aged man had five hundred yuan on him, and also a watch on his wrist.
"It’s a watch! Quick, take it off."
"He’s got two gold earrings here, too!"
"He must have stolen them from someone else."
"Come on, come on, let’s search that other guy."
Facing these bandit-like youths, the shifty-eyed man didn’t dare resist, his gaze fixed fearfully on Yun Jiao.
He was terrified of ending up like the middle-aged man.
At that moment, the two men were internally cursing Chen Jing and her entire family line.
’She didn’t bring us a cash cow, she brought us a goddamn devil incarnate!’
’What kind of kid uses a slingshot like a gun? What kind of kid can smash a man’s hand to a pulp without batting an eye?!’
Yun Jiao walked over to Chen Jing.
Chen Jing was now terrified beyond belief. She never imagined that she, the hunter, would become the prey, while the three-year-old child had become the hunter.
"I was wrong, Jiaojiao... Auntie was wrong. I... I... Take this money and buy yourself something to eat. Please let Auntie go, okay...?"
Chen Jing begged for mercy.
Yun Jiao took the money and smiled. "Thank you, Auntie."
Then she punched her in the head.
Chen Jing felt dizzy, then lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
"Sis, what happened to her? She’s not dead, is she?!"
Yun Xiaowu was horrified.
Yun Jiao shook her head. "I just knocked her out."
"She has a watch, too."
Yun Jiao started stripping Chen Jing of her valuables: the watch, a gold ring, and all the money. There wasn’t much else.
The children gathered around, sat on the ground, and began to count their spoils for the day.
The money totaled 812 yuan. There were two watches—one men’s and one women’s—a pair of gold earrings, and a gold ring.
Seeing this haul, the children were all grinning from ear to ear.
Just as they were celebrating, shouts came from the distance.
"Yun Jiao!"
"Xiao Wu, Xiao Liu!"
The voices sounded very anxious.
The children looked at each other and quickly called back.
"Here! We’re over here..."
Soon, the adults arrived.
Seeing Yun Jiao and the others, Shen Yunlian and Granny Yun rushed forward and hugged them.
"You scared us to death! What are you doing all the way out here? Do you have any idea how dangerous it is?!"
Shen Yunlian and Wang Mei hugged the children, their eyes red as they worriedly smacked them.
Many people from the village had come, all carrying hoes, machetes, shovels, and the like.
They had heard from Granny Yun that there were traffickers.
"Mom, Mom, stop hitting me! We already took down the three traffickers."
Except for Chen Jing, who was unconscious, the other two were on the ground, groaning in pain.
When the police officers went to arrest them, the stench coming off the men nearly made the officers pass out.