The Tiangou Gang, is the foremost gang power in Zhi'an city. Moreover, it dominates both the underworld and legitimate business, and the ordinary common people, upon seeing members of the Tiangou Gang, would always keep their distance with respect.
Monkey is a small-time leader of the Tiangou Gang in the vicinity of Zhi'an No. 1 Middle School; his underlings, a dozen or so young thugs, required all street vendors in the area to address him as "Brother Monkey". A few of the school's troublemaker students were also under Monkey's protection, which emboldened them to bully boys and dominate girls within the school.
What's more, Monkey would occasionally bring his gang to cordon off the alleys at the school gates of Zhi'an No. 1 Middle School, specifically to collect "tolls" from passing students. Therefore, Monkey was quite infamous at Zhi'an No. 1 Middle School, albeit only for notoriety. Almost all students would keep their distance upon seeing Monkey.
"Freak! Didn't check the almanac before heading out today, damn bad luck... Monkey's toll starts at ten bucks..."
Zhang Zhen, the chubby one, stopped in his tracks. Still a dozen meters away from the thugs, he conscientiously pulled out a twenty-yuan note from his pocket and patted Lin Feng on the shoulder, saying, "I know you're short on cash; I'll pay the toll for you this time..."
"Chubby! Don't pay any toll... Humph! Why should we pay these punks a toll just for going to school?"
Lin Feng waved his hand and walked straight towards Monkey and his gang, who were blocking a few Zhi'an No. 1 Middle School girls at the alley entrance.
"Hey... Freak, wait... Don't do anything rash, okay! Monkey and his gang have steel pipes in their hands!"
Fearing Lin Feng would really start a fight with the hoodlums, Zhang Zhen hurriedly followed, "A few days ago, I heard that the tall guy from Class Three, just because he wouldn't pay Monkey the toll, ended up... getting his head smashed by a few thugs with steel pipes, even got a concussion..."
However, as Zhang Zhen moved closer and saw the group of girls being stopped by Monkey more clearly, he quickly grabbed Lin Feng in surprise and shouted, "Freak, I can't be seeing things! That looks like... like school beauty Qin Yanran... Monkey's actually blocked school beauty Qin Yanran, and the others seem to be our classmates too!"
"School beauty? It really is Qin Yanran and them..."
Indeed, Lin Feng also recognized the pure and beautiful girl, wearing a ponytail and a floral dress, as Qin Yanran, the class president from his class, who was also the dream goddess of all the male students at Zhi'an No. 1 Middle School.
At the moment, Qin Yanran was protecting a few of her classmates, puffing out her newly developed chest, and arguing with Monkey, the small-time thug leader, "This road isn't owned by you guys, why should we have to pay a toll to use it for coming and going to school? We don't have any money, and even if we did, we wouldn't give it to you. Please let us through!"
"Oh ho! It's the first time someone dares to ask me 'why' when I, Monkey, am collecting protection and toll fees in this area."
Monkey spat out a cigarette butt, stomped on it fiercely, then extended his nicotine-stained fingers and gave Qin Yanran an evil smile, saying, "This morning, I collected tolls from over a hundred students here, and not a single one dared not to pay. Don't think that just because you're girls, I'll pity you. But... heh heh... I heard that you're supposedly the school beauty of Zhi'an No. 1 Middle School! How about this... if you give me a kiss, I'll let you all pass... and I won't collect tolls from you in the future, how does that sound?"
Monkey, who often hung around this area, had long been lusting after Qin Yanran, the school beauty of Zhi'an No. 1 Middle School. Today, having finally cornered her in this alley, there was no way he would easily let her go, right?
After stating his terms, Monkey pointed to his own face and smiled lewdly, while the few young thugs behind him also started whistling and jeering along.
"Hey, sweetheart! Haha... Gorgeous, if you follow our Brother Monkey, I guarantee you'll be able to strut around Zhi'an No. 1 High School!"
"Tsk tsk... Truly worthy of being the school belle! Only our Brother Monkey is a match for you..."
"Haha! We might start calling you Sister-in-law soon. Brother Monkey is really lucky..."
...
The filthy talk of these hooligans made Qin Yanran's face flush with anger, and, biting her soft red lips, she pointed at Monkey and said indignantly, "You... you hooligans..."
However, as soon as Qin Yanran said this, her deskmate and close friend Hong Fangfang quickly grabbed her, whispering fearfully, "Yanran, I... we should just pay them! Otherwise, these thugs from the streets might do something terrible to us..."
"Yeah! Yanran, it's only ten yuan per person... we should just pay... Also, if we don't leave now, we're going to be late..."
...
The other girls were also quite timid and whispered to Qin Yanran, urging her to pay, and two of them had already taken out their money.
"No! Fangfang, we can't pay them. It's because too many students have given in to these hoodlums' threats and paid up that they've gotten so brazen."
Qin Yanran spoke with righteous indignation, then quickly looked around and spotted the chubby Zhang Zhen and Lin Feng approaching. She said to her friend Ye Fangfang, "Fangfang, look... those two coming our way seem to be boys from our school. We can ask them for help..."
"Forget it! Yanran, a dozen or so boys from our school just passed by here, and they all obediently paid the 'toll'. They know how tough Monkey is..."
Hong Fangfang shook her head and then, recognizing Lin Feng and the chubby Zhang Zhen, said, "Those two boys are from our class, but... they are troublemakers. Yanran, don't expect them to be any help!"
"Ah! Even though it's an era of rule of law, why... do these thugs still dare to blatantly extort toll fees from us high school students in broad daylight?"
Seeing the arrogant demeanor of Monkey and his goons, Qin Yanran felt furious and helpless. She definitely would not be willing to kiss the thug Monkey; just seeing his face already disgusted her. But was she really going to submit and pay him the money?
Qin Yanran was not willing to concede, but it was almost eight o'clock, and any further delay would make her late. The girls behind her couldn't wait any longer; they gave their ten yuan and hurriedly ran towards the school gates. Her deskmate and close friend Hong Fangfang was also anxious, taking out twenty yuan and saying, "Yanran, we really are going to be late if we don't leave now. It's no big deal... I'll pay your ten yuan..."
However, just as Hong Fangfang was about to hand over the money to Monkey, he knocked her money away, his eyes leering at Qin Yanran. Pointing at her, he laughed lewdly and said, "It's too late to give me the money now, I don't want it anymore, I want you... to kiss me!"