Day and night alternate, and the morning dawn begins to dew.

After the three of Zhining converged, they walked to the depths of the mountain forest, and along the way, they only heard the red beans beating Hache and said: "Sister, let's cut a few less today, these two have completed more than ten in the past two days, I am almost exhausted, and the number of bamboos today is enough to hand in, so let's rest for a day today." ”

"Okay, we'll only cut three roots per person today, and we'll make up for the rest tomorrow." Zhi Ning replied with a gesture.

"Huh? Need three, huh? Seeing Zhining's gesture, the pitiful red bean said.

"Huh? Sister, you see it's not Li Yunlan and them, it's rare that they can get up so early to do morning work. Shen Shiyi interrupted Zhi Ning, who was about to make another gesture to the red bean.

Zhi Ning and Hongdou looked forward when they heard Shen Shiyi speak, and saw that Li Yunlan and the others were carrying more than ten bamboos towards the ninja side, thinking that they were going to deliver the number of bamboos for the morning work.

On the other side, at this time, the light could barely see the person on the other side, and Li Yunlan and the others secretly screamed bad luck in their hearts.

The slightly plump girl half-bowed in Li Yunlan's ear and said, "Sister Yunlan, they won't find out that we took their bamboo handles." ”

What the girl said was exactly what Li Yunlan was worried about, but how could she, who had always had a good face, give in to outsiders, glanced at Zhi Ning and the others with hatred in her side eyes, and said stiffly: "What if you find out, do they dare to publicize it?" Don't forget that the black-clothed ninja said that cutting bamboo is to temper our will, but they didn't let them cut down the bamboo a few days in advance like this. ”

Her voice was deliberately suppressed, and Zhi Ning and the others in the distance naturally couldn't hear it, but the girls around her could hear it clearly, although she said it a little hard-mouthed, but it was also a reassuring pill for them. The few people who were full of confidence held their heads high and didn't look at Zhi Ning anymore, and went straight to the direction of the ninja.

But after a while, the voice of red beans came from the forest: "Third sister, the bamboo we prepared yesterday, I remember that it was hidden here, why is it gone?" ”

"Yes, sister, the stone I marked yesterday is still there, but I can't find the more than ten bamboos." Shen Shiyi also said as he rummaged on the side.

"Eleven, it can't be that you're in the wrong place, are you?" Red Bean scratched his head and asked.

"How can I know Sister Hongdou, the mark I made is obvious, it is here, but I can't find those bamboos."

"What should I do, I still think that we have rich stocks, so let's walk slower on the road, it's almost dawn now."

Looking at the empty bamboo forest in front of them, Shen Shiyi and Hongdou were anxious like ants on a hot pot.

Here Zhi Ning looked carefully for a long time, and gestured to the two of them: "Today's things are a little strange, at the moment, we will ensure that one person completes the morning work, and the red beans will be delivered to the bamboo in a while, and we will find the bamboo." ”

The sun is about to rise, and the three people who are in a hurry and hurry up finally finish cutting down the bamboo needed by one person, and one person only gets more than half a steamed bun. Chewing steamed buns in his mouth, he said with an angry red bean: "Third sister, I just went to hand over the bamboo, I thought all the way, how to think about today's things are not right, when we met Li Yunlan in the morning, they seemed to come from this direction, it is said that in the past, Li Yunlan's eldest ladies had to grind for a long time when they got up early, why did they get up so early today, but the bamboo we hid could not be found, was it stolen by them?" ”

Shen Shiyi scratched his head and said honestly: "No, how could they know that we hid the bamboo there." ”

"Stupid you, the island is such a big place, and they live in the same room as us, where are so many people still secret? No, I'll have to go and ask them. As he spoke, Red Bean pulled his legs and walked to the house.

Zhi Ning was thinking about Li Yunlan's demeanor in the morning, and before he could react, he suddenly saw Hongdou walking towards the house angrily, turned around and reached out to pull Hongdou, but was slipped out of his hand by Hongdou's sleeve.

"Sister, what Sister Hongdou said makes sense, I'll go to our house to find a few people who get along well on weekdays, and come over and ask them to help evaluate it." Taking advantage of the time to Ning to pull the red bean, Shen Shiyi also turned around and ran behind him.

Helplessly, Zhining couldn't speak, looked left and right, stomped his feet, and had to chase red beans first.

When Zhi Ning, who was running and thinking with doubts in his heart, rushed to the inside and outside of the house, he had heard a noise in the house, the door was wide open, and several girls were pushing and shoving red beans, and red beans did not show weakness, and the left and right hands were parrying a few people, and they were about to move here.

"Sister, I've found a few friends." Zhi Ning was about to go over and pull away the red beans, but behind him, Shen Shiyi had already shouted and led dozens of teenagers to run from a distance. Then there were many other teenagers who were shocked all the way but didn't know what to do.

Seeing more and more crowded people, Zhi Ning patted his head helplessly: This matter seems to be a big deal.

In less than a moment, forty or fifty people poured in into the small courtyard where Zhi Ning lived, and the courtyard, which was not very spacious, was squeezed for a while. I saw that Shen Shiyi saw Hongdou being bullied by several people, and he yelled and was about to rush forward.

Suddenly, the crowd of people who were still crowded at the gate of the courtyard suddenly dispersed, and some teenagers who were crowded at the door before they could go out also made a way, and on the vacated road, the old man in blue led four young ninjas from the crowd to the house.

The old man who entered the courtyard first raised his eyebrows and glanced at Zhi Ning, who was standing in front of him a little helpless, knowing that she couldn't speak, he waved his hand and asked Qing Ren to drive her aside, turned around and walked towards the house. In the house, the red beans and other girls who had just started their hands had already stopped hearing the movement outside the house, and they were all trembling and standing in the middle of the house with their heads bowed and their hands down, where was there still half a minute of just showing their teeth and claws.

The old man in blue slowly walked to the table and pulled a chair, sat down straight, his face covered with a gloomy voice, and said, "Tell me what's going on?" ”

The old man in blue is responsible for training on weekdays, and if the posture is slightly wrong during the exercise, he will be hit hard by a few stones and a few bamboo whips.

There was silence in the air for a long time, and seeing that no one answered, the old man laughed instead of being angry, and stretched out his finger to a few people in the room: "You, you, how many of you go out." Others stayed. That little mute outside the house, you come in. ”

As the girls left, the door slammed shut.

"Orishima, go find the bamboo whips, ten lashes each, and see if they can speak." The old man in blue looked at the group of girls in the room who were biting their lower lipes but didn't say a word, and commanded.

Hay, a strange answer replied.

Inside the hospital. Everyone is afraid of the old man in blue, and he gets along with these black-clothed ninjas quite closely on weekdays. Seeing the old man enter the house, the crowd that had just faded not far slowly poured back, only Shen Shiyi was outside the courtyard, and the rest were lying on the courtyard wall. After listening to a few screams in the room, a burst of chattering sounded, as if arguing about something. About half of the incense was poured into the house, and the door opened, and the girls walked out of the house with their heads down, each looking for a place to kneel.

"Since the first day of the bamboo harvesting practice, I have told you that this is to establish the foundation for the beginning of your practice, and you have each secretly played tricks on me, what are you doing with my words? Wood Spirit, come out. As he spoke, the old man snorted softly. Immediately a few more people appeared on the ridge of the roof and landed in the courtyard.

I saw a few people who had just been summoned bowing and saluting, clasping their fists and saying in unison: "Hall Master." ”

"Go, give them twenty lashes each, and let them loosen their flesh." The old man commanded again.

Under the sun, there was a bang, and before a few people kneeling on the ground could react, they saw a slender black shadow descending, and suddenly a burst of bamboo whips sounded on the flesh and skin, and then the screams in the courtyard rang out, straight into the hearts of the people.

Twenty lashes were not a lot, but before the dozen young girls who had barely done heavy work had received such punishments, before the ten lashes were finished, the sounds of pain and shouts filled the entire courtyard. Several young ninjas were good at whipping, and they saw that the girl had made the old man angry, so they didn't spare any strength at this time, and only hit a few whips, and the clothes on their backs were half torn, and they were on the white clothes. Traces of blood oozed out. The time was quick, and the punishment of twenty lashes was completed. But the time of less than half a cup of tea made it as if the girls had passed for several years.

"Stand up." The old man in blue stood aside and said coldly.

Under the sun, Li Yunlan and the girls were weak, and Zhining, who had bitten the corners of her mouth in pain, did not make a sound. Hearing the old man's words, Zhi Ning, who trembled and leaned against the wall and slowly got up, turned his head to look at the red bean whose clothes were almost broken to pieces on his back, moved two steps under his feet, stretched out his hand to her, gritted his teeth and pulled her up. After a few breaths, other conscious girls also slowly helped each other up.

Poof, the two girls who had passed out on the ground were also woken up by a basin of cold water poured over their heads.

The old man in blue with the light on his back in the sun couldn't see the expression on his face, and said coldly: "I let you practice cutting bamboo, one is to train your patience, and the other is to lay the foundation for your practice and practice. Everyone else is practicing hard, you, you" pointed to Zhi Ning and Hongdou as he spoke, "It's okay to play some clever tricks yourself, and even teach other junior brothers and punish you two to go to the cliff and kneel until dark." The rest of the people knelt on the spot, and were not allowed to get up without a commandment. From tomorrow, the two of you will move out of the third courtyard and live in the firewood room in the backyard. After speaking, the old man waved his sleeves and led several young ninjas to turn around and leave the courtyard gate.

………………………………………………………………………

The day's punishment and kneeling finally ended, and Zhining and Hongdou walked all the way to the courtyard with their barely conscious legs.

Entering the house, the girls who had been making a lot of noise for a day had already fallen asleep, Zhi Ning gently closed the door, and was about to walk to his bunk, only to hear the voice of red beans on the side: "Third sister, you come to sleep with me." ”

Zhi Ning, who felt a little strange, did not respond, and walked to the red bean shop by the wall in the dark, and when he walked to the side of the red bean bed, he looked down by the moonlight, and Zhi Ning suddenly cried and laughed, only to see that his futon was thrown next to the red bean again. These people don't even want me to have a better day. Zhi Ning smiled bitterly in his heart.

Gritted his teeth and removed the clothes that had been stuck to his body with blood, and lay down on the bed after cleaning. Zhi Ning was about to make some gestures with Hongdou, but he heard a slight snoring sound next to him, and he fell asleep so quickly.

After this, I wanted to tell her that I could talk, but I didn't expect to fall asleep so quickly. Forget it, let's find a suitable opportunity to talk to her in the future. Zhi Ningxin said.

The wound on his back lay on the slightly hard bed, which made Zhining get used to it for a long time. About half of the incense injection time, a day of fatigue, Zhi Ning also began to be drowsy, in a daze, Zhi Ning suddenly felt that there was something more in his arms, and there was some heat, and he raised his eyelids in a daze to look, only to see the red beans like a lamb lacking warmth kept rubbing into Zhi Ning's arms. At the beginning, Zhining still had a gap to the side, but the speed of the concession could not catch up with the sleeping red bean and kept leaning on the body, and the helpless Zhining had to gently push her against the wall, how did she know that it was not long before she pushed it hard, but after a while, Xiao Nizi was like a sleeping and sticky cat, and her whole body curled up in a ball and leaned over, but Zhining looked angry and funny. I had to dial and dial her again and again to let her go, and it was nearly half of the night, and it was extremely uncomfortable to sleep.

After a while, Xu is red bean was also very tired today, and wanted to find a comfortable sleeping position, so he turned over and opened his hands and feet, unfolded in a large font, and kept putting his hands on Zhi Ning's face. Zhining, who was a little sleepy just now, had to gently brush the hands and feet of the "kitten" away again, and got a moment of cleansing. was about to turn over and go to sleep, the "claws" of the "kitten" were on Zhi Ning's shoulder again, pulling Zhi Ning and unable to turn over, Zhi Ning turned around and gently raised the kitten's paw and put it into the quilt. turned over again, and couldn't care about the wound to the "kitten" in his sleep.

Stay away from this abrasive kitten, at least there should be more than an hour to rest. Zhi Ningxin said.

The moonlight reflected in along the window grille again, and at the moment when Zhi Ning turned his head and turned over, a little dazzling light flashed in front of Zhi Ning's eyes, like a sharp weapon. At this time, half of the action of turning over was completed, and Zhi Ning only vaguely felt strange in his heart, but after all, he had been sleepy for a day, and he had been tortured by Xiao Hongdou for half the night, and his thinking was not very clear in his heart, and his face slowly turned around, hissing...... A tingling pain came from the neck, and Zhi Ning, who felt the pain, immediately propped up his body with his elbow, and at the same time probed his neck with his other hand, a little slippery and greasy, could it be bleeding? Zhi Ning wiped it lightly with her hand, and when she looked at it in the moonlight, a smear of blood appeared in her palm. Compared to the wound during the day, the amount of bleeding was not great, but it was blood. At this time, Zhi Ning didn't care that the wound on his back would touch the red bean lying behind him, and his waist stepped back half a body violently.

Under the moonlight, a sharp object half a finger wide, I don't know whether it was iron or silver, shone in front of Zhining's eyes. Isn't this the silver hairpin that comes with the red bean on weekdays? I just told myself that I lost it today. Why did they put it here, they threw their futon over, why didn't they find it when they sorted out the red beans? Zhi Ning, who had been slightly relieved from the fright, suddenly cleared up in his heart. She looked up slightly around the room, and it was still pitch black, with no movement except for the occasional cries.

When Zhi Ning lowered his head and looked at the position of the hairpin, his body shook suddenly, if he hadn't covered his mouth in advance, Zhi Ning almost screamed out, and he couldn't help but secretly scream in his heart. It turned out that it was thanks to the moonlight that came in and the reflection on the silver hairpin was a little dazzling, and he who was tortured by red beans overnight still had a trace of clarity when he turned over, so he could react immediately at the moment of pain. If you had reacted half a minute slower just now, or if you had been sleepy for half a minute, you might have been stabbed to death on this silver hairpin by the force of turning over the moment you turned around.

It's a ruthless way, so that tomorrow I will find that I was stabbed to death, or it can be said that I was pressed on top of the hairpin when I was asleep, anyway, this hairpin is also an object of red beans. No wonder everyone has fallen asleep after coming back, and I wonder how Li Yunlan and their temperament can endure to find me again tomorrow. It turned out that this time it was not as simple as I thought. Is this a scheming that can only be done by a child at what age old? Imagine a drop of cold sweat dripping down Zhi Ning's forehead down his cheeks.

"Sansanjie, Sansanjie......." At this time, a voice of red beans that seemed to be dreaming and asking came out.

Outside the house, there was a loud noise, and a chill came suddenly. Xu was frightened and a little nervous, and she suddenly thought in her heart: Li Yunlan, how could they know where we stored the bamboo, and the hairpin of red beans was lost so coincidentally, could she too? Thinking of this, Zhi Ning seemed to have no strength for a while, and suddenly collapsed on the bed.

No, no, no, Hongdou has been through so much with me, how can it be her? If they didn't have her hairpin today, they would have found something else to replace it, and the red bean hairpin should have been dropped in the morning when she was punished outside the house and picked up by them. This may be a coincidence. Red beans she ...... Zhining, who was nervous, was thinking quickly in her heart, and in a trance, she seemed to see a pair of eyes staring at her in the dark.

Suddenly, the moonlight shone in through the window paper again, and in the faint light, a figure was seen on the bunk, half-leaning up, looking this way, and a feeling as if there was nowhere to escape instantly came from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. Zhining, who was so frightened, hunched his back but didn't obey the call, couldn't move at all. Maybe it was really nervous to the extreme, and Zhining felt as if there were countless pairs of eyes in the room looking at her. She almost collapsed in an instant.

Fortunately, there was only one red bean bed in the window of the house, and after a long time, the figure over there didn't seem to see anything at all, so he had to give up. Immediately after that, a soft snoring sound came again, and Zhi Ning, who had come back to her senses, carefully pulled out the hairpin inserted in the pillow and held it tightly in her hand, and the words of the old man in blue in the morning once again appeared in Zhi Ning's heart, and at that moment she seemed to have decided something. She half-squinted and didn't move, as if nothing had happened in the last few minutes.

A soft sound slid over the eaves, like a breeze blowing through the movement of the eaves tiles.