Yongri stood at the head of the line, his legs wide apart. I walked up to him and got down on my knees, and I pushed my hands under his crotch.

"Brother-" Hao Junqi cried.

I drilled through one after another, and finally came to the last one, the thin man. I stood up.

The thin man crossed his hands on his waist and looked hideous.

"Hurry up and drill! Who told you to stand up? The thin man scolded.

"I don't want to take a break."

"I told you to hurry up!"

"yes, hurry up!" A few people said it together.

I knelt down again, moved my steps and drilled under the skinny man's crotch, and when my head was over the skinny man's crotch, and my body was not out of the skinny man's crotch, I stood up suddenly. The thin man was carried on my back, because I was not vigilant, because my center of gravity was unstable, and of course, because I deliberately tried hard, he fell heavily to the ground.

A few people couldn't help but laugh, but quickly retracted their smiles. Hao Junqi stayed there, perhaps because she was amused and worried about me. Ah San ran over and helped the thin man up.

The thin man pushed Ah San away, walked up to me and gave me a slap. His face flushed from the humiliation.

I punched the skinny man in the face. Yongfu shouted, and the group rushed up. Punches and feet rained down on me. I was quickly knocked to the ground and quickly lost consciousness, the last voice left in my ears was Hao Junqi's bitter pleading.

I don't know how long it took me to wake up. Maybe I fainted and didn't have much time to wake up from Hao Junqi's crying. When I woke up, I felt a double vision in front of my eyes.

"Kiki." My voice was weak.

"You're awake, brother, are you awake?" Hao Junqi burst into tears and laughed. Her face was covered with tears.

"The skinny man didn't beat me to death?"

"Nope. How can you talk to me when you're dead? Hao Junqi helped me sit up, and then helped me to the front of the hall. I hurt all over, but I couldn't help it*. I begged them on my knees, and they stopped. But, brother, they want us to go up Tiger Slope. ”

"What? Tiger Slope? I seemed to forget the pain all over my body and stood up all of a sudden, "Didn't Grandpa Hao tell us that it was a forbidden place?" Is that a forbidden place where no one can go up? ”

"I know. However, if I don't promise them, I will keep beating you, and I am afraid that they will ...... you They said that as long as we go up the Tiger Slope to the Optimus Pillar Cliff, they won't trouble you again. ”

"Still going up to the Optimus Pillar Cliff?!" I couldn't believe what Hao Junqi said.

"They gave us a week. Brother, are you scared? ”

"I'm going to die, what am I afraid of?" It suddenly felt like it was all the words of the adults, but I said it so naturally.

I really feel this way, I am always so destroyed by the skinny people, I will be disabled if I don't die.

"Then let's go up. We'll go on when you're healed. Grandpa just warned us not to go up, and they never did, right? "Hao Junqi has already made up her mind, she really doesn't want me to be tortured like this anymore.

……

I recuperated for four days. On the fifth day, we decided to climb Tiger Slope to Optimus Pillar Cliff.

Tiger Slope is no different from any of the slopes around the East Gate, except that because few people come to the mountain to cut wood, and no children come here to cut wood, the surrounding trees are taller and more luxuriant.

That day we went up to the top of the Tiger Slope with trepidation, but nothing unusual happened. The wind is still blowing, the trees are still swaying under the wind, and the sun is still so warm. In short, it's ordinary, and there's no weird atmosphere at all.

So after resting for a few minutes at the top of Tiger Slope, we decided to go up to Optimus Pillar Cliff.

Optimus Pillar Cliff is on the northwest side of Tiger Slope. The road to the cliff is much steeper than the road up Tiger Slope, so it is particularly difficult to walk. At first, you can walk with your body hunched, but after ten minutes, you have to use both feet together. From time to time, stones that were loosened by our footsteps rolled down.

After about a few dozen meters of uphill, I looked behind Hao Junqi. Hao Junqi had a lot of beads of sweat on her forehead.

"It's alright, Kiki."

Hao Junqi raised her head up, "Brother, I'm fine." Is it almost there? ”

"It's supposed to be coming. You have to hold on to the branches, and you have to step on it with every step. ”

"I will."

I kept climbing. The further up the road becomes, the steeper it becomes. In fact, because there is no one to go up or down in this place, there is no way to talk about the road. I had to keep digging through the bushes and climbing up. Some small twigs scratched my face, and it hurt.

"Brother—" A few minutes later, Hao Junqi called me from behind me.

I looked back, "What's wrong with Junqi?" ”

"Is it almost there?" Hao Junqi's voice sounded tired.

"It should be almost there. It should be under the feet of the Optimus Pillar soon. I gasped.

"Could it be that there are really powerful ghosts coming out as grandpa said?"

"Are you scared? I don't think there will be, don't we have nothing to do when we go up the tiger slope? ”

"I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid of my brother here. However, what if the ghost eats my brother in one bite? ”

"Then I'll eat you in one bite." I deliberately joked with Hao Junqi.

"Brother, you're so bad. You scare me, I won't play with you anymore. ”

"I'm kidding you. We said we wouldn't be cowards. Besides, there are no ghosts in the world, which my dad told us when he taught us. Kiki, hold on a little longer, and we'll win. ”

"Don't worry, brother, I'll hold on. Don't forget, I promised them to go up to Optimus Pillar Cliff. In order for them to stop beating you, I will be able to hold on. Once we got up to the Optimus Pillar Cliff, they didn't dare to underestimate us anymore. ”

"We can laugh at them."

"Let them regret their decision."

"Yes."

I continued to climb up. The further up you go, the more sparse the bushes become. After a few more climbs, I was at the foot of the towering Optimus Pillar.

"Here we are, Kiki. It's here! I couldn't help but shout to Hao Junqi.

"Really?" I only heard Hao Junqi's voice, and the bushes covered Hao Junqi's figure.

But soon Hao Junqi appeared in front of me.

"Really. Brother, it's really here. How can there be such a high stone pillar? Hao Junqi climbed to where I was standing, then stood up and held my arm. She looked up, "I can't seem to see the top of it." ”

"Of course, otherwise how would you call it Optimus Pillar? Kiki, guess how tall this stone pillar is? I asked. My heart was filled with joy. At that moment, I left all my worries behind.

"I guess - it should be more than a hundred meters."

"How tall is more than 100 meters?"

"I don't know. Brother, how high do you say 100 meters is? ”

"I think it's as tall as two of our huts."

"I think it's more than that."

I took Hao Junqi's hand and walked cautiously around the Optimus Pillar. The sky was filled with dark clouds at some point. The sun crept behind the clouds.

The foot of the pillar was covered with thorns, and there grew a plant I don't name as well, with many sharp thorns on each stem. Our hands were cut by this thorn.

There was a plant vine that climbed up the stone wall, and the oval dark green leaves on the vine were stacked one after another. It's already winter, and its leaves are still dark green! I have the impression that all vines wither in winter, like cucumber vines, like pumpkin vines.

"Look, brother, look!" Hao Junqi suddenly shouted excitedly.

"What?"

"Plum blossoms! What a big plum blossom! ”

I looked in the direction of Hao Junqi's finger, and on the stone body of the stone pillar, about two or three people tall of me, a plum tree grew out of the stone wall and stretched diagonally into the sky. There is a huge plum blossom growing on the branch!

The blood-red plum blossom is like a small trumpet, incomparably gorgeous and eye-catching.

I was amazed.

"See, brother?" Hao Junqi asked.

"See. It's really weird, where did such a big plum blossom come from? What's even stranger is how there is only one? I said.

"Maybe there's more. We haven't finished our lap yet. Let's find out. Hao Junqi was extremely excited.

"Okay."

We continued to walk along the stone pillar, and when we finished walking a circle, we found that there was only this plum tree in the whole stone pillar and around the stone pillar, and there was only this plum blossom!

"It's a shame. Why is it just such a flower? Hao Junqi has no regrets.

"yes. It's kind of weird. I said.

"Brother—"

"It's not weird, it's weird. Brother used the wrong word. Hey, Kiki, have you noticed, it's getting darker. I said.

"yes, it's not going to be dark, is it?" Hao Junqi looked up at the sky.

"What's going on? It's still morning. Maybe it's going to rain, right? Blame, it was sunny before. ”

"Then let's go back quickly."

"How is that possible? We finally got up, and it would be a pity to go down empty-handed. I'm going to pluck that plum blossom and give it to you. Besides, this is also a token, and if we don't take anything down, the skinny man will not admit it. I said.

"But, how can you pick it so high?" Hao Junqi's eyes widened. But I could see that her eyes were full of longing.

"Don't you know that my brother is very good at climbing trees?" I said confidently.

"But it's a stone pillar."

"It's fine. You wait and see. ”

I carefully brushed aside the thorny branches of the plant and approached the stone pillar.

"Brother, you must be careful."

I smiled at Hao Junqi, "Don't worry, it's okay." ”

I looked closely at the stone wall. To see where to land and where to grip, I was so meticulous that I designed where the first foot would land, and then where the second step would go, and where to grasp with both hands.

After looking at it, I took a breath and started climbing. It seemed to be getting darker. Rare lightning pierced the sky in the distance.

I held my breath and climbed up. With every step I took up, the sky seemed to get darker, and the higher I climbed, the darker it became. My heart was really nervous. Yes, it's really weird!

Grandpa Hao's words sounded in my ears: I will talk about sailing, I will tell you and Qiqi, you can go crazy anywhere, but don't go up the Tiger Slope, go up the Tiger Slope, but don't go to the Optimus Stone Pillar Cliff, you know? It's a forbidden place in our village. There are a lot of ghosts out there. If you go, you won't come back.

I hesitated for a second.

But at this point, I knew that no matter how scared I was, there was no way back. I can't afford to lose my work! Hao Junqi and I came to this Optimus Pillar to prove to the thin man, so that I would no longer be tortured by the thin man. I can't let Hao Junqi worry about me anymore.

Also, I'm going to take this strange plum blossom back and show it to those who have betrayed us. Perhaps, no one in the village has ever seen such a big and gorgeous plum blossom. I'm going to open the eyes of all the people in the village.

And also! It occurred to me that if I gave all these plum blossoms to those people in the Revolutionary Committee, would they let my parents go?

Step by step, I approached the plum blossoms. The moment I stretched out my hand to the plum blossoms, the sky darkened so dark that I couldn't see anything. But I still felt it, and I continued to reach forward, grabbed the branch of the plum blossom, and then tried hard to break it.

It was then that I heard a loud bang, and I felt the whole stone pillar shaking, and I felt the whole tiger slope tremble, and then I found myself falling down. I screamed and lost consciousness again.