"Hmph!" Hah’Er didn’t care whether Shen Yibin wanted to play or not. He picked an apple from the fruit basket and got ready to throw it at him, clearly thinking the game was a blast.
"Wait a second..." ’Hey, you use plums on Xiaoliu, but an apple on me? Isn’t the difficulty gap a little too wide?’ Shen Yibin hurriedly tried to stop him, forgetting that while plums were smaller than apples, they were also much harder to hit.
"Chee chee!" Xiaoliu was getting impatient. He immediately ordered Hah’Er, who raised his paw and flung the apple at Shen Yibin. Shen Yibin quickly ducked his head, managing to keep the apple from ruining his handsome face.
"Chee chee!" The unspoken message was clear: ’I told you to hit the fruit with the bamboo branch, not to dodge it!’ Xiaoliu was instantly displeased. He hopped over to Shen Yibin, raised the bamboo branch, and whacked him on the butt. A swift punishment for disobedience—this was the exact method Xiaoliu used to train the younger monkeys on Emei Mountain, and now it was being applied to Shen Yibin.
"Ouch!" Shen Yibin instantly regretted dodging. ’With Hah’Er’s strength, how much could an apple really hurt? It’s nothing compared to that switch from Xiaoliu!’ Maphario quickly scampered out from Hah’Er’s embrace, pushing the apple so it rumbled back to Hah’Er’s side. It had landed on the grass and, fortunately, wasn’t broken.
"Nnngh!" Hah’Er took the apple from Maphario, tossed it up and down in his paws, and got ready to attack Shen Yibin again. Meanwhile, Xiaoliu brandished the bamboo branch, as if warning Shen Yibin, ’If you dare dodge like that again, you’ll get another taste of this.’
’Bro, I won’t do it again!’ Shen Yibin’s butt was still burning with pain. He wouldn’t dare dodge now. He quickly tightened his grip on the bamboo branch, got into a ready stance, and prepared to play the game properly.
The apple came flying over with a WHOOSH. This time, Shen Yibin didn’t dodge. He watched its trajectory and swung the bamboo branch, attempting to slice the apple in two just like in *Fruit Ninja*. However... Shen Yibin simply didn’t have that kind of skill. The branch sliced through empty air, and the apple hit his shoulder with a THUD.
Luckily, Hah’Er hadn’t used much force, so it didn’t hurt. Xiaoliu, however, wasn’t so forgiving. The bamboo branch whipped through the air again, landing on Shen Yibin’s butt with a sharp CRACK. It seemed to be the punishment for failing.
Maphario zipped over again, glanced at the apple, and saw that it was now cracked and unusable. He pushed the apple back and dropped it into a basin. Hah’Er, meanwhile, picked an orange from the fruit basket, ready to launch his next attack. Shen Yibin tensed up immediately.
CRACK! Another miss, and another strike from Xiaoliu. And so began Shen Yibin’s grueling training. He repeatedly swung the bamboo branch, trying to slice the various fruits Hah’Er tossed his way. Unfortunately, even though Shi Gaofei had trained his reaction speed to be quite good, his hands couldn’t keep up with his eyes.
As a result, Shen Yibin had to swing the branch several times just to get one lucky hit. Before long, he could barely stand the repeated smacks from Xiaoliu. But Xiaoliu refused to let him leave, so he had no choice but to endure. ’Sigh, why did I have to run my mouth earlier?’ he thought. ’If I hadn’t, I’d be relaxing upstairs with a cup of tea right now.’
"All the fruit is gone! Can we call it a day? We’ve ruined so much fruit. What a waste," Shen Yibin pleaded pitifully once the "ammunition" finally ran out.
"Chee! Chee!" Xiaoliu clearly had no intention of letting him go. First, he hugged the basin and scurried up the tree, dumping all the broken fruit into a hollow. Then, he climbed along a branch to the second floor, went into the kitchen, and returned with the basin full of fresh fruit, which he placed in Hah’Er’s basket.
’So that’s why he had Maphario collect the broken fruit! He’s going to use it for brewing,’ Shen Yibin realized. ’It seems broken fruit doesn’t affect the brewing of Monkey Wine, so it’s not a waste after all.’ He mentally calculated the capacity of the empty tree hollows and felt a wave of despair. ’Filling all those will take several more baskets. Looks like I’m not getting out of here anytime soon tonight!’
"Nnngh!" Hah’Er picked up a pear, grunting to get Shen Yibin’s attention. Xiaoliu gently shook the bamboo branch in his paw, a constant threat hanging over Shen Yibin, while Maphario was already in position, ready to retrieve the fruit.
"Bring it on!" ’Life is like rape; if you can’t fight it, you might as well enjoy it.’ Shen Yibin gripped the bamboo branch with both hands, his eyes narrowed into a line, vigilantly watching the pear in Hah’Er’s paw. The instant the pear left Hah’Er’s grasp, Shen Yibin instinctively predicted its trajectory. He swung the branch with a SWOOSH, making a direct hit. The pear exploded, showering Shen Yibin with juice.
"Bullseye!" Shen Yibin pumped his fist in celebration. A good start made the rest of the practice go much more smoothly. He managed to slice at least a third of the fruit in this basket, a massive improvement over his first attempt.
Once the fruit was gone, before Shen Yibin could even say a word, Xiaoliu was already scrambling up the tree with the basin. It seemed the monkey had no intention of letting him off early tonight. And sure enough, a few minutes later, Xiaoliu returned with another basin of fruit, and Cheeky had come flying along with him.
The parrot had clearly gotten bored in Sun Qian’s room and came looking for some excitement. Seeing the scene, he asked with curiosity, "What are you guys playing? Let me in on it!"
’Go away! You’re not wanted here!’ Shen Yibin felt he had already lost enough face; he really didn’t want any more spectators. But Cheeky, of course, wasn’t going to listen to him. The parrot seemed genuinely interested in the game. After watching Hah’Er throw a couple of fruits, he decided to join in.
Cheeky flapped his wings, flew down to the fruit basket, snatched a peach, and soared into the air. He picked up speed, flying straight at Shen Yibin. When he reached his maximum velocity, he suddenly opened his talons. Thanks to inertia, the peach shot toward Shen Yibin’s head even faster than Hah’Er’s throws, landing with a solid THWACK.
’Damn it, now there’s dive-bombing?’ Shen Yibin had just gotten used to the arc of Hah’Er’s throws. Cheeky’s surprise attack caught him completely off guard. He missed the fruit three times in a row. Not only did he get pelted, but he also earned another switching from Xiaoliu.
It left him wanting to cry but having no tears to shed. ’Since when does this game have dive-bombers? Am I playing *Fruit Ninja* or *Angry Birds*?’