RA 13

After work, Jiang Chijing and Luo Hai drove in separate cars to a restaurant that recently opened in the city.

They waited for nearly half an hour in the private room. Just when Jiang Chijing was about to burst from impatience, a tall man in a suit walked in from outside.

“Sorry, something held me up for a while.” The man pulled out a chair and sat down, placing his luxury brand car keys to one side.

“It’s understandable.” Luo Hai quickly mediated. “Lawyers tend to be have busier schedules.”

Jiang Chijing affected a polite smile, pretending that he didn’t mind.

Luo Hai made introductions for the two parties. The man was called Zhang Fan. He was already a distinguished senior associate at a law firm. He and Luo Hai had met each other in a fishing club. As the nature of their work both involved criminals, they were able to hit it off rather well.

“I can barely tell that Mr. Jiang works at a prison too.”

Zhang Fan was a good conversationalist and he naturally guided the conversation towards Jiang Chijing. Although Jiang Chijing was reluctant to be matchmade, he was still a mature adult who knew how to behave according to the social occasion.

“Compared to the prison guards, I don’t interact with the inmates as much.”

“Are there times when you’ll meet inmates that are harder to keep in line?”

“Naturally.”

Zheng Mingyi’s face floated up in Jiang Chijing’s mind. Actually, to be precise, Zheng Mingyi couldn’t be considered difficult to manage. He would cooperate with the prison guards most of the time, only on occasion doing some actions that Jiang Chijing couldn’t tell if they were intentional or unintentional, driving him nuts.

“I heard from Dr. Luo that many inmates would make passes at Officer Jiang. Now that I see you in person, I finally understand why.”

Zhang Fan had a way with words. His praise didn’t sound forced and he gave off a sincerity that came from his character. Jiang Chijing had deducted points for his tardiness just now, but after they began chatting, this score gradually recovered.

Not long later, Jiang Chijing abruptly realised that Luo Hai had been to the washroom for a long time. Getting a bad feeling about it, he took out his phone, and as expected saw that there was an unread notification from Luo Hai.

[Luo Hai: Something came up. You two enjoy your meal.]

“Dr. Luo said that he has something on,” Jiang Chijing said, smiling insincerely at his phone.

“I saw.” Zhang Fan had checked his phone too. “He should be trying to create opportunities for the two of us, I wager.”

Jiang Chijing didn’t expect Zhang Fan to be this blunt with his words, directly mentioning that the purpose of this meeting was a blind date. At first, he was still thinking of making friends, but after this layer of pretenses was torn off, the score in his mind inevitably turned more sizeable.

Being a good conversationalist could probably give him 20 points, his looks could probably give him 10. However, being obsessed with work was a definite -30.

Jiang Chijing wasn’t someone with much professional ambition, or he wouldn’t have taken on an idle job as a librarian in a prison. Every three sentences out of Zhang Fan’s mouth was about work, like his life revolved around his work; he was obviously a textbook workaholic.

Compared to workaholics, Jiang Chijing much preferred someone who knew how to enjoy life, such as someone who would sear steak and take care of their yard in their downtime at home, instead of constantly having work on their mind.

“Are you wearing an Old Watch?” Zhang Fan’s attention landed on Jiang Chijing’s wrist. “You must be a sentimental person.”

Old Watch was the brand name of the antique watch that Jiang Chijing wore, so rustic that it sounded dirt cheap. Usually, people who wore this brand were either sentimental or poor, and the majority belonged to the latter category.

Jiang Chijing glanced at Zhang Fan’s wrist. The shiny watch on him should be upwards of several ten thousands.

“Not especially,” Jiang Chijing said blandly.

He belonged to a third category—he was too lazy to buy a new watch. But this wasn’t the point. Just like how he was mentally scoring Zhang Fan, he could tell that Zhang Fan was also sizing him up.

The reason it got harder to fall in love with age was that people were no longer willing to take the time to understand what someone was like on the inside, having grown used to judging compatibility based on various external considerations.

From the moment that they met, both parties already knew that they had come with unclean motivations and were measuring each other by their own standards.

Some people didn’t mind such an approach, while others didn’t like first meetings to be so utilitarian.

At least, in Jiang Chijing’s opinion, a relationship with such a preface could never be a real relationship.

“I heard from Dr. Luo that you live in the suburbs. Do you often come to the city a lot?” Zhang Fan continued to ask.

Perhaps because the underlying reason for this meeting was openly acknowledged, Jiang Chijing immediately recognised that Zhang Fan was inquiring about his financial situation.

Actually, this didn’t surprise him. After all, the other was an elite lawyer who earned at least seven figures a year. It was only logical that they would be picky when choosing a partner.

“I don’t usually come to the city much,” Jiang Chijing said truthfully. “I prefer the quiet.”

“The city can be quite noisy indeed.”

As Jiang Chijing listened to Zhang Fan chat about the differences between living in the city and in the suburbs, a flash of light suddenly went off in his head.

—how did Zheng Mingyi know that he would need to ‘go into the city’ when going out to have fun?

Quoting his previous words: “Officer Jiang, you dressed up so nicely today, are you going into the city to have fun?”

At least half the prison guards lived in the city. Generally, when these people went out on a casual basis, it would naturally be in the city. There wasn’t any need to especially point out that they would be going ‘into’ the city centre.

Only people who lived in the suburbs would have another option when going out—into the city.

Whereas the way that Zheng Mingyi phrased the question made it apparent that he had taken Jiang Chijing not living in the city as a default setting.

Was it possible that Zheng Mingyi knew where he lived?

The more Jiang Chijing thought about it, the more he found it off. But he still had to focus on his conversation with Zhang Fan first.

“You used to work in an enviable job at the courthouse, what made you decide to transfer jobs to the prison?”

Jiang Chijing really wanted to say that not everyone placed their jobs at the forefront of their minds; was it that bizarre that he was willing to go to the city outskirts to take life easy?

But he knew that this wasn’t something that Zhang Fan could wrap his mind around, because he had more or less gotten a sense of Zhang Fan’s background from their short chat. Zhang Fan was born into a normal family and had, through hard work, climbed up the social ladder. As such, he placed particular emphasis on things like social status, as evident from the watch he wore and the car keys he placed on the table.

“It’s easier for me to get to work if I live in the suburbs,” Jiang Chijing said.

“So that’s it,” Zhang Fan nodded. While he didn’t show any disappointment on his face, since then, his words visibly lessened.

When it came to settling the bill, Zhang Fan took the initiative to pull out his wallet. As expected, it was another luxury brand item. But Jiang Chijing scanned the QR code before he did, saying, “Let me.”

“There’s no need for that, Mr. Jiang,” Zhang Fan stopped Jiang Chijing. “I should do it.”

Now, that was a loaded statement.

When two people shared a meal, neither owed any favours to the other. By this logic, it was fine for either of them to get the check, and whether or not someone ‘should do it’ shouldn’t be a consideration.

Zhang Fan’s only criterion for judging this was that he believed Jiang Chijing to be in a difficult financial situation, as such he should be the one to get the check.

“Don’t worry about it, Mr. Zhang.” Jiang Chijing scanned the QR payment code faster than Zhang Fan could pull out his credit card. As he entered the amount on the screen, he said with an indifferent expression, “My family owns many properties in the city centre.”

While it may have been a little abrupt, Jiang Chijing’s meaning was clear. He didn’t want to give Zhang Fan any grounds to continue on his high horse.

Zhang Fan didn’t continue to make a fuss, silently keeping his branded wallet.

Jiang Chijing wasn’t someone who coveted money, because his family really wasn’t lacking money. Leaving aside his attempt to go cold turkey on his voyeurism, his reason for moving to the suburbs was simple. He wanted to live comfortably.

And the reason why he couldn’t be bothered to be like the warden, following Zheng Mingyi to earn money through stocks, was because he didn’t even have any desire to make money.

Translated on ninetysevenkoi.wordpress

***

Please do not repost or retranslate.

In the new week, a familiar face returned to prison. Jiang Chijing had to sit him through the introductory lesson again, thus didn’t get the guards to bring Zheng Mingyi to the library.

“Officer Jiang, long time no see.”

In the meeting room, Yu Guang, whose head was shaved bald, saluted Jiang Chijing, blinking owlishly at him, as if without the slightest awareness that he was now in prison.

“Has it been long?” Jiang Chijing slapped down the slim book, putting on a stern front. “Coming back in again so soon, do you really think that prison is your home?”

“Hehe.” Yu Guang wasn’t at all frightened by Jiang Chijing’s fierce face, whispering secretively, “Officer Jiang, I come here with an important mission this time.”

Mission? What a chunnibyou way of putting it. Only this stinky brat would say such a thing in the whole of Southside Prison.

“What mission?” Jiang Chijing played along with him, asking.

“I asked around already. Zheng Mingyi is locked up in here, right?”

When Zheng Mingyi’s name came out from Yu Guang’s mouth, Jiang Chijing imperceptibly arched his eyebrows, asking unfazed, “What are you asking around about him for?”

“This wicked capitalist was clearly fined 300 million but only paid a third of it. He must have transferred his assets offshore, I’m going to do God’s work and dig up all of his hiding holes.”

Jiang Chijing, “……”

Well, put in perspective, Yu Guang did have a deep-rooted hatred for capitalists. Jiang Chijing knew a little of his family background—it was through stock trading that his father had lost their family fortune, causing his mother to die of depression.

“300 million isn’t a small sum,” Jiang Chijing couldn’t bear to rain on Yu Guang’s parade, reminding him obliquely instead.

Zheng Mingyi’s small house had obviously been seized by the court because he was unable to pay the 300-million fine.

But Yu Guang refused to believe that a capitalist would be broke. He went on heedlessly, analysing, “He probably still has accounts outside the country. I’ve to dig it out bit by bit, then hack his accounts.”

Jiang Chijing was getting a headache. What was this kid trying to do, exposing the inside details of his ‘criminal plan’ to a prison officer right after coming in? Did he have no brains?

“You’d better behave yourself,” Jiang Chijing said. “Otherwise I’m getting your Dr. Luo to deal with you.”

Sure enough, at the mention of Luo Hai, Yu Guang instantly felt the nigglings of guilt. He stammered, “Don’t tell him my plan.”

Jiang Chijing scoffed. “Dream on.”

This naive child seriously needed to be slapped by reality.

Translated on ninetysevenkoi.wordpress

During the afternoon break, Yu Guang furtively snuck into the library. It was obvious that he was hiding from Luo Hai in the opposite infirmary.

Jiang Chijing roughly had an idea of why this kid would come to such a ‘dangerous’ place as the library, because not long later, Zheng Mingyi also came here.

Jiang Chijing would only read to Zheng Mingyi after two o’clock, but before that, Zheng Mingyi would usually come to the library to pass time as a regular inmate.

Yu Guang practically locked onto Zheng Mingyi’s position almost immediately. Though his two hands were holding a book, his eyes were secretly following Zheng Mingyi’s figure.

As always, Zheng Mingyi went to sit in the back corner by the windows; walking there from the door required him to pass by Yu Guang.

The distance between the two of them closed. Jiang Chijing watched as Yu Guang quietly stretched out a leg with glaringly obvious intent—he wanted to trip Zheng Mingyi.

Sighing, Jiang Chijing shook his head. He initially thought that Zheng Mingyi would just step across Yu Guang’s leg, but little did he expect that that man wouldn’t show any mercy, ruthlessly stepping down on Yu Guang’s leg without a moment’s pause.

“OW!”

A howl echoed in the library. Jiang Chijing saw Zheng Mingyi apathetically shoot Yu Guang a sidelong glance, a single word broadcasting from his eyes: idiot.

At this time, Luo Hai appeared at the entrance of the library and, as soon as Yu Guang saw him, he cried out pitifully, “Dr. Luo, my leg hurts.”

Luo Hai whisked Yu Guang off to the infirmary and the library was restored to silence.

Jiang Chijing checked the time. When he lifted his eyes, he looked straight towards Zheng Mingyi who had just sat down by the window.

Their eyes met. Zheng Mingyi tilted his head, his expression seeming to say: What are you looking at me for?

To be frank, Jiang Chijing was already beside himself with impatience accumulated from holding it in all weekend. Today, he could finally get to the bottom of what Zheng Mingyi meant by ‘going into the city’.