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As it happened, Jiang Chijing’s intuition was right on the mark.

He had considered that Chen Er would provoke Zheng Mingyi, hence with good intentions, had warned Zheng Mingyi to watch out for him.

But he didn’t actually expect such a serious incident to occur in less than two days after Zheng Mingyi was transferred over to Block B.

A bone-chilling scream rose from a corner cell on the ground floor, and all the prison guards in the cell block rushed towards that corner in unison.

Jiang Chijing had only just come through the corridor to Block B, still with undelivered mail in his hands. As a civilian prison staff, it wasn’t convenient for him to rush to the forefront; he could only lean against the railing on the second floor and peer down at the situation in the corner cell of the ground floor.

Chen Er was led out of the cell first. His expression was severely contorted, and his whole face was beaded with sweat.

He had guards flanking him on all sides. It was only after the guards had brought him to the second floor and passed by Jiang Chijing that he noticed a toothbrush, with its handle ground into a sharp tip, was stabbed into his left palm, dripping a trail of crimson blood behind him.

“What happened?” Jiang Chijing pulled hold of a guard he was well-acquainted with to ask.

“He got into a fight with 1017.” The guard stopped in his tracks. “We’re sending him over for a check-up with Dr. Luo first, I reckon he’ll probably have to be hospitalised outside as well.”

“Was it Chen Er who acted out first?” Jiang Chijing asked again.

“He said that 1017 was the one to provoke him first. Your guess is as good as mine,” said the guard.

Every time a fight or a brawl occurred, the people involved would find excuses to justify their actions. While Chen Er said that Zheng Mingyi had provoked him first, it wasn’t clear how much of it was the truth.

“This 1017 is really savage; he got into a fight twice and sent away two people.” The guard jested, “If anyone wants to take a stroll outside to a hospital next time, they can just go up to him.”

At this, Zheng Mingyi was also brought over by other prison guards. However, unlike Chen Er, he had handcuffs on his wrists.

The guards surrounding Zheng Mingyi weren’t as tall as him. As the cluster of them approached Jiang Chijing, only Zheng Mingyi, in his bright orange prison uniform, had a palpable presence, whereas the other guards had pretty much faded into grey cardboard cut-outs.

Zheng Mingyi wasn’t showing any particular expression on his face. Even his breathing was steady. If it weren’t for the injuries left behind from the fight on his hand, it would have been impossible to tell that he had just disabled someone.

The distance between them closed. When passing by Jiang Chijing, an expression finally appeared on Zheng Mingyi’s face. But it was very, very faint. He simply looked at Jiang Chijing calmly, as if saying: Morning, Officer Jiang.

But Jiang Chijing wasn’t in any mood to greet Zheng Mingyi.

He and Zheng Mingyi had gotten too close during this period of time, so much such that he almost forgot how dangerous this man truly was.

Chen Er was sent to a hospital for external medical treatment, whereas Zheng Mingyi had his wounds tended to at Luo Hai’s infirmary before being sent to a confinement cell in Block A.

The warden had immediately ordered a thorough room check and seizure of all contraband. The whole prison was bustling with activity. Only Jiang Chijing and Luo Hai had the leisure to smoke and chat on the balcony.

“The guard who escorted Chen Er over said that Chen Er had thrown the first punch.”

Luo Hai had given Chen Er’s left hand basic first-aid. He had greater access to first-hand information than Jiang Chijing.

Jiang Chijing wasn’t surprised in any way. From his impression of Zheng Mingyi, only when someone first came to mess with him would he display aggressive tendencies.

“But there’s a problem,” Luo Hai puffed out a mouthful of smoke. He looked at Jiang Chijing, and he said, “The inmates in his cell all said that Zheng Mingyi was the one to provoke Chen Er first.”

Jiang Chijing flicked off the cigarette ash with his thumb, asking, “How so?”

“Don’t know,” Luo Hai shrugged. “I’m only giving you a reminder. You’d better keep your distance from him.”

Jiang Chijing didn’t immediately answer. He didn’t feel that he and Zheng Mingyi were so close to the point that he needed to keep his distance. He fell silent for a moment before asking, “What if it was Old Nine who instructed them to say so?”

“You’re still speaking up for Zheng Mingyi,” Luo Hai said.

Jiang Chijing believed that he was already being very objective, however, Luo Hai did have a point as well. After turning it over, it was possibly because he had more chances for interaction on a day-to-day basis with Zheng Mingyi and thus knew how he was like usually, whereas Luo Hai essentially only saw the way Zheng Mingyi was like when he beat others up.

Winding the clock even further back, not only did Jiang Chijing know what Zheng Mingyi was like in prison, but he’d also seen the way he was in normal life, hence instinctively spoke up in defence for him.

“You’re still the same as ever,” Jiang Chijing said, “always worrying about others.”

“You know me, I can’t help it,” Luo Hai said. “I heard that Zheng Mingyi will be transferred to Block A after being let out of confinement.”

“It appears you were right before,” Jiang Chijing exhaled. “He might as well have been classified as a high-risk inmate from the outset.”

Regardless of how it came to be, the result was still that Zheng Mingyi was sent to Block A, the cell block with the strictest security.

The inmates there were in a completely different class from those in regular cells. Most of them had blood on their hands and were either on life sentences or on death row.

These people were allowed a limited number of visits every month and weren’t allowed to participate in the evening group activities. Even if each of them had a single cell to themselves, no ordinary inmate would want to be shut in there.

Translated on ninetysevenkoi.wordpress

***

Please do not repost or retranslate.

Zheng Mingyi’s confinement period this time was 72 hours. Perhaps three days might seem like a short time, but when enclosed in a small and dark confinement cell, every second would feel unimaginably torturous.

The confinement cells were situated on the third floor of Block A. Normally, Jiang Chijing wouldn’t make his rounds here when delivering mail.

However, after sending out the last letter in Block A, Jiang Chijing hesitated for a while, and he ended up changing his route to head to a floor he had never set foot on before.

“Officer Jiang?” The Block A Supervisor just happened to be patrolling the third floor. “What brought you up here?”

“I came over to have a chat with 1017.”

It was quite normal for a prison officer to come and speak to an inmate. However, since this is someone else’s territory, Jiang Chijing didn’t hide his purpose.

“Chatting about stocks?” gossiped the block supervisor.

Between the prison staff, it was no secret that the warden had gotten Zheng Mingyi to look at stocks. Some of the staff who also dabbled in stocks would even actively seek out the warden’s secretary for tips.

“Yeah.” Jiang Chijing didn’t elaborate.

“Alrighty, he’s behind the third door over there, just give him a holler.”

Unlike other cells, there wasn’t a regular window on the iron door of the confinement cell, only a small window to deliver meals through on the lower side.

Jiang Chijing squatted down, sliding the panel open, and could immediately hear the heavy panting inside. He lowered his head and glimpsed in. Zheng Mingyi was doing push-ups.

“1017,” Jiang Chijing called. “It’s me.”

Zheng Mingyi was shirtless. The dim lighting shone across the length of his back, faintly carving out the toned muscle lines.

“Officer Jiang?”

Zheng Mingyi stopped. He took the shirt lying on one side to wipe his sweat, then sat down cross-legged by the door. “What is it?”

The position of the small window was really a little low. Since Zheng Mingyi was right behind the iron door, Jiang Chijing simply sat down, his back leaning against the door. He tucked his chin, speaking towards the small window, “I’ve got a question for you.”

Zheng Mingyi chuckled softly, also shifting himself to lean his back against the iron door. “You do have a lot of questions.”

If there weren’t this iron door between them, they would be back to back with each other.

Jiang Chijing quietened for a while, until Zheng Mingyi’s breathing behind the iron door had calmed, before asking, “Did you do it on purpose?”

“What on purpose?” Zheng Mingyi asked back evenly.

“Chen Er,” Jiang Chijing said. “You provoked him on purpose, right?”

“If ignoring him counts as a provocation, I guess.”

“How did you ignore him?”

“Probably, in a way, I… treated him like air.”

Every cell had its inmate hierarchy. The person on top could have many privileges, such as in the distribution of goods and so on.

The top-dog of Zheng Mingyi’s cell was Chen Er. If he treated Chen Er like air, that could certainly be seen as a provocation.

Getting the answer he expected, Jiang Chijing lightly huffed, saying, “So you did do it on purpose.”

Deliberately provoking Chen Er until he flew into a rage; the moment that Chen Er couldn’t hold back his fists, Zheng Mingyi was ‘forced’ to counterattack. In this way, the punishment he received would be minimised.

Even if Jiang Chijing had spoken up for Zheng Mingyi to Luo Hai, in actuality, he already long had a hunch that Zheng Mingyi wouldn’t be someone to act out when in a passive situation. The reason that he would do so was very simple—

“You want a single cell.”

Zheng Mingyi didn’t deny it. “You caught me, Officer Jiang.”

Although he would lose some freedom in a single cell, it was better than having to constantly watch his back.

If Zheng Mingyi continued to stay in Block B, it was equivalent to being exposed to danger at all times. On the other hand, being transferred to what seemed to be the more dangerous block, Block A, would instead guarantee him absolute safety.

“You’re going to be cut-off if you keep with this,” Jiang Chijing said.

The single cell wasn’t a single room in a hotel, he could only sit in suffocating silence alone. However, humans were social animals; behind holed up for too long was bound to cause problems.

“I don’t need to interact with cons.” At this, Zheng Mingyi paused, he switched to a lighter tone, half-joking as he said, “Besides, I’ve you, Officer Jiang.”

Jiang Chijing wasn’t in the mood to joke around with Zheng Mingyi. He spoke towards the window, “Don’t do that next time.”

“Do what?”

“Use violence to resolve your problems.”

The man behind the iron door gave a careless laugh. “Are you giving me a reformatory lesson, Officer Jiang?”

“I’m not joking with you, Zheng Mingyi,” said Jiang Chijing seriously. “If you do this again, I really won’t read for you anymore.”

This time, Zheng Mingyi fell silent, and there wasn’t any reaction from behind the iron door. Just when Jiang Chijing thought that there wouldn’t be any at all, he heard Zheng Mingyi exhale gently, asking, “And what if violence is the only way to solve it?”

Jiang Chijing didn’t hold out hope that a casual few sentences from him could change the style with which Zheng Mingyi had always done things. He said, “If need be, then please mind how far you take it.”

If it wasn’t breaking a bone, it was disabling a hand; Jiang Chijing had never come across such a reckless person.

Zheng Mingyi responded faintly, “All right. I’ll listen to you, Officer Jiang.”

Jiang Chijing wasn’t sure if Zheng Mingyi was just fobbing him off, but in any case, he had already expressed himself. Whether or not Zheng Mingyi listened had nothing much to do with him.

He got up, preparing to leave, and Zheng Mingyi’s voice came through the small window at this time.

“Since I’m listening to you, will you chat with me tomorrow as well?” Zheng Mingyi lazily dragged the syllable at the end of his words. “It’s boring here.”

It was only natural to find it boring in the confinement cell.

Jiang Chijing got up to leave, his Dr. Martens boots clipping on the ground, evenly tossing him a sentence. “If the mood strikes me.”