Restricted Area

Jiang Chijing glared at Zheng Mingyi, really wanting to say: Are we on that level of familiarity?

In the whole of Southside Prison, only Luo Hai would speak this casually to Jiang Chijing. As he wasn’t particularly close to his colleagues, they naturally spoke more politely to each other, and inmates stirring trouble for the sake of it wouldn’t dare speak out of bounds again after getting their asses handed back to them.

Only Zheng Mingyi kept playing hokey-pokey along the boundary of Jiang Chijing’s comfort zone. Clearly, they hadn’t known each other for long, but this guy spoke even more casually to him than Luo Hai did.

“Do you think that I’ve got a good temper?” Jiang Chijing asked.

“Nope.” Zheng Mingyi said, sincere.

Jiang Chijing glared at Zheng Mingyi for a while. Seeing that he didn’t seem intent on poking fun at him anymore, he brought the subject back to business. “I know Agent Guan, the one investigating your case. He believes that you were framed.”

“Is that so.” Zheng Mingyi lowered his eyes again, immersing in his thoughts.

Jiang Chijing really wanted to gleam what Zheng Mingyi was thinking through his expressions, but he still failed to read them in the end.

Zheng Mingyi shouldn’t have known that Jiang Chijing was acquainted with Guan Wei because after Jiang Chijing changed jobs to work in the prison, he lost touch with Guan Wei.

But after receiving this new piece of information, Zheng Mingyi’s expression didn’t flicker in the slightest, strikingly similar to a hunter lying in wait, ready to respond to any abrupt developments at any time.

“Do you really intend not to see him?” Jiang Chijing asked.

“It’s like this, Officer Jiang.” Zheng Mingyi lifted his gaze, interlacing his fingers together, casually resting them on his leg. “As of now, I’ve no particular opinion about him.”

“Why?” Jiang Chijing didn’t get it.

“What he can do is limited, I can’t count on him,” Zheng Mingyi struck ruthlessly, knocking the nail right on the head.

Jiang Chijing fell silent. Zheng Mingyi wasn’t wrong; it didn’t matter if he subjectively trusted Guan Wei—objectively speaking, if Guan Wei wasn’t even able to ferret out the mole in his unit, cooperating with him would only exacerbate the danger to Zheng Mingyi.

This they could tell from how Zheng Mingyi’s house was burnt down.

“Then are you just going to sit here and resign yourself to your fate?” Jiang Chijing mulled. “I feel that you can still fight for it.”

Maybe Zheng Mingyi planned to move after getting out of prison, but Jiang Chijing just felt that that would be wasting a whole year away, which was unlike the way Zheng Mingyi did things.

“It’s not time yet,” Zheng Mingyi said. “In a game of weiqi, positioning is more important than advancing.”

“So you’re working on your positioning now?” Jiang Chijing’s eyebrows jumped.

“No.” Zheng Mingyi shrugged. “A loss is a loss. I’m waiting for the opening of the next game.”

After losing a game, not only was he not upset by it, but he was even calmly analysing his opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, preparing for the next game…

The clarity of Zheng Mingyi’s thought processes was startling.

Jiang Chijing suddenly felt like he was being unnecessarily meddlesome; perhaps Zheng Mingyi didn’t even need his help in the first place, only that his curiosity still moved him to ask, “You have clues in your hands, right?”

Zheng Mingyi’s eyebrows relaxed, not as intensely focused as earlier, but carrying mirth in his eyes. “Officer Jiang, are you so concerned about my business?”

Got it. This guy was starting to practice Tai Chi again.

> push back and forth by equivocating, playing politically safe answers

It was strange. Clearly, Jiang Chijing hadn’t known Zheng Mingyi for long, yet he could tell when Zheng Mingyi was willing to speak his mind, and when he was reluctant to reveal his thoughts.

Such as now; once Jiang Chijing mentioned the clues, he stopped answering straight, but pulled out his favourite party trick instead—asking back. Jiang Chijing could practically tell at once that there was no point in pressing the topic, because if Zheng Mingyi wasn’t willing to divulge, it would be impossible for him to get to the end of it.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with me,” said Jiang Chijing. “Guan Wei asked me for a favour, which is why I’m asking you.”

“Well, Officer Jiang, it isn’t as if I can’t meet him once just to give you face,” Zheng Mingyi said.

Jiang Chijing was slightly surprised. After all, Zheng Mingyi had only just said that it would be useless to meet Guan Wei. He said, “For the record, I’m not involved in this, you can judge for yourself whether or not to rely on Guan Wei.”

“I know,” Zheng Mingyi said. “Your charm isn’t beguiling enough to make me lose my head, Officer Jiang.”

Jiang Chijing, “……”

Translated on ninetysevenkoi.wordpress

***

Please do not repost or retranslate.

At noon, Zheng Mingyi didn’t immediately make his way down to the library. Jiang Chijing guessed that he should have gone to meet Guan Wei.

But another headache-inducing figure appeared in his library again. Princess.

He sat at the last row of seats by the window, not a book with him, simply staring at his fingernails in boredom.

Approximately ten minutes later, Zheng Mingyi came to the library. His steps paused at the sight of Princess, then went on to grab a comic book and diverted towards the first row seats instead, again chasing off the person originally seated there with his eyes.

Jiang Chijing got this niggling feeling that Princess wouldn’t simply sit there in the library, and as facts had it, his intuition was spot on. After Zheng Mingyi sat down, Princess got up and moved to the first row, lounging bonelessly in the seat next to Zheng Mingyi.

“Hey handsome, we meet again.”

Zheng Mingyi turned his head and glanced at Princess. He looked at Jiang Chijing, lifting his chin towards the spot next to Jiang Chijing, his eyes seeming to say: Can I sit next to you?

It wasn’t yet two o’clock. There were still many inmates in the library, it went without saying that it was impossible for Jiang Chijing to let Zheng Mingyi enter his work area.

He gently shook his head. No.

Princess noticed the wordless interaction between them, arching an eyebrow in interest, his scrutinising gaze travelling back and forth between the two of them.

Zheng Mingyi swiftly averted his eyes, flipping open the comic book in his hands. However, at this time, Princess suddenly raised his chin and looked out of the window, then poked Zheng Mingyi’s arm, motioning for him to look outside at the yard. “Handsome, please watch the show.”

Zheng Mingyi followed Princess’ gaze out of the window, and on the other side, Jiang Chijing also unconsciously looked over as well.

From the start of summer, fewer people had headed to the yard during the afternoon break. Even so, there were still shady spots on the fringes of the yard where inmates would sporadically gather, as this was the place furthest from the prison guards.

Now, there were around four people in the yard. Jiang Chijing was immediately able to spot Xu Sheng’s big build among them.

Xu Sheng had been in prison for over a decade and was now thirty-eight. He worked out all year round, maintaining his body well, and the bulk of his arms was a clear warning for people not to provoke him.

The thug that slept with Princess a few days ago was standing in front of Xu Sheng. The thug was hunched over, trying to explain something with an anxious expression, but every time he tried to retreat, the two flanking him would jostle him back.

It seems that Xu Sheng’s going to make a move.

When this idea was churned out of his mind, Jiang Chijing glanced at the guards watching over the yard. As expected, all of them were looking elsewhere; it was apparent that Xu Sheng had notified them beforehand.

Jiang Chijing silently sighed in his mind. The reason why most of the prison guards would give Xu Sheng some respect, allowing him to do what he wanted, was that this guy was deserving of this respect.

Xu Sheng was a complicated person. He had entered prison on death row at first, but later on, because he took the blow when an inmate had attacked a prison guard, this merit and his good conduct had reduced his sentence to life imprisonment.

He was also extremely cooperative with the prison guards usually, and would even help them manage the inmates, only acting out if people messed with him first.

Such as right now. He suddenly kicked the thug’s lower half, and the thug collapsed to the ground on the spot in pain. The thug was brought by the guards to the opposite infirmary, whereas Xu Sheng was escorted back to Block A.

This ‘show’ ended very quickly, spanning not more than a few minutes. Jiang Chijing shifted his gaze away from the window and noticed Princess smile like the cat that ate the canary.

In truth, Princess didn’t use to be so wild before. He was still young, only around twenty-four when he was incarcerated for theft.

There was once that several people ganged up to bully him and Xu Sheng saved him. From then on, when it was time for him to leave prison, he’d even deliberately acted out to extend his sentence, as if determined to follow Xu Sheng for life.

Several years later, when it again neared the time for Princess to be released from prison, Xu Sheng had a hunch that he was going to do something again, so he deliberately slept with someone else, hoping to chase Princess out. In the end, Princess not only made that person so miserable that his sentence was extended once more, but he’d also started to sleep around with other men with wild abandon.

Of course, Jiang Chijing had only heard all of these from Luo Hai. He only started working here less than a year ago and hadn’t spoken much to either of them.

The psychology of inmates wasn’t as easy to wrangle compared to normal people, but Jiang Chijing still habitually analysed the situation between the two of them.

Princess should have been greatly hurt by Xu Sheng cheating and, unable to let it go, turned into the way he was today. But Xu Sheng should also be feeling guilty about it, which was why he would pamper Princess unconditionally and allow him to play like a fiend.

However, from what Jiang Chijing had observed, among the people that Princess had chatted up, not many actually dared to sleep with him. The larger part of them had been wiped by Xu Sheng because they had refused Princess.

“See that, handsome?” Princess’ voice cut into Jiang Chijing’s thoughts. “That tall and intimidating guy is my man.”

Zheng Mingyi didn’t respond, impassively waiting for Princess to finish what he wanted to say.

“If you make me unhappy.” Princess’ finger climbed onto Zheng Mingyi’s shoulder again. “My man will deal with you.”

Zheng Mingyi swept a look at Princess’ hand, then looked at Jiang Chijing, pointing at Princess with his chin. The meaning in his gaze was obvious—Didn’t you say you’d cover me?

It was only then that Jiang Chijing drew back from his musings over what was between Princess and Xu Sheng. He sat upright, lifting his chin slightly and calling, “1017.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Princess looked over, a trace of impatience evident in his gaze, as though already predicting that Jiang Chijing was about to thwart him again.

“Come over.” Jiang Chijing ignored Princess’ gaze, looking directly at Zheng Mingyi. “Sit next to me.”

At this, all the inmates in the library looked like they had stumbled upon a good show. They simultaneously exchanged a look with the person sitting next to them, as though having bitten some big, juicy gossip.

Jiang Chijing knew what his actions implied, naturally. He had never poked his noses into the personal affairs of the inmates, but this time, he chose to stand up for Zheng Mingyi, because he knew that superficial warnings were of no use to Princess. Only showing a firm attitude would.

Under all the inmates’ gazes, Zheng Mingyi walked into Jiang Chijing’s work area.

It was important to mention that the work area of the prison staff was, to inmates, a restricted area. If any inmate dared to trespass into their work area, it was possible that they would receive a beating from the baton.

Zheng Mingyi sat down next to Jiang Chijing and swept a glance around at the inmates staring at him. Most of them had the good sense to bury their heads down and avoid provoking Zheng Mingyi; only Princess scanned them with considerable interest, a gossipy glint flashing in his eyes.

“Officer Jiang.” Zheng Mingyi tilted his head, going up to Jiang Chijing’s ear and whispering, “Am I now your man?”

That Jiang Chijing got Zheng Mingyi to sit next to him did give off a little of the impression that he was swearing sovereignty over him. But this was only a stopgap measure. He couldn’t drive Princess from the library every time. Princess had to retreat of his own volition.

Jiang Chijing kept facing forward, his eyes flickering to look at Zheng Mingyi askance, and he said in a businesslike manner, “You’re the warden’s man.”