RA 54

Jiang Chijing held up his left hand to Zheng Mingyi, making a ‘stop’ gesture, while his right hand gave a hard pinch to the bridge of his nose, soundlessly signalling—give me a mo.

Zheng Mingyi and Yu Guang kept very quiet. A long while later, Jiang Chijing finally recovered and noticed that things didn’t quite add up. He asked Zheng Mingyi, “Isn’t Old Nine in confinement?”

Old Nine’s stabbing of Xu Sheng was an intentional homicide attempt. After the investigation wrapped up, a written recommendation for prosecution would be submitted to the Prosecutor General’s Office. Before the verdict was passed, Old Nine was not to have any contact with other inmates.

In other words, Old Nine would always have prison guards around him. By right, Princess shouldn’t have any opportunities for revenge.

“He came out for a bit at noon,” Zheng Mingyi said, “to be interrogated for his motive for the stabbing.”

“You…” Jiang Chijing froze. “Even bribed the guards?”

When it boiled down to it, without the prison guards’ cooperation, Princess would never have been able to get close to Old Nine.

Zheng Mingyi didn’t answer, only holding up a finger and pointing upstairs.

Jiang Chijing immediately understood. The warden.

“Why would he agree to this?” Jiang Chijing said, “If Old Nine were to file a complaint against the prison…”

“Do you think Old Nine would let others know that he’s been violated?” Zheng Mingyi asked mildly.

Jiang Chijing quietened. He was tempted to say it was better to be safe than sorry, but when he thought deeper into it, Old Nine really wouldn’t. Something like this was too humiliating, trampling his self-esteem as a man into the dirt.

“But…” Jiang Chijing still didn’t feel that the warden should have done this. No matter the power struggles between inmates, the prison should always strive to prevent them and not tacitly consent to them, even giving an assist.

“Let’s make another mind map,” Zheng Mingyi said.

This time, he didn’t touch a pen, letting Jiang Chijing organise the ideas in his mind.

“The first problem. Will Princess take revenge on Old Nine? Yes or no?” Zheng Mingyi asked.

Jiang Chijing said without any hesitation. “Yes.”

This was a point that didn’t need further verification. Even Xu Sheng believed that Princess would definitely do something irrational. Even if Old Nine was temporarily under the eyes of prison guards, there would always be a day when this would no longer be so. To the prison, Princess was a walking time bomb.

Without waiting for Zheng Mingyi to continue guiding him, Jiang Chijing ruminated, saying, “There are only two types of revenge Princess can use; one, take Old Nine’s life in revenge. Two, revenge that doesn’t take his life.”

“Exactly.” Zheng Mingyi said, “Which would you rather?”

“Obviously the latter,” Jiang Chijing said.

“Then following down this line of thought, there are only three situations where no one dies,” said Zheng Mingyi. “First, Princess himself has no intention of doing so.”

“That’s unlikely,” Jiang Chijing carried on. “His personality is very extreme and he barely has a moral compass.”

“Second, being stopped by the guards in time. In other words, Princess slipped up,” Zheng Mingyi said.

While this situation wasn’t completely impossible, just like Old Nine’s plan to stab Xu Sheng to death was a miss, this would be at the mercy of the heavens and obviously wasn’t an optimal choice.

“As well as the third,” Zheng Mingyi paused, “providing Princess a viable solution that doesn’t get anyone killed.”

“So you helped him think of how to get revenge?” Jiang Chijing said.

“Mm-hmm,” Zheng Mingyi said. “The most satisfying revenge is undoubtedly a tooth for a tooth.”

While it wasn’t difficult to think of getting a tooth for a tooth, even if utterly humiliating, the relative injury of getting a mop up the ass wasn’t high. Jiang Chijing was sure that he wouldn’t have thought of it himself.

Zheng Mingyi seemed to read Jiang Chijing’s thoughts, saying, point-blank, “There are also two types of revenge that can achieve this. First, physical harm. Second, psychological damage.”

Zheng Mingyi didn’t say all of it, probably feeling that some things would make him appear ruthless when voiced. However, with this analysis, Jiang Chijing immediately understood what he was getting at. “Compared to physical harm, psychological damage deals a much greater blow.”

“Right,” Zheng Mingyi said. “Moreover, psychological damage is hard to define. Princess’ sentence wouldn’t be increased like this.”

Not only was it difficult to define, but the crux of it was that someone as prideful as Old Nine would never voluntarily publicise this matter. In other words, this revenge was achieved in utmost silence.

For some reason, a strange phrase popped up in Jiang Chijing’s mind: the aesthetics of revenge.

What was originally an intricate matter was broken down by Zheng Mingyi into their individual constituents. He only had to make the optimal choice at each branch to concoct a perfect revenge.

“Say,” Jiang Chijing abruptly thought of another issue. “Old Nine used to be a gangster; how did Princess manage to subdue him?”

There was absolutely no way that the prison guards would be involved in this. At most, they’d bring Old Nine to a room and turn a blind eye to what happened inside.

“Don’t forget that Princess is Xu Sheng’s ‘girl’.” Zheng Mingyi said, “In the absence of their boss, who would the men under him follow?”

“Could Old Nine’s lackeys also have…” Jiang Chijing’s eyes instantly widened.

During their conversation, Yu Guang had listened silently from the side. But after Jiang Chijing asked this, as though finally finding an opportunity, he pitched in, “It wasn’t just Princess. There were four or five others.”

“That…” Jiang Chijing’s brows creased. “…is a little excessive, no?”

Jiang Chijing swore that he wasn’t sympathising with Old Nine. Only, as a representative of the authority in prison, he found it a bit hard to accept that the warden had acquiesced to such an incident.

Maybe inmates that had been oppressed by Old Nine wanted to see him punished, or maybe the guards that had a good relationship with Xu Sheng also wanted to give Old Nine grief. But in any case, once the prison started to take sides, it would give the feeling that they were ‘bullying the weak’.

Old Nine, of course, wasn’t weak. Only that in the face of might, he was powerless to resist.

Human nature was just that contradictory. On one hand, Jiang Chijing felt that Old Nine was getting his just desserts, but on the other hand, he felt that the warden’s actions were somewhat inappropriate.

All of Jiang Chijing’s thoughts were written on his face. Zheng Mingyi reached out to pinch his cheek, saying, “It isn’t that simple.”

“Simple?” Jiang Chijing immediately wondered if Zheng Mingyi had some kind of misunderstanding about this word. Could something that involved Princess, Xu Sheng’s men, as well as the warden, be as simple as he made it out to be?

Perhaps Jiang Chijing appeared slightly dazed. Zheng Mingyi couldn’t help but chuckle, saying, “I asked the warden to make it easy for Princess. Do you really think that he would agree so readily?”

He got to the heart of the matter. It was precisely this point that Jiang Chijing found incomprehensible.

“Did you promise to help him make money from stock trading?” This was the only reason he could think of.

Zheng Mingyi smiled again, saying, “Not entirely.”

Got it. From the way it sounded, this did come into play.

“Princess has to transfer prisons immediately after. That is the warden’s condition.” Zheng Mingyi said, “He can close one eye to Princess taking revenge on Old Nine, but once this comes to a close, Princess must leave this prison.”

“This…” Jiang Chijing was surprised at first, but on second thought, this was already the best possible outcome.

The warden didn’t tacitly condone this. He had his own principles, and that was that Princess must also be punished.

If the situation had progressed down its original trajectory, Princess would likely be imprisoned for several decades more. But now, he had similarly managed to achieve his objective for revenge, with the harsh punishment turning into a painless prison transfer.

Transferring prison couldn’t even be considered a punishment. Most inmates were unwilling to transfer simply because they had to adapt to a new environment.

Jiang Chijing abruptly thought back to how Zheng Mingyi and Princess had shaken on it in the yard just now. Zheng Mingyi should have told Princess the revenge method and consequences, and after considering it, Princess accepted Zheng Mingyi’s proposal.

Actually, in Jiang Chijing’s opinion, this could be entirely avoided—as long as Princess didn’t take revenge on Old Nine.

But at the end of the day, if Princess let Old Nine be, then he wouldn’t be Xu Sheng’s little pepper.

At the thought of this, Jiang Chijing sighed, saying, “This works as well. It has finally come to an end.”

When he had bumped into Guan Wei at the hospital earlier, Jiang Chijing found out that Xu Sheng was soon about to be released from prison.

The warden should have long been aware of this. Zheng Mingyi approaching the warden to discuss the situation with Princess was telling that he was also in the know, and in this way, Princess would also have heard of this.

Since Xu Sheng was about to leave, then to Princess, it didn’t matter where he served the remaining length of his sentence.

Perhaps in Princess’ mind, he hadn’t even considered what would come after his revenge on Old Nine, nor could he perceive how terrible several decades more in prison would be. He just had a single-minded obsession—Old Nine had hurt his man, so he had to exact retribution for his man.

Zheng Mingyi had offered a new option. It wasn’t empty talk of morality, but a solid, tangible result placed before his eyes for him to see.

Even if Princess wasn’t amenable to persuasion, he wasn’t so dumb that he would reject Zheng Mingyi’s proposal.

“Not yet, Jiang Jiang.” Zheng Mingyi’s voice cut into Jiang Chijing’s thoughts. “When did I say that it has ended?”

“Not yet?” Jiang Chijing gave a start.

“We still have to see how Old Nine reacts,” Zheng Mingyi said. “I’m expecting that he would apply for a prison transfer.”

Jiang Chijing was unable to keep up with Zheng Mingyi’s tempo. He considered, saying, “Even the prison guards have helped his opponent screw him over. It would bring anyone to despair.”

“It’s really tragic.” From the byline, Yu Guang found another opportunity to enter the conversation. “I heard that he had lost his bladder when he was carried out.”

“Stopstopstop.” Jiang Chijing didn’t want to imagine this scene. “Do other inmates know this happened?”

“I knew right away because Idol got me to keep an eye on it,” Yu Guang said. “But everyone else would probably find out by evening.”

He had to say, it was a bit wretched. He didn’t know if Old Nine had a mental breakdown but the man was probably wishing for death.

“If that’s the case,” Jiang Chijing said, “then he’s indeed very likely to apply for a prison transfer.”

There were many prisons. Even if Princess and Old Nine were transferred out, they might not necessarily go to the same prison.

At this point, Jiang Chijing abruptly found it strange. He looked at Zheng Mingyi and asked, “Why do you want Old Nine to be transferred away so much?”

Princess had gotten the best resolution. In Jiang Chijing’s eyes, this matter could already be stamped and shut.

But Zheng Mingyi said that it hadn’t ended yet and brought up Old Nine’s prison transfer. This meant that in his plan, Old Nine’s departure was the true conclusion.

“Why else?” Zheng Mingyi smiled very softly. “Because I’m going to leave.”

A question mark popped into Jiang Chijing’s mind. He unconsciously parted his lips to ask what he meant by that, but when he saw that inexplicable, doting look that Zheng Mingyi had in his eyes, he suddenly got it. It turned out that Zheng Mingyi had done all of this for him.

Old Nine would always be a threat in Southside Prison. Giving a darker spin to it, Zheng Mingyi had nothing to do with Princess’ business; he likely believed that it would be best for Princess to end Old Nine. But Jiang Chijing didn’t wish for this to happen, and it was because of this that Zheng Mingyi would think of an alternative.

“You’re saying you… you knew that Princess wanted revenge on Old Nine… and intended to use Princess from the very start to… drive Old Nine away?”

After the realisation, the truth was all the more terrifying.

Jiang Chijing knew it. He was wondering why Zheng Mingyi would be so good-intentioned. Probably, Princess was no more than a node in his overarching plan.

“Mm,” Zheng Mingyi nodded. “Only then can I leave prison with peace of mind.”

Suddenly, Jiang Chijing had an ominous premonition that he was going to be tightly wrapped around Zheng Mingyi’s finger in the future.