16 Chapter 16 Laundry room

For the whole day, Li Mei pleaded to the authorities to let her see her daughter but still they refused. Everytime the prison doors opened for the prisoners who had completed their sentence, she would eagerly wait in hopes of seeing her come out but she always ended up being disappointed. She had been calling Li Bao for the whole day but he didn't pick up and when it turned dark, she left the place spiritless.

On returning back to her cell, Li Fei noticed that her cell mates were looking at her with hatred and distaste and she knew that she had to be on the lookout especially at night. When the lights were turned off, she fought the urge to sleep in fear of being attacked in the night. She was thankful with the pain killers Liling had given her because they helped a lot. Throughout the entire night, she would always sit whenever she heard a sound in the cell room.

....

Li Mei found her husband sitting on the bed and she immediately confronted him," Why didn't you pick my calls for the whole day Li Bao? You kept me waiting like a fool. Why didn't they free Li Fei?" "It was a scam Li Fei. I had been taken to the police station for the whole day. Neither Jin Liwei nor his Assistant knew anything about it. When I learnt of that I lost it and started yelling then they called the police and I was charged with trespassing," he explained and Li Mei felt her knees weaken then she sat on the bed. "You want to say that, we lost a Billion Yuan just like that?" she whispered. "Yes, we did. The email seems not to exist anymore and the bank account was frozen as soon as the money was withdrawn." "How can you be so careless like that Li Bao?!! I thought you had confirmed everything before sending the money. What are we going to do now?!!" she shouted at him.

"Don't blame me, I'm only human and I'm sure that you would have done the same. We are both desperate to free our daughter," he said.

Clutching her hair frustratedly, she asked," What is next?" "I don't know either. Jin Liwei dropped the charges against me on condition that I never try to come close to him ever again."

.....

For the whole week, Li Fei had been on the lookout for her life. She was always suspicious of everyone who came close to her. On one evening in the laundry room, they were ironing their clothes as Li Fei was waiting for her turn and her eyes caught sight of the lady who poured her food before they were taken to solitary confinement.

The woman was looking at her or clearly glaring at her and she saw her say something to her friends who looked at her all at once and she quickly averted her eyes away not wanting to cause trouble for herself. She wondered what she had told them about her. Finally, her turn reached and she started ironing her clothes quickly so as to leave the laundry room.

As she was ironing, she noticed the woman and her friends come to her direction and her heart beat increased. "Hey pretty girl, we meet again," she told her smirking. Li Fei paused and looked at her before glancing at her friends and she continued ironing her clothes. The woman got hold of the flat iron and Li Fei whispered," Please, I don't want any trouble." She smirked before saying," Of course no trouble. Just help us here."

The woman together with her friends gave her their clothes to iron. Looking at the heap of clothes, Li Fei decided to iron them in hopes of getting the woman off her back after doing this.

She took her time ironing them neatly so that they don't get a reason to complain. A long while later when she was done, she signalled them to come for their clothes and they did. "This is such good work," the woman praised her but she became confused when she saw them surround her and on looking, she saw that a few people had remained in the laundry room. She got alarmed and asked," What are you doing?"

"We are going to give you a proper thank you," one person said behind her and caught her head then pushed her on the ironing board making her lie on her stomach. She panicked and said," Let me go! I did what you asked me to." "You thought you would go away with it? I went to solitary confinement because of you and you surely have to pay for it," said the woman. Li Fei struggled to get away from the woman's grip and she said," I didn't do anything wrong. It was you - aaaahhhhh !!!!!"

She screamed when she felt her skin burn when they placed a hot flat iron on her back. The head guard who was at the door way seeing this flashed an evil smile.

After making sure she was burnt enough, they removed it and Li Fei fell on the floor screaming and she eventually passed out due to the excessive pain.

.....

Li Fei opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling of the unfamiliar place. It wasn't her cell room. Looking around the room, she saw a nurse and a man's back who seemed to be a doctor.

When she recalled the incident in the laundry room, she felt her eyes well with tears. Why was the whole world against her? She then heard footsteps approaching her and a very soft soothing voice followed," Are you okay? Does it hurt so much?"

Li Fei blinked back her tears to see the person that had spoken to her with so much tenderness. It was the doctor she had seen, a very handsome man with black eyes that looked at her with so much sincerity. For a moment, she was lost in them since it had been long someone talked and looked at her that way.