9 Chapter 9 A visit to the prison

When she reached the dining hall, she was dumbstruck at it's vastness and the many prisoners at this facility. They were all dressed in grey and the guards were dressed in black. She stood at the entrance not knowing what to do. When she saw that she was attracting attention, she went to the line and after getting food, she settled at the nearest table she could find. Not attempting to look at the people at the table, she started to eat the food slowly and later, she paused.

She could sense the stares of the people she was sharing the table with. She wanted to look at them but she feared because she didn't know what they might think and trouble was the last thing she wanted in this place. After several minutes, she heard a voice saying," Are you going to keep looking at it?" She wondered if they were telling her and she raised her eyes then found an elderly woman looking at her.

"Give it to me if you don't want it," she told her and Li Fei got what she was meaning. She nodded before sending her the plate and the woman poured it onto her own then started devouring the food. It was then Li Fei looked at everyone at the table and noticed that they were six. Just then, a commotion broke out on the line of food as people were pushing each other and she wondered what was wrong.

The guards rushed to the place and immediately pacified the situation then got one woman who seemed to have caused the chaos and she was severely beaten until she bled before she was taken away. Li Fei was scared to death. Is that how they punished them? When the situation went back to normal, people resumed getting their food peacefully. Then one person at her table said," Ah Lam never fails to amuse me. She thinks she owns this place. I hope she has a nice time in solitary confinement."

Li Fei then realized that the punished woman was called Ah Lam and it seemed like she was troublesome, the exact people she had to avoid.

When they all finished supper, they went back to their cells. Li Fei on reaching received questioning gazes from her cellmates that hadn't seen her. She walked straight to her bed and sat down staring at everyone in the room. One came to her and asked," How did you end up here?"

Li Fei hesitated for a while because it wasn't something to be proud of but she didn't want to ignore her reason being that she might turn to their bad side. "I... knocked down someone and she died," she replied almost in a whisper. "Only that?" the woman asked once again and she nodded. "Impossible. You wouldn't have been here then. This place is for top criminals. Someone who can stab you till you bleed to death, just like me," she said and Li Fei's eyes widened in surprise.

She chuckled and said," Don't be scared, I'm Ju Zhan. Will be seeing you around." Li Fei nodded and she left making her sigh in relief. She saw them leave the cell room again and she wondered what was next.

Two of them remained in the room, Li Fei and the other girl that had warned her before going for supper. She was on the same book she had been reading. Li Fei didn't want to disturb her but she had no option. "Uhm... excuse me, I need to talk to you for a moment please," she told her. "What is it?" she asked with her eyes remaining on the book. "I wanted to know where they have gone," she said. "To the entertainment room to watch television or to make phone calls. It is not compulsory though," the girl answered.

"Okay. Thank you. And thank you again for warning me earlier. By the way, what is your name and what are you reading?" she asked her. "Liling. This is a novel," she answered still looking in her book. "I'm Li Fei. I was asking if we could be friends?" she asked expectantly. This made Liling look at her and said," I don't want any friends. I helped you simply because you're new here. And I don't like talking much."

With that, she resumed flipping the pages of her book.

Li Fei sighed before sitting back on her bed. It seemed like she was going to be all alone in this place. She realized that the blanket was so thin that it could hardly warm a person.

She contemplated on going to make a phone call to her parents but then she decided against it saying that she will do it tomorrow because she didn't know the place yet so she was avoiding any trouble. She laid on her bed and realized that the mattress was thin too, totally uncomfortable but it was better than sleeping on the floor.

Away from that, Jin Liwei came back home with empty urns and placed them somewhere safe. Today, he had gone to pour Jin Shan's cremation as well as their baby's in the sea.

Spiritless, he went to have a bath and after, he sat on the couch and started smoking as he reminisced the moments he had with Shan.

At the same moment, his phone rang. "Master, she was taken to the prison you recommended. I sent you the court proceedings," reported Wang Mel. "Anything else?" he asked. "Nothing much. Just that I saw her father speaking with the....late Miss's father," he said. "Okay. Clear my schedule on Friday. I'm going to pay a visit to the prison," he said.

The next morning, Li Fei was woken up by someone and on opening her eyes, it was Liling. "You have to know that this is not your home. There are rules set here and punishments," she told her before leaving her alone in the room. Li Fei sat up panicking then looked at the wall clock and saw that it was five exactly.