“Brother Bao, I know you are a man of your words but it’s alright. I will settle my own things.” Yang Ming shook his head.
“Why? Are you looking down on me, old Bao?” asked Bao Sanli furiously.
“How can that be? It’s just that I don’t want to cause any problems for Brother Bao. Wang Zhitao’s family is really influential and powerful. I have heard that his father is our city’s Xiongfeng Group’s Chairman. We are definitely not a match for him at the moment!” Yang Ming purposely used the words ‘at the moment’ because he knew that this hatred had already formed and getting revenge was just a matter of time! If it was the Yang Ming from before he wouldn’t have been so confident, but now he was no longer an ordinary person. Xiongfeng Group, so what? He knew that he would be stronger than Wang Zhitao one day.
“Ah ya… I misunderstood you, brother. You are right. Xiongfeng Group isn’t something that we would be able to deal with.” Bao Sanli also felt a tinge of sadness at this moment. These punks sometimes felt a sense of injustice. They broke the law just like the rich and had to go to jail, but those rich bast**** were able to do things ten times worse and still be free outside!
“Let’s not speak anymore about this, Brother Bao. How did you get into jail?” Yang Ming no longer wanted to continue this topic.
“Me? What else could it be? I had a fight with someone but my brothers misjudged that guy and didn’t figure out his identity beforehand! That day I was going out for drinks with a few brothers. After a few cups, I went to the washroom. But what a coincidence! There was another guy who was also rushing to the washroom. However, there was only one urinal, so we both started to fight for it and I punched him!” Bao Sanli said, “Originally I thought this situation would be easily settled but we never thought that this brat would go back and call five more people with each of them holding a baton in their hand. Even though there were only three of us, we were able to defeat the five of them. But after that, the police came. We then realized that those six people were from the Health Inspection Department. We were just small punks so it was easily predictable whose side the police listened to. My brothers and I were then held in custody for beating up public servants. We even had to pay their medical bills!”
Yang Ming tapped on Bao Sanli’s shoulder and said, “Even though these people were public servants, in this case, you were also not right. Since both parties were wrong, you don’t have to care so much!!”
“I wasn’t thinking of anything. I just felt that it was a bit unfair. Why were those people enjoying themselves in the hospital while all of us brothers are here in jail?” Bao Sanli was slightly annoyed.
“Pff!” Yang Ming almost burst out laughing after hearing his words. “Brother Bao, aren’t you a bit funny? They are all in the hospital. How do you call that enjoying themselves?”
Bao Sanli heard Yang Ming and also laughed with him. “We were a bit heavy-handed with our punches so I guess these people have to lie down for a while!”
Not long after that, Yang Ming got familiar with the few other people in jail. That stick-figure looking man was Bao Sanli’s underling, named Qi Wenrui. He was involved in the fight that day. Another subordinate, Yu Lei, was locked in another jail cell.
That guy, Li Da, who came in because of a robbery was a frequent visitor. He, himself, didn’t know how many times he had been in jail. Li Da was just held in custody to undergo some procedures and he would probably be out in a few days. However, Bao Sanli didn’t know anything about that old man. All he said was that the guy was a crazy man who had been locked in here for many years. The other old men in prison said that he had been here for quite a long time – about seven to eight years.
Seven to eight years? Yang Ming froze. How could someone be in detention for seven to eight years and not sent to court? When he asked Bao Sanli, Bao Sanli also didn’t know. It could just be another case forgotten by history.
It was after dinner time when Yang Ming first arrived here. He had a few more words with Bao Sanli and then went to sleep on his bed.
At midnight, a wild shriek woke Yang Ming from his dream.
“It’s raining. It’s sunny. Don’t forget to wear your cotton jacket on a sunny day! It’s snowing. It’s sunny. Don’t forget to wear your hat on a sunny day!”
Who? Yang Ming sat up straight in bed. When he raised his head, he noticed that everyone in jail was awake. Bao Sanli, noticing how Yang Ming was woken up, smiled bitterly and shook his head. He pointed to the old man’s bed and said softly, “That old man is like that – sometimes clear-headed, sometimes confused. It’s not the first time he started singing at night!”
“Nobody cares?” Yang Ming was curious and asked.
“I was told that in the beginning, the prison guard came here a few times, but after they noticed how he was a bit insane, they just stopped bothering him.” Bao Sanli said, “What a poor old man. He does not have any relatives.”
Yang Ming sighed and lay back down on his bed. The old man sang for a while and went silent. In a short while, the whole cell was filled with the sound of breathing.
On his second day, Yang Ming paid some extra attention to that old man. When the old man wasn’t ill, he was just like any other ordinary person. He ate and drank with them but he never uttered a word.
“Hey, old man, you are taking so many steamed buns. Aren’t you afraid that you would be choked to death by them? There aren’t enough for the people behind us!” A yob shoved the old man aside and the steamed bun in the old man’s hand fell and rolled to the ground.
“Hahahaha!” The people beside the yob laughed along. These few people were punks from the street. They had always found their entertainment by bullying the weak. Two days earlier, the police caught them for robbing an old man who sold fruit, then they were to be punished by being locked up for 15 days.
When the old man bent down to pick up the steamed bun, a person snatched it away from him. That person was Yang Ming!
Yang Ming picked up the steamed bun from the floor, rubbed it on the bottom of his shoe and stood back up. The yob and the punks didn’t understand what Yang Ming was doing. They looked at Yang Ming holding the dirty steamed bun as he smiled at them.
Yang Ming looked at the yob in front, held his cheek tightly and stuffed the dirty steamed bun into his mouth.
“Eh — ah!” The yob struggled to close his mouth, but Yang Ming’s force on his mouth was surprisingly strong. The guy was only able to stare at Yang Ming shoving the steamed bun in his mouth.
“Since you are afraid that you wouldn’t get one, I shall give you one right now!” Yang Ming said with a poker face. Once he finished, he used his right hand to forcefully press the steamed bun into the yob’s throat.
“Eh —- Cough! Cough!” The yob held his throat and coughed violently. The steamed bun caused him to not be able to breathe. His whole face turned purple. Together with his green hair, he looked like an eggplant among the vegetables.
“F*** you! Do you want to die?” The person beside the yob was about to rush Yang Ming but was stopped by the others around him. Those people whispered a few words into his ears and the enraged person gave Yang Ming another glare and walked away with a sense of fear and reverence.