Chapter Twelve: The Unyielding Stone Nods Its Head

  "Ye Haodong is far superior to the 'Four Great Kings' in both martial arts and courage. Using this young offender who has a great chance of subduing the 'Four Great Kings' to govern these few poorly managed prisons from within, isn't this just using barbarians to control barbarians? It's just a change of soup, but the medicine is still the same."

  In the director's office, Deputy Director Qian Jin said with a sarcastic and suspicious tone, "Director, you're really something."

  He looks rough, but he's not rough inside. Qi Zhendong sat opposite him and nodded: "Whether the method is feasible or not, it's hard to say for now. When that kid comes over later, we'll have to test him and see if he can correctly understand our intentions."

  Qian Jin: "You were just praising that kid to the skies, now you're suddenly losing confidence?"

  "He's still just a half-grown child after all."

  Qian Jin: "Using a barbecue grill to defeat Shan Longjun and becoming the half-boss of an acquisition station."

  A report came from outside the door, Qi Zhendong responded and walked in. The door opened and Ye Haodong walked in with a simple luggage: "Director Qi is good, this is the officer in charge of discipline!"

  Zi Zhendong waved his hand to indicate that he didn't need to be polite, and pointed at Qian Jin saying: "This is Commissioner Qian."

  "Hello, Minister of Finance"

  Qian nodded slightly: "Hmm, you're Ye Haodong. I really can't tell, do you know why I called you here?"

  Ye Haodong: "I've thought about it, and I'm sure you two didn't come here in person just because of the dormitory change. I heard that there are a few special juvenile delinquents in the detention center, and you're having trouble managing them due to emotional reasons. I guess you want me to help out in this regard?"

  Zi Zhendong and Qian Jin exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of surprise in each other's eyes.

  Zi Zhen Dong was somewhat excited: "Then tell us your views, we'll listen and see if it's acceptable. If you can handle this matter well, I and Qian Zhengwei can consider pleading for a reduced sentence for you."

  Ye Haodong: "If it's just a matter of intimidating them, that wouldn't be difficult. Having fists harder than theirs and methods more ruthless would be enough. But I think you two definitely don't mean that. I feel like you're taking notice of me mainly because there's something in this brain of mine that's more than what they have. You hope that I can truly subdue them, then further strengthen control over them, making it easier for them to accept reform, right?"

  "This young man really has such insight, and Qian Jin also came up with interest: 'Hmm, at least let them understand that serving their sentence peacefully is better than anything else. Don't get into trouble again because of some other things and add to the sentence. That way, our work will be passive, and their families will also be troubled.'"

  Zi Zhendong: "We've noticed that Zhang Shaowei's kid has been causing a lot of trouble lately. Yesterday, you made a good impression on me, so I hope you can play a role in this matter and not let me and Old Qian down."

  Ye Haodong: "Can you take action when necessary?"

  Zi Zhendong: "You must have a sense of proportion when taking action, just like that time in the detention center."

  Ye Haodong: "If they behave well, can I promise some encouragement, such as I will agree to say a few good words about them in front of you two, it's best if you two can help me out and put in a good word."

  Qian Jin: "As long as you can guarantee that we see changes in these kids, we can make appropriate promises. As long as it's within our capabilities and not excessive, we can consider it."

  "Alright, since both of you leaders think highly of me and don't treat me like a kid, then I'll give it a try."

  "Remember, only success is allowed, failure is not permitted, no unexpected events, do you understand what I'm saying?"

  Ye Haodong: "If anything unexpected happens, it's all my personal behavior. What we said today only exists in the present."

  After Guan Jiao took Ye Haodong out.

  Qian Jin: "What you just said, I believe it, this kid is really something."

  "Let's take a look and see, we can't just rely on him, our supervision must be strengthened. If something bad happens, the two of us will owe it to my master. Alas, the honor of being one of the top 100 soldiers in the country is all because of this good-for-nothing son, and now he's flown the coop like a cooked duck."

  Room 306, under the arrangement of the dormitory manager, Ye Haodong moved in and occupied Zhang Shaowei's bed. He also arranged for He Lin to move to the upper bunk above Ye Haodong. Even in front of the dormitory manager, Zhang Shaowei couldn't hide his anger, his eyes gleaming with hostility as he stared at Ye Haodong, who seemed oblivious. As soon as the manager left, he would teach this arrogant newcomer a lesson.

  Manager's expressionless face: "Ye Haodong is a newcomer, he will tear the cotton soon. Li Wei and He Lin, you two follow him in a group, teach him more. Zhang Shaowei, give them three fewer tasks."

  The manager left, and the young men in the house, led by Zhang Shaowei, each showed a lively expression.

  Ye Haodong was oblivious to their tiger-like stares, busily putting away the bed sheets and new military blankets. His blanket-folding technique was what Huang Mao'er had taught him that morning, but he wasn't very skilled at it yet. One of the blankets ended up looking like a big bun, no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get it to look like everyone else's.

  Looking at Ye Haodong's clumsy appearance, a young man in Zhang Shaowei's group couldn't help but burst out laughing. Zhang Shaowei heard the sound and suddenly became furious: "You damn it, laugh at your father's egg, is it funny?" A slap went over, and the young man's smile turned into a crying face. Zhang Shaowei viciously said: "All of you listen up, I don't care what background you have, once you're in my house, if you're a dragon, you'd better coil up for me, if you're a tiger, you'd better lie down for me, don't pretend to be something you're not, or else if you offend me, don't blame me for not giving anyone face."

  This sentence was directed at Ye Haodong. Unfortunately, Ye Haodong was busy arguing with the new quilt on his bed that wasn't stacked well, and he didn't even lift his head as if he hadn't heard anything. Zhang Shaowei's move to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys had a great pre-war declaration effect, but it was greatly discounted.

  The bell for gathering work rang, and the dormitory's shaving and teasing ended. Ye Haodong reluctantly folded the quilt according to the requirements, but the quality was not commendable.

  In the courtyard, spring is bright and beautiful. The young offenders line up in several squads according to their floor and room, with each room's squad leader stepping forward to receive tools and materials from the instructor.

  The young offenders were dressed in thick autumn clothes, sitting on small stools, each holding a crochet hook, with their heads buried in a large pile of cotton strips and spinning mill waste.

  The twelve people in Room 306 were divided into four groups, with Zhang Shaowei, the room leader, responsible for assigning tasks. Ye Haodong's group received special treatment, with a large pile of raw materials placed in front of them, which was clearly more than what the other groups had. The most enjoyable thing to unravel was the kind that could be quickly disassembled into a heap with just one pull by hand, while the least enjoyable were the waste materials from the spinning factory, which were often tightly bound together and required using a steel hook needle to slowly tease apart, thread by thread. Holding the long, thin steel hook needle in their hands was very tiring, requiring them to use their fingers to apply force to make it work, and often only after a short while would they inevitably end up with red and sore fingers. Being assigned such tasks was what the juvenile delinquents disliked the most, and Ye Haodong's group had not only received more raw materials but also mostly waste from the spinning factory.

  When working, it is not allowed to whisper or even talk. If there is something, you must shout "report" first. It is not allowed to stop labor without reason. The rules mean unconditional execution, otherwise it is a violation of the rules, and the cost of violating the rules is often extremely high. Therefore, Li Wei was very dissatisfied with the allocation of so many spinning factory waste materials, but he did not dare to say more, and silently started. What kind of material is allocated is usually decided by the room leader Qiankun alone. Zhang Shaowei deliberately bullied Ye Haodong, but let Li Wei and He Lin become scapegoats.

  It wasn't until he was exhausted that Ye Haodong understood why Li Wei had looked at him with such a resentful gaze when they were dividing up the work. The only tool for this job - the hook needle - not only had an astonishing hardness, but also great elasticity, and its zinc-plated surface was so slippery that it was extremely difficult to control in one's hands. Those broken cotton threads were often wrapped tightly around each other, and the fine cotton rope was especially tough, making it very hard to separate such a tangled mess of cotton threads into fluffy cotton balls.

  Hu Zai was not easy to do, no one dared to be lazy. Zhang Shaowei deliberately gave Ye Haodong a warning, Li Wei and He Lin, who had suffered from the harm of the fish in the pool, had already resigned themselves to their fate, skillfully using crochet hooks to disassemble each cotton thread into a ball. Ye Haodong understood that he had implicated these two men, and he was not willing to fall behind either, learning from their example and doing similar work.

  Zhang Shaowei gave his group a much smaller pile of neatly stacked cotton cloth than Ye Haodong's group. The three of them wore masks, and with one pull, they had almost finished in less than an hour. Zhang Shaowei threw down the cotton cloth in his hand, indicating that he was leaving the rest to the other two. He sat aside, his eyes searching for Ye Haodong and his companions, a look of triumph and cruelty on his face. In his heart, he thought: This is just the beginning.

  As noon approached, Ye Haodong and the other two finally finished unloading the cotton yarn. Looking up, they saw that everyone else had basically completed their tasks, leaving only a small amount of work for the grinding workshop. Zhang Shaowei sat aside, looking at Ye Haodong with a provocative gaze: "Finished? Great, looks like you have great potential, let's continue tomorrow."

  Zhang Shaowei is indeed a figure of the Four Great Heavenly Kings in the Supervision Department. When he heard someone speaking, his gaze shifted over, and when he saw that it was him talking, he turned his head back again, pretending not to have seen anything.

  Ye Haodong stretched out his hand, took a look at the new blister, and smiled bitterly. It seemed that in order to avoid suffering this punishment again, it was necessary to get rid of this kid as soon as possible.

  Before lunch, the instructor shouted an order, and everyone sped up to finish the remaining work in their hands, then lined up to return to the dormitory, washed and prepared for dinner. As usual, they lined up before meals, marched into the dining hall in unison, sang the most hated shooting song (in the team, the gun was called a shooting), and the instructor shouted: "Start eating!"

  The food here is really monotonous, compared to the big bowls of wine and meat in the past, it's simply worlds apart. Of course, there's no wine here, the staple food is steamed buns, three per person, just enough to fill your stomach. As for meat, you can see a few bits of meat in the vegetable dish. But these few bits of meat are not as good as having none at all, because they only whet everyone's appetite for meat, but can't satisfy it.

  The meal was a hundred times better than the one in the detention center, and after growing up, he was tired for an afternoon, Ye Haodong's first lunch in the juvenile correctional facility was exceptionally delicious.

  After lunch, you can take a nap in the afternoon, but the instructor usually arranges for everyone to recite the rules and regulations, and takes an exam. This is not a test for Ye Haodong, but he still chose to memorize it in batches in a low-key manner to cope with the instructor's inspection.

  At one thirty in the afternoon, the cultural class that many young offenders would rather work than participate in began. Ye Haodong was almost the only person here with more than nine years of education, so he was assigned to the highest-level class. As he walked into the classroom, Ye Haodong noticed that this class had only four students, including Zhang Shaowei, the dormitory head of 306, and everyone looked like they were not under eighteen years old. The four people occupied a corner each, ignoring each other, just sitting there with a gloomy and violent expression.

  Ye Haodong recalled a nickname for juvenile delinquents who were known for their color-changing abilities: the "Four Great Kings".

  There were over a dozen sets of desks and chairs scattered around the classroom, most of which were placed far away from the blackboard. Ye Haodong selected one that was relatively intact and had more intricate carvings on its surface, moved it to the examination position, and sat down.

  The four people behind him silently watched Ye Haodong finish these things, no one spoke, but their eyes never left Ye Haodong. Under Huang Mao's vigorous propaganda, what Ye Haodong did before entering had already spread its wings and spread to every small group in the dormitory, and everyone had heard about it. Most people kept a certain awe of Ye Haodong because of this rumor, but the four people in this room were obviously not among them.

  "Zhang Shaowei, is this kid the new one in your house called Ye Haodong?"

  The young man sitting by the window in the northeast corner asked loudly.

  Zhang Shaowei: "Chen Hong, you'd better watch your tone when talking to me. If you want to know who he is, go ask him yourself."

  Chen Hong seemed to have no intention of getting into a conflict with Zhang Shaowei, and he sneered: "Damn it, I'm too lazy to ask, who is he and what does it have to do with me? Anyway, the points didn't go to my house."

  At this time, the young man sitting in the northwest corner, who looked refined and elegant, seemed to have suddenly taken an interest in Ye Haodong. He stood up, walked to Ye Haodong's side, and asked in a gentle tone: "Are you Ye Haodong?"

  Ye Haodong nodded and stood up, also very politely asked: "Yes, who are you?"

  The young man smiled proudly: "My name is Song Chaudu, from the Western City District. I was convicted of arson and manslaughter."

  Ye Haodong felt a slight sense of surprise and casually asked: "Who was burned to death?"

  Song Chao's face suddenly changed with a cold smile: "Those who dare to oppose me." After finishing speaking, he turned around and returned to his own seat.

  The Four Heavenly Kings, Zhang Shaowei, Chen Hong, Song Chaodu, and the remaining one who didn't speak, looked like a sturdy young man with a bear-like physique, must be Yang Junhu.

  Ye Haodong looked around in the clockwise direction and thought to himself, "These four guys don't look easy to deal with. Getting them under control is the task that Qi Zhendong has arranged for me."

  The classroom door was pushed open again, and a middle-aged man in his 40s walked in. This lesson was about politics. The teacher directly ignored the addition of one more person in the classroom. It seemed that in his heart, the children who were taking classes here had long lost their educational value.