Chapter 5: In the Devil's World, Everything Has a Price

  Gao Dapeng seemed to have become stupid, and also seemed to be numb with shame, silent for a long time. Later, he suddenly let out a mournful howl like a wolf's cry, hugging his head and sitting on the ground, crying uncontrollably with his buttocks exposed. The others saw this and couldn't help but feel a little panicked, thinking that if the instructor saw this, things would be bad. Ye Haodong was originally feeling bored and uninterested, but seeing Gao Dapeng like this suddenly sparked his interest. He squatted in front of Gao Dapeng with his arms around his knees, smiling slyly: "Cry, keep crying, louder, make a big deal out of it, let everyone in the dorm know that I, Ye Haodong, am leading the way in bullying you, a sick person. But don't forget, you're not only a sick person, but also a beast who raped a young girl. The law doesn't care, and I have the heart to kill you. You're not afraid of making things big, and neither am I. You want to make things big, right?" He paused, his tone suddenly becoming stronger: "I'll fulfill your wish!" As he spoke, he reached out and grabbed Gao Dapeng's collar, dragging him out the door.

  Gao Dapeng was really stupid this time, he struggled desperately, his hands grasping at his pants, trying to pull them up. Ye Haodong kicked him in the hand with a cold and ruthless look in his eyes. The newly appointed prison guard Zhao Guohui heard the shouting in the corridor and rushed out, holding an electric baton, blocking Ye Haodong and yelling: "Halt! Let him go! Put your hands behind your head and face the wall!"

  Ye Haodong raised his hand high and did not completely follow suit, asking noncommittally: "Don't you ask what's going on?"

  Zhao Guohui recalled the warden's reminder before taking over and asked in doubt: "Are you Ye Haodong?"

  Ye Haodong couldn't help but laugh and cry: "I'm really famous, you know me too?"

  Zhao Guohui had a number in his heart, and he pretended to be serious: "Speak, what's going on?"

  "This kid is sick, he's gone crazy, the whole room is filled with his nonsense, it's disgusting. Can you please move him to a different place?"

  Zhao Guohui also responded to this kind of person. He nodded and asked the other people in the 17th group who were following behind: "Is that true?"

  Everyone nodded.

  "Take him to the disciplinary cell, lock him up for a day first, and let him out when he's calmed down. Then we'll consider transferring him to another unit later, you take care of it."

  Disciplinary cell, also known as "small number" in the Jianghu community, is absolutely the number one killer for those who do not listen to orders and dare to challenge government authority without government backing! There's a saying that describes how miserable it is when you're neither here nor there. This phrase is fully realized in the disciplinary cell. You can't stand up straight with your head against the ceiling, and you can't sit down properly with your butt on the ground. The feeling is still the same, forever unforgettable, forever dare not think about it again.

  Ye Haodong led everyone in nodding their heads in approval.

  Back in his room, Ye Haodong carefully thought over the events of the past two days. Some things didn't make sense - Guo Dabao, who had a good relationship with the prison guards, had slapped himself in the face for no reason! In the cellblock, there was a "big trustie" named Gao Dapeng who had been mistreated by himself, but it seemed like nothing had happened. Had his sister intervened again? It shouldn't be possible. He couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he thought about it.

  Visiting day, in the meeting room, separated by a large tempered glass, holding a conversation device, Li Weidong on the opposite side was making a report of these days' events to him.

  Li Weidong: "Now the new green material recycling has been fully rolled out across the province, and recently it's being promoted to Hebei Province, but there are many difficulties. The main problem is that local thugs keep disturbing us, and two newly established recycling points have been smashed several times. Also, I heard from Zhong ZhiMin that all production capacity on his side has been mobilized, and the copperplate paper in the factory is piling up more and more, with inventory even higher than when we took over; The pulping machine has sufficient raw materials, and five sets have already been put into operation. Excess pulp is sold to Xinfeng Paper Industry, and our raw material prices are cheap, so profits are high. The situation at the steel rolling mill is even better. Just yesterday, Boss Song transferred 9 million yuan in goods owed to us to our account. In these few months, the steel rolling mill has made a complete profit. Now, construction companies from other cities have also come to place orders, and our products are selling well on the market, but production capacity is slightly lagging behind orders. On the raw material side, New Green Materials can no longer keep up with supplies, and Zhu SanGe is already in contact with the Metallurgical Company; Your family transfers money to you every month as requested, your mother's health is good, she has completed her medical retirement, and every morning she goes out for a stroll with other retired people. I met her twice, and she asked me to tell you not to worry about her; Nong Xiaojie returned to Shencheng and asked me to pass on the message that you should behave well in prison and strive for commutation of sentence so that you can be released early and reunite with your family."

  Ye Haodong listened silently, and finally let out a long sigh without saying anything. He asked again: "Is there anything else besides these?"

  Li Weidong thought for a moment and said, "There's one thing you should pay attention to. Xinfeng Paper Industry has been restructured and is now privately contracted. Liu Zong has taken an interest in our pulp factory and Xinlv Waste Recycling, and he proposed taking 200 million yuan to package the acquisition. Nong Xiaojie has already responded to this matter."

  Ye Haodong curled his lip, getting angry: "New Green Materials is our core industry, don't underestimate this scrap collection enterprise. With it, more than half of the raw materials used by both our companies are high-quality and cheap recycled materials. This already puts us ahead of them at the starting line. In the future, New Green Materials will only expand further, its prospects will be even greater than those two industries. Two hundred million? Damn it, how did Old Liu calculate this?"

  Li Weidong: "You'll have to spend money here too. For now, Nong Xiaojie said she'll send you 20,000 yuan every month first, and if it's not enough, we can increase it."

  Yeh Hao Dong smiled: "Then I'm not going to have instant noodles with ham sausage." After finishing, he burst out laughing.

  Li Weidong: "How's it going? Have you been having a tough time these past few days? Do you need us to make some noise for you outside?"

  "Specific matters I have written a letter to you, go find Wang Shaoling at the paper mill yourself to get it. The sales route of the paper mill and what I arranged for you to do are all in the letter."

  After Li Weidong left, about half a month later, a new person came to the cell of Group 17. He was said to be a newcomer, but in fact he was very old, 68-year-old Zhong Maoxiang. The reason for his arrival was terrifying - he had killed his own son!

  The story is shocking to hear, but it's actually a very common tale. An old couple unfortunately raised a son who was a complete scoundrel. He did everything he could to waste his life away - drinking, whoring, gambling, and smoking. Even at the age of 40, he still didn't have a wife. Every day, after getting drunk outside, he would come back home and demand money from his parents. If they didn't give him any, he would kick and beat them. He had squandered everything in the house that could be sold or pawned. The old couple had some retirement savings, so they were barely scraping by, but having to put up with this scoundrel of a son was ultimately hopeless.

  On the day of the incident, the good-for-nothing son came home drunk and made an outrageous demand - he wanted his 60-year-old mother to sleep with him. The old couple couldn't take it anymore, and in a fit of rage, Mr. Zhong chopped the scoundrel to death with an axe.

  After the case was reported, the old man calmly turned himself in. The local residents spontaneously organized to help the old man appeal for justice, hoping he could be released without punishment. However, the law is heartless, and the old man was sentenced to eight years in prison.

  This is a newcomer who can't adapt to the local environment and can't work, but since he came, the labor tasks of Ye Haodong's group have been greatly reduced. At first, Ye Haodong didn't pay much attention to this old man, except for sympathy, more was angry that he had raised a tiger and harmed himself and his partner, leaving him alone in the outside world. If this old man could have made up his mind earlier and sent that rascal son of his to come over, maybe that rascal would have been educated by the dictatorship of the proletariat by now. Until one day, Ye Haodong and Guo Dapao were playing Go in the house, and this Zhong Maoxiang old man's light and casual move helped Guo Dapao turn the game around, which sparked Ye Haodong's interest, he suggested playing a game with the old man, as a result, the two of them played eight games that day, Ye Haodong didn't win one, every time he wanted to draw, but the old man didn't agree. It turned out that this guy lost eight games in a row without opening the bottle. Later, it was found out that this old man was actually a Go master from the locomotive body association, and had even won the national runner-up title in his early years!

  Then in the following days, Ye Haodong had a new career, learning chess. While learning chess, he listened to the old man's life experience of nearly 70 years of ups and downs. This old man, despite being a failure in educating his son and ending up having to "clean up the family", was a veteran who had joined the revolution in 1944, experienced the Anti-Japanese War, the Chinese Civil War, and after liberation, had also experienced the Ten Years of Chaos, having been beaten and also glorious. His life experience was deeply and simply told to Ye Haodong, with an extraordinary effect.

  These precious life experiences have brought Ye Haodong immense benefits and broadened his horizons. He has gained a deeper understanding of the ups and downs of life, as well as his attitude towards it. He is quietly becoming more open-minded and indifferent to gains and losses, learning to live according to his own ideas, fully enjoying the splendor of life. Once someone enters this realm where nothing is lost, they often gain even more.

  The New Year's footsteps are finally approaching, and Guo Dabao has already started making arrangements for the competition with other prisons. The most anticipated event is undoubtedly the wrestling match. This is a prison isolated from the world, filled with violent atmosphere, where people need to vent their inner frenzy, even the management likes violence. So there was this "historic" competition that has been held eleven times so far. Every year at this time, everyone looks forward to that day, and those who are not in good condition will secretly bet on some cigarettes or sausages, while those who are in good condition often bet big. The main thing is to guess who can win the championship in this competition. This year's biggest favorite is undoubtedly last year's champion, Yang Junhu from Prison No. 1.

  Baoli Gang finally moved to the sixth courtyard where light offenders were concentrated under Ye Haodong's arrangement. He also naturally became a candidate for the sixth courtyard this year.

  In the tenth monitoring room, Ye Haodong and Guo Dabao were casually chatting about the upcoming New Year's party.

  Ye Haodong smiled and persuaded Guo Dabao to put all his savings on himself, but Guo Dabao hesitated and only bet 200,000 yuan on Ye Haodong's win. However, he secretly bet another 500,000 yuan that Yang Junhu would win. The several special characters in the gambling den were used to betting big, with a lot of spare cash but nowhere to spend it, so this high-stakes gamble became one of their main outlets for satisfying their desire to manipulate money. Who was the banker? It goes without saying, who else had the qualifications except He Dajian, the prison warden?

  Zhou Laofu from No. 3 Courtyard, Jin Rongzhe from No. 4 Courtyard, Gao Ming from No. 5 Courtyard, Da Dingzi from No. 6 Courtyard, Zhang Tianpeng and Guo Dabao, six people sat in He Kui's office, whispering to each other about something.

  He Kui pushed the door open and came in. Guo Dabao, who was sitting on a chair at the door, hastily stood up to greet him, and the others also hurriedly stood up and nodded their heads to show politeness. Zhang Tianpeng, however, remained seated as before, sitting behind He Kui's office desk without even looking at He Kui.

  He Qiu's eyebrows furrowed involuntarily, but he quickly suppressed his discontent. Zhang Tianpeng himself was nothing special, but what was terrifying was the political family behind him. His father and uncle were a provincial secretary and a deputy secretary in charge of organizational work, respectively, and his grandfather was a state councilor. People like him would never be sent to a place like this for punishment, despite the saying "the son is not above the law." However, those familiar with the domestic situation knew how false that statement was. Didn't everyone hear the rumors about "my dad is Li Gang" being lawless everywhere? Although "Li Gang's son" was just an infant at the time, his predecessors had already made a name for themselves as unmanageable officials. People like Zhang Tianpeng were already considered untouchable by the police and courts. The only reason Zhang Tianpeng ended up here was that he was a political enemy. Once someone became your political enemy, it meant their status was equal to yours, and once they grasped your weakness, you had to pay the price they demanded. Zhang Tianpeng's survival and imprisonment were the result of his family's political enemies compromising after getting what they wanted. Sifangtian Prison was a model prison in the province, and He Qiu was promoted by Zhang Tianpeng's uncle. Zhang Tianpeng's hometown was also in Gangcheng, so it all came together, and he ended up serving his sentence at Sifangtian Prison.