Chapter 25: Thank you, Vice Master!

  Ye Haodong nodded: "She's so cute, not liking is a grandson, but you don't have to feel good about yourself either. I like her just because I like her, just like when you see someone else's kid being especially cute, you'll also go up and hug them, cherish them, hehe, I didn't even hold her, rest assured, I'm not stupid enough to think that I can have something more with her."

  Ma Ti Gong Jiang took a step closer and asked: "What if she likes you? What if she wants to develop something else with you?"

  Ye Haodong shook his head: "You'd better say something specific, this topic is not worth continuing at all. I said, in my eyes, she's just a particularly lovely child from some family."

  Ma Ti Gong Jiang: "But you're about the same age."

  Ye Haodong: "My mental age can be her grandfather with plenty to spare." Only after saying this did he realize that he had taken advantage of the dignified deputy school head.

  Ma Ti Gongjiang was not very sensitive to these metaphors in Chinese, and did not notice the problem with Ye Haodong's words. He nodded his head in relief. "I want to thank you for this matter, keeping you at the Master's department for three days was not my intention, it was Old He's kind arrangement, I hope you can understand."

  Ye Haodong self-deprecatingly said: "I, an old prisoner serving a sentence, dare not have any ideas. In those three days, if I said one wrong word, I'm afraid we wouldn't be having this meeting today. People say that us Northwesterners are straightforward and don't beat around the bush, but now it seems that's a big mistake. You military cadres who claim to be rough and unrefined aren't any less cunning than those bureaucrats from inland."

  Ma Ti Gong Jiang: "Aren't you afraid of saying something wrong now?"

  Ye Haodong: "This is your territory, whatever I say makes no difference. But it's different in that place. During those three days, there was a woman named Yu Feng who followed you to ask me questions. If I said something wrong, not only would I be in trouble, but Xiaoguli might also get into trouble."

  Ma Ti Gong Jiang finally nodded: "Hmmm, you little rascal! Alright, I'll give you the bottom line. By the end of this year, without counting your work points, you can at least reduce 36 months from your sentence."

  Ye Haodong gave a crisp salute: "Thank you, Deputy Master, for your cultivation. From now on, I will dare not spare any effort!"

  Ma Ti Gong Jiang listened to this absurd movie line, laughing and scolding: "Little brat, you've finally learned some manners, but your salute is wrong, that's the Nazi German military salute."

  Yeh Hao-tung smiled and said, "Saluting Nazi Germany's military salute, speaking the lines of KMT officials, and being criticized by the Communist Party leaders - this is also an innovation."

  Ma Ti Gong Jiang laughed loudly and left. He Ru Qiu and the others returned, but didn't ask what they had just said. Instead, each of them came up to hug Ye Hao Dong once, and the expressions on their faces all seemed a bit sour.

  Ye Haodong returned to the miscellaneous group cell, only to find that there was an extra person in the room. Originally, there were only six people in the miscellaneous group, but today it became seven. After asking around, the newcomer came over and offered him a cigarette, then introduced himself: his name was Huang Taomu, from Hunan Province, and he had been trafficked into the prison. He told Ye Haodong with a hint of warning that he was cousins with the squad leader of the second small team, Huang Yangmu.

  Ye Haodong was overjoyed. Haha! Finally, there's a qualified prisoner who can drink the water and eat the soil. It's been so long since he last played this tune that Ye Haodong had almost forgotten about it. Luckily, someone has come to cooperate with him. Torturing this guy is like doing justice for heaven.

  Ye Haodong smiled and handed the Red Mountain tea cigarette to Lu Tianming, with one hand on Huang Taomu's shoulder, shaking his head and saying in a sarcastic tone: "Really? Ah, great, I'm so glad you can join our group! With your connections, who would dare make you adapt to the local environment? Nothing else, I have to treat you well, please sit on the sofa first. As he said this, Ye Haodong's tone turned sharp: Don't even think about skimping on cigarettes, wine, sugar, or tea, if you're short on anything, I'll cripple you, even if you're Huang Taomu's father."

  Lu Tianming hesitated to go forward and persuade them, but Ye Haodong glared at him: "Go watch your own show, how can you eat 100 beans without getting tired of the smell? Do you love giving advice that much? Why don't you go play with the cadres instead?"

  Lu Tianming had been with this old man for a long time, so he knew his temper. He never bullied newbies and didn't allow others to bully them in the miscellaneous group either. But if someone really did something that made him look down on them, this old man's methods of dealing with people were also quite impressive. Lu Tianming hastily nodded: "Alright, you continue, I'll just watch the excitement." The other members of the miscellaneous group had been looking forward to this moment for a long time - the bigger and more exciting the scene was, the better.

  Huang Taomu stood there, awkwardly holding a cigarette, unsure of what to do. He wasn't oblivious to Ye Haodong's intentions; it was the most common way to test someone in custody. He had experienced it before, but at this moment, he couldn't put down his airs as a cadre's relative, thinking that he wouldn't be punished for not listening. Obviously, he overestimated his cousin Huang Yangmu's importance in Ye Haodong's eyes and underestimated the degree of disgust Ye Haodong felt towards him, a criminal who had committed a heinous crime.

  Huang Taomu ultimately paid a heavy price for his hesitation. Not only was he beaten by Ye Haodong, but he also didn't get to enjoy the high-end pleasures related to the sofa and wine, tobacco, sugar, and tea. Originally, after being beaten, Ye Haodong hadn't planned on forcing him to drink muddy water again. However, Huang Taomu insisted on reporting this matter to their squad leader, even using words to provoke Ye Haodong, saying that if Ye Haodong didn't dare make him drink muddy water, then he wasn't a real man. Seeing Huang Taomu's sincere and determined appearance, Ye Haodong had no choice but to grant his wish.

  Ye Haodong's view is that there are two types of prisoners who should be made to suffer long-term, and they are rapists and those who abduct and sell women and children. These two types of people can be considered as being hated by everyone. The law seems to have left a loophole for these two types of criminals, and they rarely receive the death penalty. It can be said that the world is fair in its treatment of these two types of people, but justice has not let them off scot-free. Inmates are always enthusiastic about dealing with these two types of prisoners, and the methods used to make them suffer are varied and numerous. Compared to Ye Haodong's knowledge of a few simple methods, the other members of the miscellaneous affairs group are experts in this area, and they have all come up with innovative ways to deal with the prisoner. With Ye Haodong taking the lead, the others have become more daring, and over the course of several days, they have used various tactics to torment the prisoner, causing him to be on the verge of a mental breakdown, and he cries every morning.

  Huang Yangmu finally knew about this matter, he first found Ye Haodong, but his purpose was not to teach Ye Haodong a lesson. Ye Haodong's current position in the squadron is too special and not something Huang can easily touch. He came to plead for mercy. Ye Haodong refused him bluntly with just one sentence: Get your cousin out of the miscellaneous group, I won't be annoyed as long as I don't see him. And so the miscellaneous group returned to its original six-man era.

  After the escape of the prisoners, the higher authorities carried out a rectification in the prison. The focus of the work was concentrated on the transformation of the prison's defensive measures, and all the new green bricks produced by the brick factory were used to build a new wall. Two sets of huge wind turbines were installed at the southwest corner of the prison, searchlights, electric nets, everything was set up according to the standard prison settings. But these were not what made the prisoners most frightened, what made people's hearts uneasy was something that suddenly happened one morning.

  That morning, the sky was drizzling with rain. A military police unit, dressed in neat uniforms and exuding an air of menace, arrived at the Cotton Mill Detention Center. The officer leading the unit was a lieutenant colonel, who announced to He Ruqiu that from that day on, the Cotton Mill Detention Center would be converted into a temporary holding facility for major criminal suspects and would be responsible for transferring these special suspects to high-security prisons. To this end, the higher authorities had specially dispatched a company of troops to be stationed there long-term, fully in charge of security work at the prison. After finishing his announcement, he introduced He Ruqiu to the company commander, Xiang Wenlong.

  The prisoners in the prison witnessed the remaining troops in their cells. They were shocked and stunned, one by one. In each cell, the prisoners whispered to each other, worried expressions overflowing from their faces.

  In the miscellaneous affairs group cell, the experienced and seasoned Lu Tianming took a deep breath in reverse, cursing: "Damn it, this is simply a battle-hardened field army that has seen bloodshed. And judging from my observation, this army is no worse than the 38th Army Anti-Riot Brigade we encountered when we were transported to Lanzhou that year. Even if the Hong Kong government returns, there's no need for such an army to guard a prison in the middle of the desert."

  Ye Haodong curiously looked at the soldiers standing outside the window, who were standing still in the wind and rain with their military uniforms intact. Their faces were as young as his own, and their camouflage uniforms were soaked through by the rain and stuck to their bodies. The guns they carried on their backs were not the standard issue Type 81 rifles, but a new type of black rifle that emitted a dark luster. Each soldier in the company was carrying a large waterproof backpack, and their total equipment weighed over 60 pounds, but they stood there with spirit and vigor, without a single unnecessary sound from the entire team.

  Ye Haodong later learned from instructor Lin Xiangwu that he only knew the origin of this team. Ye Haodong had limited knowledge of the troops, and when he went back to tell Lu Tianming, Lu Tianming was surprisingly enlightened: no wonder the military uniforms and equipment were so powerful, it turned out that they were actually a reorganized armed police force from that unit.

  Ye Haodong asked: "Is the 117th Division of the 39th Army very famous?"

  Lu Tianming wanted to ask him if he was a Hua Xia person, but ultimately didn't dare to ask. He patiently introduced to Ye Haodong: "Our Hua Xia army is the most famous in the world, and if we say that the navy and air force are dishes on the plate of the beautiful daughter, then our army is the one who eats their army as a dish. The two most famous armies in the Hua Xia army are the 38th and 39th armies, which are truly fist-like troops. No matter what kind of urgent, difficult, or dangerous tasks other troops can't accomplish, they will be handed over to them. These two troops have always been the most reliable troops in the entire army. Now, before the handover of Hong Kong, the Military Commission has reorganized a main force division of the 39th Army into an armed police force and deployed it to the Western Frontier. The purpose is self-evident, which is to ensure the stability of the situation in the Western Frontier region."

  Ye Haodong: "Wow, it turns out that he has such a big background, no wonder Lin Xiangwu is so proud of him, just like he's won the top prize in the imperial examination."

  Lu Tianming: "It's no exaggeration to call it the number one iron army in the world!"

  Ye Haodong was skeptical: "Is it really that amazing?"

  Lu Tianming grasped: "Wait until you see their training and you will know."