Chapter Eleven: The mountain is high and the water is long, from now on the journey will be treacherous for ten thousand miles.

  Ye Haodong sat up, stretched out his hand to grab Zhang Tianpeng's hand, and with the other hand pointed to the distant mountains outside, saying: "Do you know where my Xīn Lǜ Group got its name from? Look over there, on that mountain, the withered yellow grass is wilting, but under the roots of the grass, a little new green is sprouting. I like this season's great mountains, silently and quietly yet having an unstoppable momentum, vast and powerful!"

  Zhang Tianpeng was confused by him: "What are you talking about, nonsense is useless, aren't you trying to be dishonest?"

  Ye Haodong laughed triumphantly: "You can't even get a turn to play, I'm telling you, I'm the big mountain in spring, when the grass and trees are withered and yellow, I've already sprouted new green, it seems like the end of the road, but actually, there's hidden vitality, don't worry about telling you the truth, brother, your days serving time here are numbered, if you want to see me again, you'll have to go to Xinjiang, my next stop is Xinjiang Shiweizi Labor Reform Farm, how's that, brother, this move of mine is more awesome than yours!"

  Zhang Tianpeng was stunned. This kid's competitiveness is really terrifying, actually willing to go so far for a bet, the western border where water can't be poured in, even if you can find a reliable substitute to get a quick commutation of sentence, with Ye Haodong's background, it's not worth going there to take the blame.

  Ye Haodong patted Zhang Tianpeng's shoulder and said with a serious tone: "Brother, follow me from now on."

  Zhang Tianpeng angrily pushed away his hand and frowned, asking: "Are you serious or just teasing me?"

  Ye Haodong sneered, "Do you think I have nothing better to do? However, don't get worked up, didn't you say that I'm a great leader who's good at bringing along younger brothers? If you follow me, you'll make progress."

  Zhang Tianpeng's face turned iron-green, looking extremely unpleasant, gritting his teeth and asking: "What price can make you cancel that bet?"

  Ye Haodong looked at him seriously: "Really want me to say? My appetite is big!"

  Zhang Tianpeng said word for word: "Say, what price are you looking for?"

  Ye Haodong stretched out two fingers, Zhang Tianpeng picked up the sentence, "200 million?" Ye Haodong shook his head: "Two words, friend! From now on, we become friends, and naturally, it's not about who hangs out with whom. I'm just afraid that this little boss can't keep up with you, the young master of the red noble family."

  Zhang Tianpeng's expression was somewhat emotional, but he quickly suppressed the inner excitement and returned to calmness: "Aren't we always friends?"

  The two of them looked at each other and burst out laughing, their laughter was very real, with a mix of joy and tender affection.

  On May 25, 1996, Nong Junting gave birth to a boy in the intensive care unit of Shencheng Maternity Hospital. Nong Yifu personally named him: Nong Sihao. Ye Haodong, thousands of miles away, became a father without knowing it. When he learned the truth, the child was already four years old.

  Thousands of miles away, in the Steel City Four Square Prison, new inmate Lin Mu Huai is telling Ye Hao Dong about the situation with Xinjiang's stone enclosure.

  Lin Mu's face was enough to shock the entire city for half a year, with a nose that had collapsed, blackened pot bottom, and nerve endings on his lower eyelids that had died, causing his eyelids to droop uncontrollably, revealing more than half of his pupils, which were bloodshot from the wind. His protruding mouth was full of large buck teeth, and foam was bubbling at the corners as he spoke with Ye Haodong in a spirited manner.

  The Xinjiang Autonomous Region has 23 local prisons, most of which were built in the 1950s; The Xinjiang prison is located in the Gobi Desert, and the natural conditions are generally poor. The Shiwenzizhen Prison was established in 54 years by the Eighth Division of the Agricultural Construction Corps in Shiwenzizhen City. Located deep in the desert, the entire prison is divided into five major districts and ten brigades according to the prison area division. The internal control of the prison is strict, with complete defensive facilities, and most of the management cadres come from the old corps' transferred cadres. The atmosphere is severe, the intensity of labor reform is high, compared to the Sifangtian Prison, which is truly a human hell on earth.

  Ye Haodong didn't like the sound of it, felt unenthusiastic, and refused He Kui's kind arrangement. Without waiting for Lin Muhuai to finish speaking, he directly chased him away. What a thing, isn't this trying to get rid of me?

  Time flies, and summer is approaching. The transfer of prisoners in Northeast China is about to begin. Two main destinations for the transfer are Qingyuan Province and Xizang Autonomous Region. This time, Sifang Store reported a total of 15 people, including He Kui, who also reported Ye Haodong's name. Ye Haodong noticed that the names of Jin Rongzhe and Ji Chenggang from the Fourth Prison were on the list. Bao Ligang and Yang Junhu saw Ye Haodong's name and wanted to apply to accompany him to Xizang, but unfortunately, their crimes were not severe enough to qualify.

  In mid-August, Ye Haodong boarded a large bus at the gathering point along with 14 other prisoners, bidding farewell to family, friends and fellow inmates. The bus took them all the way to Niu Xintang Prison in Fong City, where they were met by serious offenders from the three provinces of Northeast China and Mongolia. After all the prisoners had gathered, they would take a specially arranged train together to Xinjiang Autonomous Region. On the square of Niu Xintang Prison, more than 800 prisoners saw the commander-in-chief of this trip, Ma Wanzhi, who basically explained the procedures and rules for this escort operation.

  At night, in the Niuxinwa Temporary Detention Center.

  Security measures have been raised to the highest level, with several squads taking turns standing guard and setting up Type 81 machine guns at high points. Every five meters on the high wall, there is a fully armed police officer, and the courtyard is brightly lit by searchlights. In the room, sixteen big men are squeezed together, and even washing their faces and brushing their teeth is not possible at night, let alone washing their feet. People are lying all over the kang and cement floor in every room. Ye Haodong sat cross-legged on the kang, while others in the room were scattered around, chatting idly with anxious hearts, unable to sleep.

  The first step is inseparable from self-introduction, everyone has done self-introduction, now it's temporary detention, just one night thing, no need to care who is the head or second, nor distinguish what level, just sit there randomly, shift work blowing.

  A big Han from Heilongjiang Province named Qian Baoshan started: "Tonight's food is not bad, I don't know how the prison food was before, I used to be in Shuangcheng Prison, the rice there was extremely hard to eat, and you couldn't see meat for a whole year, let alone that the steamed buns were often undercooked, one throw could stick to the wall, is it like tonight's food? You guys say if we go to Xinjiang in the future, will the food standard be like this too?"

  The short and stout man, who was less than twenty years old and nicknamed 'Little Sichuan', took over the conversation: "You silly kid, you're always thinking about good things. Now they're giving you a little sweetness to make you behave and not talk nonsense or move around randomly. They just want to quietly transport us to Xinjiang to work, but you still think this kind of food is available every day?"

  Palace Maoxiang, who looked older with his tattoos, nodded and took over the conversation: "That's right, this kind of food can only be eaten during these days of escorting, so let's eat more while we can. Once we arrive at our destination, there won't be such good days anymore. The staple food is okay, mainly mantou, which they call 'hunhun' over there, but when it comes to dishes, there's nothing to look at."

  Ye Haodong curiously asked: "Older brother, have you been over there?"

  Gong Maoxiang: "I've been there twice, in 1985 I went once for the severe crackdown, in 1991 I went again to strike down evil hooligans and clean up social order, last year I was sent back after collecting guns and ammunition, this time I volunteered to go."

  They say it's tough over there with no end in sight, why did you still choose to go?

  Gong Mao Xiang: "I want to be as old as your younger brother, who would be willing to go? It's hard work over there, and the management is harsh, but as long as you can do it, earn more points, and reduce your sentence quickly. I'm a man from a poor background, I've been working in the fields since I was young, doing more work and suffering more is nothing, going there is just right."

  Ye Haodong asked on behalf of everyone else, "You've been there before, tell us about the escort, for example, if someone causes trouble on the train, what will those soldiers do?"

  Gong Maoxiang: "If it's a small-scale incident, the guards on the train will suppress it. If it's a large group of people causing trouble, those soldiers will definitely open fire and might even wipe out an entire carriage."

  Ye Haodong asked in surprise: "Don't even the police in the train carriages care?"

  Wang Maoxiang: "In '85, a group of people went to Qing Province. On the way, some people incited collective rioting, and the prison guards couldn't control it. The soldiers were alarmed, and a company commander ordered a squad of soldiers to machine-gun an entire truckload of people on the spot."

  Jilin Province's Korean prisoner Li Chenghao was incredulous: "Really? They dare to do that? You're bragging, right?"

  Gong Maoxiang snorted: "You little rice bag, a toad at the bottom of a well has seen bigger skies than you, and there are even more unreasonable ones than you!"

  Ye Haodong also felt that this was a bit mysterious, but he didn't directly express it. Everyone looked at Gong Maoxiang, waiting for him to continue speaking.

  Gong Mao Xiang: "Anything can happen on this road, trains are delayed waiting for the next shift, supplies can't keep up and people get into trouble, there are even prisoners who swallow contraband and make a scene trying to kill themselves. It's going to be lively, you'll see when we arrive. But one thing, if any of you end up in the same train car as me, you'd better not cause any trouble, or else everyone will suffer along with you."

  "Shut up and go to sleep, you've all eaten your fill, what's the point of still talking at this hour? Just be quiet! Lights out!"

  Ye Haodong lay on the kang, his mind racing with excitement, unable to fall asleep. He thought about what Gong Maoxiang had said and felt that this journey might not be peaceful after all. The more he thought about it, the more he looked forward to it.