Chapter 4: Be a Prisoner Who Contributes to Society

  Guo Dabao fell silent for a moment, then nodded very sincerely: "Hao Dongge is not an ordinary person, I had heard some rumors before coming here, but I didn't dare to believe that you are so young and have such extraordinary abilities. I always thought that Zhu Saner was the one in charge among your group, today meeting you is better than just hearing about you, I'm convinced, Hao Dongge is a young and promising talent, not someone like me Guo Dabao can compare to."

  Ye Haodong waved his hand: "Don't look so gloomy, maybe we can still be friends. And don't rush to flatter me, I'm not planning to usurp the throne, on the contrary, I plan to work with you to make our hospital's reputation shine, and let that Zhang Tianpeng know too."

  After Guo Dabao left with a thoughtful expression, Ye Haodong was summoned by Wang Guan again. In the duty room.

  Wang Shaolin anxiously asked: "Did Guo Dabao find you?"

  Ye Haodong didn't mind, nodded: "Yeah, just left."

  "What did you say?"

  Ye Haodong: "Nothing, just getting familiar."

  "Better not offend this man, his family has a lot of influence and is very wealthy. He must have taken a liking to your skills, it's best if you can make friends with him, he has a good relationship with the warden."

  "Yeh Hao Dong: 'I should have money in my account now, I plan to buy some things and want He Kui to help me out, can you please pass on the message to him?'"

  Wang Shaolin let out a sigh of relief: "Hmph, that's right. The rules here are completely different from those outside. If you insist on being stubborn, the only one who'll suffer is yourself."

  Ye Haodong nodded silently: "In two days, my brother will come to visit me. After that, you can help me arrange a meeting with Warden He."

  It's time to go to work in the morning, Ye Haodong refused Wang Shaolin's arrangement of sick leave, and followed everyone into the smoky workplace with full expectation. What is being carried out here is the processing of peach wood, and the prison is responsible for the first procedure, material selection and drying.

  Ye Haodong followed a few inmates from the 17th group to a small pile of wood, and the task was assigned by Guo Dabao. He chose silent respect for Ye Haodong. The task seemed simple on the surface, but it had its own complexities. First, they selected suitable materials for carving from a large pile of peach wood, then broke them into suitable shapes, and then put them in hot water tanks with heating at the bottom. After boiling, they poured in cold water, and finally entered the drying box for drying. In this series of processes, the main objects that inmates came into contact with were electric planers, hot water tanks, and stoves. In a poorly ventilated workshop, prisoners had to endure an average temperature of 35 degrees Celsius. Under this premise, every step in the process condensed the sweat of the prisoners.

  Selecting wood materials is also a skill, and among the seventeen groups, Fang Hualong is the most powerful. He belongs to the type of person who does what he looks like, and this meticulous work of judging whether the material is suitable based on the wood grain and texture, only he has the most grasp in the seventeen groups. Ye Haodong followed him carefully for a while, but later tragically discovered that he had no talent for this, and he couldn't master the force to hold the wood with his hands to measure its hardness, and he often made mistakes in judging the wood grain and color. Then he went to learn from Hou Saner how to boil water and add cold water, but the result was still chaotic, the big car room was too hot, and this work required high changes in water temperature, which was not something Ye Haodong could fully grasp at once. Later, when he went to help Ji Chenggang and others move wood for drying, the brothers unanimously asked him to rest on one side, this work cannot be wrong! If it's a little off, all the previous processes will be busy in vain. Overcooking is not allowed, undercooking is not allowed, misplacing is not allowed, uneven heating is not allowed, there's no way, so they had to ask him to cool off on one side.

  On the side, Guo Dabao sauntered over, pulled Ye Haodong, and the two walked to the material room of the workshop. Guo Dabao handed a cigarette to Ye Haodong and said, "This kind of work, Brother Haodong shouldn't do it in the future."

  Yue Haodong waved his hand to interrupt him: "Old brother is older than me, so he's a senior. From now on, don't call me Haodong Ge, just call me Dongzi or Haodong. I said I wanted to be friends with you, it's true. This morning was unpleasant, mainly because you took the initiative to hit me. My temper is like a sudden gust of wind, it comes quickly and is over quickly. If you're still holding onto it, let's settle it now."

  The most words spoken by Guo Dabao were very useful, and this guy was not a thrifty lamp. He had just gone to find He Kui, wanting to use He Kui to get rid of Ye Haodong. As a result, he learned the latest news about Ye Haodong from He Kui, which completely dispelled his idea of using his relationship with the prison police to deal with Ye Haodong.

  He Kui was also particularly concerned about this young prisoner because of the special escort team that brought Ye Haodong. He didn't know if he didn't ask, but when he asked, he was shocked! The person who communicated with him was his younger brother-in-law, the secretary of Song Fang, the deputy director of the Provincial Public Security Department and the director of the Prison Administration Bureau. When he called over, his younger brother-in-law was also about to call him to tell him about Ye Haodong's situation.

  Sitting in the office, he stared blankly for half a day. This 52-year-old prison guard, who had been working as a warden for eleven years, muttered and cursed fiercely: "What kind of relationship is this? Can't you just make it work outside of prison? He sighed heavily: Just like that Zhang Tianpeng, another fragile vase that can't be touched or handled carelessly!"

  He only said one sentence, and he was stunned: "This person is personally backed by Deputy Secretary Luo!" Later, he also said: Director Song personally made arrangements for his affairs, and anything related to this person must be handled in a fair and square manner, without any violations. Finally, the young uncle emphasized again that Director Song's intention was for him to follow the rules, but he had no requirements for that person. He Qiu understood the leader's intentions, which meant that the other person was a rich kid coming to experience life here, and he shouldn't think too much about it, but if the other person wasn't happy, and turned against him, he could only pretend not to see it.

  Song Fang did this because of his relationship with Nong Junding. The close relationship between the Song and Nong families has been a long-standing one, and as one of the more promising core figures in their circle, he had already heard about Nong Junding's situation. He understood the importance of Ye Haodong from that incident, and after it happened, not only did the Nong family not crush him like an ant, but they even supported Nong Junding to come forward and protect him. It's not hard to see what attitude the old sage in the Nong family had towards this matter. Song Fang was the primary person responsible for managing prisons within the province, and this small matter was well within his capabilities, yet he didn't expect it would provide Ye Haodong with such a big umbrella.

  Guo Dabao is very clear about the power of Er Xinzi's family in the province. Now he finally learns part of the truth from He Kui, and for this newcomer Ye Haodong, he has completely lost any intention of dealing with him. This kid, except for Zhang Tianpeng, no one else in this courtyard dares to challenge him!

  Ye Haodong's politeness to Guo Dabiao made the latter feel somewhat flattered, wondering what kind of person he was. As he had said earlier, in terms of wealth, he was the boss of the new green group with a total assets of tens of millions; in terms of power, he had killed the nephew-in-law of Lu, the deputy secretary of the provincial politics and law committee, Zeng Xinwei, but still remained unscathed. As for fist? What a joke!

  These are just what outsiders thought of after seeing the facts, in fact, Ye Haodong had never thought that he could use those relationships to make his life better in prison, at that time in the morning, he was still thinking about contacting He Kui to bribe that old man to prevent Guo Dabao from taking revenge on him.

  Guo Dabao didn't have the guts to slap him back. He hastily said, "How could I? I'm not a petty person, it's just one slap, and who can avoid getting beaten up when traveling in Jianghu? I've been hit before, but brother, your strength is really impressive, my front tooth was knocked out."

  Ye Haodong burst out laughing and hurriedly apologized. But little did he know that at this moment, even if he were to thrash Guo Dabao again, the latter would only dare to be angry but not speak out, still maintaining a good attitude.

  The day's work was finally over. Ye Haodong didn't gain much from it, this job absolutely belonged to the kind that you would never forget but also never think about again in your lifetime. Ye Haodong's interest in going out to work had greatly decreased. But Ji Chenggang told him that this job was already the best one. In comparison, when summer arrived, people would go to the brick factory to burn bricks, and only then would they be at the gates of hell on earth. There was also the job of digging cable trenches, which wasn't something humans should do. In the winter, on the frozen hard ground, digging a trench one and a half meters deep and sixty centimeters wide at the bottom, the ground was as hard as if it had been tempered like a golden bell, and the thirteen-kilogram pickaxe would only make a small dent when struck against it, with each person able to reach a depth of thirty centimeters through the frozen soil layer. Ji Chenggang's exaggerated expression and words not only failed to intimidate Ye Haodong but also revealed a hint of expectation on his face.

  After a busy day, I finally settled down. Ye Haodong, however, had nothing to do after helping out for a day and was bored out of his mind. He suddenly thought of Gao Dapeng, who was notorious for his misdeeds, and wondered if this guy was normal or not. So, in the 17th cellblock, he organized an activity to "study" Gao Dapeng. This activity is called "kǎn chuān" in Southern dialects and "lōu guǎn r" in Northern dialects. It was carried out by Hou Saner himself. To be honest, the guys in the 17th cellblock had been wanting to do this for a long time, but they didn't dare because Gao Dapeng wasn't someone to be trifled with. Now that Ye Haodong was in charge, they felt more at ease. Ji Chenggang and three others held down Gao Dapeng while Hou Saner tore off a piece of toilet paper, made a hole in the middle, and covered Gao's thing. He then started moving up and down, beginning the "lōu guǎn r" activity. What shocked everyone was that what they had imagined to be a mighty beast turned out to be so... underwhelming. It only took a slight movement for it to spurt everywhere, and it was all over in an instant. No wonder this guy targeted underage girls; he wouldn't dare show his face to mature women.

  Ye Haodong suddenly felt bored and cursed with a smile: "Damn it, hurry up and find your connections to change cells, get out of here as far as possible, better yet change prisons. If I see you again, I'll be disgusted and won't have the energy to deal with you."