Blinded chapter 12

Without Dai Hao, life in Fish Island Prison suddenly became calm, and his few subordinates also completely restrained themselves, avoiding contact with Chang Xiaojia whenever they saw him.

Chang Xiaojia didn’t have major conflicts with Xie Li anymore. Every night, he obediently slept in Xie Li’s embrace, allowing some time for Xie Li to help him release his pent-up desires. Initially, he had requested the use of Xie Li’s mouth, but he hadn’t brought it up again.

Sometimes, Xie Li felt that Chang Xiaojia’s mind was no longer in Fish Island Prison. After autumn, Chang Xiaojia would be released.

Now, the entire prison assumed that there was a special relationship between Xie Li and Chang Xiaojia. Even the guards occasionally taunted Xie Li with dirty words. Xie Li didn’t mind. He gradually became familiar with Chang Xiaojia’s group of followers; he knew they weren’t all from Harbor city, and many were bribed by Chang Xiaojia after he entered prison.

Xie Li often chatted with Gao Yuan and Luo Wanchun, occasionally getting a few cigarettes from the guards through Chang Xiaojia’s connections. He noticed that Gao Yuan and Luo Wanchun only started following Chang Xiaojia after he entered prison. They were unaware of his past outside, and even though Chang Xiaojia’s sentence was about to end, Gao Yuan and Luo Wanchun still had one or two years to go. There was no guarantee they would continue working with Chang Xiaojia after their release.

Gao Yuan and Luo Wanchun were both taller than Xie Li. When they squatted down, they looked imposing. Gao Yuan, with a cigarette in his mouth, patted Xie Li on the shoulder, saying, “Your release is almost the same as Chang. You can continue working with him when you get out.”

Xie Li didn’t smoke before, and he couldn’t pinpoint whether it was to relieve inner stress or to get closer to Gao Yuan and others that he started smoking. Now, he often smoked, and he even learned to imitate Gao Yuan and others, hesitating to throw away the cigarette until only the filter was left. He said, “When I get out, Xiaojia won’t need me.”

Gao Yuan remained silent.

Suddenly, Luo Wanchun said, “If you fuck him properly, make him feel good, he won’t want to let you go.”

Gao Yuan and Luo Wanchun understood the situation between Xie Li and Chang Xiaojia better than anyone else. Normally, they didn’t talk much, but occasionally, when chatting, Xie Li would realize that deep down, they looked down on Chang Xiaojia more than others.

It was strange; although Xie Li was the one who willingly ended up in Chang Xiaojia’s bed, they still held Chang Xiaojia in lower regard. Whether it was jealousy for Chang Xiaojia being a wealthy young man or just the ordinary prejudice of a common man, they looked down on the one being taken in bed.

Still, Xie Li and Chang Xiaojia hadn’t gone all the way.

“Humph,” Xie Li chuckled, “Do you really think Xiao Jia would willingly let someone have him?”

Gao Yuan still didn’t speak.

Luo Wanchun whispered, “I heard he was pretty slutty on your bed. You should take advantage of the time before he leaves and let him enjoy a round. Once he’s out, he might find someone better looking and in better shape than you, and he won’t give you a chance.”

In this special environment of prison, some things that deviated from the norm didn’t seem so hard to understand.

Luo Wanchun suddenly sounded a bit regretful. “It’s a pity Xiaojia doesn’t fancy me. Otherwise, I’d let him try my skills, and I guarantee he won’t want to find a woman for the rest of his life.”

After saying that, Luo Wanchun and Gao Yuan laughed softly together.

Xie Li looked at them, feeling inexplicably uncomfortable. He threw away the cigarette in his hand, stood up, stretched lazily, and walked towards Chang Xiaojia lying under a tree.

Chang Xiaojia, with closed eyes, wasn’t actually asleep. He heard footsteps and opened his eyes, watching Xie Li approach slowly.

Xie Li squatted down in front of him and asked, “Did you know it was me?”

Because of the hot weather, Chang Xiaojia’s cheeks were red. He said, “I heard your footsteps.”

Xie Li sat down beside him.

Chang Xiaojia adjusted his position, resting his head on Xie Li’s lap, then closed his eyes without saying a word.

Xie Li lowered his head, looking at him for a while, then raised his head to gaze at the high iron wire walls. A voice in his heart silently chanted, “Almost there.”

He remembered the first few days when he entered Fish Island Prison, trying hard to get close to Chang Xiaojia without success. Time seemed to pass quickly. Later, there was a period that seemed to slow down, but when life entered a specific rhythm, day after day without change, time would speed up again because, looking back, every day was exactly the same. You wouldn’t remember what happened last Tuesday. It didn’t differ much from every other day in your life.

So, very quickly, Xie Li’s three-month sentence was about to end, and he would be released the next day.

Xie Li had almost nothing to pack; he hadn’t brought much with him from the prison, and he could retrieve some personal items confiscated upon entry, including his phone and wallet.

On the evening before his release, Chang Xiaojia behaved as usual. After the lights were turned off, he quietly climbed down from his bed and slipped into Xie Li’s bed.

Xie Li lifted his hand to embrace him, placing his chin on Chang Xiaojia’s forehead, saying, “Xiaojia, I’ll be released tomorrow.”

Chang Xiaojia didn’t move in his embrace, simply responding with a soft “Hmm”: “I know.”

Xie Li asked him, “What about tomorrow night?”

Chang Xiaojia whispered, “It’s okay.”

Xie Li’s hand slipped under Chang Xiaojia’s prison uniform, touching his ass. It was early autumn, and it had been raining for the past few days. Lying in bed, they could hear the strong sound of rain outside and feel the salty sea breeze coming through the window.

In this weather, embracing each other, Chang Xiaojia and Xie Li wouldn’t sweat anymore. Chang Xiaojia’s back was dry and smooth, and it seemed a bit itchy. His body trembled slightly with Xie Li’s movements.

Xie Li wanted to say something, hesitating when the words reached his lips. Despite spending so much time with Chang Xiaojia, their initial interaction hadn’t changed much. Perhaps in the eyes of others, Chang Xiaojia had become obedient in front of him. Still, Xie Li knew that Chang Xiaojia had never considered him one of his own.

Chang Xiaojia’s breath became slightly hurried. He tilted his head to look at Xie Li.

Xie Li gazed at the faintly illuminated contours of Chang Xiaojia’s face and the slightly open lips under the dim light. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind. What if he kissed Chang Xiaojia? Would Chang Xiaojia push him away?

Chang Xiaojia, lost in his own thoughts, focused on watching Xie Li. As Xie Li’s hands moved on his back, he occasionally revealed an expression of impatience.

Xie Li slowly lowered his head. He felt like this was an experiment; he wanted to know how Chang Xiaojia truly perceived their relationship.

Chang Xiaojia didn’t avoid it. Even his gaze lowered slightly, and his long eyelashes shielded the expression in his eyes.

Xie Li sensed Chang Xiaojia’s breath, slightly quick and a bit warmer than his own. Their eyes locked, and their breaths intertwined. This moment seemed to last a long time, but in the end, Xie Li felt it wasn’t enough.

He lowered his head and kissed Chang Xiaojia’s neck, a somewhat endearing manner of kissing, accompanied by continuous touches on Chang Xiaojia’s body. Finally, he said to Chang Xiaojia, “Wait for me. I’ll come to pick you up the day after tomorrow.”

Chang Xiaojia didn’t respond.

The next day, before the morning exercise, the prison guards came to take Xie Li away, bringing him to complete the procedures for release.

Xie Li took off his prison uniform and put on the civilian clothes he wore when he was arrested. Carrying a small travel bag, he followed the police officer outside. To leave Fish Island Prison, he needed to take a boat to the opposite pier, marking his official release.

As he passed the exercise field, the prisoners in the cell were doing morning exercises.

Many people looked up at him, and Hu Minxin even waved at him.

Xie Li also waved back to the crowd in the exercise field.

Only Chang Xiaojia never looked at Xie Li from beginning to end.

This undercover operation by Xie Li was top secret. He was imprisoned on Fish Island, and only the senior police officer Yu Zhengkun, who had been in contact with him, knew about his release today. Therefore, no one would come to pick him up upon his release.

He took a boat away from Fish Island, went through a journey of more than twenty minutes at sea, arrived at the Lixin Pier, and then completed another round of procedures before being officially allowed to leave the pier.

Lixin Pier was located in a small town called Wangfu in the outskirts of the Harbor city. Due to its remoteness, the surrounding environment was somewhat dilapidated. Almost no high-rise buildings could be seen, and the view was dominated by narrow streets and two or three-story gray buildings.

However, because Lixin Pier was the only way in and out of Fish Island Prison, many prisoners’ family members would come to Lixin Pier to pick up their relatives after receiving notifications of their release. Therefore, although Wangfu was remote, the town had many hotels.

Xie Li walked along the road in front of Lixin Pier for nearly half an hour and randomly chose a small hotel in Wangfu town to check in.

By this time, it was almost noon.

The room in the hotel had a stale smell. Although it didn’t look dirty at first glance, various stains could be found in the corners upon closer inspection. Xie Li casually threw his travel bag on the bed, opened the window and looked downstairs. He saw pedestrians passing by from time to time. Because it was close to noon, the nearby restaurants became lively.

He still had some cash in his wallet, and there were also two thousand yuan in savings on his bank card.

Xie Li closed the window and locked the door from the inside. When he left, he only brought his wallet and phone, heading downstairs.

This phone number was obtained to protect his identity. There were no real relatives or friends on it, except for the one number he should recognize, Yu Zhengkun’s. The identity noted on it was a driver (Zheng), as if it were a simple contact number for work that had been recorded and forgotten.

Xie Li didn’t dial that number. He just turned on the phone and put it in the pocket of his jacket. Then he walked alone on the streets of Wangfu. Finally, he bought a sandwich and a box of milk from a supermarket, put them in a plastic bag, and walked towards a small street in the center of Wangfu town.

He sat down on one of the two back-to-back benches in the park, took out the sandwich, and ate slowly.

After a while, a middle-aged man with a hat and a white beard sat down on the bench behind him.

There were not many people around.

The man behind him asked, “Smooth?”

Xie Li looked ahead, still chewing the bland sandwich. After a while, he said, “I don’t know. He doesn’t trust me, and I haven’t obtained any useful information so far.”

The man behind him was his contact person—Yu Zhengkun.

Yu Zhengkun sighed softly, “The Chang family is very cautious.”

Xie Li unpacked the straw packaging for the milk, inserted the plastic straw into the small hole on the milk box, took a big sip, and then said, “I’ll go pick him up tomorrow.”

Yu Zhengkun said, “The Chang family will send someone to pick him up.”

Xie Li knew that, but what else could he do? He said, “I can only go.”

After a moment of silence, Yu Zhengkun said, “Is your approach to getting close to Chang Xiaojia appropriate?” Since he could entrust someone to take care of Xie Li in prison, he could naturally receive some information.

Xie Li replied, “Can appropriate means get me close to him?”

Yu Zhengkun seemed to consider his words and said, “I’ve said it before, prioritize your safety in everything.”

Xie Li answered him, “It hasn’t threatened my safety.”

Yu Zhengkun lowered his head and sat quietly for a while before asking, “In early the year before last, did you undergo training at the Hurricane Base?”

Xie Li had finished the sandwich and was about to stand up. He paused for a moment, then answered, “Yes.”

Yu Zhengkun asked the last question, “Did you hide anything from me?”

This time, Xie Li didn’t answer. He crumpled the sandwich wrapper and milk carton in his hands, threw them into the nearby trash bin at the edge of the park, then put his hands in his pockets and left without looking back.