Blinded chapter 8
The morning labor involved attaching soles in the prison factory.
Not long after Xie Li sat down, Dai Hao suddenly stood up. Holding a basket of soles, he walked over to Xie Li and emptied the entire basket into Xie Li’s.
The prison guard stood at the door, watching coldly without saying a word.
Other inmates kept their heads down, only daring to glance silently with their eyes.
Dai Hao, holding his empty plastic basket, returned to his seat and sat down.
Xie Li turned to look at the prison guard, but before he could speak, the guard already scolded him, “Work!”
Dai Hao looked at Xie Li and sneered.
At that moment, Chang Xiaojia stood up, his thin arms carrying his plastic basket as he walked toward Dai Hao.
The guard, wielding his baton, pointed at him and shouted, “What are you doing? Sit down!”
Chang Xiaojia looked at the guard and softly said, “Why can 3241 move around?”
3241 was Dai Hao’s number in the prison.
The guard feigned ignorance and shouted loudly, “Who is moving? 3312, immediately return to your seat!”
Chang Xiaojia stopped in his tracks and asked the guard, “Officer, what’s your badge number?”
The guard scowled.
Chang Xiaojia said, “I suspect you’re taking bribes to shield prisoners. I will report you to the prison prosecutor’s office.” He glanced over the other three guards in the factory, adding, “I believe other officers won’t shield you. After all, there are surveillance cameras in the factory.”
After saying this, Chang Xiaojia didn’t wait for the guard’s response. He slowly walked back, carrying his plastic basket, and sat down to continue attaching soles.
The factory became unusually quiet.
The four guards exchanged glances. One of them walked over to Xie Li, grabbed his plastic basket, walked to Dai Hao, poured half of the soles back, and sternly said to Dai Hao, “No causing trouble!”
Dai Hao was instantly infuriated, his face turning red. He glared fiercely at Chang Xiaojia.
Chang Xiaojia paid no attention to him, still bowing his head, earnestly attaching soles. Occasionally, he would lift his head to stretch his stiff neck.
Dai Hao kept his anger suppressed until the afternoon break.
That day, he didn’t play basketball; he walked with a group of people toward the shade of the trees. Before they could approach, several of Chang Xiaojia’s subordinates stood up, looking unfriendly at Dai Hao.
Dai Hao sneered and walked up to Chang Xiaojia. “What? Did you plant these trees?”
Chang Xiaojia replied, “No.” As he said this, he took a step back, letting Gao Yuan and Luo Wanchun, two big guys, stand in front of him, creating a barrier between him and Dai Hao.
Dai Hao glanced at Gao Yuan and Luo Wanchun, asking, “What’s the meaning of this? Can’t we chill under the tree?”
After saying this, he quickly raised his hand and shouted to the supervising guard, “Officer, 3312 is occupying the area under the tree and not letting us through. Isn’t this a violation of prison rules?”
The rules inside the prison were different from those outside. In prison, guards held absolute authority, and prisoners, no matter how tough or skilled they were, couldn’t afford to offend guards. The smartest approach was to toe the line and make the other party break the rules. The guards would naturally deal with them.
Everyone understood this principle, but it depended on who could keep their cool. Dai Hao, in particular, was not the type to remain calm. He valued his pride more than anything else and was reluctant to bow his head even under someone else’s roof.
Chang Xiaojia was obviously a different type of person. Upon hearing Dai Hao’s shouts, he raised his hand, patted Gao Yuan and Luo Wanchun’s shoulders, and said, “Don’t block him. Let him in.”
Gao Yuan and Luo Wanchun, very obedient to Chang Xiaojia, didn’t ask any questions. They stepped aside.
Dai Hao took a step forward, suddenly reaching out to grab Chang Xiaojia’s wrist. Gao Yuan and Luo Wanchun both reached out to stop him, but none of them moved as fast as Xie Li, who pulled Chang Xiaojia behind him and grasped Dai Hao’s wrist, preventing him from touching Chang Xiaojia.
“Hmph!” Dai Hao sneered, looking at Xie Li. “I thought you were a tough guy, turns out you’re just a whore! Look at Xiaojia, he even looks impotent. Can’t get him excited?”
After he finished speaking, those following him burst into laughter. Even some people squatting by the wall to watch the show suppressed a few chuckles.
Xie Li’s expression remained unchanged, and Chang Xiaojia wasn’t angry. Chang Xiaojia just said to Xie Li, “Remember to wash your hands later,” while his gaze lingered on Xie Li’s hand holding Dai Hao’s.
Dai Hao finally lost his temper. “Fuck you!” he cursed, then swung a fist towards Xie Li’s face.
Unlike Chang Xiaojia, Dai Hao had worked his way up from the bottom of Juyi. The current leader of Juyi was his former brother, who had supported Dai Hao after he rose in rank, turning him from a small-time thug in the lower ranks of Juyi into a core member with influence.
However, even within Juyi, many people looked down on Dai Hao. There were various taunts, both open and veiled. For Dai Hao, maintaining face was more important.
On the surface, Juyi and Hongfang maintained a harmonious relationship. When Dai Hao entered this prison block and learned that Chang Guanshan’s son was also here, he didn’t think of making friends or causing trouble. However, he always felt that Chang Xiaojia had a condescending attitude toward him.
Sometimes Dai Hao would think: What right does a useless brat who relies on his dad have to look down on me? When he thought about his situation in Juyi, he felt helpless and inferior.
Being repeatedly suppressed for a long time, Chang Xiaojia’s comment about him being dirty finally ignited Dai Hao’s temper, and his fists moved faster than his brain.
Xie Li dodged Dai Hao’s punch by tilting his head and then used his foot to trip Dai Hao, causing him to fall.
The entire exercise yard descended into chaos. Dai Hao’s subordinates rushed towards Chang Xiaojia when they saw him, but before they could reach him, Gao Yuan and the others blocked their way.
The prison guard, whistling, approached with a baton in hand.
On a dry afternoon in the prison exercise yard, dust filled the air, carrying an unpleasant odor of sweat. About a dozen men were engaged in a fight, punching and kicking each other. The guard, blowing his whistle, tried to break up the fight. If that didn’t work, he mercilessly used his baton.
The other inmates surrounding the exercise yard, behind walls and wire fences, wore numb expressions.
Before the guard arrived, Xie Li had pulled Chang Xiaojia aside. Apart from the initial move where he tripped Dai Hao, he didn’t use force again.
Chang Xiaojia, with a somewhat vacant look, watched the chaotic scene in the middle of the yard. Xie Li turned his head to look at him, but he seemed unaware.
The guard finally subdued all the participating inmates, blowing his whistle to instruct everyone to bow their heads and squat down.
When everyone bowed down, only Dai Hao remained on the ground, groaning in pain. His face turned gray, sweat beads the size of peas covering his forehead. He told the guard, “Someone stepped on my leg and broke it.”
The guard pointed his baton at him for a while, observing that one of his legs was lying on the ground at an odd angle. He then pulled out his walkie-talkie to call for backup.
Dai Hao’s leg had been broken by someone’s foot at the beginning of the chaos. The situation was too chaotic at the time, and no one saw who did it. When Dai Hao flipped over and tried to get up, he felt a sharp pain in his leg. So, even he didn’t know who did it.
Perhaps it was an unintentional step during the fight.
Except for Dai Hao, who was taken to the prison hospital, all the inmates involved in the fight were sent to solitary confinement. Xie Li and Chang Xiaojia didn’t escape either. However, because Xie Li quickly pulled Chang Xiaojia out of the fray, they were only detained for a day, while others were sentenced to at least three days.
On the evening of the second day, after Xie Li’s 24-hour solitary confinement ended, he returned to the cell but didn’t see Chang Xiaojia.
Inside the cell, there were only two people left with Xie Li now – one was a timid habitual thief, and the other was a middle-aged man with an honest demeanor. They said Chang Xiaojia hadn’t returned yet.
It wasn’t until the bathhouse was about to close that Chang Xiaojia was brought back by the guard. His face looked very bad, and when the guard left, he sat directly by Xie Li’s bed.
Xie Li, holding a basin, asked him, “Do you want to take a shower?”
Chang Xiaojia looked up at him, looking exhausted.
Xie Li looked at him.
After a while, Chang Xiaojia stood up, fetched his own towel and basin, and followed Xie Li outside.
By this time, most people had finished bathing and returned to their cells, waiting for the roll call. When they reached the bathhouse, there was no one inside.
Xie Li glanced at the clock on the dressing room wall, undressed, and walked towards a showerhead near the door, swiping his card to turn it on.
Chang Xiaojia, after a brief pause, followed suit, turning on a showerhead next to Xie Li. Once the hot water started flowing, he stood under it, motionless, with his head lowered.
Xie Li, feeling suddenly irritated, vigorously scrubbed his hair and body with soap foam, then quickly rinsed off. His entire shower took less than five minutes. He reached out to turn off the water, grabbed the towel, and briskly dried himself.
Chang Xiaojia was still standing under the hot water when Xie Li finished. He draped the towel over his shoulder, looking at him. “Aren’t you going to wash?”
Chang Xiaojia said, “I haven’t slept all night.”
The solitary confinement cell was a single room with only a bed and a toilet; there was nothing else.
Xie Li asked him, “Why didn’t you sleep?”
Chang Xiaojia suddenly approached, hugged Xie Li’s waist, buried his head on his shoulder, and whispered, “I was scared; it was too dark.”
Xie Li, gripping the towel, looked down at the top of his head. “Weren’t you scared when you broke Dai Hao’s leg?”
Chang Xiaojia didn’t answer, but he didn’t let go either. The damp skin of his cheek and forehead gently rubbed against Xie Li’s shoulder.