After Han Bing retired from the provincial party secretary position, he felt that there was nothing to do.
Feeling bored, he shoveled away the useless flowers in the small garden in the backyard. He was planning to grow some practical farmland. He bought some potato seeds and went to the courtyard to loosen the soil on a relatively warm afternoon.
Han Luofan got off work early. When he returned, he saw Han Bing squatting in the courtyard digging. Han Bing was wearing a black sweater. As he squatted there, the hoe in his hand moved up and down. His white hair emitted a white gentle light under the sun.
After hesitating for a moment, Han Luofan turned around and returned to the living room. He found Han Bing’s cup and took a cup of warm water. He held the cup and went to the small courtyard. “Dad, have some water.”
Han Bing put down the hoe.
He stood up, unscrewed the lid of the cup, and took a sip of warm water. He handed the cup to Han Luofan, who took it with both hands. Seeing that Han Bing lowered his head and continued to loosen the soil, Han Luofan stood beside him for a long time before saying, “I went to see… her a while ago.”
Han Bing held a small hoe in his hand and did not stop when he heard the sound.
Han Luofan stared at his father’s actions. He thought about it and decided to tell Han Bing, “…She said something to me.”
“What?” Han Bing’s voice was calm, as if he had already forgotten about those things and Yuan Ting.
He looked similar to all ordinary old men.
Han Luofan said, “Her original words were: If you want to know what Ji Yue experienced in the apartment during those seven months, ask Han Bing to see me personally.”
Han Bing stopped.
He put down the small hoe and looked up at Han Luofan. “Yuan Ting said that?”
“Yeah.”
Han Bing narrowed his eyes. He was deep in thought.
Han Luofan did not know if Han Bing would look for Yuan Ting. He guessed that Han Bing might not go. However, he had already told his father. Whether he wanted to go or not depended on his father’s decision.
…
There were many young people and old people like Yuan Ting in the women’s prison.
However, these elderly people were all imprisoned for committing a serious crime when they were young. It was rare to see someone like Yuan Ting who was still in prison in her sixties. Yuan Ting’s status in prison was very delicate. She used to be a glamorous celebrity on television. She was then found to be a criminal, and the kind of criminal that women despised the most at that. Yuan Ting was almost neglected and despised by the entire prison.
She had suffered a lot of prejudice.
No one was willing to live in the same room as Yuan Ting, but the prison guards still put her with another woman. Yuan Ting’s roommate, Zhu Cuiying, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.
That woman was 43 years old this year. She was tall and thin. Although she was a criminal, her temperament was especially outstanding. She looked more like a noble woman than a murderer. When Yuan Ting found out that she was going to live with a murderer, she was still a little flustered.
The first night in prison, Yuan Ting lived in fear and barely slept.
The next morning, when she opened her eyes and saw the morning sun, Yuan Ting actually felt like she had survived a disaster.
She had been staying in prison for more than ten days. Every morning, they had to go for exercise. After breakfast, they had to work hard until it was dark before they could rest for half an hour after dinner. Then, everyone would gather together to do some cultural learning and ideological education. The prison police would even pick them to answer questions. They had to watch the news broadcast at seven o’clock and go to bed at nine.
Yuan Ting had never lived such a life in her life. She felt quite aggrieved.
However, everyone performed very well. They remembered the Eight Honors and Eight Shames clearly. Yuan Ting had memorized many lines when she was young. When she was chosen, she barely passed. Gradually, Yuan Ting got used to this life.
This day was the 25th day since Yuan Ting went to prison.
The weather was clear and the early spring was coming. The trees in the prison started to sprout.
Recently, their prison sentence job was to make umbrellas. In just twenty days, Yuan Ting’s well-maintained hands had become much older. The skin on her palms were shedding, and the back of her hands were dry and cracked, looking a little ugly.
After doing their work, they went to have lunch.
There were many people in the canteen. When she first came to the canteen, Yuan Ting had thought that the food in the prison was poor, but now, she could finish the bun in one bite. Yuan Ting had just taken a few bites when she saw her roommate, Zhu Cuiying, being taken away by the police.
A woman beside her said, “Her family is here to visit.”
Yuan Ting stared at the woman’s back and asked the women at the table softly, “Why did Zhu Cuiying kill people?”
The table fell silent at the same time.
Yuan Ting was confused.
A moment later, the woman sitting opposite her said, “Your roommate is a famous murderer in our building.”
Yuan Ting ate the food on her plate in a few bites before asking the woman, “Why?”
A woman in her fifties beside her said, “She killed her man.” This person clearly didn’t want to say much. At this moment, the woman opposite Yuan Ting said, “Not only did she kill him, she even dismembered that person. When the police found her man’s corpse, they pieced it together and realized that the man’s dick was missing.”
Yuan Ting felt a chill down her spine.
So these few days, she had been living with a perverted murderer!
Yuan Ting, who was not afraid even in the police interrogation room, was terrified at this moment. Her face, which was no longer red and charming, had turned a little pale. Yuan Ting asked these women dryly, “She, she did this because a man cheated on another woman?”
“No.”
“Then why?” It was impossible to kill someone for no reason.
Someone sneered and said, “Because that beast raped her daughter.”
Yuan Ting’s mouth fell open when she heard her say, “Their biological daughter.”
Yuan Ting fell silent.
“Zhu Cuiying hates criminals who kidnap women and abuse children the most.” The woman opposite Yuan Ting stared at Yuan Ting with a pair of cold eyes. Yuan Ting broke out in cold sweat when she saw this. She then asked Yuan Ting, “I heard that you kidnapped a woman and brought her overseas, right?”
Yuan Ting’s face turned even paler.
A woman sitting on Yuan Ting’s left sneered and said, “Zhu Cuiying hates people like you the most.”
“We’re both women. As women, how could you be so ruthless to another woman?”
They had all seen the news and knew more or less what Yuan Ting had done.
To them, Yuan Ting was simply a beast.
Being stared at by pairs of cold eyes, Yuan Ting could not stay any longer no matter how thick her skin was. She hurriedly got up and said, “I’m feeling a little unwell!” Then, she escaped back to her prison. The moment she returned to the prison, Yuan Ting found the manager of their building and asked to change the dormitory.
