Just like Li Du had seen on TV, the prison guards distributed the daily essentials to
them and then sent them to their separate cells.
As a rule, people who came in together were separated. The four of them were taken to
different cells.
A dignified-looking black prison guard took Li Du to Cell B.
The section was a simple block of cells, something like a crude version of a hotel, with
rooms next to each other.
In order to facilitate supervision, the door of the cell was made of iron bars. Li Du looked
inside and saw that it was about 20 square meters. There were bunk beds like in his
middle school, toilets, and bookshelves.
They were brought in at midnight. The prisoners were sleeping, but when they saw the
guards come in with flashlights, they knew that mew prisoners had arrived. At once,
there were prisoners who got to the cell door and knocked.
Bang bang bang… sounded the noise.
The noise soon woke most of the inmates, who clustered together at the door of the
cell, banging on the iron bars with books or simple tools.
Meanwhile, others were shouting:
“Haha, rookies again! He is mine, tomorrow I want to give him some good treatment.”
“Come to me, come here, little Chink boy!”
“I will eat you! Look at me. Look what good things I have here. Whoa! I’m going to eat
you!”
The crazy noise was maddening. When Li Du passed the door of a cell, someone inside
tried to reach out to grab him.
The black prison guard banged on the iron gate with his club, pointed inside and
shouted, “Saric, I’m after you, behave yourself!”
Inside, a white man covered in tattoos chuckled, revealing his rotten teeth.
Americans paid great attention to the maintenance of teeth and oral health, and if
someone had bad teeth, he would wear braces as a child.
The young white man with a mouth full of rotten teeth was probably a drug addict.
The prison guard was not a bad man. He tried to reassure Li Du. “Don’t be afraid, they
are just scaring you, they won’t do anything to you.”
Li Du was not afraid. He smiled and said, “It’s OK, even if they try, it doesn’t matter, I
can deal with it.”
The prison guard looked at him in surprise and said, “Are you Asian? Chinese? I have
seldom seen your kind as calm as you are in prison. Most of your countrymen are
afraid.”
Li Du simply said, “I’m not afraid.”
The guard shrugged and said, “I hope you’re as tough as you try to show. Well, here’s
Cell 402, get in.”
There was a black youth in that cell. He, too, was banging on the bars of the door. He
saw the guard open the door and stood against the wall.
The prison guard sent Li Du in and pointed to the young man. “Raymond, be fair and
don’t damn mess with me. Otherwise, I will take care of you, understand?”
The youth said, “Yes, sir!”
The prison guard nodded and said to Li Du, “If there is a problem, call me. If someone
messes with you, tell me first thing, don’t damn try to bear it to your limits. I don’t want
anyone to commit suicide on my ward.”
Li Du had an ominous feeling at hearing this. It seemed that the prison was a really
rough place. He had to find a way out quickly.
After the guard listed some rules, he left Li Du in the cell and walked out, locking the
door behind him.
There was no noise outside now. Seeing that Li Du was not frightened by their threats,
the prisoners went back to sleep listlessly.
As the guard left, Raymond relaxed. He dragged out the only chair in the room, sat
down and said, “Do you understand English?”
Li Du ignored him and put his bags on the bed.
Raymond asked twice, then scratched his head and said, “F**k, stupid yellow monkey,
doesn’t even speak English, damn, looks like a topper…”
Before he could finish, Li Du kicked him sideways.
Raymond screamed as he toppled down with his chair. He stood up angrily, breathing
heavily like a bull, and shouted, “Son of a bitch, I’m going to kill you!”
Li Du clenched his fists, spread his feet and beckoned the guy to come at him.
Raymond clenched his fists as well and rushed up. Li Du slowed down time and moved
aside to avoid him. He bent and punched the guy in the belly, then twisted his waist,
slipped aside, and kicked his back with his feet.
The young man stumbled into the cell door. Li Du grabbed him by the neck and pulled
him back. Raymond turned around and tried to punch him. Li Du easily dodged and
kicked him in the belly with his knee.
“Shit!” Raymond squatted on the ground, clutching his stomach.
Li Du kicked him in the face again, and Raymond fell to the ground with his head in his
arms, crying, Don’t hit me, don’t hit me! I’ll complain about you to the guard!”
This left Li Du quite surprised. So this fella is just a coward?
Li Du stopped the beating and said coldly, “If you go to the prison guard, I will beat you
every time I see you. More than ten of us came in together, and next time it might not be
just me against you!”
Raymond was quiet now, he buried his head in his arms and said, “Don’t beat me, I
won’t report you, I promise we’ll get along peacefully!”
Li Du strove to keep his face cold and malicious, and said, “Sure, but you apologize
first!”
Raymond got up with a sullen face and said, “I apologize?”
Li Du sneered and said, “You started this. If you don’t apologize, should I?”
Raymond looked at him blankly and said, “Ok, ok, I’m sorry, really sorry…”
Li Du frowned and said, “So insincere?”
He put on a vicious look, while inwardly he wanted to laugh. He did not expect his fellow
cellmate to turn out so soft, he thought it would be as crazy as in the TV shows.
“No, no, don’t be angry. No, big brother, don’t be angry, I, I, I don’t know what I did
wrong.”
At this point, Raymond looked on the verge of tears.
Li Du glared at him. “You don’t know what’s wrong? You called me a yellow-skinned
monkey!”
Raymond was stunned and asked, “Did I say that?”
A shadow flashed before his eyes, and the items on his bedside table were swept to the
ground in a lightning-fast move.
Raymond was so scared that he cried out, “Sorry, Big Brother, my mouth is so mean. I
just talked nonsense. Please forgive me. I’m sorry!”
Li Du looked at him coldly and said, “Tell me about the rules and situation in this prison.
If you hide anything, you’ll regret it.”
He didn’t feel the need to give a cold laugh. Raymond was already terrified of him.
