The Second Volume: The Country of Women Chapter 10: A Moment

  I don't know why it's like this - the great Sword God and Golden Killer couldn't teach me, yet I'm stuck in a prison cell and somehow managed to get a feel for it after practicing with someone who isn't even a sword master.

  Apart from me, several others in the room also involuntarily exclaimed at the same time: "I felt it!"

  Later, I realized that this is just like learning to drive. If you ask Schumacher to start from first gear and teach, he must not be a good teacher. His mind is full of how to drift, how to reach top speed in the shortest time, and steps like pressing the clutch and shifting gears are unknown to him. These things have become his physiological instincts, and if you ask him to describe them, he can't explain clearly. At this point, it's better to ask someone who has just passed their driver's test for guidance, because they remember the mistakes they made before and will tirelessly remind you not to forget to pull the handbrake... It's precisely because Geng Yun and Jian Tong are not like that, so they can give hints from a beginner's perspective. I was delighted and my mind wandered off, and the slight feeling in my dantian disappeared again.

  Geng Ling had a few people who had already roughly understood the process repeat it on their own, then turned back to teach a few others who were slower. They practiced until midnight, and except for two or three people, everyone else learned how to adjust their breath and sit in meditation. Geng Ling said, "Let's stop here for today. From now on, every night at this time, we'll practice together."

  The next day when we were called up by the prison guard, Geng Lian was still sitting on the ground. I was surprised and said: "You didn't sleep all night?"

  Geng Ling's eyes, filled with bloodshot lines, sparkled as he announced in a low, excited voice: "Tonight, I've finally mastered the sword aura!"

  "Really? So you're already a Sword Child?"

  The jailer shouted loudly outside: "Get to work, hurry up!"

  Geng Ling made a silencing gesture to the crowd, carefully put away the small book I gave him, and said with great enthusiasm: "As long as everyone works hard, we won't have to be afraid of anyone in the future!"

  Everyone was also delighted, pretending to be calm and leaving the house. Although they didn't sleep much, they were all spirited and refreshed. As we entered the workshop, I reminded them: "Pay attention to discoveries, don't miss anything that might be useful to us."

  The whole day was quite fruitful. When Qi Xiao Huan went to take a break, she found a piece of hard wood in the firewood pile. Someone picked up a few small pieces of pumice on the playground and used them as makeshift knives after smashing them into sharp edges. Yu Man Li found half a broken needle on the ground of the workshop. Everyone else also had their own gains, whether they were useful or not. By the time we finished work in the evening, we had collected a pile of miscellaneous items. I said one sentence: our eighteen old men all looked like ghosts, looking around during work and searching for things with our heads down when taking breaks. To sum it up, within a day, we picked up all the trash from the entire prison... After returning to the cell in the evening, Qi Xiao Huan started working on her project. She used a stone edge to carve out a rough shape on the wood and then began polishing it. After the guard fell asleep, Geng Ling taught everyone to meditate and practice their breath control. According to Su Jing's book, after opening up the dantian (a point in the lower abdomen), one should start pushing the energy from inside out until the entire body's meridians are connected and a hint of sword energy is emitted, at which point one can reach the level of a sword child. However, I encountered another obstacle at this stage - while I could feel the presence of energy in my dantian, I couldn't control it as I wanted to. Fortunately, Geng Ling said this was normal and that even Su Jing took three days to overcome this hurdle when he first started practicing. Although I wasn't making progress as quickly as I had hoped, my breathing exercises were becoming more proficient, and by the end of the night, the last few people also managed to open up their dantians.

  In this way, three days passed in a flash. We spent our days picking up trash and practicing qigong at night. Although we slept very little, for some reason, whether it was psychological or due to the qigong practice, all eighteen of us in the cell were surprisingly full of energy. On that day, even Wu Yin sent me good news: during exercise time, he quietly pulled me aside and showed me something hidden in his sleeve - a long-handled ladle with its head chopped off, probably used for scooping rice before.

  I exclaimed in surprise: "Where did you get this?" With this thing, I also had a way to deal with the plug on the outside of the prison cell door.

  Wu Ying let me touch the handle of the spoon and said with pride: "I picked it up from the toilet..."

  "Damn it!" I pushed him three feet away, still wiping his hand on his pants.

  "It's already been washed clean."

  "Then you'd better keep your distance from me too!"

  But on the fourth day, something unexpected happened: On that day, we were working when the prison warden suddenly announced that all prisoners should gather in the playground. The guards were like enemies at the gate, holding clubs and driving everyone to the playground to line up.

  I had a bad feeling in my heart, and I exchanged glances with Geng Ling and the others. Wu Yin smiled and asked Liu Si-lao: "Sir, what's going on?"

  Liu Si also furrowed his brow and said, "I'm not clear either." It seems that this time, Si Ying didn't notify anyone in advance. I have a premonition that it's targeted at us. These past few days, the people in our cell have been trying to keep a low profile, but our unusual behavior has probably still caught Si Ying's attention. Now that things have come to a head, there's nothing we can do, and all we can do is wait and see what happens.

  After the prisoners lined up, the executioner came to the center of the playground with a expressionless face, looked down at them coldly and said: "There are two things to announce today." Before everyone could react, she unfolded the paper in her hand and read: "Ministry of Punishment document, prisoner Geng Ling, due to a dispute with his fellow villager, brutally killed three people and injured countless others. Later, he was captured by the local garrison and brought back for trial, causing widespread discontent among the villagers. After three reviews by the Ministry of Punishment, he was sentenced to be executed in autumn at Caishikou." When she finished reading the document, her triangular eyes glanced at me and Geng Ling with a hint of schadenfreude, while Geng Ling remained fearless, with a slight cold smile.

  To be honest, we are not surprised at all by this result. A man killed three people in a country of women, and the impact is like having a woman steal a man's chastity belt in those conservative countries where even sleeves cannot be exposed. Plus, with someone secretly manipulating things, it would be difficult for Geng Lian to survive theoretically.

  Since we had mentally prepared ourselves and had a plan beforehand, neither I nor Geng Rong showed any expression. The calmer our expressions were, the more distorted hers became. However, she seemed confident of her victory as she slowly said: "The second thing is that today I will be rearranging your cells. The list has already been made, now you all line up in front of your cell doors and naturally, the prison guards will arrange for you according to the new list."

  This move of hers really confused us. Originally, the eighteen people in our cell had finally reached an alliance after much difficulty. Now that everything was ready, we just needed to remove Geng Ling's shackles to put our plan into action. But now she has messed things up and many things have been undone.

  I pushed through the crowd to find Wu Yin and Yu Manli, exchanging a glance with each other. Their eyes were also filled with worry. Before long, everyone gathered together in line. Originally, we still wanted to discuss a few words, but the guards kept shouting loudly at us: "No talking allowed!"

  The manager stood with his hands behind him, gazing at us indifferently, a sly smile finally spreading from the corner of his mouth.

  All the other cells had one guard, but our cell was assigned three people. When we reached the door, I was shocked again - the cell door was wide open, and everything inside was turned upside down. It turned out that the warden had taken advantage of our absence on the playground to have someone search the place.

  I stole a glance at Wu Yin, and Wu Yin calmly patted the inside of her thigh. I was slightly relieved. We had expected this day to come, so we were carrying those unmentionable things with us all along. A female guard standing at the entrance of the cell said: "Those whose names are called, go back to your cells, take your belongings and report to the corresponding cell - Wu Yin, Hutong Cell."

  "Where's everyone else?"

  The woman guard coldly said: "What right do you have to speak here? Take your stuff and get out!"

  Wu Yin couldn't do anything, so he went back to the house and hugged his bedding. When he came out, he kept making eyes at me, I stood in the first row, pretending to accidentally take two steps forward. Wu Yin's eyes rolled around, through our tacit understanding over the past few days, I quickly understood that he meant there was something in my quilt, I slightly nodded towards him, and Wu Yin was taken away by the guard of the prison cell.

  Yu Manli, Prisoner of Jia Shen Chamber.

  Yu Manli said: "Why can't I be with Wu Yin?"

  "Do you believe it or not? I'll make sure you don't see the sun for a month?"

  Yu Manli looked at everyone with a gloomy expression and also left with something in her arms.

  "Qī Xiǎohuán, Bingchǒu cell."

  Qī Xiǎo Huán tugged at my sleeve as she passed by me and whispered in a barely audible voice, "The key is back in its original place." I was slightly stunned and randomly guessed that the so-called original place was probably under the kang bed, but I couldn't ask further.

  In this way, the people in our cell were taken out one by one and scattered to different cells. Finally, only I and Geng Ling were left when the female guard read out: "Long Yang, Geng Ling, Ding Zi's cell."

  I was somewhat surprised, I didn't expect that the two of us would still be assigned to the same room. Geng Ling and I entered the house together, he deliberately fell half a step behind me, using his back to block the view from outside. I quickly came to the quilt and rummaged through it, inside was indeed the handle of the spoon. I used Wu Yin's method to pull down my pants and hide it on the inside of my thigh. Then I lifted up the bedding again, and the key that Qi Xiaohuan had ground was indeed placed in the mold hole. The overall shape had come out, but there were still some places that hadn't been repaired yet. However, without the mold, nothing could be done about it afterwards. I casually tucked it into my waist, waiting for Geng Ling to also bring his things, and we followed the guard who was reading out the name list to our new cell.

  After the cells were divided, it was time for dinner. When it was my turn to eat with Geng Ling, Wu Yin and others were nowhere to be seen. It turned out that Si Ying had issued a new regulation, and from now on, work and meals would be done in shifts. This also meant that we, who were originally in the same cell, would have few opportunities to meet each other... I and Geng Ling finished our meal, saw that the guards were relatively relaxed at this moment, found a quiet place, and Geng Ling frowned: "Where did we expose our horse's hoof?"

  I shook my head and said, "I don't know, but that old woman must have come after us on purpose. With so many of us, it's inevitable that she would notice some clues." I said, "But what I find strange is why she didn't separate the two of us?"

  "This is where she's sinister, she wants you to watch me die with your own eyes."

  "I indignantly said: 'This old hag!'"

  "What's your next move?"

  "Everything is in our hands, it seems that Wu Yin and the others mean that if things really don't work out, let's make a run for it first."

  "What do you mean?"

  "It's not right to betray our brothers, if we run away, they won't have a good life either. Taking advantage of the remaining time before autumn, you and I must find an opportunity to get in touch with them, I promised them that we would escape together, not one less!"

  Geng Ling said excitedly: "I mean the same thing."

  "Shh, the guard is coming."

  After dinner, the guard escorted us back to our cell to sleep. After she locked the door, I found that more than a dozen people in this prison cell were staring at me and Geng Ling with malicious intent. The two of us stood there, surrounded by them in a semi-encirclement, clearly having received instructions from someone and full of hostility towards us. There are over 1,000 prisoners in the male prison camp, divided into three areas. I had hardly seen anyone here before, let alone knowing their background. Geng Ling clenched his fist, glaring at them with anger, and we stood facing each other for more than ten minutes without anyone speaking first. I whispered to Geng Ling, "If a fight breaks out, how many can you handle?" Geng Ling replied in a low voice, "More than ten is no problem, what about you?"

  "…Nonsense, can't you see I'm the one who has to deal with all the leftovers? I roughly counted and there are about sixteen or seventeen of them. If we really fight to the death, I absolutely don't have the confidence to take down six or seven of them."

  Half a day passed, and still no one spoke. The other party did not take the initiative to provoke us, but they were also extremely unfriendly, as if they had seven parts of fear and dread towards us in addition to three parts of respect... I saw that this would not end well, so I took a big step forward and said in a deep voice: "I don't have time to waste with you guys. If anyone is unhappy, come out and say it. If someone wants to secretly plot against me or take advantage of the situation to gain benefits from the old hag, don't blame me for not being polite!" My gaze swept over them fiercely, one by one. These people seemed to be in a group, but when I glared at each of them individually, they all became evasive and dodgy.

  "Alright, from now on I'm in charge here!" I knew that in a place like prison, there's no such thing as democracy. Either you keep your head down and survive quietly, or you make everyone tremble with fear. For me and Geng Liang, our current situation is one of survival in the cracks, and except for fighting our way out in blood, we have no other choice.

  These guys neither showed obedience nor dared to openly resist, and they all scattered after I shouted at them. Some lay in their quilts staring blankly, some scratched this and that, and others chatted away on their own.

  "What's going on here?"

  I've run into such a slippery character and can't help it, so I spread my hands and said: "This is settled then?"

  Geng Ling pulled me and asked: "How are you going to sleep tonight?"

  "What's going on with sleep?"

  "Geng Ling said: 'What if these guys don't make a move now, but wait until we fall asleep and then strike? Do you think Si Ying arranged for us to be here without any ulterior motives? They won't bother with anything else, they'll just focus on taking care of us and that's it.'"

  I listened and thought it made a lot of sense, so I couldn't help but ask: "Then what should we do?"

  "No choice, take turns sleeping, you go to bed first, I'll sleep on the floor and keep an eye on them."

  I had no choice but to do the same, so I lay down on the bed with a thud. The others instinctively made room for me, but as you can imagine, it was really hard to fall asleep in this environment. I lay there for a while and looked at Geng Ling - he didn't dare sleep or practice his skills, and his mind was getting drowsy bit by bit.

  I jumped out of bed and came to his side, Geng Ling suddenly exclaimed: "Who?"

  I irritably said: "Me, I can't sleep, you go to sleep instead."

  Geng Ling sighed and said, "I'll definitely won't be able to sleep if I go up there either."

  I clenched my fist and said, "You and I can still take care of each other, but those brothers of ours will have an even tougher time tonight."

  Geng Ling gritted her teeth and said: "Even if I'm aware of it, I won't be able to sleep soundly for a while. If this goes on for a few more days, I'll be ruined!"

  "I said in a huff, 'If you ask me, it's better to die than be captured. Let's just make a run for it now and get out of this door first. Then we'll find Wu Yin and the others one by one. If we can escape, we'll escape; if not, we'll fight that old woman to the death!'"

  "Damn it, let's do it!"

  "Really?"

  "You try first whether the key Qixiaohuan polished for me can be used."

  At first, I just talked about it, but after thinking about it, I found that running now and running in the future are not much different. Anyway, what's on hand is just these things, rather than hesitating and waiting for old ladies to secretly calculate, it's better to take a gamble.

  I made up my mind, took out the key, and it was just midnight. I tried it with the moonlight, and to my surprise, the wooden key went smoothly into the keyhole. However, when I turned it, there was no movement at all, but the iron chain made a clanking sound. The people on the bed were not asleep, and we didn't intentionally avoid talking in front of them. I was working underground, and those guys looked stunned, one by one they all sat up, staring blankly at us.

  I whispered menacingly at the opponent: "Whoever makes a move will be killed!" On the side, I told Geng Ling: "Hold on to the chain."

  "Oh." Geng Ling tightened the chain according to her words, I twisted it left and right but still couldn't open it, and couldn't help but sweat. Geng Ling exerted herself to grab the chain so that it wouldn't make a sound, I patiently tried to recall my experience of opening rusty bike locks in the past, three quick turns and three slow turns, trying to use brute force to open the lock. Just as I was busy with this, I vaguely heard a "click" sound, Geng Ling suddenly said: "Don't try anymore."

  "What?"

  Geng Ling waved half of the iron chain in his hand at me: "Broken."

  "How did it break?"

  "It's broken."

  I looked down and couldn't help but laugh, it turned out that the chain of the shackles had been pulled hard by Gerong for a while, and it was actually broken from the right ankle. To say that the chains in the daughter's country are delicate, it is indeed possible to break them with human hands, but it is not very likely... The problem is that they shouldn't have made carvings on the head of the chain, let alone dot carvings... Gerong said to me: "You go think of a way to open the door, I'll take care of the left foot." After finishing speaking, he started pulling hard on the chain on his left ankle... I took out the spoon handle that Wu Ying had picked up from the latrine and put it on my shoulder, squeezing out a gap in the door panel, slowly stretching out the spoon handle to prop it under the door latch, starting to pry it open.

  Geng Ling sat on the ground and pulled for less than 3 minutes, and the chain on his left foot was also broken by him. I rushed to him with a gesture: "Give me the door, you make the rope!"

  Geng Ling suddenly understood, and without saying a word, he jumped onto the bed, grabbed someone's quilt and tore it into strips, then tied knots in them and continued to tear. The people on the bed naturally couldn't sleep anymore, some were driven down by Geng Ling with a whooshing sound, but no one shouted, everything happened in silence, in the darkness only the sound of tearing quilts could be heard, half a day passed before someone cautiously asked: "Big brother, are you guys trying to escape?"

  "I pushed the door open while turning back and said: 'Nonsense, or did you think we were here to help you with your laundry?'"

  That man was silent for a moment, then suddenly said: "Big brother, I have a favor to ask of you, if you're going to run, take us with you!"

  I gave him a glance and said, "Aren't you people from the management? What makes us believe you?"

  "Big brother, you've misunderstood us. We're all serious offenders. The warden did say to take good care of the two of you, but we've heard about your exploits and admire them greatly. How could we dare to cross paths with you two in a way that would cost our lives?"

  I asked him: "What have you done?"

  "He said: 'Hoarding private salt.'"

  "Wow, you've stockpiled so much salt for nuclear radiation protection?"

  Geng Ling asked me: "What to do?"

  "I said, 'Trust them! Bring them along.' Smuggling salt was almost as serious a crime as trafficking in ancient times, but smuggling salt was profiteering, while trafficking was harming people for personal gain. At this moment, these people can still be considered loyal allies."

  Geng Ling looked at these salt eagles standing in the darkness and said in a low voice, "What are you still dazing about? Help out!"

  A group of people suddenly woke up and rushed to join the ranks of tearing sheets... However, Wu Yin's spoon handle was not easy to use, it was still a bit thick. I poked it out just right, stuck in the door gap, let alone the toggle switch, can't go up or down, there is no place to turn around. Seeing that the sheet on the other side has been torn apart, this door still can't be opened. I'm anxious and irritable, constantly adding force to my shoulders, hoping to push out a larger gap so that the spoon handle can be used. The more anxious I am, the more I can't open it, the more I use force, after using force, when I relax a little bit, the spoon handle is pinched even tighter. In the end, I pressed my legs against the ground, putting all my strength on the door, with a red face and a thick neck.

  Geng Ling saw that I was struggling and put down the quilt, ran over to take a look and said: "No good, think of another way."

  "What else can be done?"

  That sly salt peddler also ran over and suggested: "Why don't we tie a thin rope around the door handle, thread it through the gap under the door, and then pull it back in? That way, when we lift the rope, the door will open."

  Geng Lingdao said: "The rope is too soft and can't be threaded through. Do you have any iron wire?"

  "Where can we find that thing?" Yan Xiao hurriedly asked.

  They said over there, I didn't stop here, still gritting my teeth and pushing the door, then after pushing and pushing, I rushed out with a stumble. When I looked up again, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse outside. Turning my head to look back, the door behind me was crooked on one side, and it had been squeezed down by me!

  Geng Ling and Yan Xiao were still discussing in the face of the wind: "Do you have any fine bamboo strips or something?"

  "There isn't one here either, but there is some straw on the kang, I'll go take a look if it has grown."

  "I muttered to myself with a sigh: 'Don't bother about that anymore, come out.'"

  The two of them turned around together and exclaimed in surprise: "How did the door open?"

  "Pushed open."

  "......" The little salted fish was stunned for a moment and exclaimed: "Big brother, you're too awesome!"

  "I waved my hand calmly and said: 'Who squeezed who knows - hurry up and go, don't drag on.'"

  Kids, have you had your salt today? If not, give Zhang Yue a ticket. China Salt Industry said that the annual domestic sales only account for one-tenth of their production capacity. You calculate it, with one-fifth of the world's population, China can only consume one-tenth of domestically produced edible salt (some salt is used for other purposes). This shows that our salt supply is enough for the whole world, no need to rush, don't be too salty, and rest assured.