Chapter 4: Why Must Men Make Life Difficult for Themselves?

  After this commotion, the other male prisoners in the prison also turned their attention to us. The female guards, seeing that we had stopped fighting, didn't come over anymore but instead looked at me with interest, using a gaze that was just like the smiling expression men have when watching women fight in our world.

  Wu Ying was sitting on the ground crying, when Liu Si walked in pushing through the crowd, holding a quilt in his hand. Seeing Wu Ying's bloody face, he asked loudly: "What's going on here?" He pointed at Wu Ying and said: "Didn't I tell you not to cause trouble?" Wu Ying wiped away her tears and said: "How is it that I'm causing trouble?"

  My heart skipped a beat, if this kid reports me, I'm afraid I'll have to eat my way out of prison, no matter which one it is. Incidents of violent fighting are always severely punished.

  Liu Si kicked his leg and said: "What's with your face?"

  Wu Ying wiped her face and raised her head, looking confused: "What's going on?"

  "Your face, who beat you up like this?"

  "I fell myself."

  He said so, I was greatly surprised, and couldn't help but give him a nod of approval. Wu Yin pretended not to see it, staring at Liu Si firmly: "Really, I fell myself."

  "Oh?" Liu Si looked at me with a half-smile and asked others: "Is that so?"

  The other male prisoners looked at each other and then replied in a disorderly manner: "Really, we saw it with our own eyes."

  "Hmm." Liu Si only smiled and turned away, she stuffed the quilt into my arms and said: "Sir Ye wants to see you, come with me."

  Like this, I followed Liu Si with a strange gaze, walking on the road, I was still thinking why these people covered for me, I frequently turned my head to look back, that group of people had already dispersed.

  Liu Si took me to the wooden house again and said: "You go in yourself."

  I walked in with a nervous heart, and the fierce-looking officer was still sitting there, on the table were the clothes I had changed out of and the personal items that had been confiscated.

  The female warden sat there with a gloomy face, as if everyone in the world owed her two hundred dollars. As soon as I entered, she asked: "You said you weren't involved in prostitution, so how do you explain this money?"

  As soon as I saw it, I secretly thought it was not good. What she was fiddling with by her side were the gold pieces that the beautiful woman had left me when she hastily departed. She had rushed out and dumped everything in her purse before running off. There were quite a few of those gold pieces, and at first glance, they seemed to be a considerable sum of money. Facing this Mr. Si's fervent gaze, I suddenly had an idea and smiled: "Isn't this your money?"

  "What? How did it become my money?"

  "I spread out my hands and said: 'That money was originally picked up by me, it's useless to keep it on me, let's just consider it as a filial piety to Lord Sanyou.'"

  He raised the corner of his mouth and revealed a faint, almost imperceptible smile: "What's your name?"

  Long Yang

  "Long Yang, I remember you."

  I patted my thigh secretly, it seems that the cat that doesn't steal is indeed useless. Especially in a place like prison where you have to rely on others for food, how can the warden make money if he doesn't extort from prisoners? I also have rich experience with this. When my dad first entered the detention center, Aunt Meng arranged for over ten little brothers to pretend to get into a fight and get arrested to protect him. This was just a small trick, the main event was giving the warden a "gift"... The specific amount is inconvenient to say, but anyway, at that time it was enough to buy an apartment (now you can only buy a used car, sigh, the housing prices have risen). In fact, it proved that inside, one person in charge is more useful than ten little brothers. So, I learned from my dad's experience today - might as well do a favor and let this old woman envy me for nothing.

  The manager fiddled with those few gold bars and stared at me saying: "If the higher-ups ask about this sum of money, what will you say?"

  "What money? I haven't seen it."

  "Really haven't seen it before?"

  "I've never seen anything like it!"

  The shopkeeper tapped his hand on the table and burst out laughing: "I didn't think you were a clever person."

  I smiled and said: "Too kind, too kind."

  She said with a tone as if complaining to an old friend, "It's really hard to find someone as clever as you." She put her hands behind her head and leaned back in the chair, looking at me and saying, "You don't have any family members left, do you?"

  I nodded randomly and said, "That's all."

  "Hmm, if you had a choice, you wouldn't be doing this either - who would bail you out anyway?"

  I have a bit of a headache.

  Xiang Ying smiled and carefully stroked the gold bars, saying: "So, what about your benefactor? We're all smart people, let's speak plainly. If you can provide her information, I can find someone to help you send a message to her - someone who can use this kind of official gold must be a high-ranking official in the imperial court. If she still cares about you, she won't mind spending some small change to save you."

  As soon as I heard it, they were determined that I was the one who did it. Now any explanation is superfluous. This old woman has her mind set on making money and just wants to extort more from me. All I can do is honestly say: "I really don't know anything, I haven't even had time to do anything before being brought here."

  He suddenly collected his smile and said word by word: "Then you'd better hope she remembers you soon, otherwise I won't be able to help you."

  I wanted to say something more, but she waved her hand: "You can go now."

  I cursed silently in my heart and just walked to the door when I heard Siying say from behind, "As for your gold..."

  "It's your gold."

  。。。。。。

  As we went back, the sun had set and the airing was over. The prisoners were lined up in two long queues outside a simple shed to prepare for dinner. Liu Si put me at the end of the queue and left on his own.

  After crossing over from the real world to this unlucky place, I hadn't eaten for several hours. Just then, a delicious smell of food wafted over, and I couldn't help but ask in a raised voice, "What's being served?" The two rows of prisoners turned their heads together to see it was me, and they were all stunned. My stomach was growling with hunger, so I craned my neck to look at the long line in front of me and urged them on, saying, "Hurry up, those in front!" Who knew that as soon as I spoke, the two prisoners in front of me immediately fell silent and made way for me, then one by one they quietly moved behind me. The ones standing at the very front were Wu Yin and that big oaf. When Wu Yin saw it was me, she also stepped aside obediently. The prisoner responsible for serving food in the shed smiled fawningly at me when he saw me approach, and I looked around asking, "Where's a bowl?" That prisoner hastily grabbed a bowl and chopsticks from the nearby table and handed them to me, then slowly ladled out a serving of vegetables with his spoon. Finally, he placed two golden cornbread buns on top of the vegetables.

  I looked at the bowl of food, feeling quite surprised, and laughed: "The food is not bad." I originally thought that in prison we would be eating that kind of coarse rice gruel that could tear your throat apart. But looking at the dish, amidst the cabbage and eggplant were actually a few strands of meat floating on top. My appetite was greatly stimulated, and the prisoner serving the meal smiled apologetically: "Big brother, you eat slowly." I nodded to him and walked over to the side to start eating in big mouthfuls. The second person to get served was Wu Yin. The person responsible for serving the meal gave him two pieces of flatbread as well, but the amount of vegetables was not as much as mine - only a plain bowl. By the time it got to Big Head, even the flatbread had been reduced to just one piece.

  After watching, I somewhat understood that even though it's just a meal, there is still a distinction between the superior and inferior. Those who are ranked first usually receive extra care and have the highest status. The further back you go, the worse the quality becomes. When it gets to the last few people, they can only get some thin soup and scraps of food, and as for buns, forget about it. The person serving the meal would tilt the rice bowl and pour out some leftovers for them. Those people seemed to have accepted their fate, holding their bowls and eating in a distant corner with sighs and groans.

  During dinner, Wu Yin and Da Koutou intentionally or unintentionally got close to me. I still didn't understand why Wu Yin took the lead in helping me out earlier. Almost everyone saw me hit him, he could have exposed me and I would have been in big trouble. However, in a place like this, as long as you don't cause too much trouble, it's clear that they follow the principle of "if the people don't report it, the officials won't investigate". He didn't make a fuss about it, and those female guards were even more reluctant to look for trouble. So I was grateful to him and beckoned to him with my chopsticks, Wu Yin quickly came over with his bowl.

  "Sorry about that just now, brother, I was a bit too rough."

  "Nothing much, just lost two teeth."

  "Let me see."

  Wu Yin Zhang opened his big mouth for me to see. I comforted him saying: "It's okay, they're just wisdom teeth, it won't affect your eating."

  "Ha! That's it, I also deserved it."

  I smiled and said: "Why didn't you tell me just now?"

  "Our rule is whoever has the harder fist becomes the boss. I admit defeat at your hands."

  "We're both drifters in this world, what's the point of being so bitter?"

  Wu Ying listened and nodded vaguely: "Yes, you're right."

  I said: "My name is Long Yang, you can call me old too."

  "Wu Yin said hastily: 'Then I'll call you Brother Long from now on.'"

  I took a glance behind him, and that big lummox was hiding behind Wu Yin's back. Wu Yin pulled him over and said, "Don't you hurry up and call Brother Long?"

  The big-headed jar said in a deep voice: "Brother Long."

  "What's your name?"

  "My name is Yu Manli."

  I spat out the food I had just eaten: "What the...? What's your name?" This guy who looked like a thug was actually named Yu Manli...

  Yu Manli saw me cough and immediately hid behind Wu Yin again.

  Wu Ying smiled apologetically at me: "You're so inexperienced, you're afraid of everyone, it's laughable to Long Ge."

  I saw that the piece of cake in his bowl was bitten by him and was about to fall four-fifths, and then asked: "Is your size enough to eat?"

  Before Yu Manli could speak, Wu Yin said helplessly: "This is also not a solution, things are limited in number. If we eat one more mouthful, someone else will have to eat one less mouthful. Haven't you seen the last few people in line who didn't even get a single mouthful?"

  I nodded, and during the meal just now, the last two in the team didn't even get a mouthful to eat. I took a piece of pancake from my bowl, split it into two, and pointed at them: "Come over." The two rushed over, but Wu Yin had already understood my intention and was shocked, saying: "Dragon Brother, this can't be done, this is the treatment that should be given to the big brother."

  I said, "Nonsense, you've all come here and still act like big brothers." As I spoke, I put half a pancake into one of the bowls. Wu Yin was shocked and quickly gave her leftover half to another person. The two of them thanked us profusely, their eyes filled with gratitude.

  "Wu Ying said with a sigh: 'Don't look at Dragon Brother's ruthless hands, but his heart is soft.'"

  I said: "It's a kind of fate for everyone to meet in such a strange place, especially..."

  "What's especially what?"

  What's the point of saying anything else? In a twisted place like Women's Country, where men are already at a disadvantage, what's the fun in turning against each other?

  I patted Wu Yin's shoulder and sighed: "Men, why make things difficult for men?"

  Going out