Chapter 35

"Hey, what’s the occasion today? Where did you get the alcohol from?"

As Qin Feng was let into the cell by the guard, he immediately sensed that the atmosphere was off.

More than a dozen teenagers were gathered around a table. After the guard left, one of the boys lifted the sheet covering the table, revealing a spread of alcohol and dishes.

Where there are people, there is a world of its own. Even though the correctional facility housed mostly teenagers, adult rules still applied. As long as you had money, alcohol and cigarettes were not rare commodities in such a place.

The staff of the correctional facility had almost daily contact with the juvenile delinquents, and bringing in a bit of alcohol and cigarettes was a piece of cake. The guards knew about it, but they turned a blind eye. Some of them even engaged in embezzlement.

"Brother Feng, Li Lao Da is getting out tomorrow, we’re throwing him a farewell party!"

A chubby boy with glasses came forward, handing a pack of cigarettes to Qin Feng. "We were about to start eating, but Li Lao Da insisted on waiting for you, Brother Feng."

The juvenile correctional facility was different from prisons where sentences often lasted three to five years. The juveniles here usually served much shorter terms, often just a few months or a year, so the turnover was very high.

Qin Feng had been inside for less than a year, and the inmates in his cell had already changed several times. As one of the cell’s veterans and a brother to Li Lao Da, Qin Feng’s status had risen, and he was generally addressed with the suffix "Brother."

The chubby boy who spoke was surnamed Xie, named Xie Xuan. He was fifteen years old and from Shishi City. His entry into the facility was somewhat unjust.

Xie Xuan’s father was a man with a sharp mind. He started his own business in the early 1980s, initially trading electronic watches and bell-bottom pants from the coastal regions, gradually accumulating some wealth.

The Xie family’s true fortune came about two years ago, when the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which shocked the world, led to the creation of many millionaires in China.

In the early days of the Soviet Union’s collapse, the financial and economic systems were in complete disarray, and the country faced severe shortages of goods. Everyday items that were insignificant in China could fetch exorbitant prices in Russia.

Without mentioning the businessman who exchanged light industrial products for four civilian airliners, stories of trading a bottle of Erguotou for a fur coat worth thousands of dollars were not uncommon in Russia at the time.

Xie Xuan’s father, Xie Dazhi, recognized the business opportunity as soon as the Soviet Union collapsed. He immediately bought a train ticket from Shishi to Russia.

After a brief inspection in Russia, Xie Dazhi used all his savings and borrowed over a million from the bank to purchase six train cars full of daily necessities.

It turned out that Xie Dazhi’s judgment was spot on. This trip to Russia brought him tens of millions in profit.

By being the first to capture the market, from the end of 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed to the present, Xie Dazhi’s wealth skyrocketed, making him a prominent figure in Shishi City.

However, due to his busy business, Xie Dazhi and his wife had no time to discipline their son. Whenever they returned home, they would leave a stack of cash, unable to manage their son’s studies and life, only satisfying him materially.

Thus, from elementary school, Xie Xuan had never lacked money. Because he was generous, he naturally had a group of people around him who ate and drank at his expense, always praising him to the skies, making him a big brother figure in school.

The teachers at school often received red envelopes from Xie Dazhi, so they turned a blind eye to Xie Xuan’s actions. To be fair, Xie Xuan only bullied classmates and didn’t do anything truly malicious.

However, about half a year ago, Xie Xuan met his match. The incident started when a new female classmate transferred into the class. This was nothing unusual, but the problem was that this classmate was extremely beautiful.

Xie Xuan, who had matured early after secretly watching adult videos at the age of ten, was immediately smitten.

However, to Xie Xuan’s disappointment, the female classmate showed no interest in him. Once, she even kicked him in public, making him feel humiliated.

The people around Xie Xuan were not good influences, and one of them gave him a bad idea.

During the Monday flag-raising ceremony and the school-wide radio calisthenics, Xie Xuan publicly pulled down the pants of the female classmate who was leading the exercises, causing a commotion throughout the school.

Xie Xuan had done worse things before, but his father’s money had always smoothed things over. This time, however, money seemed to lose its power.

The day after the incident, Xie Xuan was taken to the police station.

The police officers who used to be friendly with Xie Dazhi suddenly turned against him, bringing up all of Xie Xuan’s past misdeeds, even the incident of peeping into the girls’ restroom.

Xie Dazhi, a prominent figure in Shishi City, found out that the father of the girl Xie Xuan had humiliated was the newly appointed deputy director of the Shishi City Public Security Bureau, with connections in the capital.

No one wanted to offend such a person. At this point, Xie Dazhi truly understood the meaning of "the common people cannot fight against the officials." His former official friends avoided him, and his personal appeals were rejected outright by the deputy director.

After several months of effort and spending several million, Xie Xuan was still sentenced to one year of re-education through labor and sent to the Shishi City Juvenile Correctional Facility.

It’s easy to imagine how a former school bully like Xie Xuan would be treated upon entering the facility.

Under the "educational" efforts of the more than a dozen inmates, the chubby boy reformed and repented, washing the clothes of everyone in the cell for a whole month. After using his money to win favor, he was finally accepted by the group.

If Xie Dazhi knew that his son, who wouldn’t even pick up a fallen soy sauce bottle, had undergone such a transformation, would he have used the millions he spent on bribes to extend his son’s sentence?

"Hey, it’s Moutai? Little Fatty, did your dad come to visit again?"

Looking at the alcohol on the table, Qin Feng’s eyes lit up. He didn’t smoke much, but in the past half year, he had learned to appreciate wine from his master.

He didn’t know where his master got the alcohol, but Qin Feng had tasted everything from the eight famous Chinese wines to various foreign red wines.

Of course, he didn’t drink to excess. He spent an entire month savoring a bottle of 1912 Bordeaux Cabernet from France.

"Hehe, my dad came yesterday..." The chubby boy leaned close to Qin Feng’s ear and whispered, "I saved two bottles for you, they’re under your bed!"

Being from a business family, the chubby boy’s ability to read the situation was no less than his father’s. He had long realized that Li Lao Da usually deferred to Qin Feng, and after Li Lao Da’s release, Qin Feng would undoubtedly become the leader of the cell.

"Good, you’re thoughtful!" Qin Feng nodded. He usually drank the wine his master provided, and this time, he could use the opportunity to get some good wine for his master.

Just as the chubby boy was about to get closer to Qin Feng, Li Tianyuan pushed him away, pulling Qin Feng to a chair. "Brother Feng, I’m getting out tomorrow. Is there anything you need? I’ll make sure to bring it in!"

Although Qin Feng hadn’t taught Li Tianyuan any specific techniques, practicing the桩功 (zhuang gong) for half a year had brought him many benefits. He had been unbeaten in the correctional facility for the past half year, of course, excluding Qin Feng.

So, several months ago, Li Tianyuan had started calling Qin Feng "Brother Feng." He was a rough but thoughtful person, knowing that with his skills, he wouldn’t last a single round against Qin Feng.

PS: It’s a new day, please give Baojian your new recommendation votes, thank you, friends!

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