0142 Even a prince is subject to the law. (Bonus chapter at 1200 beads)
"Number 2043, your family has come to visit you." The prison guard opened the iron gate and shouted to the man in the corner.
The man, kneeling in the corner with the back of his head against the mottled wall, didn't even open his eyes. Without hesitation, he said coldly, "I won't see you."
The prison guard seemed used to this kind of response. Before leaving, he remembered what the woman had told him and repeated, "Your family said that this is her first and last visit to you."
After a long silence, just when the prison guards thought he had fallen asleep, the man in the corner suddenly opened his eyes.
"Crunch"
The rusty iron gate was pushed open.
Jiang Jifan, who had been sitting for nearly an hour, looked up and his eyes trembled almost imperceptibly when he saw that familiar figure.
Despite the complicated visitation procedures, she still took a day off to visit him.
Jiang Jiping, dressed in a gray prison uniform, stood quietly at the door, staring at her until the prison guard behind him urged him on, at which point he continued walking forward.
When he sat down in front of the glass window, Jiang Jifan looked at the silver shackles on his wrists that gleamed faintly under the light and found them extremely irritating.
Once in prison, all inmates were required to shave their heads into neat, short buzz cuts. Without the cover of their hair, his already sharp eyebrows and eyes appeared even more menacing.
"The visit will last for a total of thirty minutes. Please talk quietly. If any arguments or other disturbances occur during the visit, we reserve the right to terminate your visit."
After the prison guard finished speaking, he removed the handcuffs from the man's handcuffs and turned to leave, leaving only the two men facing each other in the room.
Jiang Jifan mentally prepared himself before reaching for the telephone receiver.
Jiang Jiping glanced down at the microphone on the table, and only picked it up after a long while.
She looked at him calmly and said, "I thought you wouldn't agree to come out and see me."
Jiang Jiping's eyes darkened, his expression turning icy. "Jiang Jifan, how dare you come here?"
He clearly already knew that he was the one who reported him.
"Because you are my brother." Jiang Jifan pursed his lips and said calmly.
He scoffed as if he'd heard the funniest joke: "Jiang Jifan, you still remember I'm your brother?"
Jiang Jifan remained silent.
Seeing her so unmoved, as if she were the only one putting on this farce, Jiang Jiping's eyes suddenly turned fierce when he thought that the mastermind behind his entry was actually his own sister.
He raised his free hand and slammed it hard against the glass window in front of her, yelling, "Jiang Jifan, do you have no heart?!"
"Number 2043, be quiet!" The prison guard, who had been observing their conversation from outside the door, saw him suddenly become agitated and, fearing he might do something uncontrollable, immediately spoke up to stop him.
Jiang Jifan had never seen him look like he wanted to devour her. Her heart was filled with complicated emotions, but her beautiful face remained calm as she stared at him expressionlessly. She parted her lips slightly and coldly uttered, "Even princes are subject to the law."
After a long while, Jiang Jiping withdrew his hand, his sharp jaw tightened, and he stared intently at her.
"Why?"
He knew Jiang Jifan so well that even now, he still wanted to find out her reasons for doing this.
Even if he dies, he wants to die knowing why.
She recalled what Yao Man had said to her back then, and with a strained voice, she managed to squeeze out, "Do you know, Tan Gaolang is dead."
Jiang Jifan once absurdly thought that perhaps he had his own reasons for choosing to go down this wrong path, but the tragic deaths of Tan Gaolang and his family of three later dealt her a fatal blow.
Difficult circumstances should not be an excuse for anyone to commit a crime.
Her long-standing orthodox education and all the values she had come to know in this world made it impossible for her to shield him.
"If a prince breaks the law, a commoner is subject to the same punishment."
The lessons learned from textbooks are never as profound as personal experience.
He didn't know how much willpower Jiang Jifan had to endure countless sleepless nights to chew on those words, swallowing them down like blood, just so he could repeat them to him so calmly today.
After hearing her recount how Tan Gaolang's family had perished overnight, Jiang Jiping remained silent.
Jiang Jifan still had high hopes for his reaction after hearing about this, but what he got was his complete silence.
When the prison guard reminded her that there were five minutes left before the visitation ended, Jiang Jiping, who had been keeping his head down, suddenly looked up at her one last time, gave an inexplicable laugh, then threw down the microphone and turned to leave without a second thought.
By the time the recollection ended, Jiang Jifan's mood had calmed down considerably.
Once she had calmed down a bit, Tantai Qing took advantage of the situation and carried her to the bathroom for a hot bath.
Immersed in the warm bathwater, the chill from the rain dissipated, and Jiang Jifan sat obediently in the tub, letting him clean her body and restore her warmth.
Kneeling beside the bathtub, Tantai Qing cupped her cheeks and kissed her tenderly as if she were a precious treasure. "Jifan, you are very brave. If it were me, I'm afraid I wouldn't have the same determination as you."
People tend to be more soft-hearted and indulgent towards their blood relatives. Faced with the choice between justice and family ties, it would be extremely painful for her to choose between the two.
As he wiped away the messy tear stains on her face with a towel, he gently comforted her, saying, "Jifan, you did nothing wrong. This shouldn't be a reason for you to blame yourself."
The wound that had been blooming in her heart was soothed by his few words. Jiang Jifan looked up at him, and although she did not speak, her eyes expressed everything she wanted to say.
Tantai Qing wiped away the tears that welled up in the corners of her eyes with his fingertips, a gentle smile on his lips. "Once you've cried this time tonight, you're not allowed to cry anymore."
She was slightly taken aback, but the next second she heard him say, "Otherwise, I'm afraid your eyes will hurt again tomorrow morning."
Jiang Jifan leaned on his shoulder and softly replied, "Okay."
Author: I won't defend Zha Ge's drug use; there's no way to defend him. He deserves to go to jail. I'll write about the reasons for his drug use in a later epilogue, but it's not about whitewashing him; it's just a account of what happened. Because of the character development of Zha Ge, I had some ideological clashes with other friends, which is why I asked you on Weibo about your understanding of "both righteous and evil." Zha Ge's character is very complex, which once made me very uncomfortable. But I firmly believe that no one is born evil. Everyone goes through a gradual process from good to bad, and there are traceable steps. It's not contradictory for an "evil person" to have "good" in their heart. I won't defend the "evil" he did, but I will do my best to present the "good" that should be presented. Even the most hateful person has a pitiable side. As for what kind of person this character is, I'll leave that to you, the readers, to judge. Finally, I'm ashamed to say that I actually considered having the male lead secretly help Zha Ge after he went to jail so that he could live a better life. Fortunately, some ideological clashes with friends made me realize that someone like Zha Ge shouldn't have to live a good life. He should spend the rest of his life in prison, paying the price for every mistake he made, filled with remorse every day and night, so that he would never dare to have such thoughts again. Fortunately, fortunately, I didn't leave out that absurd detail, otherwise it wouldn't just be the characters I created that collapsed, but even the entire value system of the text would have become a basis for my defense.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com