Su Mingfu had already fallen asleep on the table, with a silly grin on his face.
Su Jianguo looked at his son, then at the pitch-black night outside the window, and finally nodded.
"Then...then I'll stay for one night."
Grandpa Su slapped the table with delight.
"Alright! Jianjun, go and heat up the kang (heated brick bed) in the west room!"
Outside, the cold wind howled, causing the window frames to vibrate slightly.
Inside, however, the house was warm and cozy, with the family sitting around the kang (a heated brick bed), talking and laughing, as if time had stood still at that moment.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
In the prison on the outskirts of Beijing, the barbed wire on the high walls gleamed coldly in the moonlight.
Inside the cell, Su Mingde curled up on the bed in the corner, listening to the sporadic sounds of firecrackers coming from afar.
"Hey, Su family, what are you thinking about?"
The scarred man in the next bed kicked his foot.
"It's Chinese New Year, tell me a joke."
Su Mingde didn't look up, but just shrank further into the corner.
This is his first Spring Festival spent here.
The aroma of the New Year's Eve dinner in my memory has become blurred, leaving only the lingering musty smell and stench of sweat in the prison cell.
"Stop pretending to be dead!"
Scarface grabbed him by the collar.
"I heard your dad's made it big now? Why don't you get some good food?"
Su Mingde clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides.
He recalled the consequences of his previous act of resistance.
Three days of confinement and bruises all over his body.
"Brother Long, don't take it to heart."
Old Li, who slept in the upper bunk, poked his head out.
"That kid's a real quiet type."
Scarface spat and let go.
"What bad luck! To run into such a jinx during the New Year."
The lights in the cell suddenly went out; according to regulations, the lights should be turned off promptly at nine o'clock.
Su Mingde finally breathed a sigh of relief and opened his eyes wide in the darkness.
"Virtue."
Old Zhou, who was in the opposite bed, suddenly called to him in a low voice.
"What's your decision?"
Su Mingde did not answer immediately.
Old Zhou was the best friend Su Mingde made during his time in prison.
Three days ago, Lao Zhou secretly told him about an escape plan.
During the Spring Festival, security is lax, allowing them to create chaos and escape.
"Old Liu is on duty tonight."
Old Zhou continued to whisper.
"He gets sleepy when he drinks. We started digging at 2 PM, and the tunnel had already reached the wall."
Su Mingde's heart began to pound violently.
Freedom, a word that was once within reach yet out of reach, exploded in his mind at this moment.
"I'm joining."
He finally spoke.
Time slips away quietly.
Inside the prison, Su Mingde was holding a flashlight and using a secretly sharpened spoon handle to continue digging a tunnel in the corner of the wall.
His fingers were bleeding, but the pain only made him more alert.
"Soon."
Old Zhou whispered in his ear.
"If we dig for another half hour, we can get to the outside of the wall."
Su Mingde nodded and continued digging mechanically.
He thought of Liu Meijuan, he thought of Su Jianguo, and he thought of everything he once had.
Overwhelming hatred gnawed at his heart like a venomous snake, but now, he had only one thought.
Escape.
It was exactly 2:00 AM.
The prison corridors were quiet.
Just as Lao Zhou had predicted, Lao Liu, who was on duty, was snoring on the table.
"Now!"
Old Zhou gave a low shout.
Scarface pulled a homemade Molotov cocktail from under the bed.
Made from rags and stolen alcohol.
He lit a match and threw it violently into the corridor outside the cell.
"Fire! Help!"
Old Zhou suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.
The fire spread rapidly, and thick smoke soon filled the corridor.
The prisoners in the other cells were awakened and began frantically shaking the iron doors.
"What's going on!"
Old Liu was startled awake and panicked when he saw the firelight.
"Fire! Fire! Help!"
The entire prison was in complete chaos.
More guards were woken up and hurriedly opened the cell doors to direct the prisoners to evacuate.
"Quick! Now!"
Old Zhou, along with Su Mingde and Scarface, took advantage of the chaos to slip into the tunnel they had been digging for three months.
The tunnel was narrow and damp, so the three of them could only crawl forward.
Su Mingde's knees were scraped raw, but he couldn't feel any pain.
A breath of fresh air drifted in from ahead.
"arrive!"
Scarface let out an excited whisper and pushed aside the last loose brick.
The cold night wind rushed into the tunnel, and Su Mingde breathed it in greedily.
The taste of freedom, he thought, this is the taste of freedom.
The three men emerged from the tunnel and found themselves in the wasteland outside the prison walls.
In the distance, the sounds of sirens and fire trucks mingled together, and the flames illuminated half the sky.
"Split up and run!"
After saying that, Lao Zhou disappeared into the night.
Scarface patted Su Mingde on the shoulder.
"Good luck, kid."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Su Mingde stood there, suddenly at a loss.
Where should he go?
Going home?
still?
The cold wind howled, scattering the white breath he exhaled.
Su Mingde finally chose a direction, took a step, and disappeared into the darkness.
The fire was extinguished after two hours.
The chaos in the prison has subsided.
The fire has been extinguished.
However, the warden listened to the report with a livid expression.
"Three prisoners escaped?"
He roared.
"Search! Search the entire city!"
The prison guards scattered, and the barking of the police dogs broke the morning's tranquility.
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