Chapter 131: Invitation to the Commode

Ye Chen accepted his fate with a sigh and carried his belongings back to the cell. Rat and Daxia were already waiting for him, and they were in the middle of teaching Liu San a harsh lesson. This scoundrel had dared to act as a mole and frame their "Big Brother," and they were determined to make him pay. They hoisted Liu San up and were forcefully shoving his head into a toilet bowl filled with water.

"Damn you! How dare you betray our Big Brother!"
"You piece of trash, I’ll kill you!"

The two men roared, and Liu San let out miserable screams, but the prison guards did not intervene. They knew better than to interfere in the affairs of this particular cell. When Ye Chen entered and saw the scene, he stepped in to stop them. "That’s enough. Let him be; he was forced into it, wasn't he?"

"Big Brother, you're back?" The two immediately dropped Liu San to the side.

"Big Brother, I was wrong! I’m sorry, please forgive me!" Liu San howled, crawling on the floor toward Ye Chen.

Rat suddenly noticed the items in Ye Chen’s hands and asked in shock, "Big Brother, are you becoming a prison guard?"

"Indeed, I was forced into it," Ye Chen replied helplessly. He took off his prison garb and put on the dark gray guard uniform. It lacked epaulets, bearing only a national emblem badge. Rat and Daxia immediately applauded. "Big Brother, from now on, we’re following your lead! Haha, we won't have to stay locked in these cells forever!"

"Sure, I'll have you move into the guards' quarters later," Ye Chen nodded.

"Forget it. Daxia and I will stay here. Once you're in charge of these people, we can stay undercover to gather intelligence for you," Rat said with a grin. Ye Chen agreed and did not press the matter further.

That afternoon, Ye Chen moved into the guards' quarters. It was a single room, quite sparse, containing only a bed, a bathroom, and a set of wooden sofas. There were no cooking utensils or other necessities. Ye Chen tossed his belongings inside and sat down on the sofa.

Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation. Just as he was about to scan his surroundings, a mature, alluring woman walked in. She smiled and asked, "Do you really intend to live here for the rest of your life?"

"Sister Yan!" Ye Chen’s eyes widened. This woman, as ripe and charming as a peach, could be none other than Sister Yan. He had never expected to see her in such a place. She wore a black leather uniform with a short skirt and black stockings, looking incredibly seductive. Her long, shapely legs were enough to make any man stare. Her black leather jacket was unzipped partway down her chest, revealing a glimpse of her ample cleavage—smooth, fair, and luminous.

"You jerk, what are you looking at?" Seeing Ye Chen’s lustful gaze move from her legs to her chest, Sister Yan snapped, "Keep looking and I’ll dig your eyes out!"

"Uh..." Ye Chen was stunned. In his eyes, Sister Yan had always been a refined woman who never used foul language. He was taken aback by this side of her. He quickly asked, "Sister Yan... what are you doing here?"

"I’ve come to take back my business card," she said with a faint smile.

"Ah!" Ye Chen suddenly recalled what Li Ruo had told him—that Sister Yan’s business card was like a talisman; there was nothing she couldn't accomplish in Jianghuai City. He realized she had come to get him out. His intuition had been right; he had told Warden Dian Ling he would be out soon, and sure enough, help had arrived.

"What? Are you not willing to leave?" she asked with a playful smile.

"Of course I am. But do you intend for me to just walk out with you like this?" Ye Chen laughed. "If that’s the case, I can only say that this place really can't hold me!"

"Hmph, you underestimate me," she scoffed. "Give me back the card."

Ye Chen dutifully took the gold-leafed card from his inner pocket. It had become wrinkled and worn. Seeing the state of the card, Sister Yan frowned in anger. "You little brat! Everyone else treats my card like a sacred relic, but you just stuff it in your pocket and let it get all crumpled!"

"Sister Yan, you’re wrong about that," Ye Chen said, touching his chest. "I’ve always kept you closest to my heart. Others treat you like a holy relic because they see you as a lifeline, but I’m different."

Her eyes lit up. She looked at him with a smile and said, "You little rascal, you certainly have a silver tongue. No wonder little Ruo is so infatuated with you. But I like what I hear. Fine, I’ve decided to help you for free this time."

She took a brand-new, gold-leafed card from her pocket and handed it to him. "Keep this one safe. And keep it closest to your heart—don't you dare lose it, or I'll have your head!"

With that, she turned and left.

"Hey, Sister Yan, when can I get out?" Ye Chen shouted.

"Within three days, someone will come for you," her voice seemed to drift from thin air. By the time Ye Chen rushed out, she had vanished without a trace. He sighed, whispering to himself, "This woman is quite mysterious."

Ye Chen’s promotion to guard left Zhang Dabaid feeling an unprecedented sense of crisis. The anxiety chilled him to the bone. In his office, he smashed cups in a rage. "Damn it! Damn it all! How is Ye Chen qualified to be on equal footing with me? This is too much!"

"Don't worry, Brother Dabaid, Ye Chen won't be enjoying his freedom for long," his subordinates comforted him.

"Exactly, he's just a grasshopper at the end of autumn; he won't be jumping for long!" they agreed.

Zhang Dabaid sneered, "You idiots know nothing. Since the warden promoted him, it means Ye Chen carries weight in her eyes, which means my own standing has diminished!"

"I don't think so, Brother Dabaid. If your standing had dropped, the warden would have had you whipped fifty times for what happened yesterday. Look, nothing happened, did it?" a subordinate said with a smile.

"True, true!" the others chimed in.

"Hmph!" Zhang Dabaid preened. His men were right. The warden hadn't reprimanded him for attacking Ye Chen, which surely meant she was giving him the green light to handle his rival. He felt quite pleased.

However, before he could come up with a plan, a shocking piece of news spread through Prison No. 1: Ye Chen was to be released without charges!

The news hit the prison like a bombshell, leaving everyone stunned. They wondered how Ye Chen, having been sentenced by the court for such a serious crime, could possibly be released. Zhang Dabaid was the most incredulous; Ye Chen had killed his underling, and many powerful figures outside wanted him dead.

"I wonder what kind of game he's playing," Zhang Dabaid muttered coldly.

On the tenth day of Ye Chen's imprisonment, a black Buick business sedan stopped at the prison gate. Two men in black suits stepped out, one carrying a silver briefcase. The man in sunglasses pulled out a red document embossed with the seal of the People's Republic of China and showed it to the guards. The guard took one look, turned pale with shock, and immediately saluted respectfully.

The gates opened, and the two men walked in with stony expressions.

When Warden Dian Ling received word that someone from the central government had arrived, she was shaken. Jianghuai was not a major metropolis; it was a peripheral coastal city. Never in its history had a central official visited this prison. Flustered, she tidied her office and hurried to the entrance to greet them.

She saw the two men approaching, carrying their shimmering briefcases. They smiled upon seeing her. The man in sunglasses reached out a hand and said, "Warden, please excuse our intrusion."

"Not... not at all. Please, come in," she said, ushering them into her office as her assistant served tea.

"Oh, no need for the trouble. We’ll be leaving as soon as we finish our business," the man said with a faint smile.

"May I ask what brings you here?" she asked curiously. The man handed her the red document and said, "We are acting under orders from our superiors to take a man named Ye Chen away."