Scarlet Descent

Early the next morning, Wei Wei woke up on time from his temporary hard bed.

After eating four steamed bun baskets - two with fresh meat, one with beef, and one with cabbage and tofu - plus a large bowl of salty sweet mung bean soup and six tea eggs from a small stall with a rain canopy on the street downstairs, he drove his Jeep and arrived at the security office before 8:30.

Although from yesterday's experience, this security office seemed to have rather lax rules and the leader was easy to talk to. But after all, he was a newcomer who had just arrived, so Wei Wei still felt he should show respect to his seniors.

The security office was very quiet, with no one by the pool table, only Zhu Zai watching over a pot of millet porridge boiling on the stove.

"Where is everyone?"

Wei Wei found it strange—had these people not gotten up yet?

"They all went out, early in the morning."

Zhu Zai turned his head and explained with a smile, then his eyes lit up: "Little Wei, have you had breakfast?"

Wei Wei saw his expectant expression and shook his head: "No."

"Great." Zhu Zai suddenly became happy: "They left in a hurry, barely ate anything." Saying this, he hurriedly moved a table over, then brought out a basket of self-fried youtiao (Note: A type of fried dough stick, commonly eaten for breakfast in China) from the kitchen, took out several small side dishes, a full plate of fried eggs, bacon, and finally brought the bubbling millet porridge from the stove to Wei Wei.

The two of them, each with a pair of chopsticks and a large bowl, directly grabbed two youtiao and started eating breakfast noisily in this small courtyard. The youtiao was fried so well, golden and soft. The side dishes were also well-pickled, crisp and flavorful without being too salty. The millet porridge was also cooked well, even releasing oil...

However, with such a good breakfast waiting, what matter had caused them to go out so early?

Just as Wei Wei was thinking about how to ask without seeming abrupt as a newcomer, he heard the sound of a door opening, and a slender girl holding a newspaper slowly walked down from the team members' dormitory upstairs.

Seeing her, Zhu Zai became even more excited and hurriedly waved: "Feifei, come and have breakfast."

"I'm not eating, I'm on a diet..." Intern Ye Feifei answered casually, looked up, and immediately saw Wei Wei at the dining table. She was startled, even dropping the newspaper in her hand.

Wei Wei put down his youtiao, wiped his mouth, and gave her a gentle smile. He didn't expect this little intern to be here too. She had fainted from fright yesterday when she saw him, so she must be very familiar with the case he was involved in back then.

However, that incident was very complicated. Whether it was his lucky survival afterwards, then his unfortunate selection to enter the training camp, or his subsequent experiences, all involved many complex matters. How should he explain to her...

Just as he was thinking about this, he saw Ye Feifei react, quickly picking up the newspaper. She sat down next to Wei Wei and Zhu Zai like a child who had done something wrong, unconsciously sitting closer to Zhu Zai.

In a voice as soft as a mosquito's, she said quietly: "I'm sorry, Wei... Brother Little Wei."

"Hm?" Wei Wei, who had just been thinking about how to explain, was caught off guard by this sudden apology.

"Last night, I was rude, I didn't even ask clearly, no, I didn't ask at all, and just pointed a gun at you..."

"Later, later I even fainted from fright..." Ye Feifei became more and more embarrassed as she spoke, and couldn't help stomping her foot: "Oh, how embarrassing..." "This..." Wei Wei didn't mind yesterday's incident, but he couldn't understand how she had changed so much overnight. He turned to look at Zhu Zai, only to see him seriously eating his meal, deaf to the conversation between the two.

"I only found out about this after I woke up."

Ye Feifei sat down at the table, trying hard to explain: "The captain has already explained it to me..." "He said you were actually wrongly accused, and the higher-ups have cleared up this matter, so they let you come back." "Because your studies and bright future were affected, the higher-ups also felt guilty, and specially arranged for you to join us here." "Firstly, it's for us to take care of you and help you quickly enter society." "Secondly, they're also worried that the real culprit hasn't been caught and might harm you, so it's also to protect you..." "Sigh, he also scolded me quite a bit, saying I scared the newly arrived colleague." "I'm sorry, really sorry, this matter is already a scar in your heart, I shouldn't have brought it up, please forgive me." "..."

As she spoke, her face became redder and redder, and she suddenly stood up, bowing deeply to Wei Wei: "I'm sorry."

"Uh..." Wei Wei swallowed the food in his mouth with difficulty and said: "It's alright."

Now he understood what had happened, but he also felt endlessly curious:

Just like that? That Captain Ouyang had glossed over such a strange and complex matter with such a simple reason? The key is, she actually believed it? Logically speaking, even he himself didn't know what had happened to him. After all, many things related to the training camp wouldn't appear in his files. Look, this little girl not only no longer feared or doubted him, but even seemed full of guilt? Of course, he couldn't guess that at this moment, Ye Feifei was also thinking about what Captain Ouyang had earnestly said to her yesterday:

"People's fates are different, you know. Some are born into rich families, going out in Rolls-Royces, while others grow up in garbage dumps and even get wrongly accused and sent to prison. Now that the case has been cleared up, he has no home left, his prime years have been wasted. What can such a grown man do now? We can only arrange for him to do some temporary work here for now. Tsk tsk, how pitiful..."

"..."

Thinking about this, Ye Feifei felt even more guilty, her eyes even slightly reddening. Beside them, Zhu Zai was taking small sips of millet porridge, blinking his eyes a few times, looking at the two polite people with a slightly confused expression.

...

...

"I've been following this case all along, I never thought I'd actually meet you, and even become colleagues."

After Wei Wei accepted her apology, Ye Feifei's mood seemed to improve. She finally dared to look directly at Wei Wei's face. While putting away the newspaper, she said: "Brother Wei... you seem to be older than me, is it okay if I call you Little Wei Brother?" "I'm really curious, don't be angry..." "I remember at the very beginning, the newspaper said that after you were arrested, weren't you immediately..." "..."

Zhu Zai, drinking porridge beside them, also pricked up his ears. "Still need to explain, huh..."

Wei Wei thought helplessly to himself, while eating his porridge, he sighed lazily and said: "I wasn't executed. It was supposed to happen, but at the last moment, someone finally believed what I said, and a temporary document came through, saving my little life." "That's great, I knew there were many doubts in this case." Ye Feifei clenched her slender little fist forcefully, asking with concern: "Then what?" Wei Wei looked at her and shook his head, saying: "Then I was locked up in a place, and after going through certain tests and reviews, I started to endure physical limits and boring repetition every day, almost squeezing out our last drop of sweat." "Labor reform factory?" Ye Feifei asked sympathetically: "Was it tiring?" "Extremely tiring." Wei Wei said frankly: "That place was simply not fit for humans. There were several times when I was about to break down." "Others weren't any better than me. Some wanted to escape, some desperately tried to use connections to find people to leave, but the outcomes were all very bad." "It's just that I had neither connections nor networks, and I knew I couldn't escape, so I just had to endure it." "Fortunately, I also made a few good friends there later, and we endured together. It wasn't bad to find joy in suffering." "..."

"Right, right, right, shouldn't have run, how could it be so easy to find connections to get out of prison, those who could get out wouldn't have gone in in the first place..."

Ye Feifei sighed along, moving closer to Wei Wei, asking with concern: "Then what happened next?" "After that..." Wei Wei thought for a moment and said: "We participated in several wars." "Ah? Wars?" Ye Feifei was stunned for a moment, then reacted: "You mean gang fights, right?" Thinking this way, she became even more worried, saying anxiously: "I've heard that gang fights in prison are very fierce, those desperados kill without blinking an eye. I've also heard that the best-selling item in prison is soap... uh, Brother Wei, were you guys okay?" Beside them, Zhu Zai couldn't even eat his youtiao anymore. "Uh, it was okay..." "Soap wasn't very popular where we were, everyone used shower gel..." Wei Wei was also stunned for a moment, struggling to answer: "Although those times participating in wars were indeed quite dangerous, we were lucky enough. Many of the companions who went together died, but a few of us who were close friends survived. Perhaps it's true that great danger brings great fortune, our hard days finally came to an end. After applying, I came back here..." "That's good, that's good..." Ye Feifei let out a long sigh of relief, saying: "The inspectors are still very capable, they finally uncovered the truth..." Beside them, Zhu Zai really couldn't listen anymore and silently took the pot and bowls to go wash them. "This girl is really... naive..." And Wei Wei, who had explained his experiences over the past three years, also felt slightly emotional. He remembered what this girl had just said, and slightly turned his gaze to her porcelain-like little face, smiling: "You just said there were many doubts in this case?" "Yes, that's right." Ye Feifei immediately nodded and said: "Brother Wei, I was particularly interested in your case before. I suspect it's not as simple as it appears on the surface. For example, those strange symbols painted on the wall seemed to be some kind of distorted Life Church liturgy..." "Alright..." Wei Wei nodded. If it was just these things, it didn't count as any new clues. Ordinary people might not know, but those above had long since investigated and cleared it up. But since Ye Feifei wanted to talk, he also listened intentionally or unintentionally.

However, just at this moment, suddenly a phone ring came through. The ringtone was very loud, coming from Captain Ouyang's office, audible throughout the entire courtyard. Inexplicably, it gave people a sense of urgency.

Zhu Zai, who was washing the pot, froze for a moment, immediately put down the pot, and pushed open the door to enter the captain's office.

"Yes."

"Okay." "I understand..." "..."

After a few brief sounds, Zhu Zai walked out with a somewhat serious expression and said to Wei Wei: "The captain called back, it seems something has happened in the city. They don't have enough manpower there, so they want us... want you to hurry over and help maintain order and such..."

"Oh, alright." Wei Wei agreed, looking at him curiously, and asked: "What about you?" "Me?" Zhu Zai said: "I'm washing the pot!" "..."

Wei Wei didn't know how to respond, immediately stood up with his jacket, saying: "Then I'll go now."

"I, I'll go too." Before Zhu Zai could be happy, Ye Feifei suddenly stood up raising her hand: "I'll go too, I'm familiar with this place, I can show you the way."