Chapter 15: Cage (Part 2)

  After being detained in the detention center for nearly three months, a police car stopped outside the detention center and Qin Feng, handcuffed, was taken to the provincial capital's juvenile labor camp. The shocking blood case that shook the small town finally came to an end.

  Although people's lives seem to have changed little, the martial arts schools that were once everywhere have been closed more than half, perhaps this is the aftermath of Qin Feng's injury in learning martial arts.

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  In the suburbs of Shijiazhuang City, there is a famous Taihang Mountain. Under Taihang Mountain, there is a heavily guarded high wall and courtyard. On the five-meter-high surrounding wall, electric wires are stretched in all directions.

  This is the Hebei Provincial Juvenile Reformatory, which was just completed last year. Due to financial constraints, this reformatory was originally converted from a provincial prison. Except for the prisoners who were transferred to other prisons, the original guards were all retained.

  "Qin Feng, 14 years old, convicted of intentional homicide and sentenced to five years in prison, go ahead!"

  In the duty room of the labor camp, the police officers and guards who escorted Qin Feng completed the handover. After taking a group photo, Qin Feng was given a blue uniform and his hair, which had grown about an inch longer, was shaved again into a buzz cut.

  After completing a series of pre-imprisonment procedures, a thirty-something police officer came before Qin Feng.

  "Qin Feng, I am your squadron leader Li Fan. From now on, I will be in charge of your reform and learning. You are still young, and I hope you can put aside your burden and seriously reform, striving to become a person who is useful to society as soon as possible."

  According to regulations, Li Fan told Qin Feng about the rules of the labor camp, but his eyes were very curious and sizing up Qin Feng.

  In the 1980s, there was a movie that was extremely popular at one time, which is "Juvenile Delinquents". This work put forward the view of "saving children and cultivating talents", reminding people to pay attention to the psychological changes and living environment of juvenile delinquents, and strengthening people's sense of social responsibility.

  As the phenomenon of juvenile delinquency increases, the state has also increased its investment in the management and reform of juvenile offenders. Li Fan is an expert in the field of juvenile crime psychology, who while supervising the reform of prisoners, is also studying the psychology of these children.

  However, from Qin Feng's eyes, Li Fan couldn't see any clues.

  This child appeared very calm, without the usual panic and fear of a juvenile offender, nor did he have that restless look. His calmness made Li Fan feel somewhat uneasy in his heart, for he knew about Qin Feng's case.

  "Captain, I know. I will reform sincerely." Looking at Li Fan in front of him wearing a police uniform, Qin Feng nodded slightly. From the day the verdict was announced, he had not planned to obediently go and serve his sentence.

  As he entered the gate of this reformed labor camp, Qin Feng was silently observing the sentry post of the armed police, the distance between the gate and the prison warning line, all of which were taken in by Qin Feng.

  "Alright, Xiao Wang, take Qin Feng to his cell and introduce him to his cellmates."

  Li Fan stared at Qin Feng for a while before instructing one of his attendants to take Qin Feng away. After Qin Feng was out of his sight, Li Fan's eyebrows furrowed involuntarily.

  "Li, it seems you're quite concerned about this kid?"

  A man in his forties with a rugged face laughed and said, "I'm Zhou Dalong, Li Fan's deputy."

  At first, Zhou Dalong was quite resistant to having a thirty-year-old young man as his leader, but after more than a year, Zhou Dalong was convinced that Li Fan was indeed very capable in managing juvenile delinquents.

  Li Fan shook his head and said, "This prisoner is a bit special, let's observe him carefully."

  Qin Feng didn't know that he was being targeted despite his low-key nature, but he didn't care anyway. As long as he had the chance, he would definitely escape this prison.

  "Qin Feng, he is your team leader, named Li Tianyuan."

  Wang, the warden, opened the door of the cell and beckoned to a robust young man, saying: "A new guy has arrived, Li Tianyuan, I'll hand him over to you. Let him memorize the prison rules well, and also tell him about the rest and study schedules."

  "King Guan teaches, you can rest assured, coming to me is like a dragon that must coil!"

  The boy who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old responded with a "yes" and quickly sent the guard out of the cell.

  The country attaches great importance to the management and education of juvenile delinquents. The original dormitory-style cells have been converted into upper and lower bunks, with a table in between. At this moment, more than ten big and small kids are sitting around the table in a circle, reciting prison rules.

  It wasn't until the teacher with the surname Wang left that those serious-looking kids suddenly swarmed up, surrounding Qin Feng. Come to think of it, which of the youngsters who made it here was a good kid? The earlier demeanor was just an act.

  "Hey kid, what's your name? What did you do to end up in here? Tell me all about it..."

  Li Tianyuan, who was respectful in front of the instructor, now had a different expression on his face. He somehow got hold of a cigarette and put it in his mouth, and a young man hastily lit it for him.

  In addition, there were two more people standing at the door of the cell looking out. They were on the lookout and would immediately alert those inside the cell if a guard was approaching.

  "Hey kid, Boss is asking you something, didn't you hear?" Seeing Qin Feng seemingly spaced out, a young man pushed him and revealed a fierce glint in his eyes.

  The juvenile labor education house is not as strictly managed as a prison, and there are rarely any heavy physical labor reforms. Most of the time, these young offenders are attending political classes and studying, and their days can be said to be extremely dull.

  So in this case, every time a new prisoner comes in, they will be overjoyed because bullying the new prisoner has always been a tradition in prisons or labor camps. As long as no one dies or becomes disabled, even the guards rarely intervene.

  "My name is Qin Feng, I was sent here because of a fight."

  That young man pushed him, Qin Feng retreated two steps back, his face showing a fearful expression, and said: "I'll never dare to fight again, don't hit me."

  "Look at you, you're so pathetic, fighting is nothing, I've killed people!"

  Seeing Qin Feng's appearance, a group of young people burst out laughing. In '93, even organized crime among adults was rare, let alone among these youngsters.

  Most juvenile delinquents are brought in because of lax family discipline and getting into fights on the streets.

  However, influenced by some Hong Kong and Taiwan gangster movies, these youngsters do not think they are doing anything wrong. Even after being sent to a juvenile detention center, each one is like a fierce little rooster, and several fights break out every day.

  Just like Li Tianyuan, he was in the position of squad leader in the cell, although he was unanimously elected by the people in the cell, but before the election, he used his fists to pull votes, and whoever had bigger fists had the final say, this was also an unbreakable truth in this place.

  "You've grown up so big, but one look and you're still a softie."

  Li Tianyuan looked at Qin Feng with disdain and said, "Go over there and squat in a horse stance, then recite the prison rules. Tonight, I'll be inspecting, and if you make one mistake, you won't eat dinner."

  Although these half-grown children don't understand that their own happiness is built on others' suffering, they have many ways to bully people. Every new student will be punished once.

  "Yes, boss!"

  Qin Feng has been very gentle, wandering with his sister for four or five years. What kind of white eyes hasn't he suffered? If he had resisted everything, he would have been beaten to death by others long ago.

  What's more important is that Qin Feng doesn't want to expose his martial arts skills. As the saying goes, "people fear fame and pigs fear strength". Exposing himself too much would not be beneficial for Qin Feng's escape plan.

  Qin Feng's performance made Li Tianyuan and others feel very bored. Qin Feng's horse stance, which was about to collapse, was quite laughable, but he managed to stand until dinner time, leaving Li Tianyuan without an excuse to beat him up.

  Dinner was actually quite good, much better than the guard's place. Two dishes, one soup, one meat and one vegetable dish, plus a plate of pickled vegetables, mantou to fill up, but that pot of meat dish was placed in front of Li Tianyuan, only a few people who were close to him could eat it.

  For Qin Feng, it was already a good treatment to eat pickled mustard greens and steamed buns. As for Li Tianyuan and others who kept provoking him with their gaze, Qin Feng had always been lowering his head.

  After dinner, the boys were concentrated in a large room to watch the news broadcast together. In this room, there were 12 cells from the East District of the labor camp, with more than 100 boys gathered together.

  Each cell's juvenile delinquents were sitting together, using those plastic small stools. However, the atmosphere in the TV room didn't seem too good, with some of the juveniles staring at each other.

  "Boss, that Wu guy is staring at you again with his eyes, let's take care of him?"

  After a little afternoon together, Qin Feng knew that the person who spoke was called Jiang Ping, who was caught for theft. This kid had a good eye and was skilled at flattering people, so after coming in, he followed Li Tianyuan closely and didn't suffer any losses.

  As for Li Tianyuan, in Qin Feng's eyes, he was just a brainless guy.

  Li Tianyuan is sixteen years old this year, a native of Shishi City. His parents divorced when he was six years old, and both remarried, neither wanting him, so Li Tianyuan grew up with his grandfather.

  Because his grandfather was old and couldn't take care of him, Li Tianyuan dropped out of school at the age of 11 or 12 and hung out with a group of social youths four or five years older than him. In that atmosphere, how could he have learned well?

  At first, Li Tianyuan just followed behind the group of kids, waving flags and shouting slogans. Gradually, he became bolder and even dared to charge forward during fights.

  At Li Tianyuan's age, it feels great to walk with his arms akimbo and be feared by others. Plus, he can also extort some money from some students, so Li Tianyuan is very satisfied with this kind of life.

  At fifteen years old, Li Tianyuan became the leader of that small gang due to his strong physique and fearless fighting spirit. Ambition also began to swell in this child's heart.

  PS: First update, cough cough, let's make it a habit to vote for recommendations, new books really need this, thank you friends!