At around one in the afternoon, they all converged outside the premises of PaoYin District Women Prison. This time both men arrived about the same time separately in a cab. Lu Yi was dressed somberly in dark suits with a white s.h.i.+rt and black tie, he had on black leather shoes and sock on both feet. While, Yang Lin had on the usual. Almost ten minutes later, Tao Jun was dropped off by a cab, she wore a corporate gown suit of black, pearl studded earrings adorned each ears, having light makeup on and this was finished off with a pale pink lipstick. Her hair was styled the same way, falling loosely against her shoulders. In black heels and a dark brown leather business bag on one hand, Tao Jun slowly approached the men that stood waiting for her.
The guards already knew from the way they dressed, it was most likely they were there for a visit. They spoke to Lu Yi when he arrived and he explained that he was expecting two other people to enter with him to see Zhang Mi. Therefore, when Yang Lin got out of the cab and stood four feet away from Lu Yi, the guards didn"t bother to question him already a.s.suming he was one of the other two that Lu Yi talked about. Even the serious way they were both dressed was enough to clear the doubt from their mind regarding his presence in front of the prison gate, which had spa.r.s.ely growth of greenery with a few houses some distance away.
By the time Tao Jun arrived and greeted Yang Lin and Lu Yi, before turning to exchange greetings with the uniformed male guards. All four guards concluded in their mind, that the group was complete. Before then, other visitors had walked by and were shown in by a guard. PaoYin prison had more than one visitation room, depending on the nature of the visit, if all five rooms were filled up, then the visitors would have to be shown the door and rechecked by signing a register on getting in, which was usually a small cubicle almost immediately after entering the premises, located close to the office of Guard Niu.
If a lawyer had to discuss confidential information with the consent of the client in most case being the inmate, a room with no one except the lawyer and involved parties will be a.s.signed along with a guard that will accompany the prisoner and would stay by the door, in the event the prisoner was acting strange or going berserk.
After signing in, all three were handed over to a female guard on hearing the nature of their visit, a room was a.s.signed to them with the door firmly closed after the guard saw that they had taken a seat, before walking out of the room.
Lu Yi kept looking around, since it was his first time there, while Yang Lin stared off into s.p.a.ce lost in his own thought. Tao Jun was looking through some doc.u.ments that she had pulled out of her bag which was resting on the metal blue table. It was afternoon, but the fan barely kept off the heat from reaching them, it didn"t take long for Lu Yi to take off his suit, but Yang Lin and Tao Jun remained unperturbed by the slight moist heat.
It took about fifteen minutes later, before the Zhang heiress was brought in, but this time she came in with Guard Niu, a senior guard had never in the history of PaoYin District Prison ever walked in with an inmate for prison visitation, this was better left in the hands of the junior guards.
The men didn"t know the significance of this, but Tao Jun"s eyes narrowed on witnessing the way that the senior guard practically cuddled the Zhang heiress as they both approached the group of three by the table.
Lu Yi rose up to meet her by the door saying, "Hi ZiZi! It"s good to see you, last time we didn"t get the chance to talk and catch up on old times."
Embracing her as spoke with much warmth infused in his voice, the other woman had to step aside while the two held each other for quiet some time, before Lu Yi released her from his arms.
"It is good to see you Lu Yi."
That was all the Zhang heiress had to say to him, not knowing how to take his presence alongside the others. Tao Jun rose to give the Zhang heiress an handshake, while Yang Lin gave a deep curtsied to his former boss.
Lastly, all three exchanged greetings with Guard Niu, they had to wait for Zhang Mi to sit before settling down, in accordance to the prior sitting arrangement that the lawyer spake at length to the other two.
Lu Yi sat facing Zhang Mi, while Yang Lin sat beside Lu Yi and was facing Tao Jun. This meant, the lawyer was sitting beside the Zhang heiress. Guard Niu had to excuse herself from the room, since it wasn"t customary for her to be present while an inmate was with a lawyer.
"Miss Zhang, I"m Tao Jun and I will be representing your case at the Supreme court. Please let me know all of your concerns regarding your case and I"ll work along with you in resolving them."
Tao Jun addressed the Zhang heiress in a business-like tone.
"Why are you taking up my case?! If it goes to the supreme court and you lose. I"ll remain behind bars for many years!"
Zhang Mi spoke with so much pain in her heart, her eyes br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears, that threatened to fall at anytime. She didn"t know if asking for an appeal will help or ruin her life forever.
Yang Lin had a tight look on, while Lu Yi looked at her with eyes full of sympathy. Only the lawyer remained unfazed during the outburst from the Zhang heiress. All four exchanged glances amongst themselves.