A week had pa.s.sed since the event that led to Yang Lin being admitted to the hospital. His st.i.tches had been taken off, leaving an healing scar behind.Sitting in bed wearing a lemon hospital gown, a nurse spoke with him regarding his possible discharge for tomorrow and asked how he was feeling at the moment. Earlier, a male dietary aide dressed in crimson colored scrubs, came by to drop off Yang Lin"s food, which remained covered on top of the adjustable bedside table across from him.
Yang Lin told the nurse, he was feeling okay and would not mind being discharged after eating. Nurse Gu was one of the two nurses that took care of him, the other being Nurse Chen.
They were both similar in age and spoke casually together, while giving a run down of what his current condition was. Nurse Gu told him that they could not discharge him today, because not only had the attending doctor signed his release form for the next day, but also discharge meds had to be okayed by the pharmacy to be dispensed on that day. Only then could he sign the discharge papers to be released to go home. Of course, this were only formalities, that would not have applied to him, if he had the money to get another doctor to sign his release papers and get the prescription to buy his meds from a pharmacy outside the hospital.
Having said her piece, the nurse bade the young man goodbye, before turning to leave the room. As soon as he saw her leave, Yang Lin pulled the table closer and took off the plastic cover from the plain cream colored ceramic plate where his meal was served.
With the other hand, he reached for the phone by his side to dial the number of officer Ma. On the second ring, the phone was picked up. After exchanging greetings did Yang Lin tell her the reason for his call.
"You need me to recommend a lawyer for you? Why do you need one?!"
Yang Lin went on to explain that the lawyer was not for him, but for the Zhang heiress. After series of probing questions, did officer Ma get to know that the legal representative of Zhang Mi may not be as helpful as she initially thought.
"Brother Yang, I know someone at XiyuHai firm, her name is Tao Jun, she still owes me a favor. Tell her I sent you. I"ll text you her contact details, let me know if it works out!"
With that said, Yang Lin thanked officer Ma, before ending the call, as he waited for the text message from her.
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PaoYin women prison, it was already three in the afternoon, which was the designated lunchtime and every inmate sat at the rusty blue table and chair. Laid out in a worn out plastic plate was watery food that looked so much like broth, they all dug into it, happily slurping down their meal with a plastic spoon. The only one that didn"t partake of this was the Zhang heiress, despite being there for a week now, she couldn"t bring herself to eat what the others saw as food.
They were all allowed the privilege to eat one carrot as their night snack in their cell and that was it. Zhang Mi always looked forward to nighttime, where she could eat carrot and drink from the plastic cup, where she earlier stored water from the tap located outside the dinning hall very close to the field, where mandatory sport of all kinds took place after breakfast. She would stand in line as other inmates to get her serving of food, on getting her plate, only to leave it on the table untouched.
Still staring at her plate, not knowing that everyday her action was causing other inmates to be very angry, they saw it as a "show of superiority" and kept waiting for the time when they could put her in her place.
One of the inmates, a skinny looking plain-faced woman that looked to be forty something, walked up to her, with plate in hand. On getting close, she raised her hand high up, emptying the contents of her plate on Zhang Mi"s head. They all watched as chunks of dirty yellow liquid ran down, as it dripped everywhere.
The Zhang heiress sat where she was, too numb to get back at the other inmate. Enraged that her action, wasn"t yielding any response from the other woman, that was when she grabbed her by the hair, forcefully pulling her until she landed on the cold dirty floor that was covered in yucky liquid.
The other woman kept punching her, as Zhang Mi used her hands to protect her face from the blows, cowering in fear. While this was going one, Guard Hsu stood by as she watched what was going on. Almost ten minutes after the fight came an announcement came over the public address system of the prison.
"Inmate 714! You have a visitor! Inmate 714! You have a visitor!"
Only then did the beating stop, as the other woman let go of Zhang Mi. At first she wondered if someone had come in to pull the woman away from her or if it was her a.s.sailant the call was for. It took a while to register into her head that the person being called was none other than herself!
Struggling to get up from where she was, the Zhang heiress held on to one of the legs of the table, to steady herself, as she rose up with difficulty. With one step in front of the other, as though her movement was being drawn by a string, she began walking in the direction of the guard that just walked in, to guide her to where her visitor was waiting.