Chapter 7 I'm not giving up on you
As soon as the judge made an announcement, the courtroom was filled with murmurs as people had different reactions. On hearing her sentence, tears fell from her eyes. Seven years? Maximum security prison? She was dumbstruck. Li Mei wailed upon hearing that and shortly she fainted then was rushed to a nearby hospital. Li Fei's father, Li Bao gasped at the situation. He couldn't leave their daughter in such a state therefore he asked a family friend to go with Li Mei to the hospital. Things taking such a turn meant that their plan of making her escape from prison was impossible because she was going to a maximum security prison and there's no way they could succeed. Hu Feng was tongue tied as he felt his whole world crumbling down.
However, on the late Jin Shan's side, some were happy while others were not satisfied with the punishment. Her mother was not satisfied and she stormed out of the courtroom discontented. Her husband followed right behind her and on seeing this, Li Bao saw it as an opportunity to talk to them and he stood up to run find them.
Right that moment, the officers went to Li Fei and got her out of the pulpit. Her sobs had intensified after seeing her Mom's condition. Hu Feng came to her and stared at her with the saddest eyes she had ever seen. Embracing her tightly, he said, "Li Fei, I'm so sorry for failing you this time but I swear that you're coming out soon. I promise you my love. Your parents and my family will do everything we can. We are going to be visiting everyday. Please be strong for us and know that I'm not giving up on you no matter what- " "Hu Feng, please take care of my Mom-" "Hey, time is up!!" the officer said before separating them forcefully and bound her hands with handcuffs again dragging her out of the courtroom.
She didn't know where her Dad had gone yet she wanted to look at him when she still had the chance because she didn't know when this would last.
After recording everything that had transpired in the courtroom, Wang Mel left the place.
Li Bao called Cheng Lin who turned his head to see the person that was calling him.
He frowned as soon as he saw the person and asked," Ain't you the father of that girl?" "Please listen to me first. As a parent, I can understand what you're going through but as you saw, she did it unintentionally and she's greatly sorry," said Li Bao and Cheng Lin narrowed his eyes at him and asked," What do you want from us?"
"Uhm... I will go straight to the point. Let us give you a reasonable sum as compensation and then help us in freeing our daugh- " "Are you listening to yourself right now?!! At least yours is in prison and for only seven years but ours is no more. What is wrong with you rich people?!" Before Li Bao could say anything, he was interrupted by a voice from the behind and on turning, he saw a man. As Wang Mel was leaving the courtroom, he caught sight of the two men talking and he decided to come over.
He bowed his head at Cheng Lin and asked," Is there any problem, Master Cheng?" He glared at him distastefully before replying," I don't want anything to do with you or your boss. Let me mourn my daughter peacefully."
He left them to go find his wife. His displeasure for Jin Liwei had increased by multiple folds after the death of Jin Shan.
Li Bao stared at the man and asked," Jin Liwei is your boss isn't he?" "What?!!" he asked nonchalantly.
"Can you please help fix for me an appointment with him? I've been trying to get to him but failed," he explained. He thought that if the girl's parents had refused to negotiate, then maybe he could speak to the girl's husband, Jin Liwei. Wang Mel stared at him for so long and said,"Good luck in trying." Then he left him standing there. Li Bao was now stranded, he didn't know what to do. He had to do everything to rescue his daughter.
His eyes widened when he remembered that he had left the courtroom when she was going to be taken away. He decided to run back and it's when he saw her being pushed into the vehicle that had brought her but her eyes were fixed on him as she entered. His heart broke at the sight but he couldn't do anything right now. He was broken from his daze by Hu Feng who reminded him that they had to first go and see Li Mei.
Li Fei was still sobbing by the time the car started. She didn't know the state her mother was in and she didn't speak with her father either.
A long while later, her sobs reduced until she stopped crying. She then started dozing. Her body was tired since she used to sleep on the floor in the cell she had been kept. She closed her eyes and started wondering how she was going to cope up in a maximum security prison. She had heard of how new comers were bullied in prisons and the thought made her heart shudder. She just hopped they would not bully her as she had planned to lay as low as possible. She leaned her body over a seat and decided to take a short nap because worrying wasn't going to change anything.
She was harshly jolted out of her sleep by one officer," Wake up! You think you came for a vacation or what?!!" She pried her eyes open and was then dragged outside the vehicle that had been parked. She noticed that it was soon approaching evening which meant that the prison was quite a far distance. Her eyes then fell on the dull large buildings which were painted grey and her heart thudded in her chest. In every corner she looked, she could see several guards dressed in black that were guarding everywhere. She realized that there's no way a person could dare to escape from a place like this.