Chapter 161: Eat More—You’ll Grow Taller
Yan Luo felt the kid was way too mischievous—actually trying to watch him make a fool of himself.
He didn’t bother responding and just walked off.
Nan Xun hurried after him. “Bro, you’re not going to deal with the grass bits stuck on you? That really hurts your tall, mighty image!”
Yan Luo stretched out his long arm, grabbed the back of Nan Xun’s head, and yanked him over. His hand slid down naturally and landed on the boy’s shoulder. “Xiao Bai, believe it or not, I could stop any random guy and make him lick me clean.”
Nan Xun froze for a moment, then burst out laughing, laughing so hard his eyes misted over. “Bro, I believe you, really. But that spot—would you really let someone lick it clean? Hahahaha…”
Yan Luo’s eyes narrowed slightly, a dangerous glint flashing through them. He turned his head to look at the kid laughing like an idiot and suddenly felt an urge to smack his ass.
The brat was too cheeky—he needed more discipline.
Nan Xun seemed to sense his intentions and took off running, faster than a rabbit.
“Xiao Bai!” Yan Luo called out, but in the blink of an eye, the kid was gone.
Yan Luo was both amused and annoyed. His fist clenched with a crack as he muttered, “Disobedient little brat—asking for a beating.”
When Nan Xun passed by the basketball court, he suddenly stopped short.
A group of prison guards had surrounded the inmates on the court, forbidding anyone to leave. The earlier whistle must have come from here.
A gap opened among the pushed-back prisoners, and through it Nan Xun saw someone lying on the ground, covered in blood.
The man lay in a pool of blood, a small grinding knife from the workshop embedded in his lower abdomen.
Nan Xun’s mind exploded with a loud boom. His legs felt like they were filled with lead—he couldn’t move no matter what.
The guards swung their batons, shouting curses as they struck the prisoners. There were too many inmates to interrogate one by one, so they could only record their numbers before letting them go.
Before long, the crowded basketball court was left with only two guards handling the body. The dead inmate was quickly carried away, leaving behind nothing but a glaring pool of bright red blood. The metallic stench, mixed with sweat, drifted over.
Nan Xun frowned at the scene, his mood complicated.
He’d always known prison wasn’t a good place. He just hadn’t expected to witness a murder scene so soon.
Yan Luo’s cold voice sounded behind him. “This kind of thing happens every few days. You’ll get used to it.”
Seeing how unsurprised Yan Luo was, Nan Xun couldn’t help suspecting that Yan Luo had already known about the murder when they passed by earlier.
“There are surveillance cameras on the basketball court. How did they dare?” Nan Xun asked.
Yan Luo glanced at him and replied flatly, “A dozen or twenty people crowd together and block everything tight. Cameras are useless then.”
Nan Xun clenched his fists and returned silently to the workshop, not waiting for Yan Luo.
Yan Luo watched the kid’s shaken, disillusioned figure from behind and snorted softly. “Naive little kid.”
When Yan Luo went back, Nan Xun was seriously soldering a circuit board, so focused it was like he was studying some priceless treasure. Anyone would hesitate to disturb him.
But Yan Luo knew his mind was elsewhere.
Yan Luo sat down beside him. When Nan Xun finished soldering one spot, Yan Luo suddenly reached out and roughly ruffled his soft hair. “Xiao Bai, you need to get used to it.”
Nan Xun let out a muffled “Mm.”
Work ended at twelve. The two of them walked shoulder to shoulder toward the cell block, fetched their lunch boxes, and headed straight to the cafeteria.
“Bro, walk faster—we’ll miss the food if we’re late,” Nan Xun said anxiously.
Yan Luo found it amusing. “Xiao Bai, you’ve got me here. No need to worry.”
Nan Xun then remembered the scene from the cafeteria that morning and immediately relaxed. With Yan Luo around, even if he didn’t cut in line, others would be begging him to.
“Xiao Bai, in a place like Meihuan Prison, never talk about first come, first served, propriety, or shame. If you try that with a bunch of hardened criminals, you’ll end up stripped to the bone sooner or later,” Yan Luo said, feeling the kid was still too innocent and couldn’t help explaining the rules of prison.
Nan Xun understood the logic, but he felt not everyone here was irredeemable—like the rough guys from Cell 242, like Su Mobai, or like the man right in front of him.
“But bro, when the inmates line up for food, they still queue properly. Most of them are still salvageable.”
Yan Luo let out a cold laugh. “Do you know what this cafeteria was like before I came? Everyone rushed the food all at once. The strong ate first, the weak could only drink leftover soup. You think these people were naturally decent and reformable?”
Nan Xun was surprised. “Didn’t the guards intervene?”
Yan Luo’s mouth tilted slightly, half-smile, half-mockery. “They tried, but it didn’t work. Missing a bit of food won’t kill anyone, so they eventually stopped caring.”
“Bro, don’t tell me you’re the one who made them line up?” Nan Xun blurted out the truth.
Seeing the spark in the kid’s eyes, Yan Luo raised his brow in satisfaction. “They were too noisy, so I set a rule. Back then, more than ten of them ganged up on me. I fought them head-on. They got scared, so they had no choice but to behave.”
Nan Xun’s eyes sparkled with admiration. “Bro, you’re amazing.”
When the two of them reached the cafeteria, all eighteen food windows were indeed packed with lines.
Following Yan Luo, Nan Xun experienced that wonderful moment when the cafeteria went from noisy to silent. The inmate at the front respectfully stepped aside.
Yan Luo flicked his eyes at Nan Xun, who immediately carried both lunch boxes over, fully experiencing what it felt like to throw his weight around.
From then on, Nan Xun never had to worry about getting a spot again. His brother’s seat was permanently reserved—by the window at the end of the cafeteria. The four tables surrounding that one were all Yan Luo’s territory.
Nan Xun felt like there was especially a lot of food today. The server was unusually generous, giving a huge scoop of the only meat dish.
Sitting face to face, Yan Luo picked all the meat slices out of his bowl and put them into the lid of his lunch box.
Nan Xun hurriedly said, “Bro, why aren’t you eating meat? What a waste to throw it away!”
Yan Luo lifted his eyelids and glanced at him. “Who said I was throwing it away?”
After picking out most of it, he poured all the meat from the lid into Nan Xun’s bowl.
Nan Xun still had rice in his mouth and froze on the spot. “Bro… you picked it all out for me?”
Yan Luo didn’t answer directly. “You’re still young. Eat more and grow. Maybe one day you’ll wake up and suddenly realize you’ve shot up in height.”
Nan Xun: ……
