In the midsummer of 2003, Chen Xuewen, just turned 19, was sent to Pingcheng Prison in handcuffs and leg irons.
A week earlier, Chen Xuewen attended a classmate's banquet. Under the teasing of his classmates, he confessed his love to the school beauty he had secretly liked for three years, but was rejected by her without mercy.
That night, Chen Xuewen, in a depressed mood, got dead drunk.
When he woke up, he found the school beauty naked and in a mess, dead beside him. Before her death, she had clearly suffered violent assault.
Afterwards, several witnesses came forward and testified that Chen Xuewen had forcibly taken the school beauty away that night and brought her to a hotel.
Because of these people's testimonies, Chen Xuewen was arrested and convicted within less than a week, and sent to prison.
No matter how much Chen Xuewen protested his innocence, no one paid attention.
At the prison gate, Chen Xuewen's parents held a cardboard with the word "Innocent" written in blood, and knelt on the ground crying for justice.
On the other side, there were more than ten family members of the school beauty, wearing white cloth, crying and wailing.
When they saw the escort vehicle approaching, both sides rushed towards it, but a conflict broke out in front of the vehicle. The family members of the school beauty, taking advantage of their numbers, pushed Chen Xuewen's parents to the ground and beat them up.
Fortunately, the guards at the gate rushed over and separated the two sides.
Chen Xuewen's father, Chen Jianguo, had a cut on his head, and blood was flowing down his face. But he didn't care and shouted at the escort vehicle that had entered the prison gate: "Son, don't be afraid!"
"Dad knows you are innocent!"
"Dad will do anything to clear your name!"
Chen Xuewen watched this scene, and tears streamed down his face.
After entering the prison and completing the procedures, Chen Xuewen was sent to a cell.
There were seven people in this cell, all big and burly men with fierce looks.
Looking at the thin and weak Chen Xuewen, these men all sneered with ill intentions.
As soon as the guards left, several men immediately surrounded Chen Xuewen in the middle.
The leader was a man with a scar on his face. He sized up Chen Xuewen from top to bottom and coldly said, "Kid, why are you here?"
Chen Xuewen said in a low voice, "I... I'm innocent..."
Before he could finish, the scarred man punched him in the abdomen. Chen Xuewen had never been hit like this before. This punch made him feel as if his internal organs were about to explode. He couldn't help but fall to the ground and vomit.
The scarred man stepped on Chen Xuewen's head and cursed, "Damn it, if you're here, you must have done something."
"I'm asking you a question, answer honestly!"
"Don't know the rules, you'll get beaten!"
Chen Xuewen said with a crying tone, "I'm really innocent..."
The scarred man got angry, "You still have the nerve to talk back, beat him up!"
With a wave of his hand, several men rushed up and beat Chen Xuewen to the ground.
Chen Xuewen was beaten until his face was swollen and bruised. Finally, he was dragged in front of the scarred man.
The scarred man stepped on Chen Xuewen's head and said, "Now, I'll ask you again, why are you here?"
Chen Xuewen, who was always stubborn, gritted his teeth and said, "I'm innocent..."
The scarred man was furious, "Damn it, you haven't had enough beating!"
"Hang him up and beat him!"
Several men tied Chen Xuewen's hands with a bedsheet and hung him by the bed. They took turns beating him for over an hour.
Chen Xuewen was also a stubborn person. Even when he was beaten unconscious, he still insisted that he was innocent.
The scarred man and his gang didn't dare to kill him, so they finally let him go.
But from then on, the scarred man and his gang didn't treat him as a human being. Whenever they were in a bad mood, they would slap him a few times or simply beat him up on the ground.
Chen Xuewen tried to report this to the guards, which led to one of the scarred man's subordinates being punished.
But as a result, Chen Xuewen was hung in the cell and beaten all night by the scarred man and his gang, almost losing his life.
From then on, Chen Xuewen became much more obedient. Whenever he saw the scarred man and his gang, he would avoid them.
His only hope was that his parents could help him clear his name and let him leave this living hell. Three months passed by in a flash. These days, Chen Xuewen was unusually agitated. It was because his parents hadn't visited him for over a month. Every month, there was a visitation, which was the only chance for his parents to see him. It was a time they both counted down to and never missed. But this month, his parents didn't come to visit him, which made him extremely uneasy. He knew his parents wouldn't give up on him. Could it be that something had happened to them?
That night, Chen Xuewen mustered up his courage and asked a relatively kind guard, Zhang Dong, to help him check on his parents' situation.
The next noon, while Chen Xuewen was having his meal, Zhang Dong walked over with a somber expression.
"Xuewen, I just got the news. You... You need to be strong."
Chen Xuewen's hand involuntarily trembled. He had a premonition and tears welled up in his eyes.
Zhang Dong took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Your parents... They were in a motorcycle accident when they went to the city to appeal for you half a month ago. They unfortunately passed away."
Tears streamed down Chen Xuewen's face. The worst had happened.
Zhang Dong looked at Chen Xuewen's state and sighed, patting his shoulder, "Xuewen, take care of yourself."
Chen Xuewen sat there in a daze, completely numb, with only the memories of his parents in his mind.
Not long after Zhang Dong left, a few guys with scars gathered around Chen Xuewen.
The scar-faced guy casually pushed half of Chen Xuewen's meal away and threw some food scraps from his plate into Chen Xuewen's.
"Kid, today's got meat. These bones, I'm giving you. Don't be shy!"
The scar-faced guy laughed with his gangsters.
Chen Xuewen didn't say a word. He was still in deep sorrow, staring blankly ahead.
The scar-faced guy thought Chen Xuewen was looking at him and got angry, pointing at Chen Xuewen and cursing, "What the hell are you looking at?"
"What? I'm giving you some food, and you're not happy?"
"Fine, then I'll give you something else!"
Saying that, the scar-faced guy spat on Chen Xuewen's plate and pointed at it, "Eat it all up, you piece of shit!"
"If you leave even a bit, I'll keep you up all night tonight!"
Chen Xuewen still didn't say anything. However, his eyes gradually regained their sparkle, or rather, a fierce light!
He gradually came to his senses. His heart was filled with either anger or grief, causing his body to tremble slightly.
He gripped the chopsticks tightly, looking at the scar-faced guys in front of him. All the blood in his body rushed to his head.
He was wrongly imprisoned, and his parents died because of it. This made him lose all hope for life.
At this moment, he no longer feared. All he had in his heart was the thought of death.
But even if he was going to die, he had to vent his anger!
Seeing that Chen Xuewen wasn't eating, the scar-faced guy got even angrier, "What the hell? Didn't you hear me?"
"I told you to eat, you piece of shit. Did you hear me?"
The scar-faced guy said, picking up the plate, ready to smash it on Chen Xuewen's face.
And at that moment, Chen Xuewen moved.
He tightened his grip on the chopsticks and suddenly roared, stabbing them into the scar-faced guy's eyes!