Free Web NovelChapter 320: Chapter 320: Stand-up Comedy in Prison_1
Three days after Sophie Carter’s maid was imprisoned, there were still fans of Sophie Carter protesting outside the prison, but the number had clearly decreased a lot. By the next day, no demonstrators showed up again, which didn’t surprise the guards at the Rose Iron Prison at all. Those fans causing trouble because Sophie Carter was resting were just looking for a way to vent their emotions.
With no demonstrations to monitor, there wasn’t much about the maid that warranted special attention—aside from the obscenely large sum of money in her account.
Then Aiden received a report from the Second Ward.
"According to the financial statements provided by the bank, the money was transferred through there, and we had the bank assist in the investigation. They provided the information on the remitting account," the head of the Second Ward presented a report, "It wasn’t from any registered family member, to be honest... it seems to have no connection to the maid."
"Money sent by a stranger? What does the maid herself say?" Aiden asked.
"She said it was from her father’s friend, who owed their family a large amount of money, and just happened to decide to repay it when she was incarcerated. Her family asked the person to deposit the money into the regulated fund account."
"And what is her father’s situation?"
"According to the personal information registered by the prisoner, her father died five years ago."
"A lie so blatant they don’t care if it’s seen through." Aiden casually set the material aside, "That makes sense, if they cared, they wouldn’t have listed such a large sum of money for us to find."
"There is also something else. The inmate’s popularity inside the prison is getting better and better..." the head of the ward continued reporting, "So much so that it seems a bit... excessive."
"Excessive in what way? She has only been here for three full days and nights; has she already started a gang inside the prison?" Aiden asked offhandedly.
"It’s almost like that," the warden answered earnestly.
"Huh?" Aiden was a bit confused, "Is she giving out money directly in the prison?"
"No, nothing like that... You can go to the exercise yard this afternoon during yard time to see for yourself; maybe she will continue yesterday’s ’performance,’" the warden replied.
"Performance?" Aiden was even more puzzled.
"These past few days, during yard time, she’s been spilling the gossip about Sophie Carter on the exercise yard just like a stand-up comedian, attracting a lot of people to gather around and listen," the warden said.
"Aren’t there not many inmates who are fans of Sophie Carter? Why would they be interested in gossip about a celebrity they don’t know well?"
"Well, how should I put it? I can’t quite articulate it," the warden obviously struggled to describe, "Anyway, when the time comes, you can see for yourself."
So in the afternoon, Aiden went to the general ward’s exercise yard.
The exercise yard of the general ward was much larger than the core area, as it was a shared yard time space for three general wards in turn.
However, when it comes to the level of security, the exercise yard of the general ward was much more relaxed. There was no barrier sealing off magic power covering it, and instead of arm-thick iron bars, the boundary of the exercise yard on the inside of the prison was lined with wire fencing, with only two surveillance guard posts.
Aiden occasionally visited the general prison area too, though not as frequently. The criminals there were still offenders, but they at least fell within the category of "normal people", and seemed as meek as sheep compared to those in the core area. He often went to the core area because many times, it required his presence to keep things under control.
Unlike the guards on the playground, he didn’t enter the big playground directly from inside the prison area. Instead, he went to the outdoor area of the prison and peered into the playground through the wire mesh at its edge.
At this time, the inmates from the second and third prison areas had already been released onto the playground to move around.
After a brief search, Aiden quickly located prisoner 1562—Sophie Carter’s maid, Susan Feng.
Finding her was not difficult because she was simply too conspicuous.
She was standing on a bench near the wire mesh, surrounded by more than a dozen inmates, and Susan was talking nonstop:
"...You might think it’s not very nice of me to talk about Miss Carter’s private issues so much. Actually, after learning some things, she did tell me to absolutely not tell anyone else, and she even threatened me, ’Susan, there are some things I will definitely deny if you speak out, and then it will become slander on your part.’ I then asked, ’Miss Carter, what are the consequences?’ To which she replied with great emphasis, ’It means you’ll have to gossip about it in prison with other inmates.’ " Susan said, spreading her hands, "Frankly, I didn’t really want to talk about it, but listen up, she insisted that I say it here, I’ve never heard such a strange request in my life!"
The surrounding inmates burst into laughter.
And Susan went on: "I often encounter reporters who ask if Miss Carter has a man, or if she has secret rendezvous in her private residence. But I’m pretty sure that’s not the case, because the only man I’ve seen in the house is Mr. Butler. So I replied, ’Sorry, the only man I know who has a relationship with her is the butler.’ For some reason, that made the reporters cheer as if they had won the lottery." freēwēbηovel.c૦m
The inmates laughed again.
"Then it occurred to me that I had forgotten someone, so I added, ’Oh, actually there’s also a gardener.’ And they actually started clapping."
This time the inmates began to laugh and clap at the same time.
"Later on, I don’t know how, but Miss Carter would rage whenever she saw a newspaper... Sigh, I really don’t know what happened, I guess if I could read, maybe I could’ve comforted her. Of course, I did wonder if it had to do with my responses to the reporters, so I found her and tried asking, ’Miss Carter, could we talk about the men related to you...?’ And she immediately glared at me, asking, ’How did you know?’ "
Scattered laughter arose from the inmates.
"And after a second, she asked again, ’But which one are you speaking of? I need a hint.’ " Susan continued.
The inmates erupted in guffaws.
Aiden, with arms crossed, listened from a distance for a while before turning to observe the nearest duty guard on the playground. Surprisingly, the guard also seemed to be listening with interest.
For stand-up comedy, it was good enough, especially with Susan Feng standing on the bench, mysteriously grabbing attention. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
But Aiden felt that it shouldn’t be so entertaining that even a guard got drawn in, forgetting all about discipline.
In such a place, guards typically didn’t allow too many inmates to gather together since a crowd could block the line of sight, making it difficult to see what was happening or if someone was up to something within.
Vaguely, Aiden felt a sense of déjà vu, an indistinct feeling of discordance—last time he felt this way was when he had neglected the presence of Qiqimora at a witches’ gathering.
