Restrictive Zone

RA 20 - Neighbour

There was a large supermarket nearby the community where Jiang Chijing lived, which also sold goods produced in Southside Prison.

Jiang Chijing had long known that the strawberry jam he ate was produced by the prison. But the glass jar in his hand wasn't quite the same as the ones sold in the supermarket; the jar carried no label, and the pulp wasn't as finely ground as the ones sold there.

It was apparent that this wasn't factory-made.

From the message that Old Wang passed on, this was strawberry jam handmade by Zheng Mingyi, and there was indeed some difference when compared against those produced in the factory.

Jiang Chijing placed the strawberry jam in the front passenger seat, started the car, and drove out of the prison carpark.

In recent, Jiang Chijing had a vague conjecture—he kept getting this feeling that Zheng Mingyi knew that he was his neighbour.

Whether it was his cologne, or how far they stayed, the way Zheng Mingyi probed him was far too incisive, as if he had a clear objective all along.

Moreover, Jiang Chijing's answers were not quite up to standard.

Zheng Mingyi asked him why his bedroom was filled with the scent of his cologne and Jiang Chijing chose to evade the question. In general, he should find Zheng Mingyi's question baffling instead because he wouldn't have known that someone had smashed a bottle of cologne into Zheng Mingyi's bedroom.

As for the question about the proximity of their residences, Jiang Chijing's answer further exposed that he knew Zheng Mingyi's address.

He had many excuses he could glaze it over with, for example, that he was a prison staff and had seen Zheng Mingyi's file, but Zheng Mingyi never allowed him to patch up behind himself, never following up after getting the desired information out of him.

The feeling it gave him was as if Zheng Mingyi already had an answer in his mind, and was merely ascertaining it.

What a pain.

If Jiang Chijing were to say that his first impression of Zheng Mingyi was that of a very sensual man, then his second impression would be that this was a very dangerous man, and subsequently, his third impression would be that this was a very headache-inducing man.

As the car pulled into the community, Jiang Chijing gradually came to terms with the fact that he might already be exposed.

But he really couldn't get when and how exactly he had exposed himself, and how much Zheng Mingyi knew of his pet hobby.

However, what he could be sure of was that it was because he had first said that he believed in Zheng Mingyi, thus receiving his trust that Zheng Mingyi would act in such a 'self-destructive' manner giving the game away.

Slowly pulling to a stop in front of the supermarket, Jiang Chijing loosened his seat belt, deciding not to fry any more of his brain cells over Zheng Mingyi.

Weekends were for letting loose and relaxing; it was unlike Jiang Chijing's style to bring work from the prison back home.

He went around the supermarket purchasing every item on his list—except for strawberry jam.

One jar of jam could last him half a month. Now, he had a fresh jar in the car, buying extra stock would just be a waste of its shelf life.

Upon returning, Jiang Chijing set the many grocery bags on the coffee table, bringing that dubious jar without a production date, without quality checks, and any branding whatsoever to the kitchen.