While Dai Jia was speaking, she clutched the hem of her clothes tightly with both hands, waiting for Jiang Se's answer.
"Um."
Nie Dan's actions seemed to be very quick, Dai Jia should have received the message.
Her lips moved and tears appeared in her eyes, but she didn't want to cry in front of Jiang Se, so she turned her face away. After a while, she rubbed her face hard with both hands and sat down opposite Jiang Se.
Even when she was so excited, she did not put her hands on the table, but placed them on her thighs properly.
Her lips were pale and dry, and some places were cracked from rubbing her face earlier, oozing tiny drops of bright red blood.
"Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me so quickly."
Jiang Se looked at his hands, smiled, and raised his head again:
"What I can do for you is limited. I have already asked about the specific situation. The lawyer may use self-defense as a defense. The video of Zhang Hua trying to insult you has also been obtained. There is a high possibility of overturning the verdict."
She told the truth and did not hide Dai Jia's intention:
"That's all I can do for you. You have to do the rest yourself."
At the beginning, Dai Jia gave her a chance to join the crew of "Fake It Come True", and now Jiang Se also gave her a chance to escape. As for what will happen to Dai Jia in the future, it depends on her own choice.
"I see."
Dai Jia bit her lip, and let out a sigh of relief, then smiled with a hint of relief:
"I feel relieved when you say that." She was afraid that Jiang Se was just teasing her. Every day she stayed here was torture for her. She had been here for so long, and she had only been able to hold on until now by gritting her teeth and relying on the desire to not admit defeat and to get out.
Jiang Se did not use sweet words to coax her, nor did he promise her a bright future. Just these plain words made Dai Jia feel more at ease than any other promises.
She recalled the first time she met Jiang Se, and the conversation they had at the wrap party of "What to Expect"; she had asked Jiang Se why he didn't ask her to be Zhao Ruoyun's nude stand-in, and Jiang Se's expression didn't show any contempt at the time, just like now, looking at her expression, it was still the same as before.
Whether it was Jiang Se who calmly reminded her that her underwear was exposed by the fountain pool of the Film and Television Academy, or Jiang Se who remained calm when she heard later that she had become a nude stand-in, both made Dai Jia feel at ease.
When they met in the prison that day, Jiang Se asked her why she was there. When Dai Jia said that she had "killed someone", she actually thought Jiang Se would be shocked, and her expression would be distant and wary.
After the accident, when her family members came to see her, they were all crying and asking questions. That harsh sound still seems to ring in her mind, but Jiang Se remained calm. He did not distance himself from her, nor was he afraid. Instead, he went back to find out the facts and found a lawyer for her.
Dai Jia did not mention the scene in the studio that day again, nor did she mention how she killed Zhang Hua. She did not even keep thanking Jiang Se. She sat for a while, chatted for a few words, and then followed the prison guard back.
Jiang Se came here for several days in a row, occasionally talking to some prisoners and chatting with Cao Yu, and he gained a general understanding of the prison's situation.
Some of the women have been here for a short time, while others have been here for many years.
For these women who have made mistakes, there is no one who does not long for the day when they can leave here.
The time for getting up, washing, eating, and going to the toilet is fixed every day. In addition to labor reform, ideological study is also required. Everyone can see their relatives one day every month.
Jiang Se was fortunate enough to see it once: a piece of glass separated the blood relatives. The relatives outside the glass were crying and wailing, but the woman in the prison had a blank expression, her eyes were red, and her hands were on her legs, but she didn't dare to shout.
"You can't cry in prison. If you cry, you're committing a crime."
Cao Yu explained quietly beside Jiang Se:
"There are so many people here. Once someone starts crying, others will want to cry too, and their emotions will be infected."
In such circumstances, many people will do extreme things.
The labor intensity in prison is high, and people have to work very late every day. Every year, the West Suburb Women's Prison will distribute labor. After completion, the prisoners will be evaluated on their performance based on the tasks they have completed. The best ones will have the opportunity to apply to the court for a reduction in sentence. This is the goal that everyone here strives for. That's why when Jiang Se came to the prison on the first day, he saw many people knitting sweaters without even raising their heads after hearing the footsteps outside.
There was a sigh in Cao Yu's tone. In prison, prisoners are not allowed to put their hands on the table. When meeting with relatives, their hands must be kept close to their thighs. This is also to prevent prisoners from passing on messages, which is strictly prohibited by the prison.
For many prisoners, the day of meeting their loved ones is the time they look forward to, but also the time they dread the most. They face reproaches and tears from their loved ones, but they can only watch from afar through the glass and cannot even shout.
Those who have not seen it with their own eyes will never understand the repression of that kind of emotion.
Jiang Se went to the Western Suburbs Women's Prison for more than a month. When she was at home, she would often turn on the camera and practice her eye expressions in front of the camera to get a feel for it.
After her birthday, she called Dong Chaoping of the Imperial Capital Theater and made an appointment to meet him.
In fact, except for the period of time when she was taken by Chang Yuhu to practice a stage play, Jiang Se had not contacted Dong Chaoping again. When she called, Dong Chaoping was quite surprised.
But now Jiang Se has gained some fame in the entertainment industry, and Chang Yuhu's status is also there, so Dong Chaoping still made an appointment with her and met her in person.
"How is Teacher Chang doing recently? She hasn't been back to the theater for a long time."
Jiang Se is Chang Yuhu's personally acknowledged disciple. When Chang Yuhu defended Jiang Se, it caused a lot of uproar on the Internet. After the matter calmed down, although there were endless news reports every day and most netizens had forgotten what happened, Chang Yuhu's fans still remembered it.
Because of this incident, Dong Chaoping became closer to Jiang Se and was all smiles.
"The teacher recently signed up for a photography class and said he was planning to go to Nepal in mid-December."
Jiang Se visited Chang Yuhu's home once a month. After chatting with Dong Chaoping for a while, he turned the topic to business:
"Recently I want to go back to the theater to learn from everyone's experience. I wonder if it's convenient."
In fact, when she called, Dong Chaoping had already guessed that she would make this request, and he nodded immediately:
“The theater is currently rehearsing three plays.”
He took out the information bag he had prepared long ago. In addition to a musical, another was a stage comedy, and the remaining one was the more somber "Begonia Autumn". (To be continued)