He took the fall for his boss over 3.4 billion yuan.
Seven years in prison. He thought his life was over.
Who knew prison ran on an even tighter economy? Cigarettes were hard currency, medicine was scarce, and information was worth the most. Gang bosses came to him, asking him to settle their books. He wouldn’t take cigarettes or money. He wanted only one secret.
The ventilation duct in Cell Three, the medicine black market in Cell Four, the work-point arbitrage in Cell Five, the secret passage in Cell Six... In one month, he mapped out the underground economy of Longcheng Prison and became the undisputed “King of Prison Accounts.”
His brothers gathered around him: Er Hu handled diplomacy, Lao Ma handled intelligence, and Uncle Mute handled security. This taciturn scout never stopped working his carving knife. Every wood carving held a secret.
All he wanted was to serve his time and go home to his wife and children.
Then the man in the Zhongshan suit appeared and watched him through the glass for ten minutes.
Uncle Mute signed: “That man smells like a gun.”
A military arms account worth tens of billions came knocking, and the state came looking for him.
From scapegoat to a national hero without peer, he did only one thing:
Settle the books.
But the more he settled, the bigger the account became.
