Chapter 321: Chapter 321 Homeroom Teacher Aiden_1
Aiden slowly moved closer to the guard on duty—yet she still hadn’t noticed him, her face adorned with a smile as she listened to Susan Feng’s "solo comedy act".
Aiden coughed softly, and when she still didn’t hear him, he bent down to pick up a small stone from the ground and flicked it through the chain-link fence at her as a teacher might toss chalk at a dozing student.
The stone landed on the back of her hand, and the guard on duty snapped to attention as if waking from a dream, turning to see the highest-ranking official smiling "benevolently" at her.
The guard’s face turned white on the spot. There were two types of people who feared Aiden the most in this place: one was the inmates who were caught breaking the rules, and the other was the guards caught slacking off.
However, just as she was about to blow her whistle to discipline the inmates with trembling trepidation, Aiden gestured for her to stop.
Then Aiden strolled along the chain-link fence until he was near the bench, standing behind Susan.
"About Miss Carter’s encounter with that banker suitor in Black Iron City, there is an even more exciting story..." Maid Susan was still exposing her former employer’s romantic escapades, oblivious to the shadow that appeared behind her beyond the chain-link fence.
But the inmates around her noticed Aiden quite quickly and their expressions changed.
A few nudged their engrossed companions with their elbows, then dispersed conscientiously, while two slightly more conscientious inmates coughed twice before turning to leave, to warn Susan who couldn’t see behind her.
Everything was just like when a teacher appeared outside the classroom window, with only the unfortunate soul sitting against the window being the last to realize.
Susan did not grasp the real reason but spread her hands to retain her audience, "Eh? Don’t you guys like this story? Then I’ll continue..."
"I find it quite interesting," a sudden male voice said from behind her.
Only then did Susan realize the true reason why her audience had dissipated and she turned her head.
Unlike the guard and the other inmates whose faces changed at the sight of Aiden, Susan appeared very composed.
"Eh? Is this gentleman here to support the performance too?"
"Not quite, you should know what I do just by looking at the uniform," Aiden said unhurriedly, "Inmate 1562, benches are meant for sitting."
"Oh my, this is truly... my apologies," Susan quickly rose from the chair, glanced at the distant duty guard, and then immediately started chatting with Aiden, "Officer, you must hold a high position here, right? The guard on duty looks very nervous."
"Seeing someone who could dock her pay catch her slacking off at work and listening to an inmate’s stand-up comedy, she would naturally be nervous," Aiden smiled, "I am the Warden here."
"The highest leader of the prison is so young?" Susan covered her mouth in surprise, then quickly glanced at Aiden’s hand, "You’re not married, are you?"
Aiden realized she was checking for a ring on his hand.
"Indeed, I am single," Aiden said.
"Would you be interested in considering me?" Susan boldly placed her hand on her chest and offered herself.
"Are you planning to switch from petty thief to marriage fraudster?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.
"You don’t need to worry, I’m not particularly short on cash..."
"Why would you steal your employer’s jewelry if you’re not short of money?" Aiden interrupted before she could finish.
"Alas, I had no idea my late father had such an amount of money; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been so foolish..." Susan sighed.
"It was I who had someone investigate the source of your control funds. The explanation you provided sounds a lot like an excuse."
"That’s the truth, and if you don’t believe it... what else can I do?" Susan’s face showed a hint of difficulty. After thinking, she suddenly gasped, "Ah, you police aren’t eyeing that money, are you? You’re not going to confiscate it just by saying it’s ’from an unknown source’, are you?"
"You don’t have to worry about that. If it’s not really money involved in a crime, it shouldn’t turn out that way," Aiden replied.
"Whether it’s a crime or not is just up to what you people say, isn’t it? I’m in prison now, how can I have any strength to resist?" Susan suddenly started lamenting.
"You’re quite the actress," Aiden commented. "Sorry, but our prison isn’t really short of money right now..."
"I know that." Susan quickly changed her expression, bringing up a new topic with interest, "It’s because you produced that thing called ’sanitary pads,’ right?"
"You work in the textile workshop?" Aiden asked.
The products made in Aiden’s prison were generally sold by cooperating merchants under their own brands. Most consumers outside were unaware that the products they bought were actually made by prisoners.
"No, no, I was assigned to the greenhouse." Susan waved her hand. "Taking care of the flowers and plants, I quite like it."
"So you heard about it from someone else?"
"Not exactly, I just saw that the prison was distributing them to the inmates." Susan answered calmly. "Such consumable goods... they don’t sell for particularly cheap outside, using them for prisoners feels overly generous. The only explanation is that this new product is produced right here."
"Quite a good deduction. So what you mean is..." Aiden paused, "you’re not really a common maid?"
"Eh? I never said that," Susan blinked in surprise.
"I feel like you’ve been trying to emphasize this to me the whole time. You’ve been a bit too conspicuous these last two days, inmate 1562." Aiden stared into Susan’s eyes and said, "You’re very expressive, almost like you’re acting in a play. You have a talent for performance; even the prison guards here are captivated by you. Your manner of speaking doesn’t sound like an ordinary maid."
"After all, I am Susan Carter’s maid; I’ve picked up a thing or two..." Susan explained.
"I’m not very fond of beating around the bush." Aiden gestured for her to stop talking and continued, "Why don’t we be straightforward? What exactly are you trying to do by coming to this prison?"
The substantial sum of money that appeared in Susan Feng’s account—if she had it from the beginning, she had no real reason to steal jewelry from her long-time employer. All of this seemed like a declaration to the prison authorities that she intended to be incarcerated.
In the prison, her performance was the same; Aiden could clearly feel she was trying hard to get his attention.
"Is this a new flirting technique?" Susan displayed a demure smile. "Warden, you are the one, why the subterfuge? As the highest official here, do you need to seek my opinion to have a private conversation with an inmate?"
Aiden heard the suggestion that she wanted to talk to him alone.
"Alright, I’ll arrange for someone to ’invite’ you later," Aiden said as he turned to leave.
"I’m looking forward to it." Susan waved her hand.
