After finishing dinner and cleaning the cell, Lai Bao was too tired to move.
He went to the bathhouse for a bath and returned to his cell to sleep until 11 PM when he was awakened by others returning intermittently. Some went straight to bed, while others took their basins to the bathhouse. Lai Bao observed them, searching for Ruan Mei.
It wasn't until 12:30 AM that everyone had returned. The room could accommodate ten people.
Lai Bao watched the last woman to return to the room, a woman in her sixties with not too many wrinkles and a rosy complexion, but with silver hair. She went to the bathhouse with her belongings, and Lai Bao felt that this woman must be Ruan Mei.
Immediately, Lai Bao took his things and followed her to the bathhouse.
Many people were inside. Unfazed by embarrassment, he undressed and stood beside the woman, washing himself again.
He hesitated before asking, "Excuse me, are you Ruan Mei?"
