Chapter 174: Living simply
Before the two were exiled, they were officials in the same dynasty after all.
In such an embarrassing situation at this time, a trace of guilt flashed across Zhang Dayi's eyes. If he had known that he would encounter Pang Jiming when he came here today, he would not have come to him.
So what if it’s two days late?
This is good. He is in a dilemma. It is not good to turn around and leave. Stay... He doesn't know how long he can hold on.
Pang Jiming is a transparent person after all. Zhang Hanlin has a troubled face. You don't need to ask why.
After last night, Pang Jiming became more cautious when he suddenly ran into Zhang Dayi. Although he did not guess the other person's intention at the moment, he still avoided him more carefully.
In Zhang Dayi’s opinion, the other party was embarrassed by his reaction, so he avoided him to avoid making himself more uncomfortable.
At this time, Zhang Dayi's already embarrassed thoughts became even more ashamed.
"Panda?"
On impulse, he called out to Pang Jiming.
Many prisoners passing by looked at him in surprise.
Remembering why the other party was exiled, I couldn't help but think, no wonder he was rejected by the current emperor.
This Zhang Hanlin is really a strange person.
"There's nothing wrong with it. We are all already prisoners." Pang Jiming said.
Pang Jiming hugged his wife and children and pushed them forward, saying in a low voice: "There are no big people here, let's hurry up and hurry up."
Some of the looks made even Zhang Dayi extremely uncomfortable. I quickly quickened my pace and tried to catch up with the team, and went back first to discuss it later.
Pang Jiming looked at his back from behind, his thick eyebrows furrowed deeply.
Pang Jiming's past has been overturned. He thinks about nothing now and only has one thought in his mind, trying his best to protect his wife and children to get to the North safely.
Pang’s wife looked back at Zhang Dayi, who was standing there with a surprised look on his face, then turned around and asked her husband cautiously: “Is this okay?”
The Xie family is so conspicuous, and Zhang Dayi, the former Hanlin master who has always been in and out with the Xie family and has been taken care of, no one among the prisoners knows about him.
The habit of treating others with courtesy for many years made her subconsciously pull on her husband's cuffs, "Husband, Mr. Zhang is talking to you."
Watching Pang Jiming's family of four cross the border. As I walked farther and farther, I could only sigh and thought to myself, forget it, I'm afraid things will go wrong today, let's talk about it another day.
Who is Pang Pang?
There are no adults among the prisoners.
Pang Jiming’s wife heard Zhang Dayi calling him, but her husband didn’t pay attention to her.
Even including Fan Wu’s group of people who didn’t like Pang Jiming since yesterday.
There are only other people, he is neither interested in nor wants to interact with them.
When he shouted, Pang Jiming did not look back, but a circle of people around him turned to look at Zhang Dayi.
Zhang Dayi had a bad start and was left aside by Pang Jiming, feeling guilty and depressed.
Especially people related to the Xie family.
This time, when he passed by Pang Jiming, he nodded slightly and walked forward without saying a word.
Zhang Dayi is no stranger to the exile team.
Being really weird.
Pang Jiming didn't think about anything else, and maybe he didn't realize it himself. The reason why he didn't like to have contact with Zhang Hanlin was because Zhang Dayi was close to the Xie family.
"That old gentleman called you Pang Pang? Were you an official before?"
A curious voice sounded from the left.
Pang Jiming turned around and was a little surprised to see that it was Tieniu who asked this question. In his impression, Tieniu was "carefree" in the team and didn't care about other people's affairs. It was rare for the other party to take the initiative to talk to him.
I don’t know if it was because of his previous curiosity about Tieniu, a junior, or because of Tieniu’s “care” for their family last night. Pang Jiming’s attitude towards Tieniu was even worse than that of Tieniu. His previous attitude towards Zhang Dayi was much better.
"You're an official, I'm just a prisoner." Pang Jiming replied.
Tie Niu looked at him carefully and saw that when he said this, the expression on his face did not seem to be fake, but rather curious.
“Why are you exiled too?”
“You made a mistake.”
“Oh.”
Pang Jiming thought he would ask him to get to the bottom of it , what mistake did he make, and he was still mentally preparing how he would respond if the other party asked him this, but he didn't expect Tieniu to care at all about why he was exiled.
Pang Jiming is a family of four. Tieniu has enough to eat and the whole family is not hungry. Because the two families sleep in the same shack, they are inexplicably pushed into a pile by the people who are avoiding them.
It looks like five people are together.
Pang Jiming found that his two children seemed to be sidetracked by Tieniu and were not nervous at all. Their eyes could not help but secretly look at Tieniu.
Children’s reactions cannot be deceiving.
Tieniu is the only person in the team who has a slight affection for Pang Jiming since he has been in exile for many days.
Others disliked them for staying far away, but today they walked very freely. Tieniu didn't talk much and was illiterate. Occasionally, he heard a few idioms from the two children, and they were quite familiar. I asked Pang Jiming curiously.
After going back and forth, Tieniu got along well with Pang Jiming's family.
In Tieniu, Pang Jiming could not see the despair, numbness and darkness like other prisoners. What he saw was a penniless man who even walked with shackles on his back. People who stagger forward contain rich and powerful vitality.
The kind of power that comes from pure life.
Don’t be happy with external things, and don’t be sad with external things.
Just live a very simple life.
Every day you live is a day, and every day you live is a day you are happy.
After such a difficult journey of exile, Pang Jiming looked at Tieniu's calm and composed appearance, and his heart was moved, as if something very slight had quietly taken root from the deepest part of his heart.
Pang Jiming has been dating Tieniu for half a day, and his wife can see with the naked eye that her husband, who has been so depressed that he breaks down, has a change in his face.
Pang Jiming and Tieniu were chatting about what they had picked up with a branch on the ground the day before. Pang Jiming's wife secretly turned her head to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes.
I haven’t seen my husband like this for a long time.
Pang Jiming's two children suffered hardships when they were young. At the age of a governor, they have a high level of understanding.
Accompanying her mother on the left and right, the eldest daughter said in a very low voice: "Mom, dad seems to be very happy."
The younger son also nodded.
She looked up at her husband and the young prisoner Tieniu who were walking in front.
My eyes felt a little hot, and this scene seemed familiar. In the past, my husband and his colleagues, the water officials, seemed to be quite patient when they explained the benefits of water control to the farmers on both sides of the river.
She really doesn’t understand why an official like her husband, who devotes all his energy to river work only to benefit the people, ends up in such a situation. What kind of officials does the court want to do things?
When the team took a break midway, Pang Jiming sat next to his wife, his face brighter than ever before.
“Brother Tieniu may not know much about writing, but I think his level of life is much higher than others.”
(End of this chapter)