Ping An Biography

() Zhang Ning vaguely remembered a passage about hometown in the famous book One Hundred Years of Solitude. If a relative who died of old age was buried in a certain place, he could regard that place as his hometown.According to this standard, no matter whether it is Wuling Mountain, Chenzhou, or Changde, all places do not seem to be considered home.I am just a passerby in these places... Even if they have surrendered under the iron hoof, they still can't bring much change to these ancient cities, unless they play a clown angrily and want to raze them to the ground.

So he just lived temporarily behind a courtyard next to the government office in Changde, with one room, one bed, three meals a day, life was nothing more than that.

It was only when Yao Ji and the others were about to arrive in Changde that he thought of sending someone to find a place for the women's family to live in.But soon he thought of a place by himself, which was a garden by the Yuan River that he had requisitioned as a tea garden a few years ago.The garden was originally a public property of the government, and the surrounding environment is also good, it is a suitable place.

On a whim, Zhang Ning went to the garden with Lao Xu, Wang Xian and other relatives to have a look.In a few years, it has been restored to a garden for people to play again. The only traces of the tea business at the beginning are some chairs, tables and other things left in the utility room.The other courtyard behind the garden, which Zhang Ning once lived in, has now become property bought by others; but Lao Xu was ordered to give a sum of money, and soon the owner of the house could not avoid it. ..

"I used to sleep in this room." Zhang Ning turned around and smiled at his followers.

Wang Xian and other officers and men didn't know how to answer, so they had to bend down to agree.

Zhang Ning looked up at the sky from the window, and said, "I'm staying here today, and there may be some things I haven't finished in the afternoon, so ask Wang Yu to send someone to send over the official documents, and I'll finish them in the evening." .”

Old Xu clasped his fists in reply, "Yes."

Some birds were singing outside, the trees were rustling in the breeze, and the surroundings were peaceful.He seemed to have forgotten the things he had been thinking about all day, and felt a little tired in his heart, so he simply planned to take a nap here, then get up for dinner, and still have time to deal with some things in the evening.

Zhang Ning has a feeling that this place has nothing to do with him and is very strange to a place he is familiar with and bought with money.A feeling of no sense of belonging was always accompanied by the days of the Ming Dynasty.

He had a dream, and sometimes he believed it to be true in the dream; sometimes he seemed to realize that he was dreaming, the dream was fragmented, and for a moment he flashed a thought, which he would remember clearly when he woke up, but soon Forget it all.

Suddenly he came to a place shrouded in white mist, just like the Nantianmen scene seen in the TV series Journey to the West, a little girl came out of the mist, Zhang Ning couldn't see her face clearly, but for some reason he knew that she was who.The girl said: "Brother, where have you been? Why can't I find you?" Zhang Ning thought for a while and said, "I was originally in the Ming Dynasty... where are we now?" The girl said: "I don't know either. Well, did you forget me?" Zhang Ning said, "How could I forget my family? Come here, we're going home."

Then the dream was shattered again, and Zhang Ning woke up suddenly.As usual, his memory of the dream at this moment is very clear, although he will forget it completely without leaving a trace after his consciousness is fully restored.

go home?Zhang Ning still remembers the appearance of the home he thought of in his dream. It was a small village scattered by a small river. The river was very clear in the hot summer. There was no industrial pollution in the "last century" and there were crabs in it. , Escargot And Various Fish.

Sure enough, no matter how far a person travels, he can never forget the place where he grew up and the original way of life.

"Boss, are you awake? The clothes are at the side, you can change the lining yourself." A voice sounded vaguely beside my ears.

Zhang Ning turned his head and saw that it was Xu Wenjun, so he responded with a hum, and asked casually, "You just came here?"

While doing trivial things, Wen Jun said without turning his head: "You fell asleep last night, but Grandpa didn't wake you up. He arranged for Wang Xian's guards to set up guards nearby, and then asked me to come over and take care of your daily life."

Looking outside, Zhang Ning suddenly said, "So it's already been a night."

Wenjun said again and again: "You still have to rest yourself, don't be too busy... Mrs. Yao and the others should go to Changde this afternoon. It seems that the young lady of the Zhou family is also coming. I heard that Mrs. Yao This time, Changde is going to preside over the big wedding for the Dong family. When the Dong family gets married, Madam will definitely arrange for someone to take care of your food and clothing, so I won’t be able to keep coming in and out of your room..."

Zhang Ning was noncommittal, thought for a while and hurriedly said: "Let Wang Xian call Commander Feng to come over, and dispatch a team of cavalry to pick up Mrs. Yao and the others. Be sure to ensure safety."

Xu Wenjun hesitated for a moment, maybe he felt wrong: there are many people around Yao Ji, and the territory from Chenzhou to Changde Mansion is controlled by the Vermilion Bird Army, and it has always been peaceful; besides, what did he do, he was in a hurry to send troops when he was almost here to escort.However, Wen Jun still followed Zhang Ning's wishes.

When Wang Xian came into the courtyard, Zhang Ning really realized that his order just now was inappropriate, so he canceled the order, and only asked him to prepare a guard of honor to meet Yao Ji when she entered the city.

In the afternoon of the same day, Yao Ji and other hundreds of people arrived in Changde City, most of them were members of the cult's main altar.The Suzaku Army cleared a road in the city and lined up to welcome them into the city.Along the way, there were many common people watching the fun, and most of them just joined in the fun, and they didn't know much about the new ruler and dignitaries.

In the evening, Zhang Ning went to meet Yao Ji first, and talked about some secret agents of Jinyiwei and Western firearms.He immediately went to look for Zhang Xiaomei.

At the door of the room where the younger sister lived, I met a girl who had just come out. The girl bent her knees and made a blessing, but boldly raised her head to look at Zhang Ning, with some expectations in her eyes.Zhang Ning naturally remembered her. This girl was called Xiao He, and she was originally a servant of the Zhu Heng family, a minister of the Han Dynasty. It was Zhang Ning who brought her back all the way from Shandong, so she was naturally very impressed.

"Xiao He." Zhang Ning called out her name.

The little girl was so happy that her eyes were smiling, and she responded happily.Zhang Ning said casually: "You are always with her, you have to serve her attentively." The girl hurriedly said briskly: "Miss is very kind to people, and this servant only thinks of her and no one else."

Zhang Ning nodded, reached out to knock on the door, and heard Zhang Xiaomei's voice inside saying: "Brother, come in."

Walking in the door, there is a pure and beautiful big girl in front of her. She is wearing a light-colored skirt, her hair is black and her skin is like snow. The simple pearls and jade jewelry on her hair and arms are elegantly adorned. The little girl has the temperament of a lady.Zhang Ning has always regarded her as a little girl, but when he saw her this time, he realized that the little girl had already grown up, in fact, she was two or three months older than the Tuesday mother who was going to marry him.

The younger sister invited Zhang Ning to sit down and brought tea and snacks.Zhang Ning asked warmly for a while, and she said: "Xiaohe is inseparable, I don't feel bored, and Sister Fang is often with me, she teaches me to write calligraphy and painting and piano scores."

She spoke naturally, and she no longer ignored Zhang Ning like she did for a while.Perhaps she has already figured it out, Zhang Ning's murder was not the fault of Zhang's uncle and aunt. Although he has a certain responsibility for implicating them, the sadness and indignation cannot be blamed on him.

But Zhang Ning always felt that she was gradually estranged from him, holding the red auspicious talisman she had begged for him in his hand, but he no longer felt the little sister's spiritual dependence on him, even with all her current living conditions It was all given by Zhang Ning.

Could it be that I have been traveling outside for the past two years, spending less and less time with my little sister; or is it because of the murder of the Zhang family?

"Brother, why are you staring at him like this?" The little girl's voice was slightly blameworthy.

Zhang Ning felt a little lost, and asked without thinking: "Where did you come from?" He always thought that the younger sister was a simple girl and one of his own, so there was no need to put on airs.

Zhang Xiaomei stood there stunned, as if this question was really difficult to answer.

"Why do you ask me that?" The little girl frowned.

Zhang Ning said slowly: "Do you have an impression, such as when you were dreaming, or by chance, you saw a place... there was a river, and the river was full of bamboos, and many bamboo shoots would drop in summer. Good firewood; there are always crabs and fish in the river. There are some dwellings on the banks, but not a concentrated village...”

The little girl shook her head: "I only remember the Qinhuai River and Qingxi River. Apart from the bridge, there are mostly shops beside the river. There are many people in the daytime. Where did the bamboo come from? There seems to be very little bamboo on the riverside in our hometown. The place my brother said Where, have we been?"

Zhang Ning shook his head with a smile, and handed over the auspicious talisman in his hand.The little girl was surprised when she took it, she quickly covered her mouth with her hands, and after a long silence, she bit her lips lightly, and said in a low voice, "Why do you still keep this, brother?"

"The moment I opened my eyes and saw the world, I saw this thing." Zhang Ning said dejectedly, "Maybe it's not what I thought, so I'll return it to you."

The little girl said softly: "It was originally given to brother, you keep it."

"I'm afraid I'll lose it in the future, so I'll let you keep it for me."

The little girl stuffed it back stubbornly: "I don't want it, you take it!"

Zhang Ning said again: "My brother is going to start a family, and your sister-in-law will see these little things in the future, and it will be troublesome to ask and explain."

"The two things have nothing to do with each other. I don't know why my brother said this all of a sudden." The little girl complained.The auspicious talisman was thrown on the table, causing the two siblings to push it back and forth meaninglessly.

After a while, Zhang Ning said like an older brother again: "My little sister has grown up, my brother will start a family first, and then I will do big things for you."

Unexpectedly, the little girl didn't say anything this time, she just acquiesced.