Chapter 02 Chapter 2
As the sun set, Jiang Huai struggled to follow the team in front. Even though he was mentally prepared, after walking for several hours, Jiang Huai still felt the torture of exile.
The soles of the shoes were extremely thin, and not only did the stones hurt my feet, but the ground was also extremely hot, and my feet became numb after walking for a while.
After finally getting used to the heat, his physical fatigue began to hold him back. His body became heavier and heavier, and his steps became smaller and smaller. In the end, Jiang Huai only relied on the motivation of not wanting to be whipped to avoid falling to the last place.
Traveling is very tiring, but being whipped is not just a temporary pain. Once the sweat soaks into the wound, it will be a continuous pain, not to mention the risk of infection.
The most torturous thing was thirst. Because there was no water bottle and no water replenishment point along the way, Jiang Huai was thirsty when he walked to the back and could only watch the soap soldiers drink water with envy.
Fortunately, because I drank enough at noon, I haven’t shown any symptoms of dehydration yet. This is the only thing I can be thankful for.
Suddenly, Jiang Huai found that the team became restless. He looked up with some confusion and saw a flag flying not far away with a big word "Yi" written on it.
We have arrived at the post station!
Jiang Huai's eyes lit up instantly. Arriving at the post station meant he could rest.
Seeing that the prisoners were restless, Zhang Tou scolded them harshly a few times before they quickly calmed down. After all, if they didn't quiet down, the next step would not be scolding, but whipping.
Zhangtou led a group of people to the post station. The post station had already noticed so many people coming, and immediately sent out postmen to greet them.
Zhangtou came forward to take over, mainly to ask the postmen to clean up the cells or sheds so that the escorted prisoners could be locked up. Secondly, he asked the post station to prepare some food for distribution tomorrow and the meals for the jailers to eat in the evening.
While listening to Zhangtou's instructions, the postman secretly looked at the prisoners who were about to move in, his eyes rolling around, and no one knew what he was thinking.
…
The postman led the prisoners to the shed. Their post station was small, so there were no special cells. Fortunately, the shed was quite sturdy.
There was some hay spread in the shed, and obviously, these would be their beds tonight.
Fortunately, the hay looked newly replaced and was relatively clean, which made Jiang Huai breathe a sigh of relief.
Even though the place was dirty, he had to sleep, but he might not sleep well. Not getting enough rest at night would be very detrimental to his journey during the day.
After entering the shed, the door was closed tightly. Jiang Huai found a place to sit down and couldn't help but gasp.
He had been standing just now, and his legs and feet were a little numb due to the pain, but now that he sat down, the soreness and pain came back. Jiang Huai wondered if he could walk anymore.
Although he had no strength in his hands, Jiang Huai still tried to rub his legs to make them feel more relaxed.
I don’t know if it was the massage or the rest that helped, but after a while, Jiang Huai felt that his legs and feet felt better, but the feeling of thirst became more intense.
Hearing footsteps outside the door, Jiang Huai subconsciously looked over and found that the postman who had just left had returned, still carrying a bucket of water. Jiang Huai couldn't help swallowing.
The other prisoners also looked outside, with longing in their eyes. After all, they had been thirsty all afternoon.
The postman met everyone's eager eyes and smiled.
"This is the mountain spring water I brought with great effort. It is extremely sweet. If you want to drink it, you have to give me some money for my hard work." The postman made it clear. If it were any other travelers, he would definitely not be so rude, but he didn't need to be cautious about a group of prisoners.
Mountain spring water?
The corners of Jiang Huai's lips twitched slightly. There were indeed mountains nearby, but it was not real mountain spring water, and the postman would not give it to these prisoners to drink.
If he remembered correctly, there seemed to be a well outside the post station.
"This water is out of season. If you don't want to buy it, I'll take it back." The postman said slowly.
Several prisoners swallowed their saliva, but they really couldn't afford to pay. It's not that they really had no money, but the money they had hidden on them was going to be used in the place of exile. Now they had less and less to spend, and they really couldn't bear to spend it on water.
Maybe we can come across a water source on the road tomorrow, which will save us some money. Although the money for buying water is not much, we will need money at any time during the exile, not to mention when we arrive at the exile place, money will be of great use.
But there were also people who were willing to spend money and bought water. The postman smiled and took a cup to fill it with water for them.
Seeing someone drinking water adds another layer of temptation to others.
A few prisoners gathered together and whispered to each other. After a while, they asked the postman, "Can we get a discount on this water if we buy it together?"
The postman glanced at the other people in the shed and was sure that he couldn't sell much water at the current price. After thinking about it, he could only lower the price. However, the two sides argued again about the amount of labor fee.
The prisoner who had just bought water at the original price looked a little unhappy when he saw that others were taking advantage of him. However, no matter how unhappy he looked, he did not dare to show his displeasure to the postman and could only walk aside in frustration.
Jiang Huai also wanted to join in buying some water, but he felt around and found he had no money at all. He could only watch others drink happily.
After they had finally finished arguing, the postman counted on his fingers, but after counting a few times, he came up with several different numbers, which showed that he had obviously made a mistake.
Seeing the postman counting on his fingers and becoming more and more confused, Jiang Huai suddenly had an idea. There was no loss anyway, so he decided to give it a try.
"The price of water just now is one-third of a cent lower than the original price. There are twelve people buying it, so you have to charge twenty cents." Jiang Huai's voice was a little hoarse.
These words interrupted the postman's train of thought and he turned to look in the direction of the voice.
The handsome young man sat against the wall, his face was pale and his lips were obviously dry due to lack of water, but his eyes were exceptionally clear.
"How did you calculate these twenty cents?" asked the postman.
Jiang Huai could see that the postman was not good at arithmetic, so he tried to explain how to calculate the water price in simple and easy-to-understand words.
The postman did the calculation himself according to what Jiang Huai said, and found that the problem that had been bothering him was quickly solved, and a hint of joy appeared on his face.
After the bill was settled, the postman quickly collected the money and sold water. During the period, he also tried to sell some food. However, the price of water was not low, and the price of food was even higher. Few of the prisoners were willing to buy food.
Even though the postman reluctantly lowered the price, there was only one prisoner who bought it. Confirming that he could not make more money, the postman counted the copper coins in his bag and then turned to look at Jiang Huai again.
"You kid suddenly spoke up, just tell me what you want." The postman could see that Jiang Huai must have something to ask for, otherwise he wouldn't have spoken just now.
Jiang Huai didn't care about the postman's somewhat condescending attitude. After all, his current identity was an exiled prisoner, and anyone could look down on him.
"I am penniless and just want a drink of water." Jiang Huai swallowed his saliva. He wanted to eat, but just that one sentence of help was not worth a meal.
"Are you good at arithmetic?" The postman asked instead of responding.
Jiang Huai nodded in confusion.
The postman stared at Jiang Huai for a while. The biggest source of income for a postman was the money from passing passengers. This money had to be calculated clearly in person and quickly. If it was discovered later that the calculation was too little, many people would refuse to acknowledge it. Because of inaccurate calculations, the postman had suffered losses several times.
He could see that Jiang Huai came from a wealthy family, and the explanation just now also proved that the other party's mathematics was not bad, at least it was more than enough to teach him.
But, is the other party willing to teach?
The postman suddenly said, "Boy, if you teach me arithmetic, I will not only give you a bottle of water, but also a meal if you teach me well. How about that?"
The other prisoners originally thought it was a joke when Jiang Huai started talking, but who would have thought that while they were talking, Jiang Huai actually got a chance to drink water for free and even get a meal, which immediately made the other prisoners jealous.
Jiang Huai didn't expect there would be an unexpected surprise, so he agreed immediately.
Although he is not very hungry now, every bite of food he eats during this exile means a better chance of survival.
The postman didn't expect Jiang Huai to agree so readily and was caught off guard.
The postman had seen some people from wealthy families. Even if they had fallen into the situation of prisoners, they would look at them as if they were dirty things. Even if they spent money to buy food and drink, they would still be arrogant.
The postman looked at the water bucket. Because there was no container for drinking water, the other prisoners had to scoop water with their hands to drink, and the water looked a little dirty.
The postman turned and went outside, and this time he brought back a teapot.
The guard outside was originally a little dissatisfied with the postman's coming and going, but he didn't know what the postman said that made him relax.
"Boy, drink some water first." The postman said, holding the teapot.
Because the railing of the shed was only wide enough for him to stretch out his hands and the teapot could not fit in, Jiang Huai could only hold the teapot and drink water from the spout. However, it was still cleaner than drinking water with his hands.
The tea was cool and slightly sweet in the throat. It tasted better than the stream water Jiang Huai had drunk on the road, and it was safer to drink.
It was obvious that Jiang Huai was very thirsty. The postman waited for a while, and Jiang Huai had almost finished drinking. He put the teapot aside and prepared to start the lecture.
But before giving the lecture, Jiang Huai looked at the postman and asked, "My name is Jiang Huai. If you don't mind, could you please tell me your name?"
The postman was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect Jiang Huai to ask this. He replied, "My name is Wang Er."
Knowing that the teaching time would not be too long, Jiang Huai first tested Wang Er's mathematical level, identified his weaknesses, and then asked him what kind of accounts he needed to calculate on a daily basis. After thinking for a while, he began teaching.
Wang Er was very nervous at first, worried that Jiang Huai wouldn't be able to teach him well, and also a little worried that he wouldn't be able to learn well. But as the sun set and the moon rose, Wang Er's eyes became brighter and brighter, and he felt that this business was a great deal.
He once went to a private school to eavesdrop, but he could not understand what the teacher was explaining about mathematics, and he was almost discovered, so he gave up the idea of learning secretly.
But now he understood very quickly what Jiang Huai taught him, and Jiang Huai would even test him with questions based on his daily accounts, and point out where he went wrong if he made a mistake. Where can you find a teacher like him?
As they were talking, Jiang Huai's stomach suddenly protested, and Jiang Huai was a little embarrassed. Wang Er then came back to his senses from teaching and realized that Jiang Huai had not eaten. Remembering what he had said before, he stood up to get the food.
After having his meal, Zhangtou took a rest for a while and then came to the shed to see if the prisoners were behaving well. But when he got closer, he found that the two guards who were supposed to be guarding the prisoners were actually fighting with their fingers.
"What are you doing?" Zhangtou shouted sharply. The two soldiers were startled, turned around and saw Zhangtou, and immediately behaved themselves.
Zhang looked inside the shed and found nothing wrong, then turned to look at the two soldiers.
The two soldiers could not bear the pressure of Zhang's gaze and confessed honestly. They were bored on guard duty and listened for a while when they saw Jiang Huai teaching Wang Er arithmetic.
The more he listened, the more useful he felt that this arithmetic was, so he started to learn it secretly. He just gave himself a problem, but the two of them got different results and were arguing about who was right and who was wrong.
This was the second time Zhangtou heard Jiang Huai's name today.
Zhangtou couldn't help but take a look inside the shed. Under the bright moonlight, the young man had handsome eyebrows and eyes, and a kind of noble air that seemed otherworldly. He never thought that he would have to bow down for a meal now.
Wang Er came over with food at this time. When he saw Zhang Tou, he couldn't help but stop. It was actually against the rules for him to approach Jiang Huai. It was okay if the police didn't say anything, but if he clearly opposed it, he couldn't go against it.
Zhangtou noticed Wang Er and also saw the food he was carrying. He quickly understood who the food was for. He paused slightly and then walked out.
Wang Er breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this and hurried to bring food to Jiang Huai.
"Don't think that the food is a bit mixed. If I sell it outside, the price will be quite high." Wang Er explained, fearing that Jiang Huai would not appreciate his kindness.
Although these meals were the leftovers he brought back from the kitchen, they were much more oily and moist than the ones he had just taken out to sell. He usually ate them himself or took some home. This time, if Jiang Huai hadn't been teaching him very seriously, he would have been reluctant to give them to him.
Jiang Huai swallowed unconsciously. He wasn't really greedy, but his body hadn't eaten normal oily meals for a long time, so it was difficult for him to control his body.
Wang Er looked at Jiang Huai's greedy look and smiled smugly, thinking that his efforts were not in vain, and handed the chopsticks to Jiang Huai.
Jiang Huai smelled the aroma of the food, and despite the jealous and resentful looks of the other prisoners behind him, he took a few big mouthfuls of rice and then started eating in small bites.
It’s not that Jiang Huai doesn’t want to eat fast, but eating late at night is not easy to digest, and his health is not good. It would be terrible if he suffers from indigestion. It’s better to eat slowly.
Wang Er also noticed the gazes behind him and glared back fiercely. Although the other prisoners were not afraid of offending him, they did not dare to cause trouble at night and could only retreat.
After the meal, Jiang Huai felt a little drowsy. He wasn't sleepy before because he was tired and uncomfortable, and he had important things to do. But now, after having enough food and water, sleepiness quietly came over him.
The hay under his body was quite soft, making a suitable position for him, and Jiang Huai fell into a deep sleep.
Because of the day's fatigue, Jiang Huai slept very deeply. However, in the middle of the night, a policeman screamed, which alarmed the other policemen. The whole post station became noisy and Jiang Huai was forced to wake up.
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