Two days of gratitude

Two days of gratitude

The Chinese idiom, Pinyin, is g à nd à I è RTI à n, which means those who save people from danger, hardship and disease. It comes from the biography of Su Zhang in the book of the later Han Dynasty.

source

The biography of Su Zhang in the book of the later Han Dynasty by Fan Ye in the Southern Dynasty and Song Dynasty.

explain

Describe those who save people from danger, hardship and disease.

Idioms and allusions

In Han Dynasty, Su Zhang was appointed governor of Jizhou. He had a friend who was the prefect of Qinghe County, which happened to be a dependency of Jizhou. Su Zhang once went out for an inspection. When he arrived in Qinghe County, he found out that his old friend had committed corruption and perverted the law. All the stolen evidence was found out. In order to win over his personal feelings, the sheriff arranged a banquet and was ready to invite Su Zhang. Su Zhang also went to the meeting happily. After the lively entertainment, the sheriff thought that under the protection of the officials, the major affairs could be reduced to minor ones. On the one hand, he was grateful, but on the other hand, with an air of arrogance, he said to Su Zhang with a compliment: "everyone has only one day, but I have two days." He meant that he had committed a serious crime of corruption and should have been put to death, but with the forgiveness and shielding of his old friends, he would be reborn in another day. He could be both grateful and proud. Unexpectedly, Su Zhang answered him clearly: "today's drinking is for personal friendship; tomorrow's case handling is in accordance with national laws and regulations." As a result, this corrupt official was finally punished and the discipline of Jizhou officials was rectified.