In the thirty-first year of Lu Xianggong's reign, the king of Zhou was on the outskirts of Jiluoyi.
"Stop! Stop! If you don't stop, I'm going to shoot!..."
Under the dark clouds and thunderstorms at night, there were waves of pursuits from behind. The wheels of the car made a dull sound on the uneven dirt road, but it was instantly drowned out by the thunder from the sky.
In the carriage, a man who looked like a guard was sitting on the driver's seat. As he drove wildly, he looked into the carriage behind him from time to time.
At this time, there were two people in the chariot, one of whom was dressed as a servant and was sitting sideways. Another person was lying on his back next to him. He was a young man of about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a face like a jade crown, an ax and a knife, and a very handsome appearance.
But at this moment, his face was pale, as if he had suffered a serious illness, and he had been unconscious. And from time to time, some words came out of his mouth that the guards could not understand.
"Teacher...His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! No...don't..."
…
After galloping so hard all night, the guard driving the car was already exhausted. But fortunately, he finally took advantage of the darkness and the heavy rain to throw off the pursuers behind him.
The sky cleared up, and the guard dragged his very tired body to a small stream. He was about to get out of the car and wet the wrapping cloth to apply to the young man in the carriage, but unexpectedly he was unconscious all the time. The young man suddenly stood up and looked at himself with horrified eyes.
"gentlemen…"
"you…"
Li Ran looked at the guards in front of him and looked at each other. They were all stunned for a moment.
Then, the memories in my mind came out like a flood.
Li Ran, a student of quantum physics from the 30th century. Because he was involved in a war that had nothing to do with him, in order to save Li Ran's life, his mentor had to let Li Ran participate in a dangerous experiment - the traceability project.
His mentor was the chief designer of the Historical Tracing Project, and Li Ran traveled through time in this way.
As luck would have it, Li Ran's ancestor in this life happened to be named Li Ran. The traceability was successful, and Li Ran was able to save a small life for the time being.
"Li Ran? The companion of Prince Jin of the Zhou royal family?"
As the memory fragments continue to pour in, Li Ran's understanding of the people whose origins are traced is gradually increasing.
In this life, Li Ran was the keeper of the Zhou royal family's library in Luoyi, also known as the librarian. When he was young, he was a classmate of Ji Jin, the crown prince of the Zhou royal family. The two grew up together and were like brothers.
"Of course, Jin's visit to the palace to see his mother this time is probably a disaster. If anything happens to Jin, remember not to seek revenge. I hope that all the people in the world will be my thoughts, and don't forget the oath between you and me..."
"Prince!"
"ah!"
When Li Ran recalled this point, his head suddenly felt a sharp pain, as if it was about to burst.
After a while, he slowly woke up again and looked out of the car with empty eyes.
"Arno...we...where are we going?"
A Nuo is the bodyguard of Prince Jin, the only person Prince Jin can trust.
"Ah...sir...you finally woke up. I don't know what kind of illness sir has, but it is so dangerous. He is in a trance, one after another."
"Sir, do you want to drink some water? After drinking the water, let's get on the road quickly. I'm afraid there will be no peace in Wang Jinei these days. If those thieves catch up..."
Arnold was babbling about something, but Li Ran didn't hear it clearly at all. Because at this moment, the memories in his mind are gradually filling up.
It is said that Queen Jiang of Qi State, who belonged to King Zhou Ling, wanted to harm Prince Jin in order to make her son Ji Gui the crown prince.
When Prince Jin's people in the palace got the news, they rushed to tell Prince Ji Jin and asked him to leave Wang Ji quickly.
However, at this moment, someone happened to come to the palace and summoned him, announcing that the prince would come to the palace to discuss matters the next day.
Prince Jin thought about it all night and realized that death was inevitable. If you don't follow the order and run away, then you have a ghost in your heart, and the truth will be revealed by then. If you follow the imperial edict, I'm afraid you will inevitably suffer disasters with swords and axes.
This is a dead end, but he doesn't want to hurt others anymore. Knowing the relationship between Li Ran and herself, the queen would definitely not let him go according to her personality.
So, he had to order people to send Li Ran out of Wangji overnight.
…
"Where is the prince? Where is the prince now?"
After Li Ran woke up, he obviously didn't know the situation yet, so he asked anxiously.
"Prince...Prince, if he enters the palace, he probably won't be able to..."
Arnold seemed to be whimpering as he set up the carriage.
"What! Tai...Prince, he..."
Li Ran seemed a little annoyed.
"Hey... I just regret that I traced the origin at the wrong time. If it could have been a few days earlier, why would it be like this!"
It seems that tracing the origin also requires timing.
Li Ran thought this way.
In this life, Li Ran became the companion of Prince Jin because of his excellent conduct and learning. Therefore, the two can be said to be irreconcilable friends. The two men once vowed to revive the Zhou Dynasty and resolve the injustice of the people in the world.
But now, the prince was killed, and he fled in a hurry. It was lucky to save a life, so don't say anything else.
"Oh, Brother Ran, it seems that the responsibility for the prosperity of Zhou Dynasty will have to fall on your shoulders in the future."
Li Ran thought about Prince Ji Jin's last words when he met him for the last time, and then understood the meaning, so he couldn't help but feel sad again.
After a long time, the carriage finally came to a slow stop. Arnold jumped down from the driver's seat, turned around and saluted Li Ran:
"Sir, you are fine now, and Wang Ji has left here...Take care, sir! I have to get up and go back now..."
Not as sad as Li Ran, but at this moment, Arnold was already packing his luggage while talking.
He also brought out a horse that had been prepared in the forest, and jumped on the horse.
"Wait!"
Li Ran jumped off the car, stepped forward, grabbed the reins, and said nervously:
"Now that the prince has been killed, the king's life must be extremely dangerous! Since you are the prince's personal bodyguard, who in Luoyi doesn't know you? If you go back now, wouldn't you be throwing yourself into a trap?"
I saw Arnold slowly loosening Li Ran's tight reins and saying:
"Thank you for your kindness, sir! ... However, the prince's kindness to me cannot be repaid even if I die. I was born with a white head, but the prince stayed with me like a brother. Now there are evil thieves harming my brother's life, so what can I do?" Can you just sit back and ignore it?! Even if it doesn’t work, you will just die, so what’s there to be afraid of!”
"Take care on your journey, sir..."
After saying this, the man bowed his hands towards Li Ran on his horse and then rode away.
Li Ran knew that he would definitely die, so he no longer tried to stop him, because he knew that everyone has his own destiny.
This guard's destiny is probably to die protecting his master, but what about himself?
When I think that I am still being hunted by the queen, where should I go in this vast world?
When Li Ran was at a loss, a sharp and rapid hooting suddenly came from his ears!
But seeing another burst of sand and dust billowing in the distance, there seemed to be many guards with halberds coming from the direction of Wang Ji. The horses neighed. It was obvious at a glance that they were coming to hunt down the prince's party!
Li Ran was shocked and hurriedly asked his servant to drive away.
But they were still spotted by the guards behind them, and how could an ordinary carriage be faster than these best war horses?
He couldn't run more than ten miles, and he was about to be overtaken!
In desperation, Li Ran had no choice but to smear the dust on his face and dress himself up from head to toe.
"Stop! If you dare to drive again, we will shoot you!"
Hearing a burst of shouting from behind, Li Ran didn't dare to move anymore, so he asked the servants to stop the carriage quickly.
Then, the chasing guards jumped onto the carriage and began to pretend to search.
"You...what are you going to do?!"
"I'm looking for the culprit who killed the prince. You're so sneaky, it's obvious there's something wrong with you!"
But based on the belts around their waists, Li Ran could tell at a glance that these people were clearly the guards in the palace.
And will the palace guards come out to hunt down the murderer? It's simply impossible. This is clearly a thief's cry to catch a thief.
"I...I am the butler of Liu Gong's house. You...you are chasing me with such ferocity, how can I not panic?"
When these guards heard that they were from Duke Liu's mansion, they were all startled. In fact, Li Ran was just talking nonsense in his haste. He had only heard rumors from others that his appearance was indeed somewhat similar to that of Liu Gong's family chief.
Fortunately, these halberd-wielding guards did not know Li Ran. After all, Li Ran only worked in the library before and basically never interacted with others. However, the family ministers of Liu Gong's Mansion often had the opportunity to meet with people in the palace.
These people took a closer look and realized that it was really "Liu Jiazai", so they immediately put away their halberds:
"Oh! It turns out it's really Liu Jiazai. I misunderstood him! ... We are also chasing the murderer here, but we don't know if Liu Jiazai met any suspicious people on the way?"
Li Ran naturally knew that the "suspicious" person they were talking about was the guard Arnold who had taken him out of the city before, so he just shook his head and said:
"Never met."
Seeing that the investigation was fruitless, the guards did not dare to delay any more and let Li Ran go directly. Although Li Ran was lucky enough to escape, he was still frightened.
The pursuers finally retreated, and a life was finally saved. Li Ran let out a long sigh and immediately began to make calculations:
"Now Wang Ji is determined not to go back. It's a lucky thing that he escaped today. What about tomorrow? Can he still be so lucky?"
Li Ran looked up to the sky and sighed, but the matter was now a foregone conclusion, and he could only find ways to survive.
"Young Master, where are we going now?"
After an escape, although they escaped the first wave of the queen's pursuit, no one knows how many more will follow. At this time, the sooner they leave the place of right and wrong, the better.
The servant found a stream and got some water to wash Li Ran's face.
After Li Ran calmed down, he turned to look at Owl Wing, his slave who had been following him for many years.
This man is a slave brought back from Qi by Li Ran's father. He has been following and serving Li Ran for many years, and he can be said to be loyal.
"Young Master, why don't we go to Jin State first? Jin State is now the overlord of the world. If the royal family is in chaos, we should help each other."
This is true. In the past hundred years, Jin has been the most powerful vassal state. Going to Jin now is naturally a very good choice.
However, Li Ran didn't take it seriously.
"Hey, come on."
Li Ran shook his head and said helplessly:
"Today, in the Jin State, there is a fierce struggle between the six ministers of Fan, Zhongxing, Zhi, Han, Zhao, and Wei. On the surface, the Jin State seems to be strong, but in fact it is already golden on the outside and in ruins. If you go to Jin at this time country, I'm afraid that not only will it not help the situation, but it will also be drawn into their struggle for no reason."
Li Ran, who had been ostracized and dismissed from his post by the powerful, was naturally unwilling to be involved in such a struggle again.
What's more, Prince Jin is already dead. No matter how good the Zhou royal family is at this time, what can it do?
After all, there is no resurrection after death...
"Then... why not go to the Lu Kingdom? With the young master's talents, there may be room for him to be used."
When Li Ran heard this, he couldn't help but think about it again.
What Owl Wings said is quite reliable.
As a clan state of the Zhou royal family with the surname Ji, the State of Lu still retains a complete set of Zhou rituals and regulations.
If princes from all over the world want to understand the Zhou rites, their first choice is to go to the State of Lu to learn and observe the rites. Its rituals and music are flourishing, and its folk customs have always been simple. It is a famous country of etiquette.
For a person like him who keeps the history of the Tibetan Chamber of Commerce, it may be a good choice to go to the State of Lu to make a living now. After all, we are all people who have read books and understand things, so it will be much easier to communicate with each other by then.
Li Ran made a decision in his heart and set off immediately.
Having said that, the process is very difficult. Today is a troubled time, with frequent wars between vassal states. Along the way, we see that the common people are starved of food, poorly clothed, and their lives are in ruins. It can be described as tragic.
Therefore, Li Ran traveled eastward, eating and sleeping in the open air, and was so hungry that he almost died on the way. If it weren't for Owl Wing's ability to run errands to beg for food, he might have returned home long ago.
With so many stops and starts, the original trip of just a few days ended up running around for several decades. Fortunately, we arrived in Qufu safely and without any danger.
Qufu - a place that would have a profound influence on later generations of China, Li Ran arrived here after many twists and turns.
When he first arrived, he saw a large number of people in the city. Such a prosperous scene made Li Ran astonished as soon as he entered the city.
After all, he has never dared to go to crowded places for more than half a month. Seeing the crowd in front of him at this time made him feel like he was alive again.
The State of Lu indeed deserves to be called a clan state with the surname Ji. The place where the Zhou ritual system is preserved and developed is indeed much more stable than other vassal states.
But he also knew in his heart that this was also relative.
The State of Lu also has its own conflicts and disputes within the country, but compared to several other large countries, they are not as intense.
Now that we have arrived in Qufu, we naturally need to find a place to stay first and then get some food.
During these days of running away, Li Ran almost stopped chewing tree bark. Only then did he remember how nourishing his life was in the past, sitting in his own manor, eating pastries and drinking red wine.
"Hey, if I had known this, why would I have done it in the first place! Why should I study physics if I didn't want to learn something bad? In the end, I built a crappy time travel machine, but I almost lost my life, and now I'm still living on the streets in ancient times..."
"Hey... well, now that you're here, just survive..."
It is obviously useless to miss the life before tracing back to the origin. The most important thing now is how to survive.
There are no such things as inns, B&Bs, and hotels these days. Ordinary people have to prepare a corresponding number of days of dry food when going out, and sleep wherever they go.
If you want to find a hotel to live in, unless you are a dignitary with status, it is just a dream.
But as a cultural person, if he was allowed to sleep on the street and be embarrassed, he would probably jump with both feet.
But Owlwing obviously doesn't know where to sleep. You, the master, don't know where to sleep. How can I, the slave, know?
Just when the two of them were helpless and staring at each other, they heard a commotion on the street:
"Come on, come on, the township school assembly is about to start!"
"I heard that many gentlemen are coming. We can't miss it."
"Then what are you waiting for? Go quickly!"
Just when Li Ran, who had just arrived, was confused, the people on the street ran towards one place like a gust of wind.
