When Li Ran heard this, he felt as if he had been struck by a bolt from the blue:
The prince is dead!
Just when Li Ran was being chased in the narrow alley of Qufu, Prince Ye actually died in Lu Palace!
The assassination operations in the two places were carried out almost simultaneously. But the only difference is that Lu Gong's assassination was successful, but Li Ran relied on Sun Wu's ridiculous power to escape.
With the news of Tai Ziye's death, everyone saw Li Ran's anger.
But he did not get angry, nor did he burst into anger, nor did he roar to the sky.
He just silently stared at his originally sunny face, the twinkling starlight in his eyes gradually turned into firelight, and the dense flame of revenge slowly burned in his heart, but he looked quite forbearing.
"Lord, what should we do now?"
According to reports from Shusun Bao's retainers, what was even worse was that after Prince Ye's death, Ji Sunsu immediately joined forces with the court officials and put Shusun Bao under house arrest in the mansion. Because the defense of Lu Palace was arranged by Shusun Bao himself, when Prince Ye was killed, Shusun Bao happened to be derelict in his duty and even became the first suspect.
Therefore, it is definitely impossible to return to Shusunbao's mansion now. And it is obvious that the real culprit behind the assassination of Tai Ziye definitely does not want Li Ran to continue to live, and will definitely set up another plot around the mansion in order to eliminate the root cause.
So the most important thing in front of Li Ran at the moment was naturally how to save his own life.
Just like in Zhou Wangji, Li Ran faced this problem again.
"Lord! For the current plan, it seems that we can only escape from Qufu first and then discuss it!"
Hearing what Sun Su said, Li Ran did not panic and was not prepared to escape at all. He chose to stay in Qufu!
"My lord? Qufu is extremely dangerous for my lord. If you don't leave, your life may not be safe!"
Sun Su had his own reasons for saying this. After all, he had only one mission, and that was to protect Li Ran.
"This place is not far from Uncle Sun's house, and it is so dangerous. How can the assassins sent by the Ji family not have second-hand preparations? Outside Qufu City, it is probably even more dangerous. What's more, if we escape just like this If we go out of the city, wouldn't that give Ji an excuse?"
Seeing Ji Le on the side, he took a step forward and wanted to comfort him. But who would have thought that Li Ran suddenly raised his head and looked at Sun Wu:
"Brother Sun Wu, you are very skilled in martial arts. Can you help me again?"
Thinking that Sun Wu had just saved his life, Li Ran seemed a little reluctant when he blurted out. He was worried that Sun Wu would refuse.
However, after all, Sun Wu was born as a calf and was not afraid of tigers. Instead of refusing, he said rather righteously:
"Sir, don't you want to find out the real culprit? If so, Wu must be unstoppable. Although Wu is not from Lu, there is no reason to shrink back when he encounters such an unjust thing. Please speak frankly, Sir, Wu will definitely do anything!"
When Li Ran heard this, he was very grateful and nodded frequently:
"Very good! Doctor Shusun is now under house arrest. We have no place in the Lu court. If we want to stir up trouble, we must make some noise!"
"And I am being hunted right now. If I show up, I'm afraid it will be very bad. Although I am not afraid of death, if I die in vain at this time, no one will be able to avenge the prince's revenge, and I can only fear the injustice of the uncle and grandson." There will never be a day when the truth will be revealed, so please ask Brother Sun Wu..."
Li Ran made the arrangements, and Sun Wu immediately took the order.
Watching his leaving figure, the gloomy look on Li Ran's face gradually improved, but his serious face still made people feel nervous.
Ji Le looked at him with some suspicion and asked:
"Is this really feasible?"
Although she had no doubts about Li Ran's strategy, she also knew in her heart that the people they were going to deal with this time were none other than the Ji family and the Meng family.
Before, they could borrow the power of the Jin State to deal with these two major forces. That was because the Jin State was such a behemoth that both the Ji family and the Meng family were intimidated.
But now they can only rely on their own strength to deal with this crisis. And the disparity in strength makes it almost impossible to succeed?
"The prince ascended the throne by offering sacrifices to heaven. If he can get help from his uncle and grandson, he will be able to revitalize the royal family and regain his real power in the near future."
"But Dr. Shusun has such a broad mind, but the Ji family and the Meng family do not. They killed the prince in order to firmly control the state of Lu in their hands, control the king with ministers, and make decisions on the king's affairs."
"This matter is highly treacherous and must not be stated openly. Therefore, if we make this matter a big deal and everyone knows it, the Ji family and the Meng family will definitely expose their flaws! Now, no matter whether it succeeds or not, I will give it a try !”
Li Ran's attitude was extremely determined.
He is not a man who likes tactics, but when he steps into this battlefield, it means that he has no way out.
Especially after experiencing the chaos in the Zhou royal family, he had already developed a sympathy for Prince Ye, a friend who was very similar to Prince Jin in the State of Lu.
He still remembered how indignant Prince Ye was when he told his uncle Sunbao that he wanted to fulfill his father's legacy.
He still remembers Tai Ziye's unbearable indignation when he heard him say that he should keep to himself, and he still remembers the grand ambitions contained in the prince's ambition.
Unfortunately, all this has become a thing of the past with the death of Tai Ziye.
Now, the only thing Li Ran can do is to fulfill Tai Ziye's last wish.
Ji Le looked at the unwavering expression on Li Ran's face and felt confused for a moment.
She couldn't understand the friendship between Li Ran and Tai Ziye. In her eyes, Li Ran and the prince were just acquaintances, not even as close as her friendship with the prince. Why did Li Ran risk his own life for the sake of Prince Ye?
But she still chose to believe Li Ran, because she felt something from Li Ran's words that she had never seen or even heard.
"What's next?"
Ji Le thought for a while, raised his head and asked.
"Go find Mr. Chou."
Li Ran's eyes shone with a strange light.
...
Qufu, a separate courtyard.
This villa is located next to the royal road on the west side of Lu Palace. It is one hundred feet due east of Lu Palace and two hundred feet due south of Xialiu River. It has a favorable geographical location. It used to be the property of Shu Sunbao, but later it became the foothold of the Ji family in the Lu State, and it has always been used for the Ji family's business in the Lu State.
When Ji Le brought Li Ran here, Gongzi Chou was already here.
"The servants here are all traders from my family in Lu. They have been handling the business of our Ji clan in Qufu for many years. They should be reliable."
"In addition, there are thirty guards inside and outside the courtyard, so there is no need to worry about safety here."
When Li Ran heard this, he couldn't help but glance outside the room. As expected, I saw a row of guards guarding each side of the door. He was tall and tall, and the bronze scabbard in his hand was faintly glowing with gold.
As rich and powerful as the Ji family, these thirty elite guards alone are enough to rival any of the three houses in Qufu, not to mention the servants in this other courtyard, who also run various businesses in Qufu.
Ji Le brought Li Ran here because he wanted to save Li Ran's life. In addition, she also wanted to see how Li Ran would rescue Shusun Bao and find justice for Tai Ziye.
Young Master Chou still looked crazy. When he saw Ji Le coming, he immediately ran over and grabbed Ji Le and said with a silly smile:
"Sister...you are here..."
If it were in the past, Li Ran and Ji Le might just sigh in their hearts to show their helplessness towards this young master.
But today, when Li Ran saw such a crazy and ignorant young master, he pulled him to a deserted corner. No matter how hard he struggled, Li Ran never let go.
"What are you going to do...let me go! I want to go play with my sister!..."
Gong Zichou's wrist hurt. He looked at Li Ran with a serious expression in front of him. His face was full of fear, and his bright black eyes were flashing with fear.
"Sir! I will only say what I say today once!"
Li Ran looked into his eyes and said in an almost roaring voice.
Then Gongzi Chou froze on the spot, looking at him motionless, with a weak and helpless expression still lingering on his face.
Li Ran didn't care at all and just continued:
"Your brother, the prince, is dead! Their target now is you! They want to help you rise to power and let you act as their puppet. If you continue to pretend to be crazy and stupid in the future, you will be exposed one day. At that time, you will still have to escape. But it’s the result of being assassinated by them! Your brother’s death is a lesson learned from the past!”
"I know that Young Master, you know better than anyone else that if you want to live, you can only pretend to be crazy and act like a fool! So, Young Master, you have not dared to show signs of being a normal person in these years, let alone show your sorrow for the current situation of Lu State, and your feelings for Ji The Meng family is deeply disgusted!"
"But have you ever thought that since you were born in the palace of Lu, there are certain things that you are destined to be unable to escape from?"
"Since I have an acquaintance with your brother, I promised him that I will definitely help him regain the power that belongs to the Lu Kingdom, help him revive the Lu Kingdom, and I will definitely help him clean up the dirt of the Lu Kingdom! Although he is dead now, But I won’t give up either!”
After Li Ran finished speaking, there was a sudden silence in the other courtyard.
Gongzi Chou looked at Li Ran with doubtful eyes for a long time.
The silence between the two seemed to be a tacit cooperation. Li Ran's silence gave Gongzi Chou time to think, while Gongzi Chou's silence seemed to be thinking about what Li Ran said.
But there was still a trace of fear in Gong Zichou's doubtful eyes.
"You... how did you tell that I was pretending to be stupid?"
After a while, Young Master Chou sighed suddenly, and then asked in a low voice.
Yes, Gongzichou's madness is just an act.
His fear was precisely because Li Ran saw through his disguise. Because Li Ran can see through it, it means that Ji Shi will also see through it one day in the future.
He didn't understand where the flaw in himself was, and Li Ran discovered the clue. But he could conclude that since Li Ran had seen through his disguise, he would not let him continue to pretend.
Because what Li Ran said just now can be said to be very tough.
People with a tough attitude will always end up in trouble.
And such people are also dangerous.
He thought of his father, who died in the Chu Palace with regret.
He thought of his brother who had just died tragically in Lu Palace.
Anyone who dares to go against the Ji family and the Meng family, anyone who dares to resist them, even the king, will eventually die.
They have one thing in common with Li Ran, that is persistence.
He knew that such persistence had already killed his father and brother, and he did not want to be killed by such persistence again.
But the persistent Li Ran found him and broke the mask he relied on to survive.
