Chapter 7: The Gun and Bullet Behind the Door

  I'm familiar with the name Yunjian. The ancient name for Songjiang District in Shanghai is indeed Yunjian. Of course, the ancient Yunjian was much larger than today's Songjiang area. When I was an undergraduate at Songjiang University Town, the comprehensive forum of the university town was called "Yunjian City".

  Professor Li Yubo continued: "In the 21st century BC, before the establishment of the Xia Dynasty, China was still in the patriarchal clan period. The throne was passed down from Yao to Shun to Yu, and when it came to Da Yu, he conquered many tribes through his achievements in water control. At that time, the area between the clouds, the northern coast, and the southern coast of ancient Hangzhou Bay were very close. What is now Jinshan Island was still a land peak tens of miles away from the coastline, commonly known as Huanghua Mountain. The river flowing through the foot of the mountain was a southeast-oriented Grand Canal, named Wolong River. To the west of this river, there was another southwest-oriented Grand Canal, named Mofu River. Between the two rivers, about 3 kilometers south of the outer embankment of Jinshan Seawall, there was a vast plain called Yuzhou Zhou. Da Yu Wang sent General Xue, a descendant of Zhuanxu, one of the Five Emperors, to lead an army eastward to further expand the Huaxia tribal alliance. During the expedition, Xue used both leniency and severity, and various tribes surrendered one after another. However, when they arrived at the eastern coast and entered the Yunjian area, they encountered resistance from the local aboriginal leader Tu Ya, who led an armed rebellion. Tu Ya's wife, Ji Lu Mu, under the instigation of a small tribal leader named Di Ke, killed over 100 people. After Xue was defeated and retreated, he adopted a strategy of sneaking up along the lake to launch a surprise attack, and defeated the Tu Ya tribe in one fell swoop. The indigenous people who failed to escape from Yuzhou Zhou all surrendered. Xue personally taught them the farming techniques of the Central Plains and improved their pottery-making skills. Xue and his subordinates also won the admiration of the people and were invited to stay and establish a marquisate.

  Yu presented a memorial to King Da Yu, obtained permission, established the Marquis of Ninghai, and was enfeoffed as the ruler of the State of Ninghai. During the reign of Emperor Xia Kai, people still did not put salt in their food. Occasionally, people discovered that eating salt could stimulate appetite, refresh the mind, and increase energy, so some people used seawater to boil salt, exchanging this specialty with outsiders for profit. The people obtained salt as if they had obtained a treasure, and merchants came continuously to purchase it, and Yunjian white salt was sold all over the world. This is the origin of Yunjian's first pot of gold.

  After nearly 10 generations of diligent governance by the kings of Ninghai, the state of Ninghai became extremely wealthy. At this time, the Zhou Dynasty had already been established in the Central Plains. The third king of Zhou, King Kang of Zhou, personally visited the State of Ninghai, and the ruler of Ninghai at that time, Cong Xuan, immediately led his civil and military officials to welcome the king's arrival and invited King Kang to ascend Huanghua Mountain to view the scenery. King Kang saw the beautiful scenery below, with the distant sea and sky blending into one color, and couldn't help but exclaim: "The great river is like a blue dragon playing in the water and returning to the great sea, and the top of the mountain is full of yellow flowers, like a golden mountain." He ordered his general, Lü Shang, to build a city fortress at the foot of Huanghua Mountain, named Dongjing City, with the intention of being opposite to the Western Capital of the Zhou Dynasty.

  The Ninghai State, in gratitude for the kindness of King Zhou of Chu, informed the people of Yunjian and changed the name of Huanghua Mountain to Jinshan, the name of Wolong River to Qinglong River, and the name of Dongjing City to Kangcheng. Relying on the benefits of the salt industry, Kangcheng gradually developed into a rich and powerful economic and cultural country, but its military strength was very weak. By the Spring and Autumn period, the famous general Wu Zixu of Chu State, relying on his mighty army and silver tongue, persuaded the king of Ninghai at that time to hand over Kangcheng, and Ninghai State disappeared from then on. After Wu Zixu left Chu for Wu, his fief was in Kangcheng. Later, when Chu State captured Kangcheng, Chunshen Jun Huang Xie, one of the Four Nobles of the Warring States period, also had his fief in Yunjian Kangcheng. By the Three Kingdoms period, Kangcheng was still the place where Lu Xun, the Grand Marshal and Prime Minister of Eastern Wu, was enfeoffed. As the fiefs of these famous men, Kangcheng received even greater development and became a super-large city at that time.

  Professor Li Yubo, although he seemed a bit down when he first entered the house, was full of energy and enthusiasm as soon as he started telling these stories. He spoke with great passion and eloquence, just like a university professor on stage. I listened to him with great interest, his tone rising and falling in a captivating rhythm, and couldn't help but feel my blood boiling with excitement. So when he had been talking for half the day, I still hadn't interrupted him. But when he got to this point, I couldn't help but ask: "So how did you finally confirm that Xi Shi's tomb was actually in Kang City?"

  Professor Li pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and said, "After Wu State was destroyed by Yue State, Fan Li went to Shandong alone for business and did not bring Xi Shi with him. Although King Goujian of Yue had personally selected Xi Shi and sent her to King Fuchai of Wu, after destroying Wu, he also refused to properly settle this beauty who had slept with his enemy for many years, and even wanted to drown her in the river. Because she was captured by pursuing soldiers, Xi Shi had no choice but to escape to Yunjian Kangcheng and live in seclusion. Although the people of Kangcheng knew about this, they all sympathized with this wise and patriotic beauty who had saved the country with her body and helped her avoid official investigation. Xi Shi refused to remarry in Kangcheng and eventually died alone, after which she was buried in Kangcheng."

  I couldn't help but sigh with regret for Xi Shi after hearing Professor Li's words. Fan Li was right, when the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked; when the flying birds are gone, the good bow is hidden. King Goujian of Yue was indeed a narrow-minded person who could only be with the poor and lowly, but not share wealth and honor. When he was defeated by King Fuchai and had to flee, he entrusted all state affairs to Wen Zhong and took his wife and Fan Li to Wu State to taste King Fuchai's feces. Although the story of sleeping on thorns and tasting bile is moving, after destroying Wu and becoming the hegemon, Goujian framed Wen Zhong for treason and forced him to commit suicide with a sword. Fortunately, Fan Li was clever and ran away in advance, otherwise he would have also become a tragic figure. It seems that if it's said that Goujian didn't appreciate Xi Shi's contributions and even persecuted her, it's also reasonable.

  Professor Li Yubo continued: "I knew about the things I just mentioned because there was a family that had lived in Yunjia Village for generations, and they wrote a genealogy that detailed the history of Yunjia Village. However, this genealogy was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. My father met one of the descendants of this family, who told my father about the events recorded in the genealogy, and my father passed them on to me. This descendant mentioned two things that caught my father's attention..."

  I raised my hand and clenched my fist in front of Li Yu Bo.

  Li Yubo was in the middle of his speech when I suddenly interrupted him, and he looked up at me with a puzzled expression.

  My eyes met Mingying's, she nodded slightly, I slowly reached up to Li Yubo's collar and suddenly grasped it tightly. Li Yubo was startled and shouted: "What are you doing?"

  I suddenly pulled Li Yu Bo's collar, pulling him down from the chair. One kick sent the chair sliding to the door, which crashed shut with a loud bang. Ming Ying didn't need me to say anything more. She grabbed the backpack containing the painting from the table and flipped the table over to block our way.

  The door was kicked open with a skilled kick, the sound wasn't loud but enough to kick the door open. Unexpectedly, the door was blocked by a chair on the ground and the person couldn't squeeze in. But I caught a glimpse of a black gun muzzle poking in from the corner of my eye! I quickly crouched behind the table, and before I could react, extremely small gunfire sounds rang out continuously.

  The steel table, like being hammered with nails and hammers, was violently dented by the bullets hitting its surface, as if sharp wolf fangs were stabbing towards us three people, making one's heart tremble with fear.

  If it weren't for this desktop blocking the way, these bullets would have pierced our bodies fiercely, rolling and stirring, tearing my internal organs apart.

  We didn't dare show our heads and had no idea who these people with guns were. All we could do was use the table to shield ourselves and retreat towards the window.

  Mingying gritted her teeth, and together with me, one person on each side, we lifted the table. I felt the impact force transmitted through the table, almost tearing my tiger's mouth apart. Li Yubo let out a miserable cry as he crawled on his knees, making me want to go up and kick him.

  A burst of gunfire had finished, and we three retreated to the window. I lowered my voice to Li Yubo: "Jump down!"

  Li Yubo's face was deathly pale at this time, and I didn't know if he was scared silly or thought that jumping down would also be a dead end. He had no reaction to my words whatsoever. I heard the door being pushed open with great force, and the person would enter the room in just a minute. At the same time, the sound of reloading echoed out.

  This already badly damaged desktop, if it gets hit by another stroke, will surely be smashed!

  I gave Mingying a signal, and with my left hand I took over the leg of the table on her side. Mingying opened the window and without hesitation pulled Li Yubo, shouting "Jump!" Li Yubo involuntarily followed her out the window, crashing through the paper window and jumping down.

  The sound of the two landing came quickly. The resident on the first floor below had set up an illegal room in the courtyard, but at this time the roof of the room became their foothold. The door latch was already pulled up, I suddenly threw the table over, did a somersault, and also rolled out from the window. The man was blocked by the table for a moment, but soon the sound of leather shoes came on, and he was about to rush to the window.

  At this time, Li Yu Bo had been dragged by Ming Ying to the edge of the roof and refused to jump down. I knew that once the person inside reached the window, they would definitely shoot, and it would be too late. In a hurry, I kicked him off with one foot. Li Yu Bo landed on all fours like a cat, his left hand making a cracking dislocation sound. I jumped down to cover his mouth, not letting him cry out, but found that his two legs were as soft as noodles and couldn't stand upright.

  I don't know where the strength came from, I pulled Li Yubo over and carried him on my shoulder. At this time, a very small gunshot sound had already come from the windowsill, this TM is absolutely the rhythm of killing! How dare they open fire openly on the road in the community? Mingying was already running ahead, I gritted my teeth, crouched down and ran wildly along the wall root.

  I ran around the corner of the wall to the door of the passenger seat, took out the car key that Mingying had given me from my pocket, and threw it to Mingying in a parabolic arc. Mingying pressed the unlock button, I opened the door, tossed Li Yubo onto the seat, and squeezed myself in to sit on top of him, constantly scolding this sports car that looked cool but was completely useless at critical moments.

  Mingying had already started the car and quickly turned the steering wheel all the way to the bottom, stepping on the accelerator, the front of the car was close to the rear of the car in front, rubbing against it slightly, the body shook, and the alarm horn of the front car let out a sharp cry. The engine emitted a low rumble, rushing forward directly. A short distance ahead, a man wearing a T-shirt and jacket stood in the middle of the road, seeing the car coming over and waving his hand hastily, as if afraid that Mingying hadn't seen him and would hit him.

  I saw through it at a glance and shouted: "It's a gang! Let's crash in!"

  This voice sounds so familiar! It's as if I've heard it somewhere before!

  Mingying let out a cold hum, and the accelerator didn't let up, charging straight ahead. The man saw this and dodged to the side, his hand reaching for his waist. The car sped past, and two loud crashes came from the rear windshield, shattering it into pieces. I turned my head back to look, and that person was pretending to fall to the ground, shouting loudly: "Hit someone! Save me! Hit someone! Save me!"