Chapter 583: Ritual in Ruins, Music in Discord

In 520 BCE, Zhou Jing Wang (former) passed away.

When the news arrived, Li Er was in the Shou Cang Shi copying a bamboo slip.

He put down his brush, raised his head, and looked out the window.

The sky was dull and gray, as if it wanted to rain, yet seemed to be holding something back, unwilling to fall.

The Shou Cang Shi was very quiet.

It was quiet to an abnormal degree.

The officials who usually murmured in low voices were nowhere to be seen today.

Li Er knew why.

Zhou Jing Wang (former), while alive, wanted to make Wang Zi Chao the heir.

That was his eldest son born of a concubine, and also his most beloved son.

But the clan system did not allow it; only the legitimate son could be the rightful heir.

Thus Zhou Jing Wang (former) died, the throne was vacant, and both sides were sharpening their swords.

The Shan Clan, the Liu Clan, supported Wang Zi Gui.

Wang Zi Chao reached out to all sides in the conflict.

Li Er withdrew his gaze and continued copying that bamboo slip.

He did not know how long this struggle would last, nor who would ultimately win or lose.

He only knew that these classics in the Shou Cang Shi, like him, could only wait.

That struggle for the throne had gone on for a long time.

Wang Zi Gui, supported by the army, repeatedly sawed back and forth with Wang Zi Chao inside and outside Cheng Zhou.

During this time, the Mourning King hastily ascended the throne and was hastily killed.

Blood stained the steps of the Royal Palace red.

Li Er never left the Shou Cang Shi.

He heard the shouts of killing outside.

He saw the firelight outside.

He also caught a glimpse of the corpses outside through the crack in the door.

But he did not go out.

【27> He merely guarded these bamboo slips, bone tablets, and clay tablets, scrolling through them volume by volume, copying page by page.

He merely guarded these Bamboo Slip, bone pieces, and clay tablets, reading them scroll by scroll, copying them page by page.

He knew these things outlasted human lives.

That day, the door of the Shou Cang Shi was slammed open.

The door panel struck the wall, emitting a dull thud that made the bamboo slips on the shelves tremble.

A group of soldiers surged in.

They wore armor, held weapons, and their faces bore the fatigue and ferocity of long battle.

Upon entering, they began rummaging through chests and cabinets, hauling out the bamboo slips from the shelves bundle by bundle.

Li Er sat behind the desk, unmoving.

He quietly watched all this, as if watching a play that had nothing to do with him.

Footsteps sounded.

A man in fine robes walked in.

He was much older than those soldiers, his face gaunt, his brows bearing an innate nobility, yet also revealing deep weariness and unwillingness.

His eyes were bright, bright as two burning flames, full of unwillingness and anger.

Wang Zi Chao.

Li Er looked at him.

Wang Zi Chao also looked at Li Er.

The two stared at each other for a long time.

"Master, won't you stop me?" Wang Zi Chao spoke first.

Li Er shook his head.

"Can't be stopped."

Wang Zi Chao laughed: "Master, you're joking."

"It's just that you don't want to."

He stepped forward, sat opposite the desk, and looked at Li Er.

"Do you know why I want to take these books, Master?"

Li Er did not answer.

Wang Zi Chao continued on his own.

"I am the eldest son, I am his most beloved son."

"He personally told me on his sickbed to make me king."

His voice grew low, heavy with repressed anger.

"But they don't accept it—the Shan Clan, the Liu Clan, and that guy hiding behind the army."

"They say I violate ritual, that I'm born of a concubine, that I have no right!"

He slapped the desk with his palm, and the bamboo slips jumped up.

"Ritual! Again, ritual!"

His eyes turned red.

"Those people keep propriety, using propriety to kill me."

"Why should I keep propriety?"

He stared at Li Er, saying word for word:

"I will no longer keep it."

Li Er looked at him, his gaze as calm as a deep pool.

"You don't keep propriety, so you come to seize the books?"

Wang Zi Chao was startled for a moment.

Li Er continued, "These books are all about propriety; you don't keep propriety, yet you want to seize these books that teach propriety."

"What will you do with them after taking them?"

Wang Zi Chao fell silent.

After a long while, he finally spoke.

"Sir, you don't understand."

Li Er gave no rebuttal.

Wang Zi Chao stood up, walked to the classics being carried away, and reached for a Bamboo Slip.

"These books are my proof."

He turned around, looking at Li Er.

"Only the legitimate heir can possess the Zhou Royal Family's classics. By taking these books to Chu Guo, I am telling the world that I am the true king."

His voice grew increasingly impassioned.

"They will write history and claim I am a rebel, an insurgent."

"But with these books in my hands, whose future accounts will be the true ones?"

Li Er quietly watched him.

"If you take these books to Chu Guo, aren't you afraid Chu Guo will keep the books and drive you away?"

Wang Zi Chao's smile froze on his face; after a deep breath, he said with a hint of helplessness:

"Chu Guo is my last reliance; they need me, a Zhou royal scion they can use to suppress Jin State."

"They will not drive me away."

Li Er nodded, saying nothing further.

Wang Zi Chao looked at him and suddenly asked:

"Sir, what about you? Would you care to come with me?"

"This matter will inevitably involve you,"

Li Er shook his head.

"No."

"Why? Shou Cang Shi is empty; what would you stay for?"

"Shou Cang Shi is empty, but I still have it in my heart."

Wang Zi Chao was stunned.

He looked at Li Er, at those calm eyes, at that unruffled face, and suddenly felt like a child throwing a tantrum before an adult.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but nothing came out.

In the end, he only said one sentence:

"I apologize, sir; let me perform one final act of propriety."

Then he knelt, bowed respectfully to Li Er a few times, and strode out.

The soldiers followed him, carrying bundles of Bamboo Slips, disappearing beyond the Shou Cang Shi doorway.

The sound of footsteps faded away.

Shou Cang Shi fell silent.

So quiet it seemed no one had ever been there.

Li Er sat behind the desk, looking at the empty wooden rack.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, bathing his graying hair in a faint glow.

He suddenly recalled the words Shang Rong asked him before his death many years ago.

"Passing by one's hometown and alighting from the carriage, do you understand?"

"Passing by tall trees and hastening forward, do you understand?"

"Does my tongue remain? Do my teeth remain?"

The tongue, being soft, endures; the teeth, being hard, easily break.

He let out a gentle sigh.

News of Wang Zi Chao fleeing with the classics to Chu Guo quickly spread across the realm.

Zhou Jing Wang — the former Wang Zi Gui — settled firmly on the Royal Throne.

He finally became the ultimate winner.

The winner naturally must settle scores.

Those who supported Wang Zi Chao were killed, the ones exiled were expelled.

Those who had once wavered were also struck down.

It was Li Er's turn.

Though he did not follow Wang Zi Chao, the classics Wang Zi Chao seized were taken from his Shou Cang Shi.

Those books, nominally belonging to the Royal Family, fell under his jurisdiction.

The books are gone, so he naturally bears responsibility.

"Keeper of the Repository Chamber Li Er, derelict in duty and negligent, causing the classics to be stolen."

"Considering his advanced age, he is spared death, stripped of office and made a commoner, to leave the city at once."

When the edict came down, Li Er was packing his belongings.

Actually, there wasn't much to pack.

He walked out of the Repository Chamber, out the door he had entered and exited countless times.

The green ox was already waiting outside the door.

It stood there, quietly gazing at him, its dark, shiny eyes seeming to hide something.

Li Er walked over, raised his hand and stroked its head.

"Let's go."

He swung up onto the ox's back.

The green ox stepped forward, unhurriedly heading toward the city gate.

The setting sun stretched his shadow long and long.

He stopped at the city gate, turned back and glanced once.

He withdrew his gaze and gently patted the green ox's head.

"Let's go."

The green ox lowed, carrying him, and slowly walked out of the city gate.