In the museum exhibition hall of the 14th arrondissement, a girl with short hair and shoulder-length hair sits quietly on a long wooden chair against the wall.

The girl looked to be only twelve or thirteen years old, she sat up straight, her expression was indifferent, she carried a black violin case on her left shoulder, and a thin pocket book in her right hand.

On the cover of the book is a solemn-looking ancient old man, accompanied by words -

"Eight Hundred Years of the Great Zhou Empire - It Turns Out that You Are Such a Zhou Dynasty"

The girl's middle and ring fingers hold the spine of the book, while the little and forefinger press the page, and each time she turns the page, she gently picks up the next page with her thumb, and the little and forefinger adjust accordingly.

Many people passed by her, gathered, and dispersed.

The girl always maintained the same posture and the same expression, as if time had frozen in her.

As the sun darkens, the retro clock in the museum slowly points from one to four, and the number of visitors around it is slowly decreasing—the museum will close at half past four in the afternoon.

Near a quarter past four, a middle-aged man in an overcoat appeared at the entrance of the National Museum panting, he looked around, and quickly saw a girl sitting alone.

"Zero!" He waved his hand at the girl with some difficulty, "Sorry, I'm late." ”

Zero's index finger and little finger immediately closed the book in his hand, and then gently put it in his pocket.

She stood up as usual, "Good afternoon, Professor. ”

"Do you still have flight training at a quarter past five?" The man glanced at his watch, "Do you want to go back now, or do you want me to ask for a leave of absence for you?" ”

"I've taken a leave of absence, Professor."

Chen Daoping was stunned for a moment, "Is it because you guessed that I would be late again?" ”

"No, because you criticized me last time that I shouldn't fill my schedule, rest and training should be equally important, so I've canceled my regular practice this afternoon and evening."

“…… That's not criticism. Chen breathed a sigh of relief, took off his coat and held it in his hand, and walked towards the back of the museum with the girl, "It's just a suggestion." ”

"Understood, Professor."

Chen glanced at the girl beside him and thought she might not understand.

The two walked to the underground entrance, and the staff smiled from afar.

"Sorry, we're almost closing time."

"Hello comrade, I am Chen Daoping, a standing member of the Standing Committee of the Institute of History and Language."

As he approached, Chen took out his work ID from the inside of his coat and handed it to the staff.

"Generally speaking, even if the pavilion is not open, we can enter it with a certificate."

The staff took Chen's certificate and looked at it carefully, but returned it.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Chen, tomorrow is the anniversary of the victory of the 14th District of the Garrison War, and several chairmen of the coalition government will come here to give a memorial speech all day, so after the museum closes today, we will conduct a final security check on all the exhibition halls, and you still can't enter."

Chen nodded, "Understood...... Please wait a minute. ”

“…… What do you want? ”

Chen Daoping lowered his head and took out a card bag from the inner layer of his jacket, and then handed a dark red transparent card to the staff.

"As you can see, this is a membership card, from the independent combat team specially established by the Regional Crime and Justice Research Institute in the 14th District," Chen Daoping said in a low voice, "Then, according to the 14th Amendment to the "Special Management Measures in Peacetime", we have the right to conduct random inspections of all public places that may have potential safety hazards. ”

The staff member opposite blinked, a little dazed for a while.

"You can go and ask your sir." Chen Daoping reminded.

"Ah, okay."

The staff left in a hurry, and quickly turned back - and there was an additional man behind him, who was obviously the "chief" of the staff member just now.

As soon as they met, the two immediately shook hands and hugged each other, and were pleasantly surprised to see each other here.

Zero also gave a quick and standard military salute to the stranger in front of him.

The man looked at Zero and asked Chen Daoping, "Who is this young lady?" ”

"It's my partner." Chen Daoping replied.

After some casual conversation, Chen urged to go to the ancient exhibition hall on the second basement floor.

The other party sighed, "After the museum is closed, it is a death order this time that no one is allowed to enter the exhibition hall that has been scanned, old comrade-in-arms, it's not that I don't give face, it's really not that I can't let you go." ”

"How did you perform your scanning?" Chen Daoping asked, "Is it still the same as before, from the ancient and the modern, in chronological order to the middle?" ”

"Well, yes."

"That's not delay," Chen Daoping said, "I'm mainly coming to the Zhou Dynasty this time—it's really not good, you can just let me go to the areas of Jianxi, Shengming, and Yuankang, and give me half an hour or so is enough." ”

After some bargaining, Chen Daoping took zero and walked to the staff elevator on the other side as he wished.

Behind the two of them, the staff who had previously received Chen Heling suddenly remembered something, "Ah! Sir, that little girl hasn't entered her bio information yet! ”

"No need," the man said softly, looking at the two backs of one big and one small, who were fading away, "that girl is not a human, she should be a tool person like a mass-produced mechanical battle queen." ”

The staff was stunned.

After a while, Zero trotted back to the workbench, "Is there a personal belongings storage point here?" ”

The staff came back to their senses a little and quickly replied, "...... In the case of a violin, you can take it with you. ”

"Oh, it's not a violin, it's a Toliver-AR-HMU," Zero said calmly, "The professor just told me I can't take it downstairs. ”

The staff was stunned again.

……

Walking in the deep and silent marble corridor, Chen Daoping suddenly turned around, "Your dissertation topic...... What is it called? I forgot again. ”

"'Try to analyze a work, a piece of history, or a celebrity. It is necessary not only to deal with their own inevitable connection to the historical situation, but also to explore the potential for human liberation in that context, and to extrapolate other eternal truths implicit in social and political debates. ’”

Chen Daoping shrunk his neck in disgust, "...... Who are your philosophy teachers? ”

"Michelle Sa." Zero replied, her voice seemingly emotionless at all times, "It's the lady who came to visit my home last time and asked me about my family." ”

"Oh...... She. Chen Daoping frowned, "I should have warned you earlier, don't take any of Miss Michelle's classes—she doesn't know how to speak at all." ”

Zero stopped suddenly, "...... But I don't know about humans either, professor. ”

Chen Daoping laughed, "No one can really understand. ”

Zero slowed down somewhat incomprehensibly.

Chen Daoping added, "But if you want to understand human beings, you can't miss the museum." Every civilization's museum is answering the question of where they came from with its people. Is Zero here for the first time? ”

"Yes, Professor."

Chen Daoping nodded, "Where are we now, do you know?" ”

"City A-012 of the A-level province of the Fourteenth District." Zero whispered, "It's also your birthplace." ”

"Well, yes, City A-012 ......," Chen Daoping repeated the name slightly perfunctorily, and then corrected, "but this is the name of the coalition government, and the locals generally don't call it that." The real name here is Heikyo. Eh, look at this. ”

Chen Daoping pointed to a brown jade ball, and a light hit directly above it, and the illuminated part showed a kind of alternating red and yellow brightness.

The text introduction in the lower right corner reads: carved shaft, 16 years of Jianxi.

"The carved shaft is a stone in the belly of the carving, which will change color when exposed to light and water, so the ancients believed that it could predict sunny weather."

Zero nodded, and went to take the VR glasses hanging aside, but was pressed down by Chen Daoping.

"Don't see with VR, see with your eyes."

"Why?" Zero asked, "If you only use your eyes, you will always have a limited angle of view. ”

"If we were going to use VR, we wouldn't have to come here today, Zero." Chen Daoping said seriously.

"I don't understand, Professor."

"The Electronic Museum of District 14 has the most detailed and realistic modeling in the world, and the accuracy of the VR equipment in our laboratory is far more accurate than the basic tools used for public services in the museum.

Zero thoughtfully hung the VR glasses back on the side of the showcase.

"That's right," Chen Daoping's voice softened again, "Let me put it this way, we are now in the year 4631 of the world calendar, and this jade ball carved with a carved shaft was made in the sixteenth year of Jianxi, and there is a distance of nearly two thousand years between us and it.

"In the last two thousand years, it has changed hands countless times, lost, buried, and reappeared...... Finally placed here, placed in front of our eyes.

"If you think about it, there were many people who stood in front of it and gazed at its beauty." Chen Daoping said softly, "When we do the same, it will overlap with the history that has already happened in a different time and space. ”

Zero quietly looked at the carved scroll in front of her, although she couldn't understand the "beauty" in Chen Daoping's mouth at all, she could still understand this "overlap".

In the past, there must have been many people who stood in front of this brown jade ball like themselves, marveling at its high price and wondering where it was precious.

Zero blinked and recorded the image in front of him in his mind.

Continuing to walk forward, Chen Daoping picked out several interesting cultural relics to introduce one by one, and finally stopped in front of the three portraits of the old man while walking.

The one in the middle had something like the cover of the book she was looking at earlier.

Zero looked at the painting.

"Professor, this is Zhou Zhongzong Chen Yicong, right?"

"Yes," Chen Daoping nodded, "The founder of the Shengyuan Dynasty, Chen Yicong of Zhou Zhongzong, 'Zhong' is his temple name, which means Zhongxing. What about the emperors on the left and right, do you recognize Zero? ”

Zero shook his head.

"On the left is Emperor Jianxi of Zhou Shizong, who has been worshipping for generations and is called 'Shi', he is the first and only emperor in the history of the Great Zhou Dynasty to die of mercury poisoning, and he is too keen on alchemy.

"On the right is Zhou Xuanzong Chen Shubai...... However, he has a more widely spread name among the people, called Heng Yuanjun.

"The reign of these three emperors covers the period from 2721 to 2820 in the world calendar, and it is also known as the era of the Great Zhou Dynasty's 'Centennial Zhongxing'. Although it is a bit reluctant to include Emperor Jianxi in it, after all, in the year of his death, the entire north of the Jian'an River was slaughtered by the cavalry of the Jin State at that time, but in the forty-five years of Emperor Jianxi's reign, the first twenty years did increase in national strength. ”

"Look at the three of them, do they look alike?" Chen Daoping asked.

Zero silence - if you want to look at the portraits alone, most of the portraits of emperors of the same dynasty should be very similar.

"Pretty similar, right?" Chen Daoping said to himself, "After all, one is the grandson of Emperor Jianxi, and the other is the son of Emperor Jianxi. ”

"Son...... Does the professor mean Heng Yuan-kun? "Zero looked at it," and this conclusion seemed different from what I had just seen in the book. ”

"If it's different, it's still up to me." Chen Daoping said with a smile, "Heng Yuanjun is the child born to Emperor Jianxi and the palace maid in the early years. But on the night he was born, there was a meteor that attacked Ziwei Star at night, and Emperor Jianxi decided that this son was unknown, and it would definitely damage the emperor's star, but killing his own son was even more unethical, and he couldn't do it for a while. ”

"At about the same time, Emperor Jianxi's brother, the former prince who was trapped in Qinyuan, also gave birth to a child - let's call him Lan Zhijun. The first prince was afraid that his son would also be imprisoned or even killed in the future, so he tried to devise a way to send the child out of the palace overnight. ”

"However, Prince Qinyuan's plan was exposed almost at the planning stage." Chen Daoping said softly, "Emperor Jianxi knew everything from the beginning, the timing of their actions, the route out of the palace, and the response from outside...... Even the fact that they want to pick up a baby from outside and enter the palace to transfer the bag is also clear. ”

Immediately afterwards, Emperor Jianxi did a very imaginative thing, he secretly stuffed this son who would damage Emperor Xing, Heng Yuanjun, into Qinyuan. At that time, it was the depths of winter, and Qinyuan not only lacked charcoal and coal, but also often deducted daily food. He pinned his hopes on Heng Yuanjun to die in Qinyuan because of poor care, so it was not his responsibility.

"On the other side, Emperor Jianxi directly sent someone to kill Lan Zhijun who was sent out of the palace."

"However, he underestimated both the means of seeing Ange, and the compassion of his brother." Chen Daoping said, "He didn't expect that the killer he sent out to kill Lan Zhijun didn't succeed, and Heng Yuanjun in Qinyuan was raised by the former prince with all his might. ”

"The beginning and end of this story is recorded in a booklet called "Jinshi Lu", which was dictated by Huang Chongde, the great eunuch who was next to Emperor Jianxi before his death, and recorded by others, mainly about the rules of the palace of the Jianxi generation, and also left such a past story of Emperor Jianxi."

"So later, some people speculated that Chen Yicong may have died at the hands of Heng Yuanjun - after all, this is also in line with Heng Yuanjun's prophecy of 'damaging the emperor'."

Chen Daoping clasped his hands and quietly looked at the portrait in the display case.

"But seriously, Chen Yicong is really my favorite one among the emperors of all dynasties."

Zero continued to stare at the old man on the screen, "Why do you like him the most?" ”

"Chen Yicong is a very magical emperor." Chen Daoping said with a smile, "When you read history books, you can't help but wonder if this person has traveled through the past. ”

"He was born in a typical imperial family, his father was the only adult prince at that time, and he was the most favored saint grandson. Such a child, who grew up under the influence of the father and son of the monarch and ministers, after ascending the throne, vigorously promoted the special imperial examination, completely ignoring the rules and regulations of the court and doctors, and promoted the national policy of strengthening the country with science and technology. ”

During Chen Yicong's reign of more than 30 years, the Great Zhou Dynasty was engaged in agronomy, medicine, metal smelting, and firearms manufacturing...... And so on, all of which produced a singularity leap, leaving other civilizations of the same era far behind, and this near-crushing gap lasted for more than 400 years, until the fall of the Zhou Dynasty. ”

"The Shengming generation, not only technological progress, but also a large number of famous ministers, in addition to the now familiar to the first and auxiliary ministers, because of the special imperial examination, a large number of technocrats have emerged in the court, and the traditional civil servants have formed a new balance...... It is the era of real controversy. ”

To this day, many people have to admire his strategic vision in his early years. In the seventh year after his accession to the throne, the Jin State suddenly expressed its intention to seek peace - the reason why the Jin State suddenly softened was because the Great Liao in the west was growing at that time, and Chen Yicong saw this greater enemy with an outstanding eye, and took the opportunity to exchange for the remnants of the Zhou State, Taoguang and obscurity, and retained his strength.

"After the Liao destroyed the Jin, Chen Yicong personally went north again, resisted the invasion from the Liao barbarians head-on, and even pushed the border of the Great Zhou to the north by a quarter."

"Also in the Shengming period, the official kiln Baihuaya in Pingjing actually produced the first women's aid organization in our history, the Orchid Society. At that time, women were encouraged to enter the field of light industry by teaching them employability skills in order to achieve their own economic independence...... This kind of concept is really too advanced. ”

"It's a pity that such an emperor only lived for more than fifty years."

"Because of the assassination?" Zero asked.

Chen Daoping shook his head, "This is still a very conspiracy theory, about Chen Yicong's death, the more likely reason is the onset of old injuries left by several pro-conquests, Emperor Shengming did not have a good life in his later years, and the old injury on his left shoulder would attack every time it rained, and it was recorded that when the pain was severe, the emperor couldn't sleep at night or even wailed all night, which frightened the hearer." ”

In contrast, Heng Yuanjun was much luckier. He lived to be one hundred and two years old, and he is still a long time to live...... But he was weak and sick since childhood, who could have imagined that he could live so long that he would survive all his enemies to death? ”

The two of them continued to walk forward, and Zero saw four long swords lined up in the display case on the right.

In the post-cold weapon era, firearms and guns have not completely replaced these steel weapons.

Behind the four long swords, there hung a military general who stood with a staring eye, and it seemed that all four swords he had used before.

Zero paused, "Who is this person?" ”

"It's the Great General Zeng Jiuyan." Chen Daoping said softly, "He and Emperor Shengming are close friends, and he left home in his early years to join Rong and join Chang Sheng's command, but he was still too young at that time...... His truly dazzling home field was the later battle against Liao. Zeng Jiuyan has brought the tactics of a ten-person group to the extreme, and when you start the history of tactical analysis in the second half of the year, there will be a special unit to talk about him. ”

"His friendship with Emperor Shengming Chen Yicong, as well as the great writer Zhang Jingzhen at that time, was very moving." Chen Daoping stared at the military general on the portrait, "Shortly after Chen Yicong's death, the inner court coup d'état again, and Zeng Jiuyan, who happened to be in Pingjing at that time, broke into the East Palace at night, rescued Chen Yicong's eldest son Chen Si, and sent him to Shuzhou overnight. After Heng Yuanjun ascended the throne, his henchman Han Chong drove all four of Chen Yicong's minor sons to Qinyuan and detained them for life—just as Emperor Jianxi did to him and the first prince. Zeng Jiuyan was beheaded in the vegetable market in the autumn of the same year because of rebellion. ”

Zhang Jingzhen was also implicated and imprisoned, and Heng Yuanjun intended to use Zhang Jingzhen's influence among the literati to clear his suspicion of usurpation, but Zhang Jingzhen refused to sing the praises of virtue. In the second year of Heng Yuanjun's accession to the throne, Zhang Jingzhen died in prison because he refused to transcribe Zeng Jiuyan's crimes. All the poems were destroyed, but fortunately, his wife Liu copied some of them and hid them in the wall, which has survived to this day. Now there are more than 3,000 surviving poems by Zhang Jingzhen, many of which are well-known. ”

"Heng Yuanjun's purge in the early years of Yuankang is one of the few stains on him, and the temple name 'Xuanzong' also implies merit and fault. However, this kind of political tilt is unavoidable in all dynasties...... Let's move on. ”

"Hmm."

Walking further, Zero saw more books in the display case in front of him.

"Shuzhou will be much more fun next year." Chen Daoping stopped in front of a display case, "For example, these books of "New Records of Mountains and Rivers" were made by Mu Yiqing, a geographer, traveler and writer at that time. His real name is Li Yiru, and he is the great-grandson of Li Yuan in the southwest. In his early years, Li Yuan traveled all over the mountains and rivers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, leaving a book of "Actual Records", on which Mu Yiqing made additions, mainly in the form of a diary to record what he saw in his life, and to understand the geography, hydrology, geology, and plants at that time...... All are very well documented. ”

"There is also a paragraph in "New Records of Mountains and Rivers" that records the life of the Hesta people in those years, and it also accidentally writes about Wei Izumo, a famous businessman in the middle and late stages of the Shengming Dynasty - he was still young at that time, and he had not even started business, and was experiencing life with the Hesta people.

"Wei Izumo has his own ideas about opening the trade route, and in the last years of Jianxi, the entire trade route north of the Jian'an River was basically destroyed, but by the end of the Shengming Dynasty, the roads were unobstructed and post stations were everywhere. South Yuzhang North Izumo. Chen Daoping said with a smile, "But what everyone is most interested in now is the love story between him and Princess Hesta's dagger and sheath." ”

"Dagger and sheath." Zero muttered and repeated, "Is this the drama that is being performed at the Grand Theater of the 14th District now?" ”

"yes." Chen Daoping nodded, "The first time the two met, Wei Izumo found that Volva was holding the dagger he had lost in his hand, and he happened to have that scabbard on his body all the time...... However, there is no such coincidence in the world, most of them are fabricated by literati and artists. ”

"Let's go back to Mu Yiqing, this Mu Yiqing has never had a family in his life, he is out and about, he was removed from the family earlier because of his wandering bones, and a hundred years later because of his great reputation, he was still invited into the ancestral hall by the Li family."

On the other hand, Qian Sang is even more amazing, as early as the Apocalypse, there was a very powerful educator Bai Zhen in the Qian Sang area. Bai Zhen himself was an insightful hydraulic engineer who led the flood control project in the area of Qian Sang Academy, and the flood water storage device is still in use today. It was also he who single-handedly founded the predecessor of the 'Qian Sang Academy', the 'Keats Church', to adopt those children who had no one to support them because of war and famine, and teach them new knowledge. ”

Like the later Dasi Nong Bai Nong'an, Bai Shijun who wrote "A New Treatise on Typhoid Fever...... They are all students brought out by him, oh, and when it comes to "A New Treatise on Typhoid Fever", then I have to mention two people. ”

Chen Daoping continued to take a few steps forward with Zero, stopping in front of the two portraits.

There is an old gentleman and an old lady in the portrait, and in front of the portrait there is a stone tablet that has been cut off by the waist, which is engraved with ancient words, but after thousands of years, the handwriting on the stone tablet has long been mottled, and it is impossible to see what is written.

"This is a very famous couple in the southwest," Chen Daoping said softly, "Lin Bai on the left, and Wei Songqing on the right." Qiansang Academy was really set up in their hands, and some people believe that Zeng Jiuyan sent Chen Yicong's eldest son to Shuzhou to defect to the couple. ”

"Why do I say that when it comes to the new treatise on typhoid fever, we must talk about these two people, because according to the preface, the set of "New Treatise on Typhoid Fever" should have a total of thirteen volumes, the first twelve volumes are co-authored by Bai Shijun and his son Bai Yi, and the last volume of "Psychological Lectures" was written by Bai Ling, a former psychologist in the Jianxi period.

"Later, however, when it was printed in large quantities, most booksellers would eliminate the thirteenth volume of The New Treatise on Typhoid Fever and only publish the first twelve volumes, because the Lecture Notes on Psychology itself was incomplete and of low practical value."

Therefore, there has always been a view in the academic community that the last volume of "Lectures on the Heart" is a forgery of later generations, because many of the views on psychotherapy mentioned in it, including the experimental and statistical ideas of psychological research, are far beyond the scope of what should be in that era. Many of the scholars mentioned in it, such as Kim, who used pigeons to reveal the principle of superstition, and Si, who studied the effect of word meaning on the color of fonts...... There is simply no other historical source that can cross-corroborate it. Therefore, it is believed that although the scientific ideas embodied in it are very beautiful, all the content should be made up by the author. ”

"However, that view was shattered last year." Chen Daoping paused and said with a smile, "Last year, we found the real joint burial tomb of Lin Bai and Wei Songqing in the Qiansang area, and in their tomb, a set of the most complete "New Treatise on Typhoid Fever" was unearthed so far, not only a fragment, but a complete book. It's just that I don't know why, Lin Bai and Wei Songqing didn't send this set of books to the bookseller for distribution, but took them to their own graves. ”

"The stele you see now is their epitaph." Chen Daoping suddenly sighed, "During the Garrison War, the Imperial Army of the Seventh District once cut and took away this stone tablet, and the reason why you can see it here now is because not long ago, in order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the victory of the 14th District of the Garrison War, the chairman of the 7th District returned this stone tablet along with other cultural relics. ”

"You won't find a dynasty like this in history." Chen Daoping sighed with emotion, "You stand now and look back, if Emperor Ming is not promoted, then the Jianxi Dynasty will be the turning point of the Great Zhou Dynasty from prosperity to decline." The Zhou Dynasty was able to enjoy 800 years of national glory, which is closely related to the technological explosion and the loosening of words and roads during the Shengming period. ”

"All in all, if you want to write about the potential possibility of human liberation, I think the Zhou Dynasty is the most worthwhile part to write," Chen Daoping said cross-legged, "You can see for yourself, if there is anything you don't understand, call me - but pay attention to the time, we should only have ten minutes left." ”

Zero nodded quietly.

She walked to the stele engraved with the epitaphs of Wei Songqing and Lin Bai, and reached out to pick up the VR glasses on the side.

After activating the switch, VR generated a restored image of the stele, and Zero saw a small poem engraved on it.

meditation

Mu dan

Hold the fountain of life in my hands

I just think it's fresh

It is a strong liquor, fresh foam

Inject me into my rush, my work, my adventure

It seems that the garden that the predecessors have never visited

It's going to be in front of me

But now, suddenly, facing the grave

I looked back at the past with a cold eye

I saw the joy and sorrow of its twists and turns

All disappeared into an eternal desert

That's when I realized all my efforts

But it's done with an ordinary life

——End of the book——