Chapter 2

Name: Li Shan.

Gender: Male.

Age: Sixteen years old.

Hometown: Chengji County, Longxi Commandery.

Place of Birth: Lingnan.

Residence: Temporarily staying in Zhujia Gou outside Chang'an City.

Current Status: Unconscious due to attempted suicide by hanging, sent to a mountain temple for recuperation.

Lying in bed, Li Shan reviewed the memories of his previous life in his mind. He was satisfied that his name hadn't changed, as he had been using it for nearly thirty years and was quite accustomed to it.

A sixteen-year-old boy, born in Lingnan, he was quite tall, almost reaching one meter seventy.

The Li family of Longxi. Li Shan rubbed his head, recalling that the village elders and his grandfather had mentioned that their ancestors were from the Li family of Longxi. Had he been reincarnated into an ancestor?

"Creak."

Li Shan turned his head to see a cute little monk with a shiny bald head carefully walking in with a bowl of soup. "Dalong, it's time to take your medicine."

"Such a chatterbox!"

The words "Dalong" and "medicine" together... Li Shan frowned as he took the bowl, pinched his nose, and gulped it down.

The little monk stared with wide eyes, urging Li Shan to finish the last drops at the bottom of the bowl before smiling and asking, "Is it bitter?"

"Not at all, it's sweet. Tomorrow, you can... "

"Good that it's not bitter." The little monk carefully put away the sugar he had just taken out.

Li Shan stared speechlessly at the little monk, suddenly sniffing and grabbing an oil paper package from the monk's robe, "What's this?!"

"It's a chicken leg. I had good luck today and caught it in the forest."

"Chicken leg... huh?" Li Shan widened his eyes and opened his mouth. You're a monk, right? How can you be so calm when caught red-handed?

The little monk opened the oil paper package and stared at the chicken leg. "Dalong, you..."

Li Shan said nothing, and after a moment, he threw the chicken bone aside. "This will be your compensation!"

Because he was unconscious and sent to the mountain temple, Li Shan had already become familiar with the little monk over the past few days... Several times, he had scolded the monk for almost choking him.

"At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a famous person named Kong Rong..."

The little monk, who was being taught about Kong Rong giving pears to his elders, pouted and his eyes welled up with tears.

"Li Shan is awake?" A young monk in his twenties walked in, greeted Li Shan, and glanced at the chicken leg in Li Shan's hand. "I see why Brother Nineteen hid a chicken leg. It was for you."

Li Shan was taken aback. So, you had chicken for lunch?

Monks in the Tang Dynasty have such good meals?

Wait, the issue isn't about the quality of the food, is it?

"This is Brother Eight." The little monk pouted and stood up.

Li Shan nodded at the young monk, wondering to himself if this was a wild monk temple. What kind of titles and behavior do they have?

"I've heard about you before." The young monk looked at Li Shan, thinking he didn't seem as bad as his cousins had said. "This temple will be demolished in a few days. You should go down the mountain soon."

Li Shan didn't dare to ask more, only smiling and saying, "My mother is still in Zhujia Gou, right?"

"Of course, where else would she go?" The young monk said in surprise, "You don't want to go to the Pei family's residence, do you?"

Li Shan recalled the memories left by his previous self and understood what this meant. His father, Li Dewu, had abandoned his wife and children to reunite with his original wife, and the previous self had planned to leave his mother to enjoy wealth and honor at the Pei family's residence... They naturally refused.

This was the reason for the previous self's suicide attempt... Well, it might not have been a real attempt, just a bluff that went wrong when the little monk discovered him.

Li Shan could hear the hidden disdain in the young monk's words and laughed. "How could I?"

Li Dewu's original wife was from a prominent family, the Pei family of Wenxi in Hedong, though not as prestigious as the Five Clans and Seven Families, they were still a top-tier noble family.

Climbing such a high branch was almost impossible. His identity as Li Dewu's son would naturally be rejected, unless Li Dewu didn't want to cling to the Pei family... Of course, more importantly, Li Shan's personality from his previous life.

Orphaned at a young age, he lived with his grandfather and did almost every kind of work in the village before going to university, even working as a peddler, earning and spending his own money, feeling content.

The young monk smiled. "That's right. I heard you are from the Li family of Longxi?"

His words were filled with envy. "The Li of the Camel!"

"What's the Li of the Camel?" The little monk lifted his head, blinking his big eyes.

Li Shan, noticing the young monk's gaze, thought for a moment and explained, "The so-called Five Clans and Seven Families were defined by Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Initially, there were only four families: the Lu of Fanyang, the Cui of Qinghe, the Zheng of Xingyang, and the Wang of Taiyuan, with no Li family. It is said that Duke Wenmu rode a camel with bells, setting off at night to Luoyang, but he never made it. Later generations called the Li family of Longxi the Li of the Camel."

"But Duke Wenmu was highly respected, eventually making the four families become five, and later adding the Cui of Boling and the Li of Zhaojun, collectively known as the Five Clans and Seven Families."

The young monk nodded. "Speaking of which, you are from the Li family of Longxi, which is even more prestigious than the Pei family of Wenxi..."

"Don't mention the past..." Li Shan smiled bitterly, waving to interrupt the young monk's words, pulling the little monk and patting his shiny head, changing the topic to ask why they called each other Brother Eight and Brother Nineteen, and why they didn't abstain from meat.

The previous self truly believed he was from the Li family of Longxi. Although Li Shan was a medical student in his previous life, he was very interested in history and quickly found the problem after reviewing the memories... The Li family of Longxi would be strange to recognize him!

One of the reasons Li Shan was considered a good person in his previous life was his ability to be accommodating. When faced with someone who wanted to talk, he would always use a sincere expression and appropriate questions to make the other person feel comfortable.

Soon, from the mouths of the two monks, Li Shan obtained a lot of information.

First, it was the eleventh month of the fourth year of the Wude era. Li Shan had no clear memory of historical dates, but he recalled that the Wude era didn't last more than ten years.

Second, this was indeed a wild monk temple, a group of wild or fake monks.

During the Daye era, Emperor Yang of Sui recruited soldiers in Guanzhong, and dozens of young men from Zhujia Gou were forcibly conscripted to attack Goguryeo. Later, they all found opportunities to desert.

At that time, the world was already unstable, but Guanzhong was still secure. These people didn't dare to return home rashly and instead shaved their heads and became monks on a nearby mountain. After a few years, the old monks died out, and with the chaos in the world, no one cared, so the temple became a dedicated temple for Zhujia Gou.

There were no morning prayers, no Buddhist scriptures, not even a wooden fish. The monks were all villagers from Zhujia Gou, taking in some children they couldn't raise and orphans. The monks had to farm and chop wood every day and never abstained from meat.

Li Shan pondered in his mind, wondering what connection his mother had with the Zhujia family... Right, his mother's surname was also Zhu. Could they be from the same clan?

Zhao Ba suddenly changed the topic. "At most a month, the temple will be demolished. As a member of the Li family of Longxi, you might have relatives or old friends in the capital..."

Li Shan blinked and laughed dryly. "Brother Zhao Ba, my great-grandfather, Duke Shen..."

"Duke Shen?" Zhao Ba looked puzzled.

Li Shan licked his lips, wondering whether to explain. At that moment, a middle-aged monk walked in, his face stern, and his gaze toward Li Shan was full of disdain. "He's fine now. Go down the mountain tomorrow."

"Uncle Six."

"Uncle Six."

The two monks stood up and greeted him. Li Shan forced a smile and bowed, but the middle-aged monk had already turned and left.

Li Shan didn't think the monk was being overly harsh. His father had abandoned his wife and children, and as a son, he had planned to leave his mother for wealth and honor... Wasn't it right to be despised?