My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

Chang An returned to the courtyard and placed the lard on the ground in a corner of the pavilion. After confirming that it would not affect the meal, he asked the maid to serve the dishes. While waiting for the dishes to be served, he also asked someone to prepare some confusing things such as wood ash and spices in the kitchen.

While eating, looking at these things on the side, I felt very curious about what these things could be made into, so I asked: "Chang Lang, can these things really make the soap you just mentioned?"

Chang An added some food to Gu Li's bowl and said, "Of course, what kind of aroma does Gu Niang like?"

"Fragrance?" Gu Li thought for a moment and said, "I'm fine with anything. I'm not picky."

Chang An smiled and put two more servings of food into Gu Li's bowl with his chopsticks.

After lunch, Chang An went to the kitchen, and Gu Li had nothing to do after taking the medicine, so he followed him to the kitchen. Chang An asked about it, found an empty stove, and prepared to start making soap. Gu Li also took a small stool and sat next to Chang An, stretching his head to see how Chang An made soap.

Chang An took a bucket with some wood ash in it and then added water to it. When the water covered part of the wood ash, he stopped adding water and directly put the ladle in his hand into the bucket to stir it. After Chang An saw that the wood ash water was almost stirred, he took an empty bucket and a large piece of yarn and covered the empty bucket with the yarn. Then he stepped on the yarn that extended to the ground with his feet and poured the wood ash water directly into it.

The ash water flowed through the fine yarn, and the fine yarn left some unnecessary things, so a bucket of lye water was obtained. Then Chang An poured the lye water into the pot on the stove and ordered the servants to light a fire and heat the lye water in the pot. Chang An and Gu Li were nearby. When they saw the lye water in the pot boiling and bubbling, Chang An took out some firewood and put it aside.

Gu Li stretched her little head and looked at the yellowish hot water in the pot, tilting her head in confusion. Chang An saw her puzzled look, smiled, reached out and took the lard he had bought in advance, took out the knife for cutting vegetables, scraped all the lard into the hot water, and finally put the firewood he had just taken out back into the stove.

Then, Chang An put the spices into the pot, took a spoon and started stirring. After stirring for an unknown period of time, when most of the water had evaporated, he took the salt and sprinkled it evenly into the pot, stirring it again.

After doing all this, Chang An found a bucket and ordered two servants to come and help pour the solution in the pot into the bucket. Then he picked up the bucket, went outside, found a place that looked cool, and put the bucket there.

After putting the bucket down, Chang An clapped his hands and nodded with satisfaction.

"Chang Lang?" Gu Li had been following Chang An. Seeing him put the bucket full of strange liquid aside, he became a little confused.

"uh-huh?"

"Is the soap ready?" Gu Li squatted down and looked at the bucket of liquid.

"Not yet. We have to wait for an hour or two until they are all solidified, and then we can arrange for someone to cut them into pieces." Chang An said, looking at Gu Li, "What's wrong? Are you anxious for them to become fragrant?"

"Chang Lang said we have to wait. There's no point in being anxious." Gu Li stood up. At this moment, he suddenly realized the ridicule in Chang An's words. As if he wanted to hide something, he added, "I'm just curious about what this thing is. I don't know if it's useful or not."

After saying that, Gu Li glared at Chang An, turned around and walked away.

Chang An saw her like this, laughed secretly, called a servant over, and ordered: "Wait for an hour, and take some time to help me check if this bucket of water has solidified. When it has solidified, help me cut it and put it away."

"Yes, son."

"When the time comes, when the stuff in this bucket solidifies, you can take out some of it and keep it. It will be more convenient to use it to wash pots and other things on a daily basis." After giving the order, Chang An left.

Back in the room, Gu Li sat beside the low table, holding a needle and thread, seemingly sewing something. Chang An saw this and did not disturb her. He sat at his desk and wanted to continue flipping through the book, but after thinking about it, he put the book down again. Instead, he picked up a pen, found a blank book, and began to write something.

When he was halfway through writing, someone knocked on the door. Chang An answered without even looking up: "Come in."

The door was pushed open, and it was the servant who had just been ordered. He came in with a plate and said, "Sir, the food is ready."

As he said that, he put the plate in his hand on Chang'an's desk. Chang'an put down his pen and took a look: it was the soap he made. His face lit up and he said, "Okay, go find Huaiqin and ask her to find an empty box for you to pack. The rest will be given to you for daily cleaning."

"Yes, son."

"Also, when storing the soap, separate each piece of soap with oil paper, and leave gaps on the left and right." Chang An gave another instruction, and the servant responded and went downstairs.

After the servant left, Gu Li walked to Chang An's desk and asked, "What's wrong? Is the soap ready?"

"Well," Chang An nodded, pointed to the square milky white block in front of him, and said, "This is the soap. After the liquid just now cools and solidifies, it becomes this soap."

"It looks like a new piece of jade," Gu Li stretched out a finger and gently rubbed it, then put it to his nose and sniffed it, "It even has a slight fragrance, it's really magical."

"Of course. When has Chang Lang ever lied to you?" Chang An picked up the soap, took Gu Li's hand, and put the soap in her hand. "In addition to this piece, I estimate there is a whole box of it, all for you, Gu Niang."

"For me alone?" Gu Li was a little flattered, "But I can't use up all of this."

"This soap can not only be used for bathing, but also for washing clothes on a daily basis. The effect is better than ordinary laundry, and it will also give clothes this fragrance." Chang An said.

"Really? Then I'll ask Zhen'er to take the soap down and use it for washing clothes on weekdays." Gu Li put the soap back into the plate and brought it to his dressing table together with the plate.

Seeing Gu Li's happy expression, Chang An also felt very satisfied, and then he lowered his head and continued to write his own things.

After nightfall, Gu Li went to take a bath after dinner. Huaiqin and Zhen'er also became familiar with each other at this time. They chatted while doing their work. While Gu Li was taking a bath, Chang'an sat at the desk and read a book.

"Chang Lang!" Chang An first heard Gu Li's voice coming from outside the door. He looked up and saw that the door had just been opened and Gu Li, who had just finished taking a shower, walked in.

"What's wrong?" Chang An put down the book in his hand and responded.

Gu Li closed the door, coughed twice, then trotted to Chang An's desk and put his hand in front of Chang An's face. Chang An was a little confused, and first looked at Gu Li in the eye, almost touching his hand, and then raised his eyes to look at Gu Li who was sitting in front of him.

"Smell it," Gu Li said, "I used the soap you made, Chang Lang, and it smells pretty good."

He stretched out his hand to me, wanting me to smell it to see if it was fragrant enough. Chang An naturally cooperated and smelled it, then pretended to be puzzled and said:

"Strange, I didn't put much spices in it," Chang An pulled the hand in front of him and looked at it, saying, "But why does it smell so good? So strange."

Gu Li was amused by his appearance and said in a tone that was unclear whether it was teasing or scolding: "Look how beautiful you are."

Chang An then let go of Gu Li's hand and said, "Take the medicine. You were coughing when you came in." He pointed to the bowl of medicine in front of him and said, "It was just delivered. It's still hot. Drink it while it's hot."

Gu Li nodded, sat down, picked up the medicine and drank it, and coughed twice after drinking it.

Chang An nodded with satisfaction and put away the bowl, "I'm going to take a shower. Don't run around outside after you take the medicine."

These words sounded like those spoken to a child, but Gu Li nodded, indicating that he would follow the instructions.

When Chang An came back, he found Gu Li sitting in front of the low table with needle and thread in his hand, but he seemed to be thinking about something and his hands were not moving.

"Mrs. Gu?"

Chang An's sudden voice scared Gu Li so much that her hands trembled. She quickly put down the needle and thread in her hand and responded.

Chang An sat next to her. Seeing her look, she must be obsessed with something, so he asked in a gentle voice, "What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"

"Today, my father told me something about you, Chang Lang..." Gu Li looked up at Chang An, whose eyes were full of care and tenderness, which prevented her from associating Chang An with those playboys. "My father told me that Chang Lang liked to go to Pingkangfang before."

Chang An's eyebrows jumped, and he thought to himself that it was not good. Because the original owner was a bohemian guy, and he loved to go to Pingkangfang from time to time. Although he did nothing but drink every time he went there, he always got drunk. No matter how much he explained, no one believed him. Fortunately, the people were open-minded at that time, and no one would say anything to him.

But the person in front of him is different. She is his wife, so naturally he has to explain.

"I've never liked it. I didn't like it before, I don't like it now, and I won't like it in the future." After Chang An finished speaking, he saw that Gu Li's originally tense body relaxed a little.

"Then why did Chang Lang always go there before?" asked Gu Li.

"Because there are many scholars there, and most of them are students preparing for exams or officials who want to go there to make some friends." Chang An read the original owner's memory in his mind and said so.

"I thought...I thought there was a girl in Pingkangfang that Changlang liked."

"The girl I like is not in Pingkangfang," Chang An saw Gu Li's pitiful appearance, took her hand and said, "The girl I like is in Doctor Chang's house in Anrenfang, and lives in the same room with me."

Gu Li lowered his head shyly, but still asked tentatively: "Really?"

"When has your Changlang ever lied to you?"

Chang An gently squeezed the little hand in his palm. At this time, Gu Li stretched out his other hand and also held Chang An's hand that was holding his own.

"My Chang Lang has never lied to me." Gu Li raised his face and smiled, "I'm sorry..."

"You don't have to say sorry. I understand you. If someone's husband is rumored to have such things said, the wife will definitely ask about it." Chang An stretched out his empty hand, scratched her nose with his fingertips, and said, "I promise that I will never give such rumors any chance to happen again."

"Besides, we are husband and wife, you don't have to say sorry or thank you to me," Chang An said with tenderness in his eyes, "If you say sorry to me again, I will be unhappy."

Gu Li looked at him, bit her lips lightly, then met Chang An's gaze and kissed his face. Chang An's reaction at this time was just like Gu Li's in the morning, his brain buzzed.

"Chang Lang...you...don't be angry..."

After the kiss, Gu Li felt his face was about to burn, so he quickly pulled his hand out of Chang An's palm, picked up the embroidered silk in front of him, and held it in front of his face.