My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

The seven days of rest during the winter solstice were neither long nor short. After the middle of the month, Chang An had to go back to the "damned" Imperial College to continue his classes.

In the morning, Chang An, carrying his book box and Huaiqin, got on the carriage under Gu Li's reluctant gaze.

After seeing Chang An off, Gu Li was reluctant to leave, but he still hurried back to the room, took out the jade pendant he had not made yet, and continued to work on it.

Chang An returned to the Imperial College and sat in the classroom. Du Chengming wanted to come and say a few words to him, but before he could do anything, Zhou Xuezheng entered the classroom.

"How are you these days?" Zhou Xuezheng first asked a few simple polite words, and then said, "The annual examination will begin on the 23rd. Have you reviewed your lessons when you go back?"

After these words were spoken, the students looked embarrassed, but Chang An remained calm. Zhou Xuezheng smiled slightly when he saw this, as if he had thought about this before, so he continued:

"Then I won't teach you any new lessons today. I will help you review your lessons."

After that, he randomly pointed to a student and asked, "The way of the university is to manifest the bright virtue, to be close to the people, and to stop at the highest good. Please explain the meaning of this text."

Of course the student couldn't answer, so Zhou Xuezheng didn't make it difficult for him. He asked two more students to stand up and ask them again, but they also couldn't answer. Seeing this, Zhou Xuezheng just reprimanded them symbolically, asked them to sit down, and began to explain the meaning of the sentence.

Then Zhou Xuezheng glanced at Chang An who was sitting calmly in his seat, and then he raised another question: "Fire is fierce, people look at it and fear it, so few people die from it; water is weak, people play with it, so many people die from it. Chang Yonghe, you answer this question."

This sentence came from Zuo Zhuan, and the students were confused when they heard it, because Zhou Xuezheng had not taught this sentence before. Chang An was also stunned for a moment, then stood up, searched for relevant memories in his mind, and then answered:

"For example, fire is fierce, and people are afraid of it when they see it, so few people die in it. Water is gentle, and people get close to it and play with it, so many people die in it."

Zhou Xuezheng's eyes changed slightly at this time, and he asked: "The answer is indeed good. Have you read the Zuo Zhuan yourself?"

Chang An's eyebrows jumped, and he replied: "Replying to the schoolmaster, this is one of the three classics that students have passed. Have you forgotten it?"

But Zhou Xuezheng was stunned for a moment and asked, "Weren't you familiar with the Book of Songs, the Book of Changes, and the Great Learning before?"

"Well...then the student must have happened to have read it before and took note of it." Chang An was a little confused. He clearly had the memory of "Zuo Zhuan" in his mind, but Zhou Xuezhen's words made him a little confused.

"Forget it, you stay for a while after school." Zhou Xuezhen waved his hand, "Let me ask you one more question: When a country is about to rise, there must be auspicious signs; when a country is about to fall, there must be evil. You continue with the question."

This is a sentence from the Doctrine of the Mean, which we had taught before. Chang An also answered: "Seeing the yarrow and tortoise shells, moving the four limbs. Good or bad fortune is about to come: good, you will know it in advance; bad, you will know it in advance. Therefore, sincerity is like a god."

At this point, Zhou Xuezheng motioned him to sit down and went to check other students. After checking them all, only a few could answer or finish the sentence. There was no other way, so Zhou Xuezheng checked all the students and let them study on their own.

We studied like this until noon, and when the bell rang outside, the students packed up their things and prepared to leave school.

"You pack up first, I'll go find the teacher." After Chang An instructed Huaiqin beside him, he stood up and came to Zhou Xuezhen.

"Sir." Chang An bowed and greeted.

"Well," Zhou Xuezheng also put down the book in his hand, raised his head and asked, "How long has it been since you last recited the Tongjing?"

Chang An, of course, didn't know the answer, so he could only vaguely say, "It seems like it's been almost a year."

"One year..." Zhou Xuezhen twirled his beard, "You have been in the Imperial Academy for more than three years. On average, you can master one classic in one year. Now it seems that you are about to master the fourth classic."

Chang An didn't say anything, because even he didn't know how to respond to Zhou Xuezhen's words.

"In that case, I will first randomly check ten chapters to see if you are really familiar with the Four Classics." Zhou Xuezheng said, and then he rummaged around on the table and took out a copy of Zuo Zhuan, and then asked, "Then recite "Jian Shu Crying for His Teacher" first."

"Jian Shu Crying for His Teacher" is a relatively short chapter in "Zuo Zhuan". Chang An simply searched his mind and then recited: "In winter, Duke Wen of Jin died. On Gengchen day, he was going to be buried in Quwo. When he came out of Jiang, the coffin made a sound like an ox. Bu Yan asked the officials to pay homage, saying..."

Soon, Chang An memorized the whole article. Then Zhou Xuezheng did not give Chang An much time and started to recite another one: "Zheng Bo Defeats Duan in Yan."

"At first, Duke Wu of Zheng married a woman from Shen, named Wu Jiang, who gave birth to Duke Zhuang and Gong Shuduan. Duke Zhuang was born in the middle of the night, which frightened Jiang, so she named him Wusheng, and then she hated him..."

This was repeated until Chang An had memorized all ten passages. Zhou Xuezheng nodded with satisfaction and said, "Yes, you have indeed mastered the four classics. If you work harder and master one more classic, the imperial examination will not be a problem for you."

Zhou Xuezhen's words were full of relief, but Chang An said, "Then...Xuezhen, can the students go home now? My wife is still waiting at home."

"Go."

"Xie Xuezheng."

After seeing Zhou Xuezhen nod, Chang An hurried back to his seat, picked up his book box, and left the Imperial College with Huaiqin.

At the gate of Chang's house, Gu Li calculated the time, wrapped herself tightly, and brought Zhen'er to the gate to welcome Chang'an. But when she arrived at the gate, she did not see Chang'an's carriage. She frowned slightly, and looked at the other end of the street, but did not see the carriage either.

Now her brows furrowed even deeper. According to common sense, Chang An should have returned home by now. She also remembered that Chang An did not say what he was going to do today.

After waiting at the door for a long time, he still didn't see Chang An's carriage. Instead, a gust of wind suddenly blew outside, causing Gu Li to cough lightly a few times.

Seeing this, Zhen'er beside him also said, "Sanniang, why don't we go back to the house first? Who knows what the young master is doing in the Imperial College."

Gu Li looked at the other end of the street again, and could only sigh in frustration, nodded and said, "Then let's go back and wait, and ask the kitchen to warm the food first, and then we can eat after Chang Lang comes back."

As she spoke, Gu Li looked towards the other end of the street for the last time, but there was still no sign of the carriage, so she had to give up and turned back to the mansion. In fact, she wanted to wait a little longer, but she was afraid that Chang An would get angry if she saw her waiting outside for so long, so she had to go back to her room.

After returning to the room, Gu Li sat at the low table, but he was very anxious and even began to have wild thoughts:

"Did Chang Lang get detained in the Imperial College?"

"Did Chang Lang have an accident on the road?"

"Did Chang Lang go to Pingkangfang to look for his wife..."

Thinking of this, Gu Li felt as if a hand had grabbed her heart, but she quickly shook the thought out of her mind. She followed Chang An's previous practice: when she was nervous, she would take a few deep breaths. But after taking two deep breaths, it still felt like it had no effect.

She had no choice but to pick up the needle and thread, trying to divert her attention by doing embroidery. At first, this method was quite effective, but after a while, she began to worry again, wondering where Chang An had returned to. This was the first time he had returned home so late without telling her since they were married.

As she was thinking, she suddenly felt a sharp pain on her hand. She looked down and found that her finger had been pricked by the needle, leaving a faint red dot on the embroidery silk. She put down the needle and thread and the embroidery silk, and habitually put the pricked finger in her mouth.

Gu Li was already feeling a little depressed because she couldn't wait for Chang An, and now that her finger was pricked, she felt even worse. She took her finger out of her mouth with some disappointment, then looked at the door, and continued to pick up the needle and thread to do the embroidery.

While she was doing it, her finger was pricked again. She wanted to put down the needle and thread, but because of her haste, she was pricked by the needle again. At this time, Gu Li became a little emotional. She threw the needle and thread and embroidery silk on the table, turned away, and sucked her pricked finger.

At this time, Gu Li, who was a little angry, heard a burst of hurried footsteps outside the house, and then heard the sound of the door being pushed open. She turned her head to look at the door and found that Chang An was breathing slightly. When she saw Chang An, all her little emotions came up.

"You still know how to come back!"

Chang An saw that Gu Li was a little angry, so he quickly dropped the bookcase, closed the door, and ran to Gu Li's side. At this time, Chang An found that Gu Li's eyes were a little red, so he quickly hugged her and comforted her: "Don't be angry, Gu Niang, don't be angry, Gu Niang, don't be angry, it's me who came back late and made Gu Niang worried."

"Where have you been? Why haven't you come back so late?"

"Xuezheng suddenly kept me here today to memorize ten texts, so I was delayed for some time." Chang An touched Gu Li's head and comforted him, "After this, I was worried that Gu Niang would be waiting anxiously, so I hurried back."

"I've been waiting for you for a long time, and it's already two o'clock in the afternoon..." Gu Li still felt a little aggrieved.

At this moment, Chang An's eyes caught sight of the embroidered silk on the table, which was stained with two faint bloodstains. He quickly asked, "Did Madam Gu prick her finger?"

At this time, Gu Li put his hand, which had been pricked three times, in front of Chang An. There were three small red dots on one of the fingers left by the needle, as if it had been pricked not long ago.

"It's all because of Chang Lang. You haven't come back for so long, I was worried that something happened to you on the road... I wanted to do something, but ended up getting stabbed." Gu Li said aggrievedly.

Chang An hugged Gu Li distressedly, kissed her on the face, and said apologetically: "It's Chang Lang's fault. I made Gu Niang worried."

As he spoke, Chang An blew a few breaths of air gently on Gu Li's little finger that had been pricked.

"Why does the academician want to keep Changlang? Is it because Changlang has fallen behind in his studies?" Gu Li asked again. Although she was angry, Changlang was a scholar, and Gu Li still understood her concerns about studying.

"Because the annual examination is coming soon, the principal came to check my homework today. He found that I seemed to be able to master the four classics, so he kept me in the classroom after school and asked me to recite ten articles." Chang An replied.

"Does your finger still hurt?" He blew on Gu Li's fingers twice and asked.

"A little more."

"Then should I blow it again?"

"it is good......"