My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

After returning home, Chang An asked Huaiqin to ask a fortune teller for an auspicious date for the wedding, while he himself hid back in his room.

Because the Tang Dynasty was a dynasty full of poetry and prose, even weddings required writing poems to urge the bride to get married and poems to refuse the fan, but he wrote several pages of poems over and over again, but none of them felt good. Helplessly, Chang An had to crumple up all his poems and throw them into the trash can.

"Hurry up and put on your makeup... It should both urge the bride and praise her beauty..." Chang An bit the pen and frowned. No matter how he thought about it, he just couldn't start writing.

"If it doesn't work, just be a plagiarist..."

Chang An thought about it and realized that Jia Dao, Li Shangyin, Lu Chang... were all poets from the late Tang Dynasty.

"I'm sorry, my ancestors, but I'd like to borrow your poem for your reference."

After saying this, he picked up his pen and started writing on the paper:

Where is the best place to get married in the spring? Two rows of bamboos in cages, a tree of flowers between fans. The guests bid farewell to the feast, and personally welcome the carriage with curtains. The poem urging the bride to get married is not finished, and the stars are gradually tilting.

After finishing writing, he nodded with satisfaction, and then started copying the next one...

Only after he had copied five poems urging her to get dressed and one poem to refuse the fan did he put down his pen. At this moment, Huaiqin came in with a piece of red paper.

"Sir, Huaiqin is back."

"You're back just in time. Come and help me take a look at how these poems urging the bride to get married are written. By the way, I'll find the best one and I'll read it to you when I welcome the bride." When Chang'an saw Huaiqin coming back, he pointed to the five poems at hand and said.

Huaiqin came over and picked up a poem: "In the past, when I was going to travel to Yujing, the first immortal promised me the top spot. Today, I am fortunate to meet Qin and Jin, and I have asked the phoenix to come down from the dressing room early. This poem is good..."

"The two of us have known each other for a long time, but we have been separated by barriers, so we pretend to be late. I am worried about the moon rabbit running away, and I don't need to draw eyebrows when I am in love. This poem is also good..."

"I don't know what night it is, I rush to the balcony and approach the mirror. Who said that lotus is planted in water, a branch blooms in the bronze mirror..."

"She is too shy to leave the dressing table, the maid is holding a nine-bead hairpin. She sends a message to the one who is tired of putting on makeup, saying, "Put on rouge and powder lightly to learn how to be lazy..."

Chang An's original talent was not low to begin with, and he still had the possibility of passing the imperial examination at a young age. Huaiqin also had absolute confidence in her son's talent, so she did not doubt the origins of these poems, and just compared them with the five poems. But after comparing them for a long time, she finally said:

"Sir, do you want to ask which one is the best?"

"What's wrong? Is it badly written?"

"Sir, that's not the case... Quite the contrary, these five poems about getting ready are all good." Huaiqin said with some embarrassment, "Sir, if you ask me to choose, I really can't choose."

"Okay then. I'll take these poems to the Imperial College tomorrow and ask Du Chengming and the others." Chang An did not embarrass his maid. "By the way, has the day you asked me to pray come?"

"I've got it, sir, take a look..." Huaiqin then remembered the red paper in her hand and quickly handed it to Chang'an.

Chang An took the red paper and looked at the date on it. Coincidentally, it was the next day off.

"What a coincidence?!" Chang An was delighted. "I will write down this auspicious date and make a document. I will send it to Gu's residence tomorrow when school is closed. You go and arrange for the candles, cannons and wild geese to be sent tomorrow."

"Yes, son."

The next day, Chang An came to the Imperial College. As soon as he entered, he looked around. When he saw Du Chengming, he called out and stretched out his hand to beckon him over.

"What's the matter, Brother Chang?"

"Help me see which of these five poems is the best." Chang An took out the five pieces of paper with poems written on them from the book box and handed them to Du Chengming.

"Let me see... our great talent Chang's masterpiece." Du Chengming said as he took the poem. He glanced at the first poem and his eyes suddenly widened. Then he looked at the other four poems and said with a sigh, "These five poems urging you to finish your makeup don't contain any words of urging you, but they all have the meaning of urging you... They are all excellent, I can't tell which one is better."

Du Chengming thought for a moment and shouted, "Brother Cui! Brother Zhang! Brother Zhao!"

Cui Hujin, Zhang Rusi and Zhao Guanzhong all came to Chang An's seat upon hearing the noise. Cui Hujin asked, "Brother Chang, what do you want to talk to us about?"

"Come, help Brother Chang to see which of these five poems urging makeup is the best." Du Chengming said, handing over the poem in his hand.

The three of them took the poem and passed it around to read it in turn.

"Brother Chang, these... were all written by you alone?" Zhao Guanzhong couldn't help but ask as he looked at these quatrains.

"Yes." Chang An gave an affirmative answer, because it was unlikely that he would say that he copied this from a poet who was not yet born.

"It's not like I haven't heard of makeup urging poems before, and I've written poems for other people before, but I think these ones are far superior to those others. Each has its own merits, and it's really hard to tell which one is better," Zhang Rushi said with a sigh.

"Brother Chang, do you want to choose a poem to be recited on the wedding day?" Cui Hujin asked.

"That's why I asked you to choose the best one. It's really hard for me to decide by myself." Chang An scratched his head and said.

"Well... I think this poem 'The Phoenix Comes Down from the Dressing Room' compares the bride to a phoenix, saying that the bride is beautiful even without makeup. It urges the bride in this way, not only in a tactful way, but also praises the bride's beauty. This poem should be considered the best." Zhang Rusi said, looking at the poem in his hand.

Cui Hujin disagreed at the time and said, "Then this line, 'I don't know what night it is, urging the balcony to approach the mirror table', is also a tactful urging, and the next stanza is also a word of praise for the bride, why can't it be the best? In my opinion, mine can be considered the best."

"Then my song is also..."

"..."

Just like that, the three of them each held a piece of poetry in their hands, and started arguing regardless of whether they were the ones who wrote the poem. Chang An watched them arguing, and looked at Du Chengming, feeling powerless.

"I have a way. I don't have to argue here, and I can read the poems from you brothers at the same time."

Just as the three were arguing happily, Du Chengming rolled his eyes and said.

"Tell me about it." Chang An immediately became alert upon hearing it, sat up straight and asked.

"We all think these five poems are good, why don't we all recite them?" Du Chengming said, "Anyway, when Brother Chang goes to pick up the bride, the four of us will go together as relatives and friends. Brother Chang will be the first to recite the first poem, and the four of us will each recite one. This way we don't have to worry about so many things."

"It seems that there is no rule that only the groom can recite the poem, and we are just reciting it on his behalf... This method is feasible!" Zhang Rushi thought for a moment and agreed.

"That's right. Our brother Chang is so talented. Reciting five poems when welcoming the bride can not only demonstrate his talent, but also show that brother Chang attaches great importance to this marriage. Why not do as brother Du said. What do you think, brother Chang?" Cui Hujin also agreed.

Chang An thought about it and felt that this approach was not a bad idea, so he bowed and thanked them, saying, "I'll be in trouble then."

"What's the use of being a good person? Anyway, we just want to have a few glasses of wedding wine and see how beautiful Miss Gu is." Zhao Guanzhong said, "Brother Du praised her so much last time, and we also want to see her face."

After hearing this, Chang An laughed twice in embarrassment.

"Reciting poetry is one thing, but when you recite it, will people think that I am looking for others to write poetry with me, and that I am just trying to show off?" Chang An looked at them and raised this question again.

"Alas~ Brother Chang, don't pretend to be modest. Your talent is obvious to everyone. People all say that you, Chang, are a talented man with great knowledge and potential to pass the imperial examination at a young age. Who would say that you are pretending to be pretentious?" Zhang Rushi said.

"What Brother Zhang said just now is true. If Brother Chang is really worried about this situation, why don't we do this -" Cui Hujin said, "We will name each of these five poems, and then rank them in order of first or second. What do you think?"

"This is a good idea!" Du Chengming agreed. "Brother Chang, what do you think?"

"That's fine, so what do we do?"

"It's settled then." Cui Hujin said.

"There's one more thing." Chang An looked at his friends and suddenly said.

"Brother Chang, what else do you have to worry about?"

"It's like this. The day before my wedding, I booked a private room at Zuiyun Tower in Pingkangfang. I planned to invite you all to have a drink together after I dropped out of school that day." Chang An said.

When they heard this, they were stunned for a moment, because they thought Chang An still needed help with something, but soon they laughed and said, "Then we would like to thank Brother Chang for the treat."

......

After the school break, Chang An and Huai Qin brought Wang the matchmaker to Gu's house and told Gu Ke a good day to get married. Gu Ke agreed quickly. But he didn't see Gu Li today. When Chang An asked Gu Ke, Gu Ke said that she had gone to order a wedding dress and was not at home at the moment.

Chang An had no choice but to give up. He delivered the candles, firecrackers and other gifts and left.

After getting on the carriage, Chang An did not rush to ask the servant to go home. He sat in the carriage and thought for a while, then said:

"Go to the clinic in West City."