My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

Chang An sat at the desk the whole afternoon, holding a book in one hand and a pen in the other, looking at the verses in the book while copying some sentences that needed to be consulted for annotations. Gu Li sat at a low table doing embroidery, and from time to time she looked up at Chang An sitting at the desk.

After dinner, Gu Li took a bath and returned to the house. At this time, she saw Chang An still sitting there, reading a book. So she walked over and took up Chang An's hand, which had just put down the pen. She found that Chang An's hand was actually a little cold, so she gently rubbed it with her still warm hand.

Chang An felt the warmth coming from his right hand at this time, and raised his eyes to look to his right. At this time, Gu Li was holding his hand, as if he wanted to warm himself with his body temperature.

"What's wrong?" Chang An asked gently.

"Chang Lang is studying so hard..." Gu Li saw the scattered papers on Chang An's desk with the help of the light, and asked, "What are written on these papers?"

"The annual exam will test your understanding and interpretation of the scriptures in this entire book. I need to read every article thoroughly, and then write down my understanding and interpretation of the article on paper, which can be regarded as a simulation of tomorrow's annual exam." Chang An replied.

"How much has Chang Lang read?" Gu Li didn't know much about this, but he was still concerned about how much Chang An had completed.

"Let me see..." Chang An flipped through the book, then said with a wry smile: "I just finished this one, and I've only read two chapters of this one."

"Ah...how many volumes of this book are there in total?" Gu Li asked again.

"The Book of Rites has forty-nine chapters, and seems to be divided into six volumes."

"How come Chang Lang has read so little..." Chang An raised his eyebrows, thinking that Gu Li was going to complain about him, but Gu Li's next sentence was beyond his expectations:

"Is it because he married me that Chang Lang has no time to study because he has to take care of me?"

"No way. I didn't read this book before," Chang An replied with a bit of amusement, "I read Zuo Zhuan before, and this one is called Book of Rites. I didn't read much of this book, but I had to be tested on this one."

"I can only hope that the examiners tomorrow will hand out essays that Chang Lang has read. Chang Lang has worked so hard studying."

Chang An couldn't help but laugh when he saw Gu Li "praying". He put down the book and reached out to touch Gu Li's still wet hair.

"Since Chang Lang has put the book down, why don't he stop reading? Huaiqin has prepared hot water, Chang Lang should take a bath." Gu Li was afraid that Chang An would continue to pick up the book to read, so he reached out and took the book he had placed on the table and hid it tightly in his arms.

"Okay, okay, Chang Lang is going to take a shower." Chang An kissed Gu Li lovingly, then got up and left the room.

After taking a shower, Gu Li was no longer sitting at the desk, but sitting back at the low table, holding the "Book of Rites" in her hand, reading the contents under the lamp. But maybe because she couldn't understand it, she frowned while reading.

Chang An came to her side and asked, "How do you see it?"

When Gu Li saw Chang An coming back, he put the book down, seemed a little frustrated, and said with a pout, "It's a little difficult. I can understand what it says, but I just don't understand what it means."

"Then let's not watch it. Let's take a rest and go to bed." Chang An said.

The next day, the Imperial College officially began its four-day annual examination. Because it was an examination, Chang An did not need to bring Huai Qin to the Imperial College these days.

The annual exam and the ten-day exam are actually similar, except that the ten-day exam tests what has been learned in the previous eight days, while the annual exam tests what has been learned in the entire year. In addition, the annual exam consists of ten rounds, each of which tests one scripture posting or one oral exam, both of which test the interpretation of the scriptures.

As soon as he arrived at the Imperial College, Chang An simply consolidated the articles he had read yesterday, and then an old man came in. He was a doctor from the Imperial College, his surname was Lin.

"Students, it's time to start the exam."

When the students heard this, they all put away their books and waited for Dr. Lin to hand out the papers. After the papers were handed out, Dr. Lin sat down at the desk and began to supervise the exam.

Chang An also looked down at the topic on the paper: "The most important thing is to value virtue, and the next is to seek reciprocity. Reciprocity is the key. If you do not receive what you have received, it is not polite; if you receive but do not reciprocate, it is also not polite. People are safe if they are polite, but dangerous if they are impolite. Therefore, it is said that etiquette must be learned. Etiquette means to humble oneself and respect others. Even a porter must respect himself, let alone the rich and noble! If the rich and noble know how to be polite, they will not be arrogant or licentious; if the poor and humble know how to be polite, their ambitions will not be intimidated."

After reading it, he was overjoyed - this was a passage from the first chapter of the Book of Rites, "Quli Shang", which he had read yesterday. Thinking of this, he didn't hesitate any longer, picked up a pen and started writing on the draft paper beside him.

Chang An finished writing, checked it again, and after making sure there were no problems, he copied it onto the test paper. After some operations, he finished the test paper and took it directly to Dr. Lin to hand it in.

Dr. Lin naturally knew Chang An. He took the test paper after taking a look at him. After reading it, he nodded and put it aside. Then he whispered:

"Go back to your seat and wait for other students to finish their exams before distributing the papers to everyone."

Chang An bowed slightly to Dr. Lin to show that he understood, and then returned to his seat. While sitting, he was not idle, but recalled what he had written down yesterday. But even so, he was still unsure, because the first chapter of the scripture that he could understand was completely based on luck, and the second test paper was completely different.

After waiting for an unknown amount of time, when Chang An was about to fall asleep, he finally heard Dr. Lin say, "It's time, students, hand in your papers."

At this point, the students no longer cared about how well they had written. They could only hand in their papers. If they did, they might be able to pass the exam. If they didn’t, their grades for that lesson would not count.

It didn't take long for Chang An to hand in the papers. He quickly got the second copy of the Scripture Examination Paper. The question on it was: "Zeng Zi asked, 'When a man is about to wear a crown, he will bow and yield to others. If he hears of a funeral of a great meritorious official, what should he do?' Confucius said, 'If it is an internal funeral, he should be removed. If it is an external funeral, he should wear a crown but not drink wine. He should clear the food and sweep the floor. He should cry when he takes the throne...'"

The title is quite long, and it comes from a passage in Zengziwen. It happens to be the one Changan read yesterday. Changan is happy now - did Gu Niang's prayer last night really work? She wrote two chapters of the sutra today, both of which are from the first few chapters of the Book of Rites. Should I reward her when I go back tonight?

Just thinking about this, since he had written these articles himself last night, there was no need to think too much, and Chang An started writing directly.

I don’t know whether the original owner’s IQ was really that high, or he had a golden finger after traveling back in time, but every time he studied these scriptures and articles, he seemed to be able to understand them at a glance, and he could read books with twice the result with half the effort.

Soon, Chang An had a draft on the draft paper in front of him. After checking and confirming that there was no problem, Chang An copied the content onto the test paper. After copying, Chang An threw the pen directly into the inkstone, waited for the ink to dry, and then went forward to hand in the paper.

Dr. Lin looked at the test paper as usual and nodded. At this time, Chang An asked, "Dr. Lin, can I leave and go home now?"

"Okay, but keep it down." Dr. Lin nodded and agreed.

Chang An bowed to Dr. Lin, then picked up his book box with joy and left the Imperial College.

In Chang's house, Gu Li was sitting at the low table as usual, carving a jade pendant for Chang An. At this time, part of the jade pendant had been hollowed out. Gu Li had just made a hole in one of the parts that needed to be hollowed out, and was about to make another hole in the opposite corner when Huaiqin walked in.

"Sanniang." Huaiqin shouted.

"what happened?"

"Today is the annual examination, the young master may come back early." Huaiqin did not have to go to the Imperial College today, so she happened to know this "little secret" of Gu Li, and naturally covered for Gu Li.

"Really?" Gu Li asked in surprise.

"Yes, there will be two rounds of exams today, and you may hand in your papers early." Huaiqin replied.

"What time is it now?"

"It's time."

Gu Li nodded, put down the half-finished jade pendant, and called Zhen'er and Huaiqin to help her clean up. After she was almost done, she took out the basket of embroidery silk as a cover, and then started embroidering, pretending that she had been embroidering all morning.

While doing the embroidery, it was already 2:00 in the morning. At this time, Gu Li also heard the sound of the door opening. She looked up in the direction of the door and saw Chang An looking at her with a sly look.

Gu Li laughed out loud and put down the needle and thread in her hand. Chang An also threw the book box directly to the desk, then came to Gu Li and kissed her gently on the forehead.

As if sensing Chang An's joy, Gu Li was also somewhat happy in his heart and asked, "What's wrong, Chang Lang? Did you take the exam well today? You seem very happy."

"Yes, the two articles in today's test are exactly what we read yesterday." Chang An touched Gu Li's head and said, "I'll go to the kitchen first and be back soon."

"Does Chang Lang want to make something delicious? I want to go too!"

"Just barely... it's delicious." Chang An kept it a secret and said, "Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Madam Gu, please wait for me here."

"Okay." Gu Li pouted and had to pick up her needle and thread again and start embroidery.

After Chang An left, he came back after a little more than a cup of tea, holding a bowl of something in his hand. He came to Gu Li with the bowl, put it on the table, and said mysteriously:

"Mother Gu, guess what this is?"

Gu Li put down what he was holding and looked into the bowl. There was a clear yellow liquid in it. He smelled it closely and it seemed to have some sweetness.

"I can't guess." Gu Li shook his head.

"This is the rock sugar and snow pear soup that I told Gu Niang about before. It can nourish Yin and moisten the lungs, and it can be drunk cold or hot. It is most suitable for you, Gu Niang." Chang An explained, "I also boiled a big pot. If Gu Niang wants to drink it in the afternoon or evening, you can go and get it."

Gu Li also picked up the bowl and took a sip: "Delicious!"

"If it tastes good, drink more. I told the servants to make some every once in a while. It's cold now so it won't go bad."

"Hmm!" Gu Li took another sip, "I need to drink more..."

What Gu Li said later was a little vague and Chang An didn't hear it clearly. Anyway, he could only see that Gu Li's face was full of smiles and he looked very happy.