My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

Chapter 200 Zhang Jiazhen Comes to the Imperial College

Chang An and the others got on the carriage they came in and headed towards Chang'an City. After returning home, Gu Li sat back in front of her dressing table and asked while removing her makeup:

"Chang Lang, was I a little too excited just now?"

Chang An sat at the low table and asked in confusion, "Just now? When was just now?"

"When I was arguing with Prime Minister Zhang, was I a little too excited?" Gu Li turned around and looked at Chang An with some concern, "What if he treats Chang Lang badly in the future?"

"How could that be? Gu Niang argued with him for my sake. She did nothing wrong." Chang An consoled her with a smile, "Gu Niang is now a court lady, and I am also a real marquis, with the same rank as him. They dare not do anything to us."

"Then...what if he always treats Chang Lang badly?" Gu Li quickly removed the light makeup on her face and returned to Chang An.

Seeing Gu Li's worried face, Chang An kissed him and said, "No, don't worry, Madam Gu. Besides, I don't go anywhere else except to school and home."

"As long as he doesn't come to our house, everything will be fine."

"But he is the prime minister. It would be bad if he reported it to the emperor." Gu Li was still worried.

Chang An smiled and said, "But he was the one who provoked us first, and we are the ones who are right. Moreover, he lost the argument with us. Would he dare to tell the emperor about such a shameful thing?"

Gu Li then relaxed slightly and said, "That's good."

At this time, Chang An pulled her into his arms and said, "Today, in order to protect me, Gu Niang dared to argue with others, so you deserve a reward."

Gu Li was delighted when he heard this and asked curiously, "What's the reward?"

"Whatever Gu Niang wants, Chang Lang will give her." Chang An said lovingly.

"Then I... want Chang Lang to give me a big kiss!"

"it is good!"

......

As soon as Zhang Jiazhen got home, she was so angry that she swept all the books on the desk to the floor and cursed, "How can this be!"

The servant following behind him was a little nervous and asked cautiously: "Prime Minister, what's wrong?"

"What else could it be!" Zhang Jiazhen sat down at the desk. "I went to watch the dragon boat race during the Dragon Boat Festival, and that Dingkang Hou Chang Yonghe actually dared to appear in front of me. How unlucky!"

The servant was stunned for a moment: Are you so angry just because I showed up?

"The young lady beside him is so sharp-tongued that she dares to say that I am incompetent! If I am incompetent, why would I be the prime minister?" Zhang Jiazhen scolded angrily.

"Women's views are short-sighted!"

The servant hurriedly said, "Prime Minister, calm down, calm down."

"Calm down? What do you want to calm down? That young lady said that I was incompetent, and Chang Yonghe dared to say that I was humble. I..." When Zhang Jiazhen said this, he suddenly thought of what Chang An said, and could only hold the words back.

"This is outrageous! All he says is nonsense." Zhang Jiazhen couldn't say anything else but slapped the table.

"Then...should the Prime Minister file a complaint in front of the current emperor? And implicate Chang Yonghe?" The servant suggested at this time.

"Chang Yonghe was spared from death and rewarded even for defying the imperial order and resisting the marriage. This time he is just competing with me. His rank is the same as mine. How can I sue him?" Zhang Jiazhen said.

But in fact, the main reason why Zhang Jiazhen didn't want to go was that he was afraid of losing face in front of the emperor. Because if he wanted to file a complaint, he would need to explain the situation in detail. Wouldn't it be embarrassing to argue with a young man and be silenced?

Besides, he was the one who provoked first. If it was known, given Chang An's current status and Li Longji's attention to him, he would probably be scolded. After weighing the pros and cons, he finally came to the conclusion: the gain was not worth the loss, so it was better not to file a lawsuit.

"Then Prime Minister, how about we secretly send someone to their house to do something?" The servant continued to give advice.

But Zhang Jiazhen picked up a book on the ground and threw it over, cursing: "Are you an idiot? We have sent several people out, and none of them came back alive. Do you really think that Chang Yonghe has no one at home?"

Zhang Jiazhen sighed, held his forehead and leaned on the desk, waved his other hand at the servant, and said, "You can go down."

......

The day after the Dragon Boat Festival, Chang An naturally had to go to the Imperial College. In the morning, Chang An kissed Gu Li goodbye at the door as usual, and then got on the carriage and went to the Imperial College.

In the Imperial College, Zhou Xuezheng was giving his lectures as usual, and the students were listening to him, while Chang An was doing his own thing. Chang An was designing something, and suddenly he felt someone touching his elbow. He paused, then looked up at Huai Qin beside him.

Huaiqin whispered at this time: "Sir, someone is coming."

"Who's coming?" Chang An asked back with some surprise.

Huaiqin pointed slightly to a corner, and Chang'an looked in the direction she pointed, and found an old man talking to Zhou Xuezhen. Then the old man sat in a corner and looked at the audience.

Chang An frowned slightly - the person who came was Zhang Jiazhen. He couldn't help but feel a little confused. Didn't he usually attend court or take up duties? Why did he come to the Imperial College at this time?

"Don't worry about him, just continue reading." Chang An said.

But at this time, Zhou Xuezheng spoke up: "Students, today, Prime Minister Zhang of the Tang Dynasty is here. I would like to take this opportunity to sit in on the lecture and check your knowledge."

"The first student's words..."

"Zhou Xuezheng, wait a minute." Zhang Jiazhen suddenly interrupted Zhou Xuezheng and said, "I wonder if this first student can be told from his true self?"

Zhou Xuezheng was not annoyed, and nodded, saying, "Of course."

"Okay, I'll order it then." Zhang Jiazhen stood up, picked up the Zuo Zhuan, and said as if thinking, "Zhou Xuezheng, I heard that there is a top student in your Imperial Academy, named Chang'an, who has always been ranked first in the Imperial Academy."

"Then just click on him."

Zhou Xuezhen nodded. I thought he was going to check someone, but Chang An was not afraid of that. Check! If others are worried, why should I worry about Chang An?

So Zhang Jiazhen said, "Chang'an!"

Chang An sighed helplessly, put down the pen in his hand, picked up the half-finished drawing on the table, and stood up. After standing up, he didn't even bother to say hello, but just looked at Zhang Jiazhen sideways.

Zhang Jiazhen was naturally a little angry, but on the surface he pretended to be indifferent and said: "As expected of you who is the number one in the Imperial Academy, you are so arrogant that you are unwilling to pay respect to me."

But Chang An didn't give him any way out and said, "Prime Minister Zhang is not my elder, nor is he my teacher, and thirdly, you and I have the same status. If it is as my wife said yesterday, it should be you, Prime Minister Zhang, who should perform the ceremony now."

When these words were spoken, everyone including Zhou Xuezhen were a little surprised - he was usually gentle and polite, and never used his noble status to bully others, so why was he like this as soon as the Prime Minister arrived today?

Du, Cui, Zhang, and Zhao even began to exchange glances with each other, showing great interest. Everyone here knew that Chang'an's husband was the previous prime minister. Could it be that Chang'an was resentful because Prime Minister Song was dismissed and Zhang Jiazhen took over?

Zhang Jiazhen could only suppress his anger in front of so many students, and then said, "I am not going to argue with you today. I am just here to check your study."

"Then please ask Prime Minister Zhang." Chang An couldn't stand this feeling of disgust, so he covered his mouth with his hands and yawned.

Seeing this, Zhou Xuezheng no longer cared about the relationship between the two of them, and said to Chang An in a serious manner: "Chang Yonghe, pay attention."

This time, Chang An raised his hand and saluted Zhou Xuezheng respectfully, saying, "I'm sorry, I lost my composure."

Zhang Jiazhen's forehead was bulging with veins, and it was obvious that he was holding back his anger. He then directly opened the textbook and said, "Chang Yonghe, get ready. I will start asking questions."

"Although there are, there are many Chu talents. Gui Sheng heard that a good ruler should not give excessive rewards and not abuse punishments. If rewards are excessive, then the lewd people will be affected; if punishments are excessive, then the good people will be affected. If you are unfortunate enough to pass by, it is better to be excessive and not excessive; rather than lose good people, it is better to benefit from lewdness. If there are no good people, the country will follow them." Zhang Jiazhen read out the original sentence, and then asked, "Why?"

"Although there are, there are indeed many talents that can be used in Chu. I have heard that those who are good at governing a country do not give excessive rewards and do not abuse punishments. If the rewards are too excessive, they may go to bad people..." Chang An simply translated the original text.

Then Chang An added his interpretation: "The fundamental reason for the flight of talents is the intrigue and deception within the ruling group. As a ruler of a country, if you cannot use rewards and punishments correctly and do not adhere to the principle of fairness, it will naturally cause internal divisions. So this sentence is about how to retain talents."

Zhang Jiazhen nodded, and then randomly picked out another paragraph: "Don't seek profit, don't be afraid of power, don't leak people's words to curry favor. Why is that?"

Zhou Xuezheng frowned, because he hadn't taught this article yet. According to the original lesson plan, this article would not be taught until the end of the month. If it were another student, they would not be able to answer this question.

But the person he asked was Chang An, who had already mastered the Four Classics.

Chang An quickly gave his translation and interpretation, then sat down, took out his drawings, and continued drawing.

After Zhou Xuezhen randomly checked two students, Zhang Jiazhen waved his hand and said, "No need to check, it's just Zhou Xuezhen, does Chang Yonghe do his own thing in class every day?"

At this time, Chang An raised his eyes slightly, glanced in Zhang Jiazhen's direction, and then continued to lower his head. Zhang Jiazhen looked at him and said, "If everyone is like Chang Yonghe, doing their own things in class, wouldn't that break the rules?"

Zhou Xuezheng said: "Chang Yonghe is the leader of the entire Imperial College. He always tops the list in the annual examinations. He just mastered the Four Classics last year, and he has also mastered the Zuo Zhuan. So we will ignore him."

The more Zhang Jiazhen heard this, the more annoyed he became: Why are they all praising this so-called Chang Yonghe...

"If everyone is like me," Chang An suddenly said, "then everyone in the Imperial Academy will pass the exam tomorrow."