My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

Chapter 161 Counting Stars at Midnight

After dinner, Chang An and Gu Li sat in the house, one holding the other, sitting at the low table. Gu Li held Chang An's poetry collection in her hand, and Chang An rubbed her face, without disturbing each other.

"Who cried the most among the people present? Jiangzhou Sima..." Gu Li pointed at the four words 'Jiangzhou Sima' and asked, "Chang Lang, who is this Jiangzhou Sima?"

"One of my friend listened to a piece of music played by a female pipa player and he felt so much the same way that he started to cry," Chang An explained.

"Who is this Pipa girl? She is from Chang'an City, and the only person who can play such a moving song seems to be my sister." Gu Li asked again, "Could this be my sister?"

"Of course not," Chang An said with a smile, "Su Meng is still in our Chang'an City, how could she go to Jiangzhou?"

Gu Li nodded and said, "That's true. Could it be that this is all a scene imagined by Chang Lang? It feels so real."

Chang An was speechless, and asked in amusement, "But what if this poem is not fictional, but actually happened?"

"Is it true? When did Chang Lang go to Jiangzhou?" Now Gu Li would rather believe that Chang An had been to Jiangzhou than believe that the poem was not written by Chang An.

Chang An was completely speechless, and explained again: "This poem was really not written by me."

Gu Li ignored what he said, and continued to lean on his chest, pointing to a certain place and said: "Young men in Wuling compete to tie their hair, and there are countless red branches in one song. Chang Lang also said this before, and I remember it all."

After saying that, he turned to the next poem, which was "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow". After reading it, Gu Li said, "Chang Lang, which king is this poem about? He is so obsessed with beauty that he ruined his country."

Chang An opened his mouth and wanted to talk about Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, but suddenly he remembered that he was under his rule. Moreover, Li Longji had not married Yang Yuhuan yet and was working hard every day. If he talked about it, it would be slandering the emperor and he would lose his head.

He pointed to the first line of the poem and said, "Han Huang, Han Huang, naturally refers to the emperor of the Han Dynasty."

Gu Li tilted his head and asked, "Really? Which emperor of the Han Dynasty is it?"

"Emperor Cheng of Han, Liu Ao, was very fond of his two concubines, Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede, which led to the crisis of the country. Isn't he extremely licentious and obsessed with beauty and ruined the country?" Chang An immediately thought of Emperor Cheng of Han. After all, the incident of Yan pecking the emperor's grandson was too famous.

Gu Li nodded in understanding, and then turned back to the "Pipa Song". It was not until Zhen'er brought the medicine in that she put down the book, drank the medicine reluctantly, and then left the room to take a bath.

Chang An felt a little stuffy in the house, so he came to the courtyard and sat in the pavilion.

Huaiqin also entered the yard at this time and asked, "Young Master? Why are you here instead of resting in the house?"

Chang An stretched and said, "Nothing, just came out to get some fresh air. Can you get me some tea?"

"Okay, sir." Huaiqin nodded and turned to leave.

Chang An raised his head slightly and looked towards the sky——

“There are quite a lot of stars…”

At this time, the sky was full of stars. The night sky of the Tang Dynasty was like a piece of dark blue silk inlaid with diamonds. Countless stars were inlaid in it like dazzling gems, emitting a mysterious and charming light.

In this vast sea of ​​stars, those stars, big or small, bright or dim, are densely intertwined together, forming an intoxicating starry sky picture.

The night breeze blew gently, bringing a hint of coolness. Chang An leaned against the edge of the table, feeling relaxed and happy. It seemed that he had not seen such a clear starry sky for a long time.

The night sky I saw in my previous life was almost starless; it was filled with the smoke and miasma brought on by industrialization.

Chang An rested his elbows on the stone table, his legs casually spread apart, just "thrown" on the ground.

"Sir, the tea is here." Huaiqin walked into the yard, saw Chang'an sitting very casually, and smiled.

"Sir, you are a scholar, don't sit so casually. If it gets out and other gentlemen hear it, it will be bad."

Huaiqin said as she put the tea on the table.

"What's the matter? I'm in my own home, can't I be more casual?" Chang An said with a smile, "Saints can also make mistakes, let alone an ordinary person like me."

Huaiqin shrugged without comment, poured out a cup of tea and placed it next to Chang'an.

"What's so good about the stars, sir?" Huaiqin asked, standing aside.

"That's because it's a star. I haven't seen the stars." Chang An picked up the tea and took a sip. "It seems that I haven't seen these stars much..."

Soon, Gu Li, accompanied by Zhen'er, entered the yard. When Gu Li saw Chang'an, she ran up with her skirt lifted.

"Chang Lang!"

"Hmm?" Chang An pulled her in his arms and let her sit on his lap.

"Why is Chang Lang sitting in the pavilion instead of waiting for me in the house?" Gu Li asked, tidying up his still wet hair.

"It's a bit boring sitting in the house all the time, so I came out to get some fresh air and look at the stars." Chang An said as he lifted up Gu Li's sleeve to check the wound.

"Then I'll help Chang Lang look at the stars here. Chang Lang, go take a shower first." After saying this, Gu Li got off Chang An's body.

"Then Madam Gu, please wait for me here." Chang An touched Gu Li's head and went to take a shower.

When he came back, Gu Li was holding up his finger and pointing in the air.

"Mrs. Gu?"

"Hey."

"What are you doing?" Chang An walked up to her with a smile, held her in his arms, and then sat down.

Gu Li continued to click and replied, "I'm counting the stars."

Chang An smiled and pressed her finger down, saying, "The stars will flicker. When you count them, you might end up with one more or one less star. Wouldn't that mean you're counting wrong?"

"Ah!" Gu Li had already counted a lot by this time, and it was obvious that he was reluctant to stop.

She pursed her lips and then put her hand down.

"My mother said that people will turn into stars after they die." Gu Li suddenly asked, "Is it true?"

"What does Gu Niang think?" Chang An didn't know how to answer. If he told her the truth, what if she didn't believe it? If he told her it was false, it wouldn't be romantic enough.

"I think it's fake." Gu Li said, "People are buried in the ground after they die, but the stars are in the sky. It sounds fake no matter how you listen to it."

"Of course it's fake." Chang An said, "Does Gu Niang know how the stars came about?"

"I don't know." Gu Li shook his head and said.

"In fact, every star is a sun." Chang An said. What he said was not wrong. After all, stars and the sun are almost the same.

"Ah? Why? If the stars are the sun, then why can't we see them during the day?" Gu Li obviously couldn't understand.

"Because those suns are too far away from us, the light is not very bright. In addition, the sun during the day is very close to us, so the light is very bright, which naturally covers up the light from other suns." Chang An explained.

"You can only see these suns at night when the biggest sun is no longer there."

Gu Li nodded as if he understood, and said, "It's just like Chang Lang and other talented people. Chang Lang can completely outshine other talented people just by standing there. Everyone's attention is on Chang Lang and they can't see anyone else."

"Only when Chang Lang leaves will others turn their attention to other talented people."

Chang An smiled and pinched Gu Li's cheek, saying, "Mother Gu, if others hear what you said, I will be stabbed in the back."

"But Chang Lang is obviously so powerful," Gu Li stretched out his little hand and took the teacup on the stone table, "Chang Lang, have some tea."

Chang An didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Gu Li was flexible in some matters, even like a modern woman. But in some matters, she was very stubborn and even childish.

"Chang Lang, drink your tea quickly!" Gu Li stuffed the teacup in his hand into Chang An's hand.

Chang An kissed Gu Li on the cheek lovingly and said, "Let me smell it first, so that the tea won't be bitter."

The night wind blew. Chang An held Gu Li's hand and said, "I suddenly thought of a song written by a famous composer."

"Then let Chang Lang sing for us." Gu Li fluttered twice in Chang An's arms and put on a serious look.

"Hand in hand, one step, two steps, three steps, four steps, looking up at the sky, see the stars connected into a line, one, two, three, four..." This is a song by a modern superstar. As a loyal fan, Chang An would naturally hum this song.

But Gu Li was amused and started to laugh after only hearing half of it. Chang An saw this and asked, "What's wrong? Did I sing badly?"

"Good... sounds good." Gu Li nodded quickly.

Chang An leaned in front of Gu Li, very close to her, and then put on a "ferocious" look and asked, "Tell the truth..."

"it is good……"

Chang An's eyes narrowed even more, and Gu Li said in a very low voice: "No... it doesn't sound good..."

Chang An sighed. His singing voice was not that good, and there was no instrumental accompaniment, so it was normal that it was not pleasant to listen to. Moreover, Gu Li was a complete Tang Dynasty person, so how could he accept modern music?

“Do you think the words are weird, and my tune is weird too?”

Gu Li raised his eyes slightly, looked at Chang An's cheek, then quickly retracted his eyes and nodded.

Chang An shook Gu Li and said with a smile, "What's wrong, Gu Niang, I don't mean to blame you."

"And we have to count the stars before we go to sleep."

Gu Li then slowly raised his eyes and said, "But didn't Chang Lang just say he didn't count?"

"Count! Who said we don't want to count anymore?" Chang An said, "I've counted them all!"

"Have you finished counting?" Gu Li raised his head in confusion and looked at Chang An.

"Yes," Chang An nodded confidently and said, "When has your Chang Lang ever lied to you?"

"Then...how many stars did Chang Lang count?"

"Two, big, bright stars."

At this time, Chang An smiled, raised his finger and tapped Gu Li's eyes twice:

"One, two, exactly two!"