The two people, who were both teacher and student and close friends, walked forward one in front and one behind without saying a word.

They walked through the lakeside promenade, through the apricot leaf avenue, through the Zibei Pavilion at the foot of the Book Mountain, through the Kong Valley covered with red maple leaves... During the journey, they passed by deserted forest paths and a waterside pavilion where anthologies were held. The silence and the bustle seemed to have nothing to do with the two of them. Zhu Yourong and Zhao Rong both walked forward on their own. The female teacher in front did not speak, and the male student behind did not ask.

Only the autumn wind lifted up their clothes and the fallen leaves rested on their shoulders, and a tacit silence lingered in their hearts.

It was unknown how long An Jing walked until Zhao Rong looked over her shoulder and saw from afar a corner of the upturned eaves of Yi Lan Xuan among the green leaves.

A woman suddenly spoke up: "You are so graceful, you made me forget to eat... you made me forget to eat... why don't you look thin and hungry when I came back?"

"ah?"

Hearing Zhu Yourong's soft voice, Zhao Rong was stunned and withdrew his gaze.

Zhu Yourong turned her head away and didn't look at him, her eyes fixed on an orchid by the roadside that was about to bloom against the season.

"Didn't you write the "Ode to the Gods"? "

She waited with bated breath for the answer.

Zhao Rong was stunned for a moment, and nodded without thinking, "Yes, I wrote it."

Finally getting his personal answer, Zhu Yourong's heart suddenly broke, but she resisted the urge to look back.

She just raised her hand and gently touched her hair, looking away, but said:

"Well, it's well written. Next time...next time you are not allowed to write it again."

“…”

Just when Zhao Rong was a little confused, a certain lady's heartbeat quickened a little.

"Little bastard... so shameless..." she thought to herself.

…

Time goes back to Jingchen Hall not long ago...

Zhu Yourong believes that she is not the kind of person who likes to be sentimental.

However, after finishing reading the "Ode to the Gods", she couldn't help but feel her heartbeat speed up. Her intuition, as well as her reasoning and tacit understanding of the information she knew about Zhao Rong, told her that this was written to her by a "bold and evil disciple" or "bad junior fellow apprentice"...

Of course, apart from Zhu Yourong, no one else should be able to see the weirdness of this Li Shen Fu.

It's not just because of the words "you", "lan", "rong", etc. These can't even be said to be coincidences, they are frequent visitors in the poems about beautiful women.

However, what made Zhu Yourong tremble in this "Li Shen Fu" was the place where it was based on and... the emotional theme it expressed.

The general idea of ​​the essay is that the author... that is, Zhao Rong, met a goddess in Lidi, who was extremely beautiful and elegant. The two met by the waterside and fell in love with each other. However, because humans and gods have different paths, they could not be together in the end and could only part ways sadly. The goddess left, and Zhao Rong felt lost...

Although Zhu Yourong used to study Confucianism and Taoism, and now she is studying calligraphy, it does not mean that she is bad at poetry and Confucianism. On the contrary, she has been smart and thoughtful since childhood, and grew up in an extremely noble scholarly family. Her ability to appreciate poetry is not inferior to that of ordinary poetry masters in the academy. It's just that her talent in calligraphy, Confucianism and Taoism is not very impressive.

Therefore, when she read Zhao Rong's "Ode to the God of Separation" at the first glance, she understood most of the main idea. After reading it again, she immediately understood the metaphors in it, and her heart was trembling for a moment:

In addition to vividly describing the incomparable beauty of this "goddess", his article is also filled with a vague and misty atmosphere of love between man and god. Obviously, he did not directly describe the emotional changes between him and the goddess, but...

“The body is as swift as a flying duck, and as elusive as a god… The steps are light and graceful, and the silk socks are covered with dust… The movements are unpredictable, sometimes dangerous, sometimes safe… The advance and stop are hard to predict, sometimes going forward, sometimes coming back… sometimes returning, sometimes coming back…” Zhu Yourong lowered her head and chanted softly.

For example, this section, through a series of meticulous portrayals of actions, depicts the fiery love that is stirring in the heart of the goddess, as well as the intense sorrow that this love cannot be realized... This "goddess" who is above the ground lifts her body lightly, like a crane about to fly but not yet; passes through the pepper-smeared orchid, attracting bursts of rich fragrance; and lets out a long and sad cry, with a deep and long sorrow echoing in her voice...

It's not just this waterside goddess, both men and women are like this, some are hesitating, some are chanting, some are lingering, some are floating... every word and action seems to be expressing the endless attachment and sorrow in their hearts.

The more I read, the more I noticed the interweaving of love, contradiction, melancholy and pain between the two sides...

However, no matter how much they were inseparable, humans and gods have different ways, and the gap between their status and identities was extremely large, and it was difficult to cross. In the end, the goddess gradually walked away, and as she kept looking back, the two of them were separated by heaven and earth.

A feeling of sorrow and grief permeates every line of the text.

"So... you already knew how I felt when we said goodbye in front of the waterfall that day. So... I'm not the only one who was reluctant to leave. There are also people who share the same feelings as me..."

Zhu Yourong whispered.

She and Zhao Rong were originally from the mountains. For mountain people, there might be fairies and beautiful women, but there was no such thing as a mysterious and ethereal goddess. Even if there was, she would not be seen in a secular mountain like Dali... So this was more like the fantasy of an ignorant scholar from the mountain. However, since it appeared in the literature, it was reasonable. It was just artistic processing. The most important thing was the allusion and metaphor.

After reading this, Zhu Yourong understood clearly.

And that day when she learned that Zhao Rong was killed, she hurried down the mountain, panicked and went to Dali to rescue him. In the end, she was so excited that she hinted her feelings to him when saying goodbye in front of the Huangling Waterfall, and fled in a panic... Aren’t these exactly the same experiences that the human and the god in this "Li Shen Fu" experienced?

And the name of this literary poem. Li Shen, Li Shen... That day in front of the waterfall, she must have been the figure of "leaving clumsily" in his eyes.

Therefore, Zhu Yourong fully understood why Zhao Rong wrote the 'heretical' "Li Shen Fu" in the poetry and prose exam. However, she did not expect that he could write it so well and win the first place in the academy.

not to mention!

The regretful feeling of "starting from love but ending with courtesy" expressed by both men and women in this essay is very consistent with the paradoxical love between her and Zhao Rong as a teacher and student. Zhu Yourong really can't think of any other romance with Zhao Rong.

So who is this "Ode to the Gods" about if it's not about her? It's clearly a bold confession to her...

Therefore, even though there was an autumn breeze blowing outside the window, Zhu Yourong felt a little hot on her face and neck. She wanted to raise her hand to fan herself, but she was too shy to do so.

only……

"You...how dare you be so bold...what can't you say in private, but you write it down for so many people to see..."

A certain lady's heart was filled with joy and fear.

Although that dull-headed woman finally knew how to confess her feelings boldly, the feeling of being surrounded by her colleagues and reading the confession text that her 'junior brother' secretly wrote for her... bang bang bang~ made her heart beat three times faster, just like a deer tiptoeing past a hungry tiger's den.

The only thing that made her feel fortunate at the moment was that he did not directly give the essay a bold and explicit name like "Youshen Fu" or "Yourong Fu"...

"Um, Mr. Zhu?"

In a corner of Jingchen Hall, Su Changfeng, who was reciting beside Zhu Yourong, suddenly called out.

"Ah, what's wrong..." Zhu Yourong suddenly woke up and replied.

"It's okay." Su Changfeng and Duan Jiuling looked at each other and shook their heads, sounding a little worried. "It's just that your complexion is a little strange, sometimes white and sometimes red... You have to be more careful when practicing next time, and don't make mistakes again."

"I see. Thank you for your concern, Brother Su." Zhu Yourong said seriously.

…