My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

Chang An just responded to Su Meng's words with a simple smile, while Gu Li looked up at the sky from time to time, as if he was worried that it would get dark at any time.

Chang An also saw her concerns, so he said to her: "Let's not waste any more time, let's go release the river lanterns now?"

Gu Li nodded quickly, and then asked the driver to take the river lantern down from the cart. Gu Li held the river lantern in both hands, walked to the river, and put the river lantern down while holding the fence. After putting the river lantern down, she watched the river lantern go away quietly, and she stood up only after it was about ten meters away.

She turned around and found Chang An still standing there with the river lantern. It was not until she stood up that he reached out and brought the river lantern in front of Gu Li, saying:

"I'm afraid I'll fall into the water, so I'll ask Madam Gu to release the river lantern for me."

Gu Li looked at the river lantern, then at Chang An. She didn't expect Chang An to be so self-conscious. But it was a good thing after all, so she didn't refuse. She took the river lantern and put it in the river as before.

After returning to Chang An, she looked up at the sky again, then took Chang An's hand and said, "It's getting late, Chang Lang, shall we go home first?"

"it is good."

Chang An nodded, then nodded slightly to Su Meng and left. Because they came and left in a hurry, when they got home, the sky was only slightly dim, not dark yet.

After entering the house, Gu Li instructed the doorman: "When it gets dark, you should close the door immediately, and don't pay attention to anyone knocking on the door."

"Yes, ma'am." The doorman nodded in response and continued to stand guard.

......

At night, after Chang An finished taking a bath, Gu Li went over to close the door and even bolted it. Chang An asked with amusement, "What's wrong? Why do you have to bolt the door?"

"Of course it has to be bolted. People in the world of the living and the world of the dead cannot meet each other, otherwise bad things will happen." Gu Li said, his eyes a little vague as he spoke, and his two little hands were twisted together again.

"Just because of this?"

This is what Gu Li often does when he is nervous and uneasy, but why is he nervous in this situation? He must be hiding something, so Chang An narrowed his eyes slightly and asked.

"It's just... just like this."

She began to stutter, and the 80% probability became 100%. Chang An simply picked her up, then returned to the bedside and asked, "Don't lie, I can see it all. So, Madam Gu, tell me, why did you lock the door?"

"I..." Gu Li lowered his head slightly and said, "I... I'm scared."

"Afraid? What are you afraid of?" Chang An blinked, as if he didn't understand the seriousness of the matter, and asked in confusion.

Gu Li fiddled with his fingers and whispered, "I'm afraid of ghosts..."

Chang An's eyebrows jumped again. He originally wanted to scare her, but due to the special circumstances, he put away this idea. He smiled and said, "How could there be a ghost?"

"Yes! Definitely! It's scary!" Gu Li nodded quickly, fear in his big eyes.

In the next thousand years or so, when girls of the same age as Gu Li mentioned ghosts, they would feel a little dislike for them instead of being afraid of them. Chang An could only take out the weapon of "materialism" again and tell Gu Li about it:

"What if I tell Mother Gu that there are actually no ghosts in this world?" Chang An smiled and said.

"That's impossible. If there are no such things as ghosts in the world, why is there a saying that the gates of hell open wide on the Ghost Festival? It can't be something our ancestors made up, right?" Gu Li directly refuted.

It seems quite reasonable to hear this. But Chang An pinched her cheek and said with a smile: "Mother Gu, do you know how the Zhongyuan Festival came about?"

"Zhongyuan Festival?" Gu Li was stunned by the question. She only knew that Zhongyuan Festival was a tradition that must be observed, but she had never understood the origin of Zhongyuan Festival. She shook her head and said, "I don't know."

"The origin of the Zhongyuan Festival can be traced back to the ancestor worship and related sacrifices in ancient times. July is an auspicious month and a month for filial piety, and the crops are almost ripe in the middle of July. It is a festival to celebrate the harvest and thank the earth," Chang An explained.

"And according to custom, during the harvest season, people would offer sacrifices to their ancestors with new rice and other things to report the harvest to them. It is a festival to remember the ancestors, and the original intention was to honor the ancestors and show filial piety."

Gu Li blinked his eyes and asked in confusion: "But why are you talking about the underworld again?"

"This is what the Taoists and Buddhists say. The concepts of the underworld and the world of the living, ghosts, etc., are all Taoist and Buddhist concepts, not the original customs of the Zhongyuan Festival." Chang An said, "So, the concept of ghosts is not true. It is a concept that people imagined and spread. Can such things really exist in this world?"

"Is that so?"

"Of course." Chang An nodded, "And Gu Niang, when a person dies, he is put into a coffin and buried in the soil. How can he turn into dust? How can he turn into a ghost?"

"Zhuangzi believes that everything in the world depends on other things to move in this world. People live on their bodies, survive on food and drink, and walk on the earth. The same is true for plants, insects, and animals."

"Ghosts don't eat or drink, they can't be seen or touched, and they don't have a body to rely on, so how can they exist in this world? On the other hand, people are afraid of things they can't see. If they see them, they won't be so afraid."

Gu Li sorted out his thoughts and found that this was indeed the truth. Then he moved in Chang An's arms and said, "This is the first time someone told me that ghosts don't exist."

"Because this world is material, it was not created by ghosts or gods."

"The world is material..."

"This world is material and objective, not created by human consciousness or ghosts or gods." Something seemed to have "awakened" in Chang An's body:

"The entire universe is made up of various substances. It already exists here, not something people imagine. Ghosts and gods are something people imagine. It's impossible that the world came first, then people, and then people imagined a few ghosts and gods to create the world again, right?"

"Is that so..." Gu Li sat in Chang An's arms, not knowing whether he understood or not.

"This is called materialism, which is the belief that matter determines people's thoughts; while those who believe in ghosts and gods are idealists, who believe that people's thoughts determine matter." At the end, Chang An asked again: "Do you understand, Gu Niang?"

"I understand." Gu Li nodded.

"That's good." Chang An touched her face.

Gu Li fluttered twice in Chang An's arms and asked, "Chang Lang, what if... I mean what if, what if there really is a ghost?"

"What else can we do? Of course I'm here to protect Gu Niang. I'll fight my way out for Gu Niang and let those who died die again." Chang An said with a smile.

"what!"

Kill your way out! Wouldn't that be very dangerous for Chang Lang? !

"Then...then I don't have any last-ditch chances," Gu Li quickly changed his words, "I believe in Chang Lang's...materialism. There are no ghosts in the world, and there are no last-ditch chances..."

Chang An smiled, and then saw Gu Li yawning, and then she smacked his face, broke free from his embrace, and climbed onto the bed. It looked like she was sleepy again.

Gu Li consciously slept in the inner part of the bed, and then pulled the quilt over himself. He yawned, but seemed reluctant to fall asleep, and said, "Chang Lang, I'm sleepy."

Chang An smiled and stroked her hair, then said, "Go to sleep if you're tired."

"Ah."

Seeing Gu Li yawn again, Chang An got up and blew out the candles. Although he didn't believe in ghosts and gods, he would still obey the rule of going to bed early on the Ghost Festival - after all, who would have a problem with sleeping in?

After blowing out the candle, Chang An lay down on the bed. He wanted to reach out and pull the quilt to cover himself, but suddenly he felt the quilt "covering" himself, and then he felt a fragrant arm around him.

"Good night, Chang Lang."

"Good night, Madam Gu."

......

The next day, the couple slept until they woke up naturally again. One of them was due to the pregnancy reaction, but the other was simply a physiological instinct. They would always sleep in on weekends.

It was just that Gu Li woke up earlier than Chang An today, and when she saw Chang An opened his eyes, she groped her way and sat on him. Chang An then sat up, and then Gu Li hugged his neck again, watching her come closer.

"what's wrong?"

"I want a kiss."

As he spoke, Gu Li pouted his lips slightly and tried to move closer. But Chang An reminded him, "But I haven't washed up yet. Can't we kiss each other later?"

"No," Gu Li started to act coquettishly, then came forward and kissed Chang An directly on the lips.

Chang An got the upper hand, but he still pretended to be a gentleman and said, "Now, Madam Gu, can you get up and wash up?"

When he said this, it was like the words in martial arts novels: "I am just helping you detoxify, I have no other thoughts and I don't want to be responsible." But Gu Li didn't know what this meant, he just knew that he should do the right thing when he was happy.

"Ah."

So Gu Li obediently got out of bed, put on his shoes, changed his clothes, and then went to wash up.