an article of several thousand words, called Qi xi () [On Begging Vinegar]. At the age of 14, Gui was qualified to take prefecture examination, and took the exam when he was 20 years old. Gui finally passed the provincial examinations, and became a Juren ranked second at age 35, in 1540. In the meantime, his first wife, who came from Wei () clan, died. Then he married a woman who came from Wang () clan of Anting, which had once been prosperous. Since the clan was on the decline, a younger descendant sold the local mansion treasured by the other members as heritage to pay taxes. On that account, his new wife begged him to get a loan and redeem the mansion. In about 1541, he paid off all the debts eventually and moved to Anting, Jiading. Gui spent most of his time at Anting on reading. Moreover, he tutored up to hundreds students who worshipped him. During those intervening triennial springs, he went to Nanjing eight times to take the higher examinations but failed. In 1565, Gui finally got a Jinshi in his ninth examination. Gui became a Zhixian in Changxing at the age of sixty. When Gui was judging, he allowed local people to utter Wu Chinese instead of Mandarin so that they could state clearly. Besides, he seldom imprisoned the defendant if the case could be conciliated. Three years later, Gui was transferred to be a Tongpan (; an official position) in Shunde, he was in charge of local horse administration. In 1570, Gui went to Beijing to celebrate Longqing Emperor's birthday. Admired by Gao Gong and Zhao Zhenji (), he was promoted to be the Sicheng (; an official position) of Nanjing Taipusi (). But he was still kept in Beijing by Li Chunfang () to compile Shizong Shilu () for Jiajing Emperor. In the next year, Gui died of illness in Beijing at the age of 64. He was buried at Kunshan in 1575. Family Gui's father was Zheng (), while his mother was Zhou Gui (). He had two younger brothers: Youshang () and Yougong (); An elder sister Shujing () and a younger sister Shushun (). Gui had three wives and a concubine. His first wife's surname was Wei. They married in about 1529, five year later she died. She bore him a daughter and a son. In about 1536, he married