When Li Ji was a child, everyone in the village called him "smarter than nature and less responsible for wizards." Historical records record that he is "self-taught, knowledgeable and literate". After being sensible, Li Ji learned about his life experience from his mother, understood her mother's painstaking efforts, and studied hard and pursued with a little foundation laid when she entered school. From many books written by himself and others, there are records that he took the borrowed books home and went out to exchange them soon.

When I was young, I tried to return to the Xu family. The history book says, "If you want to turn inside, you can't take it back." It is difficult for clan etiquette to tolerate exiled people returning to their ancestors. Since then, he no longer has such extravagant hopes. Young people can't forget their mother's expulsion from Xu's family and her hard life of managing the family diligently. By the time he was 18 years old, his talent and knowledge had been impressed by his fellow villagers. He can no longer concentrate on his studies. He must support his mother alone. This year, he went to Ge Jia, a famous family in Zhouzhuang Louxia Village, and became a teacher. Since then, he has opened schools in Dingshan, Qishan and Yulishan, and taught many disciples. 16 years later, he lived a life of teaching, reading, writing, making friends and supporting his mother.

1644, Li Ji heard that Li Zicheng had captured Beijing and the Zhu Ming dynasty had perished. Due to the common orthodoxy of scholars at that time, he "stayed in the capital and took ten measures against thieves" to contribute to Nanjing Nanming. But those princes and dignitaries looked down on humble cloth and even disdained his strategy of "fighting thieves" When he learned that the Qing soldiers entered Shanhaiguan, the peasant uprising army was defeated, and the Zhu Ming dynasty was powerless to return to heaven, he climbed the Yuli Mountain and returned with tears. When Jiangyin's anti-Qing campaign failed, he began to collect the deeds of anti-Qing martyrs, and compiled them into more than 10, which was later included in his Essays on Tianxiangge. After a lapse of 10 years, Li Ji learned that there was a scholar named Zhou Xinsuo in Zhoujiachang outside the East Gate of Jiangyin. After the failure of guarding the city, he threw himself into the mountain and ran over the spring to be martyred, salvaging and burying monks in Mo Da Bay. Specially asked the nun to take him to the tomb of Zhou to pay homage. He was unwilling to be an honest official all his life, and the tragic scene of the massacre of the Qing army and the clank of the anti-Qing righteous undoubtedly had a decisive influence on him.

During the school building, he made friends with many monks in nearby temples, including many monks who could sing. At that time, Li Ji, a versatile poet and good writer in Jiangyin, had long been famous, and many people came here to learn poetry from Li Ji. You sang that Li Ji and I wrote many poems, and only his poems during his stay in Dingshan were later compiled into Taniguchi Collection.

Li remembered that he had never been married in a secluded place in Shan Ye, and lived a very poor life by his apprentice foster mother. Sometimes, there is not even a change of clothes and pants. Zhao, a native of Jiangyin, wrote in Mulberry Tales: "Someone heard his name and visited him. When he saw a man sitting under a pine tree, he asked him if it was Li Ye. I can't get up, but there is a pair of trousers on the cover that can be dried in the tree. " In the middle of winter, I have no cotton-padded clothes and often stay in bed. If you are sick and have no money to seek medical treatment, you can only let it recover naturally. Can't afford to buy tea, just pick up a little fried soup with pine cones and branches from the mountain instead of tea. When friends come, they can only pick wild day lilies to accompany the wine. Li Ji likes reading, but he can't afford books, so he borrows books from friends to read. Some big books are heavy. Li Ji likes to walk on the mountain road with his shoulders. Although life is hard, Li Ji refuses to cling to the powerful. Zhang, an official of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, expressed appreciation for the visit. When Li got the news, he climbed over the wall and avoided it. In the cold winter, my friend Cao Zhiyun gave Ali a special robe, which he declined.

1652, her mother Zhou died and was buried in Ju 'an, Yuli Mountain. The dramatic scene is that one or two years before his mother died, he took an imperial examination that he regretted for life. This is a boy test in eight counties of Changzhou. The county magistrate is Zu Xingyue. Zu Xingyue loved talents very much, and praised Li Ji's exam-oriented articles, and chose Li Ji as the first scholar recorded in this boy test. According to historical records, after the exam, Li Ji blamed himself and said that he regretted "how can I use words!" "I won't go to the hospital for an examination." Zu Xingyue deeply regretted that Li Ji didn't take part in the college entrance examination, and specially presented a copy of Twenty-one History.