Minglong

Chapter 39 Unexpected Discovery
Jiwenzhai is located outside the main gate of Danyang Academy.

Xie Jinhuan originally thought it was a bookstore, but when he got there, he found out that it was the official library of Danyang Academy. The three-story building displayed no less than ten thousand volumes of documents, and there were also chess rooms, tea rooms and other facilities upstairs.

There was a long counter in the lobby on the first floor. Some students were borrowing and returning books. Inside was an old man in a scholar's robe.

The old man wore a pair of ivory glasses, held a magnifying glass in his hand, and lowered his head in front of the book. It seemed that he had reached the highest level of myopia where "there is no one in front of him"!

Linghu Qingmo was quite familiar with the academy. He came to the counter carrying the coal briquettes and waited until a few young students who had been secretly observing him left before he said hello:

"Mr. Wu, I am Linghu Qingmo, the Palace Guard, and I have come to ask you something."

The old man's name was Wu Zheng, a fellow apprentice of Mu Yunling. He used to teach at the academy, but now that he was old, he came to the library to spend his remaining years. He put down his magnifying glass, squinted his eyes, and looked around, finally landing his gaze on Xie Jinhuan.

"So it's Miss Linghu. I've often heard students talk about her. Seeing her today, I can see she's truly extraordinary..."

"Huh?" Coal Ball was stunned.

"Wow, this black chicken is quite fat..."

"Guji?!"

Linghu Qingmo was also stunned, and quickly held down Meiqiu, who was cursing in anger.

"Mr. Wu, I'm here. I came here to ask Mr. Wu about someone who might have bought a book in the bookstore recently."

Wu Zheng naturally turned his gaze back to the correct target, smiling warmly:

"Really? I have a photographic memory for anyone who comes here to buy books. Miss Linghu, tell me about it."

A photographic memory...

Xie Jinhuan and Linghu Qingmo were deeply skeptical, but since they were already here, Linghu Qingmo still responded:
"We don't know her appearance or age, we only know she bought a copy of 'Yang Chun Yan' here. I wonder if you remember her?"

Wu Zheng looked thoughtful and remained silent for a moment before responding:
"This is a Confucian school. As a rule, we don't sell such erotica."

"what?"

Linghu Qingmo didn't understand what he meant.

Xie Jinhuan shook his head secretly and interrupted:
"'Yang Chun Yan' was written by the great scholar Qing Ping of the previous dynasty. It follows the protagonist's rise from prosperity to decline, detailing the extravagance and lust of bureaucrats, gentry, and wealthy merchants of the time, as well as the helpless slavery of the poor. While the book appears to be full of sensuality, it also depicts the evils of the world. To call it a book of erotica is too one-sided."

"Oh?"

Wu Zheng was slightly surprised. Although his eyes were fixed on Xie Jinhuan's ears, his approval was quite obvious:
"Beauty lies in the bones, not in the skin. The same is true for books. My lord, you have read books thoroughly. Are you in good health?"

"I've never seen one with paintings before. He's in good shape."

"That's good. Young people should be restrained. Otherwise, when you're my age, sigh..."

?

Linghu Qingmo looked puzzled, not understanding what reading had to do with health, but he didn't ask any questions. He just watched Xie Jinhuan and talked.

After Xie Jinhuan talked nonsense for a while, he asked again:

"The person who buys the books is either an old man in his fifties, dressed like a businessman, and rather business-like; or a young man in his twenties, who might be carrying an umbrella. Hmm... sir, can you see the weapon hanging from my waist?"

Wu Zheng looked at Xie Jinhuan, the two weapons crossed at his waist, and smiled while holding his beard:
"I see, using such large scissors as a weapon is quite refreshing to me."

Damn...

Xie Jinhuan took a deep breath. He had never thought that there was an old man in Danzhou who was even more outrageous than Butler Hou. Obviously, there was no need to inquire about this anymore.
"I have something important to attend to. If you don't know, I'll take my leave..."

"Eh~"

Wu Zheng raised his hand to stop him. "When I say 'photographic memory', how could I lie to you, young man? I've been teaching for a lifetime, and I can tell at a glance whether someone is an inexperienced student, a frivolous street kid, or a seasoned expert in the ways of the world. Miss Linghu is inexperienced, while you are one of the latter two."

?

Xie Jinhuan was slightly stunned, feeling that the look was both good and bad, and looked down:

"Mr., do you think I'm not serious? How do you know that?"

"Haha, there are so many historical documents and books from the previous dynasties. Who can rely on "Yang Chun Yan" to understand the customs of the time?"

"..."

Xie Jinhuan really couldn't refute it, but it was obviously difficult to admit it either, so he changed the subject and asked:

"Those two are veterans in the martial arts world. Do you remember them, sir?"

Wu Zheng thought carefully, "There are very few people from the Jianghu who come here. I remember at the beginning of the month, there was a young man in his early twenties who came here to buy Yang Chunyan. His words and deeds were slick and I could tell at a glance that he was not a scholar!

"We chatted briefly. He called himself He San and said he came to Danyang with his father to do the spice business. He also talked about Mr. Mu and several teachers' daily activities. He said he had heard of your name for a long time and wanted to visit..."

When Linghu Qingmo heard this, he knew that this person was highly suspicious:
"Mr. Wu, do you have any other clues about this person?"

Wu Zheng looked towards the open space to the side with a warm smile:

"If they were really bandits, why would they speak the truth to such a simple stranger? I chatted for a while, and I only heard the surname was true, the rest was all nonsense."

"What's your surname..." Linghu Qingmo felt that the scope was a bit too large, but it was better than nothing, so he came forward and bowed:
"Thank you, Mr. Wu, for the reminder. I'll look into it when I get back."

Wu Zheng nodded with a smile, and turned his gaze to Linghu Qingmo:

"I can tell at a glance that you share the same hobby. I have quite a few treasures here. Would you like to take a look?"

Linghu Qingmo's face was filled with black lines!

Xie Jinhuan was already used to not looking at people, and after chatting for a long time, it would be inappropriate not to buy something, so he asked:
"Oh? Could you recommend one, sir?"

"Young Master is a man of the Jianghu, so he should like these things."

As Wu Zheng spoke, he moved sideways a few steps and lifted a cover on the counter.

wow~
The two people and the bird peeked over and found that there was also a bookshelf under the counter, but it was horizontal.

Over a hundred hardcover books were neatly arranged side by side on the bookshelf. Looking at the titles, they were: "The Amorous Swordsman Shang Lianbi," "The Prodigal Son Lu Wuzhen," "The Romantic History of Sikong Patriarch," "The Strange Tales of the Erotic Hero," "The Story of the Golden Orchid"...

There is a whole wall of scandals and unofficial histories of the ancestors, and apart from the great men of Confucianism, almost all the other bigwigs of various religions and schools are listed on it!
"hiss……"

Linghu Qingmo secretly took a breath of cold air. Not to mention reading the contents, just seeing these reversed Tiangang book titles made him feel like he should go into a forbidden area to wash his eyes!
Xie Jinhuan was also amazed. He took out a handkerchief from Mo Mo's waist, wiped his hands, and then picked up one of the books:
"Sir, you're a really good judge of character. What happened to the predecessor who wrote these?"

Wu Zheng's brows were filled with pride:
"How could I, a disciple of the Confucian school, be afraid of unorthodox teachings? Most of the great writers of these books died peacefully."

Isn't it true that a small number of people died suddenly?

Xie Jinhuan had never seen these "banned books" when he was in the capital before. In order to see how wild the unofficial history was, he picked up a book with a relatively normal name, "Jinlan Biography", and took a look at it.

As a result, after reading just a few pages, I realized that I had underestimated the courage of these sour scholars.

The heroine of this book is called Fairy Xixia, and the prototype character is naturally Qixia Zhenren, the head of Zihui Mountain a hundred years ago and the grandmaster of the Danding School of the previous generation!
According to the book, Fairy Xixia was originally just a little Taoist nun who was untainted by the dust of the Zihui Mountain. She accidentally entered a secret realm and obtained the Taoist scripture "Taishang Yingling Jue". After a battle of wits and courage with her fellow disciples, she finally became the head of the sect.

The story is pretty normal up to this point and progresses quickly.

But suddenly one day, Fairy Xixia became tempted by worldly desires and fell in love with a demon!
That demon was so stunningly beautiful that Fairy Xixia was like a demon possessed by her. She was so infatuated with him that she even gave up half of her paradise. During the day, she was the leader, but at night, she allowed the charming female demon to control Zihui Mountain, where she indulged in debauchery and kept the people awake...

Lily article...

Xie Jinhuan carefully flipped through the book, his brows gradually furrowed. He felt that the demon woman in the book looked a bit like his ghost wife...

He was about to delve deeper when the book was grabbed by someone.

Snapped--

Linghu Qingmo was secretly studying the book when he discovered that it contained the anecdotes and unofficial history of his own master. His eyebrows stood up:

"How dare you! Who is this scoundrel to fabricate such a story? The Qixia Patriarch made great contributions during the witch cult rebellion. How can you slander him so wantonly..."

"Eh!"

Wu Zheng raised his hand, looking quite displeased:
"The author of this book is also a veteran who made great contributions to the Witch Cult Rebellion. He fought alongside Qixia Zhenren and other ancestors to face the national crisis. As a younger generation, I have not experienced that catastrophe, so I dare not make any comments."

Linghu Qingmo didn't expect that this crappy book was written by a great man of the same generation as his master. It was really difficult for him to criticize it at the moment, but he definitely couldn't let Xie Jinhuan read it, so he quickly snatched the book and hid it behind his back.

Xie Jinhuan felt that he had found the source of the ghost wife, and naturally took it seriously. He asked:
"Which ancestor wrote this book? The Twin Saints of Book and Sword, or the old demon Sikong?"

During the Witch Cult Rebellion, the ancestors with the greatest contributions in Daqian were the Twin Saints of Books and Swordsmen Ye Ci, the Buddhist Bodhisattva Yu Nian, the Taoist Masters Qixia and Ziyang, and the Witch Cult's Sikong Shitang.

These five people were the leaders of their sects a hundred years ago, and almost all the current leaders of various religions are descendants of these people.

For example, Mu Yunling's master is Shuangsheng Yeci, Lu Wuzhen is the disciple of Ziyang Zhenren, and the current leader of the Gudu Sect is Sikong Shitang's son.

Among the few people who could write such a crappy book and circulate it privately in the academy, the only one was Ye Ci, the last sage of Confucianism.

However, for the sake of his teacher's reputation, Wu Zheng did not point it out, but simply said:
"If you read the book thoroughly and combine it with the historical facts of that time, you will naturally understand who wrote this book."

Xie Jinhuan could probably guess who it was, and asked again:

"Is everything in this book historically true?"

Linghu Qingmo glared at him, but before he could clarify things for his master, Wu Zheng spoke first:

"Novels are just jokes, how can they be historical facts? Zihui Mountain is only twenty miles outside the city. There are some elderly people in Danyang who have even met the Qixia Patriarch. If the demons were allowed to control Zihui Mountain at night and stir up trouble, disturbing the people, how could the locals not know about it?

"If you really want to understand the past, you should look up official history. If you believe unofficial history, you'll find that Taizu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty started his career selling hooks on the grassland..."

Linghu Qingmo nodded quickly: "Yes. Zihui Mountain has a complete record of the birth and entry of Qixia Patriarch into the Pure Land. If you want to see it, I can go back and get it for you."

Xie Jinhuan knew that unofficial history was not to be trusted, but the ghost daughter-in-law was too mysterious. He searched for several days and only found some clues in this book "The Story of Jinlan". How could he not read it, so he wanted to buy the book.

But Miss Momo respected her master too much, so she put the book directly into her chest, took out the silver and slapped it on the counter, turned around and ran away, apparently afraid that he would snatch it away.

Xie Jinhuan felt helpless when he saw this. After Mo Mo ran out of the door, he took out some silver and quietly handed it to Old Man Wu.

Wu Zheng didn't say anything. He took out another book from under the counter and handed it to Xie Jinhuan. He was also quite considerate and gave her a hardcover illustrated edition of "Yang Chun Yan" as a gift. The second copy was half price...

(End of this chapter)