Chapter 13 The Four Great Masterpieces

  After being impacted by "The Spring River Flower Moon Night" and stimulated by "Tengwang Pavilion Preface" and "Drunkard's Pavilion Record" (actually "Yueyang Tower Record"), Sheng Siyan felt that his tolerance had greatly increased, so he calmly asked: "Oh? The Four Great Masterpieces? Tell me about them, I haven't had a chance to read them yet."

  She was ready to hear the great names of "Dream of Red Mansions", "Journey to the West", "Water Margin" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" from these people's mouths.

  That miss with a dreamy and infatuated look on her face is somewhat annoying.

  Apart from "Dream of the Red Chamber", Sheng Siyan couldn't think of any other three great literary masterpieces that could bring such a "drunken" expression to the face of a teenage girl.

  Actually, "Dream of Red Mansions" is also a tragedy. Only the first 80 chapters are genuine, while the last 40 chapters are merely Gao E's dog tail continuation.

  Sheng Siyan made a great effort to put on a very cold expression. Unfortunately, her personality was too soft, and in the eyes of everyone else, they only thought that her serious expression was cute.

  "Listen up, the four great masterpieces are: 'The Dream of the Red Chamber', 'The Courtyard Deep', 'The Blue Cloud Sky' and 'The Legend of the Condor Hero'! Aren't they just wonderful to hear?!" Niu Xiaoye said with a self-satisfied smile.

  Sheng Siyan's whole body shook slightly, and she hurriedly dug her ears, thinking that she had misheard.

  Isn't Miss Zheng playing "Zhang wears Li's hat" again? Just like she applied the content of "A Record of Yueyang Tower" to "The Drunken Old Man Pavilion"...

  "Uh, can I take a look?" Really want to feast my eyes!

  Niu Xiaoye couldn't help but pinch Sheng Siyan's little face, laughing: "Wait till you learn to read and I'll show you, my whole family has them."

  "Do you have it? I've got it right here!" The dreamy-looking girl with a flower-like expression on her face swiftly pulled out four thread-bound books from her backpack and placed them on Sheng Siyan's desk.

  "See? They're all deluxe editions from Zheng's bookstore." The young lady said with a proud smile.

  Sheng Siyan calmly looked at the four thread-bound books and said in a low voice, "Can I borrow them to copy at home?"

  The books of the Daxia Empire were still very expensive, and ordinary commoners could hardly afford to have one or two books at home. Most people borrowed them back and copied them on bamboo paper, then slowly read them carefully.

  Bamboo section paper is cheap, one dollar can buy two knives, so it's the favorite of ordinary people who love to read books.

  As long as you work hard and spend a little more ink, you can keep those precious books by your side.

  Of course, this kind of book is obviously self-copied and completely different from the finished products sold in bookstores. Even if it's taken out, no one will think it's genuine.

  A fake is always a fake and can never be the real thing.

  "Here you go! Take it and copy it down. It's really nice, if there are any words you don't understand, you can ask your family members." The young lady said enthusiastically.

  They are in an intermediate class, and the little girls who were admitted have a certain foundation, absolutely not like those illiterates in the primary class who don't recognize a single character.

  The beginner class is a literacy class, and the intermediate class should be a little higher.

  Sheng Siyan asked clearly the name of that young lady, thanked her solemnly, and then put those four books into a small backpack, planning to "read" them carefully after returning home.

  "The teacher is here! The teacher is here!"

  There was a commotion in the school building, and all the little girls were busy taking their seats, waiting for the teacher to come in and start class.

  It was the first day of school, and the teacher didn't say much, just letting them introduce themselves in detail, including their names and families, and then writing it down on paper one by one.

  After the whole class finished their turns, it was already afternoon.

  Everyone had lunch together in between and then went home after school was dismissed.

  Sheng Siyan didn't wait for Wang Ergou to go home together, and ran back to his own home with a heavy little backpack.

  She really can't wait to see these "Four Great Masterpieces"!

  Wang saw her return and hastily said: "Quickly go wash your hands, are you hungry? I've prepared some snacks for you."

  Sheng Siyan absent-mindedly responded with a couple of "uh-huhs" before retreating to her own room, where she pulled out four books from her small backpack and arranged them on the desk.

  Which one should I read first?

  Sheng Siyan held her chin in deep thought.

  Wang came in and said: "Let's eat something first and then come back to study. Is this a book from the girls' school?" After finishing speaking, she went out and didn't even come over to take a look herself.

  Sheng Siyan didn't mind either.

  After some thought, I decided to go out and wash my hands, have a snack, and then come back to read.

  After returning, she picked up the first book "You Meng Lian", opened the cover page and read it with a glance.

  She hadn't read several pages when her eyes widened again.

  Good heavens, Miss Zheng, are you intentionally trying to get on my nerves?

  My eyeballs almost popped out of their sockets today!

  Sheng Siyan rubbed her eyes, had she seen it wrong?!

  There are Fei Yunfan, Chu Lian, Lv Ping and Zi Ling in this book! —— This is definitely Qiong Yao's "A Dream of Red Mansions"!

  It just moved the background of the story to the Daxia Dynasty.

  In "Yu Meng Lian", Fei Yunfan is a king who was abandoned by his wife and divorced, while Chu Jian is a hardworking scholar who eventually becomes the top scorer in the imperial examination and returns to marry his childhood fiancée, Lu Ping. Lu Ping is a talented young lady skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but she has been orphaned since childhood and has been taking care of her small family business with her younger sister, Zi Ling. After marrying Chu Jian, she naturally brings her younger sister into the Chu household.

  Then... everyone knows that the Zhuangyuan brother-in-law and little sister had a heart-wrenching love affair, but kind-hearted little sister was unwilling to be a concubine and also didn't want her sister to suffer for the rest of her life, so she left with a heavy heart. The elder sister, in pursuit of little sister, got hit by a horse carriage and broke both legs, becoming disabled.

  But his sister encountered a vagrant who harassed her while lodging in the ruined temple at night, and was eventually rescued by Lord Fei.

  Poor little sister, finally got paternal love from Lord Fei... no, it should be romantic love... and so, the flowers are in full bloom and the moon is round (⊙o⊙).

  But his sister was crippled by a broken leg and could no longer bear children, so her husband took many concubines...

  The final ending is not completely the same as "A Dream of Red Mansions", and the language used to describe it is also completely different. However, all the plots are exactly from Qiong Yao's "A Dream of Red Mansions"!

  No wonder that girl had a silly expression on her face...

  Sheng Siyan flipped through three other "masterpieces" - "The Deep Courtyard", "The Blue Cloud Sky" and "The Legend of the Condor Hero".

  With "Yu Meng Lian" as one of the famous works based on "A Dream of Red Mansions", Sheng Siyan has already become indifferent to the remaining three books.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, the other three were also adapted from Qiong Yao's novels with the background of the Great Xia Dynasty.

  "The Yard is Deep" is "The Yard is Very Deep", the male lead was changed to a retired general, and had an affair with the nanny of his own children, then, this nanny turned out to be his ex-wife who was divorced by him and came back for revenge.

  "Green Cloud Sky" is actually Qiong Yao's "Blue Cloud Sky", which tells the story of a childless young mistress from a wealthy family who introduces an orphan girl she rescued from a nursing home to her husband to bear children.

  As for "Huan Zhu Ji", it's even more obvious, that is - "Huan Zhu Ge Ge"! This book is easier to adapt, just change the background from Qing Dynasty to Da Xia Huang Dynasty.

  The four great masterpieces of Daxia Dynasty are actually adapted from Qiong Yao's works!

  What's wrong with you, Miss Zheng? What are you trying to do?!

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