A Work That Shook the World

"Where are the customers?" Shopkeeper Zhang asked in great disappointment.

"There were no customers at all. Stop fantasizing, Uncle."

"Then what are you holding?"

"Someone left it by the door. When I went out, I only saw a small figure from behind. It looked a bit like a little girl." Zhang Yuan tossed the book onto the counter, having no interest in even flipping through it.

"A little girl?" The shopkeeper frowned. "Could it be an Academy textbook?"

"Who knows?" Zhang Yuan shrugged and returned to the doorway to continue cracking sunflower seeds. Back in his hometown, he would certainly have doubted his own eyes. After all, girls did not casually leave their homes, especially at the age of ten or so. But after spending some time in Jinxia City, he had gradually grown used to it. Here, the authorities even encouraged women to step beyond their homes, enter the Academy, or take part in work. Though not everyone could accept it, the proportion of women seen on the streets was still far higher than in other towns.

Shopkeeper Zhang tore open the outer wrapping, revealing the book's full appearance—he noticed that it was not a properly bound book. There were no binding threads along the side; all the pages were merely stacked loose, and the handwriting varied in size. It was clearly not a printed product.

Was this... a handwritten manuscript?

But it did not quite seem like one.

Handwritten manuscripts usually copied famous works, and the title would always be placed prominently on the first page. Yet this book's first page bore only a pen name, tucked away in a corner: Flower-Blooming Hermit.

With nothing else to do, Shopkeeper Zhang simply started reading.

"Heh... I see."

"What kind of book is it?" Zhang Yuan asked.

"A vernacular tale,"