Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 662 The Six Fruit Hermit
"My lord... what... did you say?" Although the scholar heard Yun Shili muttering those words, he didn't understand what the substitute was about, hence the question.

As for Yun Shili, having already seen through the other party's problems, he was no longer in a hurry.

The next second, Yun Ge calmly sat down at the table, crossed his legs, and then beckoned to the scholar with his finger: "Stop talking nonsense, go and bring your luggage over and put it on the table." He paused, "Oh, and bring over what you wrote over there before I came in."

From here on, it's clear that we've entered Yun Shili's comfort zone, since he's gone through this kind of case-handling process countless times before.

As for the scholar... judging from his self-reference as "this humble servant," it's clear he's been through the officialdom, so he understands the ways of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to some extent. He naturally knows that it's best to cooperate obediently at this point, otherwise he'll be asking for trouble.

"Yes, yes..." The scholar responded twice, then went to take his luggage and the few sheets of paper that Yun Ge had been writing before he entered the room.

After receiving the items, Yun Shili didn't rush to examine them. Instead, he turned his gaze to the scholar's face and said in a commanding voice, "Take out all your belongings and put them on the table. Then go back over there and squat down." With that, he pointed to the specific spot where the other man should squat.

The scholar had no choice but to do as he was told.

After the other party put down everything that needed to be put down and squatted in a corner where Yun Shili could catch a glimpse at any time, Brother Yun slowly began to inspect the items on the table.

There's no need to elaborate on the common items in this person's luggage, such as clothes, hats, shoes, socks, combs, felt towels, paper, ink, brushes, and inkstones; what's worth mentioning is that this guy also brought quite a few manuscripts—all of which were written by himself.

In fact, he was still writing until Yun Shili entered the room.

Yun Shili learned from the seal and the signature of the books in the other party's bundle that the Confucian scholar's surname was Tang, given name was Chou, courtesy name was Zhongniu, and pen name was "Liuguo Jushi".

Now, let's talk about Tang Chou. He was born in the year, month, day, and hour of Chou. He was the second child in his family, hence his name and courtesy name.

Born into a scholarly family, Tang Chou was a well-known talent in the Jiangnan region in his youth. His teachers and friends all believed that he would surely pass the imperial examinations and make a name for himself in the officialdom...

By now, you probably all understand which parallel universe variant of the historical figure we are familiar with, this Tang Dynasty scholar is.

However, Tang Chou and Tang Yin's lives were obviously very different. Apart from some differences in their backgrounds and names, they also had two very significant divergences in their fates.

The first time was when Tang Chou was fifteen years old. Due to a "family feud" caused by his father and brother surrounding his several stepmothers, and a subsequent fire, Tang Chou lost all his relatives and ancestral property overnight, turning from a well-off rich boy into a poor scholar.

Fortunately, he had some friends in the area, and after several years of relying on their help, he finally got to go to the capital to take the imperial examination.

At this point, Tang Chou encountered the second major turning point in his life—he met a candidate from Jiangyin named Xu Wei.

Xu Wei was also from a wealthy family, and his family was not only rich but also very powerful; let alone the current Tang Chou, even the Tang family in the past was a different social class from him.

However, Xu Wei was surprisingly...unprecedented; he didn't treat Tang Chou differently because of his family's decline. On the contrary, Xu Wei greatly admired Tang Chou's talent, and the two quickly became close friends.

Upon arriving in the capital, Xu Wei generously helped Tang Chou with his food, clothing, lodging, and transportation, and even invited Tang Chou to accompany him when he visited some of his uncles and elders in the court.

Just when it seemed that Tang Chou was about to be drawn into a "cheating scandal in the imperial examinations" like Tang Yin in a parallel universe, unexpectedly, Xu Wei... died the day before the exam.

The cause of death, in modern terms, was acute meningitis. An autopsy was performed afterward, and the results were clear, so the Xu family could only accept their misfortune.

Tang Chou was not involved in any political conspiracy as a result; he simply took the exam, passed it, and successfully entered the Hanlin Academy.

However, after entering the court, Tang Caizi did not achieve anything great as his teachers and friends had predicted. Because he had "no connections in the court," he remained a compiler in the Hanlin Academy for many years without any indication of being appointed or transferred.

From a modern perspective, Tang Chou was just a civil servant within the system with no background or connections: his job was stable, his income was sufficient, his position was dispensable, and his future was predictable.

After drifting along like this for a few years, probably out of boredom, Tang Chou's "talented scholar" nature suddenly resurfaced. He thought to himself... since I'm free anyway, why not start a side business?
Then he did something that many idle officials and self-proclaimed unappreciated scholars in the Ming Dynasty loved to do—write books for fun.

Tang Chou initially used the pen name "Peach Blossom Fairy," under which he wrote two short books, both of which he personally funded for small-scale printing.

The first book was his own collection of poems, which hardly caused any stir after its publication; so in order to attract attention, he wrote a very vulgar love story for the second book. This time more people read it, but it also received a lot of negative reviews... Readers commented that although Peach Blossom Fairy's writing was good, it was too contrived, the characters in the book were stiff, and the story was mediocre and boring.

Tang Caizi was certainly not satisfied with such a comment, so he quickly prepared to start a third book, hoping to use it to prove himself. But on the very night he was about to begin writing... he encountered a ghost.

The ghost was none other than Xu Wei.

At first, Tang Chou was startled when he saw Xu Wei's ghost, but the latter was his friend in life, and Tang Chou had not done anything wrong, so he quickly calmed down and tried to communicate with Xu Wei.

Xu Wei's ghost was also confused. He said his last memory was lying in bed with a high fever the day before the exam, and then he couldn't remember anything. When he opened his eyes again, he was here... If Tang Chou hadn't told him, he wouldn't have known that he had been dead for several years.

The two then went on to analyze the situation. They first suspected that Xu Wei had died unexpectedly before the exam, which was why he was filled with resentment. However, this was clearly not a valid explanation, because Xu Wei himself stated that he was not very interested in becoming an official; it was all arranged by his family. If he were truly resentful, it would not have taken several years for him to become a vengeful spirit...

Then Tang Chou said rather abstractly, "Did I ruin you?"

Xu Wei then asked, "How did you harm me?"

Tang Chou said, "I drank with you that day, could that be how you fell ill?"

He was being honest, but Xu Wei laughed when he heard this: "There were seven or eight people drinking with us that day, and I was the one who led you all to drink with me. How can you say that? Besides... that still doesn't explain why I waited several years to contact you."

“Yes…why was it so many years later…” Tang Chou muttered.

"Huh?" Xu Wei listened to the other person's rambling and had a new idea. "Has it something you've been doing lately?"

"What have I been doing lately?" Tang Chou said, his gaze shifting to the table in front of him. "Uh... I've been writing something lately..."

To make a long story short, the two talked for a while and came to a conclusion—Xu Wei had been quite interested in writing this kind of quirky book during his lifetime, and now that Tang Chou's writing was in trouble, the former's ghost came to help him, and incidentally, to fulfill his own wish.

From then on, the two began to work together. Xu Wei used his ghostly abilities to collect all sorts of strange tales and other people's private information, while Tang Chou was responsible for polishing the stories and writing them down with his own writing skills.

Since the name was changed to "collaborative creation", the pen name also had to be changed, and so... "Liuguo Jushi" was born.

Over the years, they have unknowingly written more than a dozen books, among which the more famous ones include "Yes, Grand Secretary", "My General, My Army" and "Yu Gong's Secret Records", etc. These books have indeed had a certain influence in the Beijing area over the past ten years.

Having read this far, you probably understand why this "former" compiler of the Hanlin Academy is in a state of exile.

You can probably write other things without any problem, but is "Yu Gong's Secret Records" a subject you can touch? Even if Master Yu doesn't come after you, the Zhu family will definitely come after you.

Fortunately, Tang Chou had a "guardian spirit" by his side, so when his crimes were exposed, he fled before the Imperial Guards came to arrest him on the night of the arrest.

After that, Tang Chou lived this life of wandering around until today when he bumped into Yun Shili here.

To be fair, Yun Shili wasn't very clear about Tang Chou's case, because Brother Yun handled major cases. Minor matters like this, where a minor figure from the Hanlin Academy violated the law, could be easily handled by any member of the Imperial Guard; it didn't require someone of his rank to get involved.

As for the books written by Tang Chou, some of them are indeed quite popular. Brother Yun has vaguely heard of the titles, but Yun Shili is not a book lover and his knowledge of them is limited.

Regardless, based on his years of criminal investigation experience, Yun Shili quickly guessed the reason why the other party was being pursued after examining the other party's luggage and personal belongings.

So, he gathered his thoughts, put down what he was holding, looked at Tang Chou who was squatting in the corner, and spoke again: "Hmm... Lord Tang, right?"

"No, no..." Although he hadn't been squatting for long, Tang Chou's physique was not strong enough. His legs were numb, his face was covered in cold sweat, and he spoke weakly, "...But I haven't yet asked how you should address me, sir?"

“No problem, I am Yun Shili.” Yun Shili responded to the other party with a chivalrous air.

The moment Tang Chou heard his name, he was startled.

"Yun...Yun...Yun..." Tang Chou was so frightened that he stammered and his legs went weak.

Two seconds later, he, who was already having trouble squatting, collapsed and sat down.

"Alright, stop with the nonsense, get up first." At this moment, Yun Shili had already grasped the other party's background, so he didn't mind revealing some information to the other party. "To tell you the truth, I didn't come to arrest you, I just happened to be passing by."

"Huh? Is that really true?" Tang Chou was a little incredulous, but a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

"Do you think I have the leisure to joke with you?" Yun Shili retorted.

"Yes, yes, Lord Yun, please forgive me, it was just something I blurted out..." Tang Chou said, then struggled to get up, sat on the bed, and started rubbing his legs.

Unexpectedly, Yun Shili's next words almost caused him to stumble again.

"By the way... who is that ghost behind you?"