Chapter 39: Chapter 39 Is This Book an Out-of-Print Buddhist Scripture?!
Qi Tianyu had been looking forward to watching Jiang Li’s drama unfold.
But to his surprise, Wen Jiaojiao, who seed to possess so strength, turned out to be a paper tiger. She was defeated by Jiang Li before even one round had passed.
After pondering for a mont, Qi Tianyu’s gaze locked onto the book next to Jiang Li, deciding to employ a tactic to distract her attention.
He pretended to intervene as a peacemaker and pulled Wen Jiaojiao aside.
“Ms. Wen’s words were a bit too much. I’ve been here for an hour since I arrived, and Miss Jiang has been reading this whole ti. She doesn’t seem to be faking at all. Maybe she genuinely loves to study.”
Wen Jiaojiao scoffed, “Her? Jiang Li? Loves to study? Who are you trying to fool? If she loves studying so much, how could she have scored only in the two-hundreds on her college entrance exam?”
Qi Tianyu’s face showed embarrassnt, as if trying to change the subject, he turned to look at Jiang Li.
“Miss Jiang, what book are you reading? I’ve been curious since a mont ago.”
Jiang Li pushed the book toward him, “You’ll know once you look at it.”
Qi Tianyu picked up the book that had no characters on the cover, but his expression changed drastically the instant he saw the contents.
Wen Jiaojiao couldn’t help but show a look of disdain.
“Hey, Qi Tianyu, you’re also a student at Yan University, do you have to look so surprised by an old book?”
Then she also leaned in to look. The next second, her expression grew complicated as well.
The barrage of comnts from the audience beca curious.
[What book is it that has elicited such a big reaction from these two?]
[Could it be so banned book, or is the content too difficult for Qi Tianyu to understand?]
[How could that be? Our Tianyu is a top student in the Chinese Literature departnt at Yan University, proficient in six languages. How could there be a book he doesn’t understand?]
Seeing this, Director Sun quickly instructed the caraman to zoom in on the book.
In an instant, rows of elegant and graceful traditional characters appeared on the screen.
[Is that a handwritten book? In traditional characters?]
[No way, can Jiang Li actually understand this? What is she pretending for?]
[Now I’m certain she’s faking it. I thought she was seriously studying, but this is classical Chinese. My eyes are getting blurry just looking at it.]
Qi Tianyu also sneered inwardly a few tis, managing his expression with effort so as not to give himself away.
“Miss Jiang, can you understand the content inside?”
Jiang Li smiled lightly, “Mr. Qi, what do you an? Why would I read a book I can’t understand?”
“Do you know what this content is?” Qi Tianyu’s expression beca even more complicated, “This is Buddhist scripture.”
Suddenly, there were even more mocking comnts on the barrage.
[No way, is Jiang Li actually reading Buddhist scripture? And for over an hour?]
[That’s too pretentious. I’d rather grab a famous literary work to show off. Who doesn’t know Buddhist scripture is incredibly arcane and indecipherable to non-professionals?]
[Qi Tianyu is aweso. I thought it was just ordinary classical Chinese, but he could tell at a glance that it’s Buddhist scripture.]
Upon hearing this, Wen Jiaojiao snatched the book from Qi Tianyu’s hands and said with a boastful and disdainful look:
“Oh really? You said you were studying seriously, right? Then let test you on the content.”
She flipped through a few pages, then pointed to a sentence: “Tell , what does the fourth sentence on page 13 say?”
Everyone looked at each other in dismay.
Wasn’t Wen Jiaojiao’s manner of seeking revenge a bit too conspicuous?
How could anyone rember every single line on every page when reading a book?
Even Qi Tianyu felt it was a bit too much. His original intention was just to make Jiang Li back off gracefully, considering it was only the first day, and making things too tense would look bad for everyone.
“Ms. Wen, aren’t you being unreasonable? Classical Chinese is hard enough to rember, let alone Buddhist scripture.”
“If one can maintain pure precepts, then one may possess the good Dharma,” a series of beautiful words spilled from Jiang Li’s lips.
Wen Jiaojiao was stunned.
What the hell?
Jiang Li smiled as she looked at her, “Ms. Wen, can’t you understand? You have the original text in your hands, or are you saying you can’t read it at all?”
Wen Jiaojiao’s face imdiately turned red with embarrassnt, and she shoved the book into Qi Tianyu’s hands.
“You have a higher level of education, you look and see whether she’s making it up or if she really has it morized!”
Qi Tianyu was also very curious, but when he looked at the passage Wen Jiaojiao pointed out, he was flabbergasted.
Because Jiang Li had recited it without a single mistake.
“Did you really morize all of it?” Qi Tianyu exclaid in shock.
This was Buddhist scripture, after all!
And it wasn’t just any commonly known Buddhist scripture.
Could it be that Jiang Li was like a blind cat who accidentally killed a rat?
Unwilling to accept it, he flipped through a few more pages and asked a few more questions, yet Jiang Li’s responses were still flowing effortlessly.
Even He Yun, who was standing by, couldn’t help but cast her gaze over again at Jiang Li’s calm and composed deanor.
The audience was shocked, too.
[I swear, what’s going on, is Jiang Li’s scholar persona actually real?!]
[C’mon, isn’t it scripted? Didn’t Jiang Li only score a little over 200 on her college entrance exam? How could she recite a Buddhist text from mory like this?]
[Please, Qi Tianyu is a student from Yan University with very solid principles, how could he possibly go along with Jiang Li in this script-acting sche? And look at Wen Jiaojiao’s expression, does that look acted to you? Moreover, when did her acting get so good?]
Wen Jiaojiao was completely thrown out of her social circle.
She belonged to a well-off family and could have lived quietly as a wealthy heiress, but for so reason, she insisted on wading through the entertainnt industry’s murky waters.
She could have just debuted, but her acting skills were terrible. Yet, because her father was a dia mogul, despite her lack of talent, she still managed to land major roles in big IPs.
This was the reason why an originally good script turned into the “worst drama of the year” because of her presence.
And Wen Jiaojiao herself got harshly criticized by netizens as a “princess who feels good about herself despite her awful acting skills.”
As people heatedly debated whether Jiang Li’s scholar persona was real or faked, soone with a sharp eye noticed the crux of the issue.
[Hold on, I just looked up the stuff that Jiang Li recited, and damn, it’s not content from just any Buddhist scripture, but from a rare book! It’s the only surviving copy that was recently collected by Hua Country Museum, how does Jiang Li have it?]
Qi Tianyu had also realized this issue.
Not long ago, his professor had been invited by Hua Country Museum to appraise an ancient book and had excitedly introduced it to them for three days.
And the contents matched exactly with the Buddhist scripture that Jiang Li held in her hands.
“That’s not right,” Qi Tianyu examined the book in his hands again, “This is content from ‘Dharma Teachings of the Buddha,’ a rare text that the Hua Bo has already collected. How do you have it?”
Jiang Li replied calmly, “Since you already know what this book is, you should also be able to tell that mine is just a handwritten copy, not the original. The original is a good copy, very precious, but a handwritten copy is different.”
Qi Tianyu instantly beca excited.
You see, an ancient book has an imnse appeal for a student of Chinese literature, especially one that’s extinct!
Plus, even their professor had only viewed a few pages from a distance with a magnifying glass.
Although what he held was just a handwritten copy, its content was the most complete, incredibly valuable!
Therefore, he suddenly looked at Jiang Li differently and forgot all about wanting to embarrass her, his original intent flying out the window.
“I don’t suppose this is a handwritten copy by so great master, could I… borrow it to take a look?”
The handwriting in this copy was elegant, with clean and sharp strokes, clearly the work of a master.
But normally, when a famous person copied ancient texts, they would leave their personal seal either at the beginning or the end of the book, yet this copy was clean apart from the content, without a trace of anything.
Jiang Li’s eyelashes fluttered gently.
“It’s not by so great master, I copied it myself.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)