Help! I changed the gender of the male protagonist in the yandere game.

Chapter 68 Why is she a woman?
Woo woo woo~~ Lord Baijie, what are you doing?

You are obviously not that kind of person?

Also, what's with that little girl?

Are you planning to betray our manly friendship?
"Brother, please stop biting your sleeve and making those weird noises. Are the people around here looking over here?"

Ayaka gave an expression that said, "Please don't be so disgusting."

"Ayaka, you don't understand anything..."

Ye Ming bit the corner of his sleeve.

Ayaka sighed helplessly.

"Ayaka, I don't want to understand. Also, it seems like they're leaving that teahouse and moving somewhere else?"

"Ah...Ayaka, shall we follow?"

……

Before secretly observing the actions of the two young ladies, Bai Jie finished his tea and asked Ye Ya.

"So, Ye Ya, what are your plans next?"

"The following is my personal business."

Ye Ya said that she would go to a nearby bookstore next.

"East Street has the largest local book rental shop. Besides selling books, they also rent them out, and they also stock the most popular novels..."

In the past, books in island countries were mainly produced by copying and transcribing, which consumed a lot of financial and material resources, so it was understandable that the quantity was small and the price was high.

However, during the Edo period, the introduction of printing tools such as printing presses, copper movable type, and casting machines, as well as copper movable type printing technology, led to the expansion of book printing.

In this fictional island nation, the rapid flow of technology has also reduced the cost of everything from official documents and Confucian books to storybooks and picture albums.

The availability of books also increased significantly. Publications also became popular during this era, with popular books featuring illustrations and kana becoming increasingly popular. Bookstores specializing in publishing and selling Confucianism, Buddhist classics, literature, picture albums, and other books also proliferated.

Although most of the farmers and tenants who made up the largest proportion of the population were illiterate, there were many people who could read and write in the capital and some larger population centers, that is, urban areas, because there were facilities such as private schools and terakoya that provided simple reading and writing education.

"Ye Ya, you know how to read, and you like reading books? That's really amazing."

Baijie didn't expect that a little girl like Ye Ya liked reading.

"It's nothing special."

Ye Ya covered her mouth and smiled.

"I only have a basic literacy and no academic ability. Besides, I only read a few novels..."

She claimed that this was an interest she inherited from her grandfather Ji Ding, who loved reading "The Water Margin, a Loyal Minister" by author Shandong Jingchuan.

However, Ye Ya shares the same interests as her grandfather Ji Ding. She likes to read books involving love stories.

For example, another reading novel by Shandong Jingchuan, "The Complete Biography of Sakurahime: Akebono", is a reading book that describes the tortuous and bizarre story between men and women.

It must be because they were talking about something that interested her, Ye Ya's face was shining and she was extremely happy.

"Some of the popular books these days are based on real-life stories, like 'Death on the Skynet Island,' 'The Alluring Soul Fragrance,' 'Yozakura and Nana,' 'Gonpachi and Kozuki,' and so on..."

Ye Ya talked endlessly about the men and women who committed suicide for each other as described by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, a Joruri and Kabuki writer; and the girl Yoshichi who set fire to something in order to see her lover.

Afterwards, she talked about "Rainy Color Story", "Feng Liu Saga Red Leaves",... well, all of them were works that Baijie had never heard of.

"However, my favorite work right now is a volume that is currently being serialized. It is a love story based on Nanxian Xiaochu Manren's "Enemy and Righteous Female Heroes."

The way she told the story made Bai Jie quite impressed.

"So, Ye Ya is here today to buy the latest volume of this serialized reading?"

"Yes."

She nodded.

"In a rural area like Daoxiangcun, if you want to read the new work of Mr. Rushi Jingqing, you have to wait at least half a year..."

"Rushi Qingjing" is the name of a reading writer, who is currently a popular best-selling author. Ye Ya is a loyal fan of this writer.

"So, the next stop is the rental bookstore, right?" Baijie asked.

Ye Ya nodded solemnly.

……

Besides imparting knowledge, another important meaning of books is entertainment.

Arriving at the book rental shop at the end of East Street Market, Baijie was somewhat surprised by the rich collection of books in this bookstore.

"I thought it was just a small bookstall, but I didn't expect it to be this big?"

In front of a large bookshelf in the rental bookstore are books on Buddhism; the second large bookcase is filled with various Confucian works - the traditional Four Books and Five Classics are of course included, and the Chinese poetry anthology "Ancient Prose Treasures" is very prominent among the books, as well as "Beginner's Instructions" and "Five Constant Virtues Instructions" by the island country's Confucian scholar Kaibara Ekiken.

"Hey... isn't this Lao Wang's 'Chuan Xi Lu'? Here's Zhu Shunshui's 'Chuan Shan Ji'?"

Bai Jie was quite puzzled. Speaking of which, the Ming Dynasty had not yet perished during this period. Could it be that Zhu Shunshui had still crossed the sea to the island nation?
He continued to check out the books here. Another bookshelf at the back contained waka books such as "Kokin Wakashu". He could also see military records such as "The Tale of the Heike" and "Taiheiki".

"But the book I'm looking for isn't in this section, right?"

Just like a large bookstore, this rental bookstore has several other areas. In addition to the books on the bookshelves, the tea tables next to it are also piled with miscellaneous books.

"No, many of these are not printed materials, but handwritten and transcribed, right?"

He picked them up and flipped through a few books, his mouth dropping open in surprise. It looked more like a jumble of old papers than a tome for sale.

"Forget it. The book I'm looking for seems to be 'New Edition of Female Heroes of the Enemy's Righteousness'. I can just look for it by that title."

Baijie shook his head.

It was a troublesome matter. The owner of the book rental shop happened to be out for something, and the clerk who was looking after the shop was a newcomer, so he was confused about where the books were placed.

In order to find the newly published volume of "New Edition of Female Heroes Who Fight Against the Enemy", Ye Ya and I started looking for it separately.

Hyakusuke was naturally literate. For the Kurohimeyama clan, even Genin were required to be literate. However, most of the children sold from impoverished villages were illiterate. Educating a child who had never learned to read or write to the point of being able to read and write successfully took extra time.

The Genin were hastily appointed to their posts, and were originally positioned as consumables. If time was wasted on their basic education, then the existence of the Genin would have little meaning.

Fortunately, in this world, there are techniques for searching and tampering with memories, which, after improvement, can also be transformed into techniques for directly transmitting "knowledge".

This sounds quite convenient, but it is not. In fact, this method of transferring "knowledge" is similar to cramming.

High-density "knowledge", "intelligence" and "information" will be compressed and transmitted to the human brain.

Because it is a cramming-style "information compression", it will cause damage to the brains of the Genin during transmission, sometimes accompanied by memory distortion and loss.

Moreover, for the Genin, the information conveyed cannot be truly understood. It is as if there is a "memory bank" in the brain, and when needed, the brain will awaken some of this information.

In fact, in addition to simple "reading and writing", even spiritual power to enhance one's own physical skills, fighting skills, wild survival techniques, and even information about monsters can be directly transmitted.

The Kurohimeyama clan uses this method to create "Genin". The clan's sorcerers will cast spells directly on the Genin, compressing all kinds of information and transmitting it to the Genin's brain.

However, this process requires enduring severe pain. As long as the person can successfully survive it, a new Genin can be born.

Generally speaking, it only takes three weeks to use this method to quickly train a "qualified" Genin, who will become a qualified cannon fodder on the battlefield.

The only flaw is that not everyone can flexibly use the information in their brain to survive the battle with monsters.

"However... one thing is worthy of suspicion. If 'combat experience' such as the Liantai technique can be passed on, can that person's related memories and past experiences also be tampered with?"

Baijie thought of himself.

He began to doubt his own life experience. Due to his memory loss, he had no memory of the past. Even his family background could only be learned by reading letters sent from home.

"My memories...are they real memories?"

Baijie was confused and looked around the bookshelves.

Finally, he found the new book that Ye Ya wanted to read, reached out and grabbed the book, trying to pull it out.

However, just as Baijie pulled out the book, a slender white hand reached out from the other side and grabbed the book.

"Please, please wait a moment."

The voice echoed softly in my ears.

A weak but determined voice seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of the throat.

"I found this book first. It's the book I've always wanted. Please don't take it away from me."

Baijie showed a surprised expression. He noticed that there was a girl beside him without him noticing.

She was a very plain-looking girl, about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a rather rustic straight-striped kimono and a brown coat.

The girl had some freckles on her face and her long hair was braided into two pigtails. When Bai Jie looked directly into her eyes, she was immediately startled like a frightened sparrow.

"No, sorry... could you please give it back to me?"

She quickly looked away, not daring to meet his gaze.

"That won't work."

Taking advantage of this moment, Baijie took the book away.

"As the saying goes, 'first come, first served.'"

"No, no, you can't be so shameless."

"I'm sorry, but the adult world is cruel."

He turned around, said something, and prepared to leave.

"I got this book first, so I'm sorry—"

The sleeve was pulled.

"No, if you don't give it to me, I'm going to cry, and I'm going to lie on the ground and roll around holding your legs."

The rustic girl, tears welling in her eyes, whispered a threat.

"Also, I really was the one who found the book first. I even ordered it from the store and paid for it. You can't do this..."

"You booked it."

Baijie had a headache.

If she really paid for the reservation, then I could only return the book to her. However, I couldn't rule out the possibility that she was lying.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang.

Before Baijie realized what was happening, the bookshelves behind him collided with each other, collapsing in rows. The mountain of books collapsed, and countless papers floated in the air. Baijie and the rustic girl were both stunned.

Not far from the two of them, a voice rang out.

"Ah, it hurts..."

The voice sounds familiar.

"Lord Ye Ming!?"

Baijie looked at Yue Jialuo Yeming in shock, who was covered in dust and almost buried under a mountain of books. His face was full of question marks.

"Why are you here...?"

"Ye Ming... Could it be that Yue Jia Luo Ye Ming..."

The rustic girl covered her mouth and was quite shocked. She had heard this name a while ago, but she didn't expect to see the person here.

"But Mahora didn't say that—"

"She'll be a woman?"

(End of this chapter)