I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

Qin Yun asked, "Did you skip class to read?"

Gu Yuanzhen touched her head: "I didn't want to skip class, but when I was at school I saw a lot of people reading in the bookstore, so I took a look and got completely absorbed."

After saying that, he complained, "That day, after being scolded by the bookstore owner, my homeroom teacher called home, my mom scolded me, and then my dad scolded me. The two of them gave me a double beating, but while I was being beaten, I was still thinking about the plot of 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes'."

Qin Yun Chu laughed: "Is it really that good-looking?"

“You can’t imagine the impact that book had on a 15-year-old boy,” Gu Yuanzhen said. “The Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms, the Nine Yin Manual, the Quanzhen School, the Beggars’ Sect, Guo Jing and Huang Rong… It was so novel and so magnificent.”

"I have read 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' countless times, but I still want to travel back to the age of 15 before I picked up this book and read it again in its original form."

Qin Yunchu nodded: "What you said makes me want to go home and read 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' too."

He Shiying frowned and said, "Yun Chu, don't let him lead you astray. Jin Yong's looks are not good at all. Gu Long is the eternal god!"

Gu Yuanzhen waved her hand dismissively: "You're ignorant, I won't bother with you."

He Shiying said, "Jin Yong simply doesn't know how to write about women. The female characters he writes are all like appendages to the male protagonist. Take 'The Deer and the Cauldron,' for example, where the protagonist marries eight wives! Just thinking about it makes my head spin!"

Gu Yuanzhen said, "I need to correct you on two points. First, Wei Xiaobao in 'The Deer and the Cauldron' married seven wives, not eight. Second, Jin Yong's female characters are all perfect! Huang Rong, Xiaolongnu, Zhao Min—aren't they all unforgettable female characters?"

He Shiying said, "Just because something is memorable doesn't mean it's good! Wasn't Huang Rong just an external brain that Guo Jing received? 'The Return of the Condor Heroes' was alright, and I also liked Xiaolongnu, but the female characters in 'The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber' are simply unconvincing. What is it about a cowardly man like Zhang Wuji that makes Zhao Min like him?"

Gu Yuanzhen's face turned red: "Where is Zhang Wuji cowardly? He possesses the Nine Yang Divine Skill and the Great Shift of the Universe, and he also has Tai Chi. He has the configuration of a top protagonist. In martial arts novels, he is definitely in the strongest tier!"

He Shiying sneered: "Heh, being strong in martial arts doesn't make you strong as a person. He's fickle and indecisive, liking this one and disliking that one. Later, he was even sidelined by Zhu Yuanzhang, and he didn't utter a word. Everyone dared to bully him. What else is that but cowardice?"

Gu Yuanzhen got angry at what he was being told and shouted:

"You say Jin Yong's female characters are bad, but Gu Long is full of malice towards female characters! The female characters he writes are either perverts, crazy, or green tea bitches. Occasionally there are one or two normal ones, but in the end they either die or are crippled."

He Shiying retorted: "What's wrong with daring to love and hate? Brotherhood is the focus in ancient cage novels. Even if there are male and female couples, they are all true love, one-on-one. It's much better than Jin Yong's harem!"

Qin Yun Chu was driven crazy by the two of them arguing.

She quickly pulled He Shiying away and said, "I can tell that you two, whether it's Jin Yong or Gu Long, even if you don't like them, you've still read their books, right?"

Gu Yuanzhen and He Shiying were a little embarrassed: "How did you know?"

“You two seem to know the plot like the back of your hand, and you can follow along with whatever they say, so you must be very familiar with it,” Qin Yun Chu said. “If you don’t like it, why watch it in the first place?”

Both of them blushed.

Gu Yuanzhen said, "Even if I don't like Gu Long as much as Jin Yong, Gu Long's books are countless times better than other books."

He Shiying also said shyly, "Aside from the female characters not being well-written, Jin Yong is very good in other aspects, and the book is indeed very good."

"Aren't other people's martial arts novels good?"

Gu Yuanzhen said, "To say that there are none that are good-looking would be a bit biased, but if we're talking about good-looking ones, the others aren't that much better looking."

He Shiying said, "To put it simply, Jin Yong and Gu Long are half of the martial arts world. When the two halves are combined, they squeeze out everyone in the middle."

Gu Yuanzhen was amused by her analogy: "That's true. There was a writer who imitated Jin Yong and Gu Long, who once lamented that Jin Yong and Gu Long had already written all the best martial arts novels in the world, and others could only pick up some scraps to write."

Qin Yun Chu placed her finger on her chin and said, "So, you should read Jin Yong's and Gu Long's books."

After saying that, she suddenly added, "After talking for so long, we've forgotten the important thing. Didn't we come here to find Chen Ya's works?"

Gu Yuanzhen said easily, "No need to look anymore, the truth has already come out."

"what?"

“Chen Ya is definitely one of the martial arts writers who imitated Jin Yong and Gu Long,” he said. “If you don’t believe me, look at the cabinet next to him; there are definitely still Jin Yong’s novels there.”

He opened another cabinet next to him and exclaimed, "Hey!"

"I knew it! Look, they're all Kim Yong's works."

The group gathered around another cabinet and saw that it was also filled with books, just like the previous one.

All the book covers bear the words "Written by Jin Yong".

Qin Yun Chu turned to him and asked, "How did you figure that out?"

Gu Yuanzhen struck a detective's pose: "It's simple, deduction."

“I just discovered something: there are a lot of duplicate books in that cabinet.”

"There are 3 volumes of 'The Sentimental Swordsman and the Ruthless Sword,' 5 volumes of 'The Peerless Twins,' and 2 volumes of 'The Joyful Heroes'..."

Gu Yuanzhen took out all the books and placed them on the ground, a dazzling array.

Qin Yun Chu exclaimed, "It really is!"

Gu Yuanzhen pointed to the books on the ground and asked, "Can you tell if there's anything special about them?"

Qin Yun Chu stared at the book for a while: "The covers are all different?"

"To be precise, it's because the versions are different," Gu Yuanzhen said. "It's not that I bought the same book, but rather different versions of the book."

“Look, this one is the first edition from 05, this one is the reprint from 06, and this one is the third edition from 08.” Gu Yuanzhen held up the books for her to see. “Each one is a reprint from a different period.”

Qin Yunchu nodded: "I see. But why do you think he's just copying authors because of this?"

Chapter 15 What can a thirteen-year-old do? (Thanks to Lazy Dog Salty Fish for the donation)

Gu Yuanzhen said confidently, "Because he's looking for revisions."

“Sometimes the author will adjust the wording of the previous edition, and sometimes even modify the plot,” Gu Yuanzhen said. “He was checking whether the plot of these books had changed, so he bought many different versions at once to compare them.”

"Nonsense," He Shiying immediately retorted.

Gu Yuanzhen looked at her defiantly: "Where did I make things up?"

He Shiying pointed to the books on the ground and said, "Most of these books are still unopened, so it's obvious they haven't been looked at. How could they be looking for comparisons?"

Gu Yuanzhen said guiltily, "Maybe after he bought it, he found the workload too heavy and was too lazy to look at it?"

"If you're too lazy to look at it once, you should teach your child properly. Why are there so many versions of this book? Are you just going to keep getting fooled?"

Gu Yuanzhen also realized that his reasoning was somewhat untenable.

However, he immediately retorted: "Then tell me, what did he write? Why did he buy so many versions?"

He Shiying was taken aback and said, "I don't know..."

"See, you can't give a clear answer either, can you?"

He Shiying was a little unconvinced and said, "My intuition tells me that Chen Ya probably doesn't write martial arts novels."

"Why?" Qin Yunchu asked.

He Shiying said, "He bought a lot of martial arts books but didn't read them, which means he couldn't stand martial arts novels, so he switched to writing other genres."

Gu Yuanzhen retorted sarcastically, "Then why did he buy so many books? Did he, like you said, fall for the same trick repeatedly?"

He Shiying blushed, then said seriously, "He bought it all at once, and only realized he'd been tricked after he finished. What? Is that not allowed?"

Gu Yuanzhen picked up two of the books and said, "Look at the material of these two books. One is so new, and the other is so old. They were obviously not bought at the same time. Besides, if you just want to learn how to write martial arts novels, is it necessary to buy so many different versions?"

"So why buy so many?"

"Yeah, why?"

"..."

The two fell silent.

After a long silence, the two finally looked at each other.

"Perhaps Chen Ya is a complete idiot."

Qin Yun Chu pressed her forehead.

This conclusion is ridiculously absurd.

At this moment, Liu Ruyan said quietly from behind, "Every time it's reprinted, the publisher sends a few sample copies..."

Gu Yuanzhen and He Shiying were stunned.

"You mean, these books were written by Chen Ya?"

"Ah."

After a moment of silence, the two said in unison:

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

He Shiying picked up Jin Yong's book from the ground and said, "Not only are Gu Long's books available in every edition, but Jin Yong's books are available in every edition as well."

"Could it be that Gu Long and Jin Yong are both him?"

"It's impossible no matter how you look at it."

Liu Ruyan fell silent. But judging from her eyes, it seemed that she thought, "That's nothing special."

Qin Yun Chu picked up a copy of "Happy Heroes" from the ground and said, "I think this is easy to explain. Chen Ya is a huge fan of Jin Yong and Gu Long, so he bought every single one of their books."

Gu Yuanzhen's eyes lit up: "That's right, how come we didn't think of that?"

He Shiying said, "Then why are some books still unopened?"

"Because he bought them to collect, for use, for collection, for preaching. Those hardcore fans buy three sets at a time."

Qin Yunchu opened the first page of the book "Happy Heroes," and a piece of letter paper fell out from it.

She picked up the paper, saw handwritten words on it, and read them aloud:

"Mr. Gu Long: 'Joy' has been published. I am sending you 10 sample copies. I hope you will continue to support our publishing house. If you have any new books, please give them priority consideration. — Gu Ci Publishing House, Xi Wendian"

After it was read aloud, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

At the same time, a thought arose in their minds:

Who knows, Chen Ya might actually be a ghost...

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Gu Yuanzhen clenched her fists and stood up.

Liu Ruyan seemed to be startled awake: "What's impossible?"

"Chen Ya cannot be Gu Long."

Qin Yun Chu held the paper in her slender white fingers and said, "This paper doesn't look like it was deliberately forged..."

“I have ample evidence,” Gu Yuanzhen said.

Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to produce evidence.

Do you know when "The Sentimental Swordsman and the Ruthless Sword" was published?

Qin Yunchu and He Shiying exchanged a glance, then shook their heads.

"do not know."

Gu Yuanzhen said, "The first edition of 'The Sentimental Swordsman and the Ruthless Sword' was published in 2007. When was 07? 15 years ago."

He then turned to Qin Yunchu and asked, "How old is Chen Ya this year?"

Qin Yunchu replied, "28 years old."

She had seen Chen Ya's file, so she remembered it very clearly.

“28 years old, 15 years ago.” Gu Yuanzhen repeated, then exclaimed, “You’re telling me Chen Ya wrote ‘The Sentimental Swordsman and the Ruthless Sword’ when he was 13?!”

After hearing what he said, Qin Yun Chu and He Shi Ying understood.

What were they doing at age 13?

She practiced piano, learned ballet, and attended various dances and parties.

For most people, this is already very precocious.

Even someone as talented as them felt that writing a novel of over 70 words at their age was like a pipe dream.

He Shiying asked, "Yun Chu, is it possible that Chen Ya's file was falsified?"

Qin Yun Chu shook her head.

“His ID card, household registration book, and various resume dates all match up one by one, so it is unlikely that they are fake. Moreover, he looks very young, not even 28 years old, but more like 22 or 3 years old.”

Gu Yuanzhen clapped her hands: "See? I told you he couldn't possibly be Gu Long, right?"

"why?"

A hesitant voice came from behind; this time, it was Liu Ruyan standing at the back.