I Am A Prodigy

280 Upended Historical Views

Everyone listened intently. At that moment, they felt as though it was not history, but an extremely interesting story.

In the past, whenever someone talked to them about history, it would usually be long-winded and dull. However, when spoken through Ye Lingchen’s mouth, history was more interesting than novels, causing them to willingly listen to it.

Ye Lingchen’s voice continued, [Since Zhou Yu was Handsome Zhou, that meant that his looks were definitely beyond average. As the saying goes, beauties loved heroes, and the ones these beauties looked up to the most were young heroes. Handsome Zhou fits the bill of a young hero nicely, thus he would have countless female fans going after him. Furthermore, we all know that he managed to marry Jiangdong’s most beautiful girl, and that was Qiao Gong’s daughter, Xiao Qiao!]

Speaking of Xiao Qiao, Ye Lingchen gave her appearance another round of praise.

[Therefore, you should try to imagine yourself in that situation.] Ye Lingchen smirked. [Imagine if you were Zhou Yu, in his mid-twenties with good looks, a government officer, and married a wife that was matchless in beauty. With looks, career, and love life all going well, would you be jealous of others?]

The viewers were taken by surprise and shook their heads.

If one reached that stage, life is almost complete. With nothing more to fight for, that typically meant one had become a winner in the game of life!

A larger portion of viewers were instead laughing their butts off. That narrative style was just a perfect match for them. It was very relatable and gave them a strong impression.

Without waiting for their answer, Ye Lingchen continued, [At least I won’t be! This is the legendary pinnacle of life! What sort of feelings the phrase “Imagine Zhou in his prime, obtaining Xiao Qiao’s hand in marriage” conveyed? He was the one others were jealous of. How would he possibly be jealous of others?]

The viewers burst out laughing once more. From the start of the stream, their laughter had never stopped.

Even the “pinnacle of life” reference was used. That was just too interesting for them.

At the same time, they could not help but quietly agree with Ye Lingchen’s words. Comments of “666” flooded the screen.

“Grandpa, Y-God is amazing at narrating this.” Little Feng nodded as he spoke. “It’s so interesting. I think Zhou Yu must have been framed. How can such an amazing person be so petty?”

“You understood?” The elderly man looked at his grandson.

“Of course. How hard was that?” Little Feng huffed. “I can repeat what Y-God had just said.”

The elderly man nodded, his heart having a mixed feeling of comfort and defeat. Both were teaching a lesson, yet how can it turn out so differently?

Furthermore, after listening to Ye Lingchen’s narration, his image of Zhou Yu was shaken.

[In fact, Zhou Yu was known to be very generous in history. The Records of Three Kingdoms described him as “magnanimous”, implying his generosity and good intentions. He was well-liked by the people during his time. Liu Bei praised him to be “extremely generous” and Jiang Gan praised him as “benevolent”.]

[On that note, Jiang Gan was also wrongfully accused. Jiang Gan had indeed been to the Zhou army’s camp, but that was because Jiang Gan and Zhou Yu were classmates. He did not steal any book. It would seem that history is far removed from us and it’s very difficult for us to identify what the actual history was back then.]

Ye Lingchen’s words had no doubt struck them critically. Not only had he upended Zhou Yu’s image in their hearts, but he also ended up showering Zhou Yu with praises!

Before the viewers could voice their objections, he continued narrating.

However this time, the contents were not of the Three Kingdoms, but instead cut into history using Zhou Yu as a link.

[Any historical incident and figures would have three images. One would be their original history, one that we call “historical image”. That is what a historian will objectively look at, for example, as recorded in the Records of the Three Kingdoms. The second image would be the one portrayed in literary works, one that we call “literary image”. That is what authors and artists painted them as. Last of all is the image that we common folks have in our mind, one that we call the “folk image”. That was the image painted by the folklore of historical figures and their image in our hearts.]

[This is actually very easy to grasp. For example, in our daily lives, everyone has a different image for others. Some would feel that someone always acts without thinking, while in others’ eyes, that person was on point and straight forward!]

Comments flooded the stream again, with many people agreeing with him.

[The authors are also human. They will similarly have their own personal bias. Therefore, when recording history, it was unavoidable to tend to paint someone in a better light while shunning another person.]

Ye Lingchen’s analysis was logical, making it impossible for them to refute. While they were convinced by his logic, they were also enjoying the story.

Little Feng and his grandfather, the old and young duo, were sitting quietly in front of the computer, listening to the stream with rapt attention.

However, the next instant, Ye Lingchen dropped a bomb on them, one that shook the entire stream.

[These three images were naturally different. Nonetheless, in regards to the Three Kingdoms, the one with the most horrible mismatch was no doubt Zhuge Liang!] Ye Lingchen’s said nonchalantly.

[During the Jin Dynasty, Zhuge Liang had a die-hard fan named Guo Chong. His idolization of Zhuge Liang had reached the level of being brain dead. With that, he wrote down five secret incidents about Zhuge Liang! However, with him being a brain dead fan, that meant that his words are not reliable. Of those incidents, I believe everyone here had heard of the third incident. It was the Empty Fort Strategy. However…the Empty Fort Strategy was just a hoax!]

‘What? The Empty Fort Strategy is a hoax?!’

‘Is that for real?’

[Bullsh*t! I grew up listening to stories of the Empty Fort Strategy, and you’re telling me now that it was a hoax?!]

[F*ck! The host is ruining childhood! That crosses the line!]

[Host, please don’t go overboard. Tall tales will ruin your reputation!]

[It can’t be fake. It’s all over the place, how can it be fake?]

…

At the same time, in the Panda Streaming headquarters, Song Qian who was keeping an eye on Y-God’s stream felt his heart skip a beat. He could not help but feel anxious and laughed bitterly.

He must admit that Ye Lingchen was really good at narrating. However, it was going against everyone’s recognition of history, constantly upending their views on history. That was just like taking a tightrope walk.

That was testing his heart. He felt that he should go get an insurance policy. With him following Y-God, chances of him getting a heart attack were going up drastically.

Ye Lingchen ignored the viewers and continued, [The Zhuge Liang you speak of belongs to the category of “folk image” that I just mentioned earlier. Later on, Pei Songzhi referred to those materials in his compilation of the Records of the Three Kingdoms, and added his refutations, claiming that it was impossible for such a thing to have happened in Yangping during that time.]