Update 1:

Response to Manshe: It turns out to be just a novel

I thought it was a philosophical book that teaches us the principles of life...

"Yu Shi Ming Yan" is a story-telling novel with a total of forty stories, of which stories from the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties account for the largest proportion. These works create true images of Tao Duoduo's contemporary characters, depicting their mental outlook, customs and habits, as well as the connections and struggles between them, thus unfolding for us a moving picture of life at that time. The original name of "Essays to Tell the World" was "Novel in Ancient and Modern Times". Later, it was renamed "Three Words" together with "Words to Warn the World" and "Eternal Words to Awaken the World". "Three Words" is a famous collection of short stories in the late Ming Dynasty. Generally speaking, when compiling books and periodicals, the selection of articles often reflects the editor's ideological tendency. Feng Menglong's compilation of "Three Words" is no exception. It is worth noting that Feng's compilation of "Three Words" did not simply select works, but often processed and organized the works. Some of them completely changed the original work. For example, he was dissatisfied with "Liaojiang Tower" for being "condescending and shallow"[1], so he rewrote "Liaojiang Tower" in large strokes and titled it "Zhongming Ji Chunfeng Diao Liu Qi" ("Zhongming Ji Chunfeng Diao Liu Qi"). "Yu Shi Ming Yan" Volume 12), which completely changes the character of the protagonist in the chapter and changes the style of the work to elegance. There are also those that retain the framework, characters, and plot of the original work and carefully expand it, such as "Du Shiniang Angered and Sinking the Treasure Box" (Volume 32 of "Warning Words"), the number of words after the adaptation is larger than the original work "The Story of Negative Love"[2] It was expanded five or six times, deepened the theme, and added the character Liu Yuchun, which improved the image of the heroine Du Shiniang. There are also novels that add new plots based on the original work, such as "Jin Ming Chi and Wu Qing Feng Love" (Volume 30 of "Warning Words"), which adds the plot of a ghost entrusting a dream to prepare a good marriage for Mr. Wu, making the story more interesting. The heroine changes from a ghost who brings harm to others to a benevolent ghost who repays kindness, which makes the theme of the novel completely different from that of the original work "Wu Xiaoyuanwai"[3]. According to scholars' research, in addition to the existing story novels, many of the original materials for the stories in "Three Words" are short and fragmentary [4]. Based on these materials, Feng Menglong carefully processed and organized them, and devoted himself to perfunctory polishing. With his personal creativity, these nearly original adaptations have gained new life, reflecting his personal feelings, thoughts, opinions and perspectives. Among the 120 novels in "Three Words", the description of female characters occupies a considerable proportion, with more than 60 women being highlighted. The collection of three novels is most distinctive in its depiction of women’s love, marriage, talent and intelligence.

Reference: wongshuichun/critic/critic1