The difference between words and sentences is one of them. In other cases, some novels have appeared more than one version in the process of circulation. For example, there are three versions of Water Margin: 7 1, 100, 120.
Some books, after being written, were not published immediately, or were collected privately or commented by famous artists. In the process of long-term circulation, different versions have been produced. For example, The Water Margin 7 1 was originally adapted by Jin Shengtan, and the content of wooing An and soliciting Fang La was deleted, leaving a happy ending, which reflected people's yearning for the ending of the Communist Youth League, but it also weakened the artistic effect of the novel because it deleted the tragic ending.
However, when the novel is published after the process of widespread circulation, it may also delete some contents according to actual needs, which also makes it different from the manuscript.
There are many similar chestnuts. For example, the most popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms at present is the Romance of the Three Kingdoms written by Mao Pi, not when the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was written in Pinghua. Because Mao's criticism of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is easy to understand, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is now published as a manuscript. The closest to the original is Jiajing edition, which is not widely circulated now.