Wu says it was good fortune in itself to have a Ming dynasty book preserved abroad, and then to get photocopies. Little did he expect that the Oxford version and the one in Japan would complement each other's lacunae, becoming a relatively complete volume. Based on these two volumes, Wu wrote Studies in the Li-ching Chi--Collated and Corrected Edition and sent copies to major libraries.
提到這段書緣，老先生激動地表示，四百年前的刻本流落異國，以影照形式傳回來，已經是幸運，沒想到還能以日英兩藏本互補一遍，寫成「荔鏡記戲文研究﹘﹘校勘篇」，成為較完善的本子分送海內外圖書機構，也因此引起更多的迴響。