Chapter 31 An Analysis of Wu Yueniang and "Brother Xiao"

(The matter is in the seventy-ninth and one hundred chapters) Ximenqing longed for a son all his life, but he never expected that the son Guan Ge born to him by Li Ping'er died after only one year and two months. When he fell ill, Wu Yueniang was already pregnant. He gave birth while dying, so he too was "unblessed" to see.The second half of the seventy-ninth chapter "Wu Yueniang's tomb gave birth to a child" is about this incident.According to the local customs at that time, it was called "the son born in the tomb", and as soon as the son was born, he had to send his father to the tomb.

Wu Yueniang gave birth to a posthumous child, so she had to attend the funeral and the wedding at the same time, but this wedding can only be very "simple". (Wu Yueniang) Changing the child's name to Xiao Ge'er, it is inevitable to send some happy noodles to relatives and neighbors. All the neighbors said that Ximen Qing's official wife gave birth to a son in the tomb, and died on the same day as the old man. One gave birth to a son, there are few strange things in the world! Why such a "coincidence"?This timing coincidence, of course, was deliberately arranged by the author, and it contains a set of fatalistic views of feudal society.

If we only discuss the layout of the novel, adding such a posthumous son to Ximen Qing will not have any effect. After he was born, he has been doing nothing. Ximen Qing's family business is neither ruined nor rejuvenated by him. What does a "redundant" character do? However, this is only the point of view of modern readers, but for the author of the Ming Dynasty, it has his "reason".As for whether this "reason" is correct, that is another matter. In the last chapter (chapter 100), the author just borrowed an old monk's "enlightenment" to Wu Yueniang, pointing out that this "filial brother is Ximen Qingtuosheng".He was born following Ximen Qing's sins, and the old monk wanted to "du Tuo" him to be his apprentice.The following is what the old monk said to Wu Yueniang.

(It happened in the hundredth chapter) When you passed away, your husband, Ximen Qing, did evil and not good. This son turned around and entrusted your family with the intention of dissipating his wealth and overthrowing his property.Today I got rid of him and became an apprentice. As the saying goes, if one son becomes a monk, the nine patriarchs ascend to heaven. It turns out that the author arranged for Wu Yueniang to give birth to this "tomb-born son" in order to atone for Ximen Qing's sin.Brother Xiao is Ximen Qing's reincarnation, and he converted to Buddhism, which means that Ximen Qing repented for his previous life in order to "be reborn".

Originally a realistic work, why did the author adopt such a fatalistic point of view that is divorced from reality?In my opinion it was because he was influenced by the moral values ​​of his time.Since the Han Dynasty, China has adopted Confucianism as the mainstream and accepted Buddhist culture from the West at the same time. In the Song and Ming dynasties, the combination of Confucianism and Buddhism became more prominent.Most people believe that "good will be rewarded with good, and evil will be rewarded with evil"; they believe in reincarnation, karma, and retribution.It would be immoral for the author to write about a person who did all kinds of evil and got a good death.

In "Shui You Zhuan", Ximen Qing died under Wu Song's sword. He has suffered the "retribution" of lust, but he has enjoyed wealth and glory all his life. For readers, this kind of retribution will feel too light.What if the author writes that Ximen Qing will receive retribution in his next life?This is certainly a "remedial" method, but such a waste of ink and ink not only damages the literary value of the work, but also destroys the structure of the entire novel.Such a "remedy" method should not be taken by a brilliant author.There is no other choice but to add a "tail" to let Ximen Qing's filial brother, who was reincarnated, enter Buddhism to cultivate good deeds as atonement for his previous life.It is impossible for any brilliant writer to be "above the times", and will be more or less influenced by the moral concepts of his time, which will cause some "failures".The character Xiaoge I created in the book is also viewed in the same way.

(The matter is in the seventy-ninth chapter) As far as the structure of the whole novel is concerned, the author's addition of the character Xiaoge may be a "redundant" "failure", and the plots such as reincarnation and redemption are also "absurd". The artistic value cannot be wiped out.He wrote that Wu Yueniang's handling of the "emergency" (giving birth to a posthumous child) under the "specific environment" (her husband just died) was still a realistic way of going deep into life.Through Wu Yueniang's performance in this matter, it can also deepen readers' understanding of Wu Yueniang's character.

The one who delivered Wu Yueniang was an old lady named Cai. The following paragraph describes the dispute between Wu Yueniang and this old lady Cai over the delivery fee: Mrs. Cai wrapped up the baby, cut off the umbilical cord, cooked Xinxin soup and ate it with Yueniang, and helped Yueniang sit on the kang.Yueniang gave Mrs. Cai three taels of silver, and Mrs. Cai thought it was too little and said, "It's easy to give me as much as I have rewarded for raising that brother. Don't say that this brother was born by my aunt." Yueniang said: " It can't be compared to the old man who was in charge at that time. Now that there is no old man, I will take it away. After three washes, I will have a couple with you." The old lady Cai said, "Give me a set of clothes. Let's go." Thank you and go.

Note: "That elder brother" refers to Li Ping'er's son Guan Ge. It was described in the 30th chapter "Ximen Qing gave birth to a son Xijiaguan". Now Mrs. Cai asks Wu Yueniang to give her money as usual, but Wu Yueniang only allows her three taels, and reduces it by two taels; "washing three" was the custom at that time. On the third day after a child was born, someone would ask someone to wash his body.Mrs. Cai "washed three" for Li Ping'er's child, Ximenqing gave her a piece of satin, and now Wu Yueniang only agreed to give her another one tael of silver.A bolt of satin is worth more than a tael of silver.Just after giving birth, Wu Yueniang has the energy to argue more and less with the midwife, showing her "nervous" attitude towards money. Although it is not as good as in the past, Ximenqing's inheritance is still in the tens of thousands. Why bother? One or two taels of silver to argue with the midwife?This is called "careful calculation", but it is actually a manifestation of her personality that likes to take advantage of small things.

(Things are in the seventy-ninth and eighty chapters) After Wu Yueniang gave birth to a child, the second thing she did was to scold her confidant maid Yuxiao, why scold her, please see below: Yueniang woke up and saw that the box was open, so she scolded Yuxiao: "The thief stinks, I will faint, and you will also faint. The box is wide open, so you can coax people away, so don't lock it." Yuxiao Said: "I only said that mother locked the box, but she never saw it." So he took the lock to dig out.Yulou saw that Yueniang was suspicious, so she refused to stay in her room. She went out and said to Jinlian, "It turns out that big sister is like that. She guarded against people the first day she died." Little did she know that Li Jiaoer had stolen it. He bought five ingots of ingots and went into the house.

Note: Although there are cases like Li Jiaoer's "house thief is hard to guard against", Wu Yueniang was angry and scolded because the girl forgot to lock the box as soon as she woke up, and she scolded in front of Meng Yulou.This portrays her character of "emphasizing money over righteousness" more concretely and vividly.We housewives should have been more lenient.Chapter 92 writes that one of the reasons why Meng Yulou remarried is because she felt that "Yueniang's heart has changed since she became a filial brother".Although it is not stated explicitly, but from the "echoing" technique of the novel, readers can guess that it has something to do with this matter.From this incident, she could see that "big sister is so so!" The words left behind "so so" should mean "difficult to get along with". But in comparison, the following incident best shows Wu Yueniang's greed for money. (On the day of the 27th of Ximen's Celebration) At the end of the night, chanting sutras to die, Yueniang ordered Li Ping'er's coffin and Lianying (portrait) to be carried out, and burned; all the boxes and cages were moved to the upper room and piled up; Er and Yingchun accepted behind and agreed; took Xiuchun and Li Jiaoer's room to order (note: Li Jiaoer hadn't left at that time); locked the door of Li Ping'er's room with a lock! Note: Li Ping'er is Ximen Qing's favorite, and she also has the most private houses.As soon as Ximenqing died, Wu Yueniang took all the relics for herself, and allocated all the nurses and maids she used during her lifetime.