Chapter 4 Chapter 3 The Mystery of Chapter 81 (2)——The Mystery of Jia Yingchun

At the end of the last lecture, I will tell you that there is an ancient book about Jia Yingchun's birth, which said, "The second young lady is born of the ex-wife of the political father."How could Yingchun be born to Father Zheng's ex-wife?She is not Jia She's daughter, but Jia Zheng's daughter!Since Jia Zheng has an ex-wife, Mrs. Wang is the continuation, and Jia Yingchun should be older than Mrs. Wang's Jia Yuanchun. If Jia Yingchun was the oldest, the four ladies would be Ying, Yuan, Tan, and Xi in order of teeth.Obviously, the sentence "Second Miss is the son of Zheng Lao's ex-wife" is wrong.

The ancient edition in which this sentence appears is called the Gengchen edition in the field of red studies. Some experts have written books and said that the Gengchen edition is the best among the ancient editions.But such a problem appeared in Geng Chen's book.Some people may say that you are too serious. At that time, ancient books were copied back and forth. There may be mistakes in the copying process, and this sentence is probably the same.Copying books in that era, if you read them yourself, you might be more calm and serious.If you want to copy several copies at a time, show them to more people, or even sell them at temple fairs, because the utilitarianism is too strong, it will be rough. Copying hands sometimes does not take into account the context in order to speed up, and mechanically Copy it down; or one person will read it with a female copy, and the rest of the copies will dictate it together. Then, the person who copied, the person who read, and the person who listened may make mistakes.

For example, in Chapter 76, it is written that Lin Daiyu and Shi Xiangyun are reciting poems by the lake. Among them, Lin Daiyu recited a line "the soul of flowers buried in the cold moon". In some books, this sentence is not "soul of flowers" but "soul of poetry soul".Should it be the "soul of burial of flowers" or "soul of burial of poetry"?Red academic circles are still arguing endlessly.Some experts pointed out that it should be the "spirit of burying flowers in the cold moon". ? The soul of flowers and birds is always difficult to keep. Birds are speechless and flowers are ashamed." Cao Xueqin also used it in the narrative text: "The soul of flowers is silent and emotionless, and the birds are dreaming and infatuated." It may be in the hands of the scribes back then. The "flower" on the mother copy of the book was not written clearly or was worn out, so it was regarded as "death", and it was copied into "death" without thinking, and then the person in charge of reading with this book read out "death", The dictation felt that it was "poetry", so the writing method of "burying the soul of poetry" was formed, which has been passed down to this day.As you all know, it is possible for southerners to pronounce zh, ch, sh, z, c, and s as "death" and "poetry" when dictating.

After talking about this situation, some red fans will discuss with me, saying that Geng Chen’s sentence about Yingchun’s birth was nothing more than a mispronunciation and copying, and it’s okay to point it out, what’s the point? What about digging deeper?However, I have read all the ancient books that I can find now. When Leng Zixing gave a speech on the Rongguo Mansion in the second time, the textual phenomenon about Jia Yingchun's background was not like the "soul of burial flowers" or "soul of burial poetry". "So simple, showing a very strange state.Now I will introduce to you one by one the writing methods about Jia Yingchun's birth in various ancient books. After listening to it, everyone will ponder it together. What's going on?

There is an ancient version, which is the earliest female parent we have discovered so far, called the Jiaxu version.I won’t explain the names of these ancient books one by one. They are used as a symbol in red studies. A major branch of red studies is version studies, and there are many disputes in it. There is no branch here.In the second chapter of the Jiaxu edition, it said: "The second young lady was born by She's father's ex-wife." It was explained that Jia Yingchun was born by Jia She's ex-wife.There is a Russian Tibetan version, that is, in St. Petersburg, Russia, there is an ancient version in the possession of an institution, which says: "The second young lady is from the wife of She Lao." That is to say, Yingchun was born to Jia She's wife.There is also the Gengchen book that I mentioned to you earlier, it says that "the second lady is from the ex-wife of the father of Zheng".These sentences are about the same number of words.In the Jimao version, this sentence is quite long. It cannot be that the person who took the dictation when transcribing it was a servant. It wrote: "The second young lady is the daughter of the pardoned father, and Mr. Zheng raised her as his own daughter." That is to say, Jia Yingchun It turned out to be one of Jia Amnesty's daughters, who was later adopted by Jia Zheng.There is also a Qi preface book, which is different from other books, saying that "Second Miss was written by the concubine of Xie Dae".Yingchun is not born out of a concubine but out of a concubine.

Such textual phenomena do not seem to be caused by technical errors in transcription.I personally think that this just shows that the author did not arbitrarily make up the role of Jia Yingchun. She has a life prototype. She should be a character in the Cao Xueqin family. When Cao Xueqin was writing this character, she went back and forth to consider it, and there were different sentences in the manuscripts of different periods.If there is no such a person in life, and the situation is so complicated, he would not write like this.It is pure fiction, and her origin can be pinpointed in one sentence.

So what happened to Jia Yingchun?This can be discovered.Everyone remembers Chapter 73, when Mrs. Xing went to Jia Yingchun's residence and talked to Jia Yingchun.Mrs. Xing's words were very important. In her words, she gave a very specific and detailed account of Jia Yingchun's background.Ordinary readers read here, often do not read carefully.A close reading of the text should be undertaken.What did Mrs. Xing say?She said, "Besides, you were not raised by me." Of course, in terms of family ethics, Mrs. Xing is Yingchun's mother, but in terms of blood relationship, Yingchun was not born to Mrs. Xing.So is Jia Lian born to Mrs. Xing?Nor is it.There is also Jia Cong in the book, who was not born to Mrs. Xing either.Mrs. Xing said it herself, "I have no children and a clean life all my life."Mrs. Xing is barren.

When Mrs. Xing was talking to Yingchun, she attacked Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng. Taking Jia Lian as the standard, Mrs. Xing said something like this: "Although you were not born with his mother, you are born with the same father." Having her own biological mother also shows that Mrs. Xing is not Jia She's original partner, but a continuation.Jia Yingchun was neither born of Mrs. Xing nor Jia Lian's biological mother, so who gave birth to her?Mrs. Xing said: "You were born before the old man." The so-called "predecessors" are concubines, aunts, and concubines.Then some people frowned after hearing this, what?Isn't Yingchun's background the same as Tanchun's?What is written in the book is very impressive. Because Tanchun was born by his aunt, his self-esteem was frustrated, and he was in a very sensitive state, which would flare up anytime and anywhere.

Tanchun is a woman with a very strong personality, and she has such low self-esteem because she was born by a concubine.What about welcoming the spring?If she, like Tanchun, was born to a little wife, then she should also feel inferior!Could it be that she is so cowardly that she doesn't even care whether she is a descendant or a concubine?Besides, why bother to write about two concubine ladies?But you have to carefully read what Cao Xueqin wrote in Chapter 73 and what Mrs. Xing said.Mrs. Xing talked a lot that time, not only to the extent just now, she also continued to talk, she said: "You were raised by the elder master and the predecessors, and Tan girl here is also raised by the second master and the predecessors, with the same background. Now you My mother is dead. In the past, of your two mothers, only your mother is ten times stronger than Aunt Zhao now. You should be better than Tan Yatou, but you are not half as good as him!" If it is a purely fictional novel, It is not worthwhile to express Yingchun's background in such a tortuous way.

However, the principle of the text is that although "true things are hidden", but "fake words are kept".Cao Xueqin was at this place and took the trouble to record the details of Jia Yingchun's prototype.Although Yingchun's mother was a concubine when she was born, why did Mrs. Xing say she was ten times stronger than Aunt Zhao?How do you call it ten times stronger?Why does Mrs. Xing think that Yingchun should be better than Tanchun, but why is she not half as good as Tanchun?What Mrs. Xing means is that both of you were born by a concubine at the beginning, with the same starting point, but your birth mother's status in Yingchun was greatly improved later.Mrs. Xing believes that Yingchun should be stronger than Tanchun in the family, but that is not what Yingchun wants or can do.After Yingchun's biological mother died, Jia Shecai married Mrs. Xing as his wife.Mrs. Xing obviously also has a prototype. If she didn't want to use "fake words" to "preserve the truth" in some complex situations of the prototype, the author didn't have to write like this.In Chapter 73, Mrs. Xing's remarks, I personally think, do not seem to be fabricated. The author should have heard such remarks directly. Of course, it cannot be based on the prototype of Mrs. Xing and Jia Yingchun. He heard it when he was speaking, and he may have heard such a statement more than once on other occasions, and he felt the need to record it.

After sorting out Mrs. Xing's remarks above, you will feel that the differences in the account of Jia Yingchun's birth in Leng Zixing's mouth in the second chapter of various ancient books are due to Cao Xueqin's different writing methods in different periods. Geng Chen's statement is wrong, and the rest have some truth.That is to say, Cao Xueqin wrote such a novel. He wrote about Jia Yingchun, and the prototype of Jia Yingchun should be the daughter of Jia She.Let's sort it out again with the titles in the novel, and it should be like this: Jia She turned out to have a regular wife, and this regular wife gave birth to a son for him.One son or two sons?This is worth scrutinizing.Because in the novel, Jia Lian is called the second master of Lian.Some people say that he is called Lian's second master because Jia's family ranks high, and Jia Zhen is older than him, so Jia Zhen is the uncle and Jia Lian is the second master.In fact, judging from the writing in the book, the Jia clan did not rank males. If Jia Zhen is the uncle and Jia Lian is the second master, then who should Baoyu be?Counting the dead Jia Zhu, he is the fourth master, not counting, he is the third master, but Baoyu is repeatedly called the second master in the book.Obviously, in Rongguo Mansion, males are ranked separately, Jia Zhu is the uncle, Baoyu is the second master, who is the third master?It's Jia Huan.Therefore, Jia Lian is called the second master, which means that Jia She's original wife should have given birth to two sons. Did the first one, the uncle, die later?There is no explanation in the novel.Later, Jia Amnesty's first wife died. After she died, Mrs. Xing was not married to fill in the house immediately. What was the process at that time?One of his little wives gave birth to Jia Yingchun. He likes this little wife very much.Although Jia Yingchun was originally from the same background as Tanchun, but later it became ten times stronger.Because later on Jia Amnesty straightened up the little wife, and Yingchun was a direct descendant, which was different from Tanchun's background, and much stronger.Therefore, although Yingchun is very cowardly in the novel, she does not feel inferior because she was born in a concubine.But the woman who gave birth to her died again, so Jia She sent Yingchun to his younger brother's house to raise him. Later, he married Mrs. Xing, but Mrs. Xing had no children. In the novel, a younger Jia She appeared. His son Jia Cong, with "black eyebrows and black mouth", often goes out with Jia Huan, so he should have been born to Jia Amnesty's other concubine. We have figured out the prototype of Yingchun.There are people in life.This person is in the Jia clan and belongs to a weak individual in a strong social class.She belongs to the real lady of the Jia clan, so of course her status is different from that of the maids and mothers-in-law in the novel.In terms of class, she is a member of a powerful social class in society, but in her own class, she is weak, cowardly, and even dominated by powerful servants. There are not many details about Yingchun in the novel, but I think there are two things that are particularly worth noting.which two?The first place is Miss Gongzi of Grand View Garden, who was initiated by Tanchun and organized a "Begonia Poetry Club".Will Yingchun compose poems?Will do.When Jia Yuanchun returned to Rongguo Mansion in the province, she asked the sisters to compose poems. Jia Yingchun wrote a poem and inscribed a plaque.The plaque she inscribed was called "Kang Xing Yi Qing".The poem she wrote is like this: "The garden is very beautiful and beautiful, and I was ordered to be ashamed and happy; who believes that there is such a scene in the world, and I can't relax my mind when I travel?" The Spring Festival poems are not very well written. In it, we can see that her ideal of life is very simple. She only asks to live in a down-to-earth and peaceful way, and she is very satisfied if she can "smooth her mind".When I was in the poetry club, other people, including Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu, knew that she was not good at composing poems, but they didn't show it, so they complimented her, saying that sister Yingchun is really good, and we recommend you as the vice president of the poetry club Bar.Give her a top hat.As the vice president, what is she responsible for? Responsible for limiting rhyme.What method does Jia Yingchun use to limit the rhyme?She said: "According to me, there is no need to choose only one person to limit the rhyme, it is fair to cast lots." She used lottery to complete the task of limiting rhyme.She randomly took out a book from the bookshelf, flipped through it, and it was the Seven Laws, so let's do the Seven Laws.Then she saw a girl standing by the door, and she said, you say a word, and the girl was leaning against the door, so she casually said the word "door".So she said yes, let's use the rhyme of the word "door", and then asked the girl to pull out the rhyme box—there was such a tool for poetry in the past—and took out four rhyme tiles: "pot" and "soul" "Door" and "faint".In this way, she completed the task of limiting rhyme.Cao Xueqin wrote this to highlight Jia Yingchun's character traits, that is, she was so cowardly that she gave everything to the chance and probability of "drawing lots", and she could not control her own destiny at all.Jia Yingchun also composed lantern riddle poems in the book.In the twenty-second round, everyone wrote, and she also wrote a song.Jia Zheng went to read these lantern riddle poems. After reading them, he felt that they were all "prophecies" and ominous prophecies, and he felt very depressed and sad.At that time, Jia Zheng read Yingchun's lantern riddle poem, and what Yingchun recited was abacus. Jia Zheng felt that it was also ominous to write the abacus as "disturbing and chaotic". The second place, which I think is a very important textual phenomenon, is in chapter thirty-eight.The thirty-eighth chapter writes that autumn is here and the chrysanthemums are blooming, so people in Rongguo Mansion eat crabs and enjoy chrysanthemums in the Grand View Garden.The Poetry Club also launched a new activity, singing chrysanthemum poems.When everyone was preparing to write a chrysanthemum poem, there was a paragraph describing different people, different body language, and different physical and mental states.This text is important.What about Lin Daiyu? "He made an embroidered pier and sat leaning on the railing, fishing with a fishing rod." "Duo" means to move here, "embroidered pier" is a kind of classical Chinese stool, like a drum-shaped pier, usually made of ceramics, and in autumn, the embroidered pier must be covered with exquisitely crafted stools. Yes, an embroidered cushion that can sit on without getting cold.So what is Xue Baochai doing? "Holding a sweet-scented osmanthus flower in my hand for a while, leaning over the window sill, pinching the osmanthus pistil and throwing it to the surface of the water, attracting fish to come up and chatter." "Chacha" refers to the opening and closing of the fish's mouth.What about Xiangyun?Because Xiangyun was the host of the crab feast at that time, she had to fulfill the responsibilities of the host, so the writing was very simple, saying that Xiangyun lost his mind once, and then went to Zhang Luo.Several people wrote it together, namely Xichun, Tanchun and Li Wan.Yingchun is often written together with Tanchun. In novels, only Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and Shi Xiangyun are featured in close-ups, and the rest are often given a long-term perspective.This time Tanchun gave a medium shot, a shot together with Xichun and Li Wan, saying that they "stand in the shade of weeping willows and watch gulls and heron".Next, Cao Xueqin dedicated a close-up of Jia Yingchun in his pen, called "Yingchun pierces jasmine with a flower needle alone under the shade of flowers". In the universe, on that autumn day, in such a space, there was a weak woman who had nothing to contend with, had no more demands on life, and had no competitiveness. What kind of competition?Talented women are like a cloud, just like many white-collar workers in the workplace today. Some white-collar workers say, I live in a large space in our office building divided into grids. Every time I go to work, I feel my heart jumping wildly. , there is no competitiveness, everyone is stronger than me.Yingchun is a weak member of such a relatively strong class in society.But, at that moment, on that autumn day, she was under the shade of the flowers, she took a flower needle, and silently pierced the jasmine.Flower needle, in the past, there was a kind of needle specially used for threading flowers in noble families. It was made of bone or ivory, and it also had a needle nose, which could be connected with thread to thread flowers. Or wear it as a necklace around your neck.As for Yingchun, at that moment she was alone in the shade of the flowers and pierced the jasmine with flower needles.This is a very beautiful picture of a lady. When we read, we often only remember Baochai fluttering butterflies, Daiyu burying flowers, and Xiangyun lying drunk, so now I suggest you add such an important scene called Yingchun wearing flowers.Yingchun is alone under the shade of flowers, piercing jasmine with flower needles, reflecting a small and fragile life, in the universe, in that short period of time, she has all the dignity of existence and the joy of her life.So Cao Xueqin's should be read intensively, why do I advocate close reading of the text? When you read some places, tears will appear in your eyes, that should be the best reading state. There was a white-collar beauty, she came to discuss with me, and after dialing, she said that it was too important for you to tell me this sentence, so I always read this sentence and ignored it.Now I think that in such a highly competitive society, we should still maintain a weak heart. We should come together for those weak people who are less competitive and relatively difficult to survive in society. As soon as she cried, she shed tears as she spoke, and I was also very moved.I said that if you read this, you have read the realm; in fact, you white-collar workers, relatively speaking, should be regarded as a relatively powerful group in society. Don’t those blue-collar workers and migrant workers deserve more respect and kind treatment? ?Therefore, you see, reading, can also make us connect with the time and space in our lives, let our imaginations flow, and our souls sublimate. The ending of Yingchun is very tragic. Everyone knows that she married a villain nicknamed Zhongshan Wolf.So in the eighty-one chapters, as a conclusion of the plot unit starting from the seventy-third chapter, the tragedy of Yingchun will be written, and the tragedy of Xiangling will be written.Then read the seventy-ninth and eighty chapters, write about Yingchun getting married, and Xue Pan marrying Xia Jingui, but if you read it carefully, you will find that there are some inconsistencies in the text. Regarding Yingchun's marriage, the seventy-ninth and eightieth chapters are not quite in line with the predictions about Yingchun's fate in the previous fifth chapter.The fifth time Jia Baoyu flipped through "The Original Book of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling" in the illusory realm, and drew a picture about Yingchun. It was a wolf chasing a beautiful woman and trying to devour her.The verdict stated that "the child is a Zhongshan wolf, and if he succeeds, he will be rampant", pointing out that her husband is a Zhongshan wolf. The Zhongshan wolf is a character in an ancient fable. This fable is now generally called "Mr. Dongguo". You hide me, Mr. Dong Guo hid it in a big cloth bag.The warrior chasing the wolf was called Zhao Jianzi, and he ran over and asked if he saw the wolf.Mr. Dong Guo said no!Zhao Jianzi continued to chase.When the wolf chaser left, Mr. Dong Guo let the wolf out. Unexpectedly, the wolf said that I was just hungry and I wanted to eat you. Mr. Dong Guo said, I saved you, but you still eat me?But there are such ungrateful fellows in the world.The lesson of this fable is very profound.According to Cao Xueqin's overall plan, Jia Yingchun married such an ungrateful Zhongshan wolf.Not only is this predicted in the verdict, but in the illusory realm, Fairy Jing Huan asked Jia Baoyu to listen to a song, and there was a piece of music with an ironic title called "Happy Enemy": "Zhongshan wolf, a ruthless beast, does not read the root cause of the day. "It also emphasized that Yingchun married an ungrateful villain. When this person was in his most difficult time, the Jia family should have helped him and saved his life. To repay his kindness, he even bit the Jia family and ravaged Jia Yingchun, who was married to him, to death. But when you read the explanation in Chapter 80 now, you will find that the tenons are not right.Chapter 79 says that Sun Shaozu, the grandson who married Jia Yingchun, was a family friend with the Jia family, and his character and wealth were also commensurate. It did not mention that this person or his family was rescued by the Jia family when they were in danger. Of course, there was a fortune. He said that Jia Zheng felt that the relationship between the Sun family and the Jia family was just that "the ancestor admired the power of Ningrong, and worshiped under the sect when there was something that could not be resolved", and that Sun Shaozu was not "a descendant of a famous family of poetry and etiquette" He hated it very much, and advised Jia She not to agree to this marriage, but Yingchun is her brother's daughter after all, and Jia She insisted on marrying his daughter like that, so he had no choice but to give up.At best, this explanation can only show that the Sun family is clinging to and using the Jia family, and it cannot be said to be ungrateful. Speaking of this, we must point out a version phenomenon.After I say it, some people may find it disappointing.What's going on?According to many experts' textual research, Cao Xueqin's original intention, what we can see now, the precise expression is actually less than 80 chapters, only 76 chapters.The sixty-fourth and sixty-seventh chapters are not his original writing.Chapters 64 and 67 are about stories related to Second Sister You and Third Sister You.There is a problem these two times.Then there are seventy-nine chapters and eighty chapters, which are not like Cao Xueqin's original writing.Could it be that Gao E made up for it?Neither.It should be someone who is very close to him like Zhi Yanzhai, who knows his overall idea, and the original manuscript was lost due to various reasons, so he added it.So we always say "Cao Xueqin's Eighty Chapters", which is a general statement.Strictly speaking, he left less than eighty original manuscripts.Since it was supplemented by others, it can only be close to Cao Xueqin's overall conception, but not completely aligned.According to Cao Xueqin's original writing method, it should be that Sun Shaozu was written more viciously than the current one. It should be that when he or his family was in danger, the Jia family rescued him, but once he got over the difficulty, he was ungrateful and very rampant.It is estimated that in Cao Xueqin's own seventy-ninth and eighty chapters, there should be such a plot, or at least there should be an account of the prophecy of the fifth chapter.In the eightieth chapter we have seen now, there is another explanation, saying that Sun Shaozu is a sex maniac. In the mansion, all the younger women are basically played by him. It is useless to persuade Yingchun, and He even said to Jia Yingchun: Why did your father marry you to me, because your father once took five thousand taels of silver from me and hasn't returned it yet!That is tantamount to turning Jia Yingchun into silver and selling it to Sun Shaozu.This stroke seems to have some effect on portraying the character of Jia She, but in fact it will not be Cao Xueqin's original intention.In that case, there is no need for Sun Shaozu to use the Zhongshan wolf as a metaphor. He has helped you and helped you financially, not that you have helped him, and he is ungrateful.Cao Xueqin will write about Yingchun's death in Chapter 81.How did Yingchun die?She should have committed suicide because she could not bear the ravages and insults of Sun Shaozu.In the fifth chapter of the ancient book, it is about Jia Yingchun's song.There is a saying that "sigh for the beauty of the soul, wandering for a long time".When she died, her soul was in a wandering state.Then she should have hanged herself. You think about the previous judgment again, saying that she is "a golden boudoir flower and willow quality, and she will go to Huangliang for a lifetime".Some ancient books are written as "Huangliang" (with "wood" under the last word), and some are written as "Huangliang" (with "rice" under the last word).Words make sense.There is an allusion called "A Dream in Yellow Liang", which comes from a story written by Shen Jiji in the Tang Dynasty - the style of writing at that time was called "Legend" - about a scholar surnamed Lu staying in an inn in Handan, and a Taoist priest gave him He slept on a magical pillow, and the Taoist himself used yellow rice (that is, millet) to cook. Lu Sheng had a dream. At that time, he felt that he had passed a long life, but the yellow rice cooked by the Taoist priest was not yet cooked.The version produced by Hongxue that you are seeing now uses the "Huangliang" of "Huangliang Yimeng".But I personally think that "going to Huangliang for a year" does not make sense when it comes to Yingchun, because the "Dream of Huangliang" will wake up, and when you wake up, you may feel that prosperity and wealth are just that, and it will become nothingness. , but life is still there.Yingchun will not have such a result.She died tragically.I think the way of writing "Go to Huangliang for a year" is in line with Cao Xueqin's original intention. Hanging himself from a yellow beam and never waking up. Jia Yingchun is a woman who deserves our mourning.In the mid-eighteenth century, Cao Xueqin used the tragic fate of a woman who once pierced jasmine with a flower needle under the shade of the flower to express a feeling of compassion, hoping that people will understand, tolerate, sympathize, and mourn this cowardly and fragile life .Therefore, Cao Xueqin is a literary master who transcends the times and regions, which is very remarkable.This sentiment did not emerge in Europe until the nineteenth century, such as in the works of the British writer Dickens, the French writer Victor Hugo, and the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. In Chapter 81, Cao Xueqin not only wrote about the tragic ending of Yingchun, but also about the tragic ending of Xiangling.Everyone knows that Xiangling is Zhen Shiyin's daughter. At the beginning of the novel, there is a middle-class person in Gusu who has a daughter. What was the name of the daughter at that time?Do you remember it?Someone will immediately answer: Zhen Yinglian.The homonym expresses: It should be pitiful!But I want to tell you now that in some ancient books, there is absolutely no mistake in copying. Zhen Shiyin's daughter is not called Zhen Yinglian, and it also has a homophonic meaning.So what was Xiangling's original name in Zhen's house?If it is said that some ancient books are not called Zhen Yinglian, what is the name?Let's study together in the next lecture.