Chapter 15 "Guangling Nostalgia" and Qin Keqing

"Guangling Nostalgia" is the fifth poem on lantern riddles written by Xue Baoqin in Chapter 51.The ten nostalgic lantern riddle poems written by her this time not only "reminisce about the past, but also conceal ten common things", but also have deep meaning.Most researchers believe that these ten poems, together with the three lantern riddle poems written by Baoyu, Baochai, and Daiyu in the fifty chapters, correspond to the volumes and tunes that Baoyu saw and heard when he traveled to the realm of emptiness in the fifth chapter. Corresponding, complementary.In other words, these ten poems actually hint at the fate of the ten women in the book.This point has basically become the consensus of most researchers.However, there are different opinions on the interpretation of which hairpin in Jinling is implied by each song, and it is difficult to reach a consensus.

Here, instead of discussing the direction of the ten poems one by one, I just want to point out: one is about Qin Keqing.Which one?I think it is "Guangling Nostalgia".The four lines of the poem are: Cicadas and crows live in the blink of an eye, how about the scenery of Sui embankment? It's just because of occupying the number of Merry, which provoked a lot of tongues! We all know that there is a poem in the seventh chapter of Zhiyanzhai Jiaxu Ben Shiji Ji: "The twelve flowers are the most beautiful, I don't know who is the person who cherishes flowers? If you meet, ask the name He, who lives in the south of the Yangtze River and the surname is Qin!" I Zeng wrote an analysis, which hinted at Qin Keqing's true identity—she was a relic of the royal family who was struggling with the current emperor for power. The origin; in fact, she "lives in the south of the Yangtze River", and her father and brother are still struggling there.Her self-hanging and having an affair with Jia Zhen were found to be only superficial reasons, and the fundamental reason was the general collapse of her father and brother in the power struggle.

Xue Baoqin's "Guangling Nostalgia", the place name "Guangling" is the area of ​​ancient Yangzhou. Although Yangzhou is on the north bank of the Yangtze River, people in the past dynasties feel that the "Twenty-Four Bridges and Moonlight Night" under the "Fireworks March" Yangzhou, in fact, is full of Jiangnan flavor and should be included in the concept of "Pan Jiangnan".The so-called "Jiangnan" that "lives in Jiangnan with the surname Benqin" should also refer to the "South" relative to Beijing.The "Scenery of Sui Embankment" clearly points out the royal family, but Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty was a failed emperor, which is exactly the same as the arrogance of Qin Keqing's father and brother who finally failed for a while.When Qin Keqing was fostered in Jia's house, there were constant news of various kinds from "Jiangnan Qin". Even as written in the tenth chapter, they even sent the spy Zhang Youshi (obviously not a doctor, back to the chapter) through their ally Feng Ziying's family in Beijing. However, it is called "Physician Zhang") directly in front of Qin Keqing in Jia's mansion, and the prescriptions are used to pass on secret words.These first two sentences can be read together with the song "Autumn Scenery in the Garden" in the eleventh chapter.Although the Xiaoling is written from Sister Feng's point of view, she "but only sees", in fact, what is written is not the real scene of Ningguo Mansion, but something else - implying an analysis of the situation of the Qin family.From the eighth chapter to the eleventh chapter, it was written down in strict chronological order, and the eighth chapter has been clearly written in winter, snowdrops, attackers, and cover words that the teacup was broken due to snow slipping Therefore, the eleventh return to Ningfu will not be "yellow flowers all over the ground, white willows on the slopes", "clear streams in the stones", "red leaves on the tree heads"...or even "the first stop of the warbler's cry", "additional scorpions" "Wait for the scene of "reversing time sequence", I once wrote an article pointing out that this actually implies that the Qin family's fate is doomed. Not without yearning and struggle.But when Xue Baoqin wrote "Guangling Nostalgia", the yellow flowers had faded, the white willows were withered, and the imaginary bustle such as "Yinglings and Crows" and "Cicadas and Crows" also "passed away". It was horrible!

The last two sentences of this poem are "only because of the romantic title, which provokes a lot of tongues", and when it is on Qin Keqing, "you can use your head as a hat".Jing Huanxian (she is Qin Keqing's sister) let Baoyu listen to the song "Dream of Red Mansions", when she sang about Qin Keqing, she pointed out that she is "good at style, and looks like the moon"; her "love affair" with Jia Zhen made the old servant anxious Scolding "climbing ashes, climbing ashes"... Needless to say, but I think Xue Baoqin's poem is not just "revisiting the past", the so-called "speaking of tongues" is not "past tense" but "future tense" , implying that the matter of Jia's hiding Qin Keqing, there will be a general outbreak in the following plot, and the person who reported this "big rebellion" is likely to be someone inside the Jia's house, and they reported it. The point is not about hiding (from the episode of "Deadly Sealing the Dragon Forbidden Captain", the emperor knew about it at that time, but because he felt that "the matter has been defeated" and because of his beloved Jia Yuanchun, so "Let him be buried generously"), but Jia Zhen and others continued to communicate with the remnants of the Qin family. Of course, the emperor could no longer tolerate it, so in a fit of anger, he accused all of the Jia family, probably even the informer. ", "In the end there will be a family that is scattered and people will die", "The land is so clean after falling into a white field"!

The above is my opinion.In the study of Xue Baoqin's ten nostalgic lantern riddle poems, many researchers identified the eighth poem "Mawei Nostalgia" as implying Qin Keqing.Because the first sentence of that poem is "Lonely fat stains stained with sweat", they think that since Qin Keqing hanged himself, isn't this poem about hanging to death belonged to her?But in my opinion, this song is clearly about Yuan Chun.When visiting relatives in Yuanchun, the third of the four dramas ordered was "Qiqiao", which unmistakably compared Yuanchun to Concubine Yang, and Zhipi made it clear here: "Concubine Fu Yuan In other words, Yuan Chun's fate was almost the same as that of Concubine Yang Gui. From these points alone, it can be concluded that "Mawei Nostalgia" is not worthy of Yuan Chun. Although Qin Keqing is a relic of the royal family, how can he be equal to Concubine Yang Woolen cloth?Moreover, Qin Keqing died by hanging himself, and Yang Guifei was actually hanged to death in Mawei. They are also "hanged ghosts", one chooses to die because of despair; "Cutting love", there is a difference between the two.We have reason to believe that Jia Yuanchun died in the same way as Concubine Yang Guifei in the end: she died in the "meeting of tigers", that is, a fierce fight. Moreover, she did not die in the palace, but in a place where "looking at home, the road is far away and the mountains are high".The third sentence of this song "Mawei Nostalgia" is "just because of the traces of romanticism". Some researchers assigned it to Qin Keqing because of the word "fengliu".In fact, "Merry" has two interpretations, one means "good at style", and the other means "wind and scenery". Literary talent surpasses Penglai's sentence, we now even say that "romantic person" is equivalent to outstanding person, in short, this "romantic" is not the "romantic", we should not confuse it.