Chapter 24 Luxuean couplet poem is Xueqin's autobiography

In the fiftieth chapter, Zhu Yan and Baoyu's Luxuean couplet poems in the Grand View Garden have rarely been studied in depth.In fact, these seventy-line poems are originally a long song that Cao Xueqin chanted about his own experience. He cleverly embedded it in this book, which not only showed the cultural fashion of noble men and women in that era through this plot, but also through The scene of the joint poem deepens the character of the characters in the book. Of course, more importantly, he projects his own and his family's experience on the fate of Jia's in the book, forming a pathetic path, and finally reaches the "cliff" of sobriety. Let go”—part from the mainstream culture of that society.

The opening line of this seventy-sentence poem is: "One night the north wind was tight, and the snow was still floating when the door was opened." This is what Xueqin wrote about the situation he was born in.Of course, we can't think with glee that this means that he was born in the winter when it snows.This is a metaphor. It is said that he was born when Kangxi passed away and Yongzheng succeeded to the throne. ——For the Cao family, who had a close relationship, it was like "the north wind was tight overnight".It is written in the book that after Sister Feng uttered the "foul words" that "the north wind is tight overnight", everyone listened and looked at each other with a smile: "...how much space is left for future generations!" "It has a great impact on the fate of the younger generation of the family.Cheng and Gao Ben changed this sentence to "Leave innumerable places for future generations", sitting on "writing poems" and obliterating the hint of "destiny". I didn't understand Xueqin's original intention.

The following said: "Pity the innocent when you enter the mud, and cherish Qiongyao everywhere." That is to say, you can't be "innocent" from now on.And the "blizzard" from Emperor Yongzheng "intentionally honors withered grass, unintentionally decorated withered sweet potatoes", that is, to give great honor to the "withered grass" that was neglected in Kangxi, and never had the intention to take care of the withered "withered sweet potatoes" of the family. Home. "The wine is cooked in the village of Gaogao, and Liangrao in the Nianren Mansion." Literally, it means that the heavy snow has raised the price of wine, and it heralds a bumper harvest in the coming year. In fact, it means that the Cao family is becoming more and more difficult to bear the "high price" demanded by the master.If you read the emperor's comments on the Cao Memorial in the early years of Yongzheng, you will know that there is really nothing to please. "Jia moves the ashes and flies the pipe, and the sun turns the bucket and turns the ladle." Naturally, it is a metaphor for the turning point of fate.Although Yongzheng's treatment of Cao's family was extremely severe, it was not enough to kill them all. As the saying goes, "Hanshan has lost its green, and Dongpu has no tide."At that time, the Cao family still had one or two relatives they could rely on, so they also said "it's easy to hang thin branches and willows".

Most people know that from Kangxi's becoming emperor to Yongzheng's conspiracy to seize the throne was a big turning point for the Xueqin family from prosperity to decline, but most people tend to imagine the collapse of the Cao family as a straight line and swiftly. In fact, the process of decline It is in the shape of a curve, "it cannot be killed for a while".When Yongzheng died violently and Qianlong succeeded to the throne, because Qianlong wanted to stabilize the political situation and buy people's hearts by implementing a soft policy to a certain extent, the Cao family also had the joy of getting charcoal in the snow for a while, so they could hold their hands and live a little cautious " A good day", so the next two sentences of Lu Xue'an's couplet poem are "musk coal melts into a treasure tripod, and a golden ermine cage with a sleeve cage." In the Cao family at that time, there might indeed be a woman who was able to enter the palace, or at least became a princess, and the whole family could be sheltered temporarily, so there is a saying that "the pepper sticks to the wall".But the whole situation is still "the oblique wind is still the same, and the dream turns to chat", and there is no solid future.In the officialdom at that time, it was really "several joys and sorrows", so there was a sigh of "where is the plum blossom flute? Whose jasper flute?"

Qianlong wanted to be gentle, but Yongzheng's political opponents did not give up their attempt to seize the throne because of his son's reconciliation gesture after he succeeded to the throne. Intensifying their conspiracy to seize power, they assembled under the command of Hongxi, the son of Yinreng, the son of Kangxi's dual regime and abolishment (Yinreng had been dead for many years at that time), and even attempted to assassinate and stage a coup when Qianlong carried out Mulan Qiuxiu, so Lu Xue'an's couplet poem says: "Ao Choukun's axis is falling, and the dragon fights and the clouds are lost." Of course, Qianlong couldn't let the political opponents be rampant, so he changed the looseness and Huairou to severe suppression. The Cao family was implicated. The attack was far more severe than that of the Yongzheng Dynasty, and there were not many Cao clans left, so the next sentence is "Ye'an returns to the solitary oar". (The so-called poems are on donkeys in the wind and snow in Baqiao), but some members of the Cao family have been exiled into the army. It is necessary to "add Xu Nian Zheng corvage" in a real way.At this time, Xueqin and others, who were living in the humble alleys of the capital city, were in a real situation of "the mountain is judging the danger, and the branches are afraid of being shaken". All of them may lead to deeper entanglements, so even with a strong face and a laughing tone, the state of existence can only be summarized as "Ai Ai takes advantage of the steps, and dances with the waist".The next two lines of the couplet poem are "Cooked taro is a new reward, and sprinkling salt is an old rumor", which literally means to quote Su Shi and other allusions, describing the snow as white as "jade grits soup" made of boiled taro, and like Falling down like salt, in fact, is to describe Xueqin's living standard at this time, which has dropped to the point where she choked on salt while eating taro.In that case, he "fishes in the reeds", but in reality "the forest ax does not hear the woodcutter", that is to say, he can only do it secretly, and he can no longer make a show.The predicament he faces in life, such as "a crouching image and a thousand peaks protruding", is not hopeless if he wants to break out of the desperate situation, but that is "a coiled snake is a long way away".At this time, "the flower's edge is gathered by cold", and my heart has been settled: "the color is not afraid of the frost withering!"

The blows suffered by the Cao family during the Yongzheng period, we can finally find out some royal archives, but during the Qianlong period, the Cao family made "the dead and the dead scattered", and even "a piece of white fell into the vast expanse of land so clean". , but so far can't find any text files.In Lu Xue'an's couplet poem, Xueqin just said: "The frightened sparrow in the deep courtyard, the old owl weeping in the empty mountain", but it is miserable enough to be startled and cry.The government at this time made the bureaucrats and nobles "go up and down the steps, and the water in the pool floats." Cold, Ruishi Jiuzhongjiao", Cao's relics naturally have this kind of life, but Xueqin chose another way of life, "Who will ask if you are lying dead?" Don't ask if you don't ask, but there are "crazy tourists" This shows that after the collapse of the family, Cao Xueqin severed his relationship with the royal family on the one hand, but on the other hand was also sheltered by powerful and enlightened figures.His general situation is "the secrets of the sky are broken, and the market is lost." The specific situation is "lonely facing the pavilion, poor and full of ladles", but he has opened up his own spiritual world, "cooking tea and ice gradually boils The wine leaves are hard to burn; there is no broom for the mountain monk to sweep, but the buried qin for the child to pick." In fact, this implies that he has started the difficult creation.

In the couplet, Cao Xueqin summed up the book he wrote very implicitly with two sentences: "The crane sleeps leisurely in the stone building, and the brocade warms the cat".In the twenty-third chapter, there is Jia Baoyu's poem about the four seasons. In the autumn night, there is a sentence "sleeping cranes with moss locks and stone patterns". There are descriptions; in the winter night, there is a sentence "the brocade quilt is not sleeping yet", and the fifth chapter of the book writes that the Qin family "told the little maids to watch the cats fight under the eaves". It can be seen that in Jia's mansion, Jinfu and cats are the most common things, which can best convey the atmosphere there; in Mingyi's "Ti <Dream of Red Mansions"" series of poems, it is likely to have seen Cao Xueqin himself and read his original manuscripts that have not survived to this day Among them, there is a poem written about Jia Baoyu's "returning late to the drunken hat Yan Yan, wrong

This probably means that in Chapter 31, Baoyu mistook Qingwen for Xiren (Xiren had the nickname "Western Flower Idea Habaer" in Yihongyuan, see Chapter 3 Chapter 17), it can be seen that Yuli means "pro-cat", which actually refers to the author's cherished daughters. But for Cao Xueqin, the heavy snow, which symbolizes the severe cold and death, is getting more and more severe. The highest point of Chicheng Mountain in "Xiacheng" is called "Chibiao", which is actually submerged in cold snow. In this long cold winter and heavy snow, some lives may not be able to withstand the ravages, and may sink and be annihilated. However, Cao Xueqin said that "plum blossoms are fragrant and can be chewed, and bamboos can be intoxicated". That is to say, the more severe the cold, his writing is like chewing plum blossoms soaked in snow. The bamboo is able to play the most powerful melody!

From the mourning poems written by his close friends after Cao Xueqin passed away, it can be seen that when he was "writing the book Huangye Village", he was assisted by a "bridal wife", and this couplet poem of Lu Xueqin should be exactly where he was. Under the care of love, he wrote it in the process of writing a book, so when he expressed his life path, he deliberately wrote that the snow in adversity, "or wet mandarin duck belt, sometimes congeals emerald", in his creative life, There are still bright spots, but the overall situation is of course "there is no wind, the pulse is still there, and there is no rain", and the struggle against the wind, snow and cold has no end!

The last two sentences of the couplet: "If you want to be happy today, I wish Shunyao with poetry." This is of course the "tail" that has to be added.But if you connect the previous content, then, you can also feel a sense of irony. Although it has been "badly read" by readers for more than two centuries, and the treatises of "Redology" experts can fill a large shelf, it is still a fascinating mystery that has not been guessed. Many of the words, the author originally had deep meaning, but the readers' eyes often only glanced at the surface of the words, which was actually concealed by the author. It is a long autobiographical poem by Xueqin, which is a living example that we have neglected for a long time.