Chapter 28 "Thirty" and "Bright Moon"

"Thirty fame and dust, eight thousand miles of cloud and moon", this is a famous sentence in Yue Fei's "Man Jianghong" in the Southern Song Dynasty. "Thirty" is his age, and "cloud and moon" is a metaphor for his day and night. It's something we've all known since childhood.But there is a characteristic of Chinese Han culture, that is, all the wonderful words and sentences that have existed before can be transferred to today's real context, "borrow someone else's wine glass and pour one's own pile", without changing a single word, new meaning, It has been extended and even transformed. In the 1940s, progressive Chinese film artists named their anti-Japanese films after "Eight Thousand Miles of Clouds and Moons"; at that time, the films imported from American Hollywood were obviously Western stories made by Westerners, which had nothing to do with Chinese culture. Nothing to do, marketed for the box office, to fit in the general

The aesthetic psychology of the Chinese people also try to use a vocabulary borrowed (or slightly deduced) from Chinese classical texts, such as "Mandarin Dream Revisited", "Screen Opening Bird Selection", "Green Mountains and Green Valleys", etc. Wait, this method has continued to this day. According to Cheng Sheng, a reporter from "Beijing Evening News" on February 3, 2000, Mr. Ling, a Beijing porcelain collector, collected a pair of porcelain couplets in a county in Anhui in 1996. The base plate used to inlay the porcelain characters has been destroyed. However, the porcelain characters taken from above are intact. The upper and lower couplets are respectively "Thirty fame and dust, eight thousand miles of road, cloud and moon", each character is about 8 to 12 centimeters; apart from these fourteen characters, There are also four porcelain characters about 5 to 6 centimeters, which are "Cao Xueqin's book".Appraised by relevant experts, the eighteen porcelain characters are all products of Jingdezhen kiln in the middle of Qing Dynasty.Now, although we cannot be rashly sure that these porcelain characters were fired according to Cao Xueqin's original works, we must not underestimate this discovery.Anyone who knows a little about "red studies" knows that we have never been able to find even a single authentic handwriting of Cao Xueqin. The various manuscripts we are studying now may be very close to the original manuscripts written by Cao Xueqin himself, but they are all the same. They are all transcripts of others. Although the porcelain characters disclosed by Mr. Ling through the reporter of "Beijing Evening News" are still not the most original "Cao characters", if they can be further identified as genuine by experts, it will be the same as the discovery of Cao Xueqin's calligraphy. Like inscribed stones or rubbings, the meaning is also very important.

Let's not discuss the authenticity of the porcelain characters here, let's discuss whether it is possible for Cao Xueqin to write such a couplet.Some people may think that this couplet is really ordinary. It is nothing more than someone asking Cao Xueqin for words, or explaining in advance that he wants to write these two familiar sentences in Yue Fei's poems, or Cao Xueqin was too lazy to use his brain to make up a special one, so he wrote it down casually. I read these two sentences that floated through my mind at the time.Some people may think that Cao Xueqin wrote these two sentences with a brush, which reflects the emotion of "destroying the barbarians" in his mind (at least in his subconscious mind), which seems to be considered as a "full work" in "Hongxue". "The faction provides a new basis.However, I think that if Cao Xueqin is interested in these two sentences of Yue Fei and writes a big book, whether he hangs it up by himself, or gives it to others, or even sells it to others, there may be other sustenance beyond Yue Fei's original intention.

In his text, the sentence in the poems of the previous generation is intercepted to symbolize the fate of the characters, or to transform another meaning from it. This technique can be said to be throughout, and it is the "key" that we must grasp when interpreting his great work.The most concentrated and direct example is the 63rd chapter "Shouyi Hongqunfang holds a night banquet". The eight women who attended the banquet respectively drew out eight ivory flower name sticks, each with four characters inscribed and a A line of Tang poetry or Song poetry, such as the apricot lottery drawn by Tanchun, is inscribed "Yaochi Xianpin". "Ribian" refers to the emperor, "Red Apricot" refers to the powerful, and expresses the reserved and resentful feelings of the last in the imperial examination. When Cao Xueqin misappropriated it into the text, the meaning is completely transformed. Tanchun, implying that in the future, Tanchun will be as far away as "Xingyuan and Fan".

Most of the manuscripts handed down from generation to generation have a large number of comments signed by Zhiyanzhai or Jihusou, although whether these two signatures belong to one person or two people, whether they are male or female, and whether they are related by blood or marriage (cohabitation) with Cao Xueqin However, this group of writers has a very close relationship with Cao Xueqin, they are familiar with and even involved in the changes of the Cao family's family background, and to a certain extent, they are the "high-level ginseng" written by Cao Xueqin, and even directly Participated in at least partial writing, and there is no controversy in the "Red Studies" circle on these points.The comments of Zhiyanzhai and Jihusou are generally referred to as "Zhipi" in the "Hongxue" circle. , I want to grieve and be filled with blood and tears." "I haven't finished reading the five things, and I can't help but burst into tears. Where was the author thirty years ago?" People, appearing on paper..." A lot of fat batches are marked with the year stems and branches, from which it can be deduced that "thirty years ago" was about 1728 AD, that is, before the sixth year of Yongzheng, which was the official career of the Cao family. A watershed, in the sixth year of Yongzheng, Cao was convicted of ransacking his home when he was in the weaving office in Jiangning. "The tree falls and the monkeys scatter", and from then on, it is like "flowers falling into water and flowing red", "beautiful couples like flowers" are all "scattered into mud and dust". Cao Xueqin used Yue Fei's words "Thirty Fame Dust and Soil" to express his resentment in his heart. It is true that God knows what he knows, and those who are close to him know it like Zhiyanzhai, and others are likely to be concealed by his cunning pretext. Concealed, I thought he was just writing down the safest and most "popular" familiar sentences!

In the main text, there is also a time when directly discussing the matter in the past year, Jiao Dazui of Ningguo Mansion in the seventh chapter scolded "Who did Mr. Jiao see in the past twenty years?" The so-called "twenty years ago" should be Jia When Daihua succeeded Ning Guogong and was still alive, if you add another ten years or thirty years, the "Grandpa" Jia Yan should still be alive. There is credit for rescuing the master from the dead.In the forty-seventh chapter, Jia's mother said, "I entered this school as a great-grandson and daughter-in-law, and now I also have a great-grandson and daughter-in-law. For fifty-four years, with all kinds of surprises and dangers, I have also After a while", instead of saying "fifty" or "fifty-five" and other integers, but precisely "fifty-four years", it is obviously because the prototype of this artistic image is indeed a marriageable age of fifty-four years. According to Mr. Zhou Ruchang's textual research, all the stories from the eighteenth chapter to the fifty-fourth chapter are written in the first year of Qianlong (1736 A.D.) Solemnly written in the twenty-seventh chapter), then "thirty years" is about the forty-sixth year of Kangxi (AD 1707), which coincided with Kangxi's sixth southern tour, and Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin picked him up for the fourth time. Of course, Cao Yin's wife, Li, and her husband are experiencing a period of extreme wealth and wealth. Jia Mu, who uses Li as a model, is already in the "last days" of the hundred-year-old poetry and hairpin family when she appears in the book.All these words are permeated with the deep sigh of "Thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hexi".

The text of the first chapter also clearly stated that the book was composed of "Cao Xueqin read it for ten years in the Mourning Hongxuan, and added and deleted it five times". The general formation can be confirmed when Cao Xueqin was around 30 years old, because at the beginning of the first chapter, there is the first-person author’s self-report, which clearly states that "the past depends on the grace of the gods and the virtues of the ancestors. Thanks to the kindness of my teachers and friends, I wrote an episode to tell the world about the crime of being incapable of success and half my life today." In the past, people believed that "life at seventy is rare since ancient times", and a sixty-sixty Years old is "full life", so "half life" is thirty years old.Jarbo

The artistic image of jade slanders the "national thief and beetle" and regards the imperial examinations as dung. Of course, it is the embodiment of Cao Xueqin's own thoughts and feelings. "Dust and Soil" also just expresses his ideals and pride of throwing away the official career economy, the so-called "fame and fame" to the dust. If the couplets collected by Mr. Ling as disclosed by the "Beijing Evening News" are marked as "Cao Xueqin's Book", only the first half of the couplets can elicit our rich associations, that's all. Lilu cloud and moon".Although the "Yunyue" in Yue Fei's works has meaning beyond the literal meaning, it does not refer to a person, but in the text, "cloud" refers to Shi Xiangyun, and "yue" refers to Musk Moon, but it is clear-"Hong Xue" On the manuscript known as the "Wangfu Version", there is a general batch in front of the eighteenth chapter, which is written in the form of a poem: "A collection of treasures shows the true love, and luxury is always in contention. Dailin Baochai passed on a good sentence , the grand feast of the fairy fate left an interesting name. In order to cut the purse and tie the two minds, I succumbed to the beautiful girl to marry three lives. Poor words are empty in the blink of an eye, and the clouds float and the moon shines." The first five sentences are what we can learn from the existing eighty chapters The plot that can be seen in the text, the last three sentences reveal the story after eighty chapters (if it has not been written, it is also a mature idea). What is going on with "submitting to the best girl's knot for three lives" will not be discussed here. "Yunzi Piaopiao" refers to Shi Xiangyun's miserable life of wandering, which is similar to Shi Xiangyun's "judgment" in the fifth chapter of the main text, "Looking at the sunset, the Xiangjiang River is passing away, Chu Yunfei" and the song "Sorrow in Music" "In the end, the clouds will disperse in Gaotang, and the water will dry up the Xiangjiang River" is exactly the same. "Yue Ziming" refers to Musk Moon who can still stay by Jia Baoyu's side until the end of the story.In the text, a poem from the Song Dynasty is used to imply that Musk Moon is the last survivor of the "beautiful family like a flower" in the book. There are many places in Zhiyanzhai's comments that suggest that Musk Moon was left alone as a maid in the end. Baoyu's side (the 20th chapter of Zhi Criticism said that after the 80th chapter, Xiren got married and there was a message "at least keep the musk moon").According to Mr. Zhou Ruchang's textual research, Zhiyanzhai and Jihusou are actually the same person, and they are the prototype of Shi Xiangyun in the book. She was finally able to reunite with Cao Xueqin after drifting away. At the time of the room, he criticized: "Sheyue is idle and speechless, which makes my nose sour. It is the so-called hurting the scene." In fact, we can see from the text today that Muskyue said a lot in that episode, and Baoyu There is no sentimental factor in giving her back the grate, so I can only understand this batch of remarks as, when Zhi Yanzhai wrote the comments, the prototype of Musk Moon was beside her, "leisure and speechless", and those few "Ding Haixia" was marked at the end of the comment. Cao Xueqin had passed away for several years at that time. The two of them spent the most difficult years with Cao Xueqin. From Cao Xueqin's posthumous manuscripts, they reviewed the wealth and gentleness of the past, and faced the current desolate situation. , Naturally, I will have a sour nose and tears for Jing's injury!From this point of view, the meaning of "clouds fluttering and moon self-brightness" is very rich, which shows that Sheyue was able to stay alone with Baoyu and Baochai after Xiren married Jiang Yuhan, and after Baochai died, she was finally able to reconcile with Luan. Shi Xiangyun, who met Baoyu later, joined together, and even after Cao Xueqin's death, the two of them were still "the clouds are floating and the moon is self-brightness"-Shi Xiangyun fell into the misfortune of wandering again, and she was "leisure and speechless" and still "the last moon".

From this point of view, during Cao Xueqin’s writing period, there were two women by his side, one “cloud” was Zhiyanzhai, which was educated and could help him write, and the other “moon” was the prototype of Musk Moon in the book; “moon” had no culture , but not only can share the burden of life, but also become a living witness of him and Zhi Yanzhai's "Crying Songs and Sad Meetings in Yan City, and Qinhuai Fengyue Reminiscing about the Prosperity".In this case, it is very appropriate and natural for Cao Xueqin to use the ready-made old sentence of "eight thousand miles of road, cloud and moon" to express that they finally depend on each other after going through all kinds of hardships.

The "Book of Cao Xueqin" collected by Mr. Ling in Beijing is a couplet composed of Yue Fei's words and sentences. The authenticity is yet to be further verified by experts. His chest is hidden.Through a series of associations after learning the news about porcelain characters, I mainly try to express such a meaning——Cao Xueqin’s artistic technique is characterized by the full development and use of Chinese characters in terms of meaning and pronunciation. Homophony and other functions, in the words that seem to come at hand, one strike makes two cries, one stone and three birds, one sound makes two songs, one hand makes two letters, or powder is applied on the back, or dark golden needles, which have profound meaning and are wonderful. .This precious aesthetic heritage of our own nation really needs to be seriously inherited and carried forward!