Chapter 40 Wax oil jelly bergamot · ram horn lamp

Some people always emphasize that research should "return to the text", implying that the topics of some "red studies" articles are too cumbersome.But this work is very unfortunate, not only Cao Xueqin failed to complete it, but also made many mistakes in the process of copying, so it is not easy for readers to "return to the text"; what is even more unfortunate is that Cao Xueqin Twenty-seven or eight years after his death, the bookseller Cheng Weiyuan and Gao E co-operated to print 120 chapters of the book. Whether the continuation of the last 40 chapters is a dog's tail is not discussed, and Cao Xueqin's text in the first 80 chapters is false There are quite a lot of changes, and this version was "revised" after the 1950s and was printed in large quantities by authoritative publishing houses, becoming the "current version", which made many readers think that what they saw was the original version.

In Cao Xueqin's text, in fact, if you really want to "return to the text", the premise should be to put aside the "common version" and make some efforts to clean up the source. Cao Xueqin’s original text, such as Chapter 72, wrote that there is an antique called “The Bergamot of Wax Oil Jelly”, but the current version has not been changed, but the first edition in 1982 of the Chinese National Academy of Arts’ Red Chamber Dream Research Institute has been changed. It is called "bergamot jelly in wax oil", and it is called "Jinggai" without reference to other versions in the "School Notes" after returning.The school note book of Hongxue Institute has advantages, and I often use it, but it is unreasonable to "change" "wax" into "wax". In May 1944, a researcher named "Xu" serialized "Dream of Red Mansions" in Chongqing's "Xinmin Daily Evening Magazine", one of which was "wax oil bergamot". He said: "The life of Jia's mansion is extremely luxurious. , its diet and daily life are often unimaginable to those who are close to it. But there are also very common items, which were considered rare because they were rare at the time... The bergamot jelly in wax oil was a monk from a foreign road who honored Jiamu. Now look at it Come on, it’s just a wax model, it’s not a big deal. However, at that time, it was no small matter. The price was paid under the account of antiques and treated as antiques. People can't help but laugh when they see it." Don't laugh wildly!It was Mr. Xu who should be ridiculed.The note added to this bergamot in the school notes of the Hongxue Institute tells readers that this thing is "a bergamot carved from yellow beeswax jelly. The jelly is a translucent precious stone." "Wax oil jelly bergamot" is by no means "Wax model", "wax oil jelly" is a kind of precious stone, which is what everyone who reads like Mr. "Xu" and reads it smartly must first understand. Mr. "Xu" confuses "wax" with "wax" based on his memory. The school notes of Hongxue Institute deliberately changed "wax" to "wax" in order to establish the "yellow beeswax steatite". In fact, "wax" "Oil jelly" is not a yellow steatite like beeswax, but another kind of steatite with the color and texture of southern fat bacon. It belongs to Qingtian stone in Zhejiang Province. It is especially rare and precious. Jia Lian is serious about it Detailed inquiries reflect that "the life of Jia's mansion is extremely luxurious", and this detail also enriches the character of the character.

The ram horn lamp has been written many times in the book.The base of the Annotated Edition of the Hongxue Institute is the Gengchen Edition, and the relevant text has not been "reformed", which is handled properly.There are many kinds of lamps and lanterns in Jia's mansion. The 53rd Rongguo Mansion held a Lantern Festival banquet. The lamps mentioned include glass hibiscus colorful tassel lamps, chiseled enamel letter and twistable inverted lotus leaf colored candle lamps. Palace lanterns, horns of various colors, glass, yarn, silk, or embroidery, or painting, or stacking, or cutting, or silk, or paper... all kinds of lamps.The ram horn lamp is naturally made of ram horn.How big can a sheep's horn be?How to make it into a lamp?In the ancient books, the fourteenth chapter is written like this: "Sister Feng went out to the front of the hall, got into the car, lit a pair of bright corner lights in front of her, and wrote "Rongguo Mansion" in three big characters, all the money came to Ning Mansion. "Mingjiao lamp is a sheep's horn lamp. The word "big book" was deleted from the "current edition".Obviously, Cheng Weiyuan, Gao E and the others have never seen a horn lamp with "big writing" on it. According to them, it is not easy to have three "big characters" like red grids on the lamp.Out of the same mentality, the seventy-fifth chapter of the ancient edition wrote the description of "the main gate of the garden is wide open at present, with horns and lanterns hanging" on the Mid-Autumn Festival. Ram horn lamp".Gao E continued, because of short-term knowledge, Chapter 87 wrote about Lin Daiyu drinking porridge and couldn't think of what to serve with it, so he wrote spiced kohlrabi mixed with sesame oil and vinegar, which really made readers laugh.But it’s all right that you are struggling to continue the book, how can you change Cao Xueqin’s original text without authorization?

"Yunnan Yangjiaozhen Lantern" was written in the book, and Zhang Dai in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty also wrote about Yangjiao lanterns, saying that there could be fine paintings on the surface of the lamp. Xia Renhu recorded in "Old Beijing Suoji" in the late Qing Dynasty: Lamps for middle use were made of goat horns when glass was not used at that time, which is also a fire hazard. The wind lamps standing on the road of your majesty are high enough to hide people, pointed up and down and elliptical in the middle, and their shape is like a jujube.” He also said that Nanjing people have Wu The surname specially opened a "horn lamp shop" in the grinding factory outside Qianmen.In fact, near Shichahai in Beijing, there is still an alley called Yangjiao Lantern Alley, where there were either workshops for making Yangjiao lanterns or merchants who operated Yangjiao lanterns.In the "Yanjing Years Records" written by Fucha Dunchong in the late Qing Dynasty, it was said that during the Lantern Festival, "the lanterns of various colors are mostly made of gauze silk glass and bright horns." Towards the folk streets.Mr. Deng Yunxiang, a recent person, said in his book "The Customs of Red Mansions" that the horn lamp "is boiled with horns and a solvent to form a colloid, then poured into a mold, and after cooling, it becomes a translucent spherical lampshade. Candle holders and handles are configured as ", but this is just his personal imagination. In fact, the horn lamp should be made in this way: take the horn and cut it into a cylinder, and then put it in the water together with shredded radish Cook until it becomes soft, take it out, stuff the spindle-shaped last into it, and stretch it until it can’t hold it, then put it in the pot to cook, then take it out, and replace it with a larger last. This is repeated several times, and finally a large, bulging, thin and bright lampshade is formed.This is of course much more difficult than dissolving the casting mold. Many horns will be damaged during the stretching process, and probably not too many will succeed in the end, especially the large ones.The horn lamp made in this way should have a diameter of six or seven inches or even one foot at the largest bulging part, so the words "Big Book" (each character is bigger than a muskmelon) and "Rongguo Mansion" can be written on it, and it is not used during festivals. The small lamp "hanging" on the main entrance of the garden is a very grand "horn lamp" "hanging".An accurate understanding of Cao Xueqin's original text can deepen our impression of the aristocratic style of Jia's mansion and obtain a delicate aesthetic pleasure.