Chapter 20 Chapter 5: The Secret of Shi Xiangyun's Ending

In the album page of the fifth chapter, on the page about Shi Xiangyun, the painting is "a few wisps of flying clouds, a bay of passing water". The water is passing away and Chu Yun is flying." This echoes with the song "Sorrow in Music".However, no matter it is the picture frame, verdict and music, the development of her fate after the eighty chapters is relatively vague, and it only hints that although she was engaged and married, she was "beautiful and beautiful", but in the end she failed to "win As long as the earth is forever", the clouds fly away and the water passes away, and the situation is miserable. The "talented and handsome fairy" Wei Ruolan died.How did you die?It should be an abnormal death.

I expressed my own point of view in some previous lectures, that Cao Xueqin permeated a large political background in the whole story, that is, the power struggle of the Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong dynasties.Of course, as a novel, he can't write it explicitly, he can only covert it with twists and turns, reflected in the novel, there is an open and secret struggle between the "Moon" faction and the "Sun" faction.Wei Ruolan belongs to the "Moon" faction, and is a group with Feng Ziying and others. In the 80 chapters, it is written that Feng Ziying followed his father Feng Tang to Iron Net Mountain to fight a siege. He went to "step on the spot" and was almost noticed by the "Japanese" faction. Finally, there was no danger.Eighty chapters later, the "Moon" faction further "gathered righteousness", Cao Xueqin wrote the plot of Shepu, that is, the "Moon" faction conducts exercises for formal military operations, and later it is estimated that the "Moon" faction and the "Day" faction will be written The fatal impact of the story——if it is not described positively, it will be explained through general narratives or character dialogues.However, the "Yue" faction failed, and Wei Ruolan was killed in battle.From the perspective of the "Yue" faction, he was a martyr, and Shi Xiangyun became the widow of a martyr.

When Wei Ruolan shot at the garden, he wore the golden unicorn that Jia Baoyu gave him when he married Shi Xiangyun. We can imagine that he even wore it when he officially entered the battle. He was severely injured in the battle and died. Then entrust comrades who are still expected to survive, such as Feng Ziying, Chen Yejun, Liu Xianglian or others—most likely Feng Ziying—to hand over the golden unicorn to Jia Baoyu, which means to entrust Shi Xiangyun to Jia Baoyu, Let him take care of this unfortunate cousin. Wei Ruolan is dead.So, did Shi Xiangyun collapse immediately?Judging from the sentence in the verdict of "showing the eyes and hanging on the sunset", she is of course very sad and has to pay tribute to such a rapid fall, but she is not completely desperate, and she has no husband or wife to die. She is still strong enough to continue on the road of life Trek on.Therefore, after eighty chapters, there should be more stories about her.

In the subsequent stories, the golden unicorn is still an important prop.If Jia Baoyu got the big male unicorn again, he would definitely look for Shi Xiangyun. If he found it, the big male unicorn would gather with the small female unicorn again.In other words, after eighty chapters, there should be an important plot where Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun meet. Some people would say that Shi Xiangyun should be easy to find. They are relatives. After Shi Xiangyun married into the Wei family, he should keep in touch with the Jia family.But after eighty chapters, great changes have taken place in the four major families and many related families.In the previous lectures, I have told you in detail the results of my exploration of the lost, that is, in the power struggle under the political structure of "the double hanging sun and the moon illuminate the universe", the "Moon" faction was completely destroyed. .In the first eighty chapters, the seventy-fifth chapter writes that the Zhen family has been transferred to Beijing by the emperor for punishment. The Zhen family is the shadow of the Jia family. Therefore, after eighty chapters, it should soon be written that the emperor pursued the Jia family.The two marquises of the historian, Baoling Hou Shi Nai and Zhongjing Hou Shi Ding are also doomed - when writing the fourth chapter of "Official Protection Talisman", readers have been clearly told that the four families of Jia, Shi, Xue, and Wang are all damaged. .Feng Ziying may have escaped by chance, and the golden unicorn entrusted to him by Wei Ruolan managed to be handed over to Jia Baoyu, and then she went to live in exile incognito.The Jia family was soon punished by the emperor, and Jia Baoyu was also arrested and imprisoned.In such a big change, because Wei Ruolan belongs to the "rebellious party" and Shi Xiangyun is the "rebel genus", not to mention that both of her two uncles have fallen, she may be confiscated by the government as a "rebel" Auction off.And the historians in the book are based on Li Xu and his family—where can Jia Baoyu find Shi Xiangyun?A heartbreaking turmoil in which they may not even have accurate information about each other.

Although Cao Xueqin's manuscripts after the 80th chapter are lost, we can know some specific plots in the following through some comments made by Zhi Yanzhai in the 80th chapter. The girl Qianxue whom he accidentally kicked out after drunk, and Xiaohong who left in time to marry Jia Yun before the Jia family was destroyed, they went to comfort and rescue Jia Baoyu.After all, Baoyu is still relatively young, and there is no evidence of his participation in the crime in the relevant political activities of Jia's mansion, and because someone rescued him, he may be deported to his original place after being detained for a period of time. light hair loss.And his native place is Jinling, and the story develops later, in terms of space, it should have been transferred from Beijing to Jinling area.

According to my research, Jia Baoyu encountered a lot of hardships during the process of returning to his hometown in Jinling, because someone reported Jia Baoyu's new "crimes", and King Zhongshun went to pursue him.In such a situation, Miaoyu appeared.When Miaoyu was in the most difficult time, she violated her master's last words when she passed away - the master said that she should not return to her hometown in her life - her origin is also in Jinling area, but in order to save Baoyu, Miaoyu resolutely went to Jinling to find her. Traces of Baoyu.At Guazhou Ferry, Miaoyu reached an agreement with King Zhongshun, sacrificing herself, and rescued Baoyu.During this process, another complicated plot is that before meeting King Zhongshun, Miaoyu met Shi Xiangyun again. At that time, Shi Xiangyun became a music girl on the Guazhou song boat after being resold several times.Miaoyu redeemed Shi Xiangyun, and set Baoyu and Xiangyun free as a condition for negotiating with King Zhongshun.Therefore, Miaoyu not only sacrificed for Baoyu, but also made Bao and Xiang reunite after the turmoil.

From this point of view, the thirty-first prophecy of "Because of Qilin Fubai's first double star" still fell on Bao and Xiang in the end.Daiyu sank to the lake first, and Baochai died of depression after marrying Baoyu. Baoyu never expected that she would eventually form a partner with Xiangyun, and Xiangyun was even more unexpected.And their meeting was due to Miaoyu's consummation, and it was indeed because of a pair of golden unicorns that ambush a marriage. In my exploration, in addition to the close reading of the first eighty chapters of Cao Xueqin's texts, picking out foreshadowing clues, and based on the Zhiyanzhai commentaries in ancient books, I also used some other people who were alive when Cao Xueqin was alive and at a time similar to his life. It is inconvenient to list all the documents.In this lecture, I will only present the most critical point of evidence in the finale of Shi Xiangyun's fate with you, with a view to discussing it together.The most important point is, after eighty episodes, did Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun meet again?

I personally have a rather unique point of view, which has caused a lot of controversy after I put it forward in the previous lectures.I am very happy to see different opinions, especially those that refute mine.I think this wonderful book has some textual phenomena that need to be deciphered. This cannot be solved by a few experts. It needs to be discussed equally by everyone, and it takes a long time to discuss. Keep each for a long time.Through continuous discussion, everyone can deepen their understanding of the connotation of this book and the artistic techniques of Cao Xueqin's writing.

I personally have a unique interpretation of the piece "Wang Ning Mei" among the twelve pieces.I think this song is chanted in the tone of Jia Baoyu to two people: one is Shi Xiangyun and the other is Miaoyu.I think that in the previous song "Lifetime Mistakes", Xue Baochai and Lin Daiyu were chanted in the tone of Jia Baoyu.Why do these four people use two songs to chant?I also have a unique opinion, that is, in the fifth chapter, four fairies in the Illusory Realm reported their names. Their names allude to the four most important women in Jia Baoyu's life, namely Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, Shi Xiangyun and Miao. Jade.When I put forward this point of view, it does not mean that I think that I have the truth, and everyone else is wrong. I just think after repeated consideration that there is a certain truth in my way of thinking, so I might as well say it for your reference.

In fact, the discussion of the twelve pieces is very difficult, because it will encounter a problem of balance.For example, some people think that "Lifetime Mistakes" is written about Baochai alone, and it uses Baoyu's tone to sing about Baochai; "Wang Ningmei" uses Baoyu's tone to sing about his relationship with Daiyu.If so, however, it is unbalanced.In fact, in the song "Lifetime Mistakes", it not only talks about Baochai, but also clearly talks about Daiyu. It is the same as the previous album of Bo Mingsi. The first poem is a combination of Dai and Chai, and "Lifetime Mistakes" is also a combination of Dai and Chai.If this is the case, why is there only one "Vanning Eyebrow" for Daiyu?It has a balance problem.

My statement about "Wang Ning Mei" also encountered a problem of balance.I think "Lifetime Mistakes" is a chant of Dai and Chai, and "Wang Ning Mei" is a sigh of Xiang and Miao. This is certainly compatible with the metaphor of the names of the Four Fairies in the Illusory Realm, but in the following songs, Why are there only two songs about Xiangyun's "Sorrow in Music" and about Miaoyu's "The World Can't Tolerate"? This imbalance may have been intentional by Cao Xueqin.You can think that Dai and Chai don’t have to be balanced in the divertimento, so I can also think that Xiang and Miao don’t have to be balanced with other chai in the divertimento. The importance of the song—especially after the 80th chapter, maybe Cao Xueqin deliberately wrote another song for them. My thinking has not changed yet. In my personal opinion, there are some sentences in the song "Wang Ning Mei" that should refer to Shi Xiangyun. From Jia Baoyu's point of view, he sings to Shi Xiangyun himself, as well as Shi Xiangyun and others. Relationship. For example, "One is the fairy flower of Langyuan".I have repeatedly told everyone in the previous lectures that Lin Daiyu is a crimson fairy grass in the heaven. There is a difference between grass and flowers, but the wording here is "fairy flower", and "flower" has only one meaning, which is flower.In the Yihong Courtyard of the Grand View Garden, a crabapple tree was planted. When describing it in Chapter 17 (although the place was not yet named Yihong Courtyard at that time), Cao Xueqin deliberately used the words "silky green thread, flower spit Dan sand" to describe it.Later we found out that Shi Xiangyun's girl was called Cuilu.In the sixty-third round of "Shouyi Hongqunfang's Night Banquet", participants drew flower lots, and what Shi Xiangyun drew was crabapple flowers.Cao Xueqin used crabapple flowers as a metaphor for Shi Xiangyun, which has been deeply rooted in the hearts of readers. "Langyuan Fairy Flower" should refer to Shi Xiangyun.Some people will say that "Langyuan" is a garden of immortals, and "Pai" is also "Fairy Garden", but Shi Xiangyun does not have the status of a fairy world.In fact, the scene of the Grand View Garden is comparable to a fairyland. In the eighteenth Yuan concubine's visit to relatives, all the talented women were ordered to write poems. There is a sentence in Yingchun, "Who believes that there is such a place in the world", which is described by "Penglai" and "Yaotai" in Li Wan's poems, and by Lin Daiyu. In the Ming book "Fairyland, don't be mortal", it can be seen that "Langyuan" refers to the garden of the world; Wei Ruolan can be called "talented fairy man", Miaoyu can praise him as "talented than fairy", and Shi Xiangyun is described as "fairy flower". A beautiful crabapple flower, why not? In the song "Wang Ning Mei", there is a sentence like this: "If there is no romance, I will meet him again in this life." I think this sentence should be applied to Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun.When Jia Baoyu was playing in the Grand View Garden, he and Shi Xiangyun got along very well, and the brother-sister relationship overflowed everywhere.However, there was no love between the two of them at that time, and neither of them felt that there would be a strange fate between them.However, with the changes of the world, in their lifetime, the two of them miraculously met after the chaos. Below, "One is sighing in vain" and "The other is the moon in the water". The one who sighed is Jia Baoyu, and the object of the sigh is "the moon in the water", alluding to Shi Xiangyun.In the seventy-sixth chapter in the Aujing Pavilion, Shi Xiangyun and Lin Daiyu couplet poems together. After the couplet, the two of them couldn't think of a good sentence. When you hit it in the lake, you could only hear the sound of the water, so, "A big circle scattered the shadow of the moon and reunited it several times", and a crane flew away. sentence. The description of "a big circle scattered the moon shadow and reunited it several times" actually implied that Shi Xiangyun's later fate was more difficult. The relationship between her and Jia Baoyu was as if the moon shadow was broken by a stone piece, scattered and reunited several times.I think this is also a hint. Of course, some people will say that the last line of this song is: "Thinking of how many tears are in my eyes, how can I prevent autumn from flowing to the end of winter, and spring to summer!" This even more shows that it is Lin Daiyu who is singing, and Lin Daiyu loves to cry.I respect your idea, and it makes sense.However, Jia Baoyu can also cry.Because everyone knows that in the twenty-eighth chapter, Jia Baoyu went to Feng Ziying's house for a drinking party. During the party, everyone sang songs in turn. There is a sentence in "Song" that "drops endless lovesickness and tears and throws red beans", and Baoyu also has tears, so although there are tears in "Wang Ningmei", it does not necessarily have to be thought of Lin Daiyu, it may also be When Baoyu thought of the strange encounter with Miaoyu and Shi Xiangyun, and the parting of life and death, he felt endless tears. If it is difficult to convince people to use the song "Wang Ning Mei" to prove that there will be a plot of Bao and Xiang meeting after the eighty chapters, then well, let's see if we can find other related stories in the previous eighty chapters. foreshadowing.In the book, Xiangyun is a great poet, and her poems are more agile and agile than Daiyu, Baochai, and Baoqin.Then, let's see if there are any sentences in Xiangyun's poems that can make us associate with her later fate.Of course there are, let's first look at her thirty-seventh chapter "Ode to the White Begonia".She came from behind and wrote two poems in one go.Others said that we each wrote a poem, and felt that we had exhausted what we could say, so how could we write it?Why did you write two poems at once?She is so creative.In her poem "Ode to the White Begonia", there is such a sentence: "Naturally, the widow is more resistant to cold, but Guan Qiannv also leaves her soul." What does it mean? The word "widow" in "妻娥" uses the word "female" next to it. What is "widow"?As a widow, Cao Xueqin once again conveyed the message to readers through her poems: she will be a widow after marriage.Of course, through the verdict and the song about her in the fifth round—I’m not talking about "Wang Ning Mei" now, but the undisputed "Sorrow in Music"—it has been very clear that she will become a widow, then "Ode to the White Begonia" echoes the fifth chapter, revealing that she will become a "widow".But a new message was added to the poem, that is, after she became a widow, she did not lose the courage to continue living in the severe cold environment, "Naturally, widows are more resistant to cold", how tenacious!So if you continue to live, what will happen?It's called "Non-Guan Qiannv also Lie Hun".A Chinese Girl Lies Soul is a well-known story. It was first written by Chen Xuan in the Tang Dynasty as the legendary "Leaving the Soul", and by Zheng Dehui in the Yuan Dynasty as a drama "Mi Qing Suo Qian Nu Li Hun", which was often performed on the stage in the Qing Dynasty. It is a The love story, in simple terms, is a lady named Qianniang, who fell in love with her cousin, but her father gave her to another family, and she became ill and bedridden, and her cousin could not marry her Unexpectedly, Qiannv suddenly appeared at night, saying that she came to chase him, and they lived together. Later, when they went back to Qianniang's house together, Qianniang's parents were shocked, saying that Qianniang had been asleep and hadn't left home.Unexpectedly, the sleepy Qianniang suddenly got up and greeted the returning Qianniang, and the two Qianniang became one. It turned out that the soul of the sleeping Qianniang left her body and went to chase her cousin.Then Cao Xueqin told us through this poem by Shi Xiangyun: Although she is not a beautiful woman, because she had no love relationship with her cousin Jia Baoyu before, her later fate encounters is tantamount to her soul going out of her body until her relationship with Jia Baoyu When we meet in chaos, our soul returns to our body.These two sentences are the most obvious hints of Shi Xiangyun's fate after the eighty chapters.Of course, sentences like "The jade candle drips tears from the dry wind, and the crystal curtain breaks through the marks in the moon. You want to tell Chang'e, but the night is dark in the virtual corridor." These sentences also contain the reversal of the fortunes of Bao and Xiang after the failure of the "Moon" faction. Ominous forecast. For another example, the thirty-eighth chapter is about writing chrysanthemum poems.There are some sentences in "Double Chrysanthemum" written by Shi Xiangyun: "There is no king who is proud of the world, it seems that I am the only one who knows the sound. The autumn light is so fast, don't let it down, and it is better to cherish every inch of shade." It makes people feel like writing a kind of suffering. In the future, when you meet relatives and friends and stick to each other relatively. In the poem "Chrysanthemum", she also wrote: "Shuangqing paper tent brings new dreams, and recalls old travels in the cold setting sun." It was in a very poor and poor living situation that she spent nostalgic years with another person.Of course, it is an artistic technique of Cao Xueqin that the verses recited for character design to show readers the future fate of the characters are placed in the specific situation of the story. The person who wrote the poem at that time did not know that They are all "prophecies", and those sentences seem to be written unconsciously "art for art's sake".The connotations of poems are always vague, and the poems in the novel are recited in the name of characters, and generally contain more than two layers of metaphors, which are even more mysterious.A verse, people can understand it from different angles, therefore, if I analyze it in this way, you may still not be convinced, I hope I will provide some more arguments.So, is there any other evidence to be found?I think there are still. As we all know, Cao Xueqin had some social activities during the creation process, and some of his friends left some poems.For example, he has two best friends who are two brothers, one named Dun Min and the other named Dun Cheng. Both Dun Min and Dun Cheng have poems about Cao Xueqin in their poetry anthologies that have been handed down to this day.Dun Min has a personal collection of poems "Mao Zhai Poetry Copy", in which there is a poem "Gift to Celery Garden" - Cao Xueqin's real name is Cao, the word Qinpu, Xueqin is his nickname, of course he also has Qinxi Layman, Meng Ruan It's just another name, but we are used to calling him Cao Xueqin now. "Gift to the Celery Garden" is also a poem presented to Cao Xueqin. The poem describes Cao Xueqin's living conditions and expresses the poet's emotion.It is not clearly mentioned in the poem, but the last four sentences are: "Yan City cries and sings in sorrow, and Qinhuai loves and reminisces about prosperity; you know how much you know about new sorrows and old hatreds, and you roll your eyes when you get drunk." Yanshi is the city of Beijing, and Qinhuai is the city of Beijing. The name of Jinling, of course, Jinling was a relatively broad concept in the past, including Yangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou and other large areas, but the Qinhuai River is in Nanjing, and at least from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, there has always been the so-called The "place of sex with evil", that is, the place where brothels are dense.So what happened in the space of Yan City?There was a "meeting" between one person and another person, and one of them should be Cao Xueqin, because this poem was written for him, so who is the other person?Although the poem is written in a very subtle way, it is not difficult to tell that the other is a woman who was once reduced to the Qinhuai brothel.In that era, it was common for men to go to brothels or socialize with prostitutes outside the brothels. It is written that Jia Baoyu went to Feng Ziying's house for a banquet, and Yun'er, a prostitute from Jinxiangyuan, was present.But the "Qinhuai Fengyue" written in this poem does not mean to seek pleasure at all, but exudes a very sad taste. An old woman from a brothel meets, and the two recall the prosperous life of their respective families in Jinling, and they can't help but sing and cry.I have said many times before that three generations and four members of the Cao family were in charge of weaving in Jiangning. The Jinling area and the Qinhuai River are the places where their family made their fortunes. Not to mention anything else, Kangxi made six tours to the south and lived in their home four times. The bustling scene has reached an unbearable level.So, which woman will have a strong resonance after meeting him?It should be Li Xu's family who has been in charge of weaving in Suzhou for many years.Li Xu and Cao Yin received Kangxi on the southern tour in Jinling. On the sixteenth time, Mother Zhao said: "I am only going to pick him up once, and I will spend all the money in the sea!" "Don't say that the money has turned into mud, Based on what you have in the world, there is nothing that is not piled up with mountains and seas, and it is a pity that you can't take care of the four words." That is the true portrayal of the situation of Cao and Li's family taking over back then.Don't forget, Li Xu's younger sister married Cao Yin, she was Cao Xueqin's grandmother, so the woman of the same generation that Cao Xueqin met after her family fell apart was probably a young lady of the Li family, that is, a cousin of his. Dun Min wrote more than one poem with a similar content. His other poem had a very long title. Passing Ming Junlin Yangshixuan, hearing high-pitched conversations in the next courtyard, suspected it was Mr. Cao, and rushed to visit each other, pleasantly surprised, because of drinking and talking about old things, I felt a long sentence."From the title of the poem, we can know that Cao Xueqin went south for a year in the process of writing and revising, and there are two lines in this poem: "The old dream of Qinhuai is still there, and the tragic song of Yanshi is easy to get drunk." These two lines can be followed by the above. The quoted sentences are compared to understand, expressing the same meaning, but emphasizing that "people are still there".The result of my deliberation is: Cao Xueqin and this "person" who can relive the "Qinhuai old dream" together did not meet when he went to Jiangnan this time, they met a long time ago, and they met in "Yanshi", which is Beijing When they met, that woman might have traveled back to Beijing from the place where Qinhuai fell. When she met Cao Xueqin, she lived with Cao Xueqin like the soul of a beautiful girl returning to her original body.Cao Xueqin left Beijing for a year in Jinling. According to Mr. Zhou Ruchang’s textual research, he went to Liangjiang Governor Yin Jishan as a temporary guest. In fact, he went there to complete and revise, experience life and supplement materials.After he came back, Dun Min met him and was very excited. He wrote this poem. The words "people are still there" in the sentence show that the woman who met Cao Xueqin has been sticking to her since Cao Xueqin left Beijing. When I come back, I will continue to "Elegy"-"Elegy" can be understood as writing. Another friend of Cao Xueqin, Zhang Yiquan, mourned him after his death. It also uses "song" as the book, and points out that the book written is a "long dream". Unfortunately, the author of the book has passed away, and the "song" has become "disabled". The lyrics and verses in the above quotes are, after all, written by Cao Xueqin on behalf of the characters in the novel, while Dun Min and Zhang Yiquan are real people in real life. The poems they wrote to Cao Xueqin are not fictional "imaginations", but real ones. Write about Cao Xueqin's living conditions locally.Therefore, we can draw the conclusion that in Cao Xueqin's chapter 80, the plot about Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun's encounter is based on real life.Of course, he uses real life as his material, but when expressing the fate of the character Shi Xiangyun after the 80th chapter, he has changed from the way of writing that basically excludes fiction in the 80th chapter. ", "false language preservation" strength. Someone may ask further, saying that you have said so much now, but I still don't quite believe it.How can you see that after the eighty chapters, Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun will meet again and live together?Can you give more and more solid evidence?I can still bring it up.It has been a long time since the book was written and circulated. Even counting from 1754 when the Jiaxu version appeared, it has been more than 250 years.In the earliest days, it was circulated in the form of manuscripts. The ancient manuscripts we can see now are just a drop in the ocean among the manuscripts circulated back then, and a large number of them were annihilated in the social turmoil.However, from the mid-Qianlong Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, and then to the early Republic of China after the Revolution of 1911, some people recorded in their writings some of the ancient manuscripts they saw. Here are some examples. During the Xianfeng period, there was a man named Zhao Zhiqian who wrote a book called "Zhang An Za Shuo", which recorded the episodes after the eighty chapters that he knew.What did he say?There is "Baoyu as a street soldier, Shi Xiangyun remarried with Baoyu." What is remarriage?It means that the widow remarries, which is a very important clue. Everyone knows that during the Qianlong period, there was a great literati named Ji Yun, that is, Ji Xiaolan. He wrote a book, and later someone wrote a book "Continued Notes of Weicaotang" under the signature of Futang Yishi. The author said that he knew a man named Dai Cheng. My husband, I have seen an "old authentic version", which "is not the same as today" after eighty chapters. The plots in the twenty chapters are completely different.How is it different?He said that the plot in the "Old-Time Authentic Version" is like this: "Ning and Rong lost their titles"--"no titles" meant that they were confiscated by the emperor--"Everyone was extremely depressed, Baochai died early, and Baoyu was unable to be a writer. Falling into the trend of beating the watchman" - "beating the watchman" is to beat more, and there are various ways to beat the watchman. To beat the watchman is to take a box-shaped piece of wood and hit it with a wooden mallet to make a "bang bang" sound. The sound - "Shi Xiangyun is a beggar, and Hou Nai and Baoyu are still married." Moreover, there is a conclusion at the end of this record, saying why there is a chapter in this book called "Because of Qilin Fubai's first double star"?It's because it ended like this. "Because of Qilin Fubai's first double star" in the end, it should be on Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun.The narrator also said that Wu Runsheng Zhongcheng's family still had such a manuscript at that time, and he planned to take the time to visit and borrow it to have a quick look. Such an account, though valuable, is too brief.After reading it, we still have doubts, especially this point: how to understand "white head"?If it is said that Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun grow old together, is it still a comedy after all?And it is a complete idea of ​​a great tragedy. Through the fifth chapter, Cao Xueqin told us very clearly that the final ending is "it's like throwing all the devoured birds into the forest, leaving a piece of white land and it's so clean".If Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun met later, even though they were beggars and their material life was very poor, it would be hard to look back on the past, but after all, the two of them grew up together and had a heart-to-heart relationship. Such a pair of men and women live together. There should still be a sense of happiness in their hearts, not to mention that they will grow old together, and there will be no precipice to let go of Baoyu-and this is also repeatedly hinted at in the first eighty chapters, and repeatedly mentioned in Zhi Yanzhai's comments.It can be seen that "white head" should not mean "grow old together", but that when they met, they turned their heads white because they experienced too much horror and suffering. In fact, there are still many records about the "Old Authentic Version".During the Tongzhi period, another man named Pu Qingshi said that he had read the book "Idiots Talking about Dreams" in the capital. He quoted the records in "Idiots Talking about Dreams" and said that there was an ancient book that said: "Baoyu actually married Xiangyun. Extremely poor." "Collecting briquettes for a living." The so-called briquettes are actually collecting coal cores. People in Beijing used to use coal stoves for heating in the winter. When the briquettes were burned, they turned grayish white, but some did not. Burnt through, the inside of the coal core is still a little black, you can pick it up and use it as fuel, or use it for heating yourself, or sell it to others after processing.According to him, Baoyu and Xiangyun lived by collecting coal cores in the end.It was also written in that book: "Bao and Xiang lived in hunger and cold afterwards, until they lived in the wooden sheds of street soldiers." Fences, but the old Beijingers call it "the rotten son of the big city".During the Qianlong period, it was a commercial street. Each merchant in the street paid some money to purchase a batch of movable fences, which were removed during the day and used to seal off the street at night. Street pawns were responsible for managing the fences and patrolling at night. watchman.Of course, there is more than one street that uses pawns in this way.According to Pu Qingshi, in the plot after the 80th chapter, there is Baoyu and Xiangyun who are poor and have nowhere to live after they meet, Baoyu becomes a street soldier, and the two of them live in the wooden shed where the street soldiers rest at night. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, there was a man named Chen An, who was a little more vocal. He said that he had directly read the "old authentic version". But I did see it.Of course, he may also be bragging, but it is difficult for us to judge now, it is estimated that he has really seen it.Because at that time, discussing, researching, saying that you have seen the real ancient books, you will neither gain fame nor benefit, and the discussion among friends may be very lively, but it is still unpopular to put it on the official stage of society, and the mainstream culture is still Reject this kind of "heresy", so presumably what he said is true. He said that he got a notebook, which he read very carefully. He said that after the eighty chapters, it was written: Xue Baochai died of illness not long after marrying Jia Baoyu.Shi Xiangyun also became a widow not long after his marriage.Later, when Shi Xiangyun and Jia Baoyu met, they got married—knot means marriage.Baoyu used to be a street watcher and lived in a heap.Where is the pile?In Beijing in the Qing Dynasty, on the edge of the city, or on the edge of some alleys, there were some dirty spaces surrounded by dilapidated half-walls, without even a roof, similar to ruins, called piles, where the most helpless poor people stayed overnight The place.This is similar to someone who said before that they saw Baoyu living in a wooden shed on the street after seeing Baoyu in distress. Further down, the content of the "Old Time Authentic Book" provided by Chen An is more specific and exclusive. He said that it is written in the book: One day, the King of Beijing Jing passed by the street—in the eighty chapters, the King of Beijing Jing appeared on the stage , darkly written, side referenced several times, after the eighty chapters, the King of Beijing Jing still exists, and still maintains the original state, which is also reasonable, this role is relatively close to the "Moon School", and between King Zhongshun and the "Sun" School There have been fights against Jiang Yuhan, but his relationship with the emperor has always been relatively harmonious, and he is a figure who can strike a balance in the power game. After the "Four Great Families" were destroyed, he was not punished by the emperor - a servant in front shouted, According to the rules at that time, after hearing the shout, before the nobleman came, all the street soldiers had to come out of the wooden shed or the pile to stand by, but the street soldiers in the pile on the side of the street did not come out, so the servants went In a rage, he rushed inside and pulled out the street pawn, and he was about to beat him up immediately.In this case, the street pawn shouted loudly.When King Beijing heard the voice, he was very familiar with it, so he asked the servants not to beat anyone, and asked them to bring the person who complained of injustice and interrogate him personally.In the end, I brought it over and looked at it, but I didn't recognize it; but when I heard the voice during the interrogation, it was indeed familiar; when I looked closely and thought about it, oh, it was Jia Baoyu.Everyone must still remember the descriptions in the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters about Jia Baoyu's visit to the King of Beijing. Take Jia Baoyu back to the palace and let him talk about the cause and effect.It's a pity that Chen An didn't say more, but what he said is enough to arouse our enthusiasm for searching and reading lost ancient books. These "old authentic" records are not entirely credible. However, although the records in different books by people of different ages are different, there are many similar parts. The same part is Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun. Yes, married.If it is said that some of the plots were born, or even imagined, we should be able to admit the reasonable core of them.How will Cao Xueqin maintain the tragic ending of his entire novel?He will write about Shi Xiangyun's tragic death, and he will write about Jia Baoyu's death on a cliff, completely disappointed in the world, and returning to the heaven.In this regard, it does not conform to the real situation of Cao Xueqin and his cousin Li in life. Although the role of Shi Xiangyun, I have said a few times in the past, the plot in the eighty chapters should be the closest to the prototype of life.虚构成分最少，但是为了保持一个全书的大悲剧结局，他可能不得不在八十回后让史湘云这个角色也终于死掉。这样来处理，会在他的创作心理上形成一些障碍——原型就在身边，角色却还是要写死。我一开始讲史湘云的时候就提出一个问题：为什么史湘云出场前后始终没有一段叙述性的文字来概括她的来龙去脉？就是因为曹雪芹和史湘云原型他们两个斟酌再三，觉得非常为难，你前面都非常真实，可是最后呢，“秦淮旧梦人犹在”，你拿我作原型写成一个艺术形象，到头来却要把角色的生命结束。虽然这样处理原型也能同意，可是怎么来写一段关于这个人物的概括性叙述文字呢？就比较费神思。所以我们现在看到八十回的文本里面，就始终没有一段这样的文字。当然新的问题就来了：既然史湘云的原型就在曹雪芹身边，那么，她会不会就是脂砚斋呢？下一讲，我就来说说自己的见解。