Chapter 45 Chapter 44 "Serial Counting"

Eileen Chang put a lot of effort into Hongxue, focusing on the study of versions (transcripts). All the "five details" are actually "serial schemes" that link back and forth.As she said, when Cao Xueqin was writing, she might not always have a complete manuscript at hand, maybe there were only a few chapters of a certain part. Different from each other...This speculation is relatively close to reality, and it can be described as a clear theory. But even though this generalization is close to the truth, there is still an accompanying problem, that is, leaving aside the manuscripts first, the situation that there are readers and sellers who have re-copied the fragments that have been scattered for a long time must also be investigated. The living conditions of the author Xueqin, displacement and migration, "giving food to relatives and friends"... the special experiences of many variations can help to judge the general process of her writing.That is to say, if one "isolates" a manuscript, it is not necessarily possible to see various complex phenomena in it.

In this respect, she does not seem to pay much attention. For example, among the limited historical materials we know, Duncheng's "Send Huai Cao Xueqin" is very important. Therefore, the poem was written by Ding Chou in the 22nd year of Qianlong, which was the third year after Jiaxu in the 19th year. At the end of the poem, Xueqin is advised not to be a diner and to visit rich people, "it is better to write a book about Huangye Village".It can be deduced from this: Before Ding Chou, Xueqin was working as a diner and guest of honor to finalize several chapters of the "Jiaxu Version".Ding Chou's poem proves that he has left the city and came to the mountain village in the western suburbs, but it is not far from when he was a diner.

From this point of view, it should be that Xueqin worked as a Xibin in one of the right-wing sects, next to Dun Huibo Fuliang's family, and lived a stable life. The writing of "Jiaxu Version" was quite smooth and efficient. After he was expelled by his master for "literary but not good (four tones of xing)", he went to the mountain village, and he will not live until the 20th year of Yihai and the 21st year of Bingzi. Then, there is a folder in the "Gengchen Ben" that is preserved today, which says "Qingzi on the seventh day of May in the 21st year of Qianlong. Missing Mid-Autumn Festival poems, waiting for Xueqin." This shows that it was a record when he arrived in the mountain village. At least it was written to the Xth time.After Ding Chou came Wuyin, Jimao, Gengchen, Xinsi, Renwu, and Guiwei.

From Wuyin to Jiashen, Dunmin left "Maozhai Poetry Notes Donggao Collection", in which there are many poems chanting Xueqin. This also makes us know that Xueqin once traveled south between Jimao and Gengchen, and returned north after more than a year.It was at this time that Zhiyan was criticizing books on the winter night of Jimao. Both "Ji Mao" and "Geng Chen" have notes of "four reading and commenting".In this fourth review, there are batches added to each review, rather than each batch must be "systematic and comprehensive" from beginning to end.So there is a phenomenon that although the status is in the front, the plot of the criticism is in the back.

Zhang Ailing's vision was disturbed by this phenomenon, and it was decided that it was a writing method of "big moving" after the demolition moved forward. When Xueqin was extremely sleepy, the place where she lived was just a table and a tree, no paper, and she took off the old almanac leaves to write on the back... From this, it can be imagined that at that time, there was no food and clothing, paper and pens were incomplete, and I stopped working from time to time.Therefore, there must be a small loss of light in the details and failure to "unify". Zhang Ailing didn't take this into account, and decided that it was necessary for creation, major demolition, major relocation, and based on some trivial signs, it was judged that a certain chapter was sooner or later, that certain chapters were early drafts, and certain chapters were written later... .So a "Red Mansion" is full of noise, piled up and put together - this kind of impression is left on the readers.

Is it so?It is still difficult to make a final decision. This is a bit of a contradiction: since it is so clear and logical as she described in detail, how can it be called "Nightmare"?If you do textual research and write articles in "Nightmare", can Aneng be so detailed? She disagreed that the "Jiaxu Version" was the earliest text, but she also called it "1754 Version". 1754 is the year of Jiaxu.What should be the explanation? Mr. Zhao Gang, another edition expert of Hongxue, also believes that the "Jiaxu Version" has traces that can be found later than the Jiaxu Year.In fact, the "Jiaxu Version" that exists today is also an over-recorded thread binding, not the original copy of Jiaxu.The use of words and additions later than 1754 appeared on the above, can it overthrow the basic concept of "Jiaxu version"?It seems to be under investigation.

Jiaxu called "re-evaluation", and the initial evaluation should be earlier.Jimao and Gengchen called it "four readings and comments", so "Bingzi's review of Qing Dynasty" should be "three comments".After Zhiyan's phantom name "Wat", it was approved again in Renwu and Dinghai.However, it seems that there is no so-called "Renwu version" and "Dinghai version" handed down, and it seems that they were added to the earlier old version. "The bride is drifting away", the fat inkstone is still there, "one celery and one fat", painful words are heard.

The poem says: The "detailed" version has profound skills, and it is always worth a thousand dollars. If the separation is clear, how can the "nightmare" find itself again.