This book is very special. What kind of title can express its nature and genre?At first, without thinking, the seven words that came out of my mouth were: .My daughter and assistant didn't quite agree.Why not?I never asked, and I "reflected", and felt that the first word was too much and wordy; the second word was too rigid, unintelligible, and boring.For example, let’s just talk about the word “true”, and it will lead to doubts: Can your “story” be sure to be “true”?This is going to be a mouthful.I want to use the words "Looking for Dreams in Red Mansions" instead.Although the word "true" can still be deliberated, my original intention is indeed on this word; "true" will always be the highest goal I seek from the beginning to the end.If "Looking for Dreams" is used as the title, what kind of "dream" are you "looking for"?Nothing else, it is still pursuing the truth of Xueqin's original work, that is, its original purpose and basic spirit.

"Pursuing this great purpose and spirit? Do you have such qualifications and talents?" This question made me very ashamed. To be honest, if I had this supernatural power, I would have started writing a long time ago, and I can't wait until today.So, why do you have the "brightness" of self-knowledge, but do such things that you don't know yourself?It's a really difficult topic.In order to avoid complex words, Gu Chen roughly—— In the current standard typesetting edition, the style signed on the cover is "written by Cao Xueqin and Gao E".This is a strange phenomenon, because this famous work was not written by the "writing team" composed of Cao and Gao.At least Cao Xueqin had a draft of the entire book, but it was not enough for the entire book to be compiled and handed down to the world—this fact, that is, the "second half" and "the last thirty chapters" revealed in Zhi Yanzhai's comments [Note 1] Several plots, chapters, and words in the novel prove that there is no doubt about the fact that Xueqin has the complete manuscript.The eighty-back banknotes [Note 2] had been circulated by the time of Qianlong Renwu (27th year, 1762) at the latest.However, Gao E and others continued to write forty chapters, put them together at the back of the book, and pretended to be a "complete" version. It has been a long time since Xueqin passed away. Isn't it a big strange thing to sign the book "Written by Cao Xueqin and Gao E"?

Judging from the poems left by Gao E, it can be seen that his thoughts, temperament, handwriting, spiritual wisdom, realm... are not too close to Cao Xueqin, the distance is like Qin Chu, and Hu Yue is really like Hu Yue.How can such two very different minds and hearts be in a relationship of "cooperation" and "symbiosis" in literature and art?These two people, even if they wrote in the same year and the same month, they can't be put together, let alone make up a "whole" and "complete book".In whose name do you entrust your copyright and cultural honor?How can we allow upside down chaos?

Some people always think that Gao E’s continuation is also a painstaking effort, even if the writing skills are not as good as the original work, it is forgivable and there is no need to criticize it. It is often seen that the commentators who hold this seemingly fair view are because they cannot predict However, Gao's continuation is not just a "literary activity", but actually a political conspiracy with a backstage mastermind.This fact was narrated by Song Xiangfeng at home in the Qing Dynasty, and recorded by Kamensky in Russia overseas. It is known that the co-author was co-planned by Qianlong and Heshen, concocted by Cheng Gao and other scribes, and finally compiled by the Sikuquanshu Department of the Palace of Martial Arts in the Palace. Specially designed for wood typesetting - that is, officially licensed and monopolized new books!

This is very clear: the latter part of Xueqin's original manuscript was secretly withdrawn or destroyed by them-this is exactly the way "Siku Quanshu" has always secretly smuggled secret copies of ancient books. It can be seen from this that the forty chapters of the sequel are deliberately arranged for the purpose of tampering with Xueqin's original text. That being the case, all those who read and understood the insider deception at that time and later generations had a strong desire: since the original work of Xueqin is no longer visible, they would like to know the general situation of the original work, such as the occurrence and development of major plot accidents , the joys and sorrows of the fate of the characters, the echoes of the chapters and structures, the re-understanding and thinking of the whole book as a whole...

I am myself one of those readers who has this unusually strong desire. To express this desire in the simplest terms, there are only two words: seeking truth.Finding the truth is really the hardest thing in the world. First, the fake "Dream of Red Mansions", which has accumulated two hundred years of habit, firmly and stubbornly hinders the efforts to find the truth. All work and results. Therefore, in order to find the truth, on the one hand, we must do positive and active work of seeking, and on the other hand, we must spend energy and energy to break the accumulated forces that defend the false and fear the true.

This situation is sometimes very violent.Finding the truth is difficult, the first is this, and most people may not realize it for a while. As for the difficulty of finding the truth itself, there is no need for Xu Xu, because anyone can imagine, at least part of it.For example, the search for information, the analysis of data, the verification of evidence, the interaction of different... and so on.This is "that's all", the most difficult thing is that even if the materials, evidence, information, textual research, etc. are not a problem, their total amount is still very limited, and at best they are not enough to provide "retelling" (not restoration) There are still many gaps in the latter part of the original work.

Furthermore, the evidence and information that can be possessed are generally fragmentary claws, that is, individual, scattered, lonely, bit by bit... .How difficult it is to conceive a complete "full dragon" from such fragmented fragments can be self-explanatory without further explanation. And that's not all.If this "full dragon" is just a frozen specimen of a picture, it may still be able to be displayed in a decisive manner.But here lies the problem: if you want to find the truth, then the truth must be a living dragon like the previous eighty chapters.If all you find are the remains or fossils of some dead dragons, then even the first half of the living ones will be exhausted to death.This difficulty is the total focus of all difficulties.

This is the real reason why some people say that there is no way to continue Xueqin's original book, and that if it is continued, it will fail. This small book, in view of the difficulties mentioned above and my own limited ability, I dare not make any "continuation book", but it is different from the textual research paper of "Exploring Lost Studies".This is just to "tell" the general plot story after the 80th chapter, and it does not list the source, reasoning process, etc. when telling the story, but only tells some research results that I personally think are closer to the original work and the corresponding "connections" ".Because it is not a "story" (or its fragments) without concatenated structures, and to allow concatenated structures must allow some necessary and appropriate imagination—or it can be said to be a reasonable deduction.In fact, if you don't tell it like this, you won't be able to "study".Speaking of this, it shows the truth of the matter: unless Xueqin's original work is miraculously discovered again, it will be the real "true"-but if then, why should anyone bother to find out? Do you try your best to find the truth?Therefore, when there is no hope of reappearing the original work, our goal can only be to move towards the realm of "near truth" step by step-this is the true meaning of the word "seeking".

Another point is that the biggest feature of Xueqin's book is a kind of poetic expression and poetic realm that covers the whole. Without this, there will be nothing.Related to this breathing, there is another general understanding of the inner activities and spiritual world of Baoyu, the protagonist of the book, which should also be gradually upgraded.What we appreciate the most is actually not those "plot stories", not detective or martial arts novels, not relying on bizarre, thrilling or "suspense" to attract people.Just a bunch of "plots" doesn't produce real charm.Therefore, after finding the truth, one must find the soul of the poem, the temperament and richness of the poet-this is the pinnacle or core of all difficulties!How can we mere mortals be competent for such a heavy and huge project? !

I deeply feel that the difficulties mentioned above are enormous; but I also deeply believe that while the readers are waiting patiently for a real competent person, they will not reject the attempt of a true pavement pavement of the level of this book. .The above mentioned are all about the "first part" of this book - the whole book is divided into two parts: the first part is the story, and the second part is the thesis.The thesis can also be said to be the preparation or foundation of the story. Many major issues are researched in the thesis, which can echo the story.Because these texts have been scattered in various newspapers and periodicals over the years, readers have found it difficult to read them, so they have selected a part to be included in the second half of this book, which can be used for discussion and correction.This is indeed a modest gift, please accept it. Zhou Ruchang Jiaxu twelfth lunar month Yu Jintai Red Temple ~~~~~~~~ [Note 1] Zhipi mentioned "the second half", "back chapters" and "dozens of chapters after the chapters" many times, but only "thirty chapters after the chapters" Thirty Chapters") put it most clearly.However, the comment of "thirty chapters" actually refers to the original manuscript only up to seventy-eight chapters, so the total number of chapters was originally 78+30=108.Xueqin's original manuscripts remained, until the seventy-eighth chapter of Baoyu's reading of "Furongyue", there was no further text, and the surviving "Mongolian King's Mansion Version" and "Qi Preface Version" still have this true appearance.The short paragraph at the end of the chapter and the following two chapters are all added by others to make up the integer "eighty" for the convenience of copying and popularization, and they are no longer Xueqin's original writing. [Note 2] The "eighty chapters" of Xueqin's original work is a popular and convenient reference, which is not precise.In fact, among the other seventy-eight chapters, the sixty-fourth and sixty-seventh chapters and some small incomplete parts are really missing (the current biography has also been repaired by another trial).This situation was caused by Xueqin’s interference, hindrance, destruction, poverty, and instability of living conditions and misfortunes when she was writing that day. The evidence is clear.