Chapter 67 if the story is over

The original title of this book is "Looking for Dreams in Red Mansions" or "A True Dream in Red Mansions", because it is simple and neat, and fits the unique style and rhythm of the Chinese language.But I also remembered that Guo Zeyun had written a play during the period of the Republic of China (an ancient Yuan and Ming opera style), called "A Dream of Red Mansions", and used the current wordy title for fear of relapse.I don't like it in my heart, but I don't have the talent to come up with another good name, so I just call it that. Although the title of the book is not pleasant, there is still a point of merit, that is, the word "true" is highlighted.Let's call it "just enough".

However, "truth" is protruding, but as mentioned in the preface, how to prove its "truth"?What is your real basis for this? After reading this book, readers will also have this question.How dare I boast about my "truth" and self-confidence, and there will be different opinions wherever I go; but I have one more thing to guarantee: no matter how low my "truth" is, if you want to ask questions, it will always be higher than the fake continuation Much more true.So this "truth" is a relative term, and I don't dare to pretend to be Xueqin's original true face.

If you ask the basis, it is actually very simple: Xueqin has already "told" us in the first 80 chapters of these large outlines and key items, but those who have read them carelessly cannot understand them.Of course, we must also mention Zhi Yan's comments, which have greatly enlightened us, as if they have improved our talents and wisdom. But in any case, if you want to connect it into a tellable and readable "story" on the basis of "basis" and "enlightenment", you have to add the work of business creation.At the beginning, I set my own "principle": strictly limit the narrative and not include the nature of "imitation" and "sequel".I have complied with this.However, it was later discovered that some "plots" are sufficient to use narration, while many other contents cannot be written at all by narration alone-that is, they cannot be expressed, nor can they be read and accepted.So I had no choice but to consider and refer to some "literary techniques" based on the original principles in order to make the writing suitable for the purpose.This is indeed a contingency, but it does not violate the spirit of the established principles.

I wrote this story and divided it into ten parts, with a total of sixty-two sections; excluding the miscellaneous matters, it took fifty days for verification.I wrote it very freely and smoothly, without any "embarrassment" of thinking hard.Some people praised it as "the writing is like a structure", and "it comes out naturally like flowing clouds and flowing water".I don't dare to take on this, I just don't hold back and pretend. One more point, that is, I will never mix in the words and patterns that are popular today, because there should be a "historical sense of time" here. Many words that people say and write today will not appear in the "time". .

Over the years, several friends have urged me to do this experiment. Liu Minru, an old colleague from the publishing house in the 1960s, was the first one. He advised me to "continue", I thanked him and said, how did I have such a great talent?Don't dare to have such delusions.He insisted: "I think you can do it! Others may not be able to pick it up." In the summer of 1987, when I met with Professor Gao Yougong of Princeton University, he asked me to "make up the key points first!" Too late to start.Last winter, I was invited to give a lecture on "Red Mansion" at China University of Political Science and Law, which inevitably involved the issue of Gao Xu's fake Red Mansion, and the students and audience showed strong interest and concern for the original "Red Mansion".After returning home, my daughter said to me: Why don't you introduce the true story you think to readers in a popular way?I listened, and on a whim, like a joke, I replied: "Okay, I will try." With just two sentences like this, I started the work "dramatically".

Now thick and rough.There are also some stories about Jia Lan, Jia Yucun, Sun Shaozu, Liu Xianglian, Xue Pan, Lai Shangrong, etc., which are not briefly described. This is because I did not focus on those "turbid things". There is no plan to talk about everything, so it is a book with selective focus. People say "throwing bricks to attract jade", but I don't know what I'm throwing here?I am afraid that even the bricks will not be enough.As for jade, I think it must be because I don't have to wait for bricks anymore, so I am attracted by my "not enough bricks", so what a blessing.

I am here to mourn Comrade Liu Minru - he died of a heart attack at the Xianning Cadre School in Hubei.In the evening of that day, I returned to the "camp" from working in the vegetable garden, and saw a group of people covered with something like a large white mosquito net, and there seemed to be a person lying inside, but I still couldn't figure out what was going on.After dinner, I heard people say that Comrade Minru fell ill and died in the field—that’s why he was sent “to rest in the ground” just now! ... I never imagined that my farewell to him would be like that.Now I consolate this booklet to his heroic spirit, I wonder if I can still agree with it with a smile?

There are also my dead relatives and brothers, and I offer them here. Zhou Ruchang The ninth day of February in Yihai, after the Waking of Insects Festival. At the "Wuzhou Hotel" in the suburbs of Beijing. [postscript] To examine the ending of attacking people, see my book "New Thoughts on the Structure of the Brushwork in a Dream of Red Mansions" ("Literary Heritage" No. 2, 1995), which is not included in this book. Yihai Dragon Boat Festival