Chapter 5 Section 4: The Immortality of Shinto and the Romance of Celebrities——Novels of Strange Stories and Strange People

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the political situation was turbulent, the world was in turmoil, and dynasties changed extremely frequently.The rulers rewarded and killed indiscriminately, causing many members of the ruling group to gain and lose quickly, life and death are impermanent, psychologically tense, depressed, feel empty and boring, life is shameless, indulgent, and drunk.The sinister political situation drove a large number of literati to take the road of escaping politics and reality.At that time, seclusion was the norm.Some people talk all day long and ignore world affairs, and take this as noble.Some people are bohemian, drunk and pretend to be crazy, so as to cover up their inner political depression.Some people retreat to the countryside, do not contend with the world, and pursue leisure and leisure far away from the hustle and bustle of the world.Some people escaped into Buddhism, fasted and observed the Buddha, trying to find spiritual sustenance from Buddhism.Some people concoct alchemy and take medicine in the hope of longevity. This is another way to avoid reality.They all keep a distance from politics in various ways to protect themselves.The society talks about superstition, praises the supernatural, and makes a fuss about ghosts and gods, resulting in a large number of strange novels about ghosts.

The themes of ghost novels come from myths, religious stories, folklore, strange people and strange events in reality in history, and legends of geography and natural history.The authors of strange novels include princes and ministers, such as Zhongshu Ling Zhang Hua (author of "Natural History") during the Western Jin Dynasty; there are historians, such as Gan Bao of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (author of "Sou Shen Ji"); The author of "Supplements of Relics"); there is the famous mathematician Zu Chongzhi (author of "Shu Yi Ji").Since the authors of ghost novels come from different classes and have different education and life experiences, it is not surprising that the ideological tendencies of ghost novels are complicated.They either promote karma, praise the appearance of Buddha statues, criticize corrupt officials, sing the praises of sincere love, or depict strange scenery.The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties can be called the golden age of ghost novels, and Gan Bao's "Sou Shen Ji" is one of the best.Ganbao, courtesy name Lingsheng, was born in Xincai (now Xincai, Henan).He was a famous historian in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He once led the history of the country with his writings, and later served as the prefect and the regular servant of Sanqi.He wrote 20 volumes of "Jin Ji", which was called "Good History" at that time.Ganbao's "yin and yang spells with good sex" are based on ghosts and gods. The original book of "Sou Shen Ji" is no longer available.The current 20-volume "Sou Shen Ji" was collected by later generations from Tang and Song books such as "Fa Yuan Zhu Lin" and "Tai Ping Guang Ji". Some of the themes in "Sou Shen Ji" are collected from the folk, and the author's attitude is that if there are monsters, they must be recorded. Therefore, in addition to the stories of telepathy, ghosts, dreams, and monsters, there are also some healthy and vivid stories.

This is a moving work in Volume 11 of "Sou Shen Ji".King Song Kang coveted Han Ping's wife He's beauty, so he arrested Han Ping and punished him with hard labor, and took He's as his own.He secretly asked someone to send a letter to her husband, expressing her determination to die in love with poems.Han Ping committed suicide shortly after receiving the letter.After He heard the news, he jumped off the high platform and died.Before she died, she left a last word, hoping to be buried in the same cave as Han Ping.Song Kangwang became angry when he learned about it, and deliberately buried them on both sides.Unexpectedly, two acacia trees grew overnight on the tombs of the two, "the roots intersect at the bottom, and the branches intersect at the top", and a pair of mandarin ducks perched on the trees, "not leaving morning and evening, necking and mourning, The sound is touching".People say that this pair of mandarin ducks is the soul of Han Ping and his wife.

This article can be found in Volume 19 of "Sou Shen Ji".In the mountainous areas of the eastern part of Fujian, giant pythons have devastated them.The officials listened to Wu Zhu's words and forced the girl to feed the snake.Over the years, nine innocent girls have died in the snake's belly.The girl Li Ji went forward with all her might. She took a sharp sword, food, and hounds, and killed the giant python in one fell swoop, eliminating a great disaster for the place.The structure of the full text is complete, and the image of a brave, decisive and alert young girl is also quite distinct, which can be called a leader among ghosts.

This is a revenge story that has been widely circulated.Liu Xiang's "Biography of Lieshi", "Taiping Yulan" Volume 364, the lost text of "Wu Yue Chunqiu", Cao Pi's "Lie Yi Zhuan", and Gan Bao's "Sou Shen Ji" are all recorded.Among them, "Sou Shen Ji" is the most detailed and vivid.The plot of the story is roughly as follows: General Mo Xie casts a sword for the king of Chu, one female and one male.It took three years of hard work to succeed.He knew that the king of Chu thought he was slow and would harm him, so he asked his wife who was pregnant at the time to hide the sword, and if he gave birth to a boy in the future, he could avenge his father when he became an adult.Sure enough, the king of Chu killed Mo Xie.When Chibi, Moxie's posthumous son, grows up, he finds Xiongjian and waits for an opportunity to take revenge when he learns how his father was brutally murdered.After the king of Chu heard the news, he offered a reward all over the country to hunt down Chibi.Chibi was wandering in the mountains and met a knight.The knight said that as long as Chibi gave him his head and sword, he could take revenge for Chibi.Chibi immediately slayed himself without hesitation, "holding his head and sword with both hands".The knight offered his head and sword to the king of Chu, who was overjoyed.The knight asked the king of Chu to boil the head in a soup wok.The king of Chu went to watch, and the knights took advantage of his unpreparedness and assassinated him.The knight also killed himself at the same time.The three heads were boiled together in a soup wok, making them unrecognizable.The Chu people had no choice but to bury the three together, calling it the "Tomb of the Three Kings".There are not many words in the story, but it is full of waves and touching.The cruelty and stupidity of the king of Chu, Chibi's swearing to the death for revenge, and the courage, wisdom, bravery and deepness of the chivalrous men all leave an unforgettable impression on people.

The story can be found in Volume 11 of "Sou Shen Ji".In the Han Dynasty, there was a filial woman Zhou Qing in Donghai.Her mother-in-law hanged herself for fear of dragging her down.The sister-in-law falsely accuses Zhou Qing of hanging her mother, and the government arrests Zhou Qing.Under torture, Zhou Qing framed himself as a murderer.Before his execution, Zhou Qing swore that if he was really guilty, the blood would flow down his neck; if he was not guilty, the blood would flow backwards.After the execution, he saw blood flowing backwards in his neck and flew up to the flagpole.After Zhou Qing's death, there was a severe drought for three years.The story strongly accuses fatuous officials of killing innocent people indiscriminately.The famous drama of Guan Hanqing in the Yuan Dynasty was obviously inspired by this story.

This article first appeared in Cao Pi's "Lie Yi Zhuan", titled "Zong Dingbo".Later, it was included in "Sou Shen Ji" and compiled into Volume 16 as "Song Dingbo".This is a story of a man playing tricks on ghosts.Song Dingbo of Nanyang met a ghost while walking at night, and he lied that he was also a ghost.After walking for several miles, the ghost suggested that walking was too tiring and suggested taking turns carrying the burden.The ghost carries Dingbo on his back, thinking that Dingbo is too heavy, and has doubts about Dingbo's identity.Song Dingbo explained: "I died newly, so Chong'er." He cleverly concealed the past.When crossing the river, the ghost made no sound, but Song Dingbo made the water splash.As a result, the ghost's suspicion was once again aroused.Song Dingbo covered it up again with "the new dead are not used to crossing water".Song Dingbo chatted with ghosts along the way, and heard from ghosts' mouths that ghosts are afraid of people's spit.When approaching Wanshi, Song Dingbo lifted the ghost up high, and the ghost screamed in horror.Song Dingbo ignored him.When he arrived in Wanshi, Song Dingbo threw the ghost on the ground, and the ghost turned into a sheep.Song Dingbo spit on it to stop it from changing, and sold the ghost for 1,500 yuan.

The whole story is full of witty and relaxed comedy mood, full of the superiority of human beings over ghosts.Song Dingbo is full of confidence in his own wisdom, and plays with ghosts and ghosts in his hands.The story obviously has the characteristics of folk literature. In terms of rich content and beautiful writing style, Liu Yiqing's "You Ming Lu" in the Southern Dynasty is no less than Gan Bao's "Sou Shen Ji".Liu Yiqing, a native of Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu).He is the clan of the Liu Song Dynasty, heir to the king of Linchuan, and once served as the governor of Jingzhou and the governor of Nanyanzhou.Liu Yiqing loves literature, and his diction is called "the epitome of the clan" in historical biography. The original book of "You Ming Lu" has long been lost. Lu Xun's "Ancient Novels Gou Shen" has 265 lost articles in "You Ming Lu", which is the most complete collection. "You Ming Lu" records more anecdotes and strange events during the Jin and Song Dynasties, with a strong flavor of life and more extensive and rich materials.

Most of the monsters in the Six Dynasties are simple and unpretentious, with less exaggeration, less pretense, and less embellishment. The art of novels as a whole is still in its infancy.However, there are also a few works among Six Dynasties Zhiguai, which are outstanding and highly readable, from which we can see the traces of the transition from immature to sophisticated, from unconscious to conscious in ancient novels. "Liu Chen Ruan Zhao" in "You Ming Lu" is such a work.This novel tells the story of a love between a human and an immortal.Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao lost their way deep in the mountains, met a fairy by chance, and they formed a happy relationship.Obviously, this is a folklore that has been embellished by literati.The story takes place in Tiantai Mountain, which has a peculiar and magnificent scenery. The mysterious atmosphere of the mountains and rivers undoubtedly adds to the romance of the love story.Psychologically speaking, it also makes it easier for readers to accept some bizarre plots in the novel.Following the gaze of the protagonist, the author uses "the steep rocks and deep streams, and there is no way to climb. Climbing vines and kudzu is the best", and in just 16 words, he wrote the cold and dangerous environment of Tiantai Mountain.In an inaccessible remote mountain, two women with "excellent aptitude" suddenly appeared.Liu and Ruan were strangers to them, but they could call them "Liu and Ruan Erlang".Not only did he know the names of the two uninvited guests, but he also knew their experiences of getting lost in the mountains.Liu and Ruan heard the fairy call their surname directly, "If it seems old, it's Xinxi to meet each other."At the end of the day, when I suddenly met such two enthusiastic, generous and beautiful women, the joy overwhelmed the surprise.However, after all, things are suspicious.Therefore, until the time of "drinking and having fun", Liu and Ruan are still "combined with each other".In the end, as a newlywed, the doubts and fears were gradually eliminated, and I only felt that "the voice is clear and gentle, making people forget their worries".Although Taoyuan is good, after all, it is not a place to stay for a long time, so I feel homesick.After returning to his hometown, "the old relatives were scattered, the towns and houses were changed, and we never knew each other again. I asked about the seventh generation of grandchildren, and it was rumored that the last life went to the mountains, and I couldn't return." The theory of "seven generations of grandchildren" has a sense of melancholy that "seven days in the mountain, a thousand years have passed in the world", which dyes the whole love story with a touch of sadness.This is undoubtedly a projection of that era.

The plot is complete, the imagination is romantic, and it is full of breath of life, reflecting people's longing for healthy love in troubled times.The plot is surreal, but the psychological reaction of the protagonist is realistic.The author's grasp of the protagonist's psychological state is accurate and delicate, and this psychological state is consistent with the readers' life experience, so it is easy for readers to accept.This story was very influential, and poets cited it as a fact, and later novelists and dramatists wrote many works based on it.From Pu Songling's "Pianpian", we can still see the influence of the stories of Liu and Ruan.

Zhiguai of the Six Dynasties mostly wrote about the love between man and god, and between man and ghost, but "The Girl Selling Hufen" in "You Ming Lu" used romantic imagination to describe the love story of a pair of ordinary young men and women.The outline of the story is as follows: A young man from a rich family fell in love with a woman who sold hufen.Perhaps due to the shackles of ethical codes, or the difference in social status between the two families, the son of the rich family did not explain to his parents, nor did he ask someone to match him. Instead, he expressed his love in a very special way, "Naito Buy powder, go to the market every day, and go when you get powder.”After a long time, this "customer" who came to buy hufen every day finally aroused the suspicion of the woman selling hufen.The rich man explained the truth, and the fan girl was moved by the rich man's infatuation, and finally agreed with her body.Unexpectedly, extreme joy begets grief, the son of a rich family died suddenly while making love, and the girl selling fans was at a loss and left quietly.Thus, the plot took a sharp turn for the worse.The parents of the rich family found the fan girl based on the clue of more than one hundred bags of Hu fans in the family.The fan girl frankly explained how she fell in love with the rich man.The parents of the rich family didn't believe it, so they sued the government.Beside the corpse, the fan girl said earnestly: "Unfortunately, I died. If the dead soul has a spirit, why should I regret it!" As a result, the rich man came back to life, "with the expressiveness. Then he became a husband and wife, and his children and grandchildren prospered."In the first half of the story, the author focuses on portraying the infatuation of the rich family through the plot of buying Hu fans.But the girl who sells fans does not know the inside story, and is in a passive position in the story, her thinking and character are still vague.In the second half of the story, there are ups and downs, the plot unfolds rapidly, and the fan girl becomes the center of description.She didn't want to shirk her responsibility, and didn't consider the possibility of being implicated, so she frankly admitted her relationship with the rich family.She felt very sad about the unfortunate death of her lover, and expressed that she had no regrets in dying for this precious and short-lived relationship.So far, the infatuation of the girl who sells fans has been portrayed more powerfully than that of the rich man. There are so many stories about ghosts in Zhiguai in the Six Dynasties, their ideological tendencies are very different, and they cannot be generalized in terms of art. "New Dead Ghost" in "You Ming Lu" is the most interesting ghost story.The story tells that a new ghost meets an old ghost and asks for advice on how to cheat food.The old ghost taught him to make monsters and monsters, "People will be terrified, so they should be eaten with food."So, the new ghost came to a Buddhist family.The family had a mill, and the ghost went to grind the mill. The owner of the family said to the children: "The Buddha has pity on our poor family, and asked the ghost to help us grind the mill." He added some wheat to the mill.Tired for a day, the new ghost left frustrated and scolded the old ghost.The old ghost told him that if he went again tomorrow, he would gain something.The next day, the new ghost went to another family.The family believed, and the ghost went to pound the valley again, but it turned out to be another day of work in vain, and nothing was found.The new ghost was furious, thinking that the old ghost was playing tricks on him, so he scolded the old ghost again.The old ghost told him that these two families practice Buddhism and Taoism, "the love is hard to move", if you go again and find an ordinary family, you will surely get your wish.Sure enough, the new ghost came to an ordinary person's house, picked up a white dog and walked in the air.The family was taken aback and asked for a fortune-telling.The result of the divination said that the dog must be killed, and fruits, wine and rice sacrifices should be prepared, and then nothing will happen.The new ghost had a hearty meal.From then on, he often played tricks to cheat food, which was taught by the old ghost.The author describes the cowardice of the new ghost in a teasing tone, and describes how he tried to scare people and cheat food when he first acted strangely, but it was ridiculous that he was tired all day without the food.The author endows ghosts with human thinking and character, while retaining the characteristics of ghosts that can stir up monsters. It is humorous, alternate between reality and fantasy, writing about ghosts without the disease of terror, and talking about ghosts with the interest of the world.The author's original intention is to say that ghosts are afraid of Buddhism and Taoism, but what readers feel is mainly the ridiculousness of new ghosts. Compared with the novels of later generations, Zhiguai can only be regarded as the embryonic form of novels.It often lacks a complete plot, let alone a characterization of the characters.The authors of Zhiguai did not realize that they were creating literature, but recorded strange people and strange things as facts.Zhiguai lacks literary fiction and exaggeration, but Zhiguai has provided a lot of material and rich imagination for the novels of later generations.Tangren's novels (legends) directly inherited the tradition of Zhiguai, showing a strong interest in strange people and strange things.The legends "Ancient Mirror" and "Bujiang Zongbaiyuan Biography" in the early Tang Dynasty left traces of the transition from ghosts to legends.After the Tang Dynasty, the creation of the integration of ghosts and ghosts has not been interrupted."Yi Jian Zhi" by Hong Mai from the Song Dynasty, and some of the works by Ji Yun and Pu Songling from the Qing Dynasty belong to Zhiguai.Pu claimed in his preface: "Talent is not a treasure, but Ya loves to search for gods; love is like Huangzhou, and people like to talk about ghosts." Pu Songling's love and admiration for "Sou Shen Ji" and the inspiration from ghosts are all It can be seen from this. The Han Dynasty paid attention to township evaluation and selection, and the selection of talents adopted the system of inspection and examination.Guo Tai in the late Han Dynasty claimed to be a lesson in human relations, and Xu Shao had the so-called "Runan Yuedan Commentary".There is an atmosphere of criticizing people in society.During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, talk was advocated, and they paid attention to the tolerance and grace of speech.Reviews and flaunts are popular.Once the item is titled, the value doubles.Someone recorded this kind of thing and made it into a book, which became popular in the world.Pei Qi's "Yu Lin", Guo Chengzhi's "Guo Zi", and Liu Yiqing's are such books.This is the so-called Zhiren novel, or anecdotal novel.The one compiled by Liu Yiqing is a representative of anecdotal novels. During the reign of Emperor Wen of the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty, Liu Yiqing, king of Linchuan, summoned a group of literati to write a book on the basis of books such as "Yu Lin" and "Guo Zi". A collection of conversations and anecdotes of celebrities from the end of Han Dynasty to the Eastern Jin Dynasty.During the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang, Liu Jun annotated it, citing more than 400 books and supplementing a large amount of historical materials.There are not many ancient books cited, so Liu's Notes are cherished by later generations.It vividly describes the romantic affairs of celebrities at that time who emphasized family status, valued flaunting, valued pomp, loved gossip, indulged in enjoyment, and abandoned world affairs.Celebrities pay attention to the so-called "graciousness", they must hide their secrets and show their emotions and anger. In "Shi Shuo Xin Yu · Grace", the grace and open-mindedness of celebrities are capitalized.When Gu Yong was watching the game of chess with his colleagues, he suddenly got the sad news of the loss of his son.He looked calm and continued to play chess.At the same time, he desperately pinched the palm of his hand with his nails, causing blood to stain the production mattress.Ji Kang, a famous scholar of a generation, "played the piano without changing his expression" before his execution.Xie An was playing chess with others, when suddenly, Xie Xuan, Xie An's nephew and the commander of the Feishui front line, sent a letter.After reading the letter, Xie An remained calm, turned around and continued playing chess.The guests asked anxiously: "What did the letter say about the situation on the front line?" Xie An replied indifferently: "The child won a big victory." A celebrity must have quick thinking, clear answers, meaningful and thought-provoking words.The speech response of celebrities in uppercase and lowercase.Yu Liang went to visit Zhou Boren.Zhou Boren asked Yu Liang: "Why are you so happy and fat?" Yu Liang asked Zhou Boren, "Why are you so sad and thin?" Zhou Boren replied: "I don't have any sadness, but I feel refreshed every day, and the dregs on my body The filth is decreasing day by day." Zhizhan once served as the prefect of the four counties, the general Hu Cao joined the army, and later served as the internal history of the county, but he was only 29 years old at the time.Wang Dun said to him, "It's too early for you to become a high-ranking official before you're thirty." Zhizhan replied, "Compared with you, General, I'm certainly a little earlier. But, compared to 12 years old Compared with Gan Luo, who worshiped Shangqing, I am too late." He made a broad description of the life of the upper class at that time. Cao Zhi's seven-step poem in "Literature" left behind the famous line "It was originally born from the same root, so why is it too urgent to fry each other?" Shi Chong's banquet in "Exhausting Extravagance" left a deep impression on us about the cruelty of Shi Chong and Wang Dun. The language of the poem is concise and implicit, the tone is Bixiao, vivid and vivid.What the pen and ink touches is often not a major event, nor a person's life.It is often just a small fragment or a small shot taken from life. With a few words, it grasps the subtlety and vividness of the characters and plots, and adds a little bit of color to it, so as to highlight a certain aspect of the character's thinking and personality.For example, the story of Wang Lantian eating chicken in "Wrath" is very vivid and vivid: "Wang Lantian is impatient. He tasted the chicken and stabbed it with chopsticks. If he couldn't get it, he was furious and threw it to the ground. The chicken fell to the ground." Before the circle stopped, he still went down to the ground and used his clogs to shove it, but he couldn't do it. He was so angry that he returned to the ground and put it in his inner mouth, bit it and spit it out." A series of hasty, thoughtless movements portrayed Wang Lantian's impatience and irritability. angry character. Just as Hu Yinglin of the Ming Dynasty said in "Shaoshi Shanfang Bi Cong": "Reading his language, the faces of Jin people are suddenly vivid, but simple and mysterious, and the truth is endless." Strange things", "Picking up people's tooth wisdom", "Deep love", etc., all come from. It has a great influence on later generations, and there are endless imitators. "Xu Shi Shuo New Book" by Wang Fangqing is included in the miscellaneous category of "New Book of Tang·Yi Wen Zhi".In the Song Dynasty, there were Wang Yu's "Tang Yulin" and Kong Pingzhong's "Xu Shi Shuo".In the Ming Dynasty, there were He Liangjun's "He's Yulin" and Li Shaowen's "Ming Shi Shuo Xin Yu".In the Qing Dynasty, there were Wu Sugong's "Ming Yu Lin", Li Qing's "Nv Shi Shuo", Yan Congqiao's "Seng Shi Shuo", and Wang Yu's "Contemporary Shuo".Even in the period of the Republic of China, there was Yi Zongkui's "Xin Shi Shuo Xin Yu".