Chapter 19 Section 2: The World of the Fox Charm and the Flower Demon - Tales from a Liaozhai Studio

Classical Chinese short stories have gone through the Six Dynasties Zhiguai, the legends of the Tang Dynasty, developed to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and fell into decline.However, Pu Songling's novels stand out and have achieved the highest achievement in classical Chinese short stories.There are nearly 500 short stories in the book, which describe the injustice in the world, eulogize the beautiful love, and entrust the loneliness and anger of being unappreciated in a lifetime, with novel ideas, twists and turns, and profound meanings.Pu Songling, with the word Liuxian and the word swordsman, also known as Liuquan Jushi, is known as Mr. Liaozhai in the world.A native of Zichuan (now Zibo), Shandong.The examination field was unfavorable, and he became a Gongsheng student at the age of 71.When he was middle-aged, he once worked as a curtain guest in Baoying.For the rest of the time, he worked as a private school teacher in his hometown.Pu Songling's works, including poems, words, Fu, parallel prose, prose, slang songs, etc., are collected in "Pu Songling Collection".

"Promoting weaving" is a famous article in the book.The work begins with a brief account of the era background of collection and promotion, exposing corruption from top to bottom.Then let the protagonist become famous and introduce his tactful, kind, unsocial character and his experience of accepting hard work and losing his family property.The story develops along with the pursuit but not, the gain and sudden loss, and the lost and regained.Under the inspiration of the gods, Cheng Ming got a handsome hair, but was accidentally killed by his son again.Fearing disaster, the son committed suicide by throwing himself into a well.The whole family was desperate and sad.Unexpectedly, the soul of the son turned into a tissue.This head is not amazing in appearance, but it defeats the crowd of insects and is invincible.Therefore, becoming famous is rich and prosperous because of contribution and weaving.

The whole story has twists and turns, ups and downs.At the beginning, fame was at a loss, and it was at the end of its rope.Soon, Tusuo Chong came back from a desperate situation, so the whole family celebrated.Unexpectedly, the son killed the insect, and the whole family fell into a desperate situation. Their fame went from joy to anger.The son throws himself into a well, becomes famous and turns anger into grief, and the plot reaches its lowest point.Suddenly, "insects buzzed outside the door", and the conflict was resolved again.But the author is not willing to go to the end of the comedy all at once, and insert twists and turns that will frustrate the swarm.The full text is written by firmly grasping the contrast between humans and insects. "Every time I take responsibility for one head, I will pour out the family's property", and if I catch one, I will be ecstatic; "The tragedy.The author's grasp of the characters' psychology is extremely accurate and delicate.Hearing that his son had thrown Chi Zhi to death, he was extremely angry, "angry suo'er", and his son threw himself into a well, "turning anger into grief, desperate to fight". resentment against his son.The son regained consciousness and was "comforted a little bit".If there are insects chirping outside the door, they are happy to accept them, but they are afraid that the weaving at the end is too small to pass the test.The tailoring of this novel is extremely decent.Three captures to promote weaving, the first time I wrote it very briefly, the second time I wrote it in great detail, I wrote it very hard to get rid of it, and prepared for the later joy and sorrow. , confused and confused.

"Si Wenlang" is Pu Songling's masterpiece criticizing the imperial examination.The author set up four characters in the story, Wang Pingzi, Yu Hangsheng, Song Sheng, and blind monk, and focused on writing the before and after of the examination.Among the four, Wang Pingzi and Yu Hangsheng are real figures, Song Sheng is a ghost, and the blind monk is a mysterious figure like a half-immortal. The blind monk has a special way of commenting on articles. He can smell the ashes of the articles with his nose, and judge the quality of the articles from the smell of ashes.The blind monk smelled the incinerated ashes of Wang Pingzi's article first, and said, "Although the masters of the early Dharma are not realistic, they are similar. I feel comfortable with my spleen."Is the blind monk's sense of smell reliable?The author cleverly asked Yu Hangsheng, a "skeptic", to "test it with the ancient master's writing first", and the blind monk shouted "wonderful!" , as soon as you smell it, you will say that the smell is too bad, and you will vomit as soon as you smell it.Unexpectedly, Yu Hangsheng actually made it to the list, but Wang Pingzi lost his name to Sun Shan.Song Sheng and Wang Sheng ran to tell the blind monk the result.The blind monk sighed and said, "Although I am blind, my nose is not blind. The examiner behind the curtain is 'blind' even with his eyes and nose." After a while, Yu Hang came angrily, and he came to mock him triumphantly. Blind monk.The blind monk satirized him and said, I am commenting on the quality of the article, and I am not telling your fortune. You may as well fetch the articles of the examiners, and I will know which one is your teacher as soon as I smell it.Sure enough, Yu Hangsheng and Wang Pingzi went to find the article, and when the sixth article was burned, the blind monk suddenly vomited against the wall, farting repeatedly, as loud as thunder.Everyone roared with laughter.The blind monk said to Yu Hangsheng, this is your teacher!I didn't know the details at first, and I accidentally sniffed it, and my nose couldn't stand it. It sucked into my stomach, and my bladder couldn't hold it, so it came out straight down.The blind monk looks crazy, but he is actually scolding the examiner. "The person in the curtain is blind with both noses" is really the finishing touch.

"Ying Ning" is one of the novels that fully portrays the character.There is also a story in this novel, but the story is very simple and doesn't give people much impression. What makes people unforgettable is the heroine of the novel, Ying Ning.Ying Ning grew up in the mountains, his parents died early, and his mother entrusted Ying Ning to an old woman before she died.This old lady loves Ying Ning very much.In such a special environment, Ying Ning is not bound by much etiquette, innocent and innocent, smiling diligently, playing without worrying.The author especially grasps the characteristics of Ying Ning's love for laughing, and describes it to his heart's content.As soon as Ying Ning appeared on the stage, she was like "a plum blossom, with a peerless appearance and a charming smile".This is the Ying Ning in Wang Zifu's eyes, the kind of Ying Ning in the eyes of a lover who falls in love at first sight. This is a relatively static description.Seeing the obsessive look of the prince's clothes, Ying Ning smiled and said to the maidservant that the young man's eyes are like thieves.Later, when Prince Fu came to the door, Ying Ning was outside the door, "cheering and laughing endlessly. The maid pushed him in, but still covered her mouth, laughing uncontrollably."She didn't know that she shouldn't laugh when she saw strangers, and she didn't know whether a man or a woman should be close to each other and should be solemn.She just thought the boy was ridiculous.Even though the old woman taught her, she "stands with a smile", and after a while, "a woman laughs again, don't look up".As soon as you go out, "the laughter begins."Later, seeing Prince Fu's mother, "You Nong smiled and didn't care."On the day of the wedding, I laughed so hard that I couldn't worship the heavens and the earth.

The author also intentionally wrote about Ying Ning's hobby of loving flowers.When we met for the first time, I saw her "picking up a plum blossom".The prince's suit came, and she "held an apricot flower from east to west, and bowed her head from the hairpin".After seeing the prince's clothes, he "smiled and took the flowers in."Ying Ning's residence is "paved with white stones, with red flowers on the road", "bean sheds and flower racks in the courtyard", "begonia branches outside the window".After getting married, she "loved flowers and became addicted, and searched all over the relatives. Stealing gold hairpins, buying good seeds, and building them for several months, they are nothing more than flowers."This is the author uses flowers to describe people and to use flowers to complement people.

The author intentionally arranges for Ying Ning an environment that is far away from the hustle and bustle of the mundane but still full of human touch.More than 30 miles away from the city, "chaotic mountains and clutter, empty emerald green skin, no one walks, only bird paths".Ying Ning lives "among flowers and trees" at the bottom of the valley.The author also writes about Yingning's idiocy, her love of laughing and flowers, and her innocence, all of which entrust the author's ideal of life. Pu Songling is good at writing foxes and flower demons; however, there are no surreal plots and characters from the beginning to the end of an article.The storyline is not surprising. There are already similar stories in "Three Words".The success of Pu Songling lies in his ability to re-color and change the plots and characters in the stories of the predecessors, giving people a refreshing feeling.What is written is a public case.It is not difficult to write plots with twists and turns in koan novels, but it is not easy to write flesh and blood characters.People are often set up because of things, and the characters are led by the plot, and their personalities are very vague.However, instead of setting up people because of things, things follow people. The development of the story is completely the natural result of the conflict of characters.

Four groups of characters were written, all of whom were related to the case.Rouge and Esheng are the first group, the two protagonists in love.Among them, rouge is the root of the whole case.All stories and clues revolve around her fate.E Sheng is Rouge's favorite person, and almost becomes a victim of the unjust case.Su Jie and Wang are the second group, important insiders of the case.Among them, the configuration of the auxiliary character Wang plays an important role in the structure of this novel.The author uses Wang to connect the people related to the story together.Mrs. Wang is Yanzhi's neighbor and Yanzhi's "girl friend".Wang introduced to Yan Zhi the situation of the "very handsome" young man (E Sheng) outside the door, and it was Wang who told her lover Su Jie about Yan Zhi's love for E Sheng.But Su Jie went to ask for cheap, but was rejected.Accidentally lost the rouge embroidered shoes he picked up, and Mao Da picked them up.And Mao Da once teased Wang and was rejected.All the clues lead to Wang, and finding out Wang's situation is the key to solving the case.Wang's role in the novel is not limited to this, she is also the most important factor to promote the development of the plot.Through her introduction, Yanzhi learned about Esheng's general situation, and thus made up her mind.Because of the ambiguous relationship between Mrs. Wang and Su Jie, there was another twist in the case that Su Jie intervened.Mrs. Wang was also the object of Mao Da's covetousness, which made Mao Da hear the conversation between Mrs. Wang and Su Jie, which led to the idea of ​​cheating.The cattle doctor Bian and his wife are the third group of characters.At the beginning of the story, the Bian couple deviated from the main line. Later, Doctor Bian became the direct victim of the murder.Mao Da is the fourth group of characters, he is the real murderer.From a moral point of view, Yan Zhi and E Sheng are the party praised by the author, while Mao Da is the party reprimanded, thus forming the poles of good and evil.Wang and Su Jie are the middle figures.Mrs. Wang is frivolous, and Su Jie is frivolous and misbehaving.However, the Wang family is frivolous and able to reject Mao Dagu, but the host is misbehaving but has no intention of killing.Wang's introduction of Esheng to Rouge may not be without enthusiasm for adult beauty.At the same time, she would tell her lover Su Jie about this as a joke, which again showed her frivolity.The author's description of Wang's character is very measured and just right, which fully demonstrates the author's profound skill in character description.If you don't write enough or write too much, you won't be "this one" Wang.The description of Wang is actually a difficult point in this novel.Pu Songling easily overcomes this difficulty with the skill of a master artist, making Wang's image very real.

Pu Songling is good at using love to test the characters in his works, and is good at portraying the twists and turns and subtleties of love psychology.In the book, through the different attitudes of Yan Zhi, E Sheng, Wang Shi and Su Jie towards love and the relationship between men and women, the author reflects their different thoughts and personalities.Rouge saw Esheng walking past the door, and her performance was: "The woman seems to be moving, and the eyes are lingering." Esheng "Going far away, the woman is still watching."It can be seen that this Xiaojiabiyu couldn't help herself after falling in love at first sight.After being clarified by Wang Shi, Rouge "blushed her upper cheeks, and she didn't say a word about her pulse".Neither dared to affirm it hastily, nor categorically denied it.If you affirm, you are shy and dare not, while if you deny it, you go against your heart. "The pulse is silent", as the saying goes, "Silence is better than sound at this time."Wang took the initiative to match up for Yanzhi, but Yanzhi was "silent" and refused.It wasn't until lovesickness became ill and her life was in danger that Yan Zhi admitted to Wang that she was in love with E Sheng, and the disease arose because of this.Rouge's first appearance only reflected her shyness and infatuation.From Rouge's stern reprimand and rejection of the host's seduction, the author has shown another side of the girl's thinking and character: her attitude towards love is serious and unscrupulous, and she resists in the face of violence.The reason why she fell in love with Esheng was not only because of Esheng's "very elegant demeanor", but also because she thought Esheng was gentle and considerate of her.When she is sick, she "shows mercy" and will never be violent.After her father was murdered, Yanzhi mistook Esheng for the murderer, and her love for Esheng turned into hatred.

Wang's attitude towards love is in stark contrast to Rouge's.Wang is married, not as shy as Rouge.However, Wang's outspokenness tinged with frivolity.Yan Zhi stared at E Sheng's back in a naive manner, in Wang's eyes, it was a bit ridiculous.When Su Jie had a tryst with Wang, Wang actually told Su Jie about it as a joke.Su Jie is not a well-behaved person, and Mrs. Wang knows this.Su Jie lost his embroidered shoes and couldn't find them anywhere. He told Wang the truth, but Wang didn't say anything.She turned a blind eye to Su Jie molesting her close friend. The theme of the story is to warmly praise the chivalry of the fox girl Hongyu.However, the author does not seem to rush to his subject.At the beginning of the story, it seems to be writing about love.Feng Xiangru is a poor scholar often seen in the novel, but he has "a girl from the east who peeps from the wall".The lover is about to become a family member, but there is brutal interference from the patriarch Feng Weng.The author did not design the hero and heroine as characters who struggle against ethics, but instead used this to lead to the plot of Hongyu generously offering money to marry Wei for Feng Xiangru.Therefore, the novel is quietly moving closer to the theme.Wei's "expression is radiant", and "diligent and thrifty, with Shunde", "over two years, he gave a man named Fu'er".So far in the story, in readers' minds, Wei Shi seems to be the incarnation of Hongyu, who is the incarnation but not Hongyu after all.The author casually inserted a Song Yushi who was dismissed for corruption and returned to his hometown. Therefore, the background of the novel suddenly expanded to society, and Feng Xiangru's fate was infused with rich social content.Song Yushi is the representative of evil forces in society.The author tried his best to exaggerate his arrogance in the countryside.When he saw Wei's beauty, he lured him with a lot of money, thinking that Feng Sheng was poor and would be shaken.After the failure of money, violence followed.The censor who "retired to the forest" unexpectedly sent people to enter Feng's family to fight and snatch Wei Shi away in broad daylight.Feng Weng was so angry that he went on hunger strike and died with hatred.Feng Xiangru "Baozi promoted Ci, went up to the governor, litigated several times, but died not straight."As a result, the exposed pen and ink extended from the Song family that was rampant in the countryside to support the Song family's bureaucracy. "After hearing that a woman does not submit to death, it is sad."When the family is ruined and the family is destroyed, revenge is powerless, and forbearance is unwilling. Feng Xiangru has no way to go to heaven, no way to go to earth, and is in a desperate situation.When the plot is stagnant, the author inserts a bearded knight to uphold justice for Feng Xiangru.At night, the curly bearded guest "entered more and more heavily, and killed three Yushi, father and son, as well as a daughter-in-law and a maidservant."Feng Xiangru is suspected of being imprisoned.The bearded man warned the county magistrate, and Feng Xiangru was released from prison.After being released from prison, Feng Xiangru thought about it, and was in pain. Hongyu suddenly appeared with Feng Xiangru's son, and married Feng Xiangru.Hongyu manages the family diligently and helps Feng Xiangru revive the family business.

The whole story is famous for "Red Jade", but a large part of the plot in the middle of the story does not seem to involve Hongyu.It doesn't involve Hongyu, but the Wei family was originally introduced by Hongyu. Now that Feng Xiangru is in trouble because of Wei, Hongyu can't sit idly by, so Hongyu withdraws but the readers can't forget it. This is exactly the author's hypocrisy. False and real art techniques.Secondly, the rough and straightforward of the bearded man, Feng Weng's staunch and irritable, and Feng Xiangru's kindness are all powerfully portrayed.