As a folk tale, the love between Wang Baojun and Xue Pinggui has always been talked about, especially Wang Baojun's cold kiln has been guarded for 18 years, and finally in exchange for the ending of Xue Pinggui taking her back to the palace, how many hearts of the audience clapped their hands and applauded!
But after reading the whole story, Guan Guan has always had a question: even if Wang Baojun is full of affection for Xue Pinggui, she is always a weak woman, in the patriarchal feudal society, she can neither go out to work nor support herself, so what did she rely on to spend that 18 years of hardship and barrenness?
In folk tales, in order to marry Xue Pinggui, Wang Baojun did not hesitate to break off relations with his father with three high-fives, and since then he has lived with her husband in the cold kiln.
As the name suggests, the kiln is a dilapidated, broken house that cannot shelter from the wind and rain. When Xue Pinggui appeared, he was a fatherless and motherless figure, and he was still doing hard work in Wang Baojun's house, and the economic conditions could be imagined.
In a family that has neither grain storage nor stable economic resources, Wang Baojun and Xue Pinggui's life has already been miserable haha. But fortunately, at this time, Xue Pinggui was still with Wang Baojun, at least he could cut back dry firewood and get some grain for the family, so that the two would not be hungry.
However, not long after such a day, Xue Pinggui joined the army without hesitation, leaving only eight buckets of rice and ten tons of firewood for Wang Baojun in the cold kiln. But after eating these grains, how should Wang Baojun forage for food?
For ordinary women, you can also exchange some money for female red and textile fabrics, but Wang Baojun was once the third lady of the Xiangfu Mansion, how could he do this? So after the grain was eaten, she could only search around for various wild vegetables, dig up some plant stems to survive, and these bitter and astringent wild vegetables, Wang Baojun ate for 18 years.
Later in the story, in order to experience the life of Wang Baojun at the beginning, Xue Pinggui also let people dig up wild vegetables to taste, but only ate one bite and vomited clean. Perhaps it was because of this guilt that Xue Pinggui would not forget to take Wang Baojun back to the palace!
Back to the main topic, in the feudal society of hunger and cold, wild vegetables are not available every day, after all, the poor people are not only Wang Baojun. What should I do when wild vegetables are no longer dug up and there is no food around? No way, only one person is hungry!
According to the story, in the days after Xue Pinggui left, Wang Baojun was often full and hungry, and every day he was worried about what to do with the next meal. It didn't take long for Wang Baojun's situation to reach the Queen Mother's ears.
Seeing her daughter suffer, the Queen Mother's heart was finally unwilling. So the Queen Mother often secretly came to see her daughter. Seeing Wang Baojun, who was thin and thin in yellow muscles and ragged clothes, the queen mother cried vigorously, and also stuffed various foods and clothes into her daughter's hands.
Wang Baojun accepted his mother's kindness, but Wang Baojun resolutely disagreed with the Queen Mother's proposal to move out of the cold kiln and return to xiangfu! Because in her heart, since she has married Xue Pinggui, she should share happiness and suffering with him, and Xue Pinggui's home is her own home.
Looking at the daughter of Gang Lie, the Queen Mother had no choice, she could only often let people bring some food and clothing, so that Wang Baojun would suffer less from life.
In this way, Wang Baojun relied on wild vegetables and wild animals, as well as his mother's help, to eat a full meal in the cold kiln, and bitterly looked forward to Xue Pinggui's return. Such days of extreme poverty day after day also gradually hollowed out Wang Baojun's body, laying the groundwork for her early death in the future.
Just because of a hero saving the United States, Wang Baojun concluded that Xue Pinggui was a good person; just because Xue Pinggui was not like a clumsy disciple, Wang Baojun was not unmarried by him. It can be seen that Wang Baojun's love for Xue Pinggui is deep in the bone marrow.
For the sake of Xue Pinggui, Wang Baojun did not hesitate to break with his father!
For the sake of Xue Pinggui, Wang Baojun would rather give up a worry-free life!
Also for Xue Pinggui, Wang Baojun spent 18 years in the cold kiln and got rid of an infatuated woman!
On the day xue Pinggui left, Wang Baojun swore to heaven: "No matter how difficult the days ahead are, no matter how poor life in the cold kiln is, I Wang Baojun will wait for Xianggong to return!" ”
Therefore, when the news of Xue Pinggui's death came back, Wang Baojun still refused to believe it; seeing the charred broken robe, she firmly believed that Xue Pinggui had returned. Relying on the belief in her husband's love, Wang Baojun had the belief in living and chose to continue to live a life waiting for her husband.
But as the other side of the protagonist, Xue Pinggui is not so determined. When he heard the beggar's words, he mistakenly thought that Wang Baojun had remarried, and he also burned off his robe in anger; when he saw the dirty Wang Baojun in Wujiapo, the first thing he thought of was temptation.
One who believes unconditionally and is willing to give up glory and wealth to keep the cold kiln for 18 years; one who listens to the words of others, who is tempted everywhere after returning to his hometown, and who is still marrying and having children outside, the firmness of the two people's love can be seen!
Under the care of her mother, Wang Baojun's material world can barely be maintained, but what about her spiritual world?
In the old days, it was piano, chess, calligraphy and painting; now, it is digging wild vegetables all over the ground, needless to say that drinking tea leisurely, I am afraid that I can't even find a pen and a lamp of ink at home. For Wang Baojun, who was determined to do so, there was nothing wrong with the bad material conditions, and the terrible spiritual barrenness became a pain in her heart.
As a result, she can only arouse a belief in her heart, a belief in the indomitable love. With this belief, she could ignore the barrenness and hardships of living alone in front of her.
Just like a person who believes that tomorrow will be better, her inner persistence has become her spiritual pillar, and this force has also supported her cold kiln for 18 years!
Deeply studying history, we can find that there are no two people in history, Xue Pinggui and Wang Baojun, all this is just a story compiled by ordinary people. As for why such an "unbelievable" story was made up, it actually has a lot to do with the social background at that time.
From the perspective of human development history, the transition from matrilineal to patrilineal societies is inevitable, and the dominance of men in society has gradually replaced the importance of mothers in matrilineal societies. Xue Pinggui's story is set in the Tang Dynasty, which is completely a feudal society dominated by male power.
The dominance of men is determined, and then women become appendages of men. Men can have three wives and four concubines, and women can only end up from one; men can go out to seek employment, and women can only teach their husbands and children at home; men can also divorce their wives and concubines, and women can only live alone and widowhood, and be proud of the chastity archway.
In the classical masterpiece "Dream of the Red Chamber", Li Feng is a typical figure who has received "honor" because of his widowhood. Because she was pure-hearted, she won the approval of the whole government; because she had no desire or demand, the court also awarded her various "honors" to praise her for her steadfastness and observance.
But how much brilliance does such a woman who has lost her soul have left?
In feudal society, in order to ensure the lofty status of men, all kinds of books and stories have become invisible shackles on women. They advocate women to observe the rules, to be unyielding to their husbands, and even to endure poverty and loneliness, just to stabilize a world where men are superior to women.
From social rules to the domestication of ideas, it is all kinds of repression and bondage to women. Foot binding can make women walk gracefully, but also make them lose their basic ability to work; the dogmatic theory of the three virtues and four virtues imprisons women within a fixed framework. What can only be done and what cannot be done is clear to the rule-makers.
As a result, folk tales like Xue Pinggui and Wang Baojun were widely circulated, and the books preached Wang Baojun's tenacity and patience, praised her loyalty to love, her disregard for material life, and her ultimate attachment to men.
But for Xue Pinggui, he concealed the fact that he was married, married another wife and had children, and tried his best to test his wife, without any harsh intentions. Wang Baojun's various hidden forbearances all became an aid to Xue Pinggui's charm.
Admittedly, commenting on previous stories with the eyes of the present is somewhat biased. But history always reflects the profundity of reality. The advanced ideological trends of the Republic of China period, the openness to women's foot binding, and many historical figures who insisted on speaking out for women, they all contributed their own strength.
Therefore, today's women's social status is gradually rising, which is the result of the efforts of predecessors step by step! How ruthless the hierarchy is, how terrible is the imprisonment of thought!
I hope that in today's world, there will never be another Wang Baojun!