In the entire "Dream of the Red Chamber" book ("Dream of the Red Chamber" must be called the title of "Big Book"), Wang Xifeng is the most sharp-tongued and able to tell jokes, as You Shi said, she is the one who "ate monkey urine" (the fifty-fourth time).
(Wang Xifeng's costume)
But it was also this time, everyone in Rongguo Mansion celebrated the Lantern Festival, and everyone beat the drum to spread the "Spring Joy on the Plum Shoots" wine order, and when it was her turn to tell jokes, Wang Xifeng told two inexplicable jokes in a row, why did she say inexplicably? Let's look at the original text -
First joke:
Sister Feng thought about it for a moment and smiled: "The family is also over the first half of the month, the family appreciates the lanterns and eats wine, it is really lively, the grandmother-in-law, the wife-in-law, the mother-in-law, the daughter-in-law, the grandchildren and daughters-in-law, the granddaughter-in-law, the granddaughter-in-law, the grandson- and the granddaughter-in-law, the granddaughter-in-law,......, the granddaughter-in-law, the granddaughter-in-law Hi yo yo yo When the crowd heard him, they already laughed, and they all said, "Listen to the poor mouth, and I don't know which one to make up." Yu Shi smiled and said, "You have to recruit me, I can tear your mouth." Sister Feng stood up and clapped her hands and smiled: "People bother to say, you mix, I will not say." Jia Mu smiled and said, "You said you said, what about the bottom?" Sister Feng thought about it for a moment and smiled: "At the bottom, I sat in a room in a group, and after eating all night, I dispersed." When the crowd saw that he was speaking sharply, there was nothing else to say, and they all waited for the next word, only to feel cold and tasteless.
It is inexplicable because it is "not like" jokes, but this joke that does not look like jokes is very important, and it is important to note that there are several key points in this description:
1, before telling this joke, "Sister Feng thought about it", that is to say, this joke is not a ready-made joke, but a joke that Sister Feng "made up" on the spot according to the current situation, why is it made up, because it is to find the interest direction of the old lady and please the old lady;
(Wang Xifeng in the 87th edition of "The Red Chamber")
2, Feng Jie'er's big arrangement, all the Jia Fu characters at the Lantern Banquet are compiled into the joke scene, what she said should be called, in the current characters of Jia Fu, you can find the correspondence, but also just Jia Mu's favorite reunion scene: you see, Shi Xiangyun is Jia Mu's cousin daughter, Lin Daiyu's Jia Mu's granddaughter,Xue Baochao's Jia Mu's aunt and granddaughter,Baoyu is the grandson,Tan Chun is the granddaughter,Jia Rong is the nephew,Jia Lan is the heavy grandson,Etc., this is an unprecedented lively and prosperous scene. The scene in this joke is Jia Mu's favorite scene.
3, the point is "the bottom of the group sat in a room, after eating a night of wine and dispersing." Moreover, there is no following, and this is the ending that Feng Jie said in "straight speech", so everyone "only feels cold and tasteless"! This sentence once again points out the fate of jia fu's "feast will be scattered" written in "Dream of the Red Chamber", which seems to be unintentional, but in fact, the author intentionally wrote it. This "fate", from the 26th time Xiaohong mentioned "a thousand miles to build a long shed, there is no feast in the world" began to mention, to Feng Jie'er's joke again to take care of, until the 72nd time Siqi said "a thousand miles to build a long shed, there is no unbroken feast" again emphasized, this "fate" in the whole book continues, continuous, and has been constantly emphasized, we must remember that the tragic tone of "Dream of the Red Chamber" is from beginning to end.
(The group sat in a room)
4. It should be emphasized that the "fifteenth day of the first month" emphasized by Feng Jie is not only "the scene", but also the author's deep meaning. Her two jokes (or two jokes deliberately arranged by the author), the time point of the story is the fifteenth day of the first month, in "Dream of the Red Chamber", the fifteenth day of the first month is an important day, Zhen Yinglian (Xiangling) was abducted by abductors on the fifteenth day of the first month, Jia Yuanchun is the fifteenth of the first month to go home to the province, we can even guess that according to this script, the Jia family was copied, and it should also occur on the "fifteenth day of the first month". Huo Qi, who lost Yinglian, the harmonic sound "disaster rises", which is likely to also imply the future catastrophe of the Jia family, also began on the fifteenth day of the first month.
In fact, some readers believe that the author arranged most of the important events on the fifteenth day of the first month because this day is the Lantern Festival, and the word "Lantern" and the harmonic pronunciation of "yuanxing" can also be prepared for this.
There is a second joke, also look at the connotations:
Sister Feng smiled and said, "Let's say another one that is half past the first month." A few people carried a house-sized cannon to the outside of the city, attracting tens of thousands of people to follow. One of the anxious people couldn't wait, so he stole the incense and lit it. Just listening to the 'poof', the crowd burst into laughter and dispersed. The man who carried the cannon complained that the gun was not strong enough and scattered before it could be released. Xiang Yun said, "Didn't he hear the noise himself?" Sister Feng said, "This person was originally a "dragon + ear" (because of anti-shielding, it can only be like this). When the crowd heard about it, they laughed when they thought about it, and they all laughed when they lost their voices. Thinking about the previous one, he asked him, "How about the first one?" It's time to finish. Sister Feng slapped the table and said, "Well, the second day is the sixteenth day, the year is over, the festival is over, I watch people busy collecting things and can't make a difference, there is still something under there." ”
You see, it is still "the first half of the first month (also the fifteenth day of the first month)", the story is "(dragon + ear) sub cannon", is (dragon + ear) of course can not hear the cannon, so in his eyes to see the "big house" cannon battle, when it bursts, it is just a ball of paper "scattered". This "scattered" is literally meaning, and in essence it also refers to the "dispersion" of the "dispersed crowd". Therefore, this joke also has a deep meaning.
Everyone must still remember the riddle that came out after Yuan Chun's relatives, and the riddle was: "It can make the demon dare to destroy it, and its body is like a bundle of thunder." A shock shocked everyone, and the prime minister looked back to see that it had turned ashes. The mystery is actually also a cannonball, that is, what Jia Zheng understands as the riddle of the lamp is "scattered at one sound", in short, it is an ominous thing. The metaphor of the cannon fight is like this from beginning to end.
But in this joke of Sister Feng, in addition to the cannon battle, why arrange the special image of "(dragon + ear)"? Quite simply, the author is saying that earth-shattering events are happening inside and outside Jia Province (cannon battles, naturally there are big movements), but almost all people in Jia Province can't hear it, and finally can only usher in the end of "scattering" in a vague way, the so-called "year is over, the festival is over", and everyone is "scattered".
(Lantern Night Feast)
Why write such a joke fifty-four times?
Mr. Zhou Ruchang verified:
"A "Stone Record", the original work of Xueqin has been handed down to this day, known as eighty times, and the actual seventy-eight times of "Furong Recitation" is over. The seventy-ninth and eightieth times were made by hand, and were originally made up of an eighty whole number when the banknote was sold. And the fat batch has pointed out many times that the last thirty times, from seventy-eight plus three times a total of one hundred and eight times, is the upper half of the writing to the fifty-fourth time is the boundary between before and after, and now this time has been written to the Chinese New Year's Eve Lantern, is the grand scene of the whole book, after this, the accident pen and ink is completely different from this. (Zhou Ruchang's Revised Stone Record of The Approval Point, Yilin Publishing House, 2017, 706 pages)
That is to say, he believes that "Dream of the Red Chamber" was originally 108 times. If you calculate it this way, the 54th time is exactly half of the whole book, and before the 54th time, counting the first half, it is about the prosperity of Jia Fu, corresponding to the first joke of Feng Jie'er: "Everyone is reunited and sitting together"; from 55 times onwards, counting the second half, it is about the fall of Jia Fu, corresponding to Feng Jie'er's second joke: "Everyone is scattered", and the whole book is the development process of "prosperity and dispersion".
(Lantern Night in the 87th edition of "The Red Chamber")
Therefore, Wang Xifeng's two jokes actually contain the end of the first half of the Red Chamber, and the second contains the beginning of the Second Half of the Red Chamber. "Dream of the Red Chamber" does not have a word, and when we feel that a detail is inexplicable, we can calm down and think carefully about its deep meaning.
([Follow the pudding to read "The Red Chamber"] No. 121, picture from the Internet)