Many years later, Duncheng will still think of the Chinese New Year's Eve in the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong (1763), when thousands of houses in Beijing were brightly lit, and the food of the households was fragrant, and the laughter was jubilant. Everyone sincerely burned incense and prayed that the old year would pass quickly, and that the new year would be disaster-free, auspicious and peaceful.
Duncheng waited for a bad news that made people cry bitterly:
Cao Xueqin died of illness, leaving only a few fragments of manuscripts and an unfinished "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Cao Xueqin was born in Jiangnan, in the Cao Mansion, which has "fiery cooking oil and flowers and flowers".
The heyday of Cao Province was completely consistent with the Kangxi Dynasty.
Cao Xueqin's great-grandmother, Sun Shi, was Kangxi's grandmother when he was a child, while his great-grandfather Cao Xi, a second-class bodyguard in the Inner Court, was later sent by Kangxi to the Jiangnan region to serve as a fat shortage for Jiangning weaving.
Because of this special relationship, Cao Xueqin's grandfather Cao Yin began to serve as Kangxi's imperial bodyguard at the age of 16, and after Cao Xi's death, he "inherited his father's business" and also started Jiangning weaving.
Although the rank of Jiangning Weaving was not high, only the five products, this position was on the one hand purchasing satin cloth for the court, and on the other hand, it was the eyes and ears of the emperor's secret agents in the Jiangnan region.
Because of their special tasks, the courtiers who served as Jiangning weaving were generally close ministers of the Manchu Qing Emperor, and their status in the Jiangnan area was second only to that of the Viceroy of Liangjiang, which was an uncompromising important position.
At that time, the annual output value of the silk weaving industry in jiangnan reached 12 million taels of silver, and the kangxi dynasty's financial revenue was only more than 40 million taels of silver, which showed the oil and water fertilizer of Jiangning weaving.
Kangxi went down to Jiangnan six times, and five times lived in Cao Yin's house. Each time there is only one item of diet, and Cao Yin's imperial feast is often more than 100 tables. Later, Cao Xueqin said in "Dream of the Red Chamber" under the pretext of a character in the novel that Cao Yin took over the car five times and "spent the silver like a flowing sea.".
▲ Qing Sun Wen's "Picture Book of The Dream of the Red Chamber", source: network.
However, during the Kangxi Southern Tour, Cao Xueqin could only hear some words from the old woman's mouth. Because by the time he was born, the Cao family had already passed the heyday of decades and began to go downhill— a particularly steep and dangerous slope.
Beginning with Kangxi's 31st year as Jiangning Weaving, Cao Yin, his son Cao Yun (曹颙) and his heir Cao Fu (曹頫) were successively re-elected as Jiangning Weavers for nearly 40 years. The long-term royal reception mission caused the two generations of the Cao family to specifically undertake the driving had to embezzle the funds of the Jiangning Weaving House for use, resulting in a huge financial deficit.
In the autumn of the fifty-first year of Kangxi (1712), Cao Yin's malaria worsened, and Kangxi's special life-saving medicine quinine died before it was delivered.
After Cao Yin's death, Kangxi took care of the contributions of Cao Yin's parents and Cao Yin himself, so he ordered Cao Yin's only son, Cao Yin, to take over as Jiangning Weaving. However, two years later, Cao Hao was ordered to enter Beijing for a visit, unfortunately contracted an illness, and died at the age of 24.
In March of the fifty-fourth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1715), when the younger brother of Cao Yong (曹颙) succeeded Jiangning weaving, Cao Hao was seven months pregnant with his wife Ma Shi in Jiangning, which was Cao Xueqin.
▲Cao Xueqin statue, image source: Figureworm creative.
Cao Xueqin's single name is a "霑" character, which canonizes the sentence "Both Xia and Xia are sufficient, and I am born with a hundred grains" in the "Book of Poetry". Obviously, the Cao family hopes that this child, who was born without a father, will continue to "xia" to obtain royal kindness and honor the ancestors in the future.
But what Cao's parents did not expect was that this child did not embark on the "sunshine road" of absorbing meritorious names, but chose the "small road" that was despised and despised by the people of the time - writing novels.
The Cao family has always been a family of culture and martial arts, with profound cultural heritage, which has a far-reaching influence on Cao Xueqin, "reading and hunting, the two are not defensive."
Cao Yin once presided over the compilation and engraving of "Quan Tang Poems", was a famous poet in the early Qing Dynasty, and his poems were appreciated by everyone in the literary circles at that time. The touching and profound plot of Daiyu's funeral flowers in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is precisely derived from Cao Yin's funeral flower poems: one is "Inscription Liu Village Ink Apricot Flower Diagram": "Gou Wu Chun color is self-tho, how much frost and sideburns." Provincial girl full sleeves, a hundred years of lonely tomb burial peach blossoms. The other is "The Apricot Blossom Chart Under the Moon of the Title King": "The wall is immediately numerous, looking at the first few new reds." The day before yesterday, the nest came to swallows, and at the same time the spring rain buried plum blossoms. ”
His uncle Cao Fu was an example for Cao Xueqin to learn from, he was fond of learning, could write poetry, understand opera, and also enjoyed a reputation in Jiangnan.
In this way, Cao Xueqin followed her family in Nanjing Jiangning Weaving House and Yangzhou and other places in a child, spending a life of fine clothes and jade food, wealth and style.
But the good days did not last long, and the disaster soon occurred after Yongzheng ascended to the pole, mixed with the political events of "one after another, five in a row".
Previously, the cao family's economic deficit had been completely made up under the special care of the old emperor before his death, and after Yongzheng succeeded to the throne, a large-scale action to sort out the financial deficit was launched, and the Cao family was not affected.
But the problem is elsewhere.
Cao Xueqin's uncle Li Xu (Cao Yin's eldest brother-in-law) was found to have bought five Suzhou women for 800 taels of silver in the 52nd year of the Kangxi Dynasty to give to the emperor's eighth son, Yin Yu. Yin Yu was a sworn enemy of Yongzheng's seizure of the throne, and Li Xu was almost beheaded for this, and was later exiled to the northeast by Yongzheng.
However, Cao Fu, who barely escaped the limelight, was dismissed from his post and confiscated his family and property because of his mediocre talent, repeated disobedience to the holy will, harassment of the station, and hiding property, and the fields, houses, and slaves were all rewarded to Jiang Ning Weaving's successor.
This raid on the family has left a deep imprint on Cao Xueqin's young soul, and the building is said to be tilted, which is really a "tree falling down and scattered". This is the first great change that Cao Xueqin has experienced since she was born.
▲Nanjing Jiangning Weaving Museum, image source: figureworm creativity.
Fortunately, Yongzheng did not put the Cao family to death, leaving a little bit of "mighty heavenly grace". 13-year-old Cao Xueqin followed her family, with panic, wandering, helplessness and unwillingness, leaving Jinling, where she had lived nearly a year, and embarked on the road back to the north.
In the seventh year of Yongzheng (1729), Sui Hede, the successor of Jiangning Weaving, "saw that Cao Yin's wife and widow were powerless and could not live a good life", so he wrote to the Cao family to give the seventeen and a half rooms and six domestic servants in the garlic city outside the Chongwen Gate of the capital city.
In the following years, although the Cao family was trembling, there was always a way to maintain it. As the important in-laws of the Cao family gradually become useful, it seems that the Cao family will also see the dawn of rebirth.
In August of the thirteenth year of Yongzheng's reign as emperor, he suddenly died. His fourth son, Hongli, succeeded him, the Qianlong Emperor. After the new emperor came to power, he brought a new fate to the Cao family.
Great-grandfather Cao Xi originally enjoyed the title of a pint of Shangshu, but now he has added a title. His uncle Cao Fu was also reinstated as a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and many of the new debts he had added when he served as a weaver in Jiangning were also included in the forgiveness. In other words, both political and economic crimes have become a thing of the past.
Later, Cao Xueqin also planned an errand in the palace, and soon transferred to the Zongxue to do things, and met some friends, the most important of which were the brothers Dun Min and Dun Cheng.
They were the fifth grandson of Prince Azig of Heshuoying, and like the Cao Xueqin family, they had a glorious past and a tragic experience of being flogged by the imperial power—and they were also brutally persecuted due to internal contradictions in the royal family.
The similarity of life and cao Xueqin's own talent and demeanor deeply attracted the Dun brothers.
Dun Cheng wrote in "Sending Cao Xueqin Xia": "At that time, Humen was counting morning and evening, and the west window cut candles in the wind and rain. The fence fell on Rong Jun's pride, talking eloquently and lice. It can be seen that the Dun brothers have great admiration for Cao Xueqin's talk and learning, and think that he is a strange person like Wang Meng, who discusses the affairs of the world.
Yu Rui, another royal descendant, once recorded Cao Xueqin's appearance: "His body is fat, his head is wide and black, he is good at talking, elegant and elegant, touching the situation, smelling his strange talk, and telling people tirelessly all day long." It's the best of its books. ”
From this limited historical data, we know that Cao Xueqin was a person who laughed and scolded, who was full of spirit, different customs, funny and humorous, and people who sat with him often clapped their hands for his wonderful remarks.
Like Cao Yin, Cao Xueqin is not only stunning in poetry, but also complete in both literature and martial arts. In the poetry records of friends, Cao Xueqin is good at painting poetry, both dancing swords and playing the piano, "the piano is wrapped in a bad sac and the sound is indifferent, and the sword breaks through the box shadow of the barium."
This gradually revived family did not last long, and experienced another change. At this point, the Cao family was completely ruined.
The details of this change are not recorded in the literature, and posterity has to speculate appropriately. It is said that in more than ten years, Cao Xueqin fell from a well-off family to a difficult situation, feeling the cold and warm taste of life, and the most difficult moments, she was also reduced to living in the stables of a certain royal palace, extremely poor and embarrassing.
In the sixteenth year of Qianlong (1751), Cao Xueqin came to Huangye Village in Xishan and began another stage of his life. There, he experienced a more arduous ordeal of livelihood, but also more focused on his literary work.
▲ Xishan Huangye Village, image source: Figureworm Creative.
The creation of "Dream of the Red Chamber" probably began in the eighth year of Qianlong (1743), after which Cao Xueqin "read in the Mourning Red Xuan for ten years, added and deleted five times, compiled into a catalog, and divided into chapters", and continued to write, enrich and improve for ten years.
In this regard, Cao Xueqin herself said:
What's the fuss? The feast ended.
Sorrow and joy are as illusory as ever, and dreams of ancient and modern times are absurd.
The red sleeves of rambling are heavy, and there is more infatuation and hatred.
The words seem to be blood, and ten years of hard work is unusual.
Folk legend has it that when Cao Xueqin wrote "Dream of the Red Chamber", she had no money to buy paper, so she took apart the yellow calendar of the old year, folded the pages in turn, and ordered it, and the words were written on the back of the yellow calendar.
In the process of writing, relatives and friends often came to borrow the manuscript, because they felt a lot of emotion in the reading process, and the author also spilled a bunch of bitter tears, and wrote a lot of words on the manuscript with a Zhu pen. As a result, "Dream of the Red Chamber" became a "strange book", a strange book full of criticism.
Among them, the two people who left the most criticism and signatures on the manuscript were: Li Yanzhai and Shu Shu. (Note: There is controversy in academic circles about the specific identities of the two men.) ）
In the seven years from the nineteenth year of Qianlong to the twenty-fifth year of Qianlong, He reviewed "Dream of the Red Chamber" four times, and called the book where he copied the commentary as "The Record of The Reappraisal of Stones by Fat Yanzhai".
Cao Xueqin's life in Xishan was plain and fulfilling. There, he also became acquainted with Zhang Yiquan, a teacher who was originally a Bannerman of the Han Army but unfortunately fell, and the two of them talked about wine and wrote poetry and painting.
Zhang Yiquan admired Cao Xueqin's cultivation and sentiments, and compared him to The Song Chuqi and Baiyun Mr. Chen Xuan: "By asking who is similar to Gu lai, ambition should be left by Baiyun." ”
In addition, Cao Xueqin also taught a crippled veteran who had returned from the army to make a living in Shudu to make kites.
The Jiangning people, Yu Shudu, injured his leg after returning from the war, and lived in Beijing selling paintings for a living. Because there are old and young people in the family, it is difficult to maintain the family's livelihood with the thin money from selling paintings, and they can only endure hunger during the harsh winter.
Yu Shudu came to visit Cao Xueqin, told Cao Xueqin about his plight, and then mentioned the recent situation in the capital, saying that there was a noble prince in the capital who wanted to buy a kite, and he was dozens of gold in one shot, but unfortunately he would not do this craft.
Surprisingly, Cao Xueqin did not know where to learn the craft of kite making in the early years, so she helped Yu Shudu make a few kites and borrowed a little money for him so that he could rest assured that he could celebrate the New Year.
It was snowing heavily that year Chinese New Year's Eve, and Yu Shudu came in the snow, and the donkey's back was full of chicken, duck, fruits and vegetables and fine wine.
It turned out that Cao Xueqinza's kite was favored by the noble prince in the city, and solved Yu Shudu's temporary predicament, which he had come to repay his kindness.
Yu Shudu's encounter greatly shocked Cao Xueqin, who compiled what he knew about the kite-tying technique into a book and named it "Southern Harrier and Northern Iris Examination WorkZhi", so that those with disabilities could also support themselves with a skill.
Year after year passed in the blink of an eye, and in the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong (1763), Cao Xueqin, who lived in the western suburbs of Beijing, received a letter with a small poem:
The east wind blows apricot rain, and the flowers fall early.
Good old people drive, come to see the small courtyard spring.
The poet remembers Cao Zhi, and the wine cup is ashamed of Chen Zun.
Three days before going up, we were drunk.
—— Dun Min, "Small Poems Sent to Cao Xueqin"
This year is the 30th birthday of his friend Dun Cheng, he and his brother Dun Min warmly invited Cao Xueqin to a small gathering in early March, as before, to enjoy the flowers and drink together, happy to talk about life, "work together and get drunk".
However, this year's Dun Min and Dun Cheng brothers did not wait for Cao Xueqin's appointment as they wished, because his only son fell ill and died soon after.
Cao Xueqin also fell ill in grief and died of Chinese New Year's Eve this year.
▲ "Dream of the Red Chamber" TV stills.
Cao Xueqin has experienced suffering in her life, no father in her early years, widowed her wife in middle age, and lost her son in her late life, and he has tasted all three hardships in life. In "Dream of the Red Chamber", he once borrowed the mouth of the crazy lame Daoist and said:
The world knows that the gods and immortals are good, but the name of merit cannot be forgotten.
Where will the ancient and the modern meet, and the pile of grass in the desert is gone.
The world knows that the gods and immortals are good, and only gold and silver cannot forget.
In the end, there is only hatred gathering, and when the time comes, the eyes are closed.
Everyone in the world knows that the gods and immortals are good, and only the wife can't forget it.
On the day of the king's birthday, he said that he was gracious, and the king died and went with the people.
The world knows that the gods and immortals are good, and only the children and grandchildren cannot forget it.
Obsessed parents Gu Laiduo, filial piety to their children and grandchildren who have seen?
- "Okay Song"
However, seeing open is not necessarily the same as putting it down.
In "Dream of the Red Chamber", the sequel writes about Daiyu's death, arranging for Lin Daiyu to die on the day Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochao got married. Before dying, Dai Yu had only one relative, Zi Juan, and she clasped Zi Juan's hand and said, "Sister, I don't have any relatives here." My body is clean, and you tell them to send me back (Yangzhou). ”
The author's arrangement for Daiyu's death is permeated with the original author Cao Xueqin's memories of Yangzhou, and his feelings about the family's past are cast into "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Just like the fall of the Cao family and the death of Daiyu, the past was "born in prosperity, and finally fell".
▲ Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu, stills.
After Cao Xueqin's death, Li Yanzhai was deeply saddened, and repeatedly mourned in his comments: "The book has not been completed, and Qin has died for tears; Yu tasted weeping Qin, and the tears are also to be exhausted!" "After reading five things, Yu couldn't help but cry loudly, where was the writer thirty years ago?" "Now and from now on, may the Creator give out another parsley and a fat, which is the book of he lucky!" The remaining two were also very happy to be in the Nine Springs! ”......
His former friends wrote sad elegies one after another:
The cattle ghost relics mourn Li He, and the deer car is buried with Liu Ling.
If the old man wants to have a life and a hanging, where will he summon the soul to endow Chu Yu?
——Duncheng "Bang Cao Xueqin"
Xie Cao pond by the xiaolu fragrance, pregnant people do not see tears into the line.
The North Wind Map is cold and difficult to return, and the dream of the white snow song is long.
——Zhang Yiquan, "Wounded Qinxi Resident"
Cao Xueqin once lamented in the book that "full of absurd words, a handful of bitter tears", if he could know the obsession of future generations with "Dream of the Red Chamber", he would probably sigh a floating thought, the Red Chamber is like a dream, right?
Many years later, his friend Duncheng will still remember the Chinese New Year's Eve of the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong (1763), and everyone will sincerely burn incense and pray that the old year will pass quickly and the new year will be free of disasters and difficulties.
But Duncheng waited for the bad news of Cao Xueqin's death, and when he died, he left only a few fragments of manuscripts and an unfinished "Dream of the Red Chamber".
It may still be snowing outside the window, and the land is really clean.
References: Zhou Ruchang: The Biography of Cao Xueqin, Hundred Flowers Literary and Art Publishing House, 2003 Fan Zhibin: The Biography of Cao Xueqin, Zhonghua Bookstore, 2012 Zhou Ruchang: The New Certificate of the Dream of the Red Chamber, People's Literature Publishing House, 1976