Bai Xianyong's novel review | "That Bloody Red Rhododendron": the meaning is profound, and the aftertaste is long

Text/Wang Muyu

(Works: "That Blood-Red Rhododendron", by Bai Xianyong, in Taipei People, Guangxi Normal University Press, January 2015)

Wang Xiong was a relative. It was a little sister boy bought by his wife when he was in his hometown in xiangyin, Hunan. This was a silly girl who was going to be Wang Xiong's daughter-in-law, and at that time, she was only ten years old. Compared to Lil'er, it is like one in heaven and one on earth. Li'er's unique baby girl-like attitude is "the most able to teach people to move their hearts, living like a jade doll". Li'er's appearance of pity makes "her kind of indulgent and willful temper", in Wang Xiong's view, also enough to pity and cherish.

Wang Xiong's hometown in the countryside is the protector of the little sister. In Wang Xiong's memory, the little sister was lazy and lazy, and every time the old lady wanted to beat her with a broomstick, she hid behind Wang Xiong. Wang Xiong's protection of the little sister boy made this rugged man have delicacy and intimacy, and also had obedience and obedience to Li'er in the future.

Bai Xianyong said only a few words, and then he touched Wang Xiong's temperament thoroughly, and he vividly appeared on the paper. This is a man with a small mouth, who is slow and clumsy, but he is inwardly showy. Also because of his clumsiness in appearance, Wang Xiong has suffered hardships and suffered contempt in the world. The novel "That Bloody Red Rhododendron" is like Wang Xiong's self-description, and it is like Bai Xianyong's affirmation and praise of Wang Xiong's type of characters. However, such as Wang Xiong, such a figure, they do not know how to tell and pour out, they will only hold themselves hard, grit their teeth and silently withstand the devastation of wind and rain, the bombardment of thunder and lightning, and finally, be swallowed up by the darkness of the world.

There are still people in the world who have a unique vision and discover the existence of Wang Xiong. Just like the "I" in the novel, I found a few old soldiers in the barracks who "maintained a kind of innocence all the way." These old soldiers are still stuck in the memory of the past, and the imprints of the past have not disappeared with the passage of time, but have been permanently stationed in the "wrinkled faces" of the old soldiers. Under the observation of "I", when the old soldiers were naked and fighting in the sea, their faces burst open, "that kind of smile is not found on the faces of other adults." Brushing away the fog of words, the reader can see a distant picture, in which there are small rivers, there are teenagers, there are splashes of water, there are noisy and jubilant, and in the sight of "I", it is the old soldiers who are fighting water and "opening up childish smiles". These old soldiers have been in the army for more than ten years, and Wang Xiong was once one of them and had just retired. Because people are honest, they are employed by "my" aunt and become a male worker in the aunt's family. The aunt praised Wang Xiong, but that was all. Because Wang Xiong "doesn't make a sound all day, he will do things with his head stuffed." Such a "stuffy gourd"-like man, in the eyes of his aunt, is no different from a "rough person". But this "rough man" took care of the flowers and trees, "but don't have a lot of thoughts." This is an amazing specialty of "rough man" Wang Xiong, just like an old soldier who can pull erhu to amaze "me". In the small talk with "me", Wang Xiong gradually let "I" know his origins. When he was eighteen, he smoked a strong man and never returned home. In his memory, home is the legend of the god and devil's way of "exorcising corpses" in his hometown, just like the old soldier of La Erhu, which belongs to "a nostalgic sorrow".

Bai Xianyong's insightful words poured great sympathy for Wang Xiong. No one has ever given dignity to Wang Xiong, and the author has given back valuable dignity to Wang Xiong and all the creatures in the world who have been abused through words. In order to please Li'er, Wang Xiong found two anchovies and goldfish. When she was in elementary school, Li'er not only liked grasshoppers, but also liked goldfish, and these beautiful creatures made Wang Xiongji care because they were Li'er's favorites. After the goldfish that "I" gave to Li'er was stolen by the cat next door, Wang Xiong went to find two for Li'er. These were two bright red anchovy goldfish with Wang Xiong's desperate begging to please Li'er. However, Li'er, who went to middle school, is no longer the little girl who was like a "jade doll". Today, Li'er has a brutal self-esteem, which makes Li'er annoyed that Wang Xiong took her to school and school. Because Wang Xiong's stupidity was ridiculed by his classmates. Li'er's contempt for Wang Xiong makes the young "Esmeralda" disappear, but "Quasimodo" is completely unaware. Wang Xiong rushed to give the goldfish to Li'er, but Li'er impatiently refused. The pain of refusing to bring Wang Xiong was enormous, and he didn't understand why Li'er would be so cold and ruthless to himself. The goldfish tank "fell to the ground and smashed to pieces", and Wang Xiong's sincerity towards Li'er was also shattered.

Lil is "my" cousin. My uncle was a businessman who died early, leaving a considerable fortune for my aunt and cousin. "Therefore, my aunt and cousin have always lived a very wealthy life." Li'er, who grew up in a favorable environment, has the spoiling of her aunt, and her pampered and willful temper has become a personality, which seems to be beyond reproach. Because of this, Li'er also had a dazzling innocence in the eyes of Wang Xiong, who was stupid in his mouth. It reminded Wang Xiong of the little girl who was lazy and lazy, and hid behind him as soon as he was beaten. Li'er and Wang Xiong remember the little sister, similar in age, one is pampered and willful, one is delicious and lazy, because of their young age, it is not worth asking them very high. Wang Xiong's pity for Li'er also has a sense of affection for the little sister.

Wang Xiong would take care of the flowers and trees, and he planted hundreds of azaleas in his aunt's garden, which made "me" wonder, "Why plant so many azaleas?" "Lil loved it. A simple answer, let the forty-year-old Wang Xiong be led by the nose of a female doll. In the childlike text, there are two figures, one large and one small, holding hands, one with a snow-white round arm, which belongs to the rich lady, and the other with a thick black arm, which is Wang Xiong. They jumped and danced, singing and dancing among the bright red azaleas, one agile and one stupid. The stupid Wang Xiong and the little sister of that year may have had such a happy time, but the good times were not long, and Wang Xiong, who was smoked Zhuang Ding, has not returned to his hometown so far, and the little sister boy is only left in his memory with a shadow similar to Li'er's age. Li'er's explicit image reshapes Wang Xiong's memory, and this image identification makes Wang Xiong see Li'er as a little sister. With Li'er playing in the rhododendron bushes, Wang Xiong seems to have returned to his hometown of Xiangyin, which is also "a nostalgic sorrow".

Through the legend of the gods and ghosts "exorcising corpses", the goldfish that is dying in wang xiong's hand, and the hilarity in the azaleas, the novel clearly outlines a rough but not delicate underlying character image. However, unlike many low-level characters, characters such as Wang Xiong have a naïveté that is contrary to the times, and the author uses the "I" in the novel to summarize it as "the innocence of the naked son". It does not have the slightest adaptation and change due to the changes of the times, and maintains the self-adherence that is not in line with the times. Forty-year-old Wang Xiong's deep belief in the legend of "exorcism", pity for the goldfish abandoned to the ground by Li'er, and meticulous care for the azaleas all confirm Wang Xiong's inner abundance and wealth. This makes Wang Xiong have a little curiosity, a little mystery, and a little bit of closeness to the next girl who is also from the bottom.

Xi Mei's closeness to Wang Xiong focuses on whether the provocation is successful or not, "whenever she makes him red-headed and red-faced, she is very happy." This made Wang Xiong and Xi Mei, who were originally clumsy, become sworn enemies. Wang Xiong's avoidance of Xi Mei eventually led to a tragedy. The source of this tragedy began with Wang Xiong's efforts to please Li'er with two anchovies to please Li'er, and from then on, Wang Xiong lost the vitality of his soul. Wang Xiong, whose heart was dry, "became exceptionally silent." Every day he went to the garden to water the flowers, and every day "he had to water the hundred or so azaleas several times." He just didn't say a word, "wandering alone." Through the deep repression between the words, we can feel how agitated the author's heart is when describing Wang Xiong's depression. The author's rushing emotions will eventually be expressed, and it points to the cause and effect of the puzzle of "Wang Xiong's death" with the azaleas blooming like blood at the end of the novel.

The novel begins with wang xiong's murderous death, and his body is found on a desolate beach. Wang Xiong once asked "I", "Can you see the mainland on Kinmen Island?" "I," told him, "I could see from the telescope that the people over there were walking around. The author laid a successful foreshadowing, which became the key and path to unlock the "death of Wang Xiong". The depressed Wang Xiong's temper becomes violent, and there is an inevitable conflict with Xi Mei, who is focused on stirring herself to find fun. Once the inherent habits are broken, Xi Mei, who is frightened and overwhelmed by Wang Xiong's violence that has been avoided by his own prodding, responds with anger to Wang Xiong's rudeness to himself.

Xi Mei's ridicule of Wang Xiong in exasperation aroused Wang Xiong's hidden bloodiness in his heart, and he remembered that he had also been ridiculed by Li'er's classmates. The same ridicule came from Li'er's classmates, Wang Xiong could endure, and from Xi Mei, it made Wang Xiong angry. Here there is the author's ultimate insight into the world, and the subtlety of human nature. Wang Xiong, who was not violent, with deep disappointment, had the decision to cross to the other side and return to his hometown. This forty-year-old retired soldier was a wanderer, lonely and helpless. The short happy hours with Lil are ruthlessly crushed by the rich lady as she grows up. Originally, Wang Xiong planned to spend the rest of his life in silence, as long as he could be around Li'er, even if he was despised by Li'er and her classmates, unexpectedly, the next daughter Ximei also learned to mock herself in the tone of Miss Rich, which made Wang Xiong completely disappointed in the world. Wang Xiong saw clearly that he was in Taipei, and there was no place for him. The path to unlocking the "death of Wang Xiong" was at this time at first sight, but it was impossible to continue to go deeper. Bai Xianyong gave a proposition that is difficult to exhaustively investigate in the novel, and the rich lady Li'er and the next daughter Ximei laughed at Wang Xiong in different ways at the moment near the end with the development of the plot of the novel, which seemed to eliminate the natural barrier of class attributes and realized the integration of classes, but made this proposition a hypothesis with a long aftertaste. However, as a novel with profound meaning, "That Bloody Red Rhododendron" with its complex structure, refined text, colorful imagery, and highly jumpy narrative brings readers a reading charm that is eternal, and its interpretation methods should also be diverse. After Wang Xiong's death, the more than a hundred azaleas in the garden "all burst and let go." These blood-red azaleas, in "my" experience, have never bloomed "so wantonly, so angry." The azalea is in the author's profound allegory, and its bloom seems to tell a sad past. The hundred or so azaleas are a choir of one hundred people, jubilant in inaudible voices, metaphorically, accusing...

(End of full text.) (made march 6, 2021)

——The cover image is a network illustration, which has nothing to do with the content of the main text——

About the author: Wang Muyu, real name Wang Xu. In addition to Wang Muyu, there are Xu Muyu, Xu Muyu's bookcase, and Wang Xu 326, who settled in Chongqing.