Speaking of the four beauties of ancient China, many people will not be too unfamiliar, they are Xi Shi, Wang Zhaojun, Sable Cicada, Yang Yuhuan, respectively, have the name of sinking fish, falling geese, closed moon, shy flowers, and the first of these "four beauties" is the Spring and Autumn Period Yueguo beauty Xi Shi.
Xi Shi's family lived in Yueguo Ju wu ramie village (now Zhuji ramie village in Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province), she followed her mother in the river Huansha since childhood, so she was also called Huansha girl, but she was really too beautiful, when she was in the river Huansha, the clear river water reflected her beautiful figure, even the fish saw her reflection, forgot to swim, and gradually sank to the bottom of the river.
Xi Shi's elegant name of "sinking fish" comes from this story, but there is an old Chinese saying called "since ancient times, red face and thin life" because long and beautiful will inevitably be involved in political disputes, because everyone loves beauty, especially the ancient imperial relatives and nobles, the family is not full of wives? Therefore, Xi Shi was also favored by The King of Yue and became a pawn to defeat the State of Wu.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Wu Yue fought with each other, wu guo was strong and strong, and soon defeated the yue kingdom, and even the yue king Gou Jian became a hostage and was escorted to the state of Wu, the king of Yue was bullied in the state of Wu, but he pretended to be very honest and loyal, so that the state of Wu relaxed his vigilance and finally released him back to the kingdom of Yue. After the King of Yue returned to the Kingdom of Yue, he swore to defeat the State of Wu.
At the same time, the King of Yue wanted to weaken the State of Wu on the one hand, so he set up a beauty plan. He sent people to look for beautiful women in Yueguo extensively, and Xi Shi was already very famous at that time, and was naturally chosen, but many people did not know that Xi Shi was also selected with a good friend of Xi Shi, named Zheng Dan.
Zheng Dan and Xi Shi come from the same village, and it is generally believed that Zheng Dan is more beautiful than Xi Shi, and Zheng Dan has a strong personality, likes to dance swords, and is much better than Xi Shi in terms of psychological quality. Before being chosen by the Yue King, Xi Shi often felt inferior to her own feet, so Zheng Dan helped her make a long skirt. And encouraged her, and eventually let Xi Shi walk out of inferiority.
In today's terms, the two are girlfriends who can't be better. He was even selected by the Yue King and became a spy of the Yue Kingdom to infiltrate the side of the King of Wu, who was very happy to see Xi Shi and Zheng Dan, who were in love with the country, so he arranged them to Gusutai and Wu Palace respectively.
But even the best friends, once they have feelings and interests involved, are often prone to turning against each other. After entering the palace, Xi Shi and Zheng Dan began to compete for favors. Eventually, Wu Wang Fuchai began to favor Xi Shi, and eventually Zheng Dan felt that he was being indifferent. Melancholy became a disease, and finally ended up depressed because of "jealousy of Xi Shi's favor".
The history books record: "Depressed and unmotivated, after years of death, the husband mourned, buried in Huangmao Mountain." In the end, only the name of Xi Shi passed down through the ages and became the first of the four beauties. Zheng Dan, who was originally more beautiful than Xi Shi, turned into grass and trees and was unknown. It was only when people talked about Xi Shi that they occasionally remembered that Xi Shi once had such a beautiful friend around him.
First of all, from the perspective of Zheng Dan's personality, it is unacceptable to say that she is "depressed and ends up" because of jealousy, and it is more likely that she was directly killed by Xi Shi's means. Of course, this is only a conjecture, as for the truth, thousands of years have passed, and I am afraid that it will never be revealed.