Today is Valentine's Day, and Lu Sir wishes that there are lovers in the world who will eventually become dependents.
On this sweet day, the work that Lu Sir wants to share with you can be called a treasure in the history of classical literature - "Six Memories of Floating Life".
This is an autobiographical memoir written by Shen Fu in his later years, which can be called a classic of Ming and Qing prose, and during the Republic of China, Lu Xun, Lin Yutang, Chen Yinke, Yu Pingbo and other literary figures praised it.
To this day, the beautiful words in the book that describe the deep affection, the tight love, the turmoil and sorrow, the sorrow and joy, still make countless people read it and sigh.
From the title of the book, it can be known that it originally had six volumes, but unfortunately, Shen Fu, a person, had neither a meritorious name nor a literary name before his death, and there were very few people who wrote it into posterity, and it was not long before the last two volumes of text were lost.
Among the four volumes that have survived, Shen Fu wrote about his deceased wife Yunniang, accounting for three-quarters of the ink, so readers and critics in later generations usually regard "Six Notes of Floating Life" as a work of mourning for his deceased wife.
"Six Memories of Floating Life" also has a reputation as "Little Red Chamber Dream" in the academic circles, and Shen Fu and his wife Yunniang have many similarities with Jia Baoyu lin Daiyu in terms of life age and personality pursuit.
The biggest difference between the Red Chamber Shuangyu and Shen Fuyunniang is that shuangyu died early, and even if the case was raised, it was difficult to calm down, leaving a lifelong regret.
And Shen Fu and Yunniang, from the two little nothing guessed the two love strings, husband and wife for a total of twenty-three years, compared to the heavens treat them not too thin. Therefore, Shen Fu himself also said, "The thickness of the heavens can be described as the most."
This "Six Memories of Floating Life" can also be regarded as a beautiful love letter written by Shen Fu to his wife Yunniang.
1. Yan'er is newly married, such as a brother like a brother
The ancients often clouded, there are four happy things in life: long drought and sweet rain, other hometowns meet the old knowledge, cave flower candle night, when the gold list is titled.
Three of these four kinds of happiness have long been written by the literati from various angles and in various genres, except for the "Night of the Cave Flower Candle" that cannot be put on the table, the joy of the boudoir, the private feelings of children, generally do not take it out to say, and Shen Fu not only wrote, but also grandly listed at the top of the six volumes.
Shen Fu was born in a family of eunuchs in Suzhou, married when he was a child, and betrothed to the daughter of Jinsha Yu' family, and the woman died at the age of eight.
When Shen Fu was thirteen years old, he went with his mother to his grandfather's house and met his uncle's daughter and his cousin Chen Yun. The young man who had just opened his heart fell in love with his cousin at first sight, and at that time decided to marry her in the future.
Yunniang was clever and clever from an early age, just able to speak and recite the "Pipa Line", when her father died when she was four years old, leaving her and her mother and brother to live a difficult life, Yunniang can embroider, and she will work with ten fingers to support a family of three.
Fortunately, Shen Fu's mother also liked Yunniang's gentle and gentle personality, so she took the gold ring in her hand and booked this family affair.
The second time we met, it was winter. At that time, Yunniang's cousin was married, and Shen Fu went to his grandfather's house with his mother. That night, Shen Fu sent his relatives, and when he came back, it was late at night, and Yunniang saw that he was hungry, so she secretly pulled him to his room and brought out warm porridge and small dishes.
Shen Fu was just about to eat, someone outside shouted Yunniang, Yunniang quickly closed the door and said that she was tired and wanted to sleep, but the cousin still pushed the door and squeezed in, seeing Shen Fu, he laughed at Yunniang and said: "I want porridge, you said no, it turned out to be hidden for her husband!" ”
Yunniang was embarrassed, turned around and ran, Shen Fu was also very angry, and went home with his servant that night.
Source: Yao Li's illustration "Floating Life And Oath of Alliance"
After that, Shen Fu went to his grandfather's house again, and Yunniang would avoid it, lest she be made fun of. After five or six years, the two became intimate, and the cave opened their headscarves and smiled at each other, and then they connected their heads again.
The twenty-second day of the first month of the year of Qianlong Gengzi is the day when Shen Fu and Yunniang became relatives, and it is also the wedding day of Shen Fu's sister. On the night of the candle in the cave room, Shen Fu and Yunniang had a cup of wine, and when they ate dinner side by side, Shen Fu secretly shook Yunniang's hand under the table, and the warm and slippery touch made his heart beat like a drum.
That night, Yunniang wanted to accompany Shen Fu's sister to a banquet, Shen Fu was in the cave room and the bridesmaid guessed fist drinking, yunniang returned, Shen Fu was already drunk.
On the twenty-third day, the guests of the family came to the door. On the twenty-fourth day, Shen Fu sent her sister out of marriage, returned late at night, the lights in the home were quiet, and when she went back to her room to see, Yunniang was still asleep, and she was looking down at the book to see God, Shen Fu caressed her shoulder and asked: "Sister, you have been working hard for days, why are you still tireless?" ”
Yunniang quickly turned back to stand up and said, "Just about to sleep, I saw this book in the cupboard, and I forgot the time when I looked at it." I have long heard the fame of "West Chamber", and today I saw it, it is really worthy of being a masterpiece of talent, but it is too mean. ”
Shen Fu smiled and said, "Only a talent can write so harshly." ”
The two laughed side by side, like close friends reuniting, Shen Fu put his hand on Yunniang's chest and whispered in her ear, "Why is your heart beating as fast as mine?" ”
Yunniang looked back and smiled slightly, Shen Fu felt a wisp of love shake people's souls, and the two embraced each other into the account, not feeling that the sky had been cleared.
2. The cutest woman in the history of literature
Yuan Hongdao, a literary master of the Ming Dynasty, once said: "The lonely mountain virgin, his wife Meizihe, is the first kind of cheap person in the world." Just because I have a wife, my generation has caused a lot of idle things, which cannot be left behind, and it is disgusting, like a piece of clothing and thorns, step by step. ”
The Lonely Mountain Virgin in Yuan Hongdao's mouth refers to the Northern Song Dynasty Lin Kui, who has left a name in history because of two things.
The first is a poem entitled "Xiaomei in the Mountain Garden", in which the sentence "The shadow is shallow and shallow, and the dark incense floats in the dusk of the moon" is the last song of Yongmei; the second is that he did not marry in his life, took Mei as his wife, and took the crane as his son, and was praised by the literati of later generations as dashing and noble.
Yuan Hongdao is one of these later generations of literati, he said, or Lin Kui lived freely, those of us with wives and children, like wearing torn clothes walking in the thorny bushes, it is really a burden.
Why did the ancients, especially the ancient literati, belittle their wives?
The reason is very simple, first, most of the ancient women are illiterate and do not leave the house, and they like to chant the wind and praise the moon and the elegant literati husbands have no common language at all; second, ancient women are not happy to go out to work, there is no source of income, the daily use of the family always has to spend money, the family is well-off, it is better to say, when they encounter poor acid xiucai, the days are sad.
The reason why Shen Fu and Yunniang were able to love each other for twenty-three years was not that Shen Fu was much smarter than Yuan Hongdao in handling the relationship between husband and wife, but mostly because Yunniang was an unusual woman.
First of all, she can read and write poetry, Shen Fu fell for it when she first saw her, it is because Yunniang is thinking of Junxiu, not outstanding, Shen Fu said that she has "two teeth slightly exposed, it seems that it is not a good look", that is, Yunniang's appearance is not beautiful.
After getting married, Yunniang accompanied Shen Fu to teach about ancient and pinyue to evaluate flowers, and the two talked from ancient Texts to Tang poems, and then from Tang poems to Han Fu, Shen Fu asked, Yunniang had answers, therefore, Shen Fu had both a heart of love and a sense of confidant for Yunniang. The two have something to say and talk about one day, and the feelings have the motivation to continue to maintain.
Then, Yunniang's interests are also different from those of ordinary women. She had no interest in the ring jewelry, when Shen Fu's brother became a relative, the sister-in-law even lacked pearls, And Yunniang generously took out the pearls she received when she became a parent, and the maid felt pity when she saw them.
Yunniang said: "Women themselves are heavy yin, pearls are the most yin things, use it as jewelry, the little yang left has been stripped away, what is good!" ”
When it comes to favorite things, Yunniang's favorite is still those broken books and broken volumes, in addition to daily chores, is to collect broken and damaged books and paintings, carefully repair and classify, and solemnly collect.
Also, Yunniang's biggest advantage is the peace and happiness.
Shen Fu has been oscillating between the tour curtain and the merchants all his life, and has never made any money, and when he is running in vain outside, Yunniang never complains bitterly.
She can not only live a life of eating and drinking, but also the magic of turning a piece of food into a piece of food and a cup of fragrant tea.
Source: Yao Li's illustration "Floating Life, Poor Music"
Shen Fu and Yunniang were expelled from their homes for the first time and lived in the Xiao Shuang Building of their friend Lu Banfang's family for a year and a half.
At that time, Shen Fu could only earn a little money by writing and engraving chapters, and he liked to drink and party with friends, and In addition to quietly pulling out the liquor, Yunniang also came up with a lot of frugal ways to dye their daily life.
For example, she took six white porcelain deep plates, placed them in a plum blossom box, fixed them with gray paint, made into a plum blossom shaped lunch box, and then loaded them with six-colored small dishes, and put them on the desk to serve Shen Fu and his friends with wine, so that the small dishes were like on the petals, not only shabby, but also elegant.
When the lotus flowers first bloom in the summer, Yunniang uses a small yarn bag to pack a little tea leaves, put them in the closed buds at night, take them out when the flowers bloom in the morning, and boil the Heavenly Spring Water to make tea, the fragrance makes Shen Fu sigh.
Therefore, when Lin Yutang later translated the Six Records of Fusheng into English and introduced it to foreign readers, he said that Yunniang was the most lovely woman in the history of Chinese literature.
3. Floating like a dream, for the joy of geometry
The title of the book "Six Records of Floating Life" comes from a sentence in Li Bai's "Spring Night Feast Peach and Plum Garden Sequence": "The one who fu heaven and earth, the rebel of all things; the one who is time and yin, the guest of hundreds of generations." And floating like a dream, for the joy of geometry? ”
This means that heaven and earth are like a hostel, time is like a hurried visitor, and man's life is like a dream, how much happiness is there in the dream?
Throughout the ages, countless literati and inkers have raised similar questions and issued similar feelings. Shen Fu wrote "Six Notes of Fusheng" to hand over his own answer sheet on this issue -
In this dream of his shenfu, life is full of old tastes, there are sorrows, there are fun, there are pride, there are grievances, there are ups and downs, there are separations, and of course, there are happiness. And these happiness are all related to a woman named Yunniang.
Shen Fu's happiness, there is a new marriage in June, the inner room is steaming, he and Yunniang live in a small Xuan by the Canglang Pavilion, all day long lessons on the ancient, pin moon evaluation flowers, Yunniang is not good at drinking, barely can drink three cups, Shen Fu taught her to shoot as an order, the two ordered to drink, thinking that they are the joy of the world, nothing more.
Shen Fu's happiness, as well as living in the friend's Xiao Shuang Building, once, the friends wanted to go to enjoy the cauliflower, suffering from the garden there is no restaurant drink, with the box to go, the flower cold drink, no meaning, everyone discussed whether to find a place to drink nearby, or after seeing the flowers back to drink, think about it and think that there is no hot wine to drink against the flowers.
At this time, Yunniang smiled and said, "You can each pay for wine tomorrow, and I am responsible for picking up the fire." ”
The next day, Yunniang found a wonton seller on the street and hired him for a hundred dollars to carry a wonton stall with him.
When they arrived at the garden, everyone chose to sit in the shade of the willow, Yunniang first cooked tea, drank it, and then cooked warm wine on the wonton stall, and Shen Fu and others enjoyed the flowers on the spot.
Source: Yao Li's illustration "Floating Life, Happy Gathering"
At that time, the wind and the sun were beautiful, gold everywhere, green shirts and red sleeves, more and more strange, butterflies and bees flew around, making people drunk without drinking. After the wine and dishes are cooked, everyone sits on the ground and chews, and the tourists see it, and they are all envious and amazed.
In the evening, the red sun will decline, Shen Fu wants to eat porridge, the people who sell wontons go to buy rice to cook porridge, and everyone is full of drinks and returns with fun.
Shen Fu's footprints have spread all over the world in most of the scenic spots, but the most vivid trip he remembers is to take a wonton stall to enjoy cauliflower in Suzhou.
When it is, there are flowers, there are scenery, there are wine, there are vegetables, there are friends, there are Yunniang, and the happiness of life has reached the extreme.
Li Bai said in the article "Spring Night Feast Peach and Plum Garden Preface":
"The ancients traveled by candlelight at night, and there was good and good. The situation Yang Chun summoned me to smoke the scene, and the large piece of fake me to the article. The garden of peach blossoms, the joy of the prelude to heaven. Qun Ji Junxiu, all for Huilian; my people sing songs, du shame recreation. The reward is not over, and the high talk is clear. The feast is to sit on the flowers, fly feathers and drunkenly moon. If there is no good song, why stretch Yahuai? If the poem is not successful, the penalty is based on the number of Jingu wine. ”
This means that this kind of happiness is rare in a lifetime, so how can you not write a good poem to express your song?
Shen Fu's thoughts were the same, things like spring dreams without a trace, the happy times in his dreamy life have passed, leaving no trace, but how can those precious happiness not be recorded!
Therefore, Shen Fu's "Six Notes of Floating Life", writing about the various experiences in his life, eventually fell on a "happy" word.
The author | sentences
Edited | Liangshan
Typography | Liangshan