"Intensive Reading of Novels" Shi Jiecun: Shangyuan Lantern (Excerpt)

【Editor's Note】

Shi Jiecun, formerly known as Shi Depu, the word Sting Cun. He is a famous Chinese modern and contemporary writer, translator and educator.

Shi Jingcun is known for writing psychoanalytic novels and is the most influential psychoanalytic novelist in China. His works deliberately depict the flow of subjective consciousness and the change of psychological feelings of the characters, and he is one of the main writers of the "New Sensation School" in China.

His novel "Shangyuan Lantern" unfolds the plot with the flow of character consciousness and emotion, showing young men and women in the 1920s and 1930s abandoning worldly concepts and pursuing free and beautiful love.

"On New Year's Eve last year, the flower market was lit up like day. The moon is on the willow tip, and the person is about after dusk. "The east wind blooms a thousand trees at night, and more blows down, and the stars are like rain." BMW carved car fragrant road. The sound of the phoenix vibrates, the jade pot turns, and the fish and dragon dance all night. "These beautiful psalms that we have been familiar with since childhood are all related to the upper verse. Whenever the festival comes, every house is illuminated with colorful lights, and the street market is lit up like day. The gentlemen and ladies who used to be enclosed in the deep courtyard of the high mansion put down their reticence, took off their armor, dressed up in beautiful clothes, and took to the streets to encounter a love like a song and appreciate a romance that belonged to the ancients.

【Text Reading】

Shangyuan Section (Excerpt)

(The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is called "Shangyuan Festival", and the folk have the custom of viewing the lanterns.) )

Author: Shi Jingcun

The children were busy lighting the various flower lanterns they bought in the downtown area. It was late afternoon. Bursts of crows flew over the patio, and saw these red, green and green rabbit lights and horse head lamps, led by such happy children, and were about to feel happy to return to their velvet nests to spend this festival of lights.

>>> the beginning of the story: children, crows, and red and green lights render the lively atmosphere on the eve of the First Yuan Festival.

Suddenly, I remembered that I had heard a few days ago that she was busy with the lanterns, which must have been completed and hung in her study room. I haven't seen her since I went to her house to visit her on the fourth day of junior high school.

I want to see her for the sake of looking at the lamp.

After making up his mind, he couldn't help but lean down and look at me. alas! (Alas!) One word contains a lot of information: life is embarrassing, Pepsi is sad! )

I walked into the inner room, and my mother was sitting sipping tea, and I said, "Mom, I want to change into a robe." ”

"I told you to wear that new robe, but who told you not to?" Mom said.

"That new robe is incredibly light in color, and who would wear it and go out to eat people laughing?"

"Who's going to laugh at you? It's not a brand-new silk leather robe, it's much better than the old robe you took off the stitches, I see you still wear it out, and you don't have a third leather robe. Mom said sincerely. (There is no third leather robe – the family situation is generally evident!) )

>>> (Story development: Tomorrow is the first day of the first day, suddenly want to see her. )

Reluctantly draped in a new robe, I toe through a few alleys — only because I didn't dare to walk down the street (ashamed of myself!). ), came to her house. As usual, she greeted her mother and her family and went into her study. She was hanging her homemade flower lanterns; paper, yarn, silk, no less than a dozen, there were hexagonal, square, and whale-like, and it was really dazzling. She was now standing high on a square stool, carrying a colored lamp in her hand, tied into the form of a tall building, and was hanging it in the middle. She saw me and jumped off the stool: she had always been so cute. (The lover's eyes are out of the west!) ）

Before she sat down, she asked me why I refused to eat dinner and leave last night (which seems to contradict the time of the previous article, in fact, this novel is a diary, this is the second article, the previous article is the first). I said, "Where would I like to share a table with your cousin?" If I had eaten here last night, I would have heard the sneers of both him and your mother; (revealing the information that "I" was generally despised by them because of their family situation) Needless to say that I could not listen, you would be afraid and feel very uncomfortable. ”

She groaned and groaned; I saw her chest breathing together as if unusually nervous. She said slowly, "I wanted to wait for the meal and he would go and give you a lamp as compensation for 'Yulou Chun', but I didn't know that you didn't want to eat dinner here, so I left in a hurry." ...... In fact...... In fact, you still don't eat well. ”

"What, what did they say last night?" I asked her.

"What do they say! Left and right are just words that can't be heard. (This further confirms the "I" conjecture.) I'd love to hear what they're saying about me behind my back. I asked her again, "What exactly are they talking about me?" ”

"I'm not willing to say it to you. ...... Speaking of which I have to tell you... Yesterday...... He actually said to me yesterday..." She said, looking deeply into me.

"What did he say to you?" I asked.

"What are you trying to say?" She thought I was deliberately asking her that, so she was embarrassed to answer me.

So I understood, and unconsciously my heart jumped violently. I asked urgently, "How do you answer him?" ”

"I don't need to answer him, I'm done if I refuse." She said very firmly.

"Really refused?"

"Why should I lie to you! For this matter last night my mother also criticized me better, and I also by her. ”

"So what if your mother is going to force you?" I asked.

"By them, I always refuse!" She answered me as she did, her eyes fixed on me, with a faint smile; she moved her body closer to me. I sat with my head down, searching as hard as I could. But I didn't understand what I was searching for. We were silent again for a moment; our breathing was short. (Tacit love between a young man and a woman!) Not long after, she stood up and beckoned me, "Come, I'll give you something." With that, she walked in front of her and came out of the study. I followed her. She led me upstairs to her bedroom, where I had never had the chance to come before. Before I could navigate her exquisite bedroom, she pointed to a pale green gauze lamp hanging in the middle and asked me, "You see, I left you the most exquisite lamp?" (Give only the most exquisite to "you"!) ）

I think that lamp is indeed much more delicate than "Yulou Spring". Children with brushes painted on all sides greet the lights, which is very quaint. I said, "Okay, give me this." ”

She said happily, "How do you see compared to 'Yulou Chun'?" My painting was painted in imitation of the Southern Song Dynasty Painting Academy, which took me two days of work. ”

"This is naturally much more exquisite than 'Yulou Spring.'" As I spoke, I took off the lamp. "I won't take it off at the moment, and I won't get my hands on it tomorrow." I said again. She smiled and said, "I hung this lamp in the room, where can he take it off?" I said, "Can't he come and ask you for this lamp?" ”

"I won't allow him into my room." She said with a straight face. (Private space only for loved ones!) )

"But why can I come in?" I smiled and asked her.

Her cheeks didn't feel red again, and she lowered her head but didn't open her mouth. So I put the lamp on the table, walked over to her, and said softly to her, "If what your cousin said to you changed to what I said, would you refuse?" She suddenly heard me say this, not feeling a little surprised, her face suddenly turned gray, she looked up and glanced at me again with her amorous eyes, and suddenly her face was full of red light. She hung her head again, but didn't make a sound. I asked softly again, "Won't you refuse?" (The shy rose opens quietly – hazy love turns clear!) )

>>> the climax of the story: opening their hearts to each other, hazy and sweet love!

Still silent, she cast her eyes on me and spun away again (silence is better than sound). After eating the Lantern Festival, in the blink of an eye, it was late again. I said goodbye to her with the lamp, and she said, "Be careful not to knock the lamp down." Looking at her with a smile, I said, "Even if this lamp is all broken, I am not sorry, because today I have really got too much." "She sent me to the door with a red face, and I don't remember how to separate from her. I walked home from the lively street, carrying the lights painted with green gauze, and went home honorably. On the way, I thought I was already a praised victor (being favored by my lover, full of joy, in contrast to the previous evasive and inferior. ）。 However, when I looked down and saw my old dress, I unconsciously breathed softly (the embarrassment of reality slipped out again).

>>> the end of the story: get the love in return and go home satisfied. )

(With deletions)

[Note] (1) Shi Jingcun (1905-2003), a native of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, was a famous modern writer, translator and educator. "Shangyuan Lantern" organizes articles based on the diary of a teenager for three days before and after the Shangyuan Festival.

【Knowledge Structure】

Diaries //

The diarized novel is a unique form of the novel genre, which is a genre of fiction that uses the diary form as the basic structure of the novel. This type of novel mostly uses the first person in the narrative method, narrating events, unfolding plots, and portraying characters in the way the protagonist of the diary sees, hears, and feels. For example, "Shangyuan Lantern" narrates the event from the perspective of "I" and unfolds the plot with the trajectory of the inner emotional flow of "I".