Is the last forty times of "Dream of the Red Chamber" a sequel? It has always been a hot topic. Is it really like what some people in Zhou Ruchang caught in the wind and shadows, and the last forty times it was tampered with by Gao Yan at the behest of Gao Yan?
Since the birth of "Red Studies", "Dream of the Red Chamber" can be described as lively. Some people who don't even know what "Dream of the Red Chamber" wrote have commented on "Dream of the Red Chamber" in vain.
In the "New Certificate of the Dream of the Red Chamber", Zhou Ruchang called Gao Hu a scum with an ugly face and called on everyone: "We should scold him and quickly cut his fake forty times from "Dream of the Red Chamber" and throw it into the paper basket." ”
Yu Pingbo, the founder of New Red Studies, apologized on his deathbed: "Hu Shi and Yu Pingbo were guilty of cutting off "Dream of the Red Chamber". Cheng Weiyuan and Gao Hu were responsible for preserving "Dream of the Red Chamber" and had meritorious service. Cardinal! ”
A completely different conclusion is really a double heaven of ice and fire. Who should we listen to?
But justice is in the hearts of the people. With the appearance of the Dream Manuscript, it proved that Gao Hu and Cheng Weiyuan were innocent. Because the Dream Manuscript was printed two or three years before Gao Hu, it declared that the "Gao Osprey Continued Book" was completely bankrupt.
In addition, with the deepening of the current research, there is a point of great drama, the first to throw into the trash should be the "Dream of the Red Chamber New Certificate", not the "Dream of the Red Chamber" after forty times. Because "Dream of the Red Chamber" is written in the royal history of the Qing Dynasty, it is not a history of the Cao family of Jiangning at all!
Of course, some people believe that the Qianlong Emperor forced Cao Xueqin to delete and revise the last forty times. According to a passage after Hu Zijin's "Collected Drinking Water Poems":
One day, the Qianlong Emperor visited the home of Prince Yi Hongxiao, and suddenly saw that there was a copy of the Book of Stones in the study, so he took a copy of it with his hand. When Hongxiao went home and heard about this, he was very scared, and immediately found Cao Xueqin and deleted all the forbidden words in the book. Because there were too many allusions to the imperial court in the last forty times, Cao Xueqin was forced to delete all the last forty times. Hongxiao presented the deleted "Dream of the Red Chamber" to Qianlong, and he was relieved...
Today, our research found that there are indeed forbidden things in "Dream of the Red Chamber". Kangxi's grandson Hongsheng hinted that "there are obstructions in the Dream of the Red Chamber". The reason is that "Dream of the Red Chamber" is written about the secret history of the Qing Palace, which is the real reason why "Dream of the Red Chamber" is regarded by some people as a flood beast.
Hongfang's remarks show from the side that at that time, the royal family also knew what was written in "Dream of the Red Chamber". Therefore, "the Qianlong Emperor forced Cao Xueqin to delete and change" seems to have a nose and an eye.
What is even more terrifying is that after reading the first eighty times of "Dream of the Red Chamber", we find that Jia Baoyu in the book is actually the Qianlong Emperor himself, and Lin Daiyu is the Qianlong Emperor's concubine Empress Xiaoxianchun. Since even we all knew about it, I think the Qianlong Emperor was also aware of it at that time, but he just pretended to direct everyone's attention to the "Pearl Family Affairs Theory".
In addition, if it was indeed the Qianlong Emperor who forced Cao Xueqin to delete and revise the last forty times, the Qianlong Emperor should have erased the secret history of the Qing Palace left behind by the first eighty times, not just the last forty times. Then the best way is to directly ban "Dream of the Red Chamber" and leave not a word to get rid of the big trouble!
But the reality is that in the first eighty times, except for the "Tianxianglou Incident" that was too explicitly deleted, we did not find substantial deletions.
What is even more incredible is that "Dream of the Red Chamber" was printed in 1791, when the Qianlong Emperor was still alive. What happened during this period that made Qianlong's attitude change? Perhaps it is already an unsolved mystery.
For more declassifications of the secret history of the Qing Dynasty Palace, see the collector's edition of Lai Xiaowei's Reappraisal of the Stone Chronicle.