Liu Xianglian statue
Looking at the treatises, papers and dictionaries about "Dream of the Red Chamber", we can see that the first appearance of Liu Xianglian, an important figure in the book, is set for the forty-seventh time, and if so, when we read some of the contents of this review, we will feel that there is something incoherent in the plot.
(1) When Xue Pan and others were drinking at Lai Shangrong's house, they were accompanied by guests
There was Liu Xianglian, and Xue Pan had been remembering it since the last time they had met.
When will Xue Pan pass Xianglian?
(2) Lai Shangrong said to Liu Xianglian:
Fang Caibao Second Master instructed me again, and although I saw him when I entered the door, it was just that there were many people who were not good at talking, and asked me to tell you not to leave when you dispersed, and he still had something to say.
Jia Baoyu seems to have already met Liu Xianglian before, when did the two of them ever meet?
(3) After Jia and Liu met, Bao Yu pulled Liu Xianglian to sit down and asked him if he could go to Qin Zhong's grave in the next few days. Xianglian Road:
Why not go? A few of us let go of the eagle the day before yesterday, two miles away from his grave, and I think that this summer's rain will be frequent, and I am afraid that his grave will not be able to stand. I carried the crowd behind my back and went to take a look, and sure enough, I moved a little more. When I came home, I got a few hundred dollars, went out early on the third morning, and hired two people to clean up.
Since Liu Xianglian missed the dead Qin Zhong so much, the relationship between them should be very close, why could it be so?
These few questions that could not be answered without changing the way of thinking can actually be answered, and the xianglian homophony of xianglian in the ninth time should be the key to solving the problem.
(1) After Xue Pan learned that there was a school in Jia Province, which had a wide range of young children,
Inevitably, Long Yang's happiness was occasionally moved, and he also came to school and study under false pretenses, but he did not have some children to benefit, and only wanted to make some brothers. Whoever thought that there were several primary school students in this school, who had drawn Xue Pan's silver money to eat and wear, and those who were coaxed into getting started by him did not need to remember much. There are also two amorous primary school students, only because they were born feminine and charming, they all gave him two nicknames in the school, one "Xiang Pi" and the other "Jade Love". Although they all have the intention of stealing, it will not be conducive to the heart of the widow, but they are afraid of Xue Pan's power and dare not come to provoke.
It can be seen that Xue Pan once had a fragrant pity.
Disgusted children smoke in the study
(2) After Jia Baoyu and Qin Zhong entered school,
Seeing him two, I couldn't help but be envious. In the hearts of Xiang and Yu, they also have general mercy and treasure and Qin. Therefore, in the daily enrollment, sit on all four sides, but the eight eyes are hooked, or the words are entrusted, or the wing sang is willow, and the heart is taken care of.
It can be seen that Baoyu and Qin Zhong once intersected with Xiangpi.
(3) Especially Qin and Xiang, the relationship is particularly intimate. Even in the middle of the class, Qin Zhong still had to take the opportunity
He Xiangpi squeezed his eyebrows and made eye contact, handed the secret number, and the two pretended to be Xiao Gong and walked to the backyard to talk to himself. ......
Since they are so compatible, if one of them dies, it is reasonable for the other party to defend the grave of his deceased friend in order to express his nostalgia.
The study is a big fuss
Since Xiangpi and Xianglian are homophonous, this gives us enlightenment: Xiang and Xiang may have been one person, and the former is only the nickname of the latter, which replaces the elegant meaning of the original name with a light meaning through homophonic relations. And "Xiang Pi", as a nickname, may be pronounced as the child's pronunciation of "Xiang Pi'er", thus more characteristic of the nickname. Taking the above inference as the premise, a few doubts in the forty-seventh time can be basically solved, so that "Dream of the Red Chamber" can appear more coherent in the plot. Therefore, the author believes that the conclusion that Xianglian is Xiangpi has the possibility and necessity of its establishment in a certain sense.
Of course, this will give rise to a new question: assuming that Xiang and Xiangshi are one person, then why are the temperaments of the two very different? One is feminine and delicate, willing to seek benefits from Xue Pan; the other is high-spirited and regards Xue Pan's affectionate love as an intolerable insult. We may wish to understand this difference as follows: In the past few years, Liu Xianglian, who was originally a child of the family, has encountered many changes in life, his "parents died early", his family is weakening, and because he "can't study", he has gradually become "cool and good at playing guns and dancing swords", and even "sleeping flowers lying in willows, playing flutes and playing kites, doing everything", so that the weak and obedient Xianglian has become a strong and self-respecting Xianglian. Circumstances change, Liu Xianglian is likely to have some changes in personality characteristics and behavior patterns with the increase of age and experience. At this time, when he looked back at his previous interactions with Xue Pan, it was inevitable that he would feel deeply bored with his experience as a "brother in law", and he would have a special dislike for that "brother". Similar examples can be seen from time to time in real life: many of the emergence of young homosexuals is due to the inducement of the environment and others, and the social figures they can contact at that time are mainly same-sex partners and elders. As they get older, they begin to realize the existence of the young opposite sex and begin to consider marrying and having children, at which point many gay teenagers will become heterosexual or at least bisexual youth, and some of them will feel embarrassed or even ashamed of their previous homosexual experiences. There is such a record in the Notes on Reading Wei Caotang:
A certain public relative is a child, no city, nor is there any arrogance and indulgence. I sobbed for a few days, and my eyes were swollen. Strangely questioned, I sighed: "I recommend the pillow every day, but I am unconscious." Yesterday, in the apartment, there was a certain child and a certain child, and I peeped into the gap, ugly and indescribable, and the daughter of Heng Chen was very different. Because he thought of himself as a man, and was defiled, he regretted it and could not be traced, so he was ashamed and angry. "A certain public explained a hundred directions, and finally did not let go, and then fled.
Although Liu Xianglian is not this child prostitute, the two are the same in the point of feeling that the past is unbearable. Therefore, in the forty-seventh time, seeing Xue Pan's gradual disappearance at the banquet, Xianglian once said to Baoyu: "Your aunt and cousin are still like that, and it is inevitable that there will be something to sit on again, so it is better that I avoid it." The "cousin of your aunt" here refers to Xue Pan, and the so-called "still like that" means that he has "committed an old disease again" and wants to relive his old dreams and restore the relationship he once had with Xianglian (Xiangpi). With such a desire, how could Second Master Liu Xianglian, who had already been trained into "Leng Lang Jun", and no longer an amorous primary school student, agree? He first wanted to hide, but after he couldn't hide, he had to use his fist and horse whip as a response to Xue Duan's tenderness.
From Xiangpi to Xianglian, this name change in "Dream of the Red Chamber" can reflect some changes in the author Cao Xueqin's creative thinking: at the beginning, Jia Baoyu's homosexual experience was what he wanted to focus on, but later felt that this would have a greater impact on the love between Bao and Dai, so it was diluted. One of the manifestations is to let Qin Zhong die early, and the other is to not let the Bao-Xiang relationship continue to develop. Therefore, after some "approval and addition", the xiangpi in the book suddenly disappeared, and Xianglian suddenly appeared. Cao Xueqin did not equate the two, but in Cao's early manuscripts, the two should be one. Therefore, the so-called xiangpi, that is, Xianglian, is only a former fact, and this fact in the general version of the final text leaves a shadow. Cao Xueqin hinted at the existence of the facts, but did not want to say it clearly. What he means is that readers can see Xiangpi as a teenager Xianglian and make more homosexual associations, but this is no longer realistic, and in reality, the friendship relationship between Baoyu and Xianglian is basically "normal".