The true identity of "Dong Ge Says the Red Chamber (4)" "The Stone of Heaven"

Some people may ask: Since the original "Stone Record" is not about the family affairs of the Cao family, then why did Cao Xueqin adapt the "Stone Record"? On this issue, we will further explain it to you later. But what we can be sure of here is that Cao Xueqin herself must have loved "The Book of Stones", and some of the contents of it also resonated with him, otherwise he would not have spent ten years to adapt it.

In addition, another reason may also be because the "Book of Stones" was severely banned by the imperial court at that time, and it was difficult to keep this book in the world, so out of love for this book, but also out of sympathy for the original author's "Stone of Heaven repair", or out of the hope of preserving as much as possible the basic elements of the characters and stories told in "Stone Record", so that future generations can see the real historical events reflected in the original work, Cao Xueqin made up her mind to spend ten years to complete the adaptation of it.

It should be said that the novel "Dream of the Red Chamber" was adapted very successfully. On the one hand, it makes those who have previously read "Stone Record" have a sense of déjà vu when they read it, otherwise as an adaptation, "Dream of the Red Chamber" cannot immediately get the huge attention of the royal family at that time, nor can it be recognized by people at the time just by relying on the words "Fat Yan Zhai re-evaluates the Stone Record"; on the other hand, because the character images and storylines in this adapted work have been very different from the original "Stone Record". It was difficult for those who did not know the original work before to see for a while that it was adapted from the Book of Stones, and it could be said to be self-contained, so that the rulers of the time greatly relaxed their censorship of it, basically "turning a blind eye" to it, and did not prohibit and destroy it on a large scale as the "Book of Stones".

Some people may ask: If "Dream of the Red Chamber" is not about the rise and fall of the Cao family, how can there be a description of weaving and even Cao Yin's works before his death? In fact, this is not surprising, because if the adaptor Cao Xueqin is really a descendant of the Cao family of Jiang Ning, then he will naturally add some elements of the Cao family to his adaptation. Of course, these Cao family elements can only be regarded as the zero-light pieces in the entire novel of "Dream of the Red Chamber", if our readers only pay attention to these side points, and do not pay attention to the overall conception of the novel and its unique adaptation methods, then it is really difficult to read the book "Dream of the Red Chamber".

But what kind of book is The Book of Stones? What is its main content? Who is the author?

In fact, we already know from the description of the first half of the first half of "Dream of the Red Chamber" that the author of "Stone Record" is the "stone that replenishes the heavens" that has been experienced by red dust. As for who this "Heaven-Repairing Stone" is, we can fully speculate based on the content of the first half of the first part of "Dream of the Red Chamber".

Regarding the origin of this "stone", the "Dream of the Red Chamber" is written like this: "Originally, when the Nuwa clan was refining the stone to make up for the heavens, it was refined into a high scripture twelve zhang at the Great Desolate Mountain, and the square scripture was twenty-four zhang, and the stone was thirty-six thousand five hundred and one pieces. The Emperor Huan used only 36,500 pieces, and only one piece was left unused, and it was abandoned under the peak of this mountain. ”

The so-called "stone of replenishing the heavens" of course refers to the stone that can be used to repair the heavens. But what kind of stone can be used to repair the sky? Obviously, only stones that are naturally of the same material as "heaven" can make up for heaven, right? And we also know that in the ancient Chinese traditional thinking, "heaven" represents the emperor, so the "stone of heaven repair" should naturally refer to a person who naturally has the same qualifications as the emperor.

But what kind of talent would naturally have the same qualifications as the emperor? Of course, those who were directly related to the emperor. However, even if he is directly related to the emperor, whether he can "make up the heavens", that is, whether he can become an emperor, is not something he can decide.

Obviously, this "stone" in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is not an emperor, because Nuwa is only ready to use him to "make up the heavens", that is to say, he is only an emperor who is "preparing". So, among those who are related to the emperor by blood, who will be the person who can become the emperor who is "preparing"? Of course, it is the emperor's son, the prince.

Unfortunately, this "stone" was eventually abandoned by Nuwa. The original sentence here in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is: "The Emperor Huan only used 36,500 pieces, and only one piece was left unused, and it was abandoned under the peak of this mountain." Here Cao Xueqin deliberately wrote "Nüwa Clan" as "Emperor Huan", which seems to tell us that this prince was actually abandoned by an emperor (of course, his father), and thus failed to become an emperor.

Some people may say: What you said is not right, how can it be that only people who are related to the emperor by blood can "make up the heavens"? Intellectuals can even "make up the sky" as long as they are capable people? Doesn't it say that "the world rises and falls, and the pirate is responsible"?

In fact, "the rise and fall of the world, the pi fu has the responsibility" is the thinking after the "May Fourth" new cultural movement, not the concept of "patching up the heavens" in the era of cao Xueqin's descent theory. Therefore, in order to accurately understand "Dream of the Red Chamber", we must not use the thinking of modern people to understand the thinking of ancient people.

And this "stone" that failed to make up the heavens was later brought into the red dust by a monk, and after some experience of "clutching sorrow and joy, hot and cool world", he recorded this experience of his, let the karate people transcribe it, and came out as a legend.

Obviously, the piece of precious jade that Jia Baoyu held in his mouth when he was born in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is the beautiful jade that this "stone" was transformed by a monk. It can be seen that Jia Baoyu, who was born from this stone, should be the representative of this "stone" in the red dust. In this way, the original "Book of Stones" should be an autobiography of a prince who did not become an emperor, using a legendary technique to record his personal experience.

Of course, judging from Jia Baoyu described in "Dream of the Red Chamber", the protagonist is only a noble brother of the dynasty, not a prince (probably the same is true of the original "Stone Record"). However, this is obviously a special way of writing adopted by Cao Xueqin or the original author of "The Book of Stones" in a special environment. In fact, in "Dream of the Red Chamber", we can still perceive the unique identity and status of the Jia family's royal family from many places, such as the "strange" things sent by Europeans who were only in the Qing Dynasty Palace at that time, and the Jia family's awe-inspiring pomp, exquisiteness and momentum, and so on.

Especially in the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth times when the novel is about to end, Cao Xueqin's description of Baoyu Qingwen provides us with a very valuable clue for this purpose.