Wu Jingzi and Yuan Ming were both famous literati during the Qing Dynasty, one was known for his novels and the other was written in poetry.
The age difference between the two was not much, and Wu Jingzi was only fifteen years older than Yuan Ming. Interestingly, the two still live together in Nanjing. It is reasonable to say that the famous literati who live in the same city should have a lot of intersections, but in fact, it is just the opposite.
Wu Jingzi and Yuan Ming were almost non-communicative.
There have been many speculations in history about the reasons for the two men's confrontation, but they are only speculations. However, there will definitely be a lot of essential "communication" between them, but it is only relatively hidden.
In the novel "The History of Ru Lin", Wu Jingzi tells the story of a "strange woman", Shen Qiongzhi, who had an archetype at that time, and she was Zhang Wanyu, a Songjiang native. And when zhang Wanyu was mentioned, she couldn't avoid Yuan Ming of Jiangning Zhi County, who had sent her at that time.
So, Yuan Ming, the person who personally experienced the Zhang Wanyu incident, how did he recount this matter? Wu Jingzi, the adaptor of this story, in his novel, how do you consider the trade-off of the storyline?
In "Suiyuan Poetry", Yuan Ming narrated Zhang Wanyu's story in this way
Yuan Mei once served as the zhi county of Jiangning County for a while. In Shanyang County, near Jiangning, a criminal came to the border of Jiangning County. Yuan Mei sent someone to catch the man and prepared to escort her to Shanyang County for trial. This person is Zhang Wanyu.
According to the case narrative, Zhang Wanyu's family was a descendant of Wen Mingong, who was married to the cheng family, a wealthy merchant in Huaibei. After marriage, Zhang Wanyu and her husband's husband and wife relationship was not harmonious, so she ran away in private and lived in a nunnery.
When Yuan Mei escorted Zhang Wanyu back to Shanyang County by name for trial, Zhang Wanyu presented Yuan Ming with a poem in the lobby:
Frangipani flowers in the depths of the Five Lakes, mistakenly entering the Hakka in Huaixi.
He had to meet Sima Bai of Jiangzhou and dared to sue Pipa for his grievances.
Yuan Mei looked at it, and the poem was quite well written, but he suspected that it was not written by Zhang Wanyu himself. Zhang Wanyu asked Yuan To come up with a topic and write a poem on the spot to prove his talent. Yuan Ming pointed to a dead tree in the courtyard and asked her to write a poem on the subject.
Zhang Wanyu also said, since you asked me to write poetry, but the poet did not kneel to compose poetry, can you lend me paper and pen to let me stand up and write poetry?
Yuan Ming agreed, so Zhang Wanyu leaned on the table and immediately wrote a poem:
The independent garden is empty for a long time, facing the sun.
Who can plant by hand, move it to the backyard fang.
A few days later, Zhi County of Shanyang County came to Jiangning County as a guest, and Yuan Ming asked how Zhang Wanyu's case was decided at that time. Shanyang Zhixian said that in this case, they should not have been sentenced to divorce, but it was indeed a mismatch between the talented woman and the lay businessman. Therefore, I finally exonerated Zhang Wanyu for fleeing and let her go back to her hometown.
In Wu Jingzi's "History of Ru Lin", the story of Shen Qiongzhi is narrated in this way
Shen Qiongzhi, the daughter of Shen Danian, a teacher, was given to Song Weifu, a wealthy merchant in Yangzhou. When the father and daughter came to Yangzhou to prepare for the marriage, they found that they had been deceived, and Song Weifu only wanted Shen Qiongzhi as a concubine, not wanted ming media to marry.
Shen Qiongzhi came to the Song family alone and wanted to theorize with Song Weifu, but she did not expect that Song Weifu knew that she was wrong, so she avoided seeing her. Shen Qiongzhi lived in the Song family for a few days, and then took some gold jewelry shells and a few pieces of clothing from the Song family and secretly fled to Nanjing, selling embroidery and poetry for a living.
The Song family reported Shen Qiongzhi to Jiangdu County, and Jiangdu County Sent the Official Letter to Jiangning County, and the Servants of Jiangning County soon captured Shen Qiongzhi.
Shen Qiongzhi told Jiang Ningzhi County about his grievances, but Jiang Ningzhi County said that the specific facts of the case will be tried by Jiang Duzhi County in the future, and he is not interested in this. However, I heard that Shen Qiongzhi's writing and ink were very good, and I hoped that she could compose a poem in the hall.
Shen Qiongzhi asked Zhixian to come up with a question, and Zhixian pointed to a locust tree in the courtyard and said, Let's take this tree as the title. Shen Qiongzhi was not in a hurry, and quickly made a seven-sentence poem, and it was "fast and good."
Jiang Ningzhi county rummaged through Shen Qiongzhi's luggage again, and found the Cheng Yi and poetry collection sent to her by Nanjing Celebrities, as well as the poetry singing and harmony between her and some celebrities in Nanjing.
In the end, Jiang Ningzhi County sent someone to escort Shen Qiongzhi away, and attached a secret letter he wrote to Jiangdu Zhi County, hoping that he could release Shen Qiongzhi and return the guilt to her father, so that she could choose her own son-in-law.
Wu Jingzi's beautification of Yuan Ming
Jiang Ningzhixian in the novel "The History of Ru Lin" did not care about Shen Qiongzhi's case, but was very interested in her poetry: "You have asked you these things in Jiangdu County, and I don't care. Do you know how to write and ink, and maybe make a poem in person? ”
Wu Jingzi abandoned the plot of Yuan Ming's distrust of the talented woman Zhang Wanyu in the original story, but instead made the "JiangNing Zhixian" in the novel more concerned about Shen Qiongzhi's talent. This makes Jiang Ningzhi County in the novel have the virtue of cherishing talents, and indirectly also shows Yuan Ming, not a layman who only cares about the black hat.
Yuan Ming didn't really care much about the progress of Zhang Wanyu's case, and he waited until Shanyang Zhixian came to visit, and then asked about it by the way. However, Jiang Ningzhi County in "The History of Ru LinWai" is Shen Qiongzhi's savior. Relying on his good relationship in the same year in Jiangduzhi County, he took the initiative to help Shen Qiongzhi get rid of the disaster of imprisonment and let her regain her freedom.
Yuan Ming, who was a party to the Zhang Wanyu incident, only truthfully recorded his personal experience in his "Suiyuan Poetry". Wu Jingzi is a novelist, and he can write the characters in his novels at will.
But in his novel, Wu Jingzi fully glorified Yuan Ming, who had some discordant relations with him. He does not take his own feelings, likes and dislikes as the starting point, but according to the needs of the theme of his work, he idealizes the characters in the novel.
Lu Xun believes that the novel "The History of Ru Lin Wai" is a novel that "satirizes the world with a public heart", and the "public heart" of its author can also be seen from this.