The Legend of Hulan River is Xiao Hong's semi-autobiographical asana novel. Based on her hometown, she created an original small city, reflecting the original appearance of China's low-level rural areas in the 1910s, presenting the unchanged, stereotyped and monotonous life of the small city residents, and stripping away the spiritual outlook of this group of ignorant and conservative, numb and selfish small town residents.
"The Legend of Hulan River" is different from ordinary novels, it does not have a clear protagonist, it shows the collective group portrait of the residents of HulanHe Town. The people here live like plants, they know how to eat, they know how to drink, they are not bored in life, they die without mourning, they live an eternal and unchanging life step by step, and they expect such a life to be eternal and unchanging.
The people there go to bed when it's dark and get up at dawn to work. Throughout the year, spring blossoms, autumn rain, winter snow, but also with the season to wear cotton clothes, take off a single clothes to live. Birth, old age, illness and death are also handled silently and silently.
The book is divided into seven chapters, one or two of which introduce the style of the town as a whole, laying the background of the whole story and the stage of life.
Chapters three or four talk about my happy life with my grandfather, and introduce several tenants in my family, personally I think this part actually plays a bridging and transitional role, through this part, the content of the novel naturally shifts from depicting the style of the small town to the presentation of personal life, leading to the protagonists of several independent stories in the next part.
Chapters 5, 6 and 7 tell the story of the life tragedy of the little reunion daughter-in-law, the second uncle and Feng's crooked mouth.
Although the small city bears the name of "Hulan River", such a small city can be seen everywhere in China.
The two avenues crisscross the entire town and the entire life of the residents of the town.
The intersection of the street is concentrated with the essence of the whole city, gold shops, cloth shops, oil and salt shops, tea houses, pharmacies... The food, clothing, housing and transportation of the residents of the small town are solved here, and the life, old age, illness, death and burial of the residents of the small town are all arranged here.
People live according to the rules of ancient tradition, living exactly like their ancestors, they cannot tolerate any change, and even the mud pits on the streets are passed down from generation to generation.
This mud pit is five or six feet deep, and when it doesn't rain, it's like porridge, and when it rains, it becomes a river. The inhabitants of the small town have suffered from the mud pit, and it is common for people to fall into the mud pit, but people have never thought of filling the mud pit, they prefer to take a detour, they would rather climb the pit, they deceive themselves into eating dead pork, guarding this hopeless life.
Personally, I think that this mud pit should have a certain metaphor, it represents the life of the people of the small town, pain, hopelessness, struggle, but the residents of the small town take all this for granted, and regard all attempts to change as deviant. They have been in this line for generations. They are powerless to control their lives, they are afraid that their lives will get worse and worse, so they can only follow the rules. All changes will cause them to fear, they will cower, tremble and tremble like walking on thin ice...
They can't see what is bright, they don't even know it, just as the sun shines on the blind man's head, and the blind man can't see the sun, but the blind man feels really warm. They are these kinds of people, they don't know where the light is, but they really feel that the cold is on them, and they want to fight off the cold, so they come sad.
Such a people is really not bad, such a people make people feel sad, this is probably what Mr. Lu Xun said, "mourn their misfortune, anger is not disputed"!
They live with no worries, and the only pleasure in boring days is to visit the misfortunes of others, jumping into the river, hanging, and throwing wells can cause a sensation in the town. Those who have died of relatives have cried for a while, and the days have passed as usual, they should eat, drink, and sleep; after watching the hilarity, watching it for a while is just enough, there are many such things in the world, who should not be born, who should die, there is really no need to make a fuss.
Birth, old age, illness, death, there is nothing to represent. When you are born, you will let it grow up naturally; when you grow up, you will grow up, and if you don't grow up, you will not count. It doesn't matter if you are old, you don't see when you're old, you don't see when you're blind; you don't listen when you're deaf; you swallow when you lose your teeth; you can't walk, you're paralyzed. What's the solution to this, whoever is old deserves it.
In a world of self-righteousness, the people of the small town have forged a cage for themselves, where they imprison themselves and all those who live close to them, who are like beasts guarding the remaining flesh, who stubbornly show their fangs to all those who do not agree with their ideas...
The little reunion daughter-in-law, the second uncle, and Feng Crooked Mouth are all victims of such a life.
1. Small reunion daughter-in-law
The little reunion daughter-in-law is the child daughter-in-law of the Old Hu family. She was only twelve years old, and she was originally a lively, cheerful and generous little girl. She laughs when she sees people, walks with the wind, can eat and do, if such a little girl is put on hold until now, who doesn't like it when she sees it?
However, the in-laws just couldn't tolerate her, and the women in the small city just couldn't see her. The little daughter-in-law should be a promise, cowering, shy but shy, whose daughter-in-law is like her, just came to the in-laws' house to eat three bowls of rice, walking fast, there is really no daughter-in-law's appearance!
In the gossip of the neighbors, in the eyes of the mother-in-law and aunt, the in-laws began to transform the little reunion daughter-in-law. They often beat her for no reason, tried their best to torture her, beat her sick, and made a compassionate appearance, treated her, found all kinds of strange folk remedies and greeted her, and finally let the little reunion daughter-in-law take a bath in public! People were burned and fainted, and they panicked and saved, saved, and continued to burn with boiling water, and finally such a fresh life was lost!
How ridiculous is such a farce! How tragic is such a tragedy! However, tragedies like the Old Hu Family are not unique, and they continue to be staged secretly in the corners of Hulan River City!
The old Hu family is recognized as a serious family in the small town.
The family style is clean and neat, cautious, brothers and brothers are respectful, fathers are kind and loving, and there are absolutely no idle people in the family.
However, it is such a serious person who has brewed such a human tragedy that he cannot bear to witness!
The little reunion daughter-in-law died, the farce did not end, chanting, funeral, a lot of hilarity, and provided new points of view and new fun for the residents of the small town!
The death of the little reunion daughter-in-law was the result of the collective evil of the residents of the small town, it was the invisible shackles and rules that killed her, it was the woman's inferior concept that killed her, and it was the shackles that had been passed down for a thousand years that killed her!
In the tragedy of the little reunion daughter-in-law, no one is innocent, the leader, the onlookers, the messengers, all of them are executioners, they have nothing to do, no wind and waves, no waves, fueling the waves, adding fuel to the fire! But everyone is innocent, they are completely unaware of their mistakes, each of them is the purest and most virtuous people, such unintentional evil, such ignorance, such ignorance, such ignorance, so ignorant and numb, is the most sad, the most deplorable!
In such a suffocating environment that is impermeable on all sides, the tragedy of the little reunion daughter-in-law will not end here, and it will continue to be staged!
2. There are two uncles
The second uncle was a long-term worker in his grandfather's family, and he was already an old man of nearly sixty years old. He was lonely and alone; he liked to drink and get by; he stole and deceived himself; he was extremely faceless, cynical...
There is a second uncle's body is full of contradictions, he hates the rich, always thinks that the heavens are unfair, and specializes in the poor, but in the face of the same poor people, he put on a solemn face and pretends to be like to be respected; he likes to be respected, he is respected by people as "there is a second uncle", "there is a second master", "the second treasurer", as soon as someone calls him "you have a son", he is angry, but as an old lady's grandfather called him "you have a son", he smiled and nodded his head; he boasted bravely, often braging in front of the children that he did not move in the face of the "maozi" killing. But in front of his grandfather, he wept bitterly, weak and helpless...
The second uncle's body is full of negative energy, he is dissatisfied with reality, but he is content with the status quo. He felt that all his efforts were in vain, and all his yearning was in vain, so he simply did not want to look at it, pretended to be deaf and dumb, and turned a blind eye...
Although your second uncle also has eyes, he has not seen anything in his life. Although your second uncle also has ears, he has never heard anything in his life. Your second uncle is deaf and blind, so what can you say about that? For example, the big tile house that is bright and bright, your second uncle has also seen it, but what he saw, it is people's, and when he sees it, he also looks at it in vain. It's the same with listening, what about hearing it, it has nothing to do with you... Your second uncle is living irrelevant... The stars, the moon, the wind, the rain, that's god's thing, your second uncle doesn't know...
The second uncle is alive and dead, but only one breath more than the dead man, he just lives mechanically, he has completely lived himself into a plant!
3. Feng crooked mouth
Feng Crooked Mouth is the grinder of the mill, he is destitute, has nothing, and is often the object of ridicule and contempt. It was such a crooked mouth that Feng secretly did an earth-shattering event, he and Sister Wang freely combined, and also gave birth to a child...
Hearing the cries of children in the mill, the neighbors were frying pans, they were spreading infinite gossip in private, they were impatiently waiting to see Feng's crooked jokes, they were anxious to see the family's miserable life...
That grass shed is cold! Like the Five Winds Building, the child did not make a sound, probably frozen to death, go to see the liveliness!
But the Feng crooked mouth family is so strong to live, living like weeds, they are getting better and better, the child grows up, the daughter-in-law is pregnant, and she is going to have a second child...
In the side eyes of the neighbors, they are happy as if no one is around...
Finally, the eldest girl Wang died in childbirth, leaving one or two small orphans and bittersweets, the neighbors finally got their wishes, they began to whisper again, waiting to see Feng Crooked Mouth sitting on the grinding plate crying...
For the misfortune of others, the inhabitants of the small town are so relished, full of fun, they look forward to it, they wait.
However, Feng crooked his mouth himself, not as desperate as in the eyes of the onlookers, as if he was still very sure of his life, and he not only did not feel that despair had penetrated him.
For the sake of his two children, he had to live, and he had to be stronger than ever. He lives in the world as usual, he has his share of responsibility as usual, he feeds the small, he carries the big, he should carry the water, he should carry the water, he should pull the mill, he should pull the mill.
Feng Crooked Mouth should be the only positive energy left in this small town, his days are also bitter, he will also feel tired, but the reality can not tolerate him to cry bitterly tired, he is as tenacious as weeds.
He was in this world, he didn't know that people were looking at him with desperate eyes, he didn't know what kind of difficult situation he was in. He didn't know he was finished. He hadn't thought about it.
But in such a small city, will Feng's crooked efforts and struggles finally have a happy ending? Thinking about it, I felt frightened again, and his two sons grew up to only add small people to this small town. They are nothing more than another Feng crooked mouth, with a second uncle...
"The Legend of Hulan River" is worthy of the name, and it really makes a transmission to this small city, showing the character of the small city and the local character.
Xiao Hong's words are light, the story of the small city is not magnificent, only trivial, and the residents of the small city are not earth-shattering, only gossip. However, in this trivial and gossipy, what is staged is the great sorrow of life, the sadness to the extreme, and the silence to the extreme.
Reading "The Legend of Hulan River", I always think of Xianglin Sister-in-law, think of Ah Q, think of Leap Earth, this character is the same, they have tasted the suffering of the world, full of wounds, but one by one just full of tears standing there, not even able to call for help, just silently, suffering...
The sky is full of stars, the house is full of moons, how life is, why is it so sad.