This work is Lu Xun's second vernacular novel after "Diary of a Madman" on the eve of the May 4th Movement. The novel describes the tragic image of Kong Yiji, who was poisoned by the decadent feudal ideas and the imperial examination system. He was mentally pedantic and insensitive, inactive and impoverished in life. He spent his days in people's ridicule and banter, and was finally swallowed up by the feudal landlord class. The article is not long, but it profoundly exposes the poisoning of the spirit of intellectuals by the imperial examination system at that time and the "cannibalistic" nature of the feudal system. It has a strong anti-feudal significance.
