"A Dream of Red Mansions·the Story of the Stone", the Original Version After the 80Th Chapter (Continued)

The sequel to "A Dream of Red Mansions·The Story of Stone" (chapters 81 to 108) uses a rigorous "gray line" writing method to continue the foreshadowing of the first 80 chapters, placing the rise and fall of the family in the historical shadow of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The sequel closely adheres to the core of "the truth is hidden, and lies are told in the village". Through concrete objects such as Qian Xiangluo, psychic jade, and broken stele, it connects major changes such as the death of Yuan Chun, the inspection of the Grand View Garden, and the overthrow of the Jia Mansion. It completes a closed-loop response to the fate of Xiang Ling's "fate but not luck", Tan Chun's distant marriage, and Miao Yu's robbery. The work reshapes the struggles of female figures such as Wang Xifeng and Xue Baochai in the apocalyptic torrent, and allows Jia Baoyu to complete the transformation from a "rich idler" to a "Plum Village monk". He chooses to record suffering with the "human stone" in his arms, and extends the compassion of "A Thousand Reds and a Cry" into a profound inquiry about the survival of civilization. The narrative combines the coldness of history and the affection of poetry. Among the ruined monuments of Guazhou Crossing and the bloodstains of the Hell Temple, one can see the pain of broken mountains and rivers and the glimmer of humanity. As a classic, this sequel injects a historical dimension that fits contemporary aesthetics, and is the ultimate example of the "gray line" narrative art. PrefaceRemnants of Ember: Afterword to the continuation of The Red Mansion On a winter night in Hangzhou, the rain hit the window lattice, and a broken lamp illuminated the page yellowing. I stayed up all night while reading this continuation of Red Mansions - I originally thought that "The Dream of Red Mansions" was the most irreparable regret in the world. Who would have expected that someone could follow the clues of the first eighty chapters and re-weave the scattered tears, blood, obsession and pain into an airtight net, which can capture the coldness of the end of the world and the warmth of people's hearts. Eileen Chang once said that she has three hatreds in life: one is that anchovies are prickly, the other is that begonias are fragrant, and the third is that "Dream of Red Mansions" is not finished. I always thought that the daughters in Xueqin's works should not be left with only half of their fate. Those unfinished words, unresolved fate, and endless sorrow should all have a destination. Now after reading this sequel, it seems that a long-cherished wish has been fulfilled - not a happy ending, but a proper ending, just like the patches on an old cotton-padded jacket, with fine stitching and the warmth of time. Xueshu understands Xueqin's "madness" best, and also the "hardship" of his daughter's family. Daiyu's determination when burning manuscripts is not pretentious, but the purity that refuses to compromise in troubled times; Baochai's calmness when she wears her hairpin is not indifference, but a burden that has to be carried in troubled times; Tanchun's tenacity when guarding the border is not showing off, but the light earned for the family in desperate situations. Those foreshadowings laid in the first eighty chapters, such as Xiangling's "fate but not luck" and Miaoyu's "how can one be clean if one wants to be clean", all have a heavy response here. There are no out-of-the-blue turns, no deliberate perfection, just following the character's temperament and the current of the times, letting what should come and go go, the sadness is real and the pain is real. What's even more rare is that it understands the profound meaning of "hiding the truth and telling lies". Hide the wind and frost of the Yi Dynasty in the bloodstains of Qian Xiangluo; hide the brokenness of the family and country in the remaining monuments of Guazhoudu; and store the survival of civilization in the manuscripts of Hanshi. We don't talk about the war directly, but we can hear the mountains of bones from the cries of the Hell Temple; we don't talk about the rise and fall, but we can see the swaying mountains and rivers from the ruins of Rongguo Mansion. This kind of writing style, which hides the edge and exposes the clumsiness, is deeply rooted in the charm of Red Mansions - the most painful things are often said in the lightest way; the heaviest feelings are often hidden deepest. After reading, Baoyu transformed into a "Plum Village Monk", sweeping leaves and writing history with the "Human Stone" in his arms. Suddenly I remembered that when I read The Red Mansion, I always sighed for his "idiot". Now I understand that this "idiot" is not stupidity, but the most rare sobriety in troubled times. He remembered Daiyu's poems, Xiangling's words, Xiangyun's smile, and all the good and bitterness of his daughters. He carved them into stones and hid them under Qinggeng Peak - this is the true meaning of "Thousands of reds cry, and all the beauties are sad together": not crying for their poor fate, but crying for the injustice of the world; not sad for their separation, but sad for the fragility of civilization. I closed the page, the rain stopped outside the window, and the sky was already slightly bright. The remaining lamp shone on the inscription "A paper full of absurd words, a handful of bitter tears", and I suddenly felt that this sequel was like adding a cold coat to an old dream. Although it could not stop the coldness of the end of the world, it kept the departed souls from running naked in the wind and snow. The good things in the world are not firm, and the colorful clouds are easy to scatter and the glass is brittle. The tragedy of Red Mansions has never been the tragedy of one person, but the tragedy of the times and the tragedy of human nature. And this sequel, just like a spark in the cold night, tells us: Even if the prosperity dies, there are always some things that will not die - such as the strength of the daughter's family, the character of the scholar, and the memory and affection hidden in the words. This kind of sequel finally lives up to Xue Qin and everyone in the world who has been obsessed with and suffered from Red Mansion. Like me, I recommend reading it for those who are still worried about the unfinished Red Mansion - in these remaining words, you may be able to find a little comfort, a little warmth, and a little gentle echo of old dreams. Purpose: The purpose of this sequel is to inject the historical essence of the Ming and Qing Dynasties into the original framework of "The Rise and Fall of the Family" and "The Elegy of a Daughter" in "A Dream of Red Mansions" to complete a profound transformation from "a romantic pen and ink" to a "civilized tragic history". Specifically, its core concept includes three progressive dimensions: 1. A historical note for the "Unlucky Division": The sequel aims to complete the closed loop of fate for the women who had "fate but not luck" in the first eighty chapters. It not only writes about their deaths, but also about why they died - Xiangling's death is the epitome of "civilization being trampled on", Miaoyu's disaster is the fable of "loneliness and innocence being crushed by the system", and Yuanchun's death is the sacrifice of "political thunder". It reveals that in the rift of the times, the tragedy of the daughters is not only a love debt, but also a blood debt. 2. To index "the truth is hidden": The sequel aims to restore "false words and false words" to "the truth is hidden". It does not directly describe the battlefields of the Ming and Qing revolutions, but uses "material evidence" such as Qian Xiangluo, a handful of snow jade cups, the ruins of Guazhou Crossing Monument, and secret maps of the sea frontier to secretly connect the destruction of the Jia family with historical tragedies such as the Eighty-one Days of Jiangyin, the Tenth Day of Yangzhou, and the Nanming Sea Resistance against the Qing Dynasty, allowing readers to hear the echo of broken mountains and rivers in the ruins of the family. 3. To make a tombstone for the "Civilization Tribulation": This is the core idea of ​​the sequel. After complete emptiness and destruction, what else can one do? The answer to the sequel is: "Remember". Jia Baoyu finally transformed into a "Plum Village Monk". He no longer "understood" but "recorded"; the "human stone" in his arms absorbed the blood, tears and tokens of all those who were crushed, and became a walking tombstone. The sequel aims to tell the world: when buildings collapse and civilization is robbed, the final perseverance lies not in reconstruction, but in the survival of "memory". As long as there are still people who remember those souls who "would rather be broken than jade" and remember those concealed truths, the fire of civilization will not be truly cut off. In summary, the purpose of this sequel is: to use the tears of the boudoir to describe the blood of the mountains and rivers; to use the death of the family to represent the loss of civilization; and to erect an immortal stone monument called "memory" on the complete ruins.