*Alternate universe, entirely fictional. Please do not compare it to reality.
*If you have any dealbreakers, or can't handle a bad ending, please don't read.
[Shrewd, Cunning Courtesan x Mercenary Male Dan Performer]
In the early years of the Republic of China, Sichuan was trapped in constant warfare, and the people suffered terribly.
She is a courtesan, skilled at reading people and winning them over. She knows how to give people what they want, but cannot offer a shred of genuine affection.
He is a male dan performer in Sichuan opera, with eyes like autumn waters and costumes like spring mist. He is deeply ashamed of his profession, yet has no choice but to earn his living from it.
They say whores have no hearts and actors have no morals. In their case, that's not far from the truth. They are always trying to cheat and hurt each other, but when they see the other in a wretched state, trampled into the mud, they aren't entirely without compassion. Poverty weighs them down and illness wears them out. When they huddle beneath the same roof for warmth in the pouring rain, they can still find a little tenderness for each other.
Huo Mei dreams of becoming a wealthy man's wife. To that end, she deftly draws close to one rich man after another, struggling to maintain a marriage that was unequal from the start. She can charm anyone, but with him she can't be bothered to disguise her shrewdness, materialism, or sharp tongue. Xi Yulin hopes to save enough money to change careers, marry a girl from an ordinary family, and live a quiet life. He hates being looked down on by outsiders, and overreacts to teasing, even to kindness. But when she calls him
I like the details in the chapter "I Know This Hate Everyone Has" where Huo Mei kept rewinding to watch Xi Yulin in the movie. She caressed his face on the screen with sad eyes in the dark, with a kind of delicate longing and unresolved regret: she wanted to see him happy (even if it was staged), which was a wish that could not be realized in reality. "Poor and lowly couples are miserable all the time." She was unwilling to accept it, and resented Xi Yulin's unfair fate. He had suffered all his life and never lived a single day of the good life they longed for. Time may dilute the pain, but it cannot erase the deep-rooted regrets. Since life is full of regrets, she lives with heartache, licking the memories of the past. I also feel deeply sorry for their story: Xi Yulin was so busy with work, and the time they spent together after they reunited was very limited. After a series of trials and gropings, they gradually built up trust and practiced falling in love. "Eros" hit Huo Mei for the first time on the rainy night before they separated. Xi Yulin died in the subsequent accident, and they never had the chance to fall in love again. They each suffered a lot of hurt and hardship during their separate journeys, and they had not yet had time to open their hearts to each other, share their pain, lick each other's wounds, and heal them with love until new flesh and blood grew (for example, Xi Yulin has not been able to confess to Huo Mei the origin of his fear and shadow of sex, and Huo Mei has not yet had the confidence to tell Xi Yulin the pain of several miscarriages in the past). Of course they love each other and always have a tacit understanding, but their hearts can obviously be closer and their souls can be even closer. Xi Yulin's sudden and unceremonious death brought their love story to an abrupt end, and there was no chance for any of this to happen. I still can't understand why Huo Mei resolutely aborted the child after the grief in the ending, nor do I believe that at the age of thirty-seven, she will "degenerate" and make a living by marrying and becoming a concubine. I have no way of knowing how she picked herself up and started living again, and what she will pursue in the rest of her life: She has truly experienced the heartache of love and losing her lover, so how can she return to her original "heartless" state? The fate the author arranged for them is so cruel, so ironic, and so unreasonable that I can't let it go. Huo Mei blames fate, I blame the author. The HE arrangement of the If line made me see a lot of things clearly. It may be a narrative dilemma that the author cannot explain to the readers, or it may be some contradictions that the author himself is not aware of. Out of love for the two protagonists, I hope they can be happy. The If line also depicts a lot of details, but it always feels distorted to me. After thinking about it repeatedly, I realized that it was because, in order to compose HE, the author deliberately stripped away the true historical context in the narrative, and also avoided the suffering of reality through the ingenious arrangement of "going to Nanyang". In reality, the country that Huo Zhenliang poured his blood into building will not treat and protect poor people like Huo Mei and Xi Yulin well: even if they can survive the "People's Commune", "the Great Leap Forward" and "The Great Famine", how much humiliation and torture will they suffer in that long ten-year catastrophe? How could Baozhen not be forced to cut ties with her low-life parents? Are they still destined to fall in love? Those times in this country would not give them the possibility of happiness, so HE can only be realized in the dream of "going to Nanyang". Huo Mei said that the rise and fall of the country has nothing to do with little people like them. This is only half right. The prosperity of the country may not bless them, but the country's suffering will definitely fall on every little person. A grain of sand of the times is enough to overwhelm the humble them (and us). This is obviously a point that can be explored in depth, but I am afraid that if I write it, I will not be able to publish it, and I will not be able to pass the censorship. Sometimes I want to ask Huo Zhenliang, is this still the country you wanted to build? Thinking about it now, the author arranged for Xi Yulin to die at such an inexplicable time point, perhaps out of a kind of compassion that "long-term pain is not as good as short-term pain". Otherwise, in the face of endless suffering, how tragic their story would end. I don't dare to think about it. I'm afraid this will be another heartache.
This is the first time I have written such a long book review. Why was this book written? Perhaps it is really mixed with a mentality similar to "rescuing Fengchen". Halfway through the book, I discovered that there were only 990 in the collection. I was shocked, how could such a good novel be buried so deeply? When I came out after reading it, I found that another one had been dropped from my collection. But overall - in fact, looking at parts of it - this book is really well written. Whether it's the writing or the storyline, whether it's the background or the characterization, the work is everywhere and everything is in place. ??????? I don't know how to praise it, but it's good. After the college entrance examination, my Chinese only deteriorated again and again, and I can't say anything too beautiful now. So I would like to talk about some of the controversial points in this book, the so-called parts that need to be "lightning protected". ??????? Actually, I have read some tweets and book reviews about "Xiajiuliu" before. There are two main points that everyone mentioned: the first is that the male protagonist is "unclean", and the second is the be ending. I am a person who likes to be spoiled. Perhaps out of concern about uncertainty, I will understand the general plot before reading the article or watching the drama. So before I read the book, I knew that the male protagonist, as an actor in the Republic of China, would be raped several times. Why did I choose to read it? Because I think the introduction is very clear. This is the story of two low-class people who cannot control their own destiny in that turbulent era. Being raped and being treated with dignity is the fate that the male protagonist as an actor may suffer. The so-called "unclean" usually refers to being unfaithful or emotionally unfaithful, but I think these may not apply to this book. If you read it carefully, you will find that this is indeed the case. It is really different from ordinary romances. Huo Mei and Xi Yulin are not a couple in a normal relationship in peacetime. They are just two little bitter melons who were fucked to death by fate. Their relationship is about hugging each other for warmth, and it is of the nature of mutual redemption. They knew and understood each other's unhappiness when they first met, so "we are all low-life, who will dislike the other." I watched from the outside and was not willing to dislike anyone. ??????? I just felt heartbroken when watching Xi Yulin's suffering. This is such a cute little greenie. He was brought by water and actually grew up in a deformed environment, especially the emotional environment. His master loved him but was not good at expressing it, his uncle's love for him was hidden under the surface of jealousy, and the outstanding love and care from his elders made it difficult for him to handle the relationship with his fellow disciples. He plays a woman on the stage, and he doesn't get the respect he deserves in society because of his status. He often says mean words but suffers silently. When he was tortured by Shen Tu and fell into the Jade Syndrome, he still insisted on saying "I am not cheap." Good boy, good boy. How can you ask such a person to resist? He won't care about being accused of being "unclean" outside the world. But his heart is very clean. No matter how humiliated he was, no matter how lowly he looked, he never intentionally hurt anyone. His love was clumsy and tragic. ??????? Huo Mei. That nickname "Huo Shui" is so ironic, I think she won't like it. She seems to have always been sharp and tough, her bad deeds are blatant and her bad deeds are justifiable. Do you know that in fact, you are not only omnipotent in He's eyes, but that's not the skin you pretend to be in front of your husband. In my eyes, you are also so powerful that it makes people heartache. You have been used and abandoned again and again, and you have stood up again and again to make a living. Even if you are incontinent due to tobacco powder, you seem to be able to pick yourself up easily. How did you go from the majestic Huo Boss in the small town who could escape from the bandits on horseback to the Huo Mei you are now? The book contains very little information about Huo Mei's life in the brothel, but it is shocking enough. Later in those years in Hong Kong, she made rapid progress, was studious and smart, but this was not the first time that such smartness was revealed. After she was tied to the brothel, after surviving the initial despair, she must have learned how to be a good prostitute and a bad woman with such intelligence and exquisite heart. Damn it, sister, you should plot this world ruthlessly. As a reader, I also want to say that I don't blame you in this life. ??????? I control myself not to spoil too much, so I will write about "Unclean" here. In summary, I can't blame them. Next, about be... I am actually a person who loves he, so to be honest, I deliberately skipped the if line from Chapter 188, treating the if line as the original line, and the original line as the if line. The if line is beautiful like bubbles. I read it with satisfaction, carefully turned back to the original line, and breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe it was because I had adjusted my mentality, so I didn't feel too painful to watch the tragic ending. Many sisters said that be was too sudden, too abrupt, and too anticlimactic, but I was a little lucky. Fortunately, the description of the abortion and Huo Mei's life after that happened so quickly, so quickly that I could accept the ending without hesitation. But even if I love him, I can accept the existence of such a be, because after reading the entire article including the text, I completely understand and respect the author's thinking and processing of the story. Xiaoyu's death and the rest of Mei Mei's life can actually be figured out. Some people say that Xiaoyu died for the sake of death and was forced to be, but in that era, such tragedies were actually countless, and a happy life would be burned out by the flames of war in an instant. Just like the protagonist's son Youqing in "Alive", a good child was blood-drawn to death just because his blood type matched. Was it sudden? Sudden. But is this also "dying for death"? Maybe the example is inappropriate, but literary works can probably expose other things in order to express what they want to express. But my sister aborted her child and chose to earn capital through dishonorable means to make money. I think she probably no longer had any imagination about a beautiful and upright life. She may feel that she is not worthy anymore and thinks that she should just die. Her time in Hong Kong broadened her horizons and improved her thinking. However, given her background, it was actually difficult for her to achieve the life she wanted independently at that time. So she chose to fall. I choose to accept it. ??????? But I still have to regard the if line as the original line in my heart! Because this is really the only way to feel complete, otherwise I would feel uncomfortable from time to time for at least a month. The above repo is all about this book, so what I want to say next is about French fries. This is the first time I've read your book, and to reiterate, I really think it's very well written, and I feel lucky to have found such a book. I love Meimei, Xiaoyu, and you who created them. The current performance of "Xiajiuliu" is not good, and there are many negative voices, but I think good works will always be seen, and some of those voices can be understood, and some can be ignored), don't be sad, little fries, I hope you can sort out your mood soon, and look forward to the new work! BTW, maybe we will write about Lily in the future? Have a light dream~ I actually wrote more than two thousand words without realizing it! To be honest, I have never reviewed a book with more than 100 words before. Oh my god, I hope it can be seen~ French fries, good girl, move on!?(???ω???)?
Speaking of the heroine, she became a rich man's concubine in order to get rid of poverty. However, she actively developed and utilized resources and built her own shoe factory. However, the author arranged for her to commit suicide at the end. Does this conform to the logic of the character's growth? So what does Huo Mei's hard work in Hong Kong mean? Is she willing to go through all the trouble? Then she just needs to keep changing to rich men, why bother struggling?
Oh, yes, in my opinion, Huo Mei fell for the sake of falling in the end. She had no need to fall to this level.
After watching this movie for so long, it's not an exaggeration to say that Huo Mei's character has completely collapsed. Xi Yulin is so good, the two of them love each other so much, and the child is so strong and wants to live, why must he stab the reader to death like this? Huo Mei can't remarry without aborting the child? Can't live without the old man's inheritance? So all these years of being a strong woman in Hong Kong were in vain? Before, she could make bean paste even if she had no capital. This is the description of a woman who is so strong, smart, brave and charming for half a day. . . !?
I felt like the character was assassinated. [Heartbreak] It's really sad to not get up at the last moment. If the character has not grown and the soul has not been sublimated, then what are the hardships we have experienced along the way?
Alas, I also think his death is meaningless. Although there is a kind of fate that calls you back, you come from the water and go from the water. Then what significance does the journey he walked with Huo Mei have to Huo Mei later, the eternal white moonlight? Going further, what about the period when she went to Hong Kong? Why did you end up "being a prostitute"? It's not that it can't be arranged this way, it's not that the heroine can't be a bad person forever. I know it's fate and social environment that make her always be like this. It's just that these plots can be summarized in a few words in the last chapter, which is too unconvincing and gives people a very absurd feeling. I have also finished writing Huo Mei's life (it's very sad to write about the protagonist in the novel until his life is over). Of course, this article is mainly about these two people. The story has already gone through nearly two hundred chapters when Xi Yulin died. After writing dozens of chapters, Huo Mei is a sugar daddy. In fact, many people don't like to read it. It gave so much hope, they both had so much to hope for, and it wouldn't be so... Ridiculous if they died after completing even one of them. Of course, tragedy is to break valuable things for people to see. What you wrote really hurts me to death, but this kind of pain is completely unpleasant. . .
It is an anticlimactic article that spends a lot of ink on how the two protagonists met each other, separated and reunited, and gradually learned to love each other, but it ended carelessly at the end, directly cutting off the story with an accident. It is almost as ridiculous as the ending of Guo Jingming's story about killing the protagonist with an atomic bomb when he was a child. You wrote three chapters about Shen Tu Zhen and the torture of Xi Yulin. There are so many details that people think you have a special hobby. You wrote about how Huo Mei returned to life after Xi Yulin died, but you only used a few strokes to briefly describe it. I really don't know how you arranged this detailed plan. Are you in a hurry to write the next article? It's not that you can't write BE, but after BE, how does Huo Mei cheer up, heal, get up, find a way out, all of them are not written in detail, so where is the growth of the character? Finally, you write a long paragraph of nonsense about "life is impermanent" and "if you don't love, it doesn't hurt" to prevaricate readers. Do you think this can cover up the incompetence and perfunctoryness of your writing? Huo Mei learned to love through Xi Yulin, so deeply in love However, if you encounter such a sudden loss again, it is impossible for people to get over it lightly. Can the story be turned over once the child is aborted? How can she stop her heartache? Does she still have the energy to fight? What does she live for? You didn't write at all because you didn't love the characters in your writing at all, you just treated them as symbols and played around with them.
It's been a long time since I've seen such vivid and painful writing. The author is so talented, and the knife is so good at seeing blood everywhere.
Move the final score here: It's great, it's great 🎆 Who would have thought that I came from xhs's lightning protection post ~ At that time, I was thinking about a book about lightning protection where I could read the ending and be filled with righteous indignation. There is definitely something about it, and it is true 😆 Under the torrent of the times, what a magnificent life, so hard, so wonderful, so sad and so lonely. They are both low-life people, Huo Mei with low self-esteem and Xi Yulin with high self-esteem. Huo Mei does live a more comfortable life, has no self-pity, and is terrifyingly tenacious. Although fate plays tricks on people, she will succeed in whatever she does. Xi's high self-esteem makes him more "pure", true and good, and he is Xiao Qing in troubled times. Ah, so sad. If line is so happy, as happy as a dream. Maybe it was a life that Huo Mei didn't dare to think about in order to resist old age, death, and loneliness.