It was a little quiet.
Many people were digesting Zhang Ye's words and organizing their thoughts.
Zhang Ye said, "Everyone, think about it. I'll also drink some water. Hur Hur."
Zhang Ye came up with a cup of water. He unscrewed the lid of the thermos cup and inside was Pu 'er tea. He had just brewed it in the teacher's office. The water temperature was still very hot. When the tea leaves entered his mouth, it was not very fragrant, but it was very mellow. He liked the taste of ripe Pu' er tea. Drinking it not only warmed his stomach in winter, it also helped him relax his mind and adjust his thoughts. Of course, Zhang Ye was actually very relaxed. Onstage, in a venue with thousands of people, with so many reporters, so many cameras, so many students and teachers, as well as so many colleagues from the literary world who came to undermine him, he was not nervous at all. That relaxed expression of drinking tea made it seem like he was at home. From the looks of it, if a bed was placed on the stage, he would really dare to lie down on it.
Just this calmness alone was something few people could do.
If it were any other Peking University lecturer, even those professors who gave lectures all year round would feel a little nervous and pressured when faced with such a large crowd, let alone lecturers.
But Zhang Ye did not.
This was the basic quality of a professional host.
Most of this was due to Zhang Ye's personality — he had always been a carefree person with a carefree attitude. The Heavens did not give him a good face, nor did they give him a good body, but there were losses and gains. This calmness and lack of stage fright was probably his compensation.
The water was finished.
The class continued.
Zhang Ye held the microphone and asked, "Do the students have any questions about the structural problems and analysis of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' that I just explained?"
No one spoke.
"Little Song?" Zhang Ye called out a name.
Senior Song stood up and said, "I need to digest it first."
Zhang Ye called out a person who usually liked to speak, "Little Zhou?"
Senior Zhou said with a wry smile, "I also need to listen a little more. I won't speak for now."
With a smile, Zhang Ye said, "Alright, then I'll talk about …"
"Wait a moment." The Redologist in the first row, Teacher Yang, finally spoke up. He had been holding it in from the beginning, so he had no choice but to step forward. If not, it would look like a bunch of senior experts had been stunned by a junior. Where would they put their faces? Hence, even though Teacher Yang had not studied the structure of 'Dream of the Red Chamber', he used his own method to refute it. He avoided the structure and used another method. He raised the microphone and said, "I do not agree with your so-called 9 × 12 structure of 'Dream of the Red Chamber'. The structural differences you mentioned might just be a coincidence. It does not prove that the last 80 chapters were not written by Cao Xueqin. The Redology world has long concluded that Mr Cao Xueqin made some mistakes in his writing due to his illness or other reasons. This is also the reason for Jia Baoyu's change in personality."
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I do not know how the Redology world studied it and what conclusions they came to, nor do I agree with it. My point of view is the exact opposite of everyone's. Mr Cao Xueqin is fine. The logical problems in the book were not caused by his illness. The complete 108 chapters of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' also exists. Cao Xueqin had already roughly finished writing it. This can be seen from Fucha Mingyi's poem in yesterday's lesson."
Teacher Yang was waiting for him to say this. He chuckled and retorted, "Alright, since you said so, then I have a question. You said that only the first 80 chapters of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' were written by Cao Xueqin, and that Mr Cao did not make any low-level mistakes due to his illness. Alright, let's follow your train of thought and talk about the first 80 chapters. You just said that you can explain them all?"
Zhang Ye said frankly, "Of course."
Another young Redologist said, "Are you sure?"
"Hur Hur, I'm very sure. You can ask." Zhang Ye said indifferently, "But let me say something first. It's the first 80 chapters on the whole, not the 80 chapters."
Teacher Yang snorted and said, "Alright, then how do you explain Lin Ruhai's time of death?"
The young Redologist also added fuel to the fire, "Let me also ask a question. Qin Keqing's death and the Atlas's verdict contradict each other. How do you explain this?"
Zhang Ye did not answer, but said, "Anything else? You can say it all together. "
Yan Yu, who had the highest status in the literary world, also said, "The problem of Mama Jia's birthday, as well as the problem of Jia Baoyu's age."
A bunch of questions were thrown at him!
This was something the current Redology world could not explain!
Alright, didn't you say that you could explain everything? Then explain it to us!
At this moment, the people from the literary world finally made things difficult for Zhang Ye for the first time. Originally, they could not find a way to attack Zhang Ye on the structural problem. This was because Zhang Ye had really surprised them. He had explained the structural division perfectly, and could even be said to be incisive. It could be said to be a major breakthrough in Redology research, so they really could not find an excuse to attack him. But in their opinion, Zhang Ye was too arrogant. He had actually said that he could explain all the logical problems. With this, the people from the literary world also had a breakthrough!
There were about seven or eight questions, all of which had major logical errors. Furthermore, they were dead problems that could not be solved no matter how many years of research. They wanted to see what Zhang Ye would say!
The Peking University students also began to stir.
"This is bad!"
"This bunch of Redologists have made their move!"
"Can Teacher Zhang explain it? Impossible! "
"They are going tit for tat. This is what makes it interesting!"
"Will Teacher Zhang Ye be able to do it?"
Some students were very excited and were waiting to watch the show. Yao Mi and a few other students were very worried. They looked at Zhang Ye with a worried look. Even Senior Zhou and a few other students, who had been asking questions and trying to find an opportunity to refute Zhang Ye's argument, began to worry for Zhang Ye. Indeed, Senior Zhou and the others were very doubtful of Zhang Ye's point of view, but it was ultimately a matter of their own class. It was an exchange between the students and the teacher. It was a literary disagreement within Peking University, but the people from the literary world were outsiders. They were here to "cause trouble". Be it Senior Zhou and the others or Zhang Ye, they were all people of Peking University.
Zhang Ye looked at them, "Is that all?"
Professor Ma Hengyuan sneered, "Answer these first before we speak."
Zhang Ye nodded, "Alright, then I'll answer them. However, I'll put Vice President Yan's question aside for now. I'll answer the first question first."
Yan Yu glanced at him.
Teacher Yang said, "Alright, we're listening."
No one believed that Zhang Ye could explain it!
They did not know that Zhang Ye had already guessed that they would ask these questions. After all, Redology research was limited, and there were only a few logical errors. They could not ask anything else, so it was easy to guess. "Everyone, please look at the screen. Take a look at the information I've provided." Zhang Ye communicated with the Peking University staff. They immediately found the information and projected it onto the screen.
Second Missy?
Jia Yingchun's information?
Zhang Ye's gaze swept across the crowd and said, "Everyone is familiar with Jia Yingchun. Everyone should know about her background, but I believe that anyone who has really studied 'Dream of the Red Chamber' will discover something. That is, in the ancient texts that have been passed down, the descriptions of Jia Yingchun's background are completely different. The information I have here is from a few ancient texts. Everyone, take a look."
The Second Missy was born from Father Jie's ex-wife.
The Second Missy was born from Father Jie's wife.
The Second Missy was born from Father Zheng's ex-wife.
The Second Missy was born from Father Jie's concubine.
The Second Missy was born from Father Jie's daughter, who was raised by Father Zheng.
A few Redologists frowned. Firstly, they did not understand why Zhang Ye had given them this information. Secondly, this was a field they were not familiar with. They had indeed seen these things before. For example, Yan Yu, Teacher Yang, and even Ma Hengyuan knew about it. However, as it was rather obscure, and Jia Yingchun was not a particularly important character to them, there was not much research on her in the Redology world. And because there were too many logical problems in 'Dream of the Red Chamber', there were even more logical errors to be discovered and studied. Who would bother discussing the background of an insignificant character? This Zhang Ye, why did he always give them information that they were not familiar with?
After Zhang Ye said that, he said, "The five ancient texts have different descriptions. We know that the origins of the ancient texts of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' are all based on evidence. Was this a hand-copied error? Obviously not. If the first four ancient texts had a handwriting error, then how could the fifth ancient text have such a long passage be a hand-copied error? That's completely impossible. The only explanation for such a complicated result is that Cao Xueqin had been deliberating over it repeatedly. He had been revising it over and over again. He had not thought of it and had not finalized the draft. That's why there are so many completely different ancient texts. I believe there is no doubt about this! "
Professor Zeng nodded slightly.
Teacher Yang and Ma Hengyuan were expressionless as they sat quietly.
Zhang Ye said, "Then, with this foundation and understanding, everyone's previous problems can be easily solved. Cao Xueqin did not write incorrectly because he was seriously ill. Some of the logical errors that people call as at the beginning, so why did he end up seriously ill at the beginning? Was his brain muddled? So, this is actually because Cao Xueqin had not finished revising it. It was not completely finalized. The problem of Lin Ruhai's time of death, Qin Keqing's death from illness and the fifth chapter's Illustrated Booklet's verdict are all minor problems. They are just minor changes to the ending of individual characters and some simple text changes! "
Teacher Yang retorted, "Didn't you say that you had finished writing the 108 chapters of 'Dream of the Red Chamber'?"
"It's finished. It's more or less finished." Zhang Ye said, "But just because it's finished doesn't mean it's finalized. I believe friends who have written books have experience in this area. There are quite a number of people here who have written books, and I happen to be an author too, so I know very well what's inside. Even if I'm not talking about writing a book, the students here should be able to deeply understand it. When you are writing your essays, when you are writing your theses, when you are done, is it finalized?"
The Peking University students shook their heads.
"No way."
"That's right. It still needs to be revised."
"Yes, it definitely needs to be reread a few times and then revised."
Zhang Ye smiled, "Cao Xueqin was the same."
Teacher Yang sneered, "If that's the case, then the logical problems after the eightieth chapter can also be explained in the same way. How can you prove that it was written by two people?"
The logical errors after the eightieth chapter are not something that can be corrected by just changing a few words or paragraphs. That is a problem that involves the entire book's concept. It involves a core thought error. It is very difficult for us to believe that Cao Xueqin originally wanted to write that the Jia household was' so clean that it had fallen into a vast expanse of whiteness', but he suddenly wanted to write about the Jia household's revival. Matriarch Jia was originally a loving grandmother, but the author suddenly wanted her to become a cold parent. Jia Baoyu was originally 'the most incompetent in the world, unparalleled in all of history', but the author suddenly wanted him to bring glory to his ancestors. It is even more difficult for us to believe that Cao Xueqin would suddenly change from a person who had seen through worldly affairs to a character who was obsessed with fame and bringing glory to his ancestors! "
Zhang Ye's few sentences that were emphasized with parallelism left the Redologists speechless!
Zhang Ye said, "When everyone writes a thesis, they will go back and revise the minor details. They will change the wording and adjust the clerical errors, but will you change the core ideas and central point of view of the thesis? Impossible! So using this as an excuse is completely unreasonable! "
He had really explained it!
And it was explained in a reasonable manner!
Teacher Yang's face sank. Meng Dongguo's eyes turned cold. They had never expected that Zhang Ye would not explain these unexplainable mistakes from the book's content, but from a different angle. He had actually explained it from an author's logical train of thought!
What a mouth!
What a steel and copper tooth!
Yan Yu narrowed his eyes, "Then Matriarch Jia's problem can also be explained in such a way? I don't understand why you would use my list of problems. "
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "If I were a normal reader, or a normal researcher, Matriarch Jia's age problem could be explained in such a way. The author did not have the time to revise it, so everyone would definitely be able to accept this explanation. There would be no need to probe to the root of the problem, but I can't. This is because my current identity is a teacher. I need to be rigorous in my academics. The reason why I listed out Matriarch Jia's problem is because Matriarch Jia's situation is rather special. I cannot generalize it with the previous explanations. If I were to say that, then I would be being irresponsible to my students!"
"Special?"
"How is it special?"
"Doesn't it feel the same?"
"That's right. Didn't Matriarch Jia also have a problem with her birthday and age?"
The Peking University students began to discuss.
Zhang Ye explained in detail, "If no one had mentioned this, I would not have wanted to talk about it. But since I've brought it up, I'll talk about it. Matriarch Jia's birthday problem. Is it the '3rd of August' in chapter 71? Or is it the 'After the Lantern Festival, it's Old Madam and Sister Bao' in chapter 62? These two texts are completely contradictory, but according to my research, and the coincidence of Bao Chai's birthday, I believe that the 'After the Lantern Festival' in chapter 62 is the birthday that matches the prototype of her life. The other reason is Matriarch Jia's words in chapter 39: 'Old in-law, how old are you this year?' Granny Liu quickly stood up and answered, 'I'm 75 this year.' Matriarch Jia then said, 'You're so old, but still so healthy. You're a few years older than me. I don't even know why I can't move when I'm this old. 'This also shows that Matriarch Jia's age is no more than 74. And the text in chapter 71 is' On the 3rd of August, it's Matriarch Jia's 80th birthday '! "
Everyone began to recall!
There were indeed these original texts!
Zhang Ye concluded and said, "So I can be sure that the 3rd of August was made up. 80 years old? This age is a leap, an integration, and a fabrication. Clearly, it is not Matriarch Jia's real birthday age. Hence, the text in chapter 71 … was modified later. This is also why before everyone's questions, I had specially emphasized that I could explain the logical errors in the first 80 chapters. This is because the first 80 chapters of Cao Xueqin's text and manuscript were also lost or tampered with or copied by mistake. It was the same with Matriarch Jia's birthday. This paragraph might have been lost like the rest of the chapters after the 80th chapter. It was Gao E or a nameless person who continued the writing! Hence, there was such a major flaw. Hence, this flaw is different from the other flaws. Naturally, it has to be mentioned separately! "
Reason and evidence!
There was a reason!
Zhang Ye had shocked everyone once again!
The reporters could not understand at all. Even though they had read 'Dream of the Red Chamber', many of the things that Zhang Ye said could not be immediately understood. They felt that it was too profound and detailed. But just because they did not understand did not mean they did not know how to observe. When they saw the expressions of the literary and Redologists in the first row, no matter how dumb the reporters were, they could understand that Teacher Zhang Ye's explanation and analysis were very powerful!
"What he said makes sense!"
"This way, the explanation really makes sense!"
"Could it be that the author after the 80th chapter is really someone else?"
Yao Mi was very happy as she giggled. Uncle Zhang was too awesome!
The Li brothers, Li Ying and Li Li, who were beside her, also felt their hearts skip a beat. Teacher Zhang Ye's point of view was really impacting their inherent understanding!
Wu Zeqing smiled without saying a word.
Chang Kaige and Professor Zeng were constantly nodding their heads.
The other Peking University lecturers and foreign history experts were also deep in thought!
Faced with the logical problems that had always troubled the Redology world, Zhang Ye did not reject them. He explained more than half of it in one breath!
The people from the literary world also looked at each other.
Yesterday, when they watched the video of the lecture on Peking University's official website, they did not think much of it. But today, only when they were here did they realize that Zhang Ye was really a glib talker. A few of them were indeed shocked by Zhang Ye's point of view and explanation! Zhang Ye had given them a brand new line of thought that they had never thought of!
And what shocked these people from the literary world the most was not Zhang Ye's analysis and explanation, but Zhang Ye's familiarity with 'Dream of the Red Chamber'. He was even more familiar with it than them, who had been researching 'Dream of the Red Chamber' for years, decades, or even decades! Did he memorize 'Dream of the Red Chamber' from beginning to end? Zhang Ye's lengthy analysis and quotations from the original text were said with ease. He did not even have a script. He did not even look at the screen or the information before saying it without a script! With such a large amount of references and information, Zhang Ye had managed to recite all the details without missing a single word!
How many chapters.
How many sentences.
The original text of the specific passage.
That was saying it as soon as he opened his mouth. He could not even beat a single stutter. To them, this was too exaggerated! Not to mention this bunch of Redologists, even in the entire Redology world, no one could achieve Zhang Ye's level in this area! Regardless of whether Zhang Ye's point of view was right or wrong, this person definitely understood 'Dream of the Red Chamber'. And he might have researched it more deeply and thoroughly than these experts!
After realizing this fact, half of the people from the literary world looked even uglier!
But after the embarrassment, the Redologist, Teacher Yang, was still confident. From his point of view, from the moment Zhang Ye said "I can explain it", Zhang Ye could no longer justify himself. This was because there was a logical problem that no one had ever dared to raise in Redology research. It was really unsolvable!
Clerical error?
Not finalized?
No! That problem could not be explained at all!
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