Arranged marriages were like "buying a cat through a cloth bag". The parties involved did not meet, and it all depended on luck.
If you met a reliable matchmaker, you would be lucky to find a match of equal social status and spend your life together. If you met a matchmaker who only recognized money, you would probably regret it for the rest of your life. Reversing black and white, deceiving those below, this kind of thing could be said to be extremely common in the secular world.
"Start with love, stop with propriety. This was the initiative of Kong Sheng. Nowadays, secular marriages have never met before marriage, so how can there be true love? It's nothing more than propriety first, then love. How many marriages in the world are like empty shells, like walking corpses? How can parents bear to let their children fall into endless pain? "Meton cried out in pain in the text.
Why was it that once a sincere love story appeared in ancient times, it would be widely spread? The root cause was that it was too rare, so it was particularly precious.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Meton's words were just to justify his marriage under the moon. However, the bloody fact made everyone unable to refute. Meton's text directly uncovered the beauty of secular marriages, revealing the cruelest part of it. Everyone who read it was silent.
However, this was not Meton's purpose. What really made everyone restless was the fifth type of marriage that Meton summarized — marriage of sale.
"When a daughter is married off from a high-class family, family background, talent, and character are valued. When a daughter is married off from a low-class family, what they seek is only wealth. Greedy parents use betrothal gifts to choose a son-in-law, just like buying goods on the market." Meton's words were extremely sharp, making people feel ashamed.
In the feudal era, the idea of favoring boys over girls was especially serious. Many families thought that raising a daughter was not a worthwhile thing, and even despised it as a money-losing thing.
Under this kind of thinking, when many families married off their daughters, it was often based on their wealth. The family that offered the highest betrothal gifts would marry their daughters to that family. It was like a transaction of goods.
In the 'Discussion of Hidden Husbands', it was mentioned that during the Han Dynasty, there were some women who, for the sake of money, actually made their daughters' one daughter is worth several families'. In the end, this matter was brought to the court, and for a time, it became a joke.
However, this trend did not stop because of this. In the Tang Dynasty, it became more and more serious. Not only did a woman marry several men, but men also took the initiative to increase the price in order to compete for marriage. It was even common for greedy parents to sell young girls to old men for money. Back then, the Mo Family Village was humiliated again and again. Even if the marriage had been agreed upon, many marriages were missed because the betrothal gifts were not enough.
"This wealth is the wealth of evil, built on the pain, blood, and tears of children." Meton's words sent chills down everyone's spines. How could they feel at ease even if they took the money to buy their daughter?
"Sixth, the parents interfere with the marriage, and the peacock flies southeast, lingering for five miles …"
"The Peacock Flies Southeast" was a folk song poem that readers were familiar with. It was based on the love story between Jiao Zhongqing and his wife, Liu Lanzhi. It was a tragedy of parents interfering in a marriage.
In this era where only parents could make decisions, the parents' opinions on marriage could be said to be decided with a single word. Who knew how many tragedies this had caused?
"Red and crisp hands, yellow wine. Spring filled the city, palace walls, willows. The east wind is evil, love is thin. A melancholy, several years of separation. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Spring is like old, people thin. Tear stains, red and transparent. Peach blossoms fall, Leisure Pool Pavilion. Although the mountain promise is there, the brocade book is hard to hold. Mo Mo Mo. "
In history, there was a person who had the same fate as Jiao Zhongqing. It was probably Lu You. Lu You also lost his wife, Tang Wan, because of his mother's interference, and regretted it for the rest of his life.
In the future, Tang Wan and Lu You were close relatives. Now, the Mo Family had already made the dangers of marriage between close relatives clear. Therefore, even if history did not change, the two could not become husband and wife. Today, Meton used Jiao Zhongqing's story to write "Hairpin Phoenix, Red and Crisp Hands" to revive this poem.
"This is the second poem?"
In Chongwenguan Hall, Li Chengqian looked at Mo Mo's "Hairpin Phoenix" and sighed.
Everyone had thought that even though "Green Jade Case – New Year's Eve" was good, it was just a flash in the pan. Who would have thought that after just a few days, Moton would come up with a similarly popular poem?
"Using an ancient poem to create a new poem, Brother Mo is really talented."
What made Li Chengqian sigh was that Meton's poem was a second creation on "The Peacock Flies Southeast".
The position of "The Peacock Flies Southeast" in literature was needless to say. Ordinary people would not dare to copy it and become a laughingstock. However, Meton's "Hairpin Phoenix" was extremely compatible with "The Peacock Flies Southeast" and did not fall behind.
"No, there is a third poem." Li Tai shook his head and said with mixed feelings.
He saw that Meton then wrote the same "Hairpin Phoenix" in Liu Lanzhi's tone.
"The world is thin, human nature is evil, the rain sends evening flowers to fall easily. The morning wind is dry, the tear stains are residual, the thoughts in my heart, leaning on the slanted railing. Difficult! Difficult! Difficult!
People become different, today is not yesterday, the sick soul is often like a swing. The horn sounds cold, the night is waning, afraid of being questioned, swallowing tears and pretending to be happy. Deceive! Deceive! Deceive! "
Li Tai saw the second "Hairpin Phoenix" and was speechless for a long time. The two poems complemented each other and told a love tragedy from the perspective of a man and a woman, which made people sigh.
What caused such a love tragedy was self-evident. It was naturally an arranged marriage.
Li Tai and Li Chengqian could not help looking at each other. For the younger generation, they were naturally full of longing for their own love. However, if it was really like what Meton said in the poem, wantonly interfering without meeting before marriage, they suddenly shuddered.
At this moment, the two of them had 100% agreed with Meton's point of view. However, when they thought that Meton abandoned Changle and argued for the woman who had not yet appeared, they suddenly snorted.
"The School of Mo believes that marriage is a sacred matter, related to the fate of a man and a woman. How can it be controlled by others? They believe that although the parents' order and the matchmaker's words are indispensable, the man and woman have the final power to decide. Therefore, the parents' order and the matchmaker's words are voluntary. This is the great virtue of human relations. "
Meton certainly did not dare to directly call out the later generation's concept of free love. He was afraid that once he brought it up, it would be superfluous. Meton opened a small gap on the basis of the parents' order and the matchmaker's words, allowing the man and woman to decide. This was a great improvement.
"The parents' order and the matchmaker's words are voluntary."
Countless people read this and their eyes could not help but brighten. If a secular marriage could be like this, it would not only take into account the secular etiquette, but also solve the drawbacks of arranged marriages. People could not help but praise.
"Mo Jiazi's words are good?"
Everyone in front of the Mo Journal nodded in praise. Who in the world did not want to have a happy marriage? If they could make the decision and choose the person they loved to grow old together, that would be their life's wish.
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