While the Lin uncle and nephew were on their way to Zhejiang, Daiyu had finally finished writing more than half of "Willow Tree". Even the ending could be considered done. It was just that she couldn't tell what she was dissatisfied with. She planned to leave the ending for the future.
Lin Ruoshan had read "Willow Tree" and asked her if she was willing to publish it.
Daiyu hesitated for a long time.
"The Dream of the Golden Turtle" being circulated outside of the boudoir was just an absurd accident. Even though … even though she had obtained a ridiculous amount of comfort and confidence from this, but …
Her uncle smiled. "Then think about your painstaking pen and ink. It's really only this …" He pointed at Daiyu and then at himself. "And this. They were the only two people who had read the book. Are you really satisfied? "
Daiyu hesitated and said in a low voice, "My heart … is not good. It's not something a girl should have. Uncle, don't encourage it to move. "
Lin Ruoshan looked at her and said with a smile, "What heart? Do you want your essay to be known by the world? Do you want your talent to be known by the world? Or do you want to seek recognition and the heart of a writer? "
Hearing the word "ambition", Daiyu suddenly looked up. She was a little embarrassed that she had been completely exposed. She frowned and said, "Uncle, I …"
Lin Ruoshan waved his hand and stopped her from continuing. Instead, he recited a poem. "I was born with talent and must be useful." After that, he smiled and said, "You were born with intelligence and wisdom. The essays you write are better than many people in the world. Then, what's there to be embarrassed about wanting others to know? What's wrong with having ambition? Those who are inferior to you are all proud of themselves. Why should you bury yourself? "
Daiyu was tongue-tied and couldn't say anything. After a while, she said, "But, I, I am … Also, novels … A woman's chastity, my reputation …"
She spoke incoherently. Suddenly, her eyes turned red and she lowered her head.
Lin Ruoshan squatted down and patted her head. "Do whatever you want. Whatever you want to learn, go ahead and learn. Uncle won't stop you. Besides, you're no longer in there. " He gestured in the direction of the Jia Family and the Yang Family before making an exaggerated gesture. "Do you still remember the farewell ceremony?"
Daiyu snorted and laughed with tears in her eyes. Half of the pot had been broken, half of it was out of spite. She said, "Alright then. I'm ambitious, I'm unchaste, I like people to comment on my articles, I like to write these … indecent things. "
"Wild ambition -- you? Lin Ruoshan originally wanted to comfort her, but when he heard this, he pointed at her and laughed so hard that he almost choked.
In the end, "Willow Tree" was released.
Daiyu came up with a nickname to commemorate the years in the Jia Family and because half of the characters in "Willow Tree" were Baoyu's shadow, she came up with the nickname "Xiaoxiang Gentleman".
Later generations would often combine her surname with this self-created nickname to call her "Lin Xiaoxiang".
Daiyu didn't expect "Willow Tree" to be so famous. Or at least, she didn't expect it to have such a good name.
Although "Willow Tree" was also about a pair of lovers in a Duke's family. However, in the eyes of the common people, it was slandering these noble families.
Lin Ruoshan was deeply influenced by Western learning. Daiyu had read his notes when she was little. In the nearly a year since she left the Jia Family, she had also received some of his teachings on writing. Compared to many of the contemporary world's traditional writers who were blindly romantic and sentimental, empty and empty, the way they saw things was completely different.
Even if these influences were disregarded, Daiyu had read poems, essays, and dictionaries since she was a child, and her personal opinion of the outstanding ones was always inclined towards the 'quality' of the 'quality' of the 'quality' of literature, 'which was inclined towards' reflecting the reality of the world '.
Therefore, although her writing was simple, beautiful, and dreamy, she generally wrote according to what she saw. It was just that the choice of words went through a series of refinements and arrangements.
She told the truth and then used words and phrases that implied praise and criticism.
Therefore, her eyes were full of decay, sensual pleasures, and indulgence in luxury.
One side was a case of murder, the other side was a case of romance. One side was a usury, the other side was a fight between brothers. One side was singing the wind, the flowers, the snow, and the moon, while the other side was full of foul water. One side sang about the way to help the world, the other side relied on scholarly fame to seize wealth.
Although there were some things that involved many families, Daiyu concealed and beautified because of various considerations. But as long as she adhered to the "real world" writing style, it was still difficult to avoid reflecting a lot of "evil spirits in your mansion, rotting bones in the highest place" situations.
Among the characters that Daiyu wrote about, there happened to be a pair of childhood sweethearts who knew each other since childhood. They were both rebellious people. Women didn't learn to be good, men didn't love scholarly fame. A pair of unfilial son and unfilial daughter happened to be a pair of lovers.
They originally thought that they could rely on each other in the quagmire, but unexpectedly, they helped each other in difficult times.
This pair of lovers, half of the description was Wen Jju couple, and half of the description was Baoyu and the others.
"Willow Tree" wrote about the unfortunate life of this pair of lovers who were called "crazy people" at home.
They were neither filial nor disrespectful, did not participate in the quagmire, and grew up in the quagmire. They seemed to be superfluous people at home. They wanted to resist something, but they couldn't leave.
Although Daiyu tried her best to write without personal feelings in order to avoid arousing suspicion, she was still young, in the end, it was inevitable that she wrote with sympathy, with a vague feeling of approval.
And by sympathizing with "unfilial people" like Yang and Wen Jju, she was indirectly slandering something that the world was hell-bent on praising.
That day, Lin Ruoshan finished reading the whole draft of "Willow Tree" and sighed, "Daiyu, what do you hate? What are you sympathizing with? "
Daiyu hung her head and said vaguely, "I don't know."
She didn't know. She didn't dare to say.
Daiyu didn't know what it was that she hated.
Just like in her memory, Baoyu also didn't know what he was resisting, or what he hated. He just vaguely hated, vaguely resisted, vaguely continued to live.
Uncle Wen Jju and the others probably knew. But they still could only live with that thing.
Lin Ruoshan was lost in thought for a while. Suddenly, he lowered his eyes sadly and said slowly, "You will know."
After that, he said again, "Forget it, let's not talk about this. Guess, if this book is circulated in the bookstore, how will the world comment? "
Daiyu thought about the faces of those stinky men in the bookstore and sneered, "Probably 'bastard', 'unfilial', and the like."
Lin Ruoshan shook his head and smiled softly, "Maybe. Now the world … is a little strange. "
And just as Lin Ruoshan said that day. Daiyu originally thought that wherever her "Willow Tree" went, there would be a lot of scolding. Unexpectedly, where the scolding was intense, the praise was also loud.
The people who scolded, as expected by Uncle Lin and Niece Lin, were mostly "decent people" who were corrupt in Confucianism and Taoism, who boasted that they were orthodox and had outstanding achievements.
And among these "decent people", there were a few who were very sensitive. These people were sensitive to the fact that "Willow Tree" seemed to have an inexplicable hostility towards many orthodox things. Therefore, the scolding became more and more severe.
But the people who praised and recognized "Willow Tree" were much more widespread than the people who scolded it.
From the idle sons of the imperial family to the rebellious scholars of the Confucian sect. Someone said in public, "I am willing to have unfilial sons as friends, but I am not willing to have dealings with those who are 'righteous'." And in the marketplace, there were even more people who liked to read and listen. This book was even adapted into operas, such as "Falling Lotus" and so on.
It was said that Baoyu of the Jia family in the capital, the imperial concubine's younger brother, actually loved this book to the point that he went crazy. Because his father burned this book, he disregarded filial piety and argued with his father, so he was beaten half to death.
There was also a group of people who both liked and criticized it.
There was also a group of people who actually did some research. They insisted that from the wording, writing, and content, the author of "The Dream of the Golden Turtle" should also be the author of "Willow Tree", "Xiaoxiang Gentleman".
There were also people who objected to this research. They only said, "Although there are similarities, the current half of" The Dream of the Golden Turtle "mainly talks about a girl's love in her boudoir, while" Willow Tree "has a much higher style. Moreover, the writing is also better than the former. "
Those who supported the "same author theory" immediately retorted, "Don't tell me that Xiaoxiang Gentleman is not allowed to improve?"
When Daiyu heard this, she was sad, happy, and amused. She didn't know how to look at these comments.
On the other hand, Lin Ruoshan leisurely came back after a few days and gave her ten taels of silver, saying that it was for the pen.
Daiyu rejected it and laughed, "What kind of person have I become? I actually want this money! "
Her uncle shook his head and said, "What's wrong with this money? First, it's not stolen, second, it's not stolen, third, it's not sinful money. It was painstakingly written by you. Why can't you accept it? "
Daiyu said angrily, "I'm not someone who sells literature for a living!" She then thought of Du 'er's extraordinariness and suddenly felt that she had misspoken. She was shaken for a moment.
Lin Ruoshan laughed, "Oh? You can think of it as the other person reading your book and being captivated by it, so he's willing to give you the silver to express his feelings. "
"Uncle!" When Daiyu heard this, she was even more disgraceful and quickly stopped him, "Who wants any 'feelings'!" She then thought of the praises of "Willow Tree", saying, "I only wish to meet the author", "His talent is high and clear, dispelling the clouds to see the world", her face turned red.
She then thought, "Forget it, anyways … anyways I've already chosen to publish my work, this won't make a difference." She laughed, "Fine fine fine, Uncle, don't talk nonsense anymore. You might as well say that it's for the pen. Niece can't win against you, I'll just be a 'stinky person' for once. "
In the end, Daiyu still took the ten taels of silver. When she put it in her purse, her face was still a little hot. She thought, "Oh, this is my pen. I earned it myself. "
Although she quickly spat at herself, "What earning or not earning, it's not tacky." But she still unconsciously curved her affectionate eyes and revealed a smile.
Not for the money, but for … but for the reason, Daiyu didn't know either. She just wanted to smile.
Lin Ruoshan looked at Daiyu and also revealed a smile, "This child is gradually walking away from those dodder flowers that can't survive on their own."
They walked all the way to the south of Zhejiang, trying their best to take the waterway and stay in towns. Previously, because Jiangzhe was prosperous, there were many towns. Although it couldn't be compared to Suhang, it was still prosperous.
Because of this, Lin Ruoshan had seen the hardships of many kidnappers, beggars, wanderers, and ordinary townspeople. There were many times when Lin Ruoshan had to hire trustworthy bodyguards to protect them. But for the most part, Daiyu's bottom line hadn't been broken. She just had to think about Du Zimei a few more times.
But the more they walked, the more they saw the faces of most places in the world.
Poor and down. Life and death.
The south of Zhejiang was still considered stable. But this was the first time Daiyu had stepped out of the town's walls and stood on a small hill beside the fields. When she saw a small village, her lips trembled for a moment, and it took her a while before she could ask, "Uncle, w-what are those …?"
Lin Ruoshan looked down and sighed softly, "People. Just like you, just like me. "
When Daiyu walked on the muddy water, she had to wear the straw shoes that Lin Ruoshan had bought previously to prevent her clothes from getting dirty.
When the villagers passing by saw them and the two guards behind them, they hurriedly avoided them.
Daiyu trembled. She didn't dare to look at the faces of the passing and watching farmers in the village. Otherwise, she would see "strange creatures" with yellow and rotten teeth, unkempt hair, sunken cheeks, and a thick layer of oil. They were scrawny and emitted a strange smell.
The most terrifying thing was that many of them were not only barefoot, but even their clothes were so tattered that they couldn't even cover their bodies!
Although those bodies with ribs that could be counted clearly weren't worth looking at, Daiyu still didn't want to see anything that she shouldn't see.
It turned out that the family she had seen before was like Granny Liu's family. They could wear clean cotton-padded clothes, live in a complete house, and keep their faces clean and tidy. They could be considered rich people.
She looked at her snow-white hands. She simply couldn't believe that this was an existence that could be called "people" like herself. She couldn't help but have a terrifying thought. She thought: No wonder some people in the history books didn't think much of slaughtering people like this. If it was her who had lived in the Jia Manor for a long time, she probably wouldn't have treated these people as her own kind.
And their house, could it even be called a house? In Daiyu's eyes, it was just a mud house. She was afraid that if it rained too much, the soil would melt. Once the soil melted, the walls would collapse.
And in reality, that was indeed the case. They walked past piles of garbage, cesspools, and pools of filth. They passed by many sunken roofs, collapsed mud walls, rotting straw houses, and scattered gravel.
From time to time, they could also hear women with black wrinkles like monkeys cursing on the streets with their hands on their hips.
In some filthy ditches, there were even half-rotten female corpses.
Daiyu finally couldn't help but pull on Lin Ruoshan's sleeve. She bit her lower lip and whispered, "Uncle, let's go, okay? I … "I'm scared.
She felt as if she had walked into a place where ghosts and monsters lived.
Lin Ruoshan stroked her shoulder and said softly, "Don't be scared. These are all common people. Under the heavens, most of the villagers are like this. You'll get used to it after seeing it a lot. "
On this issue, Lin Ruoshan didn't seem to take care of Daiyu as much. He was so cold that it was almost frightening.
He said that he would take her to see a friend.
What kind of friend could there be in this kind of place?
Daiyu saw a pile of broken straw huts. Not far away, there were a few brick houses surrounded by walls. Although in her eyes, they were still very simple and crude, at least they looked like proper houses.
Although the people who walked out had yellow faces, were a little fat, and had yellow teeth, at least they were wearing clean cotton-padded jackets. They looked a little "human".
Lin Ruoshan told her that those fat women with slightly yellow faces, braided hair, and yellow and white teeth when they smiled, and wearing clean cotton-padded jackets as they leaned against the door railings were the wives and concubines of the big families in the village.
They arrived in front of the largest brick house — — it was simply like a small fortress. It was fully armed. The fat man who walked out of the house was even wearing silk clothes. He was surrounded by a group of thugs who were pressing down a few dark and thin farmers on the ground.
When Daiyu walked over, she heard the fat man reprimanding the farmers around him, "You owe rent, and you can't pay it this year. The higher-ups want to make trouble for me, do you know that? You sold your daughter? You can only pay a part of it. "
He then said to another one, "Delay? What did you say last year? You borrowed money to buy cattle. This year's harvest is good, so you'll pay back double the interest?
Years of famine? "
The fat man finally sneered. Like a thug, he gave out orders from above, "Drag those who dare to refuse to pay the rent away and beat them. They'll be lucky if they're beaten to death. They'll have to pay the debt with their son. If they can't be beaten to death, they'll have to pay it back! "
At this time, he probably saw Lin Ruoshan and Daiyu. His eyes lit up and he hurriedly walked over. He opened his mouth and shouted, "Brother Ruoshan!"
Lin Ruoshan smiled and said, "What's the matter? Are you here to collect the rent?"
The fat man chuckled, "That's right. It's just that this year is really difficult. The higher-ups are urging us, and there's also a drought down there. "As he said that, he looked at Daiyu, who was wearing a veil hat.
Daiyu shrank back a little. The fat man's fierce look from before had scared her a little.
Lin Ruoshan blocked him and said with a smile, "This is my niece."
The fat man suddenly understood. He hurriedly put on an elegant and courteous attitude, pretending to be refined, "Greetings, Miss Lin."
His appearance was not much different from a wild boar pretending to be an orchid.
Daiyu was never willing to be rude in front of an elder. She endured her disgust and returned the greeting.
After chatting for a while, the fat man invited them into the house.
The house was quite big. It was connected to a warehouse. There were piles of grain inside.
A group of dark, skinny, and wrinkled old farmers were waiting there. The pile of grain at their feet was there. The fat man took a look and asked the Lin family uncle and niece to wait for a moment. He went over first and counted them one by one.
A large portion of each pile was taken away, leaving only a small portion.
When Lin Ruoshan saw this, he said to Daiyu, "Most of the villagers here are the tenants of the Zhu family, a big family nearby. It's time to pay the rent. "
As he said that, he smiled thoughtfully and said, "The abalone, ginseng, shark fin, and stomach that our families ate in the past were all from the rent paid by these people."
Daiyu knew. But knowing and seeing with your own eyes were two different things.
She looked at the small piles of grain, then looked at those frighteningly dark, skinny, and ugly people who didn't look human at all. She said softly, "Then, after the Zhu family took away these, the rest should be enough for them to eat for a month, right?"
When Lin Ruoshan heard this, he burst out laughing and teased her, "Silly child. The rest is their rations for a year. Not a month's worth. "
Seeing that the little girl was stunned, Lin Ruoshan said, "There's nothing to be surprised about. The Zhu family only took seventy percent of the rent. They can be considered benevolent. Previously, your uncle's family took at least eighty percent of the rent. "
Daiyu looked at the head-sized piles of grain left in front of each tenant after the fat man took them away and fell silent.
When they left the village, they happened to see a villager holding a child who looked like a living skeleton, numbly buried in a desolate grave at the entrance of the village.
Daiyu had a photographic memory. When she saw this numb villager who was not far from the edge of starvation, she recognized him as one of the tenant farmers that the fat man had been standing with.
Not far away, other farmers who were also in dire straits only raised their heads to take a few glances, then continued to bury their heads in the fields. Many of them could not afford to buy farm tools, cows, or even donkeys. They could only rely on others to pull the plow, burying their heads in sweat as they slowly moved forward step by step, panting.
Their backs were a little deformed because they had been bending over for a long time. From afar, they looked like a herd of old cattle that were about to die.
Later, when they left this place, Daiyu's spirits were a little low. She only sighed softly and said, "There is no idle land in the four seas, farmers will starve to death."
However, although she was greatly shocked. Daiyu and these people were too different in all aspects.
It was like when a human saw animals suffering, they would sympathize and feel sad, but they could not really empathize with them.
Daiyu thought, "They are so pitiful. So pitiful. "
But they were just pitiful.
Because they were so pitiful, she could not see them as human beings.
Daiyu walked in the picture of suffering around her listlessly, as if there was an invisible membrane separating her. Every once in a while, she would ask Lin Ruoshan to hurry up and leave this declining, strange world that seemed to have suddenly fallen into barbarism. She wanted to hurry back to the relatively comfortable, civilized world where there would be a gentle life.
Lin Ruoshan felt a little distressed, but he looked at Daiyu's state. He knew that he could not agree now.
Looking at a village near the water in front, it happened to be holding a social play during the autumn harvest. He brought Daiyu over to take a look.
There was a dark mass of "scary and ugly" people who "looked like east and west, but didn't look like human beings" gathered together.
Daiyu first felt scared, then a little funny. She secretly thought, "They actually gathered together like a group of big animals. They imitated human beings to listen to the play. "
Then, two of the "big animals" in her eyes put on funny costumes. Their dung ball-like faces were smeared with powder, as if they were covered in frost, and just like that, they were placed on the stage.
They opened their mouths and sang, "Look at that flower, pluck it and love sister —"
Unexpectedly, their voices were clear and melodious, and their singing was beautiful.
The other voice was deep and hoarse, but it was very funny and interesting.
Daiyu was stunned for a moment. This music was not any worse than the Kun Opera that she and Baoyu enjoyed.
She suddenly realized something.
At this moment, she faintly prayed, "Hurry up, it's best that the" big animals "below can't understand, can't appreciate, so that she can — can what —?"
However, those black and thin "big animals" below, who had worked for a whole year, had faces full of wind and frost, bent over and sweated, applauded.
They dispelled their numbness and tiredness, and revealed the expression that all people who appreciated beauty would reveal.
Just like how Daiyu had seen the appreciation on the faces of herself, Baoyu, Bao Chai, Jia Mu, and the others.
The barrier that was on the verge of collapse was finally broken.
It was as if she finally realized that the people in front of her, such people, such people … were also people. They were actually … people just like her.
And after realizing that these were "people", Daiyu's previous "discomfort" suddenly turned into the horror of being hurt by one's own kind, which came after a long time.
It was because of these people, who were about to starve to death and were almost like ghosts because of their suffering, that she was able to enshrine her previous life.
Lin Ruoshan suddenly heard a sobbing sound beside him.
He sighed softly. After a long while, he said to the little girl beside him, "Daiyu, I don't need you to think in their position, and I don't need you to do anything. But at least you have to know — know what this world is really like. How did the life that you've lived before come about? This way, you can judge many things better and more accurately. Do you understand? "
She just cried.
Finally, when she stopped, she complained to Lin Ruoshan bitterly, "Uncle, you're too cruel."
Because, at this moment, she clearly knew that half of the Daiyu of the Jia Family had disappeared.
…
After crying, Daiyu was not in a hurry to leave. She opened her eyes, intending to finish watching the social drama.
Just watch, just watch. The villagers of this village finished singing. It was the turn of the folk opera troupe invited by the village.
The first to go on stage was a very beautiful male lead.
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