The reason why A Dream of Red Mansions is only "half a book" is closely related to Cao Xueqin's time.
In the early Qing dynasty, the literary inquisition in the Qing court was fierce, and the number of people robbing families was unknown. Nearly 100 people were executed in the case of Zhuang Tingyi's Ming history in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, and thousands were implicated, among which the Zhuang family was almost wiped out.
In this case, it is impossible for Cao Xueqin, Zhi Yanzhai and others to write and comment on books carelessly. Especially in A Dream of Red Mansions, there are many "obstacles", some of which are even extremely obvious.
For example, Jia Baoyu and Fang Guan's discussion about "Yelv Xiongnu" almost all pointed to the monk who yelv Dashi, called the Qing court bald donkey. How can the Qing court not be angry? It's just that the Qing court came back to taste. A Dream of Red Mansions has spread all over the world, and scholars have books.
Guben Dream of Red Mansions
In desperation, the Qing court could only admit it by holding its nose, and Qianlong also said in a panic: "This pearl is also somebody else's business."
Whether Qianlong said "Pearl Family Affairs" or "Zhu Ming Family Affairs" has been debated by scholars up to now, because the meaning of anti-Qing and mourning in A Dream of Red Mansions is too strong.
For the first time in A Dream of Red Mansions, Jia Xu criticized that "before the book was finished on New Year's Eve, Qin died of tears, and I often cried Qin until tears ran out."
It can also be seen from this fat batch that Cao Xueqin died before he finished writing his book.
There are still some views that Cao Xueqin's "final draft" is only the first 80 times, and the content behind it is too explicit, so he did not continue to write.
So Cao Xueqin only finished half a book in the end.
However, God never shuts one door but he opens another. Although Cao Xueqin only wrote half, it doesn't mean that there is no complete version of A Dream of Red Mansions.
It is clearly pointed out in the original text of A Dream of Red Mansions that Cao Xueqin "reviewed it for ten years and added and deleted it five times", which shows that when Cao Xueqin wrote A Dream of Red Mansions, there must be a "manuscript", otherwise it would be impossible to "review" and "add and delete", and it would never be possible to modify it in the air.
Since there is a "manuscript", a dream of red mansions must be a complete story, and the true ending of the characters in a dream of red mansions must also be written in this "manuscript".
So, the real question is, where is the Manuscript of A Dream of Red Mansions, which is the basis of Cao Xueqin's creation?
It is mentioned in some historical materials that during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, there was an "old true edition" of A Dream of Red Mansions, which was witnessed by some people.
Zhou and Yu Pingbo, after repeated textual research (A Dream of Red Mansions by Yu Pingbo), also confirmed the existence of the "authentic copy".
There is no doubt that the "original version of the old times" is the "manuscript of the Red Chamber", so as long as we find it, we can reveal the real ending of A Dream of Red Mansions to the world.
In 2005, a man named He Lili uploaded a new dream of red mansions on the Internet. The name of this book is "A Trial Comment on the Addition and Deletion of Wu Stone Story", also known as "Ben". As soon as the book was published, it immediately caused a sensation.
This book begins at 8 1 and ends at 108. A * * * has 28 chapters, including the final endings of almost all the characters in A Dream of Red Mansions, and the endings of these characters correspond to the judgments and comments on Zhi Yanzhai in the first half of his life.
Not only that, this set of books also has the annotations of Zhi Yanzhai and others, and the endings of Jia Baoyu and Shi Xiangyun are exactly the same as the legendary "authentic edition". Judging from the plot structure, Gui Youben and Dream of Red Mansions are completely in the same strain.
However, the writing of this book is rough, and individual plots are too bizarre, such as Yuan Chun's battle to lead troops and Xue Baochai's remarriage, which makes some people emotionally unacceptable. It is completely understandable to call it a fake book.
Others think that Gui You's manuscript is an "old authentic manuscript" and a "Dream of Red Mansions manuscript" used by Cao Xueqin. The two sides have different opinions, saying that it is true or false, which naturally leads to controversy.
This happened not only among ordinary readers of A Dream of Red Mansions, but also in the field of redology.
Although most experts don't recognize Guiyouben, since Guiyouben was born, there have been fewer articles about A Dream of Red Mansions in recent ten years, which makes us think deeply.
At present, it is hard to say whether it is true or not, but it is of great value. At least, it makes people see the possible original ending of A Dream of Red Mansions.
The subject problem is indeed an important and complicated problem in the study of A Dream of Red Mansions, which involves the identification of the authenticity of various versions of A Dream of Red Mansions and the controversy of the author of A Dream of Red Mansions. Space is limited here, that's all.
Finally, a dream of red mansions is only half, and the latter half is not anywhere in the world, but exists in the hearts of every reader of the red chamber.
Every red fan has a complete dream of red mansions in his heart.