"If you are more fleshy, I will pity you even more. Who can persuade me to drink wine?" Literally translated into vernacular, it means "I'm sorry that you are so fat and beautiful. Who understands my feelings and persuades me to drink?".
One day, in the Grand View Garden, a Jia Caizi and a group of beauties enjoyed themselves admiring the chrysanthemums and eating crabs. After they had had enough wine and food, they began to recite poems. Everyone judged Lin Daiyu's "Ying of Chrysanthemums" to be the best. Even with Baochai present, Daiyu still won the first place. This is one of the few incidents in the book. Of course Lin Daiyu was proud, but she was a little too proud. She took advantage of the wine and wrote another poem describing crabs, as follows:
The iron-clad long fight has not been forgotten until death, and the pile of dishes and colors are the first to taste.
The chelated seals are both full of tender jade, and the shell is convex with red fat pieces that are fragrant.
The more fleshy you are, the more pity you have on your eight legs. Who can persuade me to give you a thousand cups of wine?
......
Haha, it is not so much a poem as a declaration of war against Xue Baochai. Especially the middle four sentences: "The chelated seals are both full of tender jade, and the convex red fat on the shell is fragrant. The meat is more pity for your eight legs. Who can help me persuade me to drink a thousand cups?"
Is this writing about crabs? "Sealing tender jade" and "shell convex red fat" are clearly mocking Xue Baochai's "fatness". Relating to the previous chapter 30, it is generally recognized that Xue Baochai is fat and has even been compared to the "fat beauty" Yang Guifei. This is also a worry for Sister Baochai. The original text is quoted as follows:
————It is written in Chapter 30: (Jia Baoyu) laughed and said: "No wonder they compare my sister to Concubine Yang. It turns out that she is also plump and timid." Baochai listened. He said that he couldn't help but get angry, and he didn't want to do anything to him. After thinking about it for a while, her face turned red, and she sneered twice and said, "I am just like Concubine Yang, except that I don't have a good brother or brother who can be like Yang Guozhong!" Lin Daiyu felt really proud when she heard Baoyu ridiculing Baochai.
Haha, you saw it. Sister Lin's slender figure probably became a way to show off to Baochai in her heart. This is very similar to how modern girls compete with each other to be thinner. :) Imagine that a slim girl now says to another fat girl, "Sister, your meat is delicious and fat." What an embarrassing tease it would be.
As for "Both are both full", this is a satire on Baochai's delusional desire to "gold and jade perfection" with Baoyu, which is just wishful thinking (the following verses explain this meaning). And the description of "Cuangkuanxiang" is even funnier. Do you think, the flesh on Baochai's body is already in "pieces", so why don't you throw it away? This word "fragrance" is more closely related to Baochai's cold fragrance pills. (Chapter 19 Daiyu scolds Baoyu, "Idiot, idiot! If you have jade, they will have gold to match you. If they have cold incense, you don't have warm incense to match it?" It can be seen that Daiyu always treats Baochai's Lengxiang is in my heart, and it is also associated with "Gold and Jade Perfection". Therefore, "Blocky Fragrance" is a further sarcasm of "Shuangshuangman", which is logical)
Then, the more Sister Lin talked about it, the happier she became. , the more he talks about it, the more straightforward he becomes: "The more meat you have, the more you pity your eight legs."
The word "succulent" is like a sign hanging on Sister Bao's chest. You can't even deny it even if you touch the sore spot. How pitiful is it for a beautiful woman to be insulted like this? Sister Lin's pretentious "more pity" is particularly bitter. So what does "Qing Ba Zu" mean? "Qing" is a pet name for "you". In ancient Chinese literature, in addition to the title used by emperors to their ministers, it is also often used to refer to women, such as "Fang Qing". Wang Xifeng), and "I will not drive you away, but I will force you to have my mother" in "The Peacock Flies Southeast" and so on. Qing pointed out that there are relatively few men, so how can we compare them with crabs? So Qing here should refer to women.
And "Bazu" means "eight-faced", catering to all aspects, just like having eight claws. Among the women in Dream of Red Mansions, no one except Xue Baochai can do this. Including the smart and capable Wang Xifeng, and the jealousy of Aunt Zhao and others. Sister Bao is a lady that everyone praises. The reason is actually that she is very measured in her behavior and has diverse methods. Therefore, "Qing Ba Zu" is precisely this characteristic of Xue Baochai.
Look at the next sentence, "Who can persuade me to drink wine?" Literally translated into vernacular, it is "Who understands my feelings and persuades me to drink wine?". (觞, pronounced as SHANG, is a wine vessel. A thousand cups means a thousand cups, which is an exaggeration)
The answer is self-evident. It was Jia Baoyu who "helped people to drink". It turns out that there was a plot at the beginning of this chapter: Sister Lin ate crabs and wanted to drink hot wine, and then the original text read - Baoyu hurriedly said: "There is soju." Then he ordered a pot of wine soaked in albizia flowers to be boiled. Daiyu only took one bite and then put it down. Baochai also came over, brought another cup, and took a sip.
Look carefully at this paragraph: Baochai "ye" came over, "other" brought a cup, and "ye" took a sip. The two characters "ye" and the character "other" have a profound meaning! Cao Xueqin did not write randomly. Sister Lin wanted to drink, so Baoyu offered wine dipped in albizia flowers to show her courtesy. But Baochai wanted to drink, so he had to pour it himself. Cao Xueqin uses a contrasting technique to illustrate the close relationship between the three people. Baoyu is close to Daiyu and alienated from Baochai.
In Lin Daiyu's view, this has also become a "capital" to show off to Xue Baochai.
"The more fleshy you are, the more pity you have on your eight legs. Who can help me to persuade me to be a thousand-year-old?" The real meaning is, "I pity you, the fat girl, who is graceful in all directions, (cannot win the heart of Brother Baoyu), he is close to him and likes me." It's me, not you, Miss Xue.
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