How did Cao Xueqin die? History is inconclusive. Some people say that he lost his beloved son and died of grief; Another reason is the death of his second wife.
At present, most scholars believe that when Cao Xueqin wrote A Dream of Red Mansions, a man named Zhi Yanzhai cooperated with him. Both of them wrote a book and a batch of books, expressing the true meaning hidden by Cao Xueqin under the high political pressure at that time. Judging from Zhi Yanzhai's comment on writing, he has a very close relationship with Cao Xueqin. Is there any reason why Cao Xueqin died in the comment on writing? Close to the original work of A Dream of Red Mansions, there are several eyebrows describing the death of Cao Xueqin:
"The narrator walked into the book with tears. On New Year's Eve, Qin burst into tears. When I tried to cry, my tears came out. Every time I want to find Green Ridge, I will ask Brother Shi again. Why didn't Yu meet the otter's first monk? Hey!
In this comment on writing, the time of Cao Xueqin's death is clearly defined as "New Year's Eve", but the cause of Cao Xueqin's death is not mentioned. In many subsequent awards, we did not find any comments that could clearly point out the cause of Cao Xueqin's death. Zhi Yanzhai's comment on writing doesn't seem to help us.
So, did Cao Xueqin's friends leave a record of his death?
Cao Xueqin has two familiar friends, one is Deng Min and the other is Deng Cheng. They are brothers, and Cao Xueqin had a close relationship with them before his death. Duncheng and Dunmin have the habit of writing books and passing on poems. The author is Deng Min, and the author of Mao Zhai Shi Chao is Deng Cheng, in which a large number of poems about and mourning for Cao Xueqin are preserved. Here, Duncheng holds a poem by Cao Xueqin, which caught my attention. The whole poem is as follows:
Forty naked, too thin. Xiao Feng brushed his face yesterday.
The orphans cried when their intestines returned to the ridge. A few months ago, Ziyi fell ill because of sentimentality. (
The widow burst into tears.
Niu mourned Li He and Lu Che and was buried together.
An old friend is dying, so he can't give his soul to Chu Heng.
According to Deng Cheng's note in the poem: "In the past few months, Ziyi has been ill because of her sentimentality." Yes, Cao Xueqin contracted this disease because he was extremely sad about the death of his beloved son. But there was a period: "the first few months", which showed that Cao Xueqin's illness and loss of children were neither extremely dangerous nor fatal. Otherwise, the course of the disease will not drag on for several months.
So, what is the direct cause of Cao Xueqin's death on New Year's Eve?
Through the comprehensive analysis and comparison of Duncheng's and Dunmin's poems mourning Cao Xueqin, we found an amazing similarity, that is, when they mentioned Cao Xueqin, they all wrote about Cao Xueqin's drinking habits. Then, Cao Xueqin's death may be related to alcohol.