Xiao Hong's "The Story of Hulan River": Human nature swallowed up by feudal ethics

When I put down the book "The Biography of Hulan River" in my hands, I finally understood why it has become a classic, and why Xiao Hong is one of the talented women recognized by the world.

"The Biography of Hulan River" is a biography written by Xiao Hong about a small town. There is Xiao Hong's favorite grandfather and the back garden she most yearns for, but there are also many insensitive and ignorant people there. People eating people on the ground.

This book has three perspectives, one is Xiao Hong in childhood, one is adult Xiao Hong who is recalling this city and wrote this book, and the other is reading this book as a bystander. us.

The Hulan River from three perspectives forms a vivid picture. It allows us to see vivid scenes of the lives of those ignorant and numb people in that era and under the cruelty of feudal ethics.

01

The book begins with an introduction to the geographical location of the Hulan River and its general appearance in Xiao Hong’s memories. However, Xiao Hong only mentioned these in passing and did not focus on the description. Instead, it added a thick layer of ink to a big mud puddle.

This big mud pit is the spice of life for the residents of the Hulan River. Today, whose livestock drowned, and who fell into it tomorrow, they are always happy to discuss topics like this. Therefore, there are always people gloating about others' misfortunes around the big mud pit. Some are sincerely helping, some are just watching the fun, and some will occasionally give suggestions. "What about tearing down the courtyard walls on both sides and adding a row of trees in the middle of the wall?" After all the talk, no one said that the hole was filled with soil.

Why has no one thought about filling the mud pit? This is the question raised by the adult Xiao Hong when she recalls the things in her childhood. It is also an attack on the ignorance of people of that era.

Following the anecdote about the mud pit, Xiao Hong mentioned Widow Wang who sold bean sprouts. Her only son accidentally drowned, but she seemed to be living peacefully. Occasionally when she remembered it, she would cry loudly on the street or at the temple, but after crying, she would still go back to sell her bean sprouts. She has not forgotten her sorrow, but in the eyes of other villagers, she has become a madwoman.

02

In the following chapters, Xiao Hong continues to write about some of the grand events in the Hulan River, such as dancing the gods, setting off river lanterns, singing Yangko, and Ye Taizi opera, etc. Most of the grand events in Hulan River are inseparable from the theory of ghosts and gods, which highlight the superstition and ignorance of people of that era. Especially the chapter written by Xiao Hong about the reunion of the old Hu family with their wives makes people hate the ignorance of these people, but also deeply sympathize with them, because they eat others, and the feudal ethics eat them.

The reunited daughter-in-law is also the so-called child bride. The child bride of Lao Hu's family was a foreigner. She was said to be fourteen years old when she was brought back. In fact, she was only twelve years old. She deliberately lied about her age because she was taller and was afraid of being laughed at.

In Xiao Hong’s description, the reunion wife was originally a very lively and laughing little girl, with big black eyes blinking. But I don’t know since when, I can no longer see it. On the contrary, every day I could hear the cries of the reunited daughter-in-law coming from Lao Hu's house.

It turned out that her mother-in-law's family thought she was immoral and beat Xiaoyuanyuan's daughter-in-law one after another. The neighbors all thought that she should be beaten, saying that the reunion daughter-in-law was too generous and did not look like a reunion daughter-in-law. He sat upright and walked quickly, showing no shame at all. He really needed to be disciplined.

Slowly, even the crying could no longer be heard. However, various practices of dancing to the gods and exorcising ghosts were heard one after another in Lao Hu's house. Everyone in Lao Hu's family thought she was possessed by a ghost, and the neighbors began to agree. Some even started to offer various folk remedies, saying that they ate whole chicken, that they ate Coptis chinensis mixed with pork, etc. They said this recipe was good for this family, and that recipe was good for that family. They were all talking, and it was really lively. .

The funny thing is that the old Hu family really tried one after another, hoping that one day they could drive away the ghost. Later, various prescriptions failed, and I accidentally heard about a real person who was powerful, so I invited the real person to practice the method. The real person saw the marks on Xiaotuan Yuan's daughter-in-law's feet and asked the reason, and learned that her mother-in-law had branded them alive. Now she starts to make nonsense, about karma, about you all having to be buried with her when she dies, etc.

The people in Lao Hu's family, especially her mother-in-law, were very frightened. No matter how hard they earned the money, they wanted to get rid of this disaster first. The real person took the defrauded money and ran away, but the old Hu family was still looking for various home remedies to exorcise ghosts.

No, this is a folk remedy I heard from somewhere. The reunited daughter-in-law was asked to take off her clothes and take a bath in public, and the hot water was boiling. She struggled and shouted, and more and more people gathered around to watch the excitement, and they were all in high spirits. The screams of the reunited daughter-in-law became smaller and smaller, and everyone thought she was dead. Some people even shed a few tears in sympathy.

When she was woken up by her mother-in-law, the onlookers thought it was over. Some began to yawn and prepare to go home to sleep, but they heard the mother-in-law say that she would have to wash herself three times before she would be healthy again. effect. As a result, everyone became more energetic again, and those who wanted to go home did not return. In this way, Xiaotuan Yuan's daughter-in-law was burned three times and fainted three times. In the end, she could only breathe and lay there half-dead. People around me said that this is going to be better. So Lao Hu's family started to dance again. Little Reunion's daughter-in-law was in a daze for a few days, and finally breathed her last and died.

When I read Xiao Hong’s story about my daughter-in-law’s reunion, the words about “cannibalism” written by Mr. Lu Xun in “Diary of a Madman” kept echoing in my mind. In that era, was it the numb and ignorant people who swallowed up a living life, or the cannibalistic feudal ethics that swallowed up the lives of a group of people.

03

There is another person in this book who impressed me deeply, that is Feng Waizuizi. It can be said that he is the representative of the characters in Xiao Hong's works who fight against this cannibalistic society.

He secretly fell in love with Miss Wang next door, and later got married. Before Miss Wang married Feng Waizuizi, the neighbors from all over the country were full of praise for her, saying that whoever married her would be a blessing to that family. He looks good, works hard, and is a good at building a family.

After she and Feng Waizuizi got married, all the good things she said before seemed to disappear out of thin air. "You can tell at a glance that she is not a good person. She speaks so loudly. How can any girl have such energy?" etc. Waiting for a while, all kinds of scolding and disgusting words about her were rampant. People began to compile various legends about Feng Waizuizi. When they saw a piece of rope beside his bed, they said he was going to hang himself. When they saw him going to the river, they said he was going to drown himself. There were even visitors at his home. Wandering around.

But Feng Waizuizi is still alive and well. After two or three years, his first child was older, and his second child was about to be born. Feng Waizui's Coke broke and he was busy happily every day.

When Xiao Hong recalled the past events of Feng Waizuizi, there was a scene that moved me very much.

Feng Waizuizi saw his wife holding a big basin and stopped him, "What are you doing? Why don't you let me take it?" He looked at his wife holding a bundle. Chai also stopped her, "Can't you let me get it?" Seeing his wife losing weight day by day, he wanted to buy a few more kilograms of eggs to supplement her, but his wife stopped him because he couldn't bear to part with it. But Feng Waizuizi said, "You haven't taken good care of yourself since you gave birth to this child. It doesn't matter if you eat a few more eggs. I can sell a few more kilograms of sticky cakes."

In that patriarchal world, In an era when girls were young, in an era when women were just used to pass on incense, it must have been so difficult for a man to be willing to treat a woman like this.

Unfortunately, Feng Waizuizi's wife died after giving birth to her second child. How many people were gloating about the misfortune, waiting to see the joke, thinking that Feng Waizui would definitely not survive dragging the two children with him, so they all watched with wide eyes. But Feng Waizuizi did not see despair. He still sold rice cakes, still shouldered the responsibility to survive, and then watched his two children grow up day by day, although in the eyes of the world, the children seemed to never grow up. Something big.

My two favorite chapters in the book are Feng Waizuizi and Xiaotuan Yuan’s wife. The book also talks about the second uncle, a representative of old bachelors in feudal society. Of course, it also describes Xiao Hong’s most unforgettable back garden and her grandfather who loves her very much.

Her grandfather loved her without any scruples, taught her to read poetry, told her stories, and played with her. Her favorite place to play is her back garden. Everything in the back garden is free, the flowers bloom when they want, the birds fly away when they want, and the fruits and melons bloom when they want. In her eyes, she can do whatever she wants there, without restraint.

In fact, Xiao Hong’s description of the back garden not only describes the childishness and fun of children, but also from the perspective of our readers or from the perspective of adult Xiao Hong, it is more about freedom. yearning, and the desire for a completely new society. She longs for such freedom, and hopes that the future society will be like this.

It is said that there is a second part of "The Legend of Hulan River", but it is a pity that the talented girl Xiao Hong was unlucky and passed away at the age of only 31 years old. She left behind a series of masterpieces that have been handed down from generation to generation, and also left behind sighs one after another of the world's misery towards her.