The mortal Su Dongpo I got to know from "The Biography of Su Dongpo"

Qi Fan Qi Micro Class

Text | No. 3 Lao Niu

I have been reading Lin Yutang's "The Biography of Su Dongpo" recently, and I have a new understanding of Su Dongpo.

The Su Dongpo I know is from "Shui Tiao Ge Tou: When Will the Bright Moon Come", "Night Tour at Chengtian Temple" and "Red Cliff Ode". He gave me the impression of being very detached, as if he was not doing anything. To him, he could just laugh it off. The worldly things meant nothing to him.

He is a god-like existence.

After reading "The Biography of Su Dongpo", I found that Su Dongpo was just a mortal.

He is like an ordinary big brother around us. He has a bit of a temper and a poor drinking capacity. He likes to make his own wine and has human emotions.

To talk about Su Dongpo, we must first talk about his grandfather.

The book doesn’t mention much about Su Dongpo’s grandfather. It only says that his grandfather was sixty-three years old when Su Dongpo was born.

He was tall, handsome, physically strong, a big drinker, generous and generous.

My grandfather was not a scholar. He could not read a single Chinese character. He was free and easy-going, just like the laughing old man next door.

When Su Dongpo’s uncle passed the exam, his grandfather was drunk. Unlike other families with candidates, they prepare for the exam early.

Look, his behavior is so different.

He usually hoards millet, but does not hoard rice. People are very surprised.

When there was a famine, he would open warehouses to release grain.

At this time, people knew that millet could be stored for a long time, unlike rice, which would rot due to moisture.

My grandfather was very innocent and open-minded. Perhaps these were more or less infected by Su Dongpo.

Although Su Dongpo's grandfather did not read books, he later also had an official position.

Because his son had an official position, he was "conferred the title of 'Dali Judge'".

Maybe it’s because his son has an official position, but he is still a peasant who cannot read a word, which is a bit unreasonable.

I think this old gentleman may not care about whether he has an official position, as long as he has wine to drink.

If he had been born in modern society, Su Dongpo might have become what many parents call "other people's children."

He was naturally intelligent. He entered school at the age of six and was highly praised by his teachers. At the age of ten, he could already write many beautiful sentences.

Even though he is very talented, he is also very diligent.

At that time, students had to recite classics and ancient books. Su Dongpo was not only content with reciting, he would also copy the articles.

After copying, he was not only able to recite the article, but it also helped him understand the article.

During the exam, he fabricated a conversation and actually fooled the examiner.

We all know Su Dongpo's talent, and we also know that he is free and easy. The other side of being free and easy is that he doesn't care about the world.

He is outspoken and often speaks without restraint.

There is one thing that I think is very interesting.

During Su Dongpo's tenure in Fengxiang, the governor there was surnamed Chen. He had a relatively upright style and upright personality.

Su Dongpo was a bit unruly. Chen Taishou seemed to regard Su Dongpo as a young man who was proud of his talents and could not stand him.

When two people like this get along, it's like two rocks bumping together.

Prefect Chen sometimes revised Su Dongpo's articles, which he didn't like very much.

Why don't you like it? Imagine that if you think your article is well written, but someone you don't like comes to revise it for you, would you be happy?

Isn’t it like a arrogant student meeting a strict teacher?

Here Su Dongpo showed a little temper and a little childishness. Don’t you dislike me? I just want to write something to make you unhappy.

Later, Governor Chen built a high platform and named it "Lingxu". He asked Su Dongpo to write an account, and Su Dongpo readily agreed.

But he didn't write well. He mocked Governor Chen in his article. This article was "The Story of Lingxutai".

However, I don’t know whether Taishou Chen didn’t see Su Dongpo’s intention or didn’t care at all. He asked someone to record this record.

When Su Dongpo left Chen Taishou and grew older, he wrote an epitaph for Chen Taishou to express his respect for Chen Taishou.

Su Dongpo was often arrogant and had to speak out quickly if he felt something was wrong.

He can say whatever he wants and do whatever comes to his mind.

Although Su Che is the younger brother, he has different personalities from Su Dongpo. He seems to be more mature than Su Dongpo, and his official position is also higher than that of Su Dongpo.

Su Dongpo has a straightforward personality and a free and easy nature, and it is difficult to see clearly the shortcomings of others. Su Che told Su Dongpo that before speaking, you should distinguish the person you are talking to. Some people are trustworthy and some are not.

The two brothers "comfort each other when they are sad and support each other in times of trouble." The two often write poems to respond. When they get together, the two will go boating together, just like ordinary brothers around us get together and chat. , talking about family, country and world.

Su Dongpo held an official position outside and just wanted to be closer to Su Che. In the last moments of his life, he also wanted to see Su Che.

However, as luck would have it, he still failed to see Su Che for the last time.

Su Dongpo had three wives in his life. The first wife Wang Fu, the second wife Wang Runzhi, was Wang Fu's cousin, and the third Chaoyun was the concubine bought by Wang Runzhi.

When Su Dongpo was young, he was simple and unguarded against others. When it comes to getting along with others, he not only relies on Su Che's reminders, but also often relies on Wang Fu's reminders.

Wang Fu was smart and capable. When they got married, Su Dongpo was still very young, and she was also young, but she was wiser and more rational than Su Dongpo in looking at people and things.

She was only twenty-six years old when she died, leaving behind a six-year-old son.

Wang Runzhi accompanied Su Dongpo for the longest time. Her talents and learning are not as good as those of Wang Fu, and the distance between her and Su Dongpo is relatively large. However, this does not hinder her feelings for Su Dongpo.

During the most difficult period of Su Dongpo’s life, Wang Runzhi was always by his side.

Chaoyun was very young when she came to the Su family. She was Su Dongpo's spiritual companion. When Su Dongpo was demoted to Huizhou, it was Chaoyun who stayed with him, taking care of his life and giving him support.

Su Dongpo wrote memorial tributes to all three wives. After their deaths, he never forgot them in his heart.

Lin Yutang also mentioned a cousin of Su Dongpo.

He said that because they had the same surname, they could not marry, but Su Dongpo always missed her.

The cousin is his first love, and he will never forget it in his life. Of course, these are the conclusions drawn by the author Lin Yutang based on Su Dongpo's related works.

Lin Yutang said that Su Dongpo lived in his cousin's house for a while. Although he wrote many poems, he never mentioned his cousin's husband. He also wrote two poems to his cousin, lamenting that he had not grasped youth.

When Dang learned about the death of his cousin, he was very sad. When he returned from exile, he passed by his cousin's grave. Although he was in poor health, he still went to pay homage at the grave.

Life is always inseparable from eating and drinking, and Su Dongpo is naturally not immune to this.

Su Dongpo spent a lot of time thinking about eating.

The Dongpo pork elbow and Dongpo pork we know now should have undergone many improvements.

According to Lin Yutang's "The Biography of Su Dongpo", when Su Dongpo stews pork, he first boils the meat in water, then simmers it for several hours and adds soy sauce.

Of course, I don’t know if this is how Dongpo pork is made, but it seems that this method retains the original flavor of the pork without any messy seasonings.

The "Biography of Su Dongpo" also contains Su Dongpo's method of making carp.

When he cooks carp, he first washes the fish, sprinkles it with salt, stuffs cabbage hearts into its belly, then adds scallions and fry it in a pan. Fry until half-cooked, then add ginger slices, salted radish juice and wine. When taking it out of the pan, add a few slices of orange peel.

Su Dongpo also has a very simple meal recipe, which is to make vegetable soup.

He uses a two-layer pot, and puts cabbage, radish, mustard greens, and ginger in the lower layer. This is soup. Steam the rice on the top layer, so that both rice and soup can be prepared in one pot.

Su Dongpo actually did not like drinking much, although wine often appeared in his poems. His drinking capacity is not that good either, far behind his grandfather.

Although he is not good at drinking, he likes to make his own wine.

During his exile in Lingnan, he tasted a lot of fine wines.

Every family here has its own wine. Su Dongpo drank a kind of cinnamon wine and liked it very much, so he tried to brew cinnamon wine himself.

Su Dongpo’s winemaking is not about the results, but about the process. He is happy when making wine, but it is unknown how good the wine is.

This kind of Su Dongpo’s wine has a touch of human fireworks, and he is just a mortal.

The 19th article of Qi Fanqi’s fifth 28-day special writing training camp, 2608 words, totaling 35245 words.