Jia Yingchun’s information?
Zhang Ye scanned the crowd and said, “Jia Yingchun is very familiar to everyone. The problem with origins should also be known by everyone. However, I believe anyone who really studies ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ will discover that a few ancient manuscripts, that were passed down, described Jia Yingchun’s origins differently. The information I have here are the records of a few ancient manuscripts. Please take a look.”
She is the second daughter of Sir Jia She by his former wife.
She is the second daughter of Sir Jia She by his wife.
She is the second daughter of Sir Jia Zheng by his former wife.
She is the second daughter of Sir Jia She by his concubine.
She is the second daughter of Sir Jia She, adopted by Sir Jia Zheng as his own.
A few Redologists frowned. Firstly, they did not understand why Zhang Ye provided this information. Secondly, this was another field they were not familiar with. They had indeed seen such things. This included Yan Yu, Teacher Yang, and even Ma Hengyuan knew of it, but as it was more abstruse, Jia Yingchun was considered a side character that was not very important. Hence, there was not much research on her from the world of Redology. Furthermore, as there were too many logical inconsistencies in ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’, there were many errors that were available for them to discover and research on, so why would they discuss the birth origins of a side character who did not matter? Why does this Zhang Ye keep producing things they were not familiar with?
After finishing, Zhang Ye said, “The five ancient manuscripts describe it differently. We all know that every manuscript of the ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ has a validated source. Is this a mistake during the copying process? Clearly not. If the first four manuscripts were copied wrongly due to an error, then the fifth manuscript can’t be a result of erroneous copying, considering that it’s such a long line. That is impossible. The only explanation that results in this confusion is that Cao Xueqin was repeatedly under deliberation. He kept modifying it, because he had not decided on it nor finalized it. This resulted in several completely different manuscripts. I believe this is without a doubt unquestionable!”
Professor Zeng nodded slightly.
Teacher Yang and Ma Hengyuan remained expressionless as they sat there quietly.
Zhang Ye said, “Then with this foundation and knowledge, the questions posed by everyone can be easily solved. Wasn’t Cao Xueqin writing improperly after he fell ill? But the so-called logical errors everyone mentioned are all at the beginning. Was he seriously ill right from the beginning? His brain was in a mess? Hence, this is actually because Cao Xueqin was not done with his editing. He had not fully finalized his manuscript. The problems with Lin Ruhai’s time of death, Qin Keqing’s death from illness and the fifth chapter’s Register, to put it bluntly, are just side issues. It is a result of tweaking the ending of individual characters, as well as some simple text changes!”
Teacher Yang refuted, “Didn’t you say that the 108 chapters of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ was done writing?”
“It was finished, roughly.” Zhang Ye said, “But finishing it doesn’t mean it was finalized. I believe any friend who has written a book will have some experience in this. There are quite a number of authors present, and I happen to be an author as well, so I know very well the things that go on behind the scenes. Let’s not even talk about authoring books. The students present probably have experienced it themselves. When you write your essays or theses, is it finalized once you finish writing?”
The Peking University students all shook their heads.
“No.”
“That’s right, it still needs editing.”
“Yes, we definitely need to read it a few times and modify things again.”
Zhang Ye smiled. “Cao Xueqin was the same too.”
Teacher Yang sneered, “If you want to explain it this way, then the logical errors after chapter 80 can also be explained this way. How then are you proving that it was written by two different people?”
Zhang Ye shook his hand and said, “That’s different. It’s completely different in concept. The logical errors after the eightieth is not something you can explain away by modifying a few words or paragraphs. That involves the entire book’s layout. It involves an error with the core thinking process. We will find it very hard to believe that Cao Xueqin’s original intent of causing the Jia family to be ‘left the landscape desolate and bare’. Yet, he suddenly changed to allow the Jia family to be revived. Grandmother Jia was originally a loving grandmother, but the author suddenly changed her into a heartless family elder. Jia Baoyu was originally ‘for uselessness the world’s prize he might bear; his gracelessness in history has no peer’, but the author suddenly made him want to bring glory to his ancestors. We find it even harder to believe that Cao Xueqin went from a person w