Zhang Ailing said that she has "three hates" in her life: "First, I hate that begonias are not fragrant, second, I hate that shad are prickly, and third, I hate that the Dream of Red Mansions is not completed." For people who love "Dream of Red Mansions", the most distressing thing is that there is no trace of Cao Xueqin's eighty-w88 mobile anecdotes. What is also unacceptable is that in order to pursue the "completeness" of the storyline, the Tongxing version forcibly combines Cao Gong's original draft and Cheng Gao's continuation (although there is controversy, this article will temporarily identify the continuators as Gao E and Cheng Weiyuan). The current version is the popular version of books on the market today. There are 120 chapters in the popular version of "Dream of Red Mansions". Generally, the Jiaxu version (copied in the 19th year of Qianlong's reign) or the Gengchen version (copied in the 25th year of Qianlong's reign) is used as the manuscript for the first 80 chapters, and the last 40 chapters are mostly from the Cheng A and Cheng Yi versions. The 120 chapters of the popular version do ensure the continuity of reading for most readers (after all, few people are willing to read an incomplete book without an ending), but it also creates an illusion for readers - "A Dream of Red Mansions" was co-authored by Cao Xueqin, Gao E, and Cheng Weiyuan! Examples show that in the past century, a considerable number of people cannot tell the difference between the 80 chapters of the original work and the 40 chapters of the pseudo-continuation. They publicly praise it as "perfect"; some also say that it is generally "the same", but some details may be inferior, and so on. In recent years, there have been more controversies. A young scholar, Chen Lin, claimed that the 120 Chapters are a "whole" and even overturned the "continuation theory"; Mr. Zhang Fuchang, the author of the book "A Dream of Red Mansions", simply affirmed the artistry of Cheng Gaoben and questioned the authenticity of Zhi Yanzhai's comments. There are so many, too many to mention.

Maybe who is the author of "A Dream of Red Mansions" and which version is more valuable are not so important. However, arranging the first eighty chapters and the last forty chapters into a whole, this approach undoubtedly reduced the artistic level of the original work to a great extent. When Zhang Ailing first read "A Dream of Red Mansions", she bluntly said that the manuscript after the eighty chapters was "dark and tasteless." Like Zhang Ailing at the beginning, many readers have similar feelings. They rely on intuition and instinctively feel that something is "off" in the last forty chapters. However, readers often cannot tell why there is something "off" in the continuation.

To tell what exactly is “off” in the last forty chapters of the general version, we cannot rely entirely on intuition. The author's literary knowledge is shallow and I cannot quote from other sources. However, in the process of reading the last forty chapters of the popular version of "Dream of Red Mansions", I discovered a series of flaws. These ridiculous omissions may be contrary to common sense and habits in the book, or they may be inconsistent with the previous eighty chapters. These flaws can clearly prove that the first eighty chapters and the last forty chapters do not belong to the same system, and the last forty chapters are obviously inferior to the previous ones in terms of artistic level.

The author takes the second edition of "Dream of Red Mansions" published by People's Literature Publishing House in 1996 as an example of a popular version, hereafter referred to as "human version".

一、 The windows of Xiaoxiang Pavilion are papered?

In the 82nd w88 mobile of the human text, "The Old Scholar Discussing the Stubbornness of the Vigilante and the Sick Xiaoxiang's Mad Soul Frightens the Nightmare", it is said that Lin Daiyu had a nightmare while sleeping. After waking up, she fell asleep again but could not fall asleep. There is a description on page 1162: "(Lin Daiyu) was about to fall asleep when she heard the chirping of countless birds on the bamboo branches. The paper on the window, through the drawer, gradually let in clear light. "The dialogue between Daiyu and Zicuckoo is written below on the same page: "Zicuckoo said: 'Girl, are you not asleep yet? Coughing again. I think it’s windy, and now the window paper is clear, and it’s time to light up...’” Both these paragraphs explain that the windows of Xiaoxiang Pavilion are covered with window paper, and something is obviously wrong here. In There is a long paragraph in w88 mobile 40 of "Shi Taijun's Two Banquets at the Grand View Garden with Golden Mandarin Ducks and Three Announcements of Teeth". Jia's mother took Old Liu (the same grandmother) and everyone to the Xiaoxiang Pavilion as a guest, and saw that the gauze on the window was old. , talked for a while, and finally brought the precious "soft smoke" and used the silver-red "Xia Ying gauze" to cover the windows for Daiyu. In addition, the first half of the seventy-nine chapters "Xue Wenlong regrets marrying Hedong Jia Yingchun and mistakenly marries Zhongshan Lang" talks about Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu revising the "Furong Daughter's Elegy" together, writing: "Daiyu smiled and said: 'We are all wearing Xia Ying gauze on the windows now, why not say. What about "Under Qian's screen window, the young master is passionate"? '" It can be seen that the windows of the houses in the Grand View Garden, including the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, are all made of precious gauze, not "window paper"! In the old days, only the poor used paper to paper their windows. Sometimes, when describing a poor family, they said: "They are so poor that they can't even paper their windows, so they have to drink the northwest wind. "Therefore, the papering on the windows of the Xiaoxiang Pavilion is completely inconsistent with the situation of the Jia family. It is probably because the successor is not from a wealthy family and has not experienced the style of everyone, so he made nonsense.

二、 Jia Yuanchun entrusted a dream to Jia Mu?

The Eighty-Sixth w88 mobile of the Human Text "An Old Official Who Accepted Private Bribes Reversing the Case" In the book "The Lady of Leisure Love and Interpretation of the Qin", page 1210 reads: "Aunt Xue said: "(Concubine Yuan) was ill once last year, and she was fine. This time I didn't hear that the empress was ill. I only heard that the old lady in the mansion was not very useful in the first few days. When she closed her eyes and saw Concubine Yuan, everyone was worried. Until I heard, nothing happened. On the night of Da Qian'er, the old lady said it herself. "Why did Concubine Yuan come to me alone?" Everyone said it was because she was sick, but they still didn't believe it. The old lady said again: "You don't believe it, but Concubine Yuan also told me: "Glory is easy to end, and we need to step back and get out." " Not to mention how Jia's mother should call Jia Yuanchun, this plot gives the author the feeling that it was forced in by the successor to echo Jia Yuanchun's song "Hate the Impermanence". Not only does it not make sense logically, it is also completely different from the meaning of "Hate the Impermanence". Let’s take a look at what is written in "Hate the Impermanence": "Happiness and prosperity are just in time, but hatred for the impermanence has come again. With eyes wide open, I throw everything away; wandering around, my soul is wasted. Looking at my hometown, the road is far away and the mountains are high, so I tell my parents in my dream: My son's life has entered the underworld. Family relations, we need to step back and get out early!" The last sentence emphasizes two points: first, the object of Jia Yuanchun's dream is his "father and mother", not Shi Taijun as his grandmother; secondly, the time of Jia Yuanchun's dream should be when Jia Yuanchun is about to die. Therefore, the descriptions in the last forty chapters of the popular version are extremely far-fetched and blunt, and there is no clear explanation of the lyrics and songs.

3. "Shuiyue Temple" and "Mantou Temple"

The ninety-third w88 mobile, "The Servant of the Zhen Family Joined the Jia Family and the Shuiyue Nunnery overturned the Fengyue Case." The general content of the story is that Jia Qin was fooling around with the nuns in Shuiyue Nuan, and the news spread outside. Ping'er told Wang Xifeng about the incident, and wrote on page 1294: "Ping'er agreed casually, but accidentally said by mistake: 'It doesn't matter, it's about Mantou'an.' Sister Feng had a guilty conscience, and she was stunned when she heard about the matter of Mantou'an. He couldn't say a word, he was so angry that he felt dizzy, coughed for a while, and spat out a mouthful of blood. Ping'er panicked and said, "It's just a matter of a female novice and Taoist priest in Shuiyue Temple, why is grandma worried?" Sister Feng heard that it was Shui. Yue'an finally calmed down and said, "Hey, you are confused, is it Shuiyue'an or Mantou'an?" Ping'er laughed and said, "I mistakenly heard that it was Mantou'an, but later I heard that it was not Mantou'an, but Shuiyue'an." , it’s called Mantou Temple. ’ Sister Feng said: ‘I knew it was Shuiyue Temple, so what does Steamed Bun Temple have to do with me...’” With such a long paragraph, the follower probably wanted to express Sister Feng’s guilty conscience, but she made a low-level mistake here. In w88 mobile 15 of "Sister Wang Feng takes control of Tiekkan Temple and Qin Jingqing gets Qu Mantou Temple", it is clearly explained: "It turns out that this steamed bun temple is Shuiyue Temple. Because the steamed buns made in his temple are good, it got this nickname. It is not far from Tiekan Temple." In addition, Zhipi can also prove this point. w88 mobile 7 "Sending Palace Flowers, Jia Lian Playing at Xifeng Banquet, Ning Mansion Baoyu Meeting Qin Zhong" writes: "Xichun was joking with the sister-in-law Zhongzhi'er of Shuiyue Temple. Seeing Zhou Rui's family come in, Xichun asked him what was going on." There is a comment here saying: "It is Mantou Temple." Therefore, Shuiyue Temple is Mantou Temple, which is obvious. If w88 mobile Ninety-three was Cao Xueqin’s original work, how could he make such an obvious mistake?

4. Snow Goose’s age

The ninety-seventh w88 mobile "Lin Daiyu burns the manuscript to end her infatuation and Xue Baochai comes out of the boudoir as a gift" has been praised by many readers, who think that it "writes sadness with happy scenes" and is deeply touching. However, not to mention whether the language style is consistent with the original work and whether the explanation of Lin Daiyu's ending is reasonable, this time a detail reveals the sequel's lack of understanding of the characters and time in the novel. On page 1343 of the human text, it reads: “As he spoke, Ping’er called Xue Yan out. It turns out that Xueyan has become cold-hearted because she thinks his little kid doesn't know much these days. Besides, he didn't dare not go when he heard it was the old lady and the second mistress, so he quickly cleaned up his head. Ping'er asked him to change into fresh clothes and follow the Lin family. "Note that Xueyan is described here as a "child's family" who "doesn't know anything". However, back to the third w88 mobile of Daiyu's entry into Jia's house, "Jia Yucun Yuan Yuan resumes her old job and Lin Daiyu abandons her father and goes to Kyoto" there is a passage: "Daiyu only brought two people with her: one is the nanny Wang who has been nursed since childhood, and the other is a ten-year-old girl who has been with her since childhood, named Xueyan." Jia's mother saw that Xueyan was very young and looked like a child...". According to the original text of "A Dream of Red Mansions", it is inferred that Lin Daiyu was only six or seventy-eight years old when she entered Jia's house, and here it is clearly stated that Xueyan's age is "ten years old." Based on Zhou Ruchang and other red scholars' " 红楼梦>Chronology", from the time Daiyu entered the mansion to the eightieth w88 mobile, seven or eight years passed. In other words, Xueyan was already a "big girl" who was at least seventeen or eighteen years old when she was in the 80th w88 mobile. How could she still be a "little kid" who doesn't "know anything" after the 80th w88 mobile? Could it be that Xue Yan has stopped growing in these seven or eight years, and is he still as ignorant as he was before entering Jia's house?

5. "Yellow Turban Warriors" appear in "Taixu Illusion"?

w88 mobile 116 of "Getting to the Psychic Illusion to Understand the Fate of Immortality and Sending a Coffin to the Hometown of Full Filial Piety" contains a ridiculous description of Jia Baoyu's dream, narrating that Jia Baoyu's soul left the body and revisited the illusion of Taixu. There is this text on page 1545 of the human text: "The fairy said: 'Nonsense. This place is the place of the goddess in the upper world. Although she is called the concubine of Xiaoxiang, she is not a daughter of Emperor E, so how can she be related to a mortal. Don't come here and talk nonsense. I'll ask a strong man to beat you out.'" The following is also true. He wrote: "(Baoyu) saw several yellow scarf warriors coming with whips, saying, 'Where men dare to intrude into our heavenly blessed land, get out quickly!' Baoyu heard this and did not dare to speak." It is better to go back to the first eighty chapters and see what the "Taixu Illusion" is like. w88 mobile 5 of "Wandering in the Fantasy Land, Enchanting the Twelve Hairpins, Drinking Immortal Brew and Performing the Dream of Red Mansions" describes it this way: "When (all the fairies) saw Baoyu, they all complained about Jinghuan and said: 'We don't know who the 'distinguished guests' are, so they hurriedly took it out! My sister once said that there must be crimson pearls today. The soul of the girl came to play, so I have been waiting for a long time. Why did I introduce this dirty thing to pollute this pure daughter's realm?" From this point of view, "Taixu Illusion" is a "pure daughter's realm", and even the refined Jia Baoyu is denounced as "turbidity" there. The "yellow scarf warrior" specifically refers to "a kind of immortal official in Taoist legend who protects the law and subdues demons and has infinite power. He usually takes orders from a higher-level divine general." Since the "Taixu Illusion" is the "Pure Daughter's Realm", what is the use of the "Yellow Turban Hercules"? In fact, the words "yellow scarf warriors" do not appear in the first eighty chapters. This is obviously a poor imitation by Gao E in order to match the previous chapters. The fairies are wrongly portrayed as fierce guardians who dispatch troops and generals. In the fifth w88 mobile, Jia Baoyu sleepwalks in the Taixu Realm, which is full of romantic poetry and sees love vividly; but this second time he sleepwalks in the Taixu Realm, he sees ghosts all the time, but it tastes the same; the awakening of the dreamland for the first time is due to the strong romance with the fairy, and he falls into the endless love demon. At the bottom of the cave, he shouted "Save me!" It was "love" that saved Baoyu; in the sequel, the awakening of sleepwalking was "several yellow scarf warriors came with whips", women who turned into ghosts also rushed towards him, and finally it was Yuan Fei who saved him, which is not artistic at all.

6. Parrot, Rhododendron, Pearl and Attacker

The third w88 mobile of "Dream of Red Mansions", when Lin Daiyu first arrived in Rong Mansion, Jia Mu saw that the nurse she was accompanying was "extremely old" and her maid Xue Yan was "very young" and "childish", so she gave one of her maids, named Yingge, to Daiyu. Zicuckoo appears in the eighth w88 mobile. Although the parrot is not told to change its name to Zicuckoo, it is not told that Daiyu's personal maid changes her family. The parrot does not appear again in the first eighty chapters. It can be seen from this that the rhododendron and the parrot should be the same person. The reason should be similar to the change of Pearl's name to Xiren - the third w88 mobile explains: "It turned out that Xiren was also Jia Mu's maid, whose real name was Zhenzhu. Because Jia Mu doted on Baoyu, she was afraid that Baoyu's maid would never do her best to be a loyal person. She always liked Xiren's pure heart and fulfilled her duties, so she married Baoyu. Baoyu knew that his real surname was Hua, and he had seen the sentence "flower energy attacks people" in an old poem, so he returned to Ming Jia Mu and changed his name to Xiren." Therefore, Zicuckoo is the original parrot, and Xiren is the original pearl. However, the sequel didn't seem to notice this, and after the 80th w88 mobile, Parrot, Rhododendron, Pearl, and Xiren appeared at the same time several times. For example, in the ninety-seventh w88 mobile of "Lin Daiyu burned the manuscript to end her infatuated love and Xue Baochai came out of the boudoir to make a grand ceremony", there is a text on page 1339 of the human text: "Zicuckoo quickly called Xueyan to come up and help Daiyu down, her heart was beating wildly. When she wanted to call someone, it was late; when she wanted to call someone, she, Xueyan, Yingge and other little girls, were afraid of what might happen. "That's why." w88 mobile 100 of "Broken Good Ling Jie Deeply Hateful and Sad to Marry Baoyu and Feeling Departed" (Human Texts, p. 1375) writes: "Yingge and other little girls are still serving the old lady." Since Yingge was originally recommended to Daiyu by Jia Mu's side, there is no reason why she should not be taken seriously as a "little girl" even if she does not change her name to Zicuckoo. w88 mobile 111 "Yuanyang female martyrdom ascends to Taixu, dog and pig slaves deceive heaven and recruit gangs of thieves" writes that Yuanyang was found after hanging himself, "(Amber) met Pearl at the beginning and said: 'Have you seen Sister Yuanyang here?' Pearl said: 'I'm looking for him too, the ladies are waiting for him to talk. He must be there. Just fell asleep in the suite. ’…” The next paragraph added: “Only Baoyu’s eyes stood up when he heard this letter. Xiren and others hurriedly supported him and said, ‘If you want to cry, don’t hold your breath.’…” It was obvious that Xiren was “incarnate” in this scene.

The above are the flaws that the author has found in the last forty chapters of the general version. They are for reference and I look forward to your advice.