Legendary Story (4) Zhang Baotong 2019.3.13

"Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" is the most famous love story in China, and many people, including Zhang Hatshui, have written this romantic and tragic love story. There are also many stories about "Liang Zhu" in opera, film and television, and music. In particular, the violin concerto "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai" composed by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang is a classic of Chinese music. It can be said that this romantic and legendary love story is a classic representative of traditional Chinese culture.

This story is that there is a woman Zhu Yingtai in Shangyu County, Yuezhou, who likes to read poetry and books, and wants to go out to study, but the woman at that time could not show her face outside, so she and the girl Yinxin disguised themselves as men, went to Yuezhou City to study, and met Liang Shanbo, a scholar from Yinxian County, and a scholar Shijiu who also wanted to go to Yuezhou to study. The two hit it off at first sight, so they married Jin Lan and went to Yuezhou.

During the three years in Yuezhou, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai were inseparable, studying together during the day and sharing the same bed at night. Zhu Yingtai secretly admired Liang Shanbo in his heart, but Liang Shanbo had a straightforward personality, and he never knew that Zhu Yingtai was a girl, let alone her intentions. Once during the Qingming Festival holiday and the two went to Jinghu to play, Zhu Yingtai repeatedly hinted to Liang Shanbo by taking advantage of the scenery, but Liang Shanbo couldn't understand it at all, and even made fun of Zhu Yingtai for comparing himself to a woman, and finally Zhu Yingtai had to directly tell Liang Shanbo, and Liang Shanbo suddenly realized. But this matter was all learned by Ma Wen, who was peeking on the side, and Ma Wen also knew that Zhu Yingtai was originally a woman. Later, the family wrote a letter urging Zhu Yingtai to go home, and before leaving, Zhu Yingtai left a letter to tell Liang Shanbo that "28, 37, 46 is fixed", which means that Liang Shanbo will go to Zhufu to propose marriage ten days later, but Liang Shanbo thought that it was three ten days together, so he went to propose marriage a month later, and when Liang Shanbo arrived at Zhu's house happily, he knew that Ma Wencai had already taken the lead in proposing marriage and had given a dowry. Liang Shanbo had to leave heartbroken, wishing Yingtai to see each other off along the road, and it was difficult to part.

After Liang Shanbo returned home, Acacia was seriously ill and wrote to Zhu Yingtai to ask for some prescriptions that he couldn't find or get, saying that his condition was desperate, and at the same time hoping that Zhu Yingtai could come to visit. Zhu Yingtai wrote back to tell Liang Shanbo that he had no chance in this life, and only hoped that the two could be buried together in Nanshan after their deaths. Later, Liang Shanbo died of illness, and Zhu Yingtai pretended to agree to the marriage of the Ma family, but asked that the welcoming team must pass through Nanshan, and let her get off the sedan chair to worship Liang Shanbo. When Zhu Yingtai went down to worship the tomb, for a while, the wind and rain were terrible, and the tomb of Liang Shanbo was cracked, Zhu Yingtai saw this, jumped into it desperately, and the tomb immediately closed again, and soon, a pair of butterflies flew out of the tomb.

Although the tomb and the butterfly at the end of the story seem a bit mythical and fictional, the whole story still feels natural and believable. But that's just a literary feeling. If you experience it in real life, you may find it incredible. Leaving aside the question of whether parents will allow their daughters to disguise themselves as men and mix with boys to go to school, in terms of men and women living together. Not to mention the daily necessities of going to the toilet, bathing, and changing clothes, that is, women's appearance, voice, demeanor, strength, and physical characteristics are obviously different from men's, and besides, men and women will have a natural sensitivity to opposites attraction to each other. If Liang Shanbo can't distinguish Zhu Yingtai in women's clothes as men in three years, it can only mean that he is too dull and wooden.

I remember when I was four or five years old, I heard my mother tell me the story of Mulan joining the army for my father. I thought what if she went to the bathroom, because men were standing up to urinate, and women had to squat. A person has to go to the toilet many times a day, and he will not be noticed once, and after a long time, he will not be discovered? So, this question has been bothering me. Later, when I grew up and read some books about literature and history, I realized that the story of Hua Mulan who joined the army for her father told by my mother was a literary work, not a real person.

Later, I also read some stories about women dressing up as men, almost all of which were fictional. It is impossible for a person to disguise himself as a man without revealing his habits and physical characteristics. Therefore, when I saw the Yue opera "Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai", I immediately regarded it as a literary work, not a real person.

However, there have been many controversies and arguments about whether Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai really have their own people. It is said that there are nine cemeteries and legends of Liang Zhu in the country, among which the legend of Runan and the legend of Ningbo are completely different. Legend of Runan: In the Jin Dynasty, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai were classmates for 3 years, but they failed to see that Zhu Yingtai was a daughter, and later Zhu Yingtai was promised to marry the Ma family. Before he died, he asked his family to bury himself on the side of the road where the sedan chair passed by, so that he could see Zhu Yingtai get married, and after Zhu Yingtai learned about it, he wore filial piety clothes to get married, and when the sedan chair passed by the tomb of Liang Shanbo, he got off the sedan chair and died in front of the willow tree. Ningbo legend: Liang Shanbo is the county commander of Yinzhou in the Jin Dynasty, is a good and honest official, because he offended the powerful, was mutilated to death, and the common people built a big tomb for him. And Zhu Yingtai was a chivalrous woman from Shangyu in the Ming Dynasty, robbing the rich and helping the poor, and was later killed by the powerful. In order to commemorate them, the local people buried the two together and married a "yin marriage". Archaeological evidence has been found in two separate places for the two legends. In Runan County, there are still Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai tombs, which are listed on both sides of the ancient official road in Mazhuang Township, and the unearthed tomb walls prove that both are Jin Dynasty tombs. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai were not engaged, and it was impossible for the two to be buried together, and this kind of separate tomb was in line with the customs and habits of the time. In Ningbo, there is still a tomb of Liang Zhu and the two people who are buried together.

In fact, whether Liang Zhu really has a person and something is not very important. People know that the story of Liang Zhu is the Chinese nation's yearning and attachment to beautiful love. It is romantic and sad, and that kind of unyielding innocence and beauty will always be our dream.