Cai Wenji｜A beautiful woman’s voice resonates all over the world, her eternal song will last for 18 beats (Part 2)
Text/Bai Suxin
Cai Wenji｜A beautiful woman’s voice resonates to the end of the world, her eternal song will last for eighteen beats (Part 1)
The years that Cai Wenji stayed in the Xiongnu were at the stage when the Eastern Han Dynasty went from being in name only to completely destroyed. As the saying goes, times make heroes, and Cao Cao was one of the heroes in troubled times who followed the trend of history. He not only changed China's history, but also changed Cai Wenji's destiny in the rest of her life.
01
Cao Cao was not only a famous military strategist, but also a rare writer. Talent is as valuable as gold, and talent is as thirsty as talent. When he learned that Cai Wenji, the beloved daughter of the great writer Cai Yong, was living in the southern Xiongnu, he tried his best to order Dong Si as his envoy to redeem Wenji and return her to the Han Dynasty.
At that time, Wenji had lived peacefully on the desert grassland for twelve years and had given birth to a pair of lively and lovely children. She taught the people here to grow mulberry and spin yarn, and the people here also loved and respected this knowledgeable, intelligent and hard-working Central Plains woman. Sometimes, Wen Ji even has the illusion that this is her home.
When Dong Si came to redeem her according to the imperial edict, Wen Ji was both happy and sad. Fortunately, after living in a foreign country for twelve years, she missed the land where she was raised and her father's unfinished "Book of Han" all the time. Sadly, there is a husband who loves her, children who cannot live without her, and men, women and children who respect her.
The distraught Wenji didn’t know where she should go? In fact, it was not up to her to make the decision on her own. Because this is not her matter alone, it also involves interactions between countries.
Wen Ji feels that life is really a capricious dream, and pain always comes unexpectedly, leaving her at a loss as to what to do. She cannot choose whether to inherit her father's business or break up her husband. She has no choice.
In the end, in pain and reluctance, Wenji followed the envoy back to her hometown in the Central Plains after many years of absence, and composed a song "Wenji Returns" with her own misfortune and tragedy. "Han" beautiful story.
02
On the way back to Han, Wenji was still trapped in the extremely contradictory pain of missing her hometown but not being able to bear the separation of her flesh and blood. During this period, in order to relieve the depression and sorrow in her heart, she composed eighteen verses in a row. Because these poems had the style of Chinese poetry and the music of Hujia, she named it "Eighteen Beats of Hujia".
Dong Si presented "Eighteen Beats of Hujia" to Cao Cao. After reading it, Cao Cao praised it with emotion: "Only with such a sad fate can one write such a good poem. This is her blood and tears."
Indeed, how can a poem written with life be the same as a poem written with pen and ink? This is probably the reason why "Eighteen Pats of Hujia" can be remembered forever.
After Wenji returned to the Han Dynasty, she was placed in the "Songtao Pavilion" by Cao Cao. She treated her with courtesy and began to fulfill her father's last wish and compile the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty".
There is another little episode here. Wenji’s father Cai Yong collected many books and wrote a lot of books during his lifetime. However, due to many years of wandering, most of them have been lost. This makes Xi Cai Cao Cao, who loved literature, felt it was a pity. When Wen Ji found out, she told Cao Cao that in addition to remembering most of the contents of her father's unfinished "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", she could also recite more than 400 chapters completely, and she used the same method when rewriting them. Regular script still uses official script to give casual instructions. It can be seen from this that Wen Ji is indeed full of talents and deserves her name.
Wenji spent all day and night in the Shoto Pavilion, writing books day and night, memorizing Chinese books, and writing biography for Cao Cao. She was so busy that she gradually faded away. Some of the pain of husband and wife separation.
At the same time, because of Dong Si's attentive company, a strange feeling lingered between the two.
It's just that Wenji's identity is really special. Although the two of them like each other, no one can reveal it.
03
No matter how much fate comes, you cannot stop it.
Early that morning, Cao Cao issued an order to arrest Dong Si and punish him for death. The charge was "slandering Wei Gong and misbehaving."
It turns out that Cao Cao has been accustomed to people's compliments for many years. However, Dong Si's biography written for him was not only full of praise, but also contained part of it. The accusation of his fault made Cao Cao very angry. He knew that the historian's biography would have a profound impact on later generations, so in anger, he dismissed Dong Si from his post and held him accountable.
After Wenji heard about it, she was very anxious. First of all, the biography Dong Si wrote for Cao Cao was written as she instructed and was reviewed by her personally, so she felt that Dong Si was actually implicated by her and led her to suffer. Secondly, after a long period of cooperation and contact, the two not only had the same goals but also had the same affection. After this incident, Wenji saw her feelings for Dong Si more clearly. She decided to rescue Dong Si no matter what.
Cao Cao was hosting a banquet for distinguished officials, and suddenly a guard reported: "Cai Wenji is asking for an audience."
Cao Cao had already imprisoned Dong. The matter of the sacrifice was forgotten in his mind. When he heard that Wen Ji asked for an audience, he was so excited that he slapped his thigh and said to everyone in the room: "Today I will introduce to you a female scholar. She has rarely been seen in public before. She has just completed the work left by her father. Cai Wenji, the daughter of Cai Yong who continued to write the "Book of Han".
Everyone was also very excited and wanted to see Wenji's beauty. But when Wen Ji appeared in front of everyone, everyone was surprised. They saw Wen Ji looking haggard, with disheveled hair and bare feet. Even Cao Cao was stunned when she was dressed like this.
Wen Ji kowtowed to Cao Cao and explained sadly: "Sinful people dare not modify their appearance, so they behave like this."
Then, Wenji expressed her feelings to Cao Cao in a clear and sorrowful manner, atoning for Dong Si. All the guests in the hall were moved by it, but Cao Cao was still worried about the comments about respecting objective facts in the biography, so he said to Wen Ji: "The document of condemnation has been sent out, what should I do?" Wen Ji said hurriedly: "You There are thousands of good horses in the stable, and there are countless brave soldiers, why would you begrudge a fast horse to save a dying life?"
Cao Cao was finally punished. Ji was moved and ordered Dong Si to be pardoned and exempted from all charges. After returning home, Wen Ji wrote two poems of sadness and anger, which have become famous poems that have been passed down through the ages.
When Dong Si, who was released from prison, learned that Wenji was running around for his "barefooted disciple", he could no longer restrain his feelings and embraced Wenji. weep. After that, Dong Si became more affectionate and caring towards Wenji, and Wenji became more charming and charming after being nourished by love.
Cao Cao married Wenji to Dong Si because of his adult beauty. At this point, Wenji had the third marriage in her life.
04
Things have changed, and a few years have passed in the blink of an eye.
During the Lantern Festival in the 21st year of Jian'an (AD 216), a full moon rose slowly, and thousands of households were bathed in a green glow, and the festival lights In a row, people took to the streets to watch the lanterns and admire the moon, which was so lively.
On this festive day, only Wenji felt dazed and dreamlike. She knew clearly that it was a kind of sadness that "she misses her loved ones even more during the holidays" It's causing trouble.
The fire-like love burned in her heart. She didn't know when she would be able to meet her relatives far away.
One day in August of this year, Wenji was sorting out her manuscripts. Dong Si walked in excitedly and told Wenji that in order to congratulate Cao Cao on being crowned King of Wei, he specially invited many people around him. Guests from ethnic minorities include guests from the Southern Huns.
Wenji was overjoyed, she was going to meet her children!
As the day when Cao Cao was entrusted with the throne in October was getting closer and closer, Wenji's heart beat harder and harder. Every day she would go out of the city and stand in the wilderness, looking north for a long time.
Finally, at Wei Gong's mansion, Wenji met her grown-up son Gutu and daughter Shuangji.
When the two children ran towards Wenji shouting and knelt in front of her, Wenji could no longer control her emotions. After ten long years of separation, my mother's longing for her and my pain burst out in an instant. This scene made everyone present moved.
However, after the excitement, there was more sadness waiting for her. Gu Tu and Shuang Ji told Wen Ji that their father, King Zuo Xian, and their wet nurse, Si Niang, had both passed away.
Wen Ji was devastated when she heard the news. She once again experienced the heartbreaking pain in her life.
Fortunately, her bumpy fate and tortuous road have cultivated her strong character. No matter how big a blow or misfortune she brings, she can withstand and survive. bear. She put all her energy into her children.
05
Wen Ji tried her best to educate her children, but she found that growing up in the desert grassland The two children cannot get used to the life of Han people no matter what, let alone those difficult Han characters. They were like tethered little wild horses, extremely irritable.
Wen Ji was distressed by this situation. After many days of hard thinking, she came up with a bold idea, which was to live in seclusion. She wanted to take the whole family away so that the two children could read quietly, which was how she learned it when she was a child.
However, living in seclusion is difficult, and whether you can live in seclusion depends on the support of your husband Dong Si. So one day, Wenji confessed her thoughts to Dong Si.
Dong Si was a reasonable person. He couldn't bear to see Wenji, who had suffered all her life, get upset over the education of her two children. Besides, he was not the kind of corrupt official. People who love Jue also yearn for the life of "an old husband and wife, a pair of children, enjoying a family life", so they readily agreed.
On that day, the two of them went to the Wei Palace to bid farewell to Cao Cao. Cao Cao had always treated Wen Ji kindly and kindly, but he was very surprised when he heard that Wen Ji was leaving. But seeing that Wenji had decided to leave, she no longer stopped her and held a banquet for the two of them.
Wen Ji and Dong Si took off their official robes and formal clothes, put on short jackets, dressed like an ordinary peasant couple, brought a pair of children with them, and disappeared since then .
Wenji is gone, but there are more legends about her.
Cai Wenji, like the brightest star in the sky, will always shine in the night sky of history!
Day 25 of Wujie 365 Extreme Challenge Camp