How did Wang Xizhi write to the old lady and become Su Dongpo?
Su Dongpo, a great writer in the Northern Song Dynasty, was exiled to Hainan in the fourth year (AD 1097) and spent three years in Changhua Army (now Danzhou City).
It is said that at that time, there was an old widow who had no children or daughters in the ancient city of Zhonghe, relying on a small shop left at home to make a living by selling rice cakes. She is an outstanding cook, and her doughnuts are very delicious. However, due to the remoteness of the shop, the business has been very light, and the old woman can only make a living from it. Just when the old woman was at a loss, he learned that a college student named Su Dongpo had come to Beijing and was willing to help people solve their problems. So he came up with the idea of asking Su Dongpo to write poems for his donuts.
On one occasion, Su Dongpo wandered around the city as usual. When he passed by the old woman's cake shop, the sharp-eyed old woman immediately came forward to hold Su Dongpo and invited him into the store to taste the rice cake he had made.
In the shop, the old woman told Su Dongpo about her experience and requirements while serving Su Dongpo rice cakes. After listening to this, Su Dongpo, a senior gourmet, was deeply impressed by the old woman's cake-making skills, or out of sympathy for her situation, she readily agreed to her request for poetry. After carefully observing and tasting the rice cake, Su Dongpo immediately wrote a wonderful advertising poem in the old woman's shop:
When rubbed by hand, the jade color is even and the oil is light yellow and deep. Sleeping at night in spring knows the weight, crushing a beautiful woman and hugging gold.
In the overall conception, this poem often uses rhetorical devices such as personification and metaphor, and vividly outlines the characteristics of exquisite workmanship, bright color, fragrant smell, crisp and delicious rice cakes. Especially in contrast, the shape of the ring cake is connected with the beauty ring, which writes the unique temperament and charm of the ring cake, which will make people clap their hands and have a big appetite. Although it is difficult for the old woman to understand the meaning of this poem, she understands the importance of this poem to her shop business, and she will accept it respectfully while thanking it. Later, the old lady invited craftsmen to carefully frame the endorsement advertising poems written by Su Dongpo and hang them high in a conspicuous place in the store. Soon, the news that Su Dongpo wrote advertisements for the old woman's rice cakes spread like wildfire, and everyone came here to find out and pay for the old woman's rice cakes. Since then, relying on this advertising poem endorsed by Su Dongpo, the old woman's cake shop has also bid farewell to the bleak business situation and gradually lived a rich life.