"The crabapple has no fragrance, the anchovy is prickly, and the Red Mansion is not finished" means: although the crabapple flower is beautiful, it has no fragrance, the anchovy is delicious but has too many bones and is not easy to swallow; the novel "Dream of Red Mansions" is well written. , but it was not finished. It means that everything in life is likely to be unsatisfactory, which means that things in time are rarely perfect.

This is Zhang Ailing's famous quotation in "A Nightmare in Red Mansions":

"Someone said that the 'three major hates' are 'the first is that anchovies are spiny, and the second is that begonias are fragrant. ', I don't remember the third one, maybe because I subconsciously thought it should be 'The Dream of Red Mansions is not over yet.' Didn't it look good later? '...It was only a long time later that I heard that there was a Gao E in the last forty chapters. No wonder..."

Extended information

Begonia has no fragrance, and it's not fragrant. The fish is prickly and the red building is not finished yet. From "A Nightmare in Red Mansions" by Eileen Chang.

Zhang Ailing, a modern Chinese writer, was originally from Tangshan City, Hebei Province, and her original name was Zhang Yong. Born on September 30, 1920 in a declining aristocratic mansion in the West District of the Shanghai Public Concession.

In 1944, Zhang Ailing met Hu Lancheng and dated him. In 1973, Eileen Chang settled in Los Angeles. On September 8, 1995, which coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival, Eileen Chang's landlord found her dead in her apartment on Rochester Avenue in Westwood, California. She died of arteriosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Aged 75, she had been dead for a week when she was found. On September 30, her former friends held a memorial service for her. After the memorial service, her ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Three Hates in Life