This novel written by Mr. Mao Dun, Midnight, has deep thoughts. Many stories in "Midnight" can't be understood by reading just one or two paragraphs.

For example, at the beginning of the novel, people can appreciate the bustling scenes of men and women on the Waibaidu Bridge, the Bund and the main road. As soon as they arrived at the Wu Mansion with deep courtyard, he sent Mr. Wu away.

The departure of Mr. Wu suddenly threw the whole situation into chaos, and the whole Wu residence was in a state of chaos. As a result, the readers are also busy, but after a long time, they don't even know the name, name and year of death of this old man Wu. What a thing!

About this old man Wu, the most confessed paragraph in the novel is only three or four hundred words:

"Thirty years ago, Mr. Wu was still the' Reform Party'. Zuruo's father was an assistant minister for two generations, and the royal grace was not thick. However, at that time, Grandfather Wu was full of "revolutionary" ideas. At that time, the conflict between father and son was widespread, and the young Mr. Wu was also a protagonist. If it hadn't been for the leg injury caused by martial arts riding 25 years ago, which unfortunately gradually became a hemiplegia, and even more unfortunately, it was followed by mourning, then perhaps Mr. Wu wouldn't be holding the "Too Sensation" all day now? However, since he injured his leg, the heroic spirit of Mr. Wu seems to have been completely lost; For twenty-five years, he hasn't stepped out of his study! In the past twenty-five years, he has never read any books and newspapers except "Tai Shang Induction"! For twenty-five years, he has never experienced life outside his study! The second generation of "conflict between father and son" happened irretrievably between himself and Sun Fu. And if the assistant minister of the previous generation is eccentric and stubborn, then Mr. Wu is not weaker than Nai Weng; His study is his fortress, and "Induction on the Tai Shang" is his magic weapon to protect himself. He resolutely refused to compromise with his son for ten years! 」

After reading these 300-400 words, what exactly was the death of Mr. Wu? Does anyone know? It seems that God only knows.

I once read "Midnight" when I was studying. It was still in middle school, so I naturally read it very hard. But that was a century ago, and I read it several times later. It can be said that I am a little sleepy, but where the problem is, it is still not clear. The purpose of this reading is to systematically sort out the Shanghai beach written by modern literati, and then I suddenly realized it. It turned out to be a thoughtful author, just to explain a truth: "If you want others to know, you must do it yourself", and put a game in the novel.

"Hastily into a book, not to dwell on it. "For the novel" Midnight ",the author said so in the postscript in 1932, which is really a kind word.

Later, probably because of the comments on this fait accompli novel-Midnight at that time, the social criticism contained in social realism itself was tendentiously stripped of the limitations of the creation age to comment, and even because of the realism of some plots, individual comments tended to be erotic onlookers. Therefore, for the delicate realism of Midnight, the author's mind and layout have been gradually diluted, and even the author himself does not want to talk about it. Indeed, in that era, since the ideological realm of the work has been ethicized by man-made intentions. Then, just don't talk about the basic details of the author's words. It is sometimes the preference of some literary critics to praise works tall or push them down to vulgarity.

In fact, around the question of how old Mr. Wu died, we can carefully scrutinize it. Because we have not only studied Chinese, but also studied mathematics. We should believe that Midnight is a well-thought-out work, and the social reality that the author wants to reveal is carefully scrutinized before conceiving the layout.

Indeed, Mr. Wu left a mess of problems. However, there are still several activities of Mr. Wu's children on the big stage of the story, so we can sort them out carefully in order to ask the truth.

The age of Mr. Wu is not clear, but we can still read the age of his children. In Midnight, the names of the second young lady Wu Fufang, the third young master Wu Sunfu, the fourth young lady Wu Huifang and the seventh young master Wu Xuanfu-the seventh young master A Xuan should be unmistakable, which can be inferred not only from the names of his second and fourth sisters, but also from the names of his third sister-in-law, Mrs. Wu Shaofu Lin Peiyao, and her younger sister Lin Peishan. If the third brother touches Wu Sunfu, then he naturally touches Wu Xuanfu, China. -The ages of these four people are clearly recorded in writing:

Wu Fufang, the second young lady, is about 412 years old-"At this time, the third master's car has already passed, and the second car has filled the gap. A man and a woman got out of the carriage and came in. The man is a short stature, slightly fat, with a pleasant white face. The woman is much taller and has a square face, which is somewhat similar to the third master, but quite white and tender. Both of them are over forty years old, but because of the fashionable decoration, women seem to be around thirty at most. 」

Wu Sunfu, the third young master, is about forty years old-"Is the Yunfei ship coming soon? "Purple sauce face proudly asked, loud and clear voice. He is about forty years old, burly and dignified, and he is a "tycoon" who is used to bossing around at a glance. 」

Huei-fang Wu Huifang is about twenty years old-"What she still remembers very clearly is how white her teeth were when she saw a smiling monkey in the incense market of the Land Temple five or six years ago! But this is also her last happy commemoration. Since then, because she has developed like a "woman" at the age of fourteen, Grandfather Wu forbade her to go to a mixed place like Xiangshi. 」

Wu Xuanfu, the seventh young master, is as troublesome as he is, probably between the ages of seventeen and nineteen, let's say nineteen-"Although the seventh young master is nineteen this year, although he is extremely beautiful, he is somewhat stupid because he has always been the" golden boy "of Mr. Wu. "Later he said he was seventeen or eighteen." Don't go! What darts don't dart! Lost it! Throw it in the pool! Children of seventeen or eighteen are still doing these worthless things! It's all because the old man spoiled you too much when he was alive! It seems that stupidity is also a silly person. However, the author here wants to be angry with Wu Sunfu to explain a problem. At present, it may not be time for the truth to come out, so let's press the table for the time being.

However, after reading this, you can already know that Mr. Wu had seven children, and those who did not appear until he left: the eldest brother, the fifth son and the sixth son, should not appear again. Wu Sun-fu sent a telegram to his uncle Zeng Canghai in Shuangqiao town, but he didn't give any other instructions. Then, the absence of the eldest brother, the fifth brother and the sixth brother should have nothing to do with studying abroad, getting married and even going to Huangpu Military Academy for further study. At that time, medicine was not very developed, but it was an unchangeable rule to rank the first children in the family in order, and keeping a birthright was also an idea of being an elder.

In this way, we know that the first two children of the Wu family are relatively close in age, with a difference of one or two years; the second two children are also relatively close in age, with a difference of one or two years. However, there is a big gap between the ages of the first two and the last two-there is a full gap of twenty years between them. What about that?

Twenty-five years ago, Grandfather Wu developed from "martial arts riding and injured his leg" to "hemiplegia", which was a painful stage in his life. Reading this, we can see that Wu Fufang and Wu Sunfu were born before this, while Wu Huifang and Wu Xuanfu were born after this. After reading this, the confusion may be getting bigger and bigger.

As a last resort, let's ask Zhang Ailing, who was familiar with the secular society of that era.

In 1944, Zhang Ailing wrote a novel-"Flowers Fade", which contained such a passage:

"There are many children and a heavy burden. Mr. Zheng often gets a lot of debts and his wife is full of worries. However, Mr. Zheng is a person with some celebrities, and he is open-minded. When he has money, he gives birth outside and at home when he has no money. When there is no money, most of them are, so the children and girls at home are so excited that they are born with the same pain. 」

Do you see that Mr. Wu and Mr. Zheng have the same accent? Moreover, in comparison, Mr. Wu is even more powerful, lame or even paraplegic, and he has to enjoy it in 4567, which is really amazing! No wonder he especially dotes on Huei-fang Wu Huifang and the Seventh Young Master Wu Xuanfu. It takes a lot of effort and hard work to get them.

This Zhang Ailing is Zhang Ailing after all. The difficult problem of reading Midnight was immediately solved by her pen.

However, Mr. Mao Dun's mind was so deep that a code was cracked, and he immediately put another question in front of the readers. Since the age difference between the old two and the old four and the old seven is about twenty years old, what is he doing in these twenty years? Because, for at least fifteen years in these twenty years, Mr. Wu was still extremely energetic. It should be read that Mr. Wu broke his string. The eldest brother, the second child and the third child were born to Zeng Canghai's eldest sister. Zeng Canghai called Mr. Wu his elder sister's husband. So who is the second wife who gave birth to the old four, the old five, the old six and the old seven after twenty years? I remember when Huei-fang Wu Huifang was clamoring to leave Shanghai, Wu Sunfu asked her where she was going to live in the countryside of Shuangqiao Town. Wu Huifang first replied, "It's easy to live at home! Later, he said, "Well, it's easy for Fourth Aunt to live at home! 」

Fourth aunt? People can't help but think that it is like this. It turns out that the first lady in the Tseng family is the mother of Wu Fufang and Wu Sunfu, the second gentleman is Zeng Canghai, and the third lady should be the mother of Wu Huifang and Wu Xuanfu-she has not been alive for a long time since she took over her sister's seat, but there is still a fourth lady left in the Tseng family-that is, Wu Huifang is in charge of her fourth aunt-but it is not coincidental that Wu Huifang herself was once touched by Du Zhuzhai's son Du Xin.

Wu Fufang and Wu Sunfu's mother and Wu Huifang and Wu Xuanfu's mother were sisters. Brother in law married a widowed sister-in-law and Dajiefu married an unmarried sister-in-law, which was not unusual in the society at that time. However, it is probably because this is Wu Sunfu's taboo and one of the reasons why he and Mr. Wu have not dealt with it for many years. Look, doesn't Wu Sunfu even remember whether Wu Xuanfu is seventeen or eighteen or nineteen? Therefore, Mr. Mao Dun will not make it clear. Of course, writing is writing, reading is reading, maybe this paper can't cover the fire.

It is true that Wu Sun-fu, who was a tycoon, still showed a concern as a brother about Huei-fang Wu Huifang's leaving Shanghai. In fact, Wu Huifang also felt that although a half-brother, it was not too far away in blood. However, Wu Sun-fu still needs to maintain the face of the Wu family more, because he has officially ascended the throne from the de facto head to the chief of the Wu family. Moreover, for Wu Sunfu, it is an indisputable reality that Miss Wu Fufang will gradually alienate with the rebellion of her husband Tu Chu-chai, his former collaborator.

At this point, have all the problems between Mr. Wu and his children been solved? Not yet. Did Mr. Wu have a good time in those fifteen years when he was full of energy? Zhang Ailing said that "having children outside when you have money, and having children at home when you have no money." "Does Mr Wu have it? After reading "Midnight" carefully again, I feel that there seems to be a little bit. Here I have a little doubt about one or two, so let's call it a day.

Isn't there a lucky man on Wu Sunfu's dock?

"The lanky man who was blessed with happiness listened to his aunt's praise, and he was as happy as anything. At the same time, he answered hastily, turned around and dragged two chairs behind his aunt and uncle, offering tea and offering cigarettes. He is the son of an old servant in Sun Fu's third master's family, and he has been clever since he was a child, so Sun Fu's father, Mr. Wu, specially asked Sun Fu to place him in this Daishengchang steamship bureau. 」

Isn't there a man in Wu Sunfu's silk factory who killed Tu Weiyue?

""Where are you from? 』

"And Mr Three are fellow villagers. 』

"Oh-Shuangqiao Town, too? Who is your sponsor? 』

"I have no sponsor! 』

Wu Sun-fu was startled, and his right hand went to open the staff roster on the desk, but Tu Weiyue went on to say, "Maybe you remember that I brought a letter from your old man. After that, he sent me to handle common affairs in the factory account room, and until now, he has never told me to be a guarantor. 』」

It is not unreasonable to disclose the private life of Mr. Wu so much. Because both Fu Sheng and Tu Weiyue were personally ordered by the old man Wu Sunfu to make a proper living for them. However, Mr. Wu "has resolutely refused to compromise with his son for ten years!" "Even after ten years, the scene where father and son met on the dock of Dai Shengchang Shipping Company was indifferent to each other, but only looked at each other.

Open the book "Tai Shang Induction" with a yellow silk cover, which was devoutly offered by Mr. Wu, and it is a regular script on the tribute paper of Zhu Si column. After the volume, there is an postscript written by Mr. Wu in the "Spring of Jiazi Year":

"I not only printed 100,000 copies of" Tai Shang Induction "by Emperor Wenchang, but also recorded the full text by hand ..."

Is it his sincere belief that Mr. Wu never forgets the admonition of Emperor Wenchang that "all evils are the first, and all the virtues's filial piety is the first"? Or talk about comforting confession? I don't know.

However, after reading this, it can be revealed that the year of Jiazi was 1924, which should also be a year of flowers and flowers for Mr. Wu. There was a reason why he printed 100,000 copies of "Tai Shang Induction" by Emperor Wenchang. Therefore, as of May 1930, the death of Mr. Wu should be sixty-six. In this novel Midnight, the author's foreshadowing, metaphors and hints abound. Just like the brand number of a new Citroen car that went to Daishengchang Pier to meet Mr. Wu-"1889", it not only told readers about the approximate number of private cars in Shanghai with a population of 3 million at that time. It also tells readers that 1889 is the year when Wu Sunfu was born, so the novel begins with "He is about forty years old"-1930, when Wu Sunfu was forty-one.

It can be seen that Mr. Mao Dun is still very interested in literary creation. He conceived how to leave readers a work that would be indifferent to any of the main characters in the novel after reading it, no matter how troubled those characters are. This is not an easy task compared with most literary creations with the intention of crying, which requires the author's extreme calm. However, as far as the novel "Midnight" is concerned, Mr. Mao Dun really did it, and used it to describe the social change in Shanghai in 1930:

"This is an iron shed the size of half a house, and many monkeys of different sizes are jumping there. 」

In the casual passage, I borrowed Huei-fang Wu Huifang's eyes-this is the only character in the novel who wants to get rid of the Shanghai beach at that time at once-so Mr. Mao Dun wrote. Realism itself implies criticism.