末世凡鸟绚丽多态的四维人生表征——王熙凤判词“一从二令三人木,哭向金陵事更哀”臆解

Representations of the Colorful Fabrics of Wang Xifeng's Four-dimensional Life in Dream of the Red Chamber——Revisiting the rebus interpretation of the ‘Jinling Verdict' on Wang Xifeng

王熙凤的判词"一从二令三人木"和"哭向金陵事更哀"是互相关联且呈递进关系的整体叙事,不容分割。惜乎对此著述虽多,却无确解之文,尽是以偏概全造成的偏狭论断,不足参酌。唯有按事体情理之意绪从王熙凤人生全部经历入手,高屋建瓴、知人论世,方能得出"一从"为难以挣脱的三从四德之既嫁从夫;"二令"为当家主政,威重令行;"三人木"为其事败抄家,财尽力诎,众叛亲离,败落事休;"事更哀"乃操劳过度,积劳成疾,惨死贾府,棺葬金陵之最终结局。这才是对王熙凤这个末世凡鸟"聪明反被聪明误"之绚丽多态的四维人生表征的正确释解。

The Jinling verdict on Wang Xifeng, literally represented as ＂First she complies, then commands, then is dismissed, departing in tears to Jinling more wretched still＂, is an integral narrative poem whose storylines are correlated and yet evolve in immediate succession, allowing of no willful segmentation. Though there have been a great number of writings dedicated to research on this subject, none has yet come up with a definite and decisive interpretation. On the contrary, the inferences made by previous scholars are without exception based on inconclusive or even absurd conjectures that tend to ＇mistake a part for the whole＇ and such conclusions thus drawn should deserve little regard. Only by delving into the actual facts and logic and taking into account the whole life experiences of Wang Xifeng can we discern the true nature of things and gain such an insight into the Jinling verdict on Wang as follows： by saying ＂first she complies＂ is meant that confined by the spiritual fetters of wifely submission and virtues required of women in ancient China, Wang would naturally act in obedience to or comply with the orders of her husband; by saying ＂she then commands＂ is meant that Wang, who was then in charge of the daily running of the entire household and wielded remarkable power within the Jia clan, exercised her the authority to rule or command; by saying ＂she is dismissed＂ is meant that seeing the Jia clan falling into disgrace with the court, their mansions raided and confiscated and their once-glamorous family reduced to straitened circumstances, Wang Xifeng experienced alienation by the Jia clan and was dismissed; and by saying ＂more wretched still＂ is meant that suffering from constant overwork and on the verge of a collapse in health, Wang Xifeng faced her doom in the Jia clan and was finally buried in Jinling. Such will be the correct interpretation of Wang Xifeng＇s colorful four-dimensional life representations, which testifies to the saying that ＇Cleverness can overreach itself however clever one may be＇.