What is the hottest news in Peking right now?
Eight out of ten people would answer that it was the play "Memoirs of Famous Prostitutes" performed by a group of prostitutes.
This drama, which was initially denounced by many decent people as disgusting and immoral, swept across the entire city of Peking with an unstoppable force.
The play was shown for two weeks and every show was sold out. Many audiences even bought tickets repeatedly and watched many shows a day. The prostitutes in the Eight Great Hutongs were the main consumers. The rich prostitutes would form groups with their sisters to book the show, and the poor prostitutes could afford the 20 cents ticket price. No matter how many times they watched it, they would be jealous.
In the past, many decent people would not share a room with these prostitutes. In a girls' middle school in Beijing, a female student dropped out of school because of the shame of being in the same school with a prostitute. For those decent people who value their reputation and status, prostitutes are a source of pollution. Even if they do nothing, they will pollute the air. Therefore, they have always drawn a clear line between themselves and prostitutes, and they wish to crush prostitutes to dust to highlight their own purity.
However, this phenomenon was easily overturned among the audience who watched "Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan". Even if some people had various prejudices against prostitutes before, their eyes would turn red after watching "Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan", and some would even hug the prostitutes and cry bitterly.
As a result, many people have somewhat dispelled their prejudice against prostitutes. At least they can tolerate being in the same room with prostitutes and watching a show instead of shouting and calling for their beating and killing right away.
In the audience, they all washed away their secular identities and returned to being equal audience members.
For the first time, prostitutes who had been like rats in the gutter and were not allowed to see the world received friendly treatment, basic sympathy and help from outsiders, which made many prostitutes cry with joy and feel the joy of being human again. And this drama created by a pure prostitute group also let them see another way - it turns out that in addition to doing this flesh trade, they can also write scripts, write lyrics and compose music, sing and act! For a time, the stagnant hearts of many prostitutes were stirred up again.
Of course, compassion and empathy, two of the most precious qualities of human beings, are not possessed by everyone. There are always some beasts wearing human skin and look like human beings.
Someone started a commotion in the theater. He was well-dressed and looked like a young gentleman, but he spoke like a corrupt scholar, which made most of the audience frown. This man expressed his opinion like this: "The world is really going downhill and people's hearts are no longer the same as they used to be. Now such obscene songs can be performed openly in the theater! Whores are whores. Since they chose this profession of being fucked by thousands of people for money, no matter what happens, it is their own fault and they can't blame others!"
As soon as this was said, the whole room was in an uproar. Some people were not convinced and wanted to make a few words to defend themselves, but they were directly blocked by the man: "You people say that you sympathize with them, but why don't you marry them? It's just because you also think they are dirty!" After this was said, many people shut up in dismay.
This sentence has touched the soft spot of many viewers. They can give prostitutes some condescending sympathy, but they have never thought of marrying them, just because of the "dirty" word that the man said.
For a moment, the whole room was silent, and the prostitutes on and off the stage all had tears in their eyes and looked miserable.
Le Jing read about this incident that happened yesterday in the "Justice Daily". The accident later took an unexpected turn.
Le Jing saw the reporter write in the report: "Just when everyone was speechless and the prostitutes on and off the stage were at a loss, a clear male voice came from the front of the audience: 'Who said no one would marry them!' A handsome man stood up, bowed politely to the stage, and said loudly: 'I am Zhai Yuanju, from Shandong. I came to Beiping to visit relatives these days. I just wanted to watch a play to kill time, but I didn't expect to meet such a graceful lady - Miss Qiuju. I have admired you for a long time. I wonder if you are willing to marry me?'"
Le Jing knew Qiu Ju, she was also the leading actress in Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan. Because the drama had many performances, it was impossible to always use the same cast, so there were four actresses playing the leading actress Bai Moli in Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan. Qiu Ju was also a prostitute with a strong personality. She was a member of the Qingyin troupe in the Eight Great Hutongs. Because she had declared that she would never be a concubine, no one was willing to redeem her.
Sure enough, upon hearing this open and aboveboard love proposal, she was surprised but still confirmed: "You mean, you want to marry me as your first wife? Let me make it clear, I will never be a concubine even if I am beaten to death!"
So the man smiled shyly and said gently: "Of course, medicine is passed down in our family, and our ancestral teachings say that men are not allowed to take concubines."
Qiu Ju's eyes sparkled like wildfire, but she still said shyly, "My ransom is a bit expensive..."
The man immediately said, "I have been practicing medicine for many years and have a small fortune. I should be able to pay for your redemption."
So Qiu Ju jumped off the stage happily and shyly agreed to the man's proposal.
I don't know who started it, but the audience gradually burst into warm applause. As for the young man who had spoken so arrogantly before, few people cared about him anymore.
The reporter recorded this rare scene truthfully in the news, using calm and objective words, and truly recreating the whole process without any description or commentary with personal emotional tendencies. However, readers will only be deeply moved by this extraordinary love story.
——This is the emotional inclination of the reporter himself. All excellent reporters are masters of the Spring and Autumn style of writing.
In addition to this news report in Gongyi Daily, other newspapers also published a series of articles commenting on Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan, some of which were critical and some were praising.
Most of the criticisms were focused on the three aspects of the play "Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan" that the cast of all prostitutes was too immoral and had a bad impact on social customs and women's education; the plot whitewashed prostitutes, prostitutes were idle and unproductive and did not deserve sympathy; you, the night watchman, only know how to shout slogans. Have you ever considered how prostitutes can make a living after they become good women? Many people wrote articles to criticize the night watchman, and some people questioned the authorities. Wasn't the author of the night watchman, who had such a stain, banned? Why was he still performing a play to attract attention?
Of course there are also many praises.
It should be said that anyone with a basic appreciation of literature cannot deny that the novel "Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan" is a good work, and the drama of the same name adapted from the novel is also a masterpiece with high artistic value. Therefore, quite a few experts have written articles to speak well of "Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan". Among them is a professor from Tsinghua University, a great scholar who has mastered both Chinese and Western learning, who has published comments from different angles for several consecutive days to support the novel and drama "Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan".
The great scholar's pen name was Chiyan. In response to the bad reputation of "Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan", he wrote a commentary of more than a thousand words titled "Don't Wake Up Someone Pretending to Sleep". A passage in the commentary was so shocking that it attracted many newspapers to reprint and interpret it.
【A large ship had a hole in it and was about to sink. Someone woke up first and ran around desperately, shouting loudly, trying to wake up the sleeping passengers so that everyone could work together to plug the hole and avoid the fate of sinking. So some people who woke up joined the team running around to repair the ship. But there were some people, there were always some people, who started to complain about the person who woke them up after being woken up. Because although the ship had a hole, it would not sink for a while, they could have slept comfortably for a long time, but now they were woken up to do troublesome things like repairing the ship. So the smart people among the people who pretended to sleep said, let's just kill those idiots who clamored to repair the ship, so that there would be no troublesome things like repairing the ship. This method seemed quite feasible, so they worked hard to defeat all those who wanted to repair the ship, because only in this way could they have a leisurely and long sleep.
This is the origin of the criticism against Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan. 】
Once the boss makes a move, we will know whether it is true or not. This comment is very incisive and vividly portrays the ugly faces of those who "pretend to sleep", and it was widely circulated for a while.
However, Chi Yan's comments still have some of the usual elegance and metaphors of intellectuals. Although the content is extremely sarcastic, it is still not spicy enough and not powerful enough. So Zheng Yiliang made a brilliant appearance in the guise of Xiaoyao Sanren, vividly demonstrating to readers what a textbook classic mouth cannon is.
[Recently, the dogs have been barking non-stop, disturbing my sleep. Today, I finally couldn't stand it anymore. I think it's time to teach these dogs who bully the weak and only wag their tails to beg for mercy from their owners a lesson! I have always understood these dogs very well. Only by beating them once and knocking out their teeth will they run away with their tails between their legs and never dare to bark at you again.
…
Some people's dogs bark harshly, but some people listen carefully, not only understand it, but also regard these dog words as golden rules and spread them everywhere. In the face of people's doubts, these people actually took out the dog's words as evidence, which really made me dumbfounded and opened my eyes. I can't help but want to ask you, when did it become the turn of dogs to interrupt when people are talking? 】
The article is titled "Listen to People". The full article has more than a thousand words. Zheng Yiliang's writing is sharp and his words are spicy. He scolds the opponents thoroughly. After reading it, people feel as if they have drunk a bowl of ice water in the dog days of summer. It is indescribably refreshing.
Just when the newspapers were making a fuss about the play of the same name "Memoirs of a Famous Prostitute" and being criticized to the sky, Le Jing's two novels "Memoirs of a Famous Prostitute" and "Rat Eyes Look Down on People" were finally published in books with the help of this "east wind" and were put on display in major bookstores in Peiping.
Many bookstores put up banners with the keywords "Night Watchman" and "Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan" in the most prominent positions. Some prostitutes in brothels also paid out of their own pockets to buy many books and give them to their patrons and sisters. Many audiences who have watched the play "Memoirs of a Famous Courtesan" are also willing to go to bookstores to buy a copy of the original book to read carefully. Some readers who have not watched the play or read the novel, out of curiosity about the quarrels in the newspapers in recent days, will also go to bookstores to buy a few copies of Night Watchman's book.
For a time, paper was in great demand and long queues formed outside the bookstore.
No matter whether they are supporters or opponents of the Night Watch, they all now involuntarily begin to pay attention to the same question - how are the sales of the Night Watch's new book?
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