“A cold brow looks at a thousand people, but I bow my head and am willing to be a bully” is a famous line in Lu Xun’s poem "Self-mockery". The authoritative explanation for a long time is that "ruzi" refers to the people, and "thousand men" refers to the enemy. After the "Gang of Four" was crushed, there was much discussion about this. I also saw Mr. Wang Weizheng's article "Why does the "thousand-handed finger" refer to "ruziniu" in the fifth issue of "Essays" last year? He believed that "the 'thousand-handed finger' in Lu Xun's poem is the 'thousand-handed finger'. At that time, of course, it was It refers to the Kuomintang reactionaries and all evil forces. But the 'enemy' is not the 'thousands of people', but the people who are 'targeted by the thousands of people'." This is of course a family story.

But I think exactly the opposite. I think the "thousands of men" in the poem refer to the large number of people who were opposed to Lu Xun at that time. It cannot be said that they are all enemies, but it is hard to say that they are not enemies. The main reason for Lu Xun's "cold eyebrows" was these people's unreasonable accusations, accusations and criticisms. As for the person who was "accused by thousands of people", I think Lu Xun's original intention was to refer to himself.

Wang Wen quoted Lu Xun's letter to Li Bingzhong on February 4, 1931: "However, after three accusations, a virtuous mother becomes suspicious. A thousand people have pointed her out, and she died without any illness." In this life, I don’t know what the future will bring. "Thousands of people will point out that they will die without illness." Wang Wen has made it clear in the book "Han Shu·Wang Jiawei". What's going on with "Three accusations against a virtuous mother make a good mother suspicious"? Looking up "Warring States Policy·Qin Policy II", there is such a record: "In the past, Zengzi ordered Fei to kill someone who had the same clan as Zengzi. The person told Zengzi's mother, "Zeng Shen killed someone." Zengzi's mother said: ' A gentleman does not kill people. Zhi Ziruo. After a while, someone said, "Zeng Shen killed someone." After a while, someone told him, "Zeng Shen killed someone." His mother was afraid and threw a tree over the wall. "One after another, people came to say that Zeng Shen had killed someone, and even his old mother had to believe it and was frightened.

Why does Lu Xun use these two allusions here? In order not to quote it out of context, a large relevant paragraph from the original letter is quoted below for reference.

Since my arrival in Shanghai, I have been so cautious that I have almost refused to live in this world and am speechless. However, he had written in the past and was determined to innovate, so his roots have not been exhausted and he is still a member of the Left-wing Writers Alliance. The clown in the Shanghai literary world wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to comfort himself. Spreading rumors and slandering has a long history. Sorry for the boredom, laugh at it. In the middle of last month, dozens of young people were arrested here, one of whom was my student. (Perhaps there is a person who said his surname was Lu) He is a short-lived and gossipy person, because there is a widespread rumor that I have been arrested. News crews spread the news all over the country, and tabloid reporters wrote slanderous stories, either describing my crimes or describing my address, with the intention of satirizing the authorities and arresting me. In fact, I was lying under the roof with nothing in mind, and they were not unaware of it either. But the people in Shanghai often rejoice in others' misfortunes and hope that others will be in danger, thinking that they can help. There was a lot of talk about King Lu (Huang) being in love before, followed by Ma Zhenhua's drowning, and then the rape case of Ms. Xiao. Now it is my turn to be arrested. When a literati moves his pen, he exerts very little force, but the harm to me is great. My mother cried and my best friend was shocked. In the past ten days, I have been keeping secret and making corrections almost every day, which is also sad. Fortunately, nothing happened now, so I can relax my thoughts. However, after being accused three times, the virtuous mother became suspicious. After being accused by thousands of people, she died without any illness. In this life, I don’t know what the future will bring. ...According to the original text, Lu Xun said that he was "lurking in a shelter with nothing to do" in Shanghai, but he was still constantly being slandered and slandered by literary clowns, correspondents, tabloid reporters, etc. "Weeping", then "Three accusations threw him into the bush, the good mother became suspicious; thousands of people pointed out, he died without illness", this can only be understood as Lu Xun's self-expression full of grief and indignation. During this period, Lu Xun also repeatedly wrote in his letters to Li Xiaofeng, Wei Suyuan, Jing Youlin and others, "Everyone wants to win gold, but it is wise to be cautious when a country is in danger", "I have been attacked all the time since arriving in Shanghai", "I have been generally bored for a long time" You should be able to refer to words like "materials of literati making rumors".

In fact, there is also a passage said by Lu Xun in "Sanxian Collection·Preface", which is at least equally worthy of note. The original words are:

...I was in 27 Those who were stunned by the blood and left Guangdong, those who hesitated and did not have the courage to speak directly, are all recorded in "Ersi Collection". But when I arrived in Shanghai, I encountered the siege of literary giants. People in the Creation Society, the Sun Society, and the Crescent Society of "gentlemen" all said that I was not good. Even those who do not flaunt a literary school are now promoted to writers or professors. The gentlemen who wrote at that time would often secretly ridicule me to express their brilliance.

I thought I was just "having leisure means being rich", a "feudal remnant" or a "degenerate", but later I was judged as a stickler who advocated killing young people. At this time, Liao Jun, who had fled from Ziyun, Guangdong and was staying in my apartment, finally said angrily to me: "My friends all looked down on me and stopped communicating with me. They said that I Live with such people."

In this preface, he even mentioned that he wanted to "compile his opponents' writings" into a book called "Encirclement and Suppression Collection." So, being "encircled and suppressed" by many people, doesn't it mean that you are in a position of being "targeted by thousands of people"! Therefore, the "thousands of men" in Lu Xun's poems and in his heart at that time, I thought, in addition to "literary clowns", "newsletter members", "tabloid reporters" and the like, it should also include someone from the Creation Society, the Sun Society, and the Crescent Society. of some people. The circumstances and subsequent developments of this large group of people were all different. But no matter whether he was an enemy, a friend or I, all of them stood on the opposite side of Lu Xun back then. They ridiculed, satirized, ridiculed, even abused, attacked, and even tried to frame Lu Xun to varying degrees.

Now, we can also look at how Lu Xun's "Self-mockery" became a poem.

Lu Xun's diary on October 12, 1932 contains the following record:

In the afternoon, he wrote a banner for Liu Yazi, saying: "What do you want when you are transported to Huagai? I dare not stand up." We have met. We pass through the bustling city with old hats, and the wine is flowing in the broken boat. We look down at thousands of husbands and hide in the small building. We care about the winter and summer and the spring and autumn. Half couplets, all put together for invitation."

Obviously, this poem is directly related to "Dafu Appreciating Rice". Literati in ancient times had elegant gatherings, and modern writers had dinner conversations where colleagues gathered together. Many poems and essays often originated during the dinner parties where they were chatting and laughing, singing impromptu harmony, or writing about it afterward. Lu Xun's poem "Self-mockery" is also like this. Regarding this dinner, Lu Xun recorded in his diary a week ago, on October 5th:

In the morning, I went to Qi Hospital with Guangping and Haiying, paying 8 yuan and 40 cents. ... In the evening, Dafu and Yingxia were having a drink in Jufeng Garden. At the same table were Liu Yazi and his wife, Dafu's brother and sister-in-law, and Lin Weiyin.

Why did Yu Dafu's treat arouse Lu Xun's interest in writing limericks and call himself an "idler"? This is related to the topic at the dinner party.

This dinner is hosted by Yu Dafu and Wang Yingxia, and the guests of honor should be Lu Xun and Xu Guangping. Liu Yazi and his wife were accompanying guests, and Yu Dafu's brother-in-law Yu Hua (Mantuo) and Chen Bicen were considered half hosts and half guests. Lin Weiyin was a young literary man who probably had some relationship with Yu Dafu, so he took the opportunity to follow Yu Dafu to meet Lu Xun. Regarding this dinner, Yu Dafu, Wang Yingxia, Liu Yazi, and Chen Bicen all had some recollections afterwards. But what exactly was discussed at the table, which led to the writing of Lu Xun's poem "Self-mockery", is unclear. Only on December 6, 1956, there was a short article titled "The First Writing of "Ru Ziniu"" in the "Xinmin Daily Evening Edition", which mentioned a conversation between Yu and Lu. The original text is as follows:

When Lu Xun arrived, Dafu made a joke to him and said, "You must have worked hard these days."

"Yeah," Lu Xun smiled. Reply, "I can answer you with the two couplets I thought of yesterday, which are: 'With a cold eyebrow, I will point at a thousand people, and I will bow my head and be a coward.'"

"It seems that your 'Huagai Luck' is still the same Not taking it off?" Duff continued to joke.

"Hey, let me tell you this, I got half a couplet, and I can make it into a short poem." Lu Xun said. (Note: Lu Xun said that he stole half of the couplet, which is how he got the first sentence "What do you want when you are transported to the canopy?") After the banquet was over, Dafu took out a piece of plain silk and asked everyone present to write inscriptions as a souvenir. What Lu Xun mentioned is the two sentences mentioned above.

The author of this article is signed "Wei Yin", or Lin Weiyin. If so, the recollection should have a certain degree of credibility. In his letters to Li Bingzhong on February 4 and April 15, 1931, Lu Xun respectively lamented that he "died without any disease" and "worked extra hard for Hai Ying. It is very possible that the couplet of "crossing eyebrows" and "bowing head" has already existed in Lu Xun's mind when expressing his stance for "ruziniu". Moreover, "stealing half a couplet" seems to mean that it is better to steal it on the spot. If we use the couplet of a scholar quoted from "Jiangbei Poetry" by Hong Liangji of the Qing Dynasty, "If you are drunk with wine, you may transform the village to produce butterflies, and if you are full and full, you will become a oxen". It seems that there is no need to state it here. However, Wei Wen is just a solitary evidence, and it is not easy to handle.

However, I think that the couplet "Hengmei" and "Bowhead" must be related to the two main topics at this dinner.

First of all, an important topic should be about Haiying. It is the most normal thing for old friends to have an occasional meal, greet each other, and ask each other about the children of each family. Yu Dafu is treating guests this time. Has Xu Guangping been there? Wang Yingxia has a memoir article saying that she went there. She is a person involved, so what she said should be credible. But I think Xu Guangping has not gone. There are two reasons: first, Lu Xun went out for activities, and whenever Xu Guangping was there, he would record it in his diary, but not this time; second, this day's diary recorded that he and Xu Guangping took Hai Ying to the hospital to see a doctor in the morning. So it is reasonable that Xu Guangping and his son did not attend Yu Dafu's dinner. In this way, the condition and current situation of Lu Xun's beloved son Hai Ying will naturally become the center of everyone's attention.

Everyone knows that the relationship between Lu Xun and the Creation Society was not harmonious. He said in "The Book of Pseudo Freedom: Preface": "I have always avoided the people in the Creation Society. This is not just because they have always attacked me in particular, and even carried out personal attacks. Most of them fell on their side. He has a 'creative' face. ... He is full of energy, as if even sweating and sneezing are all 'creative'." But Yu Dafu, one of the founders of the Unique Creation Society, was an exception in Lu Xun's eyes. "Mr. Duff and I were the first to meet each other, and there was no such creative energy on his face, so when we met, we just talked casually;..."

Lu Xun said it lightly here, but in fact, from Since the late 1920s, he and Yu Dafu have had a close personal relationship. At that time, Yu Dafu withdrew from the Creation Society and did not participate in the "encirclement and suppression" of Lu Xun, but he worked with Lu Xun to compile the magazine "Benliu", which was a major event in the literary world at that time. In the 1930s, the two families often exchanged information, visited each other, and participated in some social activities together, which are more recorded in Lu Xun's diary. Haiying was born on September 27, 1929. Since then, his diary has repeatedly recorded that "Dafu came" or came with Wang Yingxia. Therefore, in Yu Dafu's later article recalling Lu Xun, he vividly described Hai Ying's naughtyness and Lu Xun's love for Hai Ying that he saw with his own eyes.

Based on this, I boldly guessed that Haiying must be the first topic at this dinner. So it should be natural that the phrase "bow down and be willing to be a coward" is derived from this, and it may be that the draft has been drafted early, or an idea has struck. By the way, it is certainly possible to interpret "Ruzi" as "people" and evaluate Lu Xun purely from a political perspective, but it is not in line with Lu Xun's original intention when he wrote this poem.

Secondly, I think another more important topic at this dinner should be the publication of "San Xian Ji". "San Xian Ji" collects Lu Xun's essays from 1927 to 1929 and was first published by Shanghai Beixin Book Company in September 1932. According to Lu Xun's diary, on September 14th of this year, "I received a letter from Xiaofeng in the afternoon and received a royalties of 150 yuan and 20 copies of "San Xian Ji"." After that, the book was given to friends such as Xu Shoushang, Tai Jinnong, Li Jiye, and Masuda She. On October 2, three days before Yu Dafu's treat, Lu Xun's diary recorded: "Dafu came in the morning and presented him with a copy each of "Tie Liu", "Destruction" and "San Xian Ji"."

< p> It is assumed that after Yu Dafu got this book, he must first read the "Preface" at the front of the book, and then read "The Hazy in "Drunk Eyes"" and "My Attitude, Calmness and Age" written by Lu Xun to counter the ridicule and attacks of the Creation Society. "" and other articles, then at the dinner three days later, Yu and Lu talked about the newly published "San Xian Ji", and everyone would recall the "encirclement and suppression" that Lu Xun suffered in 1928 and 29, including the Creation Society. ", coupled with some things that happened in recent years that made Lu Xun unhappy, it is not surprising that Lu Xun mocked himself as the person who was "pointed out by thousands of people", and thus came up with the poem "A cold eyebrow is pointed at by a thousand people".

It should also be noted that Lu Xun's poem is titled "Self-mockery". Those who "laugh at themselves" are making fun of themselves. For example, if "thousands of men" are interpreted as "ferocious enemies", or the people targeted by "thousands of men" are interpreted as "Kuomintang reactionaries and all evil forces", and "ruzi" is interpreted as "the proletariat and the masses of the people", then " The "self-deprecating" meaning of the couplet "Hengmei" is gone at all. He became the person "thousands of people pointed at", and among the "thousands of people" who were "cold and cold-faced", he actually included the gentlemen of the creative society who advocated revolutionary literature, but the person he "succumbed willingly to" was his son Haiying's Niu. This is like "self-deprecating".

In terms of personal relationships with the gentlemen of the Creation Society, Lu Xun may have had the most objectionable opinions towards Cheng Fangwu. In 1929, Creation and Sun News besieged Lu Xun, and Cheng Fangwu was the most powerful. He once mocked, "Our Mr. Lu Xun is sitting under a canopy and copying his 'old novels.'" "Reserved is leisure, leisure, The third leisure”. These few sentences probably left a deep impression on Lu Xun.

It was not until January 24, 1935 that Lu Xun wrote the "Preface to the Reprint of "Old News Copies of the Novel"", in which he wrote:

"As soon as the "A Brief History of Chinese Novel" was printed, I responded to the little friends' comments. Please, take the old news about the so-called popular novels, which the historians of the past disdained, put them into a slightly arranged order, and put them into print. Although the knowledge and knowledge are narrow, they are not redistributed. If students can obtain this, it may be enough to save them from repeated searches. It's just a waste of time. But the fool in the sea uses it as a sign of leisure, which is also a sign of wealth. He is still dancing with one waist and talking wildly. " < /p>

That’s what I’m talking about. "Sanxian Collection, Preface" makes it more clear:

"I will print the materials collected when compiling "A Brief History of Chinese Novels" as "Old News Copies of Novels". In order to save young people's The power of inspection is called "leisure" in the name of the proletariat, and there are three "leisures", but I still cannot completely forget that the proletariat will not be trained in this way. They have not learned the method of induction, and they compiled it and called it "Sanxian Ji", and they still imitate me."

In this way, not only "Dafu invites dinner" With a solution, the "idle man's oil" has also found a solution. The "Xian" in "Xianren" is the "Xian" in "San Xian Ji", which is also the "Xian" in "leisure" and "youxian". Therefore, Lu Xun calls himself an "idle person", and he must also be someone who "sends to shoot and imitate me". Three months after the dinner, on January 10, 1933, Lu Xun sent two poems written by Dafu himself, one of which was "Answer to Guests' Criticisms": "A ruthless man may not be a true hero. How can you not be a husband if you pity a son? Do you know whether the wind will roar like a storm or not?" "When I look back, I look smaller than a tug." Nine days later, on January 19, Lu Xun received two poems written by Yu Dafu, which were: "I went to the restaurant with drunken eyes, wandering and shouting for a long time; the blind people tried their best to not waste the river. Eternal flow." One of these two poems is related to Hai Ying, and the other is related to "San Xian Ji", and they may both be regarded as the aftermath of the dinner topic - I checked it online for reference only.