The Story of Yangzhou

1: Du Shiniang sank the treasure chest in anger

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, in the prosperous city of Beijing, there was a brothel called Chunguang Yuan, and there was a very popular brothel in Chunguang Yuan. The famous concubine is Du Shiniang.

Du Shiniang was originally a young lady from a wealthy family. She was abducted and sold to Chunguang Court when she was young. When she was seventeen or eighteen, she became a beautiful woman. She was good at playing music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and offended the princes and grandsons in the capital. , dignitaries and dignitaries came here one after another.

Although Du Shiniang has been reduced to a fireworks woman, she is infatuated and kind-hearted, and does not admire glitz. She always wants to find a close partner who can be relied on for life and start a good family.

It happened that Li Jia, an imperial eunuch student from an official family in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, came to Chunguang Courtyard in the name of Mu Shiniang to have fun.

The romantic and suave Li Jia and Du Shiniang fell in love at first sight and stayed together all day long.

After Li Jia ran out of money, he was kicked out by the madam.

Shi Niang redeemed herself with her personal savings and returned home with Li Jia.

The two took a boat south from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and when passing by Guazhou Ancient Ferry, they met the lustful and sinister wealthy businessman Sun Fu.

Sun Fu coveted Shiniang’s beauty, so he invited Li Jia to a wine shop, bewitched her with words and lured her with thousands of gold, so Li Jia sold Shiniang to Sun Fu.

As soon as she got out of the fire pit and was about to fall into the wolf's mouth, Shi Niang was heartbroken and despaired of all her thoughts. In the morning, she stood on the bow of the boat in full makeup, scolding Li Jia and Sun Fu, and opened the treasure box she carried in public, and took out the hidden treasure. All the treasures were thrown into the river, and then he threw himself into the river.

Li Jia felt guilty and regretful. He became madly ill and would never recover.

Sun Fu was frightened that day, fell ill and was bedridden for more than a month, and was on the verge of death.

Du Shiniang's drowning into the river is a tragic story that has been passed down for hundreds of years and is well-known to every household.

The place where the man threw himself into the river in the story is at the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal in today's Guazhou Town, Hanjiang District, Yangzhou City. A "caisson pavilion" stands on the bank, which is engraved with that tragic past.

According to research, Du Shiniang did exist in history.

The story of Du Shiniang throwing herself into the river was first seen in the Ming Dynasty and was initially circulated in the form of folk oral literature and stories.

The Ming Dynasty writer Feng Menglong’s popular novel "Warning Words", Volume 32 "Du Shiniang Sinks the Treasure Box in Anger", made the story of Du Shiniang spread all over the world.

2: Chen Susu carries the "huan" to hope for reunion

In the early Qing Dynasty, Chen Susu, a talented girl from Yangzhou, was good at writing poems, paintings, and composing music.

Influenced by the poems of Xu Ning from the Tang Dynasty, she gave herself a very poetic nickname, "Woman with Two Bright Moons".

Chen Susu is a famous prostitute and a talented woman. She has experienced a tortuous love story.

There was a Laiyang scholar Jiang Zhongzi who fell in love with Chen Susu.

Chen Susu also had feelings for Jiang Zhongzi, so Jiang Zhongzi took her back to his hometown.

At that time, the powder boxes produced by Xuanyi kiln were originally presented as tribute to the palace and were extremely expensive.

Jiang Zhongzi did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy this tribute powder box as a gift to Chen Susu.

Soon, a Yangzhou tycoon fell in love with Susu and took Susu away from the Jiang family and took her back to Yangzhou.

Jiang Zhongzi lost Chen Susu and lost all his sleep and food because of it.

So he secretly revised the book and sent people to Yangzhou to give it to Su Su.

The main idea of ??the letter was that I would never marry someone other than Su Su in this life, and I hope Su Su could understand his thoughts.

Chen Susu was heartbroken when she saw the letter. She immediately bit off the ring she was wearing and sent it to Jiang Zhongzi.

The sound of "Huan" is the same as "Huan", and Su Su uses this to express her intention to return.

Jiang Zhongzi burst into tears after hearing the letter. He told his friend Wu about it and asked Wu to write a poem about it.

Wu then wrote a piece of "Drunken Spring Breeze", which goes: "The jade armor conveys fragrant messages, and the gold carvings and the fragrance fade.

Hanging knowledge hides his tears and complains to the east wind, asking questions.

Who will pity the bright moon? The two are rogues, and they are locked into each other.

Love and the Yangtze River are close, and the dream is close to Wushan.

Good luck. Recognize it.

All the knots are opened, and the silk is kept.

"It was said that it was a rhyme."

Chen Susu’s story moved many writers and writers at that time.

There was a Suzhou native named Zhu Suchen who loved lyrics and music throughout his life. He once wrote plays such as "Yi Zhu Xian", "Fifteen Guans" and "Weiyang Tian".

After hearing Chen Susu's sad story, he developed it based on this fact and composed the famous legend "Moon in the Qin Lou".

The difference is that Chen Susu in the legendary drama finally reunited with the scholar after going through many hardships and twists, but no such miracle happened to Chen Susu in real life.