Chapter 305 - The Later Parts of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ were not written by Cao Xueqin? (2/2)
“What makes you say that!?”
“This is definitely Teacher Zhang’s style! He won’t settle for not scaring you to death!”
“This is one of the Four Great Cla.s.sical Novels! Is it really alright to just say that?”
Chang Kaige, who was sitting right in front, smacked himself in the forehead, “We’re finished!”
Zhen Shuquan also nearly vomited blood. Peking University’s fine reputation was ruined today!
A shadow was cast above the eyes of Professor Zeng and the other Chinese department teachers. Many of them nearly fainted from shock after hearing Zhang Ye’s words. Teacher Zhang Ye! Stop messing around! Seriously, stop messing around!
Professor Yan also nearly cursed. He glanced at Wu Zeqing. “President Wu! We can’t leave it at that! If this carries on, there won’t be anything left of Peking University’s reputation!”
Wu Zeqing was playing with her cellphone with her head down. She seemed to be deaf to his pleas.
Yan Jiantao was overwhelmed with thoughts of how the fire was already reaching one’s eyebrows, but she was still pretending to ignore it!
Yao Mi, “…”
Senior Zhou, “…….”
Senior Song, “………………”
All the Peking University students were stunned from shock!
As the bombsh.e.l.l thrown by Zhang Ye was too earth-shattering, this was no longer a simple academic debate. This was also not any simple academic discussion. If what Zhang Ye said was true, not only was the f**king academic world exploding, even a portion of history had to be rewritten!
How could this be true?
How can that be? No one believed!
A male reporter shouted, “Teacher Zhang Ye! Don’t spout nonsense!” He was an avid reader of “Dream of the Red Chamber”, so he naturally could not accept Zhang Ye’s remarks.
Zhang Ye looked at him. “I had previously said that only my students can speak at anytime or raise questions. I don’t want to repeat myself a second time! If you are going to affect the orderliness of my cla.s.s or interfere with my teaching, then please leave. I won’t see you out!”
No matter what Zhang Ye said, this was his cla.s.s. A few Peking University security guards were already staring at the male reporter. The guy leered before angrily sitting down and no longer said a word.
After throwing out such a shocking statement, Zhang Ye appeared very calm and casual. It was as if what he had done was no big deal. He then said into the microphone, “I know many people cannot accept it from an emotional point of view. That is not surprising, but what I say is the truth. And why do I dare to say that? It is because there is a lot of evidence supporting this, and can be easily inferred. This is the type of stuff we will be talking about this semester. Everyone can comment and give your own opinion, but hear me out. We can discuss amongst ourselves before deciding whether what I said is right or wrong.”
Right or wrong?
Of course it’s wrong!
Isn’t that just nonsense!?
Everyone had such thoughts. Even Yao Mi and a small number of students, who especially liked Zhang Ye, or were considered Zhang Ye’s diehard fans could not believe after hearing what he said. There was no way about it. This was a challenge to all their understanding of history and literature! In the textbooks over all the years, the 120 chapters of “Dream of the Red Chamber” was stated to be written by Cao Xueqin. It was already entrenched in everyone’s minds. Even if “Dream of the Red Chamber” was filled with errors, no one questioned that this book was written by someone else!
Someone raised his hand. “Teacher!”
Zhang Ye glanced over. “Please speak.”
The person who stood up was a freshman. He gritted his teeth and said, “I completely disagree with what you said. This is impossible!”
Zhang Ye chuckled and said, “Why is it impossible?”
The freshman was stunned, “There is no why… it’s just impossible!”
Zhang Ye lowered his hands. “Hur Hur, I research in academia. It is based on verification. It has to have historical evidence and logical proofs. Yet you insist that it is impossible without giving a proper reason. Then how are we to carry on this conversation? If we want to argue on this, I can also ask a question. Who can tell me which historical book in history, or any other literary information provides proof that “Dream of the Red Chamber” has a total of 120 chapters? And that all the 120 chapters were written by Mr Cao Xueqin? Is there?”
“That…” The freshman was stumped.
The others could not answer it immediately. Right, in terms of records and validation, there was really nothing about the 120 chapters, but…but…
Many people felt suffocated. They all felt Zhang Ye was wrong, but had no way to retort!
“This student, please take a seat. It is worthy of praise to dare to speak up.” Zhang Ye smiled and did not criticize the student. He said, “My cla.s.s is as such. Everyone might need to be mentally prepared in the future. What I say will shake the foundations of your traditional knowledge. I do not request for you to accept my viewpoints immediately. What I want you to do is just to let go of your so-called logic and calcified understandings. Let go of those preconceptions and mental conflicts. Why don’t all of you try to imagine it. If the last 40 chapters of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ were not written by Cao Xueqin, then what would happen when we study ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’? Could those ‘logical errors’ or ‘major flaws’, that could not be explained, be understood?”
What he said was very intriguing.
Wu Zeqing even raised her eyes when she heard this, “Oh?”
Professor Zeng was exclaimed. He suddenly put aside his mental conflicts and became interested. He wanted to hear what Zhang Ye had to say!
Redology enthusiasts and experts had already studied “Dream of the Red Chamber” for numerous years. They had proposed numerous theories, but none of them made much progress. This resulted in few Redologists and Redology enthusiasts existing in present day!
However, Zhang Ye’s earth-shattering theory had never been proposed before!
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