Chapter 321 - Unprecedented! (1/2)

“Ha? What?”

“108 chapters?”

“That’s impossible. I’m fainting!”

“Teacher Zhang won’t stop till he scares you to death!”

“Why does it have to be 108 chapters? Why is the number so precise?”

There was quite a stir from the seats. From the Peking University students’ expression and speech, they showed their distrust. They could not believe nor accept it. After all, the 120 chapters of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ was entrenched too deeply in their hearts. We could forget that you said that the chapters after chapter 80 of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ were written by someone else, but now, great. You even denied the number 120?

The Redologist, Old Yang, immediately refuted, “Nonsense!”

Teacher Yang’s voice was very loud. The venue quickly quieted down!

The students all looked to see who had spoken. As the voice was output from speakers through the microphone, they could not tell the source of the voice. They could look around with their eyes. Finally, they found the person who spoke. Everyone looked towards the first row, where all the figures from the literary world were sitting.

“Who’s that?”

“There’s a recording. How can you shout like that?!”

“That’s a Redologist, his surname is Yang. I’ve previously seen his lecture materials.”

“I also know this Teacher Yang. He has been studying ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ all his life. He’s pretty famous.”

The Peking University students all knew that the literary world was beginning to dismantle Zhang Ye.

Meng Dongguo also spoke. He was one of the people who held a microphone. He looked at Zhang Ye and said in an impolite tone, “What makes you say that? To study Redology, one needs to talk about evidence. Even though you provided a Qing dynasty poet’s poem yesterday, with a note saying ‘Chapters after the eightieth were all supplemented by Lanshu’. Ignoring the note, even if that were the case, it only mentioned ‘after the eightieth”. How did this number 108 appear? Is there information recording the chapter t.i.tles of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’?”

Zhang Ye said calmly, “There are no records.”

The Writers’ a.s.sociation’s Vice President Yan Yu said, “Then how do you know?”

Zhang Ye smiled and was not bothered by their refutes and doubts. He said, “I previously mentioned that I would not be a.n.a.lyzing them from a historical standpoint with information today. I only want to use the original text to a.n.a.lyze and explain. Sometimes, the information can be a lie, or in various ways, indeterministic. However, we are studying the book, ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’, so we need to study its contents. That cannot be a lie. It’s also the most irrefutable evidence. Why do I dare say that ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ has 108 chapters instead of 120? The proof is in the book!”

He took out the information.

This time, there was a Peking University staff member off stage who helped Zhang Ye sort the doc.u.ments. According to Zhang Ye’s request, he would project it on screen.

Everyone frowned upon seeing it.

“What is that?

“Isn’t this the original text of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’?”

“What’s there to see? I’ve seen it numerous times!”

Zhang Ye leisurely pointed to the screen. “This is the most authoritative 120 circulated chapter version of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ that one can buy on the market. I believe many amongst you have already read it. Some of you have read it more than once, and might have even read it eight or ten times. Some might have dissected it in various ways to research it. Then why would I take this out today? The reason is to help everyone recall something. This is because everyone has overlooked important information and missed the great secret hidden within ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’. According to my research, I can tell everyone that Cao Xueqin’s ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ has an internal textual structure. It is a book with a nine by twelve format!”

“Nine by twelve?”

“How can you tell?”

“Why have I never discovered such a rule?”

The students were surprised. The people from the literary world looked unconvinced.

Even Redologists, like Yan Yu and Teacher Yang, had never researched or proved this rule. The people of this world didn’t even think of it. This was because they had always believed the 120 chapters of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ were all written by Cao Xueqin. Naturally, their thinking was restricted as a result. It was not that this world’s people were not as intelligent as those from Zhang Ye’s world, but rather it was due to certain objective factors.

This conclusion was suggest by Mr Zhou Ruchang from Zhang Ye’s world. Liu Xinwu’s “The True Ending of the novel ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’” also mentioned it.

Zhang Ye said to the audience, “Cao Xueqin’s ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ is very strict. In general, every nine chapters is one unit. The book has a total of twelve, nine-chapter units. ” With a slight pause, he continued, “I can tell many do not believe this. Then shall we discuss this in depth? Yes, let’s look at the first 80 chapters of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ that we all can read together. It can be clearly seen that the first chapter to the ninth chapter is a unit. And the ninth to the eighteenth chapter is another unit. Two times nine is eighteen. Let’s first look at the first unit. Does everyone remember what the eighteenth chapter is about? What is stated in the book? It writes about the Imperial Concubine’s paying a visit to her family!”

The screen changed to Chapter 17 and 18 of “Dream of the Red Chamber”.