Overacting

  Her words conveyed a hint of urgency, which made him somewhat pleased with himself. He replied in a letter: "My dear wife, I am exhausting my mind and body to write this story for you. I have been working day and night, and the ideas are flowing like a fountain. Unfortunately, I only have one hand, so it's difficult to write clearly at once. Please be patient, my dear, the story will get better and better... By the way, what do you think of my handwriting? This is my own creation, the Zhen-style thin gold body."

  Zhang replied quickly with a letter that had only one character: ugly.

  Not even half a day passed before another letter arrived: "No slacking off! Write your story quickly."

  Xing Er suddenly became a messenger between the two of them, but later on she refused to do it anymore, saying that they were talking about romance and love, yet she was the one who ended up suffering.

  A month has passed and Zhen's bitter fate has been written up to Qingwen's death.

  The clever Zhang had already sensed a hint of bitterness, and considering that Qin Keqing and Yu Erjie had been written to death by Zhen Niushu earlier, she didn't wait for him to bring the next volume of the manuscript before having Xing'er go find Zhen Niushu and invite him over for dinner.

  Zhen Mingsu arrived at her home, Sun Langzhong and Xing'er were already seated at the dinner table. Zhangshi personally cooked several dishes that Zhen Mingsu loved to eat and brought them up.

  The implication is very strong, and Zhenming is quite pleased with himself.

  After dinner, Sun Langzhong and others tactfully withdrew. Zhangshi broke the deadlock by pulling his hand, walking into her own room, closing the door behind him, turning around, walking to his side, throwing a stack of manuscripts in front of Zhen Mingsu on the table, slightly annoyed, saying:

  "Scoundrel! You've already killed Keqin and Yuer, don't let you harm Qingwen again! She's so pitiful, how can you bear to let her die?!"

  At a glance, she knew that this woman was deeply into the play. He remembered when he saw Qingwen die, he was also very depressed. Qingwen was his favorite character in Dream of Red Mansions, even more so than Lin Daiyu.

  How can she show her strong and independent, free and unbound, unsullied by the mire of life's charm if Keqing Yun doesn't die?

  "I have already finished writing the story."

  Zhen Ming's bitter fate was about to be printed out, and the next few dozen pages were handed over to her. However, Zhang Shi did not dare to reach out and take them, as if deeply afraid that once she took them, the ending of this story could no longer be changed.

  She asked with a nervous face: "Is Qingwen dead?"

  "Just keep watching and you'll know? Don't watch, I'm taking it away."

  Zhang hastily snatched it over, sat on the bed, and eagerly flipped through it, even forgetting when Zhen left.

  ……

  The next morning, before the store opened, a knock at the door was heard.

  Zhen Ming woke up with a start, still half asleep, and opened the door to find Xing Er bursting in, exclaiming: "What on earth did you show Zhang Jie yesterday? She didn't sleep all night, crying nonstop as she read what you wrote. This morning, she got up early and told me to find you, saying she wants to call off the engagement."

  Zhen Ming was so frightened by the words that his sleepiness instantly dissipated, and he didn't even brush his teeth. He hastily put on his clothes and followed Xing Er to Zhang Shi's residence.

  As soon as he pushed open Zhang's door, a cotton pillow flew out from inside and hit him on the head.

  "Zhang's back was against the bed, holding that thick handwritten manuscript in her hand, crying: "Heartless man! Unfeeling rogue! Do you have a grudge against us women? Why did you write about us so miserably? Waaah... You're a murderer! Murderer!"

  She was so into the tragic story that she had no resistance to it. I originally wanted her to appreciate a masterpiece of Chinese literature, but unexpectedly, things took an unexpected turn. This marriage might be doomed if things go wrong. I hastily comforted her: "Elder sister, this is just a fictional story! Who gets so absorbed in a story? There's no such tragic thing in real life! Stop crying, your wound hasn't fully healed yet, what if you make yourself sick?"

  "I've ruined my own body, I'll die my own death, what's it got to do with you?"

  Zhen Ming was so bitter to hear that Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu had also been deceived by her words, and he was indeed seriously ill. He tried to coax and apologize, but unfortunately, Zhang Shi completely ignored his explanation and insisted that he was the murderer.

  Later on, even Sun Langzhong and Kou Dengshan rushed over from the pharmacy after hearing the commotion. When they heard that it was all because of Zhen Ming's miserable story, they couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time.

  Deng Shan gave Zhen Ming Xu a "you're awesome" gesture on the side, and was deeply impressed that he could make Zhang cry with just one story.

  Although it's a bitter fate, one has to know their own bitterness. Zhang wanted to call off the engagement, but had no choice, so he said: "Don't worry, you're just looking at the tragic version. I have another version here, the happy one. Jia Baoyu marries Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, silly Xiangyun, and also gets a lovely little concubine named Qingwen, Miao Yu and Zi Juan as his three wives and four concubines. Every day they drink wine, recite poetry, have fun and live happily, enjoying a life of bliss like the gods."

  Now, he can only use these words to coax her first. If Cao Xueqin really wrote this version, it would probably be Jin Ping Mei instead of Dream of the Red Chamber. Wait until she calms down in a few days, detaches herself from the role, and stabilizes her emotions, then explain clearly to her again.

  Zhang heard this and indeed stopped crying, lifted her head, and asked with tearful eyes: "Really?"

  She was speechless for a moment, looking at her, she had entered the play too deeply, and had completely substituted herself into the female protagonist inside, even his nonsense could not be distinguished. Could it be that she would rather accept Jia Baoyu's polygamy and become a promiscuous young master than accept the fact that they were originally pure and still pure?

  Cao Xueqin vividly portrayed the tragic fate of women under the poisonous influence of feudal etiquette, and Zhang's reaction was extremely intense, with a very dark psychological implication.

  He walked over to her side, sat down, held her hand, looked at her tearfully swollen eyes, and said with utmost sincerity: "Ge Ge, you are not Lin Daiyu, I am not Jia Baoyu? Even if you were Lin Daiyu, I would make you a happy version of Lin Daiyu. Our love story will be written by us together, it must have a happy ending."

  Zhang's family heard this and stared at him blankly, gradually recovering from extreme depression, and after a while whispered: "You are not allowed to have three wives and four concubines."

  Zhen Ming's bitter fate almost made her laugh out loud, but her heart wasn't that broad.

  "What's going on with Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and Qingwen? What are you all talking about? Let me take a look..." Xing'er walked over to Zhang Shi with a puzzled expression, just as she was about to take the thick manuscript from her hand to read, but Zhen Mingyi snatched it away.