Wu tianzhang, a poet in the Qing Dynasty, said:
Lady peach blossom
Lady peach blossom is a good color, flying out of the clouds in the middle of the month.
The new Thanksgiving is still grateful. Once the city is gone, then the country is gone.
This lady of peach blossom is the wife of the monarch of the state of Xi in the spring and Autumn period. She was born in an aristocratic family with the surname GUI in the state of Chen. She is also called “Lady of peach blossom” because of her unique appearance and peach blossom face.
According to Zuo Zhuan, in the ten years of Duke Lu Zhuang, Xi GUI and her sister got married successively. Her sister married Marquis Cai AI and her sister married Marquis Xi. Later, when Mrs. Xi returned to her mother’s house, she happened to pass by the state of CAI. Unexpectedly, Cai aihou, who is his brother-in-law, has long heard of his sister-in-law’s beauty and wishes to have a look at it. Now that she is here, why not see her? Cai AI Hou said excitedly, “this is my sister-in-law. How can I not see her?” Therefore, despite the busy state affairs, he sent someone to invite Mrs. Xi to the palace.
Perhaps it was Mrs. Xi’s beauty that fascinated him. Maybe the wine at the banquet that day was too sweet. Or, it was really “everyone gets drunk if he is not drunk”. Cai aihou openly teased Mrs. Xi, and his words and deeds were very impolite.
The wife of the monarch of a great country was unexpectedly insulted by such an insult. Mrs. Xi was naturally very angry. It was quite natural to go back to Xi country and tell her husband about it.
Xi Hou was naturally angry after knowing that not only his rights as a husband had been unreasonably violated, but also his dignity as the king of a country had been rudely trampled on. How could he swallow this tone?
So far, things have become complicated. If Mrs. Xi is just a daughter-in-law of ordinary people and is molested for no reason, it is at most her husband who comes to the door and quarrels. The grumpy one is just swinging his fist to beat up this lecherous brother-in-law, which is no big deal.
However, the three people in this scandal are all the monarchs or their wives of a great country. The nature of the matter immediately changed, the insult they received was doubled, and the desire for revenge was infinitely exaggerated.
Of course, Xi Hou wanted to attack Cai immediately, but his national strength was too weak. It was almost impossible to complete this revenge plan by his own strength. Perhaps, this is also the strong psychological basis for Cai hou to dare to openly flirt with his sister-in-law. He saw Xi Hou’s helplessness and powerlessness.
However, he made a fatal mistake. He underestimated the great power of a man’s self-esteem. After careful consideration, Xi Hou sent a secret envoy to see King Wen of Chu, asking the state of Chu to attack Xi falsely and jointly attack Cai AI when he came to the rescue.
His scheme was indeed successful. The Allied forces of Chu and Xi defeated Cai Guo in Shendi. Cai AI Hou had to give a banquet to make amends. Xi Hou finally took advantage of the hand of King Wen of Chu to express his evil spirit.
Of course, Shendi’s defeat has also become a thorn in CAI aihou’s heart, and no matter how much joy can’t pull it out. He hates xihou. How can he, his boy, marry such a fairy like beauty and enjoy all his happiness? He hated fate more. Why did he treat himself so unfairly? It was the same two sisters. Why did he arrange to marry a beautiful and mediocre sister instead of that gorgeous sister? Envy breeds, spreads and grows wildly in his heart every night. There is a fire in his heart. If he wants to be driven crazy by this fire, he must do something to revenge those happy people to comfort his misfortune and loss.
The opportunity finally came. In the 14th year of Duke Lu Zhuang, when caiaihou was drinking with King Wen of Chu, he deliberately exaggerated the beauty of Madam Xi in front of King Wen of Chu, awakening the lustful beast in King Wen’s heart and roaring.
As expected, King Wen of Chu went to Xi state and met Mrs. Xi as he wished. Naturally, he was also captured by Mrs. Xi’s beauty and was shocked. Such a beauty is worthy of men all over the world, no matter how much they pay, they should also have it. At the moment when he saw Mrs. Xi, he understood Cai Hou’s uncontrollability and forgave Cai Hou’s incomprehensible mistakes as a man, because he was going to make the same mistakes. However, he did it more thoroughly – he destroyed the rest of the country.
The beauty of Madam Xi easily destroyed Xi country. She became the woman of King Wen of Chu, from the arms of one man to the arms of another man.
Mrs. Xi, who is in the Chu palace, is undoubtedly favored, but she is also lonely and helpless. The man she loves has already lost his home and country for her, and he doesn’t know where his soul is going; The man beside her undoubtedly loves her and treats her like a treasure in her hand. However, she has no way to love him, although she has given birth to two sons for him.
People are not plants, who can be ruthless? How could she not feel the love of the king of Chu for her? However, at the thought of sighing, she had no face to face. Except for sighing, she could only be silent. This silence is recorded in Zuo Zhuan:
Chu Zi asked, and said, “I am a woman and two husbands. Even if Fu can die, he taunts me?”
Yes, what can I say? Her beauty is involuntarily, and her fate is so helpless.
Her silence, perhaps there is deep resentment for others and herself.
She may be regretting that she shouldn’t have told her husband about her humiliation at the beginning. If she chose silence and pretended that nothing had happened at that time, where would there be subsequent flames of war?
She may be resenting. If at first Cai AI could control her sinister mouth, not boast her beauty in front of the king of Chu, and make her beauty a secret that only a few people know, where would she suffer from homelessness and no country to vote for?
Stop, stop, stop, she can’t control the long public mouth in the world, but she can control her mouth, let all emotions be buried in her heart, let all words be sealed, in the face of endless torture and pain, she is speechless and speechless.
Mrs. Xi’s silence indirectly destroyed another country.
Facing her resolute and permanent silence, King Wen of Chu had nothing to do, so he had to blame all this on CAI aihou’s nonsense. In order to calm his wife’s anger and reduce his frustration, he sent troops to destroy Cai Guo.
For Mrs. Xi’s silence, later generations cannot and are unwilling to be silent. Scholars and poets of all dynasties often write and chant comments. Almost everyone is asking: Mrs. Xi, you have the courage and determination to be silent, why don’t you have the courage and determination to die?
There are too many people in later generations who are not willing to let madam Xi die, so Liu Xiang arranged another ending for her in the biographies of women:
Chu cut interest and broke it. Take his king, make him guard the door, and take his wife and his wife into the palace. When the king of Chu went on a trip, his wife went out to see Xi Jun and said, “life is just a death. Why bother yourself? I don’t forget you for a moment, and I won’t marry you again with my body. Being born on the ground is like dying on the ground!” It is a poem that says, “valley is different, death is the same hole. If you don’t believe it, it’s like the sun”. Xi Jun stopped it, but his wife didn’t listen, so she committed suicide, and Xi Jun also committed suicide. Die on the same day. The king of Chu Xian and his wife were righteous and were buried with the rites of the princes.
Chinese men are always extreme in dealing with women: you can either be a Pan Jinlian like slut with endless desires, be unscrupulous and shameless, and simply can’t live a day without a man, and deserve to be nailed to the pillar of moral shame for generations; You can either be a virtuous and virtuous chaste martyr with a pure heart and few desires. In order to preserve chastity, it is natural for you to sacrifice your life to fulfill your loyalty to a man.
Therefore, we cannot tolerate the sadness of Mrs. Xi’s life, and we can only accept her dead loyalty. For her pain, we think it is worthless. For a beauty like her, only her martyrdom can get our forgiveness, just as we finally forgive Lvzhu and praise her loyalty.