I am not Ximen Qing.

Don't underestimate Brother Jade! Perhaps after countless years, months, and even tens of thousands of years, this Brother Jade, like the one in *Dream of the Red Chamber*, will also become real. Brother Jade might be by the Guanyin Road, having reincarnated countless times, going to worship Guanyin with Song Yu, like a monk and a Taoist priest, when suddenly they hear the call of the jade stone. Brother Jade will then begin to recount his story. Wouldn't that be perfect material for a novel? These are all imaginings, but imagination is indeed beautiful. Without imagination, without dreams, this city would be utterly meaningless. Meng Liang's abilities are quite impressive, aren't they? Look how he's filled this big house with magical realism, love, and the colors of romance.

Look at how much mythological imagination was used in *The Story of the Stone* to depict Jia Baoyu's love story. From the goddess Nuwa to the fairy Jinghuan, then to the attendant Shenying, and then to the Crimson Pearl Flower that drank the water from Shenying, it turns out that the predestined love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu originated from this. No wonder Lin Daiyu cried all day long for love and romance, and was so worried about her future marriage. If every man wanted to dream of the fairy Jinghuan and see so many fairies dancing the Rainbow Feather Dance in his dreams, it would be like the idyllic scene of the Lotus Breeze at Quyuan Garden in West Lake. It's like encountering the goddess Hibiscus dancing in the wetlands of Olympic Park in summer, with her pure and innocent beauty, her graceful figure, and her delicate and exquisite body, with a pair of lotus flowers dancing gracefully in front of her chest. The Dance of Feathered Robes—many dreams are merely projections of reality. Ximen Qing's back garden was not much less grand than Jia Baoyu's Grand View Garden. However, Ximen Qing's back garden was absolutely open and free; one could drink, sing, play the guqin and pipa, and revel every night. The difference between Jia Baoyu and Ximen Qing is that Jia Baoyu was practically a soulless puppet. The Grand View Garden seemed like a stage, not a paradise of love and romance. Jia Baoyu's love was not real; it was like an actor performing a play. Jia Baoyu's entire world of love seemed fabricated, except for the opening scene where the Fairy Disenchantment appeared and guided Jia Baoyu and Qin Keqing's naive and innocent love affair—this was reminiscent of the dream of the Goddess of Wushan! If we're talking about the most opportunistic and scheming person in the world, it has to be Chen Jingji, Ximen Qing's son-in-law. Chen Jingji, Ximen Qing's seemingly good husband, is a womanizer. Ximen Qing's back garden is indeed a springtime garden, filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers—a true display of spring's beauty. Wu Yueniang leads Pan Jinlian, Li Ping'er, Meng Yulou, Li Jiao'er, Sun Xue'e, and Pang Chunmei. In fact, the most distinctive activity in ancient back gardens was swinging. Wu Yueniang's swings in spring were covered with wisteria and vines, and the beauties swinging in twos and threes created a scene reminiscent of the beauty described in the poem "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River." But when things got really exciting, the women's strength had its limits. Wu Yueniang even made her son-in-law Chen Jingji help the women swing, thus facilitating Chen Jingji's affair with Pan Jinlian and Pang Chunmei. While it leaves room for future developments, its flaws don't detract from its overall excellence. From this perspective, we shouldn't underestimate Ximen Qing's knowledge and artistic level. This is also why the art of *Jin Ping Mei* is far superior to that of *Dream of the Red Chamber*. If we judge art by the standard of truth and falsehood, then *Jin Ping Mei* is absolutely real, and *Dream of the Red Chamber* is absolutely fake. However, to understand the truth of *Jin Ping Mei* and the falsehood of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, we cannot rely on the literal meaning of the words. We must understand from a philosophical perspective that truth and falsehood are relative. It's the truth and falsehood of illusion, the truth and falsehood of Buddhism. At least in Ximen Qing's mansion, the beauties lived truly and realistically, without any constraints, freely enjoying love and romance. This is true beauty, a wonderful experience. In contrast, you can't feel any realism in *Dream of the Red Chamber*. It seems as if all the beauties within are bound and confined. Well, actors in dramas lack flexibility and the will to live; they have no subjective existence, only objective or passive existence. In the pure world of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, the beauties seem to exist only as objects of beauty, like the love depicted in the novel, not something that exists in real life. In contrast, the love and affection in *Jin Ping Mei* are real and authentic. Of course, this isn't fiction; it's based on a large collection of *Jin Ping Mei* DVDs by Meng Liang, possibly from his own collection. The DVDs feature rather explicit images of the famous actress Yang Simin's body. However, it's not easy to discuss the entire *Jin Ping Mei* series now; discussing the original book is just as difficult. The DVDs include a copy of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, whether by coincidence or to deliberately showcase his artistic style, or perhaps it's a case of loving the house because of its contents. It reminds me of the most aesthetically valuable description of Wu Yueniang leading the beauties on swings in the spring. My first impression is that this description was inspired by Cao Zhi's *Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River*. The imagery was incredible. Another source of inspiration came from the flying apsaras in the Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang. The "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River" provided endless inspiration for Gu Kaizhi's masterpiece. The flying apsaras in the Mogao Grottoes also inspired many painters to depict fairies. The "Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River" also subtly conveyed the pure love and romance between Zhen Luo and Cao Zhi. Zhen Luo's beauty was certainly unique; the beauty who could move Cao Cao's heart was no less than Diao Chan, Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao, Xi Shi, Lü Zhu, or Yang Yuhuan. The beauty of Wang Zhaojun... In fact, historically, Cao Cao's masculine nature is most similar to that of Ximen Qing, and Liu Bang is also very similar. I just want to emphasize that Ximen Qing represents the true nature of men, not the stinking body of Jia Baoyu. In reality, men are merely using a broken stone to mask their self-deprecating humor about the mess their love and romantic lives are in. Any man living like Jia Baoyu is a disgrace and a tragedy. Even if a Jia Baoyu existed in real life, he would be an absolute hypocrite, a man without virtue, and utterly irresponsible. Jia Baoyu not only failed to protect himself, but even Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, Miaoyu, Shi Xiangyun, Qingwen, and Xiren became part of the tragedy of the "Burial of Flowers." The luckiest man in the world must be Ximen Qing, without a doubt. This is true, at least in the art of *Jin Ping Mei*!

"Confess how many beauties you were flirting with last night."

"He really doesn't have that ability; he could never become Ximen Qing. That man is too amazing."

"I didn't dream of Pan Jinlian, but she's already stolen your soul."

"It seems that Wu Song and Pan Jinlian had an affair, they got together."

"You changed the fact that the murderer of Wusong City ripped out Pan Jinlian's internal organs, heart, and liver."

"I can't drink such strong tea, it's too strong. Why do you always drink such strong tea?"

"I like it. I just love drinking strong tea like this, the stronger the better, like pouring the tea over my head."

"You can offer your opinions, but I can't. I can't sleep when I'm hungry, that was too painful last night. I couldn't sleep even watching these movies."

Meng Liang dressed in his sportswear; these days, people prefer sportswear and casual wear, at least it's comfortable for work and commuting. He glanced at the girl next door; her door was tightly shut. Perhaps she was a vibrant young woman, or perhaps she was afraid of strangers. The girl's daytime life was like a tightly closed bedroom door—dull, monotonous, and lifeless, much like all rental apartments. They all shared similar environments and characteristics. No matter how strong the light, the darkness of the night couldn't penetrate the darkness of the English graduate student's door. The English graduate student's door, on the other hand, was wide open. Perhaps he hoped to send a signal to the girls with their closed doors: look, he's still a cultured and happy bachelor. A very small and exquisite electric scooter was parked in front of him. Looking in the mirror, Meng Liang thought he looked quite neat when dressed.

"Let's go..."

"Ok"

All five elevators in front of us are busy operating.

"This elevator will do."

"Can"

"kid……"

Meng Liang was quite amiable. The old man was taking his grandson out to play, and it seemed that he and Meng Liang had a good and familiar relationship. Having rented the place for a long time, they had all become neighbors with the other landlords.

"Hello, Uncle, hello Uncle..."

The child awkwardly touched his head, then quickly withdrew his hand; it was quite strange.

"Goodbye"

The child's grandfather greeted Meng Liang, led his grandson out of the elevator, and took out a handkerchief. He wiped the child's face repeatedly.

What's wrong?

Standing on the steps outside Building 8 in Lotus Garden

The child is drooling.

"Hey, a child's saliva isn't dirty, don't worry about it."

"I don't have OCD."

"I'm fine, look at this cigarette butt."

They chased it on the ground, chased it again and again, constantly chasing it, afraid that the cigarette butt might reignite and start a fire.

"You know what? I always feel like this cigarette butt could start a huge fire."

"Stop talking nonsense, stop spouting rubbish."

"I'm not kidding, have you seen the movie? Hughes' movie, in which Hughes sees everything as a virus."

"It's not a mental problem."

"No, let's go, let's buy two boxes of Yellow Crane Tower liquor."

"Coming over here"

Is that okay? It seems like I know almost everyone in the neighborhood. Hey, this neighborhood supposedly has the most prostitutes—not prostitutes, but the most cars, the most cars. I see the implication: what if in the future all these cars become like those in movies, possessing artificial intelligence? That's outdated thinking. We're already in a diverse society where intelligent beings and humans are indistinguishable, a constantly evolving, never-ending diverse society. I oppose humans creating society, treating humans like pets, like in the French film *District 9*, where humans treat aliens like animals. That's wishful thinking. In today's diverse society, intelligent beings and humans coexist harmoniously, without any disagreements. Fairness, openness, freedom, equality—the most equal society without any discrimination. In this diverse society, almost all small convenience stores share a common feature: cigarettes, alcohol, candy, tea, beverages, and bottled water delivery services.

"Two boxes of Yellow Crane Tower liquor"

"19 yuan a box"

"Two boxes"

"No, no, no, I'll pay for all three boxes!"

"Okay, stop embarrassing yourselves. Let's not fight over it. Whoever wants to pay first, pay first. Is that alright?"

"Coming over here"

"Didn't go out"

"Just got back"

"Oh, and please bring another bucket of water upstairs."

Okay, I'll deliver it right away.

"15 yuan, I'm not home, leave it at the door."

"Okay, I need to rest for a while. Don't worry, I'll definitely get water when I get home."

Meng Liang seemed to know the convenience store owner and the old lady quite well; over time they had become good friends.

"By the way, I was helping a friend move that day; I needed someone to help me."

"Love and romantic love require mutual need; don't be afraid. Love and romantic love are not marriage."

"See, he messaged me again. I'm just not replying."

"You should go back. What if you lose love and romance?"

"I can't spoil her for 10 years. Women just want to get married, but I don't. That's how it is; women can't do anything about it."

Why get married?

"Why don't you introduce one of your lovers to me? Let them introduce me to someone, don't get the wrong idea."

"Although I'm not married either, I understand what marriage is. Marriage is good, you know? Ximen Qing had a difficult marriage. Let me tell you what marriage is. Regarding quantum physics, relativity is for experimental proof that e equals mc². How to say it, quantum physics? The theory is quite good, but it can't be proven with time. Imagine a locked room. You put a Persian cat in the room, then a poison gas bottle with a coded trigger. Make a hole in the top of the room. This hole is for transmitting a signal to the trigger. The code..."

"The cat is finished."

"It's not decay or decay that's uncertain."

"Sometimes there's a heat source, sometimes there isn't, understand? That cat represents the man in the marriage, and this locked room represents the many uncertainties in marriage. The uncertainty of quantum mechanics is marriage."

"It's too difficult. I understand it, but not quite. It's a bit confusing, like I don't really understand it."