Looking back on Jin Yong's novel "Eight Dragons", Ni Kuang was invited to write the whole story

In Jin Yong 's novel " Tianlong Ba Bu ", Ni Kuang wrote more than 60,000 words on his behalf. Because the content he wrote was too bizarre and the character development went against the original intention, he gradually revised and deleted in the process of Jin Yong's self-summary, which became his own unique narrative style. , thus returning to the true nature of Jin Yong.

Jin Yong's novel "Eight Dragons" was created in 1963. Before the serialization of this book, Jin Yong had completed ten martial arts novels . Among them, "Shooting the Condor Trilogy " established the role of Jin Yong's novels in martial arts novels with the atmosphere of the great heroes. position in. "Dragon Babu" breaks through Jin Yong's previous narrative mode and adopts a group-like narrative mode similar to the Water Margin, with bizarre plots and complicated clues. Because of this, there has been a lot of discussion about this book. However, most of the studies focus on the textual level of the characters and narrative art in the novels, and the problem of Ni Kuang's ghostwriting in Jin Yong's novels has not been deeply involved. Clarifying the length of Ni Kuang's ghostwriting and the ways and reasons for Jin Yong's "de-Ni Kuanghua" will be of great benefit to deeply understand the core of Jin Yong's martial arts world and self-canonization.

1. The length of Ni Kuang’s ghostwriting

During the serialization of this book, there was an interesting incident, which had a great impact on the plot of "Tianlong Babu", and also attracted the attention of many people. The serial creation of Tianlong Babu. At that time, Jin Yong planned to go to Europe to study for a period of time, but the serialization of martial arts novels, one of the main selling points of Ming Pao, could not be stopped, so Jin Yong asked Ni Kuang to write for him for a period of time to maintain the serialization of Tianlong Babu. Ni Kuang readily agreed, and the two communicated about the creative content of this period of time. Jin Yong said: "It is not necessary to follow the original plot, so as not to be incoherent, it is better to write an independent story of its own paragraph." Read Dong Qianli's opinion on Goodbye News. Ni Kuang mentioned "30 to 40 days" and "about 60,000 words" in his recollection of the incident. However, Jin Yong wrote in the postscript of the revised "Tianlong Babu" in 1978: "The "Dragon Babu" began to be serialized in Ming Pao and Singapore's Nanyang Siang Pau in 1963, and it was written for four years. When I was out of Hong Kong, I asked Brother Ni Kuang to write more than 40,000 words on his behalf. The paragraph that Brother Ni Kuang wrote on his behalf is an independent story and has no necessary connection with the whole book. So I asked him to write it on behalf of me because it would be inconvenient for the newspaper to serialize the manuscript for a long time. However, there is no reason to keep other people's works as their own for a long time in the publication of a single edition. Here is an explanation, and I would like to express my gratitude to Brother Ni Kuang for his generosity of writing at that time."

Is it more than 40,000 words or about 60,000? This requires combining the two versions of the work for analysis. According to Ni Kuang's recollection, the content of his ghostwriting was included in the single-volume book when the old edition was published, which means that the "Tianlong Babu" published by the Mangshiji Newspaper Bureau contained Ni Kuang's ghostwriting content.

When Jin Yong came back from his study tour, Ni Kuang's first words when he met him were: "I'm sorry, I made A Zi's eyes blind!" The reason was that Ni Kuang hated A Zi very much. Taking this as a clue and combining the text of the serial version and the triple version, it can be found that the serialized version of "Dragon Babu" has obviously different content from the triple version from the disaster of the disciples in Chapter 89, until the Recruitment List in Chapter 96. The storyline is gradually consistent. More importantly, there is an iconic plot in these seven chapters: A Zi's eyes are blinded. From this, it can be inferred that the content of Ni Kuang's ghostwriting should be in these seven chapters. The plot of these chapters begins when Murong Fu meets Ding Chunqiu in the tavern, and the two begin to fight. Ding Chunqiu blinds A Zi's eyes with his sleeves, and A Zi is rescued by You Tanzhi; You Tanzhi fabricates bliss for A Zi. As Wang Xingtian, the head of the sect, in order to protect A Zi, Ding Chunqiu and Ye Erniang had an encounter; You Tanzhi borrowed a dagger from Feng Bo Ei, removed his iron head, and defeated Ding Chunqiu and won the constellation. The head of the faction; You Tanzhi and A Zi met Po Luo Xing's brother, Zhe Luo Xing, and the "Yi Jin Jing" was also taken away by Zhe Luo Xing. ” was taken away by Jiu Mozhi; Jiu Mozhi tricked You Tanzhi to compete with Duan Yu for internal power, the ice silkworm internal power and Zhu Ha’s magical power were at a stalemate, Murong Fu planned to rescue them, but was preempted by a man in black and a man in white; Tan Zhi accidentally injured a member of the beggar gang. Before this person died, he met Murong Fu and his party, and told them that the princess of Xixia was recruiting a relative. At this point, the storyline is merged with the triple version.

After comprehensively comparing the storylines of the serial version and the triple version, it can be found that the content of these seven chapters has not been completely deleted, and the one content that is obviously retained is that A Zi is blind. When Jin Yong was revising his works, he had a conversation with Ni Kuang. Ni Kuang said, "Azi's eyes are blind, what should you do?" Jin Yong said, "I have my own way!" As a result, the fact that Azi's eyesight is blind will affect future generations. The plot has a very good strengthening effect: You Tanzhi sacrificed his eyes for A Zi, and at the end of the novel, A Zi digs out his eyes again because he doesn't want to owe You Tanzhi anything. In addition, some of the stories written by Ni Kuang were also preserved because A Zi was blind. For example, You Tanzhi made up his identity to take care of A Zi, but Wang Xingtian, the head of bliss in the serialized version, became Zhuang Juxian. You Tanzhi's iron head has also been removed, and the method of removal has changed from a stormy dagger to a means of full crown clearing. Jiu Mozhi finally got the "Book of Changes", and Murong Fu still saw the Xixia recruiting list. Even the foreshadowing of Xiao Yuanshan and Murong Bo who rescued downstream Tanzhi and Duan Yu in black and white is also shown in another form in the triptych: Duan Zhengchun's retainer talks to Duan Yu about his aunt. The Su Murong family's house was strange, Murong Bo's grave was empty, paving the way for the appearance of Murong Bo, the man in white. Through comparison, it can be found that if Jin Yong's 40,000-character statement is used, then the fantasy plot of You Tanzhi and Duan Yu's internal force competition is not included, and this section is close to Ni Kuang in terms of writing, characters, and fantasy. According to Ni Kuang's statement of about 60,000 words, then from the tavern battle to Murong Fu's party's recruitment list, it happened to be more than 60,000 words. Therefore, the author believes that Ni Kuang's statement of more than 60,000 characters is closer to the truth.

2. Jin Yong's method of "removing Ni Kuanghua"

How did these plots go from ghostwriting Ni Kuang to Jin Yong? With the need for Jin Yong's self-canonization, he revised the novel several times. In terms of plot and writing style, through substantial deletions, Ni Kuang was gradually excluded from being too cunning and obviously contrary to the original characters and story settings, and the bridges that helped the story unfold were changed to Jin Yong's unique ones. narrative mode.

Through careful reading of the text, it can be found that Ni Kuang tried his best to maintain the image characteristics of Jin Yong's previous creations in the process of ghostwriting. For example, when describing You Tanzhi, Ni Kuang not only retained his infatuation with A Zi, but also wrote about his cowardly and inferiority. When it comes to marrying Azi as his wife:

Ding Chunqiu said: "When you were apprentice, I said that I would give you Azi as your daughter-in-law, but now she is blind, do you still want her?" You Tanzhi hurriedly said, "Azi is a fairy-like figure. Disciples do not dare to be delusional."

You Tanzhi understood that A Zi only likes a handsome young man like Murong Fu. If you let her know that the person who saved her was Tie Chou who was driven by her to beat and scold her, she would be greatly disappointed, how could she be willing to marry him? He didn't know what it was like...

In the triple version, although this dialogue has been deleted, there is a similar dialogue between Quan Guanqing and You Tanzhi. Quan Guanqing wants to help You Tanzhi remove the iron head, so as to avoid A Zi and You Tanzhi After becoming a couple, Zhi discovers You Tanzhi's "Iron Head Monster":

You Tanzhi's chest warmed, and he said, "Being a husband...a couple, I don't want to, then...that's not possible, how can I...how do I match? But...but..."

In addition, Ding Chunqiu's cruelty, Ye Erniang's strangeness, and Duan Yu's infatuation are all written quite similarly. The reason is that we can find that these people already have relatively complete character descriptions in previous stories. It can be said that Ni Kuang was really cautious when he was ghostwriting, and in different plots, he repeated the stories that Jin Yong once created. Nonetheless, there are still abrupt points in the ghostwriting process, mainly focusing on the description of Xuzhu and Murongfu. For example, Ni Kuang's Xuzhu is very timid:

It turned out that there was a person hiding under the square table. The person thought that he was hiding under the table because of fear. At this time, he stood up, but he forgot to get out of the table before pushing the table up.

The man stood up straight, his eyes were tightly closed, his palms were clasped together, his body was still trembling, and he said, "Amitabha, sin, sin, stop beating, stop beating!" It was Monk Xuzhu. He was a Buddhist disciple and had compassion in his heart. Even though the death was a disciple of the stars, he couldn't bear to see it. ... even trembling again and again, and I couldn't stop chanting Buddha in my heart. ...

Although this episode is in line with Xu Zhu's previous character image, it is too cowardly and has a great conflict with the subsequent image of Xu Zhu. In subsequent versions, this series of descriptions that did not conform to the image of Xuzhu were deleted, leaving only one sentence:

After Ding Chunqiu was defeated and fled, Xu Zhu met with Xiaoyao's disciples, Murong Fu and his party left, and Duan Yu naturally followed behind Wang Yuyan.

In addition, another character whose description is not satisfactory is Murong Fu. In the process of Ni Kuang's ghostwriting, Murong Fu's "personality" was very tall, and A Zi had a good impression of him when he first saw him. When Murong Fu saw A Zi, he also thought that she was beautiful and vulgar, and even A Zi was blind. After You Tanzhi rescued A Zi, A Zi initially thought that it was Murong Fu who rescued her. In the plot of Murong Fu and Ding Chunqiu's fight, Ni Kuang also specially arranged a plot where Duan Yu strayed into the battle and Murong Fu came to the rescue. After the first battle in the tavern, Duan Yu said:

"Brother Murong, I'm leaving." Murong Fu said, "I'm fine too, we just happened to be walking along the way."

But Duan Yu saw Murong Fu's handsome and luxurious demeanor and thought of Wang Yuyan's feelings for his cousin. Instead, Murong Fu greeted Duan Yu:

"Brother Duan, we met by chance and we just had a long talk, why didn't you go?" Duan Yu was in a trance, never heard Murong Fu's call at all, he just walked forward with his head down. Murong Fu called out a few times, but when Duan Yu didn't hear back, he couldn't help but let out a sigh. Feng Poe said loudly, "Young Master, I'll go get him back!" Murong Fu waved his hand and said, "Don't be rude, this is Master Duan of Dali. From now on, when you see him, you must be like me!"

In this story, Ni Kuang wrote Murong Fu as handsome and dashing with martial arts and chivalrous style. However, Murong Fu's image is more prominent in the chapter "Hundred Monks of the Black Han Dynasty". You Tanzhi and Duan Yu competed against each other for internal strength, and it was very difficult to distinguish between "Zhu Ha Shen Gong" and "Ice Silkworm Extraordinary Power". At this time, Jiu Mozhi wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to harm Duan Yu, but Murong Fu felt that the two of them had extremely high internal strength, and had the idea of loving talents, so he stopped and further protected Duan Yu. After You and Duan's internal strength competition went a step further, Murong Fu made up his mind to desperately save these two:

Murong Fu stared blankly at Duan Yu and You Tanzhi, and suddenly said loudly: "Cousin, in this life, my martial arts will not be able to reach this level. Their fight will definitely be in the martial arts in the future. What kind of role will I be in the legend?" Wang Yuyan hasn't answered yet, but Murong Fu has already sneered "hehe": "Just a trivial coward. I was shocked by their inner strength. If you die, you will separate the two of them, and leave your name for a thousand years."

A Zi asked Murong Fu what kind of person "Wang Xingtian" was. Seeing A Zi's infatuation, Murong Fu lied to A Zi that Wang Xingtian was more handsome than him, and his martial arts skills were shocking. After such a long period of shaping by Ni Kuang, Murong Fu has become a "three good warriors" with good looks, good martial arts and good character. After Jin Yong took over and continued to create, the chapter of "Recruiting Prosperity List" immediately described Murong Fu's desire to restore the country, smashing the previously presented image to shreds, as if it was a hypocritical scam.

The main reason why there is such a big difference between the images of Xu Zhu and Murong Fu is that Ni Kuang is not Jin Yong after all, and he cannot grasp what each character looks like in Jin Yong's heart. Before Ni Kuangfu wrote, Xuzhu and Murongfu appeared for a relatively short time. The main characteristics of Xuzhu were pedantic and clumsy. Before Murongfu appeared, his maid, Azhu Abi, and his family were equally famous. Ren Qiao Feng has made his image very high. Therefore, when Ni Kuang was ghostwriting, he wrote the cowardly Xuzhu and the tall and complete Murong Fu.

In general, Ni Kuang carefully arranged the plot in the process of ghostwriting, did not continue to promote the development of the story, and tried to move closer to the previous text in terms of characters. However, traces of Ni Kuang can still be seen in this. For example, Zhe Luoxing rode a big snake to find Poluo Xing, and the internal force duel between You Tanzhi and Duan Yu, which was freezing and steaming, all showed Ni Kuang's " Wesleyan " "Imagination. However, these plots are still too fantastical and at odds with the revised "Dragon Babu". During the serialization of "Tian Long Ba Bu", for the sake of newspaper sales, the novel cannot be interrupted. In this case, Jin Yong asked Ni Kuang to write the novel as a last resort. Ni Kuang really did his best to help his friends, "the burden of thinking is heavy, and there is no time to worry," and Jin Yong also asked Mr. Dong Qianli (Xiang Zhuang) to revise the text. However, after two revisions, the plot written by Ni Kuang has disappeared except for the main plot of A Zi's blindness.

3. Reasons for Jin Yong's "removing Ni Kuanghua"

The reason is as Jin Yong said: "One is that the paragraph that Brother Ni Kuang wrote on his behalf is an independent story, and has no necessary connection with the whole book... There is no reason to keep other people's works as his own for a long time." Second, Jin Yong The pursuit of self-canonization prompted Jin Yong to make large-scale deletions and small-scale changes to this plot. You Tanzhi relied on poison to practice martial arts, and he could also absorb internal force and directly crash Duan Yu in the same book. Therefore, in the subsequent revisions, Duan Yu's martial arts acquisition method has changed to Beiming Shengong, and he has the exclusive feature of inhaling internal force. The main reason for the deletion of the plots of Po Luo Xing and Zhe Luo Xing is that these two people are too closely related to snakes. The number of snakes appearing in Jin Yong's serialized novels is the most among all animals. Snakes, in Jin Yong's novels, have multiple meanings such as evil, gloomy, cold, weird, and dexterous. During the revision, the characters represented by snakes have been deleted and revised on a large scale. People are not the main characters, and most of the natural scenes have been deleted. The third is Jin Yong's "obsession" to move closer to realism as much as possible in the revision of his works. There are many exaggerated or practically impossible places in the characters' personalities and martial arts skills in "Dragon and Babu", such as "Six Meridians Excalibur". "Flaming Knife" and "Bei Ming Shen Gong" Wuyazi passed on the practice, Tongmu's rejuvenation and so on. Although the book "Dragon Babu" is more fantasy than Jin Yong's other novels, Ni Kuang's description of You Tanzhi and Duan Yu's internal force competition is indeed beyond the ability of the world of "Dragon Babu". So it's no surprise that Ni Kuang's ghost-written chapter ends up looking like what we've seen.

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