Zhang Ye shook his hand and said, “That’s different. It’s completely different in concept. The logical errors after the eightieth is not something you can explain away by modifying a few words or paragraphs. That involves the entire book’s layout. It involves an error with the core thinking process. We will find it very hard to believe that Cao Xueqin’s original intent of causing the Jia family to be ‘left the landscape desolate and bare’. Yet, he suddenly changed to allow the Jia family to be revived. Grandmother Jia was originally a loving grandmother, but the author suddenly changed her into a heartless family elder. Jia Baoyu was originally ‘for uselessness the world’s prize he might bear; his gracelessness in history has no peer’, but the author suddenly made him want to bring glory to his ancestors. We find it even harder to believe that Cao Xueqin went from a person who had seen through the ephemeral nature of life, to suddenly a person who was passionate about fame and glory!”
Zhang Ye’s mincing of words with the parallel sentences made those Redologists speechless!
Zhang Ye said, “When people write their theses, they will go back and change some minor details. They can also change some text. They would adjust some typographical errors, but will you change the core idea of your theses and central point of view? Impossible! So using this to explain it away doesn’t make sense either!”