A matchmaker for a withered flower.(落花媒人)
During the Yuan dynasty in China, there was
a famous playwright named Guan Hanqing.
He wrote over 60 plays in his lifetime,
covering a wide range of subjects. Through these, he reflected the various
phenomena and realities of the social environment at the time.
One of his plays features a female
protagonist named Tan Ji'er and a male protagonist named Bai Shizhong. This
play also features a villain named Yang Yanei.
Bai Shizhong is a central government
official and the mayor of Tanzhou city. He is married to Tan Ji'er.
Wanting to take Tan Ji'er away from Bai
Shizhong, Yang Yanei slanders and defames him before the king.
Believing Yang Yanei's words, the king
gives him a sword and a plaque representing the king, authorising him to handle
the matter on the king's behalf.
Yang Yanei happily travels to Tanzhou with
two trusted subordinates. The three men arrive in Tanzhou City on the day of
the Mid-Autumn Festival, an important Chinese holiday.
His two henchmen prepared some excellent
Chinese rice wine and food to flatter him. Yang Yanei happily drank the rice
wine while admiring the bright moon.
Suddenly, a fishmonger appeared outside the
boat. After exchanging a few words with her, he and his men bought some fish
and asked her to cook it for them.
They ate delicious sashimi and drank
expensive rice wine. As night fell, the three of them became unknowingly drunk.
Seeing that they were drunk, the woman
removed her hat. Her face was revealed, and she was wearing heavy makeup.
Yang Yanei, a lecherous man, began to
harass the fishmonger. He demanded that she drink Chinese rice wine with them,
and she complied, drinking several cups.
As Yang Yanei became more and more drunk,
his words became increasingly outrageous. Seeing that the woman wasn't putting
up much of a fight, Yang Yanei became even bolder, saying to her:
'I like you very much. If you're willing, I
can take you as my concubine.'
To demonstrate the sincerity of his
promise, he said to one of his henchmen,
'This woman and I like each other. We've
decided to marry. I now order you two to be our matchmakers. You will be
responsible for all the follow-up work after the wedding.'
The four of them drank and chatted idly. As
the night wore on, Yang Yanei and his two henchmen consumed large quantities of
Chinese rice wine and eventually fell asleep in the cabin.
Once they were asleep, the woman carefully
approached Yang Yanei. She stole the sword and plaque representing the king
that he was carrying and quietly left the ship.
This idiom translates literally as 'a
matchmaker for a withered flower'.
It can be used to describe someone who acts
as a matchmaker for a couple who are already engaged without putting in any
effort or time.
Dear friend, what inspiration or thoughts did you gain from this story?
How do you react when you're drunk? How would you deal with verbal sexual harassment?
I hope this story gives you some
new insights.
落花媒人(A matchmaker for a withered flower.)
中國的元王朝有一個非常著名的劇作家，他的名字叫做關漢卿。
他創作的題材非常的廣泛，一生中寫出了超過60部的戲劇作品，他藉由他寫的作品反映出當時的社會環境的各種現象與當時的各種社會現實。
他寫的諸多作品中，有一部作品的女主角的名字叫做譚記兒，男主角的名字叫做白士中，這部戲中有一個反派人物，這個反派人物的名字叫做楊衙內。
白士中是一個中央政府的官員，他是(潭州)市的市長，他娶了(譚記兒)為妻。
楊衙內為了要把譚記兒從白士中的身邊搶過來，所以他在國王面前毀謗與抹黑白士中。
國王相信了楊衙內的話，所以給了楊衙內一把代表國王的劍與一塊代表國王的牌子並授權楊衙內代表國王處理這個事件。
楊衙內很開心的帶著自己兩個很信任的下屬一起前往(潭州)。他們三個人到潭州市那一天剛好是中國的中秋節，這是一個中國人非常重要的節日。
楊衙內的這兩個手下對楊衙內準備了一些很棒的中國米酒與一些食物來奉承楊衙內，楊衙內很開心地喝著中國米酒邊欣賞明亮的月亮。
就在這個時候船外出現了一個賣魚的婦人，楊衙內與他的兩個手下跟這個婦人交談了幾句話之後，他們便跟這個婦人買了魚並且請這個婦人為他們料理他們所買的魚。
楊衙內與他的兩個手下吃著美味的生魚片然後喝著高檔的中國米酒，隨著夜愈來愈深，他們三個人也不知不覺的喝醉了。
這個婦人看到楊衙內和他的手下都已經喝醉，她就拿下了自己的帽子，脫下帽子的婦人露出她的臉，她的臉上畫著非常濃的妝。
楊衙內本來就是一個很好色的人，他開始調戲這個賣魚的婦人，他開始要求這個婦人陪他們三個人喝中國米酒，那個婦人也順著楊衙內的要求喝了好幾杯中國米酒。
隨著楊衙內愈來愈醉，他的言語也愈來愈放肆，這個婦人也沒有特別抗拒的意思，所以楊衙內變得更加的大膽，他就對那個婦人說。
我很喜歡妳，如果你願意，我可以娶妳做我的妾。
為了表示自己的承諾的都是真實的，楊衙內對他的其中一個手下說。
我與這個婦人相互喜歡，我們已經確定要結婚了，我現在命令你們當我們的媒人，你負責我們兩個人結婚的後續所有的工作。
他們四個人就這樣邊喝酒邊說些沒有重點與主題的話，隨著夜愈來愈深，楊衙內與他的兩個手下都喝了過量的中國米酒，他們三個人就在船艙中睡著了。
他們三個人睡著之後，那個婦人就很小心地走到楊衙內的身邊，這個婦人把楊衙內所帶的的那一把代表國王的劍與一塊代表國王的牌子偷走後就悄悄地離開了這艘船。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思一個為已經凋謝的花做媒的人。
這句成語可以被用來形容一個人去當一對已經確定要結婚的人的媒人，這個人不用花任何心思與時間就可以當一個媒人。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的啟發或有怎樣的想法呢。
你喝醉之後會有怎樣的反應呢?當你遇到有人對你的言語性騷擾時，你會怎樣應對呢?
我期待這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為元-關漢卿-望江亭中秋切鱠-第二折
https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E6%9C%9B%E6%B1%9F%E4%BA%AD%E4%B8%AD%E7%A7%8B%E5%88%87%E9%B1%A0