Margaret's Secret

Chapter 1 Prologue: Hold Your Lover's Head

Cai Jun
When I was 17 years old, I read Stendhal's "Red and Black" for the first time.

Chapter 40 in the book is titled "Queen Marguerite", and at the beginning there is a quote from "Letters of Portuguese Nuns" - "Love! What kind of madness can you not achieve in order to let us find joy?" Then, Julien Just in the dining room, I saw Miss Mathilde, the daughter of the Marquis de La Mole, wearing a black mourning dress.The astonished Julien soon got the answer—on April 1574, 4, De La Mole, the most handsome young man in France at that time, was beheaded in the beach square in Paris.De La Mole is a loyal minister of King Henry of Navarre, but also a lover of Henry's wife, Princess Margaret of the Valois Dynasty.De La Mole led two hundred knights to the St. Germain's Wall in order to rescue King Henry, but was arrested and ordered to die.The decapitated de La Mole is the ancestor of the de La Mole whom Julien now serves.But it was the last princess of the Valois dynasty and the founding queen of the Bourbon dynasty—Queen Margaret, who was famous for her passion and romance, who was really moved to make Mathilde wear filial piety. After de La Mole was beheaded, he asked the executioner for his lover's head back. "At midnight the next day, she took the head and sat in her carriage, came to a small church at the foot of Montmartre, and buried it with her own hands." Therefore, "Miss de La Mole's name It's called 'Matilde Margaret'." Every April 30, she will wear a black mourning dress with heavy filial piety to commemorate her ancestors and Queen Margaret. At the end of "The Red and the Black", Mathilde Marguerite, the infatuated and bold woman, buried the dead Julien.In my 4-year-old mind, I can’t get rid of this image—late night in Paris in the 30th century, a woman in black, with skin like snow and hair like ebony, holding the head of her lover, stained with blood all over her body, Walking under the walls of the Louvre...

In 2000, I wrote a short story: "The Lover's Head". It was about a man who was beheaded in public in an unknown age, but the severed head was still conscious. He saw his beloved woman from the palace. He escaped and sneaked into the mountains with his head to live in seclusion.Years later, when the woman grew old and died, the lover's head remained as young as ever.

In my second novel "The Curse", I used such a picture as the drama poster in the novel-I think only such love can show the tragedy and magnificence of birth and death.

Later, I still couldn't forget the story of "Red and Black" and Queen Margaret, and I happened to watch "Queen Margot" (French film, starring Adjani, Queen Margot is Margaret, Da Zhong Ma has written a legendary historical novel) movie for it, so he wants to write a full-length suspense novel for it.

Finally, from October to December 2004, I completed "Marguerite's Secret".It is ashamed to say that when the writing of this book was drawing to a close, it was the time when I was most depressed and low that year, and I stopped writing for several weeks.However, in the end, I wiped away my tears and continued typing on the keyboard to complete the last few chapters, which can be regarded as comforting the souls of Queen Margaret and Stendhal.

As for the content of the novel, those who have read it will naturally remember it, and I cannot spoil it for those who have not read it.It's just that if you can look up the information about the French Huguenot War in the 16th century, including the history of the Valois royal family and the Bourbon royal family, in the process of reading "Marguerite's Secret", you will be more interested. Thoroughly understand the fate of the protagonist in history, maybe also think of his own life in this chaotic world.

Almost throughout 2005, this work was serialized in the magazine "Sprout" until it was published by Relay Publishing House in January 2006, thanks to Zhu Juanjuan, the editor in charge at the time—coincidentally, just five years later, "Margaret's Secret" When the hardcover collector's edition was published, my latest novel "Murder in Time" has just been serialized in "Sprout".It's going to run for a long time like before, and you'll see it on Budding throughout the first half of 1—the difference is that I've grown up a lot, and Murder Past is no longer about history and interpretation. It is not a story of mystery, but a reflection on the society we live in now, which is another kind of unforgettable love.

When you finish reading this collector's edition of "Margaret's Secret", you will know who murdered Margaret more than 400 years ago.This is also the source of all her tragedies.

So, do you know - who murdered our homecoming?

The Collector's Edition of "Marguerite's Secret" also includes my short story "The Lover's Head" written in 2000, and the opening work of my latest novella series "The Silent Beast" (six years long) in 2010. Million words).

Finally, thank you for your company over the years!

If you are willing to continue wandering in my text world, please follow me to uncover the mystery of "Murder Past Time" in 2011.

Friday, November 2010, 11 in Shanghai

(End of this chapter)