Ancient concubines can be said to survive in the cracks. The probability of "spoiling a concubine and destroying a wife" is extremely low. After all, women who can do the right wife often have a strong family background behind them, and men are not willing to provoke, and sometimes dare not provoke.
The concubines could only struggle to find a balance between the husband and the wife, neither to lose the favor of the husband, but also to try not to arouse the jealousy of the wife.
At this point, Ping'er in "Dream of the Red Chamber" paid a huge price. In the words of Jia Baoyu, "Ping'er has no parents, brothers, or sisters, and she is alone to provide for Jia Lian and his wife, Jia Lian's customs, and the prestige of Sister Feng'er, and she can be thoughtful and appropriate." In fact, Ping'er's so-called "thoughtful and proper" is at the expense of staying away from Jia Lian, although nominally Jia Lian's concubine, she lives a life like a "widow", she is a very perfect maid, but not a successful concubine.
The most successful concubine in Jia Province was Aunt Zhao. She was able to find her own way out between Jia Zheng and Lady Wang, and gave birth to a son and a daughter for Jia Fu, found a powerful backer for her future, and also let her mother's family get excellent errands because of her success.
The success of Aunt Zhao is because she found the survival strategy of ancient concubines. In this regard, she was smarter than any of the concubines in the Jia House.
First, the timing of Aunt Zhao's appearance was very mysterious.
Timing is important to become a successful concubine. Appearing too early, the position of the wife herself is not yet secure, and the concubine will undoubtedly make the wife feel a threat, and it is bound to be eliminated quickly. For example, the original two concubines in Jia Lian's room were assigned to Jia Lian when Wang Xifeng had not yet married into the door. Of course, this would make Wang Xifeng feel unhappy. Their being picked up can be imagined.
In fact, it was not only Jia Lian's two concubines before marriage that this ended. Every young master in Jia Fu had two concubines before they became relatives. These women almost never appear in "Dream of the Red Chamber" again, and their existence itself will make the wife feel threatened in her heart.
Even the attacker, who had a very good relationship with Xue Baochao, was thrown out after Jia Baoyu got married. Therefore, a successful concubine should appear at the right time.
Aunt Zhao is such a kind of existence. She appeared after Lady Wang gave birth to two sons and a daughter for Jia Zheng. At this time, Lady Wang's position in Jia Province was unshakable, and her children were also the concubines and eldest sons of the Jia family. Coupled with the rich and noble families in ancient times, if there were few concubines, the right wife would be given the notoriety of "humble woman", and several suitable concubines would be arranged for Jia Zheng, which was Lady Wang's top priority. The appearance of Aunt Zhao met this need of Madame Wang.
It is not difficult to imagine that if Wang Xifeng had two or three sons, and he was getting older day by day, he would not be too resistant to Jia Lianna's concubine.
Second, Aunt Zhao is very good at pleasing Madame Wang.
Although Madame Wang accepted the existence of Aunt Zhao, it definitely did not mean that Madame Wang would like Aunt Zhao. Aunt Zhao was also very aware of this in her heart, so no matter when and where, Aunt Zhao was bent on currying favor with Lady Wang.
She praised Madame Wang as a "good wife", saying that Madame Wang "had grace and nowhere to go", and she got a gift from Xue Baochao to Jia Huan, and she also had to go to Madame Wang to praise her. As the saying goes, "reach out and don't hit the smiley face person", Aunt Zhao's humble knees, curved to meet, although it does not change Madame Wang's dislike of her, but Madame Wang can only completely recognize the existence of Aunt Zhao.
Third, Aunt Zhao knows how to pretend to be stupid in moderation.
A concubine who is too shrewd cannot reassure his wife. And Aunt Zhao, in the eyes of outsiders, is a stupid woman. She always went to two ends for three days, making some noise in Jia Province, making people laugh at her to the extreme.
Aunt Zhao looked stupid, but actually had a number in mind. No matter how noisy she was, she would never challenge Madame Wang's authority. Therefore, Madame Wang can also be more assured of Aunt Zhao.
In contrast, the other concubines in Jia Mansion were not as shrewd as Aunt Zhao, and they either only cared about competing with their wives, such as Qiu Tong and others; or they always hung their grievances on their faces, such as Second Sister You.
Therefore, Second Sister You died a particularly tragic death. Ming Ming and Wang Xifeng are not a heavyweight, but they are still dreaming of becoming the next grandmother.
The survival strategies of ancient concubines are nothing more than this, not only to appear at the right time, but also to know how to pretend to be stupid, and not to touch the interests of the right wife. Aunt Zhao was well versed in this way, so although she could not avoid being wronged in Jia Province, she lived a relatively moist life; Second Sister You did not understand the stakes at all, and in just a few months, she was eliminated.