There are four major families in the Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Wang Shi Xue, the ancestors of the Jia family, the Duke of Ningguo and the Duke of Rongguo, who are the founding fathers of the country, because of their outstanding military achievements, so their descendants have a hereditary title. The Xue family ancestors were Ziwei Sheren, and Ziwei Sheren was another name for zhongshu Sheren, who belonged to the close courtiers and was responsible for drafting edicts. It can be seen that the Ancestors of the Jia Family and the Xue Family are both prominent in status, but the ancestors of the Jia Family are martial arts, and the ancestors of the Xue Family are civilian officials.
With the development of time, the Jia family changed from wu to Wen, Jia Yu hereditary general of the first class, Jia Zheng was given the title of chief of affairs, and later promoted to the rank of foreign lang of the Ministry of Works, Jia Zhen and Jia Yu also inherited the official position, and was the third general of the Pinjue Weilie. In the dream of the Red Chamber, these people can still take feng lu, and then there is Yuan Chun in the Rongguo Mansion who is a lady in the palace, so although the Jia Mansion is not as powerful as the ancestors, it is still the clan of Zhong Mingding.
After the death of Xue Baochao's grandfather, the Xue family transformed into an imperial merchant, although it can accumulate a lot of wealth, but it is inevitable that there will be a time when the business is depressed, and then Xue Baochao's father died early, Xue Pan is a role that does not do the right thing, and the Xue family is the first to decline in the four major families.
The Dream of the Red Chamber is based on Xue Baochao's generation of Jia Baoyu as the protagonist, so the gap between the Jia family and the Xue family is also obviously revealed, which can be seen from the bowl of soup that Jia Baoyu wants to drink after being beaten.
It is said that Jia Baoyu was violently beaten by Jia Zheng, which alarmed the people up and down Jia Province, because Jia Baoyu was beaten to death, and everyone visited him to express his concern. Aunt Xue and Lady Wang were not far behind, and both Aunt Xue and Lady Wang asked Jia Baoyu, "What do you want to eat, just tell me", Jia Baoyu replied, "But the soup of the little lotus leaf little lotus peng'er made that time is better." ”
Jia Mu hurriedly asked Wang Xifeng to arrange for someone to do it, and Wang Xifeng advised Jia Mu not to worry, first find a mold to make soup, and wait for the mold to be brought, it turned out to be an inch square, a foot long, chiseled with various shapes such as chrysanthemums, plum blossoms, lotuses and other thirty or forty kinds of exquisite things.
Aunt Xue obviously hadn't seen these guys, so she said to Madame Wang, "Your house is really exquisite, a bowl of soup can still make these looks, if you don't say it, I don't know what it's for." Wang Xifeng smiled and answered her doubts, saying that this was "the way they thought of preparing meals in the old year." The so-called old Year meal preparation was prepared for the saint, and although Aunt Xue grew up to Wang Xifeng's generation, her insight in this regard still could not keep up. He also told Jia Baoyu what he wanted to eat and said to his aunt that what Jia Baoyu proposed to eat, Aunt Xue had never seen it at all, and the gap between the Xue family and the Jia family was immediately highlighted.
In fact, the loneliness of the Xue family is not only reflected in this, if we are careful enough, we will find many places to show the "poverty" of the Xue family.
Xing Xianyan borrowed to live in Jia Mansion and temporarily arranged to Jia Yingchun's residence, the same moon silver as Yingchun, but because she had to give one or two to her parents, Yingchun was cowardly, Xing Xianyan made the maid in her room also use silver, so she was stretched thin and had to take off her winter clothes to maintain her daily expenses when the spring was cold. This matter was first discovered by Xue Baochao, at this time Xing Xiuyan had already been betrothed to Xue Tao, but we saw that Xue Baochao did not receive Xing Xiuyan, but Wang Xifeng saw that Xing Xiuyan did not have cotton clothes, and gave her his own cotton clothes to Xing Xiuyan, Jia Tanchun saw that Xing Xiuyan did not have ornaments, so he gave her a jasper pendant.
After Xue Baochao saw xing xiuyan wearing the jade pendant given to her by Jia Tanchun, he kindly advised her that "everything is mainly based on the truth, don't compare with them, our family situation is not as good as before, and now I have long stopped wearing it", which explains the embarrassment of the Xue family not giving Xing Xiuyan something, and also shows that it is really "the family situation is not as good as before". Thinking about the Xue family's daughter-in-law Xing Xiuyan wearing the cotton jacket that Wang Xifeng gave her and the jade pendant that Jia Tanchun gave her, it really hit the Xue family's face.
Not only that, Xue Pan's concubine Xiangling and the little ladies played and soiled the newly made pomegranate skirt, Jia Baoyu was worried that Xiangling would be scolded by Aunt Xue, and gave her the skirt of the attacker. Explain what, show that there was a precedent, which once again hit the Xue family's face.
The Xue family is in Jia Province, although it was initially said that it was their own supply, but as long as it was a major occasion, the Xue family's mother and daughter were present, eating and drinking in vain, and did not do the East to preside over one. I remember that only when Xue Pan set up a fragrant ling, the Xue family set up a banquet.
There is also an interesting plot, after Aunt Xue snowed, she politely said that she wanted to be a guest, and heard Xue Baochao say that Jia Mu was not too happy to disturb Jia Mu to rest early, so she had to give up. This was an obvious empty check, but I did not expect to be caught by Wang Xifeng and quipped, "My aunt first said that 50 taels of silver were put here, I kept it, and as soon as it snowed, I prepared a banquet." Here Wang Xifeng is obviously satirizing Aunt Xue for only speaking and not implementing. In this speech, it can be seen that Aunt Xue's words of setting up a wine and inviting a table are not sincere, not that she can't afford 50 taels of silver, but the scene and insight are not as good as Jia Fu, and there are no fresh tricks, that is, inviting guests is not arrogant.
In Jia Fuzhong, Yingchun, Tanchun, and Xichun, including the later Lin Daiyu, were all of the same specifications, four nurturing grandmothers, one nursing mother, and two handmaidens who were in charge of the house, and five or six young ladies who cleaned the house. And Xue Baochao's side, there is no teaching grandma, no nursing mother, not so many girls, and there are problems with the configuration. The four kings and eight dukes of the Jia family accounted for two, and the Xue family said that they were officials and businessmen, and their status was higher than that of ordinary merchants, but after all, they were merchants, and they could not be compared with the dukes. Even if Jia Fu fell at the beginning of the Dream of the Red Chamber, it was still much higher than the Xue family.