In the first eighty times of "Dream of the Red Chamber", in the last Mid-Autumn Festival, it has been written a little desolate, especially between Mrs. Wang and Jia Mu's small talk, revealing that the Zhen family has raided the house, and Jia Mu's only light response, only to say that we do not talk about other people's affairs, and discuss the matter of this year's Mid-Autumn Festival, we know that Jia Mu's attitude towards the matter of copying the family is to avoid talking.
By the 106th time of the continuation, the Jia family was in a state of decline, Feng Jie was sick, Ping'er guarded her day and night, and worried that she was looking for short-sightedness, it was Jia Mu who thought of Feng Jie when she was idle, so she asked Mandarin Duck to take some of her body to Feng Jie, and asked someone to take some money to Ping'er, let her serve Feng Jie well, and said that she would slowly distribute other belongings.
How to distribute it slowly?
As the saying goes, a bowl of water is flat, but in fact, in many families, it is almost impossible to achieve a bowl of water flat. Jia Fu was once a very large and prosperous family, the original power was extremely noble, after the defeat of the family, Jia Mu, as the old ancestor, supported in the illness, but also wanted to take care of the people up and down the family, etc., which has to be said to be her motherly heart, is the responsibility and obligation of many family parents. And look at the original text:
(Jia Mu) also ordered Lady Wang to take care of Lady Xing. At this time, the first official of the Ningguo Government, all the property, real estate, etc., and the household slaves, etc., have been compiled and collected. Here Jia Mu ordered someone to pick up You's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Poor Hehenin Province, only two of their mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, Pei Feng and Kai Luan, not even one subordinate. Jia Mu pointed out that the house was inhabited, and it was on the wall where Xi Chun lived, and sent four mother-in-law and two servants to serve. A meal should be distributed in the large kitchen, the dress and things are sent by Jia Mu, and the sporadic needs to be used in the accounting room, according to the number of monthly routines per person in Rong Province.
From Jia Mu's measures, it can be seen that she not only has a heavy attitude, but also takes into account the thoughtfulness and is basically fair.
Jia Mu's most painful things on weekdays should be Baoyu and Fengjie. However, Bao Yu had just married at that time, and all the food and living had bao chao and raiders to take care of him, so Jia Mu did not take too much care of him. At this time, Jia Mu's heart was concerned about Sister Feng, Lady Xing, and the unpopular Grandmother Zhen of Ning Province.
Although Jia Mu hurt Feng Jie, but at this time Feng Jie was sick and dying, and Jia Mu's care for her was on the one hand out of love, on the other hand, it was also an objective reason. Speaking of Lady Xing, she is a very unpleasant person, as a mother-in-law, Jia Mu is quite unkind to this eldest daughter-in-law, but at this time and another time, after the Jia family had an accident, Lady Xing was involved because of Jia's pardon, and Jia Mu put down her dissatisfaction with the Dafang couple at this time and let Lady Wang take care of Lady Xing.
It can be seen that at the critical moment, she is acting with a public heart, not just selfishness. If Jia Mu is really eccentric, at this time, she can "concentrate money and money to do big things" and only take care of people close to herself and Bao Yufengjie, so why should she take care of her hated eldest daughter-in-law?
As for the Ningguo Mansion, because property, premises, household slaves, etc. were confiscated, they needed to be taken care of. Ning Guo Fu and Rong Guo Fu, ancestral two brothers, from their ancestors Jia Yan, Jia Yuan because of their military achievements, experienced the generation of characters, the generation of characters, the generation of jade characters, to the youngest generation of cursive characters, has been five generations, put into the current society, such a relationship is a very distant distant relatives, but in that society, such a family relationship is still often moving around, relatively close.
The reason why Ning Fu and Rong Fu often move around is also because of the need to hold together for political reasons such as family development, at this time, Ning Fu is guilty, and Jia Mu can take such care of You's mother-in-law, which is really touching.
You know, the original text points out that many household slaves in Jia Province saw the defeat of the main family, "so they took advantage of this to make ghosts, and borrowed some of the Dongzhuang taxes by name", the people's hearts were cold and thin, and Jia Mu did not avoid Ning Province, but took the initiative to support You's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, willing to pull them, in addition to that little blood kinship and family concept, it can also be seen that Jia Mu's usual compassion, compassion for Liu Grandma and the Qingfu Guan Xiao Daoist, is not just superficial work.
But the most touching thing is the plot of Jia Mu burning incense and praying:
Moreover, it is said that Jia Mu saw that the ancestors had been dismissed, and now the descendants were in the custody and interrogation, Lady Xing, You Shi, etc. were crying day and night, and Sister Feng was dying, although there were Baoyu and Baochao on the side, they could only be persuaded, and they could not share their worries, so they were restless day and night, and after thinking about it, the tears did not dry. One evening, he told Bao Yu to go back, sat up on his own, asked Mandarin ducks and other Buddhist halls to put incense on incense, and ordered him to burn incense in his courtyard, and he used crutches to go out of the courtyard.
Amber knew that the old lady worshiped the Buddha, laying a big red short felt prayer mat. Jia Mu knelt down on the incense, prostrated her head a lot, recited the Buddha, and with tears blessed the heavens and the earth: "The Emperor Heavenly Bodhisattva is on the top, and I, Jia Men Shi, pray sincerely, and ask the bodhisattva for mercy." For several lifetimes, I did not dare to commit fierce and domineering. I help my husband and son, but I cannot do good, but I dare not do evil. It must be the descendants of the children and grandchildren who are arrogant and violent, and violently destroy the heavenly things, so that the government will copy and inspect. Now my children and grandchildren are imprisoned, and naturally there are many evils and fewer evils, all of which are sinned by me alone, and I do not teach my children and grandchildren, so this is the end. I now ask the Emperor for Heaven's blessing: in prison, I will settle down early when I am sick. There is always a family sin, and I am willing to bear it alone, only to ask for forgiveness of children and grandchildren. If the Emperor sees mercy in heaven and reads me reverently, he will give me a death early and forgive the sins of his children and grandchildren. Speaking of this silently, he couldn't help but be sad and whimpered and cried. Mandarin ducks and pearls helped into the room while exhorting.
As the head of Jia Province, Jia Mu can be said to have been having fun all her life, and in the words of Grandma Liu, the old lady was born blessed. This is true, not to mention that in that era, even in this society, Jia Mu can be regarded as a rare old man with a full life expectancy.
As the saying goes, the Son is not the fault of the Father. Jia Mu's various enjoyments have been considered to be a reason for the decline of Jia Fu, and because she doted on Bao Yu, it indirectly led to Bao Yu not having to study, her studies were deserted, almost hopeless, and she could not undertake heavy responsibilities such as family affairs, so many people criticized Jia Mu.
But from a realistic point of view, educating children is never an easy task, if Jia Mu is responsible, then Jia Daishan, Jia Daihua, Jia Jing, Jia Amnesty, Jia Zheng, Jia Zhen these men are not more responsible?
Mother Jia is the daughter of the Shi Hou family, since she was a child, she has been dressed in fine clothes and food, married to the Jia family since she was a teenager, in her own words, the wind and waves have also been seen, and thousands of strange things have also been experienced, "I entered this door, as a heavy grandson and daughter-in-law, to this day, I also have a heavy grandson and daughter-in-law, even with fifty-four years, with great dangers and strange things, I have also gone through some, never passed through these things (the forty-seventh time).""
Seeing her children and grandchildren fall to such an indisputable point, she probably didn't have more effort to do anything except sigh. Jia Mu saw her children and grandchildren waiting for trial, the illness of the female relatives, crying and crying, so day and night were restless, and when praying for heaven, she was very sincere, and even said that the family's current fierceness was caused by her own sins, it was because she did not teach her children and grandchildren, she expressed her willingness to forgive the sins of her children and grandchildren with her own death, let the murderer in prison turn ji, let the sick settle down early, and let the Emperor Heavenly Bodhisattva forgive her children and grandchildren.
With such a heart, it is no wonder that many people say that Jia Mu is a big tree in Jia Province. She is both a big tree and the main backbone of Jia Fu, although she is old, she can still dominate this family, at a critical moment, support this family, with her ability to protect the descendants of this family, with her presence, these descendants are like eating a reassuring pill.
Usually, Jia Mu may just eat, drink and have fun, and have nothing to do with Madam Wang, Feng Jie and other people, but when there is a problem, Jia Mu will stand in front of the stage from behind the scenes. For example, taking her granddaughter into Beijing was Jia Mu's idea, the grand view garden servants and women gambling was Jia Mu's hand to rectify, jia pardon, lady Xing wanted to please mandarin ducks, it was also Jia Mu who sent a temper to show off the mighty wind to deter Jia Amnesty, etc., and patiently explained to Lady Xing. Jia Lian stole food, And Sister Feng asked Jia Mu for help, but it was still Jia Mu, and a few words settled this farce.
In the end, the descendants did not become instruments, the family property was destroyed, not to mention, but also made the family raiders and convicted, at this time, Jia Mu had no other choice but to use the way of praying to God that people in ancient times generally used to break the siege of the family, if people saw this, they should no longer bear to blame this old lady. As the saying goes, there is an old man in the family, if there is a treasure, this is an old lady like Jia Mu.
References: "Dream of the Red Chamber Fat Collection", by Cao Xueqin, Comments on Fat Yan Zhai, Yuelu Book Club.