In ancient times, there was a special word called "tribute". According to the Yugong Shu, "The tribute, who offers from below, is said to be the valley from which it comes, and the foreign objects born of the city's land, and to offer all its possessions, which is called tribute." ”
"Offering from below" is generally to choose the best items, the most representative products. Later, the term was used to refer specifically to local specialties dedicated to the emperor in various places. Therefore, tributes are all very high-quality local specialties or the best goods. In short, what qualifies to be chosen as a tribute is the essence of the essence, not only excellent quality, but also often has the characteristics of scarcity.
However, tributes did not only appear in the royal palace. Sometimes the emperor was in a good mood, and in order to reward the ministers, he would often give them tributes presented from all over the place. For the ministers, it was also a great honor to receive a tribute from the emperor.
However, for Jia Fu in "Dream of the Red Chamber", using and enjoying tribute is not a rare opportunity. Tributes in Jia Province can be seen almost everywhere. The tea leaves of the Siamese tribute, the silk of the palace, and the various foods used on it have all appeared in the Jia Province. What is unexpected is that these things, which were originally very precious and rare, are nothing at all in the eyes of the People of Jia Province.
Sister Feng said, "I sent someone to send two bottles of tea leaves before, where are you going?" Dai Yu smiled, "But I forgot, thank you, thank you." ”...... Sister Feng said, "That's Siam's tribute, I don't have any fun tasting it, it's not as good as what I eat every day!" ”
The kingdom of Siam, thousands of miles away from Chang'an (the capital city in "Dream of the Red Chamber"), can pay tribute to tea, it is not an easy task. However, such a rare thing, in the eyes of Wang Xifeng, the young grandmother of Jia Province, is just "not interesting".
Moreover, not only these tea leaves, but also the royal objects that Wang Xifeng disliked, there were many more. When Grandma Liu entered the Rongguo Mansion for the second time, Jia Mu suspected that the window screens of the Xiaoxiang Pavilion were old, so She Asked Madame Wang and Wang Xifeng to turn around and find out the soft smoke in the storeroom, and gave daiyu the silver-red "Xiaying Yarn" to paste the window.
Sister Feng hurriedly pulled out a big red cotton gauze jacket she was wearing, and said to Jia Mu and Aunt Xue: "Look at this jacket of mine." Jia Mu and Aunt Xue both said, "This is also good, this is today's Shang used to make it, and it is not as good as this." Sister Feng said, "This thin piece is also said to be made from within, and it is even compared to the official use." ”
The palace yarn used on it turned out to be a "thin piece" in Wang Xifeng's mouth, how arrogant this tone was! However, Jia Fu has such capital! The soft smoke luo used in Jia Fu at that time was more dense and delicate than the palace yarn, and more high-grade and exquisite than the palace yarn. The extravagance of Jia Fu is presented to the readers through these horses that are stored in the warehouse, almost forgotten, and are moldy soft smoke.
Not only did the young grandmother of Jia Fu dislike the poor quality of the things in the palace, but even the servants of Jia Fu did not take the tribute seriously at all.
When Jia Baoyu was beaten, he was shouting that he was thirsty, and he hated that the rose brine was "not sweet", so Madame Wang took out two bottles of rose dew and wooden dew, handed them to the attacker, and said: "That is on the way, you did not see the goose yellow note, you are good to put it away for him, don't waste it." ”
Madame Wang was more fond of these "incoming" rose dew and wooden dew, and was afraid that Jia Baoyu would spoil it. But the more Madame Wang worried about something, the more something was going to happen. Soon after, Jia Baoyu gave the rose dew to Fang Guan. Fang Guan didn't eat it herself at all, she gave it to Liu Wu'er when she changed hands.
The so-called tribute, in the eyes of the servants of Jia Province, is also not worth cherishing at all.
The tribute that should have been treated as a treasure was nothing in the eyes of the Jia people, which was naturally related to their extremely extravagant life in their daily lives. Although "Dream of the Red Chamber" just began, Leng Zixing said that Jia Fu "has also exhausted its inner pockets", but for us ordinary people, the luxury of Jia Fu is still unimaginable, they have an extremely rich supply of materials, have an extremely exquisite lifestyle, and also have an unexpected circle of friends and rich heritage, which determines that Jia Fu's "skinny camel is bigger than a horse", so that Jia Fu continues to maintain a luxurious life, and even tribute is not cherished.