Sister-in-law Xue in "Jin Ping Mei" is a minor minor character, usually sells flowers and doubles as a matchmaker.
But judging from the whole novel, matchmaking is her main trade, and selling flowers is just to facilitate the door. Ancient women rarely went out on the street, and the "chivalrous women" in the TV series who wandered around the streets all day and even roared at the road were just the authors' self-imagination.
Everyone is the most taboo to show their faces, even talented women like Li Qingzhao have to "stay" at home. Ordinary female dependents live in the inner room, while large families have special inner houses. If you marry a woman, you may not be able to see each other even if your brothers visit. Therefore, the difficulty of ancient "free love" is not whether there are people who can see it, but whether it can be seen above, and the vixens in "Liaozhai Zhiwei" fall in love with the scholar at first sight, not whether there is Pan An's appearance, but in their ability to make a choice, OK or not, good or bad, out of their own hearts, not the parents' "for your good".
Men and women are not allowed to see each other, and marriage is negotiated by matchmakers. Sister-in-law Xue is a matchmaker, who earns money by talking matchmaking, and of course, she also participates in the resale of people to earn kickbacks. In the seventh episode of the novel, Xue's sister-in-law came to Ximen Qing with a box selling flowers, and the purpose of this trip was to encourage Ximen Qing to marry Meng Yulou and "stand up to the dead Sanniang (Zhuo Diuer) nest". She is very sure: first of all, Zhuo Duer has just died, and Ximen Qing's family needs to make up for someone; Secondly, she knew that Ximen Qing loved money very much, and Meng Yulou's husband was a cloth seller who died on the way to trading, leaving a large inheritance; Most importantly, Ximen Qing is lecherous and likes elegance, while Meng Yulou is handsome and plays the moon qin well. Sister-in-law Xue said that Ximen Qing's heart was very moved.
However, there are also two "troubles" for Meng Yulou, one is that he is older, over thirty years old. In ancient times, when a woman reached this age, she was an "old woman". Sister-in-law Xue deliberately said that she was four or five years younger, and when Ximen Qing and Meng Yulou met, Meng Yulou said her age, Sister-in-law Xue was not embarrassed, and interjected with a grin to make up, "Wife Daliang, the golden day is long; The wife is a junior, and the gold is accumulating. Sister-in-law Xue said "wife", she not only made excuses for her lies, but also continued to hide Meng Yulou, Ximen Qing married her back to be a "wife".
Another "trouble" is a more difficult trouble to solve, if she wants to remarry, she will not have the right to inherit property, but for the future life, Meng Yulou will of course have to turn the family property into a dowry. Meng Yulou's husband's uncle was worried that her remarriage would lead to an outflow of property, which would make Meng Yulou's ten-year-old uncle lose his support, so he obstructed it. But Sister-in-law Xue directly saw the key to solving this trouble, and she asked Ximen Qing to bribe Meng Yulou's aunt. After all, my uncle's family is a grandmother, and I speak much less strongly than my aunt. Later, everything was as expected by Sister-in-law Xue, her uncle came forward to block it, and as soon as her aunt came forward, the matter was perfectly resolved.
Sister-in-law Xue can be described as a person who is quite well-practiced, and working so hard is naturally for reward. The price she offered was that after Meng Yulou got married, the house was empty, and she was expected to live in two rooms. This is a false reference, which is actually a silver pair corresponding to two houses. At the same time, Sister-in-law Xue seemed to have inadvertently reminded Ximen Qing that when she bought Chunmei last year, Ximen Qing promised her several large cloths that she had promised to give her had not been given so far, and she asked to fulfill them this time.
Later, after Ximen Qing's death, Meng Yulou remarried again, and Xue's sister-in-law repeated the old trick, saying that Meng Yulou, who was already thirty-seven years old, was a few years younger, and even the official media arranged by Li Yannei agreed with Xue's sister-in-law's approach. Meng Yulou's remarriage had nothing to do with Sister-in-law Xue, and she had already flirted with Li Yanei on the way to the grave on the Qingming Festival and secretly sent Qiubo. Li Yanei asked the "official media" Tao's mother to go to propose relatives, but at this time, Wu Yueliang, the head of the family, insisted on using the "original media" Xue sister-in-law as the woman's matchmaker, and Xue's sister-in-law was able to come out of the mountain for the second time.
Chunmei herself could not be compared with the "head lady" Meng Yulou, Wu Yueliang clearly requested that it be a "sale", and when she bought it, she spent sixteen taels of silver through Xue's sister-in-law, and this sale still cost sixteen taels. Sister-in-law Xue was very unhappy, but in the face of Wu Yueliang did not show any slightest, turned her head and complained to Chunmei, "I still want the original price of the old time, that is, clear water, pour some into this bowl and throw some into that bowl." Although he thought that Yueliang's asking price was unreasonable, she actually sold Chunmei for fifty taels of silver as soon as she changed hands, plus the reward she begged, making a net profit of thirty-seven taels and five, and the abacus was jingling, a typical "profiteer".
The matchmaker is not very reliable in speaking, so in order to "make money", Xue's sister-in-law lies and nonsense can not be regarded as illegal discipline and moral corruption. But Sister-in-law Xue also does bad things, occasionally playing the role of "color medium". After Ximen Qing's death, Chen Jingji's hookup with Pan Jinlian finally broke out of the east window and was thrown out of the house, but he missed Pan Jinlian eagerly, wanted to burn himself, and was not allowed to enter the door, so he recruited Xue's sister-in-law and spent one or two silvers to let her send a letter to Pan Jinlian.
When Sister-in-law Xue heard that Chen Jingji and Pan Jinlian had become adulterers, she "clapped her hands and clapped" and laughed, "Whose son-in-law plays mother-in-law, where in the world is there such a thing!" Then he teased Chen Jingji, "Uncle, you tell me the truth, how did you get your hands on the land?" "The voice and demeanor can be described as vivid, it is a person in reality. Although she didn't agree much with such a thing, for the sake of silver, Sister-in-law Xue still helped Chen Jingji handle the matter.
Sister-in-law Xue first went to see the Moon Lady, sat for a while, and then went to Meng Yu's building to gossip for a while, and then went to Pan Jinlian's room. This order is very particular, which shows that it acts old-fashioned. After meeting Jin Lian and Chunmei, seeing the two dogs at the bottom of the steps, Sister-in-law Xue laughed and blurted out, "Your family is so Xiangrui!" When Jin Lian wrote a reply, she did not forget to instigate Pan Jinlian, "Less anxiety, the left and right father (Ximen Qing) is also gone, Shuangli put down and do a big job, what are you afraid of?" Light an incense stick for fear of smoke, just set the fire down. This does not mean that Sister-in-law Xue is morally approved, but for "money".
There are many three aunts and six mothers-in-law like Sister-in-law Xue in "Jin Ping Mei", they see people talking about people, hell with ghosts, play right and wrong, see the wind and rudder, sharp teeth, but also old and calculating. In the same industry, everyone is different, typical like Wang Po, just do some small evil, even participated in the case of Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian murdering Wuda, and appeared as a planner and important accomplice, in comparison, Xue's sister-in-law is not so dark.
Sun Xue'e fell into Chunmei's hands, and Chunmei hated her so much that she called Sister-in-law Xue and told her to sell her for eight taels of silver, but she must sell Sun Xue'e into a brothel, and pulled down her face to warn and intimidate Sister-in-law Xue. Sister-in-law Xue agreed to take Sun Xue'e away, and turned around to comfort Sun Xue'e, "She (Chunmei) pays thousands of percent, and only teaches me to send you to the prostitute." I raise children and daughters, and I also want heavenly reason. Wait until I find a single wife for you, or marry a small broker, and support you. Sister-in-law Xue also feared "Tianli" and dared to accept it, openly disobeying Chunmei's order and selling Sun Xue'e to a merchant selling cotton from Shandong. Unfortunately, this cotton merchant was made up by a brothel owner, and Sun Xue'e still did not escape her fate after all, but Xue's sister-in-law's natural conscience was also a glimmer of human light.
Sister-in-law Xue is not a good person, but she is not a bottomless bad person like Wang Po.