Around Jia Baoyu's marriage, the wood-stone marriage (Lin Daiyu) supported by Jia's mother and the Jinyu Liangyuan (Xue Baochai) led by Mrs. Wang went from a dark war to an almost open war, during which they even buried the lives of Jin Yu and Qingwen, and the two parties each represented the interests of different families, which became irreconcilable contradictions.
The Jinyu faction adopted the tactic of procrastination, and as long as the elderly Jia's mother was gone, Jinyu Liangyuan would lose all its support and become a mirror flower; the Mushi faction also adopted a policy of delaying, betting that the elderly Xue Baochai could not afford to drag it out, and if Xue Baochai dragged it out to about 20 years old, it would be an old girl that no one in the upper class would want, and the Xue family would never dare to make such a bet.
On the one hand, it is the mother's order that cannot be violated, and on the other hand, it is the wife Wang who gave birth to children for herself, and Jia Zheng, who is sandwiched in the middle, is it Lin Daiyu or Xue Baochai?
Although the novel does not give a clear and affirmative answer, Jia Zheng's words and actions can be inferred from his true thoughts.
On the first day of Daiyu's entry into the house, after meeting her grandmother and acknowledging with the daughters, Jia's mother told the second wife of Xing Wang to take Daiyu to meet the two uncles, and Cao Xueqin gave a strong contrast to the separate visits:
Mrs. Xing personally led Daiyu, personally arranged for someone to ask Jia Yu, and repeated Jia Yu's entrustment in a comforting tone, and finally, arranged for the daughters-in-law to send Daiyu to Rongxi Hall, and personally saw Daiyu get into the car before going back with confidence. In short, Mrs. Xing, the eldest aunt, has done a very decent and proper job, and although Daiyu is not familiar with her, she must be able to feel the cordial care of her uncle and aunt. Let the little girl who came from afar eat the first reassuring pill.
After entering the courtyard, no one reported that Daiyu entered the main hall of Rongxi Hall, and then entered the three second rooms on the east side of the main room, and then went to the three small main rooms in the east corridor, and finally saw the second uncle's mother, Mrs. Wang. The meaning of slackness can't overflow through words.
As soon as they met, Mrs. Wang led the six or seven-year-old girl to Jia Zheng's right position, and Daiyu saw through her mind and resolutely refused to sit down, and after repeated pushing, Daiyu sat on the kang next to Mrs. Wang. It's not that good, this is to give a dismount first.
The two sat down and took a sip of tea before they could drink it, and Mrs. Wang's first sentence said:
"Your uncle has fasted today, goodbye. There is just one sentence to tell you: Your three sisters are all very good, and in the future, they will study and learn needlework...... But the most worrying thing is that I have a bad cause, and I am the demon king of the mixed world at home, and I went to the temple today because I still wish to go, and I haven't come back yet, and you will know when you see it at night. You just don't want to pay attention to him in the future, and you sisters don't dare to mess with him. ”
Throughout "Dream of Red Mansions", Jia Zheng has never been seen to participate in any religious activities, and he spends almost all of his personal time in his study with his Qing guests, and on the first day of his niece's entry into Beijing, he fasted. Jia Baoyu has rarely made any vows, Mrs. Wang is to eat fast and recite the Buddha to show people, Daiyu will enter the house at least the time of the family will be notified in advance, so that the sedan horse can be arranged. In other words, Mrs. Wang already knew when Daiyu entered the mansion, however, because she had her own "most uneasy thing", she carefully arranged her husband and son to go out, in order to prevent them from meeting Daiyu for the first time.
Is Madame Wang going to be so cautious and careful? Is she thinking too much? I really don't mean to think of her in the worst way, Mrs. Wang is first of all illiterate, and she is an illiterate person who is selfish, hates beauty, and has a not very smart brain, such a pampered woman has been kept in captivity in a deep house compound for a long time, and she is likely to have long intended to marry her sister Aunt Xue, except for her niece Xue Baochai, she rejects any other girls. This is dictated by her narrow nature.
Jia Zheng failed to see his niece Daiyu for the first time, but he met his niece's teacher Jia Yucun very smoothly the next day. Judging from Lin Ruhai's explanation to Jia Yucun, it came out of the silver that Lin Daiyu brought into Beijing. The amount of money that needs to be spent on this should be in the unit of 1,000 taels. Because Jia Rong bought a false position as a five-rank dragon forbidden lieutenant, he still asked for 1,500 taels of silver.
From the few sentences of dialogue between Lin Ruhai, Jia Yucun, and Jia Zheng, it can be inferred that Daiyu entered Beijing, at least bringing all the gold and silver of the Lin family into Jiafu. In this case, with reference to Jia's mother arranging Baoyu Daiyu to live, we have reason to believe that Lin Ruhai has already reached an agreement with his mother-in-law and Jia Zheng to marry Jia Lin again.
That is, from the beginning of Daiyu's entry into Jiafu, Jia Zheng knew very well that unless a special change occurred, Lin Daiyu would be his future daughter-in-law. And he didn't see his niece for the first time, of course he understood that he was arranged by his wife.
On the issue of Baoyu's marriage, Mrs. Wang not only completely disagreed with her mother-in-law, but also could not communicate with her husband.
In the seventy-second episode of "Dream of Red Mansions", in the dialogue between Jia Zheng and Aunt Zhao, Jia Zheng's attitude towards Baoyu's marriage partner was vaguely revealed, and he said to Aunt Zhao:
"And what are you busy with, it's not too late for them (referring to Baoyu and Jia Huan) to read for another year or two before releasing people. I have taken a fancy to two girls, one with Baoyu and one for Huan'er. ”
Aunt Zhao told Jia Zheng that Baoyu had been around for a year or two (referring to the fact that the attacker had long been mentioned as an aunt by Mrs. Wang), didn't the lord know? Jia Zheng listened, and hurriedly asked who gave it, so it can be seen that after so long, he didn't know at all, this was just such a trivial matter as ordering a person in the house, Mrs. Wang didn't tell Jia Zheng, naturally, Jia's mother didn't know either.
It can be inferred that in the matter of Baoyu's wife and concubine, the most non-negotiable people for Mrs. Wang are Jia Mu and Jia Zheng, even if she puts a girl in the house first, she will not tell them, the reason why she doesn't talk about it is because she knows that her vision and ideas are completely different from theirs, whether Jia Mu disagrees or Jia Zheng disagrees, Mrs. Wang can only obey, then her purpose will be in vain.
Jiafu all acquiesced that Lin Daiyu was Baoyu's future wife, only Mrs. Wang and some of the servants disagreed, Jia Zheng wanted to choose the people in the house for Baoyu and Jia Huan, it was said that he had to discuss with his wife, Aunt Zhao was a minion, she was not qualified to participate in such a matter, but Jia Zheng was obviously unwilling and never consulted with Mrs. Wang, but talked about such a thing with a slave, which can only show that Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang's opinions on the issue of choosing a wife or concubine for Baoyu are completely different, and such a situation will happen.
Mrs. Wang has only one choice, that is, Xue Baochai, Jia Zheng is different from her, so it must only be Lin Daiyu.
The author of this article: Pingshan Magenta Mansion
Reference to the original work: Jiazhu Ben, Gengchen Ben "Fat Yan Zhai Re-evaluation of the Stone Record"
Image source: "The Dream of Red Mansions by Sun Wen"