Who is the saddest man in Jiafu? Neither Jia Baoyu who is world-weary and enlightened because his family is broken, nor Jia Yu who was kicked out of Rongguo Mansion and marginalized by his family, nor Jia Lian who married a weak wife and concubine and is not valued by the family, but Jia Jing, the eldest of the third generation of the Jia family.
Jia Jing's word "respect" is taken from the meaning of respecting the heavenly ancestors. Jia Jing is the first half of his life, and he is the most perfect first half of his life among the men in Jiafu. Jia Jingjia, the patriarch and grandson of the patriarch, is the eldest grandson of Jia Yan, the prince of Ningguo, and the de jure successor of the patriarch. Jia Jing is the third generation of officials and three generations of wealth, with a noble status, and was born with a golden key. As far as the Jia clan is concerned, in the third generation, Jia Jing is the most radiant person.
What is particularly rare is that Jia Jing was born and grew up in the Jia Mansion of the Wuyin family, lacking the edification of poetry, books, etiquette and music, and the Lin family of the poetry and book family is completely different, Ning Guogong escaped from the pile of the dead, but the generation of the martial arts has no family history, but Jia Jing is not like other brothers in the family, he has grown into a brocade cloth, he was admitted to the Jinshi, even though it is supported by the superior material conditions of Jiafu, and more importantly, Jia Jing is a scholarly, motivated, self-disciplined and ambitious person.
Such a person is set up in several generations of men in the Jia family, only Jia Lan has a slight quality in this regard, and even Jia Baoyu is far from his uncle, not to mention Jia Yu and Jia Zheng among the brothers.
Compared with the more than ten masters of the huge Rongguo Mansion, there are not a few masters of the Ningguo Mansion, Jia Jing's wife has passed away, and Yu is the only son Jia Zhenyou and his wife, the only grandson Jia Rong and his granddaughter-in-law, and the daughter Xichun who was carried into the Rongguo Mansion by Jia's mother and raised by Yingchun and Tanchun. There were only five of them.
Jia Jing devoted himself to cultivating the Tao and refining the pill, and he had long left his family business behind and ignored it, giving readers a selfish and irresponsible look. But readers will find a strange phenomenon, Jia Zhen, You Shi, and Jia Rong not only attach importance to and respect Jia Jing, but also report to him all major matters throughout the year, and regard him as the most important family member, but Jia Jing is indifferent to them and does not appreciate them. Like what:
Jia Jing is going to have a birthday, You Shi started to prepare many days in advance, how to invite people, how to set up a banquet, how to do it to make the grandfather happy, Jia Jing will definitely not go home, but You Shi does not make do with his father-in-law's birthday banquet at all. Jia Rong sent her grandfather sixteen boxes of food to the Taoist temple early, and because Jia Jing had an explanation, Jia Zhen was not allowed to come to ask for peace in person, so Jia Zhen didn't dare to come, but sent Jia Rong, the grandson, to kowtow to Jia Jing. Jia Jing's face was impatient, but the entire Ning Guofu did not dare to be sloppy at all, if Jia Jing was irresponsible and became a monk, he should not have such a high prestige.
Jia Zhen, You Shi, Jia Rong and other family members have communicated and contacted Jia Jing directly or indirectly, even Qin Keqing's granddaughter-in-law at this time also expressed her apology to everyone at Jia Jing's birthday banquet due to personal health problems, at least they participated, that is, they were all active participants in matters with Jia Jing.
However, Jia Jing's only daughter, Xichun, has no intersection with Jia Jing from beginning to end, let alone interaction. It's very weird.
In terms of age, when Xichun appeared, he was only three or five years old at best, still in his infancy, his mother had passed away, Jia Jing didn't care about this only young girl, and Xichun only had the ancestral hall in Ningguo Mansion with his relatives and sisters during the New Year, and he had never been to Ningguo Mansion, except for having very little contact with his sister-in-law You, and his father Jia Jing, brother Jia Zhen, and nephew Jia Rong never had any contact. It's weird!
In fact, Jia Jing and Xichun met, and at the annual sacrifice ceremony of the Jia clan, the original text described it like this:
(Jiafu) sons and daughters...... They all serve in a row in front of the gate of Ningfu, and then (those who have lords and those who have orders) are introduced into the ancestral hall......
I saw that the people of Jiafu were divided into Zhaomu and set up a line: Jia Jing was the main sacrifice, Jia pardon accompanied the sacrifice, Jia Zhen offered the knight, and Jia Lian and Jia Cong offered silk......
Everyone followed Jia Mu to the main hall...... In the center is hanging the statue of Ning Rong's second ancestor...... There are also several scrolls of ancestral relics on both sides...... Jia Jing Jia Zhi and others stood one after another from the inner instrument gate, until they were under the corridor of the main hall, outside the threshold was Jia Jing and Jia Yu, and inside the threshold were the female dependents.
Jia Rong is the grandson of the eldest house, and he is alone with his daughter.
This section means that there are two kinds of sacrifices for the Jia people, the first is the part where only men participate, and the second is the sacrifice of both men and women. This second item is participated by all the masters of the whole family, men, women and children, the difference is that according to the different orders of the seniors, the elders and the young, that is, the men are outside the threshold, the female dependents are within the threshold, and the one in the middle is Jia Rong. The event was also a meet-and-greet for everyone in the same space.
Of course, Jia Jing will see his daughter Xichun, or rather, everyone can see every relative in the family. Objectively this is true, but it is impossible for the original text to describe this matter in this way.
Xichun is young, her life is simple, in addition to her sisters and grandmothers, she is the nurse and maid slaves around her, for the elders and relatives in the family, she can't understand the grievances and emotional relationships between everyone, and it is normal for her to feel nothing.
But Jia Jing is different, his so-called renunciation is nothing more than a reflection of his disgust and avoidance of the Hongchen industry to avoid his clansmen. For festivals like the New Year, he doesn't care whether he goes home or not, but he has to go home to worship his ancestors, that is to say, although he is willful, he doesn't dare to be a shopkeeper in the ancestral rituals.
The original text of the novel has this description:
Jia Jingsu did not drink wine, nor did he invite him, and after the ancestral worship was over on the seventeenth day, he still went out of the city to recuperate, and he was at home for a few days, and he was also silent in the quiet room, and he did not hear or hear anything......
In other words, in the more than ten days of the New Year, it is the most concentrated and lively period of the banquet, and Jia Jing does not participate in all other activities except for worshipping ancestors and saluting Jia's mother. There are a group of Taoist priests around him who practice Taoism, but when they go home, they are even more lonely.
Jia Jing's move, it's not that he really likes to be alone, he can't avoid this period of time, his performance has no father, son, father and daughter licking calves, this is against common sense, against human ethics, no matter what happens, people can't ignore their own blood children, unless the child has no blood relationship with himself.
The reason for the indifference is because of the deeper buried emotions, and after ten thousand arrows pierce the heart for a long time, it is such a heart like stagnant water. It can be known that Jia Jing has suffered a deep injury, which comes from his family, and may be related to Xichun, so he licks his wounds alone to heal the pain of the past.
The author of this article: Pingshan Magenta Mansion
Reference to the original work: "Jiazhu Ben Fat Yan Zhai Re-evaluation of the Stone Record" "Gengchen Ben Fat Yan Zhai Re-evaluation of the Stone Record"
Image source: "The Dream of Red Mansions by Sun Wen"