Chapter 6 The richest woman fell from the sky

Reading "A Dream of Red Mansions", whenever Lin Daiyu appears, I can always feel the strong homesickness of this orphan girl, so I believe that her life in Jia's mansion must be extremely unsatisfactory.But in Jia Mansion, a rich place, power and wealth are important criteria for judging a person. Lin Daiyu is an orphan, so naturally she does not have power. If it is said that she does not have money, even Lin Daiyu herself said: " I have nothing, food and clothing, scraps and papers, all of which are the same as the girls in their family, so I don’t think I’m a villain.” Countless readers have been deceived by Daiyu’s words. I feel that Daiyu is helpless, rich and powerless, such a situation is really pitiful, but in fact, such a situation is completely impossible for Lin Daiyu who came from a famous family, and it does not conform to the logic of reality.Let’s take a look at the introduction to Lin Daiyu’s father Lin Ruhai in the article:

This Lin Ruhai's surname is Lin and his name is Hai. His name is Ruhai. He is an ex-convict Tanhua.It turns out that the ancestor of Lin Ruhai once attacked Liehou, and now he has been in Ruhai for five generations.At the beginning, only the third generation was enshrined, because today's Long En Shengde is far ahead of the previous generation, with extra grace, the father of Zhi Ruhai inherited another generation; Zhi Ruhai was born in Kedi.Although it belongs to the family of Zhong Ding, it is also a family of scholars.It's a pity that the Lin family's branch is not prosperous, and their descendants are limited. Although there are several families, they are all members of the same family as Ru Hai, and they don't have any direct descendants.Now Hai is forty years old, and there is only one three-year-old son, who died last year.Although there are several concubines, he is destined to have no children, so there is nothing he can do.Today, only his wife, Jia, has a daughter named Daiyu, who is only five years old.The husband and wife have no children, so love is like a treasure, and seeing that he is smart and handsome, he also wants to make him read a few words, but pretending to be an adopted son, chatting to relieve the sigh of desolation under his knees.

In ancient times, there was a hereditary system.What is hereditary?That is to say, future generations do not need to pass the imperial examinations, and they can directly replace their parents' jobs and positions after they become adults. You must obey the organization's arrangements! But the ancient hereditary system is not so simple. It inherits not only a job, but also the glory of the whole family.There are two types of this inheritance system: one is that the children directly inherit the title of the father, and the position will not be lowered; the second is to stipulate the algebra of the inheritance, and the position is descended from generation to generation when the child inherits the title of the father. .The first kind of hereditary system is generally only enjoyed by the relatives of the emperor. If the relationship with the emperor is not strong, there will be no such benefits!Judging from the book, the Jia family's nobility system is the second type, and the Lin family should also be the second type.But even the second system of nobility, which descends from generation to generation, is a very rare royal gift. This hereditary system is only for those officials who have made great contributions to the country and can enjoy the hereditary system. Seriously, Duke Rong and Duke Ning used to fight the world on horseback with the first emperor, so they earned this kindness.

Lin Ruhai's generation went up to five generations, and once attacked Liehou, it can be seen that the Lin family is an important minister of the country, and its foundation is even better than that of the Jia family.In Lin Ruhai's generation, the hereditary algebra is full. Like a daughter, like a father, Lin Ruhai has good academic performance, so he was born in the imperial examination. He won the third place in the national college entrance examination and was very talented.When he first appeared in the book, he was serving as the patrol salt censor.What is the official title of Yushi?In ancient times, the censor was in charge of impeachment and picketing officials' negligence.Lin Ruhai was appointed by the emperor to inspect the salt censor, and his job was to supervise the government affairs of salt officials and salt merchants. In the past, this position was a fat vacancy among the vacancies, and ordinary people could not get it.Even today, he is equivalent to a ministerial-level official in an important department of the central government.At this time, Jia Baoyu's father, Jia Zheng, was just a member of the Ministry of Industry.The Ministry of Industry is equivalent to today's Ministry of Construction. The highest administrative officer of the Ministry of Industry is Shangshu, which is equivalent to today's Minister of Construction. The deputy minister was called the minister in ancient times, and Yuanwailang, who was appointed by Jia Zhengsuo, was the deputy minister's subordinate.Speaking of the six books, readers always feel that they represent the top bureaucratic forces in the imperial court. The six books are equivalent to the authority of the prime minister.Of course, this was true in the Ming Dynasty, but it was different in the Qing Dynasty.In the Ming Dynasty, whether it was the promulgation of the emperor's decree or the reporting of national political affairs, it had to go through six departments.The "six ministries" as an intermediate link in the upward transmission are particularly important, especially the Minister of the Ministry of War among the six ministers, who even has the power to issue orders to the governor, with great authority.But in the Qing Dynasty, the authority of the "six ministries" was greatly reduced. The six ministers were no longer the chief executives of the country, let alone issue orders directly to subordinates. The "decoration" of the emperor's autocracy, so Jia Zheng, who is Yuanwailang in "A Dream of Red Mansions", is far from being a real high-level national official.From the position alone, Lin Ruhai is obviously better than him.

And the article explained that the Lin family is also the family of Zhong Ding.The bell rings and the food is eaten, and the wealth is great!Generations of princes, grandparents serving as officials, and criminal records, the author writes about the situation of the Lin family one by one, all of which reveal the aura of power.Just imagine, with the background of the Lin family and the official position of Lin Ruhai, would he allow his only daughter to become a helpless "beggar" under the fence?The answer must be no, otherwise Lin Ruhai's IQ would be too underestimated!Here, the author only stated that the Lin family was not prosperous and had no male offspring, and did not reveal at all that the Lin family was in financial crisis.Lin Ruhai was already forty years old. It was a very sad thing in that era when there was no male heir at this age, so the tragedy of the Lin family was that they had no son, not that they had no financial resources.

So after the death of his wife Jia Min, Lin Ruhai, feeling gradually powerless, decided to entrust her daughter to her husband's family, Jia's family, so that her daughter Daiyu could receive better education and care.So there is the story of Lin Daiyu entering Jia's mansion.Regarding the writing about Daiyu's entry into Jia's mansion, the title of the Jiaxu version is "Jinling City Restores Jiayu Village, Rongguo Mansion Adopts Lin Daiyu". The word "adoption" is really inappropriate.One is that Lin Daiyu only lost her mother at that time, and her father was still alive, so she was not considered an orphan, so she could not be called "adopted"; It is also obviously exaggerated, too shockingly desolate.This title is mainly because the content of the old version shows: Lin Daiyu was an orphan whose parents died when she first entered Jia’s mansion, and was forced to live in Jia’s mansion when she was desperate and unaccompanied. It is much more pitiful than the life experience in the current version.However, the author subsequently modified Lin Daiyu's life experience, which made the story appear full of twists and turns, and also gave Daiyu a more active position in Jia's mansion.With the modification of the story, Gengben changed the title to "Jia Yucun was reinstated to her old post, Lin Daiyu abandoned her father and went to Kyoto". This is also the story of Lin Daiyu's first entry into Jia's mansion seen by modern readers.

Let’s carefully analyze a series of descriptions of Lin Daiyu’s entry into Jia’s mansion: In addition, since Daiyu abandoned her boat and landed that day, there have been vehicles with sedan chairs and luggage from Rongguo Mansion waiting for a long time.Lin Daiyu often heard her mother say that her grandmother's family was different from other families.The food and clothing expenses of the third-class servants he saw recently were extraordinary, let alone in his home now.Therefore, he paid attention to every step, cared at all times, and refused to say a word or take an extra step lightly, lest he would be ridiculed.

After getting on the sedan chair, entering the city, and looking out through the screen window, the bustling streets and the densely populated Fu are different from other places.After walking for another half day, I suddenly saw two big stone lions squatting on the north side of the street, three gates with animal heads, and a dozen or so people in beautiful clothes sitting in front of the gate.The main door is not open, only the east and west corners are used for people to come in and out.There is a plaque above the main entrance, and on the plaque are five characters of "Decree to build Ningguo Mansion".Daiyu thought: "This must be the long house of my grandfather." Thinking, she went west again, not far away, and there were still three gates, and then she came to Rongguo Mansion.But he didn't enter the main entrance, only the west corner gate.The bearer carried it in, walked for a while, and when he turned the corner, he stopped and withdrew.The women behind have all got off the sedan chair and rushed forward.Another three or four well-dressed boys of seventeen or eighteen came up and lifted the sedan chair again.All the women stepped down to the gate of a pendant flower.All the young men withdrew, and all the women came up and drew up the curtain of the sedan chair to help Daiyu get off the sedan chair.Lin Daiyu supported her mother-in-law's hand and entered the hanging flower gate. On both sides were Chaoshou verandahs, and in the middle was a hallway. There was a large marble screen with red sandalwood shelves.Turning around the screen, there are three small halls, and behind the halls is the main courtyard behind.There are five upper rooms on the front, all with carved beams and painted buildings. On both sides, there are corridors and rooms on the side of the mountain, with parrots, thrushes and other birds hanging in various colors.On the platform, there were a few girls in red and green sitting. When they saw them coming, they hurriedly came up with smiles and said, "The old lady was still reading just now, but she happened to be here." While opening the curtain, I heard someone reply: "Miss Lin is here."

Most readers still think that the financial resources of the Lin family are not as good as those of the Jia family, because from the series of psychological activities of Lin Daiyu when she first entered the Jia family, she is still very nervous, as if she has never seen the young daughter-in-law in the world.In fact, it is not difficult to understand. A girl who is only five or six years old is in a completely unfamiliar environment, especially in this place, which has completely different customs and habits from her hometown. Many living habits are also different. She can be like Lin Daiyu Such composure is already very good, if it was another child, I am afraid that he would have panicked.After all, the Lin family and the Jia family are located in the south and the north. Although the Jia family still uses the southern living habits in many aspects, the two families are quite different after all.In addition, Ding Xingwang, a native of Jia's mansion, hugged each other wherever he went, while the Lin family was a small family. Except for a younger brother who died young, Lin Daiyu didn't have any brothers and sisters, let alone Rongguo mansion. There are often a lot of relatives living there for a long time, and the Lin family is a very deserted family, which also created Daiyu's character in the future.

It can be seen from this that Lin Daiyu's cautiousness when she first entered the Jia's mansion was only due to her psychological discomfort with the differences in the language customs between the north and the south and the living habits of Lin and Jia's two mansions.For a high-ranking official like Lin Ruhai, his wife has died, he is too busy with official duties to take care of his daughter, and he is already 40 years old, and he has no intention of finding a stepmother for his daughter, so he sent the child to his grandmother's house to be raised, not poor Those who were forced to give up their custody rights when they could no longer eat.I believe that the letter Lin Ruhai asked Jia Yucun to bring was not just a simple letter, but also Lin Daiyu's living expenses arrangement.Especially after Lin Ruhai's death, could the Lin family's huge property disappear overnight?Absolutely impossible.Judging from the text, Lin Ruhai's conduct is very good, and he does not have the bad habits of eating, drinking, whoring and gambling that many children of the Jia family have, so he is not a prodigal.Moreover, the family members of the Lin family are relatively simple, unlike the large population and high expenses of the Jia family, the wealth accumulated by the ancestors must be indispensable.Even if it will not be completely inherited by the daughter, but the entire Lin clan will be divided together, but Lin Daiyu, as Lin Ruhai's only child, can still get a considerable share.In addition, Lin Daiyu's mother, Jia Min, was the daughter of a wealthy family in the prosperous period of the Jia family. Her dowry must have been quite generous when she got married, at least not less than Mrs. Wang, Wang Xifeng and others. The amount of such wealth can be imagined.Of course, after Jia Min's death, the mother's private property can be inherited by the only daughter as a dowry in the future. It is quite normal for these properties to enter Jia's mansion with Daiyu.

From this, we can go back and look at Lin Daiyu's temperament in "A Dream of Red Mansions". Her "high self-promise and unscrupulousness" is of course due to her nature, but it is also due to her conceit. Noble background and strong financial resources are one of them. important reason.Although the Jia family is also a family of "Zhongming Ding Shi", it has not yet broken away from the pattern of hereditary wealth. After all, the so-called hereditary is just a matter of the emperor's words. It is still the Cao family in reality, could it be that they have suffered such hardships, and it is impossible to live in such a stable way forever by relying on the shade of their ancestors.And "talent and learning" was an important textual research for the imperial court to select talents at that time.However, when the Lin family came to Lin Ruhai's generation, not only had they passed the imperial examinations and embarked on an official career, but Lin Ruhai was also from a "Tanhua" background. Looking at Lin Daiyu as a niece differently is not only due to family affection, but also out of respect for the Lin family.Therefore, Lin Daiyu's family background is more advantageous than that of Baochai.