Chapter 4 Chapter One: The Mystery of Lin Daiyu's Family Property

Lin Daiyu, the "female number one" in the novel, Cao Xueqin uses exquisite and unique brushstrokes to show us a beautiful, weak, sentimental, talented, and proud artistic image.The love story between her and the "No. 1 male" Jia Baoyu, who developed from childhood sweethearts to mutual acquaintance and love, but ended in tragedy, has richer ideological connotations and has earned countless readers tears of sadness. But behind the text about Lin Daiyu, there are a lot of little-known and difficult to explain a series of mysteries.The twelfth chapter wrote that Lin Daiyu was escorted by Jia Lian to visit Yangzhou because her father Lin Ruhai was seriously ill.Unexpectedly, after more than half a year, Lin Ruhai died unexpectedly, and Lin Daiyu became an orphan completely, and could only live in the house of her grandmother (that is, Jia Mu) from then on.Then, after Lin Daiyu's father Lin Ruhai died, would he leave a huge inheritance?And if there is an inheritance, as a daughter, can Lin Daiyu inherit this inheritance in such an era of feudal autocracy?Now, let's discuss this issue together.

This question may seem unimportant at first glance, but it is actually very important.Because everyone has social attributes, the most important part of a person's social attributes is his economic status, his economic status—in other words, his family business foundation.So, this question is very important. We can explore this question layer by layer. First of all, think about it, everyone, for an official like Lin Ruhai, after he dies, will he have a large inheritance? The book explained Lin Ruhai's situation very clearly.Three generations of this man's ancestors were conferred the title of nobility by the emperor. In his generation, although he no longer enjoys the title of nobility and can only obtain his birth through the imperial examination, he is very competitive. When the story begins, he has already become an official.Why did he become an official?Because he was a Tanhua with a previous record, he got a very high rank in the imperial examination.What kind of officer did he become?Patrolling salt censors, the Yamen is in Yangzhou.Xunyan Yushi, this is a fat job!How important is salt!People cannot live without salt. Salt is not only a necessary food in daily life, but also has many other uses.How many people must flatter an official who manages the mining, allocation, transportation and related taxation of salt!How many links can he obtain wealth!After his death, he will definitely leave a large inheritance.

The official positions here are not copied from the official positions of the Qing Dynasty, but are set according to the official positions that existed in reality, referring to some official names in ancient times, and then adding changes.But in general, we can judge the size of the official position according to the name and nature of the official position. In the past, there was the so-called "three years to clear the magistrate, one hundred thousand snowflake silver", which means that corruption and incompetence in officialdom have become a norm.This is still the case for the magistrate, let alone the Xunyan Yushi who has a higher official position than the magistrate and is absolutely beautiful and fat.According to such an analysis, Lin Daiyu's father, Lin Ruhai, should indeed have left a large inheritance.

However, we can't help asking, even if Lin Ruhai left a large inheritance, in such an era of feudal autocracy, is Lin Daiyu, as a daughter, eligible to inherit this inheritance?In that era, how did the daughter of the family inherit the family property?This property is usually divided in the form of a dowry.When her parents are alive and marry her off, they will cut a part of their own property as her dowry and bring it to her husband's house.With the dowry that a married girl pours out, she, her husband, and members of her husband's family form another economic unit and become another social cell.Therefore, if Lin Daiyu is a married daughter and Lin Ruhai dies, she will have no inheritance rights and can only get some souvenirs.But it is clearly written in the book that after Lin Daiyu's mother died, her father sent her to her grandmother's house.At that time she was still very young and not married.In the first 80 chapters of Cao Xueqin's writings that we have seen, Lin Daiyu was not married.Therefore, Lin Daiyu is of course qualified to inherit her father's inheritance.In that society, even if you are not married, if you get married, betrothed to someone else, and the dowry is given to you, it can be regarded as the distribution of family property to you.Judging from the description in the book, Lin Daiyu did not have such a situation.Not only was she not married, but she was also not engaged. There were no such signs in the first eighty episodes, nor did it say that Lin Ruhai left a will, clearly leaving a part of her property as her dowry.

It can be seen that although Lin Daiyu is a daughter, she still has an inviolable and deprived inheritance right.The crux of the problem is, among all the relatives who can inherit Lin Ruhai's inheritance, Lin Daiyu's inheritance right can be ranked? After Lin Ruhai died, his wife should be the first to inherit his property.It is clearly stated in the book that Lin Ruhai's official wife is Jia Min, the daughter of Jia's mother, who is Lin Daiyu's mother.This Jamin died at the beginning of the story.After Jia Min's death, Lin Ruhai entrusted Lin Daiyu to Jia Yucun, sent her to the capital, and went to Rongguo Mansion to live in her grandmother's house.Therefore, it is obvious that Lin Daiyu's mother has long since passed away, and after her father's death, there is no possibility of her mother inheriting the inheritance.Of course, Lin Ruhai could renew his life and fill in the house, which was very common in that era.But the book clearly stated that Lin Ruhai did not continue the strings and did not fill in the house.He expressed his clear attitude to Jia Yucun, that is, he did not want to marry another regular wife.Therefore, no stepmother can inherit Lin Ruhai's inheritance ahead of Lin Daiyu.

Does Lin Daiyu have any siblings?In particular, do you have an older brother or younger brother?In such a patriarchal society, they are the ones who have the most right to inherit.It is also clearly stated in the book that Jia Min gave birth to a son, but the boy was not raised and died at the age of three. Since then, although Lin Ruhai also had several concubines, none of these concubines had children, and Lin Daiyu was an only daughter.Therefore, in the ranking of inheritance rights, Lin Daiyu should be very high.Of course, several concubines should be allocated some inheritance, but in such a society, the status of concubines is very low.You see, it is clearly written in the book that they are all Jia Zheng's wives, but what is the status of the official wife, Mrs. Wang?What is the status of Aunt Zhou and Aunt Zhao as concubines?No comparison.

Therefore, we can draw such a conclusion: Lin Ruhai has a large inheritance after his death, and Lin Daiyu has the right to inherit this inheritance, and no one can compete with her.Even if those concubines held the inheritance in Yangzhou at that time and didn't want to distribute it to Lin Daiyu, they couldn't do too much.Because the Lin family will have a patriarch to manage this matter, just like the Jia family has a patriarch.Who is the patriarch of the Jia family?It's Jia Zhen.Each clan has its own patriarch who manages something similar.So Lin Daiyu should be able to share the inheritance.However, when we read, we will find that Lin Daiyu is helpless in the Rongguo Mansion, without any financial foreign aid, and she does not behave like a person who has inherited a large amount of property.In "Burning Flowers", she said "Three hundred and sixty days a year, wind, knife, frost, and sword are fiercely pressing against each other", which expresses her true feelings of living under the fence very aptly.If we read the text carefully, we will find that Lin Daiyu didn't get any inheritance, just didn't get it.After her mother died, her father asked Jia Yucun to send her to her grandmother's house in the capital.When the story progressed to the part of Qin Keqing's death, it suddenly added that Lin Ruhai was seriously ill.Therefore, Jia's mansion sent Jia Lian to escort Lin Daiyu back to Yangzhou to visit her father.As a result, her father died soon after, and "donated Yangzhou City".In this way, the visitation turned into participation in the funeral.After Lin Ruhai's funeral was over, Jia Lian brought Lin Daiyu back to Rongguo Mansion—this time Lin Daiyu lived in Rongguo Mansion forever, and had no other support.The book explains it very clearly. There is a saying that Lin Ruhai's family "doesn't have any direct descendants", which means that Lin Ruhai doesn't even have a real brother or a real brother, and his family members are far away in blood.

What is Lin Daiyu's economic situation in Jia's mansion?In terms of economic status, she is the most miserable person among the young ladies in Rongguo Mansion. The forty-fifth chapter writes that Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai finally reconciled after many psychological mutual suspicions, rejections, and conflicts.When they reconciled, the two said a lot of intimate words, and these intimate words involved their financial situation.Lin Daiyu said: "I have nothing, food and clothing, every straw and paper, all are the same as their girls." What do you mean? "One piece of grass, one piece of paper", these words summed up all her needs in life.This "grass" shows that she is very modest, saying that she eats grass, which means that her usual food and drink are all supplied by Rongguo Mansion.I say "paper" because Lin Daiyu is a talented woman. She wants to study and write poems. She has cultural needs. Same.

However, those girls, like Yingchun, they have fathers and mothers, Jia Amnesty has a title, and the family has property. She lives in Rongguo Mansion, and the monthly money she receives is nothing more than an extra income.Not to mention Tanchun, her parents are the masters of Rongguo Mansion.Xichun originally belonged to Ningguo Mansion, and was taken to live in Rongguo Mansion.Although her father went to the Taoist temple, he was still there before the sixty-third chapter.She also has an older brother who is the patriarch, and a sister-in-law.Ningguo Mansion, you read in the book that Wu Jinxiao came to give them New Year's goods and other plots, the economic situation is very good.In other words, Xichun has a strong economic background.But what about Lin Daiyu?She has nothing left.What is she relying on?Relying on the monthly money (also called monthly money) that can receive two taels of silver every month like other girls.After Sister Feng took the money from the general accountant of Rongguo Mansion, she distributed it to the female relatives in Rongguo Mansion, including girls and so on.In addition, Lin Daiyu did not receive any financial support from the Lin family.Therefore, Lin Daiyu is really very sad.This time, if we compare and contrast, the situation will be clearer.How did Lin Daiyu get to Rongguo Mansion, and how did she survive in Rongguo Mansion?It turned out that "he came here with no one to rely on", "having nothing, food and clothing, every piece of paper, all are the same as their girls".

And how did Xue Baochai live in Rongguo Mansion?Is it because you are financially helpless and defected here?no.She just relied on the affection of her relatives to live here for nothing.Although the Xue family is no longer as good as theirs in the past, it is also declining. Aunt Xue's husband (that is, Xue Baochai's father) is no longer there, but Xue Panzi inherited his father's business and is still a royal comprador. Go to silver to buy things for the royal family.In this process, of course, I can obtain a lot of benefits, both legal and illegal.Moreover, it is clearly explained in the novel that after the Xue family came to the capital, they did not necessarily have to live in Rongguo Mansion at the beginning. They had their own house in the capital, but because Aunt Xue and Mrs. Wang were biological sisters, the two sisters were good and did not want to live separately. , plus Xue Pan later saw that Jia Zhen, Jia Lian, and other people from Jia's mansion were like him, and they got along well, and it was convenient to play together nearby, so they lived in Rongguo Mansion like this.There is a very clear statement, that is, Aunt Xue said that she can live here, but all the expenses will be borne by themselves.It means that they don't want the monthly money in Rongguo Mansion (a few taels a month for one person).Mrs. Wang thought about it, it was not difficult for their family to deal with this kind of thing, so why bother about it, the two sides reached a tacit understanding, and Xue Jiabai lived here.

Moreover, Lin Daiyu also pointed it out: "You also buy and sell land here, and you still have a house and land at home." "Home" refers to Jiangnan.The Xue family came to the capital from Jiangnan, not because they were poor and took refuge with relatives, but mainly to let Xue Baochai participate in the draft.So after arriving in the capital, although they live here in Rongguo Mansion, they are financially strong and have their own houses in the city, and they can move there at any time.They still have land in the outskirts of Beijing.In Jiangnan, they still have houses and land.Moreover, the Xue family still has a lot of business, and even opened a pawn shop.There is such a plot in the book that Mrs. Xing's niece, Xing Xiuyan, also defected to Rongguo Mansion and lived with Yingchun.Like other ladies, Sister Feng allocated two liang of silver to her every month as pocket money.But Mrs. Xing was a very stingy woman, so she forced Xing Xiuyan to take out a tael of silver, saying that she was filial to her parents.For Xing Xiuyan, two liang of silver was not very abundant at first, but after one liang was allocated, it would not be enough. What should I do if it is not enough?I had to go for clothes.Xue Baochai found out and asked her where she was.She said it was Heng Shu Dian from Gulou West Street.Xue Baochai made a very gentle joke at that time, saying that the clothes arrived first before the lover arrived!Why do you say that?Because the parents decided to betroth Xing Xiuyan to Xue Baochai's cousin Xue Bian, the Xing family and the Xue family became a relative again.At that time, Xing Xiuyan didn't go through the door, but she took the clothes to a pawnshop to pawn, not knowing that the pawnshop was the Xue family's business.Therefore, you have to understand that at that time, compared with Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai's economic status was very unequal, one was in the sky and the other was in the underground. Under such circumstances, Xue Baochai decided to help Lin Daiyu financially, and Lin Daiyu accepted her help.Lin Daiyu is very weak and needs to eat bird's nest.Bird's nest is a very expensive item. Although Mother Jia is very kind to her, Lin Daiyu has no problem asking Mrs. Wang for it. However, because Lin Daiyu has no foundation of wealth, is economically disadvantaged, and has a strong self-esteem, how can she always ask for bird's nest? Woolen cloth?Even if Jiamu and Mrs. Wang don't dislike her, wouldn't those underlings in Rongguo Mansion have to gossip about her?She is very difficult.At this time, Xue Baochai told her that her family could afford the bird's nest.After speaking, a large bag of bird's nest was delivered that night.In addition, what is a big package?This reflects the situation of Xue's family. It is a big bag of sugar, because sugar is added to boil bird's nest.What sugar?Cleansing powder plum slice snowflake foreign sugar.You can see the name Cao Xueqin chose: first of all, it is very clean and powdery; like plum blossoms, one by one;That era was very closed, not as developed as the current import and export trade, but the Xue family could have foreign sugar, and the high-quality foreign sugar could come in big bags, and Xue Baochai could decide to give it to Lin Daiyu.The financial situation of these two people is really very different.Judging from the text, Lin Daiyu is indeed in a helpless and helpless economic situation in Jia's mansion.So, how can she gain a foothold in Jia's mansion with such a bad financial situation?As an ancestor, what kind of attitude would Jia's mother treat her granddaughter?In Jia Baoyu's marriage, did she prefer Lin Daiyu or Xue Baochai? Seeing this, some people may sigh, saying that Lin Daiyu is really too miserable.Her father must have had a large inheritance, but she didn't get a tael of silver. She was left without a financial foundation and had no one to rely on.Fortunately, Mother Jia supported her, which was also an important reason why she was able to gain a foothold in Rongguo Mansion.With Jia Mu, Lin Daiyu has a certain amount of support; without Jia Mu, her ending will be unimaginable.I will reveal the mystery of this later. First of all, from the economic point of view, Jia's mother escorted Lin Daiyu financially.This will discuss the plot in the twenty-ninth chapter.I have mentioned before that the marriages of the Jia family and the marriages of the four major families are particularly particular about the economic foundation.I have received many letters from readers, and I have also heard many doubts from other channels, saying that what you said is wrong, because there is a passage in the twenty-ninth chapter of Jia Mu, which is not what she said!He was referring to what Zhang Taoist said to Jia Baoyu when Jia Mu was doing the funeral at Qingxu Temple.Let us now recall this episode again.What happened before Jia's mother went to Qingxu Temple to pray?It is a very important thing: the Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and Jia Yuanchun will give gifts to relatives in Rongguo Mansion from the palace.Cao Xueqin wrote a very important note, that is, the festival gifts Jia Yuanchun bestowed to these people. Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai got the most and were equal; Lin Daiyu, Jia Yingchun, Jia Tanchun, Jia Xichun and others were less than them. People are one level lower, the same.What does this mean?In that era, this was a very obvious intention, that is, the intention of marriage.It is equivalent to saying that Jia Yuanchun has an attitude. She thinks that her younger brother Jia Baoyu should marry Xue Baochai.She didn't say it explicitly, but she made her intention very clear by giving the boxing ceremony.This is a measure that is very conducive to the realization of "golden jade marriage"!Therefore, Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue must be very happy, the key depends on Jia Mu's attitude.It is very interesting to read the text carefully.This Mother Jia is not a silly old lady, she is so smart!Mother Jia is pretending to be stupid about this matter, do you understand?Didn't you, Jia Yuanchun, confer the ceremony like this?Didn't you mean to get married and didn't say so?If you don't say it clearly, I don't understand, I don't know, I don't feel it.This is an important attitude of Jia Mu.Also, there are some very important details in the flow of this plot.Originally, it was Yuanchun's idea to do the offering at Qingxuguan, but Jia Mu took the "ball" and went as soon as she let it go, and Yuanchun sent all the money for the offering from the palace.You can read Chapter 28 carefully, there are explanations in it.Jia Yuanchun asked eunuch Xia to bring one hundred and twenty taels of silver, and clearly specified that he would go to Qingxu Temple to hold a funeral ceremony from the first to the third day of May, a religious ceremony for the dead, and asked Jia Zhen to take it with him. The men in the house went to burn incense and kneel to the Buddha.Mother Jia is very willing to go to Qingxu Temple to pray, what is her purpose?Her purpose has nothing to do with Yuanchun, she is to "enjoy people's blessings and pray for blessings" - she has already enjoyed a lot of blessings, but she feels that the blessings are not enough, and she has to go to a funeral ceremony to pray for more happiness for herself.Mother Jia is such an old lady. Mother Jia had a unique approach this time. She asked all the female family members of Rongguo Mansion to go, and she gave a very specific explanation.First of all, she asked Aunt Xue to go by name, and then asked someone to stop by and tell Mrs. Wang that she had to go too.Aunt Xue went later.But please pay attention, there is a big scene described in the book, which is a rare big scene in the middle school. All gone, including many big girls, little girls, and mother-in-law.But one did not go.Who?Mrs. Wang.Didn't you notice?Mrs. Wang refused to go. Mrs. Wang did not go, which was a shocking phenomenon in that society at that time!You have to know that in that kind of feudal aristocratic family, wherever the mother-in-law goes, the daughter-in-law will follow her to serve her.On other occasions in the book, Mrs. Wang does this all the time.Have you noticed that she has to go to serve in front of Jiamu every day, and she has to stand beside her if she doesn't do it herself, directing other people to serve, and often she has to pour tea herself.Mrs. Wang has always performed very well in this regard and is a model daughter-in-law.But this time, Mother Jia said that they would all go to Qingxu Temple, but she didn't.She said she had something to do.What's the matter?She said that concubine Yuan would send someone out in the palace, and she wanted to receive her.Why is that?It was because Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue were very happy when they saw that Jia Yuanchun was giving the festival ceremony, and Jia Baoyu's share was exactly the same as Xue Baochai's, and there were so many things, and there were good things.Although Concubine Yuan is low in family seniority and is a granddaughter of Jia's mother, she has a high status in the whole society!She has already "just chosen Fengzao Palace and conferred the title of Xiande Concubine"!She is by the emperor's side!Her attitude is important!Mrs. Jia didn't react at all, and she didn't express her opinion. Mrs. Wang felt that she had received a heavy blow, and she couldn't bear it psychologically. She really didn't want to go with Mrs. Jia on this occasion, so she didn't go. Cao Xueqin wrote about the future situation very cleverly.Mrs. Wang didn't go, but Taoist Zhang proposed marriage to Jia Baoyu in front of Jia's mother.After proposing marriage, Jia's mother expressed her opinion in front of everyone.Who is the most important person present?Aunt Xue.As I wrote earlier, Mother Jia called by name and said that Aunt Xue had to go, and Aunt Xue had gone, so she listened obediently there.Although she is a relative, she is a figure on the top of the pagoda in Jia's mansion, an ancestor, so she has to pay attention to what she says.Jia's mother's words are all "black words", and there is something in the words.If you don't understand Jia Mu's words, it's really a waste of reading. What did Mother Jia say? Earlier, she said: "Last time a monk said that this child should not be married early, let's wait until he is older!" This is a powerful statement, which is equivalent to publicly announcing that Yuanfei's finger marriage is invalid: Didn't you borrow With the Dragon Boat Festival bestowing ceremony, have you made up your mind there?You think that your younger brother and that cousin are a match made in heaven, one wearing a golden lock and the other wearing a jade, so the gifts given to them are exactly the same, just like they are fiancés and fiancees, but I want to say that Baoyu is still young now. Let's make a decision when you are a freshman, just to let your finger marriage not count.Jia Mu also deliberately brought out a monk—because Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue were always creating public opinion, saying how a monk predicted "golden and jade marriage". On this point, we are at least a tie. Jia Mu went on to say: "You can ask now, no matter whether he is rich or not, as long as he looks good, you can tell me." When it comes to marriage, one should pay attention to the foundation of the family business, so is it okay if one is not rich?But Jia Mu's words express a specific meaning on a specific occasion and in front of a specific person.She knew that Aunt Xue and Mrs. Wang were thinking about "Golden Marriage" all day long: Don't you just think Lin Daiyu is poor?Do you think Lin Daiyu has no roots?Aren't you just afraid of achieving a "marriage of wood and stone"?Now let me make my words clear.On the surface, she was telling Taoist Zhang, but in fact, she was telling people like Aunt Xue. "It doesn't matter whether she is rich or not", "It's good that she looks good enough".As for Lin Daiyu's appearance, according to the description in the book (I have a special lecture on her appearance), there is nothing to choose.And this sentence is also very powerful, it is called "You come and tell me"-tell Zhang Taoist, come and tell her, which means: Regarding Baoyu's marriage, no one should interrupt, if you have news, come and tell me, It's up to me to decide.On the issue of Baoyu's marriage, Jia's mother will never delegate power, she wants to be dictatorial, this is her firm attitude. Then, Jia's mother said, "it's that the family is poor, just give him a few taels of silver." What does this mean?Although Lin Daiyu did not get her father's inheritance, Jia's mother had her own money, and she wanted to take it out. She was Lin Daiyu's financial backing and her backer.She has money, and it is easy for her to give Lin Daiyu a few taels of silver. She cannot allow Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue to chatter there, smiling at her on the surface, but actually smiling and fighting.This is often the case in feudal families. Under the veil of tenderness, there are actually several ferocious hearts fighting each other there, just to compete for power in the family.Mother Jia is a smart person, so this sentence is quite powerful. The four major families in Cao Xueqin's works communicate with each other and form a marriage relationship.As the "top of the pyramid" of the Jia family, Jia's mother is not ignorant of this truth, but because she loves and likes Lin Daiyu the granddaughter the most, she sincerely hopes that Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu can finally get together.Although Lin Daiyu didn't inherit her father's inheritance, that is, she didn't have the so-called foundation of wealth, but Jia's mother willingly became her biggest backing.If you want to talk about the foundation of wealth and honor, Lin Daiyu's backer, Jia Mu, is the greatest foundation of wealth and honor.So, in the text, will there be a specific description of Jia Mu giving Lin Daiyu her own money?Where did the inheritance that Lin Daiyu failed to inherit go?Mother Jia wants to give Lin Daiyu her personal money, which is clearly stated in this book.In the fifty-fifth chapter, it was written that Wang Xifeng and Heping'er were discussing the affairs of the mansion in private. How to spend money.Sister Feng said: "Baoyu and Miss Lin are two of them. Once they marry, they don't need the money from the officials. The old lady has her own ladder to take it out." Wang Xifeng understands this very well.Through the description in the book, we should be able to feel that although the owners of Rongguo Mansion are Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang, they live in the main building complex on the central axis with Rongxi Hall as the main building, and Jia Mu lives in the main building on the central axis. In a large courtyard on the west side of the group, but Jia's mother is relatively independent financially.Jia's mother is very rich and has a lot of her own money (that is, private money).So much so that the book later described the lack of money among officials—the so-called "official middle" appeared many times in the book, referring to the general accountant of Rongguo Mansion.The affairs management organization in a mansion, especially its financial center, is called Guanzhong, and a lot of expenses have to be paid from the official, or paid in advance and then reimbursed to the official. It is said that when Baoyu and Daiyu get married (it is said that these are two very important people, especially Baoyu, who does not need to be an official, and does not need to be paid by the financial center of Rongguo Mansion), Jiamu will take care of it herself. She has her own money to do things for them, and Jia's mother is very rich.Therefore, although Lin Daiyu did not have her own financial foundation in Jia's mansion, Jia's mother wanted to take care of her financially to the end.This is what we must understand when we read.What Mother Jia said to everyone in Qingxuguan, on the surface, was an answer to Taoist Zhang’s marriage proposal, but actually she said it to Aunt Xue and others, so that those who should understand can understand her love for Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu What kind of attitude is it and what kind of basic position is it?Therefore, when Jia Mu said that it doesn't matter whether she is rich or not, this sentence was a false shot. She was talking about the "golden marriage" and the Xue family was very rich and Lin Daiyu failed to get her father's inheritance. It means that the four major families (especially the Jia family) can ignore each other's roots when it comes to marriage, it's not like that. In the 70th chapter, there is a sentence written by Cao Xueqin very clearly, and it is by no means superfluous: "Recently, Xu, the daughter of Wang Ziteng, married the son of Hou Baoling, and Sister Feng was busy making arrangements." These are the four major families. In the general state of marriage, the Wang family and the Shi family married again. Then, some people will definitely ask: Since Mother Jia loves Lin Daiyu so much, why doesn't she fight for Lin Ruhai's large inheritance for Lin Daiyu? In terms of the morals and behavioral norms of that era, although Mother Jia was the ancestor of the entire Jia family and had the highest seniority, the Lin family belonged to a different family. Besides, Jia Min was dead, so it was inconvenient for her to intervene in the internal affairs of the Lin Ruhai family. , and have no right to ask.In addition, Jia Mu, who has a fairly solid financial foundation, may not care whether Lin Daiyu has inherited much inheritance. She is willing to pay for her granddaughter's marriage. But we have to "break the casserole to the end" and explore an unresolved question, that is, where did the inheritance that Lin Ruhai should distribute to Lin Daiyu go?Are there any clues to be found in the text of I want to remind everyone to pay attention to some words about Jia Lian in the book.Why?After Lin Ruhai became seriously ill, it was Jia Lian who took Lin Daiyu to Yangzhou to visit. Later, Lin Ruhai passed away, and it was Jia Lian who took Lin Daiyu to escort Lin Ruhai's coffin back to his hometown of Suzhou.The sixteenth chapter wrote: "Lin Ruhai has been buried in the ancestral grave, and everything has been settled, and Jia Lian has just entered Beijing." The so-called "everything has been settled", of course includes the fact that Jia Lian won Lin Daiyu's inheritance as a guardian. Jia Lian is the manager of the Rongguo Mansion, so of course he takes care of financial matters very closely.Lin Daiyu's share of Lin Ruhai's inheritance should be converted into silver. According to the rules at the time, after bringing it back, he should be handed over to the general ledger of the Rongguo Mansion for preservation. When Lin Daiyu gets married, it will be taken as her dowry. come out.Moreover, when Lin Daiyu is older, if she knows that she has this inheritance, even if she is not married, she should be able to withdraw it when necessary.However, judging from the later descriptions in the book, the inheritance that Lin Daiyu deserved turned into nothing.Not only Lin Daiyu felt that she had nothing, but Jia's mother also knew that her granddaughter had no foundation for wealth.what about this? If we look down from the sixteenth chapter, we will find that after Jia Lian brought Lin Daiyu back from Suzhou, he soon encountered a major event, that is, Jia's mansion spent huge sums of money to build the Grand View Garden in order to welcome Jia Yuanchun to visit his relatives.When visiting relatives in Yuanchun, he repeatedly sighed that "luxury is too much", "in the future, it should not be too extravagant, it is all too much."In the fifty-third chapter, it was also explained through Jia Rong's mouth: "In the first year of visiting relatives, even building a garden, you can figure out how much it cost, and then you will know. You will be poor." Some readers have always felt that Lin Daiyu's share of inheritance must have been embezzled by the Jia family when the Grand View Garden was built.Lin Daiyu herself is ignorant of this chaos, and Jia's mother should know it.But because the concubine Yuan's visit to relatives is related to the fundamental interests of the whole family, Jia's mother tolerated it.Fortunately, Mother Jia has a lot of money of her own, so she can pay for Daiyu's dowry and guarantee a high standard. So, has all the inheritance that Lin Daiyu deserved been embezzled for the construction of the Grand View Garden?of course not.Since Jia Lian handled this matter, he must embezzle it. In the sixteenth chapter, when Jia Lian came back from Suzhou, Ping'er said to him in private: "Our second master has such a temper, and the money in the oil pan has to be recovered!" He also wrote that Jia Lian heard that Jia Zhen sent Jia Qiang. Gusu bought opera actors and laughed openly: "Although this matter is not very big, there is a lot of hiding in it." "Tibetan" means secretly embezzling.These pens and inks are actually implying to readers that Jia Lian, who brought Lin Ruhai's large inheritance from Suzhou to Jia's mansion, must embezzle it. So, in the first eighty chapters of the text, is there a place where Jia Lian himself teased out the fact that he embezzled Lin Daiyu's due inheritance?I think there is. In the seventy-second chapter, Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng said a lot about money. The two had a lot of discussions about money, and their swords were on the verge of breaking out. They both said some nasty things, especially Wang Xifeng.Wang Xifeng has always overwhelmed Jia Lian in momentum, and even said some ugly words, such as "take a closer look at my wife's marriage with mine, and compare it with yours, that is not worthy of the same", "sew the grounds of my Wang's house together." You can live your whole life with just a scan of the sub, or something like that.This time, I focused on writing a lot of economic matters, and I also wrote that the working capital of the government is not enough, because Jia Lian is a director of the financial center, he manages the affairs of the entire Rongguo Mansion, and the financial center is a department he should focus on. , So I asked Yuanyang to borrow it, saying that I smuggled out a box of Jiamu's big gold and silver guys and pawned it first.It also wrote that the eunuchs in the palace came to their house to extort money.At this time, Jia Lian couldn't say anything about Wang Xifeng, so he ended up with one sentence, what kind of sentence?This sentence is very important, he said: "It will be good to make another three or two million fortunes at this time." This sentence is not written casually!From Chapter 70 to the first, under what circumstances would it be possible for Jia Lian to obtain two million taels of silver?In some ancient texts, copyists may think that the number of three or two million is too large, so they write this sentence as thirty or twenty thousand, thinking that thirty to twenty thousand is not a lot.Please pay attention to Jia Lian's tone, "this meeting" is relative to "that meeting", which meeting is "that meeting"?It should be when he accompanied Lin Daiyu to Yangzhou, first to visit Lin Ruhai's illness, and then Lin Ruhai died.At that time, Lin Daiyu was still a little girl, would it be possible to fight for her inheritance?impossible.Jia Lian is an adult, so he will definitely fight with reason, and the other party has no reason not to give it.After Jia Lian took the money back, he might formally hand over a little to the officials, and the rest would be privately embezzled with Wang Xifeng. Therefore, Lin Daiyu is a very miserable person. Her inheritance, the inheritance she deserves, has been embezzled.At this point in the discussion, some "red fans" friends may want to ask me a question, saying that you are talking about Jia's mother, she especially advocates that Jia Baoyu marry Lin Daiyu, but they are cousins!Even in feudal society, at that time, it was not allowed, or it was not advocated to marry aunts and cousins!This blood relationship is too close!The blood relationship is so close, it's going to have a silly child!Through generations of marriage, people have already come up with the principles and concepts of eugenics. How can it be written like this?Cao Xueqin is such a great writer, such a smart person, how could he write Lin Daiyu so close to Jia Baoyu in terms of blood relationship?This is what I need to study with you in my next lecture, which is the mystery of Lin Daiyu's blood relationship.