Chapter 5 Chapter Two: The Mystery of Lin Daiyu's Blood Relationship

As mentioned in the previous lecture, Lin Ruhai passed away due to illness and left a huge amount of family property. Although Lin Daiyu was an only daughter, she did not receive any inheritance. .In Rongguo Mansion, her only confidant is Jia Baoyu.She loved Jia Baoyu sincerely and persistently, and Jia Baoyu also loved her deeply.However, in the face of the love between Bao and Dai, what we can't understand is why a talented writer like Cao Xueqin writes about a pair of characters who are so close in blood and love each other?What exactly is Cao Xueqin's "hidden truth" hiding?In this lecture we shall explore this question.According to the design of the relationship between the characters in the book, Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu are cousins, that is to say, in a family, the son of the elder brother and the daughter of the younger sister are in love.And I also analyzed in the last lecture that Mother Jia advocated that the two of them get married.This is a bit strange.Don't say that aunts and sisters cannot get married in modern society, even in the past, it was taboo to marry aunts and cousins, because from the perspective of eugenics, this kind of marriage will produce very bad results and produce stupid children.But Cao Xueqin actually wrote like this, why?To answer this question, we must grasp a basic principle in the writing of this novel.I have repeatedly emphasized one of my basic personal views, that is, this novel has the characteristics of autobiography, self-narration, and family history, and many of its characters have life prototypes; its basic purpose in art is "true". "Concealing things" and "preserving false words" are to hide the real things and hide them in the narration of hypothetical novels, but its purpose is to preserve the real things that it has to tell.This is a basic starting point of Cao Xueqin's writing. If this is understood, it will be easier to get a clear answer to the question I raised.

Although the two artistic images of Baoyu and Daiyu are set as aunts and sisters, in real life, are the life prototypes of these two characters really such close blood aunts and cousins?To clarify this question, we must first understand the prototype of the character Jia Mu.Among the characters in the book, Cao Xueqin set Jia Mu as the ancestor of the Jia family.So, who will be the prototype of Jiamu in real life?Jia's mother's life prototype is a younger sister of Li Xu who weaves in Suzhou during the Kangxi Dynasty.She was married to Cao Yin, who weaved in Jiangning during the Kangxi Dynasty, and was Cao Yin's official wife. Therefore, the role of Jia's mother was played based on such a real person in life.Of course, when it was written in the novel, because it is a "false language", Cao Xueqin carried out artistic processing and artistic sublimation of this character, forming a unique artistic image.The experience of Li Shi who married Cao Yin in real life was very strange.At the beginning, she should be very happy, because her brother is weaving in Suzhou, and her husband is weaving in Jiangning (Nanjing).These two fabrics, and the Hangzhou fabric, are the eyes and ears of Emperor Kangxi in the south of the Yangtze River, and are very favored, reused and trusted by the emperor.But Li Shi was very unfortunate. When she was enjoying such a prosperous and rich life, her husband Cao Yin got malaria.To treat malaria, an imported drug called Cinney Cream is needed.Some people want to ask, did this thing exist in that era?There is.There are in the palace, which is clearly recorded in the archives of the Qing palace.Emperor Kangxi was very anxious after hearing the report, and immediately sent the cinnamon from the palace to Nanjing non-stop by Pegasus.But Cao Yin died before Jin Ji Nashuang came to save him, and Li Shi became a widow, unfortunately.Emperor Kangxi was so kind to the Cao family that many people would not believe him, but he was so kind to the Cao family.Why?Cao Yin's mother, Sun, used to be the nanny of Emperor Kangxi.Emperor Kangxi didn't grow up beside his own mother when he was young, but grew up beside Sun's.Sun's own son, Cao Yin, studied with Emperor Kangxi since he was a child. After Kangxi ascended the throne, he was Kangxi's personal bodyguard.Later, Kangxi arranged a fat job for him-to work in Nanjing as Jiangning weaving.In today's Beijing dialect, Kangxi and Cao Yin are "faxiao", and their relationship is particularly deep.So after Cao Yin's death, who will be in charge of weaving in Jiangning?According to the royal game rules of the Qing Dynasty before Emperor Kangxi, officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs such as weaving cannot be hereditary - it cannot be said that your father was a weaving, and if he died, your son should be a weaving. To replace.But the emperor can not abide by the previous rules of the game.Emperor Kangxi was too kind to Cao Yin, so he made the decision. Cao Yin is dead, does he have a son?If there is a son, let his son continue to be the Jiangning weaving, and this son is Cao.Isn't it good that Cao became Jiangning weaving again?However, the heavens were not beautiful, and within a few years, Cao fell ill again, and he could not be cured, and died.Does Mrs. Li have any sons?there is none left.She died first of her husband, then of her own son, and became lonely.

Because Emperor Kangxi had a deep relationship with Cao Yin, he cared deeply for a widow like Li Shi, and because Li Shi was the younger sister of Suzhou weaving Li Xu, Kangxi also loved Li Xu very much.Kangxi ordered Li Xu: Isn't Cao Yin's son also dead?But I still want Cao Yin and his family to be Jiangning weaving. You go to Cao Yin's nephew and choose a memorial for me, and adopt it to Li, and then become Jiangning weaving.Later, Li Xu sent a memorial to Kangxi and recommended one of Cao Yin's nephews, that is, Cao.Therefore, we should know that Cao was adopted to Li, not a biological son by blood, but a son with an adoptive relationship.The artistic image transformed by Cao into the novel is Jia Zheng.Mr. Zhou Ruchang has a very in-depth textual research on this.

Cao Xueqin designed Jia Zheng as Jia's mother's own son in the text. His life prototype is actually Cao. In real life, the mother and son have no direct blood relationship.When we read the text, we will find that Jia’s mother had two sons. If the life prototype of Jia’s second son, Jia Zheng, is Cao, then who is the life prototype of the eldest son Jia She in the book?Can exploring Jia She's life prototype help us understand Lin Daiyu's blood relationship?It is said in the novel that Mother Jia has two sons, and the eldest son is Jia She, but does Jia She live with Mother Jia?Do not live together.This is not only a strange phenomenon in aristocratic families, but also outrageous in ordinary families in feudal society.In the novel, Jia’s mother’s husband is Jia Daishan, who had been dead for many years at the beginning of the story. After Jia Daishan’s death, the title came from Jia Amnesty.However, he who inherited the title did not live in the Rongxi Hall of Rongguo Mansion, nor did he live in the main building complex on the central axis of Rongguo Mansion, but went to live in another courtyard with a black oil gate next to Rongguo Mansion.Who occupied this Rongxi Hall—the most important space in Rongguo Mansion?Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang.They live in the main building complex on the central axis of Rongguo Mansion, occupying a very important space like Rongxi Hall where the emperor's plaque is hung.From the point of view of the novel’s character design, this doesn’t make sense——Jia Zheng just gave him an extra official position because the emperor valued him more. This official position is not very high. The main wife, Mrs. Wang, occupies the main living space of Rongguo Mansion. He and Mrs. Wang serve as the son and daughter-in-law in front of Jiamu to serve Jiamu.Why is that?It is because Cao Xueqin abides by such a principle in writing: when it is difficult to coordinate the character design in his novels with the actual situation in life, should he sacrifice the reality of life to take care of the perfection of the logic of the novel itself, or sacrifice the logic of the novel itself? Consummation to take care of the reality of life?Cao Xueqin chose the latter.This is one of the biggest features of his texts of "hiding the truth" and "preserving false words".Because in the reality of life, Li’s husband died, her own son died, she adopted a son, and this son brought his daughter-in-law over to serve her as her legal son and daughter-in-law, and be with her. living together.As for Jia Amnesty, in real life, he was an elder brother of Jia Zheng's prototype, and he did not adopt Li's family together with him.In the novel, for the convenience of writing, Cao Xueqin merged similar items, and designed the prototype of Jia Amnesty in life, a person who did not adopt Jia Zheng's prototype to Li's family, and designed it as Jia Mu's son. .Although the novel is so "hidden from the truth", Cao Xueqin is unwilling to write it according to the logic that fiction should have. "preservation", that is, although the Cao in life is transformed into an artistic image like Jia Zheng, but the real situation in life is preserved in the description, that is, the adopted Cao and his daughter-in-law live together with Li.This is a very important feature of the text.

Jia Zheng, Jia’s mother’s own son set in the text, is the prototype of Jia’s mother, Li’s adoptive son. However, Jia Baoyu's prototype is not the biological grandson of Jia's mother's prototype.However, when we read, we often find that Mother Jia regards Baoyu as her heart and soul. If there is no blood relationship, can Mother Jia treat him like this?On this point, how to explain it?Furthermore, the third chapter writes that when Lin Daiyu first entered Rongguo Mansion and saw Jiamu, why was Jiamu so excited?Who are the life prototypes of Bao and Dai? In terms of life prototype, if Cao Xueqin is Cao's son, then he has no direct blood relationship with Li, he is just a child born of an adopted son.However, in the feudal society, no matter if it is a wealthy family or an ordinary family, they all agree on one truth: if the adoptive son is adopted as an adult and the relationship with his adopted parents is not harmonious, the son born to the son will be killed. The grandfather and grandmother above are regarded as their own grandchildren. This is a kind of psychological cognition and ethical positioning established by convention in that era in order to continue the blood of a family.This ethical position is still recognized by the vast majority of Chinese families who have adoptive relationships or even "married sons-in-law" until today.Therefore, it is written many times in the book that Jia's mother has no feelings for Jia Zheng, but she does regard Baoyu as her darling, which is very reasonable.After clarifying this question, think again, when Cao Xueqin was writing, were Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu close in blood in his mind?In the reality of life, the blood relationship of the prototypes of these two characters is relatively far away.In real life, Mrs. Li has a daughter who is transformed into Jia Min in the novel and gave birth to a daughter. This daughter is designed to be called Lin Daiyu in the novel.This is her own flesh and blood, the daughter born to her own daughter, very close, so he wrote the third time when Lin Daiyu arrived in Rongguo Mansion, Jiamu was so excited—otherwise it would be difficult to understand: the girl in front of Jiamu There are many, the eldest son Jia She has the eldest daughter Jia Yingchun, isn't that the baby bump of Jia's mother?right?Mother Jia has a granddaughter who is a direct blood relative.But what is Jia's mother's attitude towards Jia Yingchun in the novel?Once there was a banquet in the mansion, and the concubine Nan'an came to see the girls of their family. Jia's mother asked Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, and Shi Xiangyun to come out to meet them, saying that the girls of the Jia family should call Tanchun.Mrs. Xing was very worried about this, thinking that Jia's mother treated Jia Yingchun like nothing, and she was very resentful.In contrast, what was the scene when Jia Mu first met Lin Daiyu?And everyone knows that Wang Xifeng is the one who pleases Jia's mother the most. What did Wang Xifeng say after she appeared on the stage?She knew what Mother Jia was thinking, she said, where is a granddaughter, she is clearly a granddaughter of a direct relative!She knew that in terms of blood, Lin Daiyu was the closest life to Jia's mother, so Jia's mother cherished her.As a feudal old woman, it should be understandable to have such a sense of blood identity.The book says that Jia Mu's second son is Jia Zheng, but from the description, does it look like a relative?The twenty-second chapter is about guessing lantern riddles together, because Jia Zheng’s life prototype is an adopted son, and the novel is actually written according to the real situation in life, so it is written: Jia’s mother feels uncomfortable when Jia Zheng is present. At ease; Jia Zheng also seemed reluctant to make love in front of her, and in the end Jia's mother just drove Jia Zheng away.Can a real son do this?After Jia Zheng beat Jia Baoyu, Jia's mother trembled and said something. Was that the mother talking to her own son?That's what an angry non-biological mother would say to an adopted son.Therefore, in the reality of life, Lin Daiyu is the closest person to Jia's mother in blood.

Why is Jia's mother willing to let Lin Daiyu marry Jia Baoyu?Now the question is clearer.First, she will not have the psychological barrier that blood is not suitable for marriage.Because from the perspective of the prototype, in fact, Daiyu and Baoyu are not close in blood at all. Relatively speaking, Baochai and Baoyu are much closer in blood—one is the son of the older sister, and the other is the son of the younger sister. Daughter, if the two of them get married, it is the marriage of two aunts and cousins.Marriage between aunts and cousins ​​was tolerated in the past, but we should avoid it from the perspective of genetics today, and the current marriage law does not allow it.Therefore, the reality of life is reflected in the novel. Although the characters have changed in art design, the psychological state of the characters is still the real state in life.Whether Jia Baoyu married Xue Baochai or Lin Daiyu, if only from the perspective of blood relationship, it is logical for Jia's mother to choose Lin Daiyu and give up Xue Baochai.Cao Xueqin uses the writing method of "hiding the truth" and "preserving false words" to reflect the real life in the novels to form unique artistic images.There is another character, Cao Xueqin changed her from the real life into the novel, and she is Li Wan in the official book of Twelve Beauties of Jinling.After eighty chapters, it will be written that the whole family of Jia's mansion was copied, and only Li Wan's mother and son were spared. They were not detained, and they became very prosperous later.Why is that?Who is Li Wan in real life?What is the relationship between exploring Li Wan's life archetype and understanding Lin Daiyu's archetype?

The character of Li Wan has the shadow of Ma Shi, daughter-in-law of Cao, Li's own son, in the reality of life.Who is Ma Shi?It was after Cao Yin's death that he took over as Cao's wife who was weaved by Jiang Ning.As for Mrs. Ma, unfortunately, her husband Cao Dang Jiangning was a good weaver, but suddenly fell ill and died.So there are two generations of widows left in the Cao family, Li is a widow, and Ma is another widow.Li's problem was solved by the emperor, and she had an adopted son, who continued to be Jiangning weaving, and she continued to enjoy the glory and wealth.

But Mrs. Ma, you think, is it miserable? A Cao came with a wife, and the two of them became Li's son and daughter-in-law in a grand manner; Cao took her husband's place and became Jiangning weaving Now, the two of them will live in the main building complex of Jiangning Weaving Mansion, and she herself will have to step aside.Cao was grateful to Emperor Kangxi, and at the same time reported a news to Kangxi, saying that his sister-in-law Ma Shi was pregnant (that is to say, although Cao died, she had already impregnated Ma Shi during her lifetime), if his sister-in-law could give birth to a son If so, then his elder brother is equivalent to having offspring.But there is no follow-up file to explain: Did Mrs. Ma give birth to a child?Is the child born a boy or a girl?Has the child you gave birth grown up to?Therefore, there are differences among the researchers of Cao Xueqin's family history about whose son Cao Xueqin is: some think that Cao Xueqin is Cao's son, and some think that Cao Xueqin is Cao's son, that is, the posthumous son born by Ma.I personally think that after Cao Xueqin "hid the truth" and in the process of "preserving false words", he demoted Ma's family to a generation and designed the artistic image of Li Wan.

Why do you say that Li Wan has the shadow of Mrs. Ma?In the forty-fifth chapter, because Wang Xifeng beat Ping'er after pouring vinegar, Li Wan couldn't stand it, so there were some collisions between the two people's words. At this time, Wang Xifeng said something that exposed Li Wan's privacy.What did Wang Xifeng say?She said: "Old lady, madam, that's all, it was the old Fengjun. Your monthly payment of ten taels of silver is twice as much as ours. The old lady and madam still say that your widow is unemployed. Unfortunately, it is not enough. There is a kid who is enough to add another ten taels, which is equal to the old lady and the wife." That is to say, in the novel, the amount of monthly silver enjoyed by Li Wan is equal to that of Mrs. Wang, which is twenty taels of silver.Why is it written like this in the novel?It can be seen that there is a Martens in life.You think, although Mrs. Ma has lost her status as the hostess, when the Jiangning Weaving Mansion supplies her monthly silver, that share cannot be lowered for her, and there is no reason to lower it. Her monthly silver should be equal to that of Cao's wife of.This point is teased out in the forty-fifth chapter of the novel, so you have to pay close attention to this place.One of my research methods is prototype research; the other is close reading of texts.Some people passed by these places with a blink of their eyes, and the taste came out after careful reading. There are many projections of real life in these descriptions.According to the above analysis, if there is a shadow of Mrs. Ma on Li Wan's body, then could Li Wan's son, Jia Lan, be based on the grandson of Jia's mother?If that's the case, wouldn't Jiamu have blood closer than Baoyu and Daiyu?This is a question that must be answered.Some "red fans" friends discussed with me very carefully, saying that if you think Ma Shi is Li Wan in the novel, Jia Lan should be Jia Mu's grandson, right?In the novel, she was demoted to one level. Li Wan became Jia Mu's grandson and daughter-in-law, and she gave birth to a son, Jia Lan, Jia Mu's great-grandson.In the twenty-second chapter, there is a very interesting writing, that is, everyone in Rongguo Mansion gathers together to celebrate the Lantern Festival. This is a traditional festival, and reunion is important. In this case, everyone is very happy, but Suddenly Jia Zheng discovered that Jia Lan was not present. Is there such a plot?Jia Zheng asked, why didn't you see Brother Lang?When Jia Zheng asked this question, of course Li Wan had to answer, because Li Wan was his mother.Li Wan said that because the master didn't call him, he didn't come.According to the character design in the novel, Jia Lan is the great-grandson of Jia's mother and Jia Zheng's own grandson. Does the family still need someone to call him when they reunite?At the beginning of the novel, although Jia Lan is younger than Jia Baoyu, he can read and write. How could he not go?In the feudal society, there was a very strict rule that the younger generation not only had to go to the elders to have fun during the New Year and holidays, but also had to go to the elders every morning for morning inspection on weekdays, and had to go again in the evening.But in the novel, Jia Lan is designed to be Jia Zheng's grandson and Jia's mother's great-grandson, but he doesn't go to Cheng Huan during the Lantern Festival. What kind of attitude is this?Why don't you go without calling?It can be seen that the real thing hidden by "true things hidden" is: in real life, this character has no direct blood relationship with the prototypes of Jia Mu and Jia Zheng, so it can only be explained in this way.Some "red fans" friends may ask, why does Li Wan have to come?Because Li Wan's identity is very clear. She is the daughter-in-law of a deceased son of Jia Zheng and Mrs. Wang. In the novel, she always has to serve Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang. Serving, so she must be there.But Jalan obviously can't.Of course, after Jia Lan was invited, Jia Zheng also expressed his liking for him, and Jia's mother asked him to sit next to him and grabbed fruit for him to eat. There is such a description in the book.Judging from the description in the book, the prototype of the role of Jia Lan may be because Ma Shi did not give birth to a child in the end, or gave birth to a son who failed to raise him, and had no choice but to adopt a son. His mother is his closest relative.Cao's family was reunited, and his mother had to go because she was Li's daughter-in-law, but he could think it was a gathering at his uncle's house, and he wouldn't go unless he was asked.Cao Xueqin lowered their mother and son to one generation to write, but for Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, they basically maintained their original generation in the process of sublimating from prototype to artistic image, and let go of writing about their love. , writing about Jia Mu's support for "marriage between wood and stone".However, in the last forty chapters of Gao E's continuation, the plot of "transferring the bag" appeared, and it was written that Jia's mother liked the hairpin and hated the lady.Does Gao E's way of writing conform to Cao Xueqin's original intention?To get back to the question of Li Wan and Jia Lan is to return to the question of Lin Daiyu.In the reality of life, when Li raised her eyes at that time, her eyes were full of children, all flattering her, but which one was the real one?In terms of blood relationship, think about it for her, is Cao related?Is Cao's daughter-in-law his own daughter-in-law?Of course, Baoyu's prototype grew up like a phoenix, so he can be regarded as his own grandson, but this relative, that relative, is not as good as Lin Daiyu's prototype relative, do you think so?However, Gao E wrote that when Jia Mu was alive, she tolerated the success of the "golden marriage" and agreed to Wang Xifeng's "substitution plan", and even was very unfeeling towards Lin Daiyu during the implementation of the "substitution plan", allowing Lin Daiyu to die tragically.

Gao E has the freedom to continue the book, and he has his own logic in writing that way, but now I want to express my personal point of view very clearly, that is, Gao E’s writing in this way is contrary to Cao Xueqin’s original intention, and it also violates Cao Xueqin’s concealment. The "truth" that Cao Xueqin chose also violated the "false language" chosen by Cao Xueqin. It is wrong for him to write like this.Speaking of which, there may be friends who are "red fans" who want to remind me this way: You have been talking for a long time, one is about inheritance, the other is about blood relationship, but Lin Daiyu is an artistic image, can you add more to Lin Daiyu? Art analysis of artistic image?I happily accept your suggestion.For the portrayal of a character, one of the most important points is the portrait description, describing her appearance.As soon as Lin Daiyu appeared on stage, Cao Xueqin wrote about her eyebrows and eyes, so what exactly do Lin Daiyu's eyebrows and eyes look like?This issue will be discussed in the next lecture.