Chapter 18 Chapter Three: The Mystery of Shi Xiangyun's Engagement

At the end of the last lecture, I asked a question, that is, the fifth chapter of "Sorrow in Joy" prophesied that Shi Xiangyun would "be worthy of a talented and beautiful man". Who is this talented and beautiful man?Is it Jia Baoyu?need to be discussed.In the thirty-first chapter, when Shi Xiangyun came to Rongguo Mansion for the second time, Mrs. Wang saw her and said: "I'm afraid it's better now. Someone came to see her the day before yesterday, and she saw her mother-in-law's house." In this sentence "Someone is coming", "other" does not constitute a word, it means "someone—come to the house—come", that is to say, Mrs. Wang and the others all know that someone has come to Uncle Shi Xiangyun's house to make a blind date for her, and the blind date has certain meanings. As a result, she "sees her mother-in-law's house".The thirty-second attacker saw her and said more clearly: "Miss, I heard you were overjoyed a while ago." She blushed and did not answer while eating tea.It can be seen that Shi Xiangyun is really engaged.Xiren served her when she was a child, and she had nothing to say to her, but she couldn't make jokes. Only when the young lady is really engaged can the girl congratulate her publicly.

A "red fan" friend once asked me such a question: How old was Shi Xiangyun at that time?If Jia Baoyu is used as a standard, we all know that Xue Baochai is older than him, and the title "Sister Bao" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people; Lin Daiyu is younger than Jia Baoyu, and "Sister Lin" has become her code name.What did Shi Xiangyun call Baoyu?Love (2) brother, what does Baoyu call her?Sister Yun, it can be seen that Baoyu is older than her.Then when the story of the novel develops to the thirty-first or thirty-two chapters, think about it carefully, the ladies in the Grand View Garden Poetry Club, no one else is engaged, Baochai is older than Shi Xiangyun, and if there is no engagement, Yingchun should be even bigger. Tanchun and Daiyu are about the same age as her, not engaged, Xichun is younger, and of course not engaged, but a girl Baoyu calls Sister Yun, she is engaged, isn't it earlier?But through the previous lecture, everyone should understand that both of Shi Xiangyun’s parents died when she was a baby. Although she was fostered in the Hou Men’s House and lived in the "Qi Luo Cong", but the uncles and aunts "who knows how to be pampered"?Her aunt made her sew all day long, as if to recoup some of her upbringing from her labors.So it's understandable that uncle and aunt would engage her earlier and send her out earlier.Of course, her uncles and aunts can't do too much. It's unreasonable for a young lady like this Houmen to be a child bride-in-law before she was twelve or thirteen years old, but when she was thirteen or fourteen, she was betrothed immediately. There is nothing gossip about.

The "red fan" friend I was discussing with was very confused. He said that the title "Sister Yun" has not been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Now when ordinary readers mention this character, it is called Shi Xiangyun. Unlike Lin Daiyu, people outside the book call her Sister Lin. .He insisted on me telling exactly how old Shi Xiangyun was at that stage of the story.I reminded him that Cao Xueqin wrote a special paragraph in the forty-ninth chapter, telling readers: Don't be too serious about the names of elder brother, younger brother, older sister, and younger sister in the book.The forty-ninth episode was the busiest one. At that time, the Grand View Garden reached a state where beauties gathered.In addition to the original beauties, four more were added, Xue Baochai's cousin Xue Baoqin, Mrs. Xing's niece Xing Xiuyan, and Aunt Li Qi brought her two cousins, Li Wen and Li Qi. Picky Qingwen saw it and said, "It's like a handful of four green onions".Cao Xueqin's words are as follows: "At this time, the Grand View Garden is much more lively than before. Li Wan is the leader, and the rest welcome the spring, Tanchun, Xichun, Baochai, Daiyu, Xiangyun, Li Wen, Li Qi, Bao Qin, Xiuyan, plus Sister Feng and Baoyu, there are twelve or three in total. Starting from Nian Geng, except for Li Wan who is the oldest, these twelve are only fifteen, six or seven years old, or these three are the same age, or some For those five who share the same age, or these two have the same month and the same day, or those two have the same moment at the same time, most of the difference is the time and month, and even they themselves cannot remember who is older and who is younger. Together with Jia Mu , Mrs. Wang, and the maids at home can't be separated in detail. It's just sister and brother calling at random." In the twenty-ninth chapter, the monk with a scarlet head said that he had been farewell to Qinggeng Peak for thirteen years, that is to say, It has been thirteen years since Jia Baoyu was born with the psychic jade in his mouth. According to our current calculation, Jia Baoyu is thirteen years old. He must have been fourteen years old.The story flows down from that place, although it is still within a year, but the forty-nine episodes are already winter, and the new year is almost here, and Baoyu is almost fifteen in terms of age, so this passage summarizes this group of people as "all but Fifteen, sixteen, seven years old", of course, Sister Feng should be more than seventeen years old, maybe in her early twenties.The inspiration from this passage is that even if some of these characters are a little bigger than others, the big ones are limited, and the small ones may not be much smaller. Moreover, this phenomenon has happened in the past and now, that is, if one male and one If the women are about the same age, generally speaking, the woman always calls the man's elder brother, and the man calls the woman's younger sister, and no one insists on checking their ages.As revealed in the previous lecture, there is no narrative text in the book that clearly introduces Shi Xiangyun, so her age is particularly vague. She should be almost the same as Baoyu, or only a little younger, and she may not even be younger than Baoyu. Little, her name is Brother Ai (Second), and Baoyu calls her Sister Yun, just as Cao Xueqin said in Chapter 49, just casually calling her for the sake of intimacy.

That "red fan" friend likes Shi Xiangyun very much, and he also read from the book that Shi Xiangyun and Jia's mother are related by blood, and Jia's mother also loves Shi Xiangyun very much, so he asked another question: Uncle and aunt Shi Xiangyun treated her badly, It is impossible for Jia's mother to be completely ignorant; her uncle and aunt are eager to give her the news of their engagement, and Jia's mother should be the first to know; then why doesn't Jia's mother ask Shi Xiangyun to marry Baoyu? My point of view is: first, when I talked about Lin Daiyu earlier, I have already demonstrated that Jia's mother wanted Baoyu and Daiyu to marry with all her heart. With one breath, I will escort Eryu's marriage.Under this premise, although Jia's mother loves Xiangyun, she will not have the idea of ​​​​arranging her to Baoyu.Although the society in that era was polygamous, noble ladies like Dai, Chai, and Xiang should all become regular wives when they are engaged to marry, and there can only be one regular wife. If he is a regular wife, then Chai and Xiang will certainly not think about it.Second, according to the rules of feudal ethics at that time, Jia's mother could not interfere with Xiangyun's marriage. Although her surname was Shi, she had already married into Jia's family. There is no right to decide.In addition, whether it is Shi Nai or Shi Ding, her blood relationship is not the closest to her, not her son, but her nephew, so she can pay attention to Xiangyun's marriage, but not only can she not arrange it, nor can she Easy to chime in.Even if Mother Jia really wanted Xiangyun to marry Baoyu, she would have difficulty opening her mouth, because the status of the Rongguo Mansion was no longer high at that time, and the owner of the mansion, Jia Zheng, did not have a title. The Marquis of Baoling and Marquis of Zhongjing are both Marquises. Although Shi Xiangyun is fostered, he is the young lady of the Marquis’s family after all. If his uncle and aunt consider the right family, and choose Xiangyun’s husband’s family, at least they must be a family with a title. This precious jade, you think it is a golden phoenix, but others may think it is not qualified.What's more, at that time, people like Aunt Xiangyun, even though they didn't treat her well at ordinary times, would hope to cling to a family with more status and wealth when looking for her husband's family, such as marrying her to a duke Young master, wouldn't they have an extra step to develop upwards?So no matter what angle Jia Mu looked at, she would never propose to her two marquis nephews or nephews-in-law that Xiangyun marry Baoyu.Of course, of these two reasons, the first one is decisive, and Jia's mother recognized the combination of the two jades.Jia's mother loves Xiangyun, but when the daughter is married and her parents are gone, her uncle and aunt are equivalent to her parents. The two uncles and aunts work, and the general situation has always been passable. I mentioned in the last lecture that Shi Xiangyun came to Rongguo Mansion A group of relatives, neatly dressed, surrounded by a group of maids and women, the Miss Hou's mansion is still impressive enough, then the uncle and aunt will be engaged to her, Daluzi will definitely not go wrong, Mother Jia let it be, is understandable.

Shi Xiangyun's engagement is made known to the readers through the dialogue of the characters, and there is no narrative explanation to tell the readers how and what kind of marriage she is engaged to.This is indeed a mystery.In order to solve this mystery, we can go through it first to see which types of marriage models of noble families are written. Perhaps, through comparison, we can analyze which one of Shi Xiangyun's betrothal belongs to. A lot of things related to marriage are written in it, and the ways of getting married by girls from ordinary wealthy families to aristocratic families in that era are shown in various ways through different characters.Of course, the book also mentions the girl's marriage. The most common situation is "OK, pull it out and match a boy", but we will not discuss the girl's marriage this time. The scope of our discussion is only within the character who has the status of a lady. Of course, some ladies are wealthy daughters, while others are from poorer families.

If a lady from an aristocratic family has the qualifications to participate in the draft, is selected, and is favored by the emperor, prince, or prince or son, she is accepted and given a title, even if she cannot become a regular wife, according to the social value of that era Standard, no matter for himself or his family, is of course a kind of luck and honor.Jia Yuanchun of Rongguo Mansion was first selected to be a female historian in the palace, and later he was favored by the emperor, so he was selected for Fengzao Palace and named a virtuous concubine.This is the most advanced form of marriage.

There is also a kind of marriage by the royal family.It is written in the book that Yuanchun expressed her intention to marry Baoyu and Baochai through the gift ceremony on the Dragon Boat Festival. Of course, since the intention was not equal to a formal decree, Jia's mother pretended to be confused and subtly resisted. This failed to turn this marriage into reality, but this kind of marriage was indeed a marriage model in the society at that time, and it was also something that many noble families and noble ladies themselves hoped for.It would be a great honor for the emperor to marry him personally. In the Kangxi Dynasty, Jiangning weaved a daughter of Cao Yin, who was also an aunt of Cao Xueqin. Written as "Fu Jin", which means the main wife in Manchu).Her husband later succeeded Prince Ping, and she became a concubine. She also gave birth to a son named Fu Peng for King Xiaoping, who later became Emperor Qianlong's companion when he was a child. The great pride of the Cao family.At that time, even if the marriage was not proposed by the emperor himself, for example, by an important concubine, it was extremely honorable.In the book, Jia's mother actually resisted Yuan Chun's finger marriage, which was a heavy blow to Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue. For Xue Baochai, it also caused her inner turmoil and suffering.

The third mode is the marriage between noble families, which should be the most normal mode.When the fourth chapter talks about the "official protection talisman", it tells readers that the four major families of Jia, Shi, Xue, and Wang are all connected and related. From the perspective of the relationship between the characters in the book, Jia's mother married from the historian's family to the Jia's family, and Mrs. Wang He and Wang Xifeng both married from Wang's family to Jia's family, and Mrs. Wang's sister married from Wang's family to Xue's family. In Chapter 70, it seems casual, but in fact it is very meaningful. Nv Xu married the son of the Marquis of Baoning, and she chose a date to go to the house on the tenth day of the fifth month, and Sister Feng was busy making arrangements, so she was often away from home for three to five days." From the tone of the sentence starting from "Piansheng", the "Marquis of Baoning" in this place should be It's Bowling Nai, then the "Four Great Families" are getting married again.Even if "Marquis of Baoning" is another Marquis, it also shows that marriages between noble families are the most common.

Immediately following the above sentence "I was born recently", it was written later that Mrs. Wang Ziteng came to pick up Sister Feng again this day, and invited her nephew and niece to give birth to a daughter for a day, so Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang ordered Baoyu , Tanchun, Daiyu and Baochai went with Sister Feng.Then in the seventieth chapter, at that stage of the story, is Shi Xiangyun in Jia's house?She is here, the focus of the seventy episodes is to fill in the catkin words, how do you fill in the catkin words?Who wrote the first one?Shi Xiangyun.But there was no Shi Xiangyun in the list of Wang's attendees.Some readers wondered, why not let Shi Xiangyun go with him?If it is said that Shi Xiangyun is far away from Prince Teng's family, but is Daiyu close?Of course, it can also be understood that the Wang family did not know that she happened to be in Rongguo Mansion, and did not specifically ask her to go, but even if the Wang family did not invite her, Jia Mu and Mrs. Wang could order her to go with her. One.Could it be that Cao Xueqin wrote it casually again and forgot to list her name?A "red fan" friend told me that he thinks Shi Xiangyun should go, because who will one of Wang Ziteng's daughters marry?Are you married to Baoning (Ling) Hou's son?Who is Baoning (Ling) Hou's son?It's Shi Xiangyun's cousin!This Wang Ziteng's daughter is Shi Xiangyun's future cousin, they are very close!I told him my opinion: It can be seen that the "Marquis of Baoning" in this place in the ancient book is Shi Nai, the marquis of Baoling. When Cao Xueqin wrote it, his writing style was very delicate. Why did he write like this?The reason is very simple, that is, whether it is Baochai or Daiyu, including Yingchun and Tanchun, of course, they are not engaged yet. Misses who are not engaged can behave more freely in this kind of social activities, but Shi Xiangyun is already engaged. My younger sister and another cousin who is engaged can no longer meet again, which is inconvenient. Of course, if she also goes, it will be to Wang Ziteng's house. Wang Ziteng's daughter will soon become her cousin, according to the feudal ethics at that time , it is inconvenient for Shi Xiangyun to go.It can be seen that Cao Xueqin not only wrote very carefully, but also wrote very accurately.This paragraph is inserted here to remind everyone that it is not only a novel, but also an encyclopedia about Chinese feudal society, from which we can understand some feudal ethics and moral norms.

The fourth model is arranged by parents.Of course, the model mentioned above is often arranged by parents, but the premise is that the "official talisman" between the rich and powerful families is "well-matched". Scanning, if there happens to be a ready-made couple, then another marriage can be "partially born". It should be the same thing when Mrs. Wang married Jia Zheng and Jia Lian married Wang Xifeng.In that case, since there is a tacit understanding among the wealthy families, it is only a formality for the parents to express their views.The fourth model mentioned here refers to a marriage formed purely by the will of the parents. The family may not be right, but the parents insist on marrying their daughter to someone, and the daughter can only accept her fate.The most typical example in the book is Yingchun.The so-called parental arrangement is actually arranged by the father. Mrs. Xing is a very weak existence in front of Jia She. Jia She is an absolute authority in front of Mrs. Xing. There is no room for husband and wife to discuss together. It was the "Zhongshan wolf" mentioned in Chapter 5, and Yingchun was finally devoured by this satyr.The Sun family and the Jia family were not in the same family. Although Sun Shaozu was relatively well-off at that time, fundamentally speaking, he couldn't compare with the Jia family.Then why did Jia Amnesty insist on granting Yingchun to Sun Shaozu?Sun Shaozu later beat and scolded Yingchun, meaning that you are like a girl I bought with five thousand taels of silver, what's going on?That is, Jia She once asked their family to embezzle five thousand taels of silver, but it has not been repaid at that time, which means that they have given their daughter to others to pay off the debt.It's a big misfortune to welcome the spring.But this was a marriage pattern that was not uncommon at the time: it was not a good match, and there was something hidden in it, and the parents forced their daughters to marry off.

Then there is another situation, that is, a family friend or a friend acts as a matchmaker to propose a marriage, which was also a marriage model in the society at that time.For example, during the ceremony at Qingxuguan, Daoist Zhang proposed marriage for Jia Baoyu. Proposing marriage for Baoyu, I don't want to be rejected by Jia Mu.It is also written in the book that Jia Lian, as a friend of Liu Xianglian, introduced her sister-in-law, Third Sister You, to Liu Xianglian. Liu Xianglian was quite happy at first, and asked Jia Lian to bring the treasured Mandarin Duck Sword as a token.Of course, it was a tragedy in the end. If it succeeded, it would be a normal marriage in the society at that time.In the book, it is written that Jia's mother was the guarantor, and Sister Feng was the matchmaker, and the marriage between Xue Biao and Xing Xiuyan was arranged. It has declined, therefore, the marriage of Tiao and Xiu can also be classified as a model promoted by relatives and friends. There is another form that you should pay attention to. At that time, there were official matchmakers. Not all matchmakers were private. The government itself had a matchmaker organization, and there were many government-supported matchmakers. Go around these homes.In most cases, it is with the meaning of the man——the son of a certain family needs to choose a spouse when he is old, but there is no ready-made clue, so he entrusts the official matchmaker to go to the corresponding family to find a lady who is of the same age and has a similar character. As long as the parents agree, a marriage can also be formed through the matchmaking of the official matchmaker.This was a very popular practice in the Qing Dynasty.Is there any description of this?There are not many descriptions to expand, but there are pens and inks in this regard.For example, in the 72nd chapter, it is said that there is an official matchmaker, Mrs. Zhu, who makes a post every day and comes to Rongguo Mansion to ask for marriage for Mr. Sun's family. This Mr. Sun's family does not seem to be Sun Shaozu's family. Rich and powerful family.In the seventy-seventh chapter, at that time Mrs. Wang searched the Grand View Garden and disposed of some maids. In the midst of the chaos, there was a writing that Mrs. Wang was an official matchmaker, and she was very emotional.Mrs. Sun's family came to ask for marriage, and they didn't say which lady they were targeting, but the official matchmaker who came back on the 77th came for Jia Tanchun. She may have checked the relevant household registration and knew that the girl was of age, and Maybe the birthday horoscope also meets the man's requirements, so I came to the event.Of course Mrs. Wang has to take care of this matter—young people today must understand that although Tanchun was born to Aunt Zhao, according to feudal ethics, her mother is Mrs. Wang, and her marriage is decided by her father, Jia Zheng, and her mother, Mrs. Wang. to handle it.When the official matchmaker comes, the first thing she needs to see is Mrs. Wang. If Mrs. Wang has an idea, she will report and discuss it with Jia Zheng. It's useless to want to.As for Aunt Zhao, not only does she not have any right to make decisions, she does not even have the right to speak formally. It is written in the book that Tanchun only recognizes Mrs. Wang as her mother, and calls her biological mother Aunt Niang. , It is in line with the feudal ethical order of that society at that time.Of course, when the story progressed to the seventy-seventh chapter, Mrs. Wang dealt with the girl with a lot of emotions-note that Cao Xueqin did not write the word "annoying" but the word "complex", which means that Mrs. Wang has to deal with a lot of things and has a lot of threads. too busy.As the first lady of the mansion, she originally entrusted Wang Xifeng to take care of a lot of things, but now she has to do it herself, and the things in her mind are very complicated, but she doesn't necessarily feel troubled. After cleaning up, Rongguo Mansion and Grand View Garden are more "pure".The official matchmaker came to match Tanchun at this time, and she couldn't handle it for a while, so Tanchun was not engaged until the eightieth episode.Cao Xueqin wrote this way, of course, to leave room for Tanchun's distant marriage after the 80th chapter.Although there is no positive plot in the book to form a marriage through the official matchmaker, the activities of the official matchmaker are interspersed to let us know that this is another mode of marriage of young ladies from noble families at that time. There is another kind, which is also mentioned in the book, that is, clinging to courtship.The two families were not in the same family at first, and they had nothing to do with each other, but one family is now a little prosperous, and wants to cling to a clan of hairpin tassels for generations, the family of Zhongming Dingshi, and through marriage, further promote their own development.It is written in the book that there is a man named Fu Shi—needless to say that the name is homonymous and metaphorical, but it is pointed out that he is a villain who tends to power—his official position is general judge, not big or small, of course he hopes to become bigger.He has a sister named Fu Qiufang. He regards Fu Qiufang as a weight for his further development, and he clings everywhere to see which family is rich and powerful. .However, Fu Shi's plan to use his sister to cling to the wealthy family was never implemented, and he delayed his sister until she was twenty-four years old and hadn't married yet.Twenty-four years old, even today, a twenty-four-year-old woman can talk about marriage. In that society, she is definitely a strange old lady.If you think about it, Shi Xiangyun is only thirteen or fourteen years old, and he is already engaged.Fu Qiufang was twenty-four years old and still living in her boudoir. It is conceivable that her brother "has no heart to swallow a snake", and he is determined not to marry her off if he is not from a wealthy family.Fu Qiufang's parents should have both died, so "an elder brother is like a father", her marriage can only be decided by her elder brother, and she is completely helpless.Perhaps Fu Shi hadn't considered Yuanwailang's son, Jia Baoyu, at the very beginning. Now that the girl is so old, she can only settle for the next best thing, not to mention that Jia Baoyu can still be called "the prince's grandson" based on his grandfather. , so he tried his best to sell his sister to Rongguo Mansion to marry Jia Baoyu, even if Jia Baoyu was ten years younger than his sister, it didn't matter, he always sent some women to Rongguo Mansion to say hello, every time he went there He proposed to see Jia Baoyu.It is impossible for any parent in the Rongguo Mansion to be interested in Fu Qiufang, but it is not easy to refute the face of the Fu family, so they reluctantly received them. Baoyu originally hated those stupid women the most, because Fu Qiufang "is also a lady of Qiong. Yu, it is often heard that people have both talents and looks, although I have not seen it in person, but the heart of reverie and love is very respectful", so he made an exception to meet the mother-in-law who came from Fu's house.The "love" in Jia Baoyu's "Remote Love Heart" is of course not love, let alone wanting to marry Fu Qiufang as his wife. Jia Baoyu believes that all women in the boudoir are made of water, and they respect and cherish them. This performance of his , once again embodies his "loveless" character traits.According to my research, the character Fu Qiufang will officially appear after the 80th chapter. At that time, she has already married and made a house for King Zhongshun.Of course her elder brother Fu Shi would be very satisfied, because he finally achieved his goal of clinging to the powerful through his sister.Fu Qiufang helped Jia Baoyu after the collapse of Jia's mansion and Jia Baoyu's disaster.It was also a marriage phenomenon in the society at that time that clinging and courtship constituted a marriage. Of course, not all people who expected to cling could finally get their wish, but there were many successful examples. It was just a clinging marriage, and the woman often filled the house for the man, like The Xing family married Ms. Xing to Jia She to fill the house, and the You family married Ms. You to Jia Zhen to fill the house. They all belong to this type of marriage model. There is another kind, that is, finger pulp for marriage.Generally, rich and powerful princely families would not adopt this method, but from poor people to well-off families, sometimes they would use the fingertips as a form of marriage.What is finger pulp for marriage?It is two couples, the wives are both pregnant, but they haven’t given birth yet. Then the parents of both parties—in fact, mainly the fathers—have an agreement. If they both have boys, they will be sworn brothers; , let them become sisters, and if they happen to be a man and a woman, let them become husband and wife.At that time, both parents will take this promise very seriously.It is written in the book that Second Sister You and Zhang Hua were married by finger-to-mouth.You's family seems to be going downhill more and more. Her father died and married a widow to fill in the house. She is the old lady You in the book. This old lady You brought the two girls born to her ex-husband to You's house. They are the Second Sister You and the Third Sister You—the old society called this kind of children who remarried with their mothers "drag oil bottles".When Mrs. You's ex-husband was alive, it should be when she was pregnant with her second sister. Her husband married a friend named Zhang. Later, the two families gave birth to a boy and a girl. The boy of the Zhang family was Zhang Hua. .In that era, in that society, marriage was legally binding, and it could not be changed at will. Retiring a marriage required the consent of both parties and went through certain procedures.Later, the Zhang family declined even faster, and Zhang Hua was unable to marry Second Sister You. Although Mrs. You died and her husband remarried to You's family with her two daughters, from a legal point of view, Second Sister You still belonged to Zhang Hua. A "landmine" was planted in the later fate of Second Sister You, which became the "bursting point" in her tragic life. There is another model, that is, the girls go to be the child brides-in-law of the man's family.Generally, wealthy families rarely do this, but it is not completely absent.Qiaojie in the novel, she was rescued by Grandma Liu after the downfall of the Jia family. She was still very young when she was rescued. Grandma Liu took her home and later became the daughter-in-law of Grandma Liu’s grandson Ban’er. Before officially getting married, she was a child bride.The fate of Qiaojie is predicted in the verdict in the fifth chapter of the Jinling Twelve Beauties and in the song "Liu Yuqing". Entering the Grand View Garden, I took my grandson Ban'er with me. At the time, Ban'er was holding a bergamot. The bergamot was brought from Tanchun's house. As a result, the eldest sister——at that time, Grandma Liu hadn't given her the name of Qiao Jie— Seeing Ban'er's bergamot, he wanted it, but at first Ban'er was unwilling to give it to her. Later, after being persuaded by adults, the bergamot went to the elder sister. The elder sister was holding a citron, which was a big grapefruit. The big grapefruit later returned to Baner. Ban'er felt that the big pomelo could be used as a ball, and was very happy, so he didn't ask for the bergamot anymore.In this place, Zhiyanzhai has a comment: "Children are always in love, so they become thousands of miles away." In fact, it is telling you that the replacement of bergamot and citron means that the two of them can finally get married under the blessing of a kind of Buddha power. A successful marriage is a foreshadowing. Of course, there is another kind of marriage model, that is, the son of a wealthy family or an aristocratic family, he has a fancy for a certain woman, and he goes home and tells his parents that he will marry this, and the parents may agree to him through understanding and discussion.This kind of marriage often appeared in the patriarchal society at that time.Xue Pan's marriage to Xia Jingui falls into this pattern. Let's go through it this way, how many models of engagement and marriage are there in the book?I did the math here, and there are already as many as ten kinds, and there may be other cases, you can also look it up in the book.The text is indeed an encyclopedia of feudal society.So no matter which method is used, it seems that there are great differences, but one thing is common, that is, as a lady in the middle of the boudoir, as a woman who is in love with spring, even if you are the daughter of the Marquis Mansion, the daughter of the Duke Mansion, you do not choose a mate yourself The freedom of marriage is completely passive.Relatively speaking, the son of an aristocratic family still has a little freedom of choice, and of course it is only a very limited right to choose. What is the purpose of sorting out these marriage models?It is to explore which type of Shi Xiangyun's engagement belongs to.Which do you think it is?This seems to be a simple question, but the answer is not so simple, and it is not clearly stated in the book.However, the book shows so many models of young ladies' engagement and marriage like a fan, we can use it as a frame of reference to solve the mystery of Shi Xiangyun's engagement.From Mrs. Wang's tone: "I'm afraid it's better now. Someone came to see her the day before yesterday, and she saw her mother-in-law's." Personally, I think this means that the official matchmaker came to her uncle's and aunt's house. So when I go to the Shijia, it may not be because of a man calling for a kiss, but probably because her uncle and aunt are eager to get Xiangyun out, and they take the initiative to communicate with the official media, saying that there is a young lady here who is ready to get married when she is old. Unable to find a suitable family for him, the official matchmaker came here staggeringly, and looked at each other after she came. It was not difficult for her to find a son of a similar family background, and soon there was feedback. Her uncle and aunt heard that it was very good, so they made an engagement for her.Shi Xiangyun himself has no way to control his own marriage destiny, he can only resign himself to fate. A "red fan" friend discussed with me. He said that from the perspective of Shi Xiangyun's character, she may not be a resigned person, and she should take the initiative to try to marry Jia Baoyu!I told him that from the description in the previous eighty chapters, Xiangyun and Baoyu got along very well, but what overflowed should be just a brother-sister relationship, or the innocence between men and women of the same age There is no love factor in the contact between the two of them, and Cao Xueqin also consciously wrote about the differences and contradictions between the two of them in thought.Xue Baochai kept persuading Jia Baochai to study and improve. Lin Daiyu never said such "bad words". Shi Xiangyun was between Xue Baochai and Lin Daiyu. And nothing less.She is very clear about the special emotional relationship between Baoyu and Daiyu.Like Chapter 22, some delicate situations happened to Bao, Dai, Chai, and Xiang. Later, Jia Baoyu swore in front of Xiangyun, saying, "If I have a heart, I will immediately turn into ashes and let outsiders trample on me"— ——Jia Baoyu’s oaths are all weird——At this time, Xiangyun said: “During the first lunar month, don’t believe in nonsense. These insignificant oaths gossip and gossip, for those petty people, the action is annoying Listen to the people who will govern you, and don’t tell me to spit on you." It’s really quick to talk, and Lin Daiyu has been positioned so accurately. Of course, Baoyu has also been positioned at the same time. She knows that in the whole mansion, Only one person can govern Baoyu.Who?It was Daiyu, she knew that the relationship between the two of them was unusual, and of course Baochai also knew that the relationship between Eryu and Eryu was unusual, but Baochai pretended to be stupid and kept a low voice, while Xiangyun was open-minded and not afraid to speak out, it was because of her He has no need for love for Baoyu, nor does he think Daiyu is a rival in love, and he has absolutely no intention of acting as a "third party".Since Xiangyun and Baoyu do not constitute a relationship of lovers, she certainly does not have the self-consciousness of striving to marry Baoyu in her heart, and it is even less likely to have related performances in her behavior.In the first eighty chapters, Xiangyun is an angel-like pure girl who is completely in a state of no pursuit in terms of love and marriage.You have to notice that in the book Mrs. Wang and Xiren pointed out to Shi Xiangyun successively. After you got engaged, did Shi Xiangyun deny it?Explained?nothing.This was Shi Xiangyun's life state at that time. Although he entered the marriage passively, Shi Xiangyun married a talented and handsome man.Some people thought I was rambling, and said that you asked a question at the end of the last lecture, asking who is the handsome and talented man Xiangyun married?Is it Jia Baoyu?You have been talking for a long time now, should you tell the answer? Of course I want to provide you with my answer.But it is not a simple matter to come to the answer.To discuss this issue clearly, we must first eliminate an obstacle. What obstacle?It is the thirty-first chapter, the golden unicorn appeared in the story, and there is a prophecy in the chapter "Because of the unicorn, the white head double star".It can be seen that the handsome and talented man Shi Xiangyun married must be related to Jin Qilin.I'm sorry, but at the end of this round, I can't tell you who this talented and handsome Xianlang is.Then please listen to me next time, starting from the golden unicorn, and thoroughly unravel this mystery.