Jia Yao of the Red Chamber

Chapter 20 Baoyu Zhongxiucai ([-])

From summer to autumn, there is no big deal in the mansion.Jia Yao, Daiyu and Baoyu are just as good.Under Jia Yao's care, Daiyu's body is getting better and better. They are growing their bodies, and they are changing rapidly day by day.The two eat and live together, they are also similar in age, and they are cousins, aunts and nephews, so the descriptions bring out a bit of similarity.It's just that the people in the mansion watched them grow up day by day, so they didn't think so.The eyes of the two are somewhat similar, and they both carry the gracefulness of the depths of the water waves in the south of the Yangtze River. It's just that Daiyu's eyes are slender and more charming, while Jia Yao's eyes are bigger and the corners of the eyes are slightly raised. , although she is still young, she is already quite romantic and charming, one cannot help but take a few more glances, as if looking at a pair of faintly glamorous glazed beads.

Baochai has been in the mansion for some time now.Not to mention that Mrs. Wang really loves her, even Jia's mother likes this quiet, sensible and beautiful girl very much.Baochai deserves to be called "the talent of pity and chanting Xu" in the Red Chamber.Jia Yao looked at her coldly, although Baochai was just a cardamom youth, there was nothing wrong with her in speaking and doing things.Jia Yao still admires this beautiful and intelligent cousin very much in her heart, but her feelings are not deep. First, she is no better than Daiyu since she was a child. The status is not high, so Baochai lacks the nobility and arrogance of the ladies who are really in high positions, and they handle things smoothly, and they don't want to offend anyone. Although it makes people feel friendly, there is no such thing as a real upper class. dignity.Although Jia Yao came from a later life, and her family was also a businessman in the previous life, in modern society, the status of businessmen has risen, so Jia Yao has been regarded as a daughter of the upper class in her past and present lives, and Daiyu, as the daughter of a high-ranking official, is also a She comes from a family in the south of the Yangtze River, and she is also a truly noble lady.Therefore, although Jia Yao will not look down on Baochai in any way, she feels that from thinking to behavior, the way is different, and it is difficult to communicate.

Jia Yao has lived in Jia's mansion for these years, although more than ten years in her previous life have made her determined, but in Jia's mansion, her blood relatives treat each other sincerely, and her best friends get along day and night, so she really puts the person in front of her in her heart.If at the beginning it was because she wanted to change the Jia family for her own future, and because of the love Jia Mu and Jia Zheng couple had for her, she wanted to repay her kindness, then now, she has truly integrated herself into this family. part.Over the past eight years, the love of Jia's mother, the love of Mrs. Jia Zhengwang, and the love of Baoyu have made it impossible for her to accept the ending in the book that ends in a vast and clean land.Ever since she knew that Wang Xifeng's lending had started, she had been thinking about how to change the fate of the whole family, but she still couldn't fully figure it out.

Just got to work on the details, she thought.

She loved the Red Mansion in her previous life, and she was a sentimental girl when she was fifteen or sixteen years old. She had thought about the complicated people and things in the Red Mansion many times.Of course, even if she is bright and intelligent, it is impossible for her to fully understand the Red Mansion. After all, the manuscripts of the last forty chapters of the Red Mansion are lost, and no one knows the ending.There are already many confusing places in the previous article, and there are different opinions so far.It is impossible for anyone to know what Cao Xueqin was thinking back then.She can only deduce a thing or two based on her not-so-thorough understanding of social relationships and her research on classical culture, which is slightly more advanced than others.Fortunately, she is a modern person, and she can easily obtain the thoughts of predecessors who have studied for many years. She has also listened to many lectures on Hongxue. She may have a glimpse of the truth about the decline of the Jia Mansion back then.

There is a saying that the reason for the decline of Jia's mansion is that the new emperor took office and took advantage of the old and extravagant aristocratic families, but Jia Yao believes that this is not the case.Those in power would not spend a lot of effort to uproot this class just because a power was old and extravagant. At that time, none of the major families were available, which would not affect the imperial power at all, but eradicating all of them might shake the rule of the new emperor.Although it is useless to keep it in place, it is a bit risky to shovel it, and it is really not worth it.There is also a saying that Jia's family was on the wrong team and made the new emperor suspicious. Jia Yao thinks this is possible, but if he was on the wrong team and the new emperor took office, at most he would abandon the family.Jia Yao believes that the key lies in the fact that Jia's mansion cannot be supported by the wall, and that both martial arts and martial arts are ineffective, but she wants to be greedy for merit, unwilling to be lonely, and wants to take a share of the merit of being a dragon.In addition, the new emperor had just ascended the throne, and it was time to act vigorously, so he decided to eradicate this big moth.

Jia Yao thought that Baoyu was undoubtedly talented, and now she was willing to learn, so she was the best choice to go all the way in the official career.Although Jia Huan is not very intelligent, he has a pure mind and is willing to learn. It will be difficult for him to be a powerful minister in the future, but he can also take care of Baoyu from a civil position.Jia Lian is not motivated in his studies, and he is quite feminine, but from the story of the stone nerd in the book, it can be seen that he is kind-hearted and good at communicating with others, so doing business is really the best choice for him, but merchants The status in this society is too low, I am afraid that Jiamu Jiashe and others will not agree.According to Mrs. Wang, her nephew, Jia Lan, is willing to make progress, but she feels that although Jia Lan was selected in Gao E's continuation, from Cao Xueqin's description, Jia Lan Lan is obviously better at riding and shooting.The ancestors of the Jia family started with military exploits. Now if someone can get a military post from their ancestors, it will be better for Baoyu and Jiahuan to take care of each other in the future, and they will be able to stand firm in the court.

Although Wang Xifeng hadn't thought of a way to solve the loan issue, Jia Yao had a general idea of ​​how the Jia family would fundamentally stand firm.However, there is a long way to go, and as a daughter of the second wife, it is extremely difficult to achieve these things. However, for Jia Yao, those are all things now, and Baoyu is about to start on the road of imperial examinations. This is the moment The most important thing on her mind.

When Baoyu was still young, he could only speak. Yuan Chun, the eldest sister Jia Yao had never met, taught him a few lines of the Three Character Classic, which was the first enlightenment. When he was a little older, Jia Zhu was gone. Jia Zheng placed high hopes on his only son. , I taught him carefully for a while, but not long after, I felt that this son was too delicate and delicate, so I lost the patience to teach him.Later, Jia Yao could speak and showed interest in learning.Baoyu, who has always regarded her sister as the center of gravity, also began to have a passion for learning.In addition, Jia Yao gave him two Linglong pills one after another, Baoyu was already very talented, and this made him even more blessed, and he read four books when he was still a child.I have been studying with Xu Zhengling for two years. Xu Zhengling is very knowledgeable in economics, and he is the only disciple, and he must teach him with his heart.Therefore, Baoyu was still young and had already begun to learn to interpret the Four Classics.Although the examinations in ancient times were nothing more than the Four Books and Five Classics, they were not tests for endorsement, but for the words and sentences in the Four Books. Interpretation is only the basics. The real knowledge is to interpret the thoughts that can stand, and apply it to self-cultivation and morality Therefore, it is best to be able to put forward new ideas and insights, and to have new strategies and ideas for governing the country and the world.

Now Xu Zhengling is very satisfied with Baoyu, and also has a narcissistic attitude like a literati, so he wants Baoyu to leave the examination room at the young age of ten.Back then, their elder brother Jia Zhu only entered school at the age of 14. Now that the family has learned about Baoyu, even though he has not yet won the first or second place, he is called a star of Wenqu.Although Jia Yao thinks that there is nothing wrong with Baoyu being a scholar, she is ten years old after all, she is smarter than others, has less years of schooling, and has less experience with her.

Jia Yao remembered that when she was watching Liaozhai in her previous life, she saw Wang Zi'an read a passage like this, "Scholars enter the palace, there are seven similarities: when they first entered, they looked like beggars with white feet. It returns to the house, with its holes sticking out its head and the house showing its feet, like a cold bee in late autumn. When it comes out, its expression is dazed, the sky and the earth are different colors, like a sick bird out of the cage. Looking at the newspaper, the plants and trees are all startled, Dreams are also illusory. When you achieve your ambitions, you will instantly build a pavilion; if you lose your ambitions, your bones will rot in an instant. At this moment, it is difficult to sit and walk, and it seems to be cheated. Suddenly, the descendants of flying horses, The newspaper has no self, and at this time the expression suddenly changes, as if dead, it is like a fly poisoned by bait, and you don’t even notice it. When you lose your ambition at the beginning, you are discouraged, and you scold Si Heng for being aimless, and your pen and ink are useless. Burn all the things on the desk; burn them endlessly, but trample them; trample them endlessly, and throw them into the turbid stream. From then on, they spread into the mountain, facing the stone wall, and then enter me with the words of "Qifu" and "taste" Those who are determined to chase after them. Nothing is getting farther and farther away, the spirit is getting flatter, and the skills are getting more and more itchy, so they are like doves with broken eggs. They have to carry a wooden nest and start a new one." Although there is an exaggeration, it is also true. Out of the harshness of the exam.Even if Baoyu is not as weak as the book said, after all, he is still a son of a big family. Can he survive the three tests of the county, government and court?

What Jia Yao was worried about was exactly what Jia's mother and Mrs. Wang were worried about.With Jia Hu and Jia Zhu in front, these grandchildren are now the lifeblood of Jia's mother. She can't bear their suffering at all. Mrs. Wang has experienced the pain of bereavement. So good and strong.It was Jia Zheng who made this decision.It's not that he doesn't love Baoyu, in fact, although he seems to be condescending towards his son, in fact he loves his sons and daughters the most in his heart. He failed to realize his ideal all his life, so he pinned his hopes on his sons.He has high hopes for Baoyu, and he will train and sharpen him more than wrapping him in a warm and safe cotton tire.Jia Zheng was also afraid that Baoyu would not be able to stand the harsh environment of the examination room, but he finally made a decision.Let him go to the test.

In fact, Mrs. Jia and Mrs. Wang did not object, but they were reluctant to push their children to a wider world with their own hands. Although they complained about Jia Zheng's cruelty, they still wanted their children to have a good future.So in the end it didn't stop.

Compared with so many people's love, care and worry, Baoyu himself is not under so much pressure.Maybe I am the one who knows my own strength the most.Although Baoyu is still young, he does have a bit of a gentleman's demeanor, which makes Jia Zheng and Xu Zhengling secretly satisfied.

Baoyu will leave in the spring of next year, and now he has no rest, and goes to study with Xu Zhengling every day, learning stereotyped essays, trying to post poems, classics and rhymes, and practicing some old questions from previous years.It is inevitable that the time with Jia Yao and Daiyu will be less.And Jia Yao can only occasionally quietly melt the marrow-washing pill and give Baoyu a little when no one is paying attention, at least to strengthen his physique.