Dream of the Red Chamber: Start by gaining Zhao Yun's martial prowess, and be ennobled in a sin

At the second gate,

Jia Jing's analysis of Xing Xiuyan's name elicited various reactions from those present!

Xue Baochai, who had been silently watching Jia Jing's every move, couldn't help but let her eyes flash with a hint of excitement.

She recalled that Jia Jing had once described her as a pure and noble person in the mountains, but now he compared Xing Xiuyan to the demeanor of a hermit in the mountains!

I wonder if my third brother admires high-minded scholars more or prefers hermits!

When Xing Xiuyan heard the gentle words of the young man in front of her, a faint blush quietly rose on her cheeks!

I wanted to answer, but my shyness prevented me from speaking!

Jia Jing didn't continue chatting with Xing Xiuyan, since it was their first meeting and they should stop there.

He turned to look at Tan Chun, whose features were beautiful and delicate, and instructed her:

"Third sister, cousin Xiuyan is new to the area, so the household should take extra care of her."

This sentence is clearly quite meaningful!

Upon hearing this, Tan Chun glanced at Xing Xiuyan, who was dressed rather shabbily among her sisters, and her fair face instantly flushed with embarrassment.

Of course, it wasn't that she treated Xing Xiuyan poorly.

After Xing Xiuyan came to Rongguo Mansion, she was given two taels of silver a month, just like the other sisters in the Jia family!

Moreover, she and Xing Xiuyan got along very well, and she admired Xing Xiuyan's refined nature. A few days ago, she even gave Xing Xiuyan a rather valuable jade pendant.

However... with her greedy aunt, Madam Xing, around, Xing Xiuyan's monthly allowance was mostly plundered and deducted by her.

As far as Tan Chun knew, once the monthly allowance was distributed by the manor,

Madam Xing would then have Xing Xiuyan hand over one and a half taels of silver in the name of her parents, keeping only half a tael for her own use.

Under such circumstances, Xing Xiuyan naturally continued to live a life of poverty and hardship!

Although Tan Chun had heard about this matter from other places, she did not feel comfortable interfering.

After all, Madam Xing was not only Jia Jing's nominal mother, but also acted in the name of filial piety. Xing Xiuyan herself never complained, so she had no way to interfere!

At this moment, faced with Jia Jing's seemingly meaningful instructions, Tan Chun didn't explain further, but simply nodded her head and decisively replied:

"Third brother is right, little sister will remember!"

Jia Jing was well aware of the reasons behind Xing Xiuyan's poverty.

Madam Xing, this foolish woman who only knew how to covet wealth, probably because after Jia Jing reorganized the Jia family, and with her maid Wang Shanbao's wife being driven out of the mansion,

Having lost her way of making money, she began to covet Xing Xiuyan's monthly allowance of two taels of silver.

Compared to the original story where only one tael was deducted, Madam Xing now goes even further, deducting one and a half taels.

Of the total, only half a tael was given to Xing Xiuyan's parents, while she kept one tael as a "referral fee"!

Having an aunt like Madam Xing, Xing Xiuyan didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse.

Unfortunately, without Madam Xing, she wouldn't have been able to come to the Jia family, and she certainly wouldn't have received this month's money.

As for being lucky, there's not much to say. No one would feel lucky to have such a stupid and greedy relative!

Not only Xing Xiuyan, but also Yingchun, Jia Lian, Jia Cong and others, all suffered greatly because of Madam Xing as their stepmother!

Take Yingchun for example. Her birth mother died early, and she was raised in the Rongguo Mansion from a young age.

Logically speaking, since Madam Xing raised her from childhood to adulthood, even if she wasn't her biological daughter, they should have had a very deep bond.

Even Madam Wang pretended to be sad and shed tears after seeing Yingchun being mistreated by the Sun family, but Madam Xing did not.

She seemed to have an iron will, only greedy for wealth and status, helping the scoundrel Jia She to do whatever he wanted, as if the life and death of her own relatives were none of her concern.

She really does look like a heartless stepmother, she's too lazy to even pretend!

When she was reprimanding Yingchun, she actually said:

"...Tan'er was raised by my aunt. Isn't your mother ten times better than her? Logically, you should be ten times better than her, but you're not even half as good!...Besides, you weren't raised by me..."

How could she say something so obviously inappropriate!

If Madam Wang is a vicious woman with a heart of a snake and a mouth of a Buddha, then Madam Xing is undoubtedly a brainless and stupid woman!

As for Madam Xing's character, she was both stupid and greedy, and she was also a sycophant.

Jia Jing could only say: Just wait, your and your sister-in-law's good days are yet to come!

Although he knew that Madam Xing had shown signs of getting closer to him these days, often referring to him as "my Jing-ge'er".

However, Jia Jing will not hesitate to strike back, for unity is achieved through struggle.

His principle for dealing with the women in the Jia family who couldn't distinguish between what was important and what wasn't!

Silently sentencing Xing Xing and Wang in his heart, Jia Jing remained silent for a moment, then said to Tan Chun:

"Here's what we'll do! I'll arrange for Xiuyan's parents to be managers at a farm outside the city, doing some easy work so they won't have to worry about food and clothing."

"From now on, the household shall continue to pay Xiuyan her monthly allowance as usual, and no one else is allowed to deduct it under any other pretext!"

It would be more convenient for him to handle this matter directly, and it would also save Tan Chun from being put in a difficult position.

In the original novel, Xing Xiuyan's parents, Xing Zhong and his wife, are described as "completely drunkards," impoverished, vulgar, and snobbish, and they lack love and support for Xing Xiuyan.

This assessment stems from Xue Baochai's inner thoughts:

"When Baochai first met him, she noticed that his family was poor, and that while other people's parents were all elderly and virtuous, his parents were simply drunkards, which was quite ordinary for a daughter."

"Wine lees" is a highly derogatory metaphor in this era. Literally, it refers to the lees left after brewing wine, and by extension, it means a dull, shallow, greedy, and immoral person.

The Tang Dynasty Zen Buddhists used the term "those who eat wine dregs" to satirize mechanical imitators. Liu Ji's "Yu Lizi" also used "stealing dregs" to describe those who pick up scraps of others' wisdom but consider themselves superior.

Xue Baochai used this to describe Xing Xiuyan's parents, implying that they were not only of low character but also short-sighted and only knew how to seek personal gain.

Judging from the original plot, Xing Xiuyan's parents' actions of taking their daughter to the capital to seek refuge with Madam Xing were indeed not very clever.

When Aunt Xue proposed marriage to the two men, they "immediately said it was wonderful," completely disregarding their daughter's wishes, simply because the other party's family was wealthy.

Furthermore, although Madam Xing arranged for them to stay temporarily in the west wing of the Jia family mansion, they remained impoverished and even had to pawn their belongings to make ends meet, which also reflects her poor management skills and dependence on others.

But how should I put it?

In Jia Jing's opinion, it's unfair to say that Xing Zhong and his wife are completely despicable based on these reasons alone!

In this feudal era, the preference for sons over daughters is the norm, and it's not a problem unique to Xing Zhong and his wife.

In addition, for ordinary families like the Xing family, wanting to marry their daughter into a wealthy family to improve their lives is a common mentality among the general public!

You can't talk about character and morality with ordinary people who are struggling to make a living! That would be too harsh!

Although Xing Zhong and his wife's actions could be described as pragmatic, they were not entirely malicious!

Regardless of how things turn out, Xing Xiuyan's final fate was probably one of the better ones among all the girls in the Grand View Garden!