Before Xue Pan came to Beijing, he discussed with Aunt Xue the issue of where to live after coming to Beijing. The fourth chapter of the novel is written like this: (Xue Pan) discussed with his mother: "We are in Beijing." Although there are several houses, no one has lived in Beijing in the past ten years. The caretaker would have rented them to others secretly, so he had to get a few people to clean them first. "His mother said: "Why are we so ostentatious? When we come to Beijing, we should first visit our relatives and friends, either at your uncle's house or your aunt's house. The houses of his two families are very cheap, so we can stay there first and then slowly go there. Clean it up, why don’t you settle down for a while?” This shows that the Xue family has a house in Beijing, and Aunt Xue did not say that she would not go back to live in her own home. She just said that she would live temporarily in Wang Ziteng’s house or in Jia’s house, and then slowly move in. Go clean up your own house. Xue Pan had no choice but to move into Jia's house. At first, because he was worried about being controlled, he secretly asked people to clean up his house. Later, he got acquainted with the playboys in Jia's house, and they lived and drank all day long. The play became even more ruthless, and he did not want to move out. . On the surface, it was because Xue Pan did not want to move, so the Xue family and his family settled in Lixiangyuan of Jia Mansion. In fact, as soon as Aunt Xue settled in, she never mentioned cleaning up the house again. Later, in order to prepare for the Lunar New Year wedding, Lixiangyuan was given to twelve little actors to practice using, and Aunt Xue moved to the northeast corner of Jia Mansion, and she did not Move back into your own home.

Aunt Xue lives in the Jia Mansion and bears all her own food and clothing. In the fourth chapter of the novel, Aunt Xue explains privately to Mrs. Wang: "All daily expenses will be waived. This is a good place." "The usual way." She did not want the "one-day allowance" from Jia Mansion, which shows that Aunt Xue intends to live in Jia Mansion for a long time, so she has to bear the food and clothing by herself. If she only stays for a few days, she will pay it to herself. To bear the daily expenses, wouldn’t it be an insult to the Jia family’s lack of money!

But why did Aunt Xue leave her house unoccupied and stay in the Jia family for a long time? She really wanted Xue Pan to have some control over her. Isn't it easy to cause trouble? It's still the fourth chapter, and there is this paragraph: "It turns out that Lixiangyuan was the place where Rong Gong retreated in his later years. It was small and exquisite, with about ten houses, with a front hall and a back room. There was another The door leads to the street, and Xue Pan's family comes in and out through this door. There is a corner door in the southwest, which leads to the east side of Mrs. Wang's main room. Every day, after meals or in the evening, Aunt Xue comes to meet Jia. Mother chatting, or talking to Mrs. Wang."

At first, Aunt Xue lived in Lixiangyuan. Lixiangyuan had another door leading to the street, and Xue Pan’s family used this door to enter and exit. The Xue family lived in Lixiangyuan and had free access. They did not have to go through the main entrance or other doors of Jia's house. In other words, no one else would know what Xue Pan did. How to control him? Furthermore, since the Xue family bears the daily expenses themselves and does not get involved with the Jia family, the Jia family will have no control over him. In fact, Xue Pan's life in Jia Mansion was even more carefree than before. The book writes that Xue Pan said: "Who knows that since he lived here for less than a month, all the sons and nephews in the Jia Zhai clan have died?" After getting to know him halfway, all those dandy-minded people like to interact with him. They will drink wine today, watch flowers tomorrow, and even gather for gambling and prostitution. Gradually, Xue Pan is everywhere, and the seduced Xue Pan is ten times worse than before... Besides, this Lixiangyuan The house is two floors apart, and there is a street door that opens, so you can go in and out at will, so these children can relax and gradually give up the idea of ????immigrating." From this, it can be seen that Aunt Xue is afraid of Xue Pan. Without anyone to control him, it was just an excuse to cause trouble outside. Xue Pan only learned ten times worse in Jia's house than before. Even so, Aunt Xue did not move, which shows that preventing Xue Pan from getting into trouble was not the real reason why she wanted to live in Jia's house.

So what is the real reason? "There is a corner door in the southwest, which leads to a passage. The passage is to the east of Mrs. Wang's main room. Every day, after dinner or in the evening , Aunt Xue would come over, chatting with Mrs. Jia, or talking to Mrs. Wang." This paragraph clearly states that Aunt Xue would talk to Mrs. Wang or Mrs. Jia every day. What to talk about? In addition to the family feud and past events, the most important thing is the big event in front of us - Baochai is waiting for selection.

My last article "When did the Xue family decline?" mentioned that the Xue family actually began to decline not long after Xue Pan took over the family business, or even seven or eight years ago, and People who are not officials have a very low political status, and Xue Pan is involved in a murder case, so the chance of Xue Baochai being selected is actually not very high. For this reason, Aunt Xue took Baochai to live in the Jia Mansion, tying Xue Baochai and the Jia Mansion together. The Xue family used the status and influence of the Jia Mansion, as well as the princess Jia Yuanchun in the palace, to help Xue Baochai be selected.

Once Xue Baochai is selected, it will be beneficial to the four major families, so the Jia family is naturally willing to help. Therefore, in order to promote Baochai to be selected, this was one of the reasons why Aunt Xue lived in Jia Mansion at this time.

Then some people may ask, if this is the case, why didn’t Aunt Xue leave Jia’s house after Baochai was defeated? When did Baochai lose the election? I think Baochai in the seventh chapter of the novel, Xue When her aunt asked Zhou Rui's family to deliver the palace flowers, she had already failed. The reason can be found in my other humble article "When did Xue Baochai lose the election?" Therefore, Baochai and Baoyu were given the same gift on the Dragon Boat Festival and Yuanchun. And Yuanchun would not reward Baoyu and Baochai with the same gift for no reason. This must be Mrs. Wang's intention, and of course Aunt Xue's intention. Baochai lost the election, what should we do next? Promote a good match and let Baochai marry. Enter Jia's mansion and become Jia Baoyu's wife. In the 18th Yuanchun Provincial Visit, Yuanchun once said to Mrs. Wang and others when leaving in Yuanchun: "Now that I have been so generous, I am allowed to go in and inspect once a month. I can see you all, so why be miserable." It can be done in one month. After meeting once, Mrs. Wang would have a good chance to suggest to Yuan Chun how to make a good match. That's why Yuanchun gave the Dragon Boat Festival gift and gave the same gift to Baoyu and Baochai, implying that Baochai and Baoyu were a pair. In order to promote a good relationship, this is the second reason why Aunt Xue did not leave after Baochai was defeated.

Later, another thing happened, Xue Biao came with Xue Baoqin. In the forty-ninth chapter of the novel, Xue Baoqin appears for the first time. "Later, Xue Panzhi's younger brother Xue Bian was about to go to Beijing to get married because his father had betrothed his sister Xue Baoqin to the son of Hanlin in Duzhongmei. , I heard that Wang Ren came to Beijing, and he came with his sister." It is said here that Xue Baoqin was engaged to the son of Mei Hanlin in the capital when his father was in Beijing. For the Xue family, which was gradually declining, this was a high achievement. When Wang Xifeng's brother came to Beijing, he brought his sister and "came here later", or "rushed". This is to quickly tighten the relationship with the Wang family and the Jia family so that the girl can be married off quickly. It looks like Xue Baoqin will not get married! Then there is what Xue Baochai said to Xing Xiuyan in the fifty-seventh chapter of the novel: "Pianmei's family was still in office, and he came in the year after tomorrow. If he were here, Qin Let's go over and discuss your matter. It's over once you leave here. It's hard to get married without deciding on his sister's affairs first." This is strange. Why did Xue Baochai marry after his sister? Look at what Xue Baochai said, "Now he doesn't decide about his sister first." It turns out that Xue Baoqin's marriage has not been completely decided, or in fact, At this time, the Mei family wanted to regret their marriage, and the matter was already unstable. The reason why Xue Baochai explained this was that "he and his family were in office, and they came in the year after tomorrow." Xue Baoqin could chase him from Jinling to Kyoto, but why couldn't he chase him from Kyoto to where his family was in office? This is just an excuse. Xue Baoqin's engagement was in jeopardy. At this time, if Xue Biao married Xing Xiuyan, the Mei family would look down on the Xue family even more, and Baoqin's high-profile marriage would be even more impossible. From this point of view, the Xue family has to ask the Jia Mansion to help Xue Baoqin settle the marriage. This is the third reason why Aunt Xue stayed in the Jia Mansion.

In addition to the three reasons above, what other reasons does Aunt Xue have for staying in Jia's house for a long time? Personally, I feel that the most important reasons are not the above three. The most long-term thing is the Xue family's business!

The Xue family's business is going downhill, but the Jia family has a lot of business to do, and pawnshop is one of them. Wang Xifeng wanted to be a golden collar, and the wet nurse who welcomed the spring was a golden phoenix. Jia Lian took out a box of treasures that his ancestors did not use and used them as emergency supplies. The Xue family happened to own a pawnshop. In the fifty-seventh chapter of the novel, Xing Xiuyan pawned his cotton-padded clothes because he was short of money. It happened that he pawned it in the Xue family's pawnshop. Is it such a coincidence? After Xing Xiuyan defected to Jia's house, she couldn't go out or step out the second door. It was impossible for her to go out to pawn clothes herself. The maid who ran errands for her naturally pawned them in a familiar pawn shop, and this The pawn shop is the Xue family's shop. This shows that most or all of the things pawned by the maids and masters of the Jia family were pawned in the Xue family's shop. If there was no such relationship with Aunt Xue, why would they be in the Xue family's shop? Mrs. Wang and Aunt Xue are close relatives, sisters born from the same mother. She may have already learned about the decline of the Xue family. In this situation, instead of giving Jia's money to others to earn, it is better to earn it for your own sisters. As the saying goes, the wealth does not flow to outsiders.

By analogy, in addition to the pawnshop, the Xue family has other businesses, are they also making money from the Jia family?

Let’s look at the thirteenth chapter of the novel again. Qin Keqing died, and Jia Zhen died for her. Looking for good wood to make a coffin, there is this passage: "Jia Zhen saw that her father did not care, and she also indulged in luxury. When looking at the boards, several pairs of fir boards were useless. By chance, Xue Pan came to ask questions, and seeing Jia Zhen looking for a good board, he He said: "We have a pair of wooden boards in our wood shop, called Qiangmu. They were made on Huanghai Iron Mountain and made into coffins. They will last for ten thousand years." This was brought by my late father back then. It was originally requested by Prince Yoshitaka Lao Chitose, but because he had done something wrong, he never took it away. It is still sealed in the store, and no one dares to bid for it. If you want it, just bring it over... If you bring me a thousand taels of silver, I'm afraid there's nowhere to buy it. No matter what the price is, just reward them with a few taels of wages." The Xue family has a wood shop and carpentry. This is unsellable wood. I gave it to Jia Zhen as a favor. He said something like, "Take a piece of wood. Even with a thousand taels of silver, I'm afraid there's nowhere to buy it." It was Jia Zhen and Jia Lian who were responsible for contacting Concubine Yuan for marriage and carrying out large-scale construction projects. Needless to say, the relationship between Jia Zhen and Xue Pan, and then sending gifts from Jia Yun to Wang Xifeng In exchange for the job of planting trees in the garden, it can be seen that many things are arranged by Wang Xifeng. Wang Xifeng is Aunt Xue’s niece. Won’t the Xue family’s carpentry shop and carpenters come to join in the fun?

Let’s look at the 48th chapter of the novel. There is this paragraph at the beginning: “There is a Zhang Dehui, who is over sixty years old. He has been the general manager of the Xue family pawnshop since he was a child... because there was a shortage of spices and paper notes this year. "Next year, it will be expensive. Next year, I will first send my son and daughter to the pawn shop to take care of it. Before I rush to the Dragon Boat Festival, I will sell some paper envelopes and incense fans." It can be seen that the Xue family also sells paper envelopes. What are paper envelopes? Chapter 14 of the novel Here, when Sister Feng was attending the funeral for Qin Keqing for the Ning Mansion, she mentioned that "these eight individual tubes are filled with candles, lamp oil, and paper slips." It can be seen that these paper slips are burning paper used in funerals. The Xue family sells paper slips, and I am afraid they also sell candles. Lamp oil and other funeral supplies. The person who helped the Ning Mansion with Qin Keqing's funeral was Wang Xifeng, Aunt Xue's niece. With this connection, the Xue family gave Qin Keqing a pair of coffin boards for free at Qin Keqing's funeral. This favor was done by Jia What should Jane do with it? Of course she won't refuse the Xue family's deal. The funeral arrangements for Qin Keqing were so generous and there were so many places to spend money. I'm afraid the Xue family also made a lot of money here!

These are just a few things I can think of. After reading the book carefully, I'm afraid there are some details. As soon as there is something to spend money on in the Jia family, Aunt Xue will know immediately, and the Xue family will have another big money-making good. Business. This can well explain why Aunt Xue will stay in Jia's house forever.