Someone once mentioned that in "Dream of Red Mansions", the most thought-provoking and frightening event is that since Sister Qiao, there have been no newborns.
Jiafu, as a family known for its bells and foods, has always been unwilling to compromise for the sake of showing off, how large is the number of its family members? There's a lot of secrecy in this. Musk Yue once said: "There are thousands of people in the family, and if you come too, I will also come to ......."Of course, Musk Yue was admonishing her mother-in-law at that time, and there were times when she was exaggerating, when Baoyu was in the Illusory Realm, she saw the sign of Bo Mingsi, and just said, "Jinling City is very big, why are there only twelve girls?" Now there are hundreds of girls in my family alone. The girls mentioned by Baoyu of course also include the maids of Jiafu, which also reflects the prosperity of Jiafu's population.
In a male-dominated society, large families like Jiafu tend to outnumber men in the family due to the practice of polyandry and concubinery. In this family, with the exception of a few people of special status, the general people are made up of one or two ladies, not one woman or two men. Compared with Ning Guofu, Jia Zhen's main room and concubines include You Shi, Kailuan, Peifeng, etc., as well as unknown partners like Qin Keqing and Second Sister You. The situation in Rongfu is even more serious, even if it is a serious Jia Zheng, it is also the standard of one wife and two concubines, Jia Yu is lustful, and there are many concubines under his name, there is no specific number. Although Jia Lian is scared of his fierce wife, he is also often close to her outside; The close relationship between Baoyu and the raiders has been maintained for several years.
Surprisingly, among so many women, only Second Sister You and Wang Xifeng are pregnant. What is puzzling is that neither of these women has been able to give birth to a child, and what is even more confusing is that they have not even shown signs of pregnancy, what is the reason behind this?
In fact, if you really want to go deeper, it's just because you're afraid, or you really can't do it!
First, let's talk about the things we don't dare to face.
The assault is undoubtedly the most representative example.
The attacker was originally a maid in Jia's mother's room, and was later adopted by Jia's mother and Baoyu, and came out of Jia's mother's room to provide services to Baoyu, including a Qingwen. In Jia Mu's view, the relationship with Baoyu is completely different. The attacker's personnel relationship is still in Jia's mother's home, so it is impossible for her to become Baoyu's "house person". And Qingwen is regarded by Jia Mu as "the only person she can serve Baoyu in the future". The personnel relationship has been transferred to Yihongyuan, so Qingwen is considered to be the "person in the house" assigned to Baoyu.
However, for the attacker, all of this can be ignored or self-deceptive, at least when she first meets Baoyu, she thinks it is "rude". Later, Baoyu thinks that the raider is different from the others, and there was a sweet time between them.
Since the attacker didn't dare to get pregnant, what was she afraid of? First of all, the attacker was not the "man in the house" that Jia's mother gave to Baoyu, and Jia's mother used a hundred different methods to kick her out of the house; Second, in the seventy-second chapter, Jia Zheng mentions Jia Huan's adoption of "people in the house", and he believes that Baoyu and Jia Huan are still young and worried that it will affect their studies. Considering that Baoyu was already sixteen or seventeen years old at the time, if he had had a child at the age of twelve or thirteen, Jia Zheng might have taken some kind of measure against this unfilial son; Thirdly, although Madame Wang later developed a crush on the raider and secretly promoted him, her real intention was to make Baoyu the object of her surveillance, because if the raider became pregnant, Lady Wang might be implicated.
Therefore, with his thoughtful personality and sophisticated way of doing things, he definitely does not choose to take risks.
In addition to this, there is Ping'er.
Ping'er is one of the four maids brought back by Sister Feng. When she entered the house, several others unfortunately died or married Jia Lian, and the two people who had lived in two houses were also kicked out of the house. Faced with such a fate, Ping'er felt extreme fear and retreat. Although Ping'er wanted to have more intimate contact with Jia Lian, she didn't actually have such an opportunity. In the past, Sister Feng always followed Ping'er and watched her closely. Even if Ping'er and Jia Lian were talking through the window, Sister Feng would feel a little sour, let alone other things?
Ping'er has neither parents nor support, she can only rely on Sister Feng. In Jiafu, her status and power are completely given by Sister Feng. Imagine what fate Ping'er would face if she became pregnant? Just observe Second Sister You to understand. She is a kind and shrewd woman. Ping'er is not only a smart person, but also has a deep understanding of Sister Feng, so she does not dare to risk breaking the law.
In addition, people like Aunt Zhou are probably also afraid of getting pregnant. Because, there must be a lot of "little princesses" in her belly. In contrast, Aunt Zhao's luck is obviously better, and what she relies on is the word "spelling".
Let's talk about the things we can't do.
Sister Feng is undoubtedly the most representative figure.
Sister Feng was once pregnant with a son, but unfortunately passed away, and due to the lack of proper maintenance and labor, she unfortunately suffered from the disease of Xiahong, which also caused her birth plan to be interrupted.
The next thing to mention is Jia Zhen's wives and concubines.
In our previous analysis, Jia Zhen has had relationships with many women, including You Shi, Qin Keqing, You Erjie, Kailuan, Peifeng, and Wenhua, among others. However, none of these women have ever been pregnant, is this their problem? No, they can't have children. But this is not necessarily accurate, because Second Sister You became pregnant after marrying Jia Lian, which indicates that the problem is still focused on Jia Zhen. Because she had only two children in her belly, a daughter and a son. Jia Zhen is only in her forties now, and she has not yet experienced the stage of childbearing. Therefore, the only explanation is that since Jia Jing started cultivating, he has made a mess of everything in the Ning Mansion, and the life of the Cheng Ri family has become chaotic, with mixed men and women, resulting in serious damage to his body. Looking at the people who were beaten by her and their noses were swollen, it was not a good thing, let alone her children. Therefore, following the many young concubines around Jia Zhen, it is really distracting to want to reproduce in the Ning Mansion.
Of course, Jia Yu's many concubines are also one of them. In ancient times, Jia Yu was close to sixty years old, and his fertility was basically completely lost. He usually just drank with his young wife, so he later became greedy and even rewarded Qiu Tong to Jia Lian as a way to anger Sister Feng.
Of course, these are only superficial explanations, but in reality, the author has a profound impact on the predicament in which Jia Fu finds itself. Through this story, the author hopes to tell us that the rise and fall of a family is closely related to the fate of an individual. Since ancient times, it has been widely believed that the luck of a family is closely linked to the prosperity of its descendants. Families with good fortune will have more members, while families with good luck may be at risk of having fewer children and grandchildren. More broadly, this is similar to the Qing Dynasty, where the early Shunzhi Emperor gave birth to one child at the age of thirteen, but by the time he died at the age of twenty-three, he gave birth to fourteen more. By the late Qing Dynasty, it was shocking that three successive emperors did not give birth to a son and a daughter, which is enough to show that the fate of the Qing Dynasty had come to an end. Such an omen, unfortunately no one in Jiafu can understand, sure enough, there are many people who pursue wealth and honor, but there are very few people who plan and plan.