Once Daiyu entered Jiafu, she saw all kinds of people during the day, walked a lot, and she was already weak and sick, and she didn't know how to survive.
According to common sense, in the evening, Jia's mother naturally had to arrange a dinner, which was equivalent to picking up the wind and washing the dust for Daiyu, and Daiyu naturally had to participate.
This meal is not as simple as our usual meal, Jiafu is a century-old aristocrat, and there are naturally certain rules and etiquette requirements for doing anything, which is equivalent to Cao Gong giving readers a glimpse of the dining etiquette of the big family through Daiyu. Chinese table manners are the most, including how to arrange seats, how to serve dishes, how to toast, how to speak, ......Anyway, if you don't know table manners, or if you are socially afraid, you don't dare to attend more formal gatherings between large families.
In the society, the party between colleagues in the company, the year-end ceremony within the company, or the wedding banquet of relatives and friends and other more formal occasions, there are clear requirements for dress and conversation, can not speak, do not understand etiquette, as we often joke, can only sit at the child's table.
Many people resist this kind of table manners that seem to be speechless, thinking that it is red tape and ineffective socialization, but in fact, it is not only eating and drinking, including drinking tea and entertaining guests, this kind of etiquette norms and human feelings between every move are indispensable in many cases. Knowing that Jiafu passed on dinner, Mrs. Wang brought Daiyu over, at this time, everyone was not seated, because the important person Mrs. Wang had not arrived, and all the maids stood aside and waited.
According to the status and status, the entire Rongguo Mansion, except for Jia Mu, is the second wife of Xing Wang, so if Mrs. Wang is not there, she can't hold a banquet. When they saw that Mrs. Wang and Daiyu had arrived, "Fang set up tables and chairs." In other words, it's time to eat. Mrs. Wang is the second daughter-in-law of Jia's mother, the second wife of Rongguofu, and her identity has also been decided. As a daughter-in-law, Jia's mother didn't let her come to eat, but asked her to come over to serve and serve her mother-in-law Jia's mother. As the granddaughter-in-law, Su and Feng naturally have to follow their mother-in-law, Mrs. Wang, to serve Jia's mother and several sisters-in-law for dinner. Therefore, we see Cao Gong write like this: Jia Zhu's wife Li holds the rice, Xifeng Anzhen, and Mrs. Wang enters the soup.
That is to say, before everyone officially sat down, actions such as serving rice, dividing chopsticks, and serving soup were not completed by the maids, nor were they made by the people who ate themselves, but Mrs. Wang, Li Kun, and Wang Xifeng.
Someone should say, these three people's identities are not simple, why can't they sit and eat, let others serve, but serve others? This brings us to ancient family etiquette and social customs. There is a saying that a daughter-in-law who has been a mother-in-law for many years, there is a daughter-in-law who has to serve her mother-in-law, not only to eat, but also to settle the province in the morning and dusk every day, and the daughter-in-law must abide by the rules in front of her mother-in-law. The seat is even more exquisite, Jia Mu must be sitting alone, in our day, it is equivalent to sitting in the main house facing south, this is only the longest person in the family can sit in the seat, there are peers can sit together, no peers are sitting alone. Even in normal times, or if Jia's mother doesn't eat dinner, no one else can sit in this seat casually.
There are four seats on both sides of Jia Mu, and the noble order of these four seats is: left.
1. Right. 1. Left.
Second, second from the right. If there is more, and so on. This arrangement is always left first, right secondary. This is true not only of the square table order, but also of the long table used in meetings, as well as the round table that we see today. Therefore, we can see that Wang Xifeng Ladaiyu sits in the first seat on the left, that is, the first on the left, which is the most honorable seat except for Jia Mu. The seats of the three springs are seated according to the order of age, and there is nothing wrong with it. In addition, there are also maids around who insist on dusting, gargling, and towels, which are used to prepare everyone after dinner. During the meal, Li Kun and Wang Xifeng had to constantly distribute vegetables to everyone. They are the granddaughters-in-law of Jia's mother, and they should be so.
There are also daughters-in-law and maids waiting outside, and there is no cough and sound, that is to say, those who are sick cannot come out on errands, not only are they unclean and cannot serve people, but also coughing and wheezing will also destroy the etiquette of Jiafu.
The dining etiquette of Jiafu is not ordinary.
Author: Xi Sishao, this article is an original work of the Red Mansion.