Zhu Hui put his hands on his hips and said with a happy face: "I'll just tell you to go for a walk. This won't net you thirty thousand taels."
Xue Hong looked away from Liu Xianghan, who was beaten into a Tathagata, and looked up at Yuanyang: "Are you... the maid beside the old lady of the Jia family?"
Seeing that she was recognized, Yuanyang had no choice but to nod her head and say yes: "Reporting to the Marquis, I am indeed a slave."
Since Yuanyang had never met Zhu Hui and Chen Chen, and the two of them were only wearing silk uniforms, Yuanyang did not know their identities and did not salute.
Xue Hong's eyes stayed on the red cloth for a moment, and then he smiled and said: "It's okay, the three of us just happened to pass by. You can go and do whatever you need to do."
Yuanyang thanked him and dove into the pawn shop with his head in his hands.
Xue Hong and the other three continued shopping and chatting.
Zhu Hui: "Has the Jia family already fallen into the trap of pawning things? After all, they are noble people, right?"
Xue Hong: "It wasn't so miserable originally, but who told them to build a special residence for relatives? Nowadays, there are no people in Jia's family to have a family, let alone property. They all have high ambitions and low abilities, and they are still immersed in the glory of the past. It is also declining. Not a strange thing."
Not to mention anything else, just eating, Jia's family is too extravagant. After Baoyu was beaten, he wanted to eat "Little Lotus Leaf and Xiao Lianpeng'er's Soup", but it was actually just a bowl of pimple soup. But Jia's family made it It was very luxurious. Not only did it need a few chickens to match it, but it was also made in various ways. Even Aunt Xue, who was the queen of the earl and whose family was extremely rich, didn't recognize it and immediately sighed: "Your family has also exhausted all their ideas. A bowl of soup still looks like this”
When Aunt Xue took it over first and took a look, it turned out to be a small box, which contained four sets of silver molds, each more than a foot long and an inch square, with chisels the size of beans, chrysanthemums, plum blossoms, lotus pods, and water chestnuts. Yes, there are thirty or forty kinds in total, and they are very delicately made.
After the death of the two great princes, the Jia family completely lost its real power in order to protect itself, and there was no one who knew how to do business and buy a family property.
Even a young actor Fangguan had a very exquisite meal, with three dishes and one soup, "shrimp ball and chicken skin soup, steamed duck with fermented wine, pickled rouge goose breast, crispy rolls with buttered pine pulp, and steaming green fragrant rice." Japonica Rice”
Fangguan looked tired of eating such delicacies long ago. She was just a second-class maid in the Baoyu House. This shows how rich and luxurious the lives of the masters of the Jia family were.
Such squandering, ignorance of frugality, and lack of distinction between master and servant are a loss for both houses. Otherwise, everyone will be begging for food before the Dream of Red Mansions begins. Not even a golden mountain can withstand such expenses.
Chen Chen sighed: "There are actually two talented people in Jia's family, one in literature and one in martial arts. It's a pity..."
Zhu Hui suddenly thought of a question: "Huh? Anyway, how do you, a thousand-year-old family, manage to produce talents from generation to generation? Can you please tell me?"
Chen Chen tapped the fan on the palm of his hand: "Hey! This is not a secret. Many people know it. But understanding is one thing, and being able to do it is another."
"As the saying goes: Wealth and honor are passed down to three generations, poetry and books are passed down to five generations, farming and reading are passed down to ten generations, and morality is passed down to a hundred generations."
"First of all: We, the children of the Chen family, have had no shortage of gold, silver, women, fine wines, delicacies, silks and satins since they were young. Therefore, most things in the world are not too tempting to us, so generally speaking, from In terms of personal ethics, the Chen family is definitely much higher than the average family."
This is true. Most of the corrupt officials in the past dynasties came from poor backgrounds. For example, the protagonist who cut through walls to borrow money is a famous corrupt official.
"Secondly, our Chen family has a large number of candidates and even Jinshi, and there are also many old people who have served as officials to impart knowledge to students, and even teach officialdom. Such resources are not available to ordinary families."
"Although our Chen family cannot guarantee that generations of great sages will be born, we can guarantee that there will be great sages from generation to generation. For example, recruiting a son-in-law is one way."
"The most important thing is that our Chen family already lacks everything, and we don't have such big ambitions. Therefore, officials have always known how to advance and retreat, businessmen have been honest, and farmers have not competed with the people for profits. If you have no desires, then you are strong!"
Zhu Hui: "No wonder, your family has never heard of any powerful officials or a bad reputation."
Xue Hong: "Isn't it empty talk to kill a gentleman for five generations? It's just that the aristocratic family maintains its vitality by dividing the family and ruling the family, and the capable ones are the direct descendants."
Many aristocratic families are just fine in the prosperous times. In troubled times, they will definitely place bets everywhere. Whoever wins will be the direct descendant.
Although the people in the direct line have changed, at least the ideas, bloodline, and surname have not changed.
For example, Chen Chen, although this kid may look like a fool, in fact, when compared with his ability, he can definitely crush most second-generation officials and Jinshi.
Chen Chen might lose when it comes to elegance in poetry and calligraphy, but when it comes to his ability to govern, Chen Chen is definitely ahead of them.
This is the strength of the aristocratic family. They are born with the things that others pursue throughout their lives, and they integrate these knowledge into their instincts as they grow up.
Zhu Hui: "It's a pity, Junchen, you can't go to the theater. Recently, there is a new storytelling, Twelve Widows Conquering the West, which is wonderful."
Xue Hong: "That's a pity, but when His Highness is free one day, we can invite someone to come to our house to have a chat."
Chen Chen: "Speaking of which, since the Legend of White Snake, there have been many stories of female heroes and generals appearing in both opera and storytelling recently."
Xue Hong smiled and didn't reply. He wrote both The Legend of White Snake and The Twelve Widows Zhengxi, and then released them under pseudonyms.
The novels of this era have become more and more mature. Once the stories written by Xue Hong became popular, other theater troupes immediately followed suit and produced: New Mulan, Tang Dynasty Female General Fan Lihua, The Legend of a Good Woman, etc.
Novelty is always eye-catching.
Once these operas were promoted, they were immediately welcomed.
Nowadays, all the theater troupes in the capital are performing heroine stories.
Especially now that the era of great strife is approaching, it is the best time for ideological reform.
The seeds have been sown, and they are growing well. The next thing to do is to find an opportunity to let the court promote it, or to create a positive effect.
At least these operas have quietly ignited a fire in the hearts of women in the boudoir who were trapped by Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.
Compared with a wonderful life, no one would like to be ordinary.
There are two types of people who believe that being ordinary is a blessing. One is the emotion of a successful boss after his retirement, and the other is the resignation of the powerless.
The yearning for wonderful things and freedom is the yearning in the bones and blood of human beings. No thought or law can suppress it.
Technology and morality should go hand in hand. If morality is infinitely improved and technological productivity fails to keep up, people will self-destruct.
If technology improves and people's moral quality does not keep up, mankind will still destroy itself.
So Xue Hong is waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to let go and carry out industrial innovation.