The decline of a family first began to appear from the economy, and the Rong Guofu in "Dream of the Red Chamber" is no exception. From the beginning of the Red Chamber, the day Lin Daiyu entered the Jia Mansion, she saw the third-class servant women of the Rong Mansion, the degree of eating and wearing was already extraordinary, this situation really frightened Daiyu, so that the sensitive she chose "do not dare to say one more word, do not dare to take one more step, lest she be laughed at by people"!
In fact, the economy of Rong GuoFu has been in decline, and the Jia Fu that Lin Daiyu saw was only the face left by the Jia Fu in the heyday of that year, and now the Jia Fu has been hollowed out. However, the top level of the Rongguo Mansion was unwilling to change the old practice of the ancestors, or continued to follow the previous rules, resulting in Lizi not being able to hold up his face and gradually going to the end of the road!
We may wish to take a peek at the leopard and analyze the process of Jia Province's decline from the dining table of Rong GuoFu.
The internal dietary process of Rongguofu is very strict, and this strictness is reflected in the case. In the Jia province ruled by the feudal hierarchy, everyone's share was fixed, and who should get how many vegetables and how much meat should be divided every day had the old rules of the ancestors.
The 51st time, because of the fear that the sisters of Daguanyuan would have to run back and forth for dinner, Wang Xifeng proposed to build a new kitchen in Daguanyuan, which was approved by Madame Wang and Jia Mu, and from their dialogue, it can be seen that the diet of Rong Guofu has standards:
At the same time, Sister Feng discussed with Jia Mu and Madame Wang: "The day is short and cold, it is better to take the sisters to eat in the garden later, and when the weather is warm, it is better to run back and forth." Madame Wang smiled and said, "This is also a good idea, it is cheap to blow wind and snow." It is not good to eat something cold, it is not good to come in a hollow, a stomach is cold, and it is not good to press something. It is not as good as the five large houses in the back door of the garden, where women go to the night, pick two cooks and women, and make food for their sisters. Fresh vegetables and vegetables are given to them, and they are paid for in the general manager's room, or they ask for money or things; those pheasants, roe deer, roe deer, and all kinds of wild game, just give them some. Jia Mu said, "I was thinking about it too, but I was afraid of adding another kitchen to do more." Sister Feng said, "Not much: the same case, added here, subtracted there." - 51st
The reason why Wang Xifeng thinks that it is not troublesome to add a kitchen in Daguanyuan alone is because all the ladies have fixed parts, and then they only need to transfer their vegetables and meat to the Daguanyuan kitchen, and then subtract the ladies' parts from the general manager's room.
As for the specific number of ladies, Cao Xueqin did not ignore, in the 61st siqi smashing kitchen storm, the kitchen housekeeper Liu family daughter-in-law once bluntly said that the total daily example of the Daguanyuan kitchen is: two chickens, two ducks, more than ten pounds of meat, a hanging money of vegetables and vegetables. These ingredients are used to serve two meals a day for the Ladies of Grand View Garden.
The ladies' examples are still relatively simple, and the examples of other masters can be called abundant. For example, Wang Xifeng, the housekeeper of the Rongguo Mansion, when Liu Grandma entered the Rongguo Mansion on the 6th time, she had the honor of bumping into Wang Xifeng for dinner, and the book records it like this:
Grandma Liu only held her voice and waited in silence. Only to hear the laughter of people in the distance, about one or twenty women, dressed in skirts, gradually entered the hall house and went to the other side of the house. I also saw three or two women, all holding big red lacquered boxes, and came here to wait. I heard the other side say, "Set the table." "Gradually the people dispersed, and only a few people waited for the dishes. For half a day, Ya Que did not smell. Suddenly, two people lifted a Kang table to put it on this side of the Kang, the dishes on the table were arranged, still full of fish meat, but slightly moved. As soon as Ban'er saw it, she clamored for meat to eat, and Grandma Liu slapped her away. - 6th
It can be seen that Wang Xifeng's diet is rich, although Ah Feng's meal is not large, in the face of a full table of meals, she only slightly moved a few chopsticks, most of the fish and vegetables are still the same.
Ke RongGuofu would not cut such a case because of this, so as to achieve the purpose of thrift, because this was the old practice of the ancestors, and everyone's share was fixed, and Wang Xifeng could not modify it. Sister Feng's granddaughter-in-law is still like this, not to mention Madame Wang's example, and the dishes on her dinner table will only be more than Wang Xifeng.
Among the many masters of the Rongguo Mansion, Jia Mu's situation is the most special, she does not have her own share like other masters, but completely follows Jia Mu's own likes and dislikes, and what she wants to eat can be directly arranged for the kitchen. This point was mentioned in the 61st time, Cao Xueqin borrowed the mouth of the Liu family's daughter-in-law, the kitchen housekeeper of daguanyuan:
The Liu family said busily: "Even the girl and her sisters and children have forty or fifty people, and they only need two chickens, two ducks, ten pounds of meat, and a hanging of money for vegetables a day." What do you do? Even the two meals in this item can't hold on, can they still hold this point this, this point, that point like that? If you buy it, you don't eat it, and you want something else to go. Even so, it is better to go back to the wife, add more examples, and also prepare the old lady's meal in the big kitchen, write all the vegetables and vegetables in the world with water signs, eat them every day, and now count them in a month! - 61st
This is Jia Mu's life, Rong Guofu's case can not restrain her at all, Jia Mu can eat whatever she wants to eat, and even for the convenience of choice, Rong GuoFu specially made a water card, all the dishes and vegetables in the world are written on it, so that Jia Mu can "flop" herself, and what to eat in the picture.
For example, the 43rd time, Jia Mu suddenly wanted to eat porridge, so she let the kitchen fry two pieces of pheasant meat, because the pheasant meat was "salty soaked", especially suitable for porridge, Wang Xifeng heard about it, and immediately arranged the kitchen to do it.
These requirements of Jia Mu, the kitchen must not be known in advance, can only be temporary cooking, which has exceeded the fixed rules of Rong Guofu. However, this is the privilege that the Rongguo Government gave to the old ancestor Jia Mu, as for jia mu's eating and drinking expenses, at the end of the month, it was directly calculated, and the Jia fu officials paid for Jia Mu.
Not only that, Jia Fu also gave Jia Mu other privileges, that is, each room needed to pay tribute to Jia Mu, which was also an old rule set by the ancestors. And once the tribute, the tribute dishes have to work hard, either extremely precious and rare, or Jia Mu especially likes to eat, so at the 75th Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, there was such a scene:
Between the conversations, the daughters-in-law carried over the dining table, and Madame Wang, You Shi, and others rushed up to put up the rice. Jia Mu saw that her several colors of dishes had been laid out, and there were two large boxes containing several colors of dishes, which was the old rule of filial piety in each room. Jammuyin asked, "What are they?" Last few times I told you, now these worms are okay, and you will not listen. It's better than the time when I was a first spoke. The Mandarin Duck said busily, "I have said it several times, but I have not listened to it, and that is all." Madame Wang smiled and said, "But it's all homely things." Now I eat fasting, there is no other filial piety, those gluten and tofu, the old lady does not like to eat, only picked a kind of pepper oil and sauce. Jia Mu smiled and said, "I would like to eat this." - 75th
Lady Wang threw herself into her favor, picked the taste that Jia Mu liked to pay tribute, and later in the text, Jia Zhen honored the chicken marrow shoots, and Jia Yu also honored several dishes, even the Mandarin duck could not see what kind of dish it was, it could be seen that it must be a rare thing, not a vegetarian day.
At the same time, Jia Mu seems to be deliberately trying to get rid of this old rule, because her old man clearly realizes that the Jia family is far from being comparable to that year, and even on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, You Shi came to Jia Mu to eat, and there was not even a little extra red rice, and she could only grievance You Shi to eat the white japonica rice that the yakuza people ate!
However, Jia Mu's request was not accepted by the other masters, and Jia Yu, Jia Zhen, and Madame Wang still sent their own "filial piety" as usual. On the one hand, this is filial piety and respect for Jia Mu, on the other hand, the small frugality in diet is not enough to fundamentally save Jia Fu a few dollars, so no one cares.
From the perspective of eating, we can see the reality of the economic decline of Jia Province, Rong Guo Fu obviously can't even take out a bowl of excess red rice and rice, and can only eat it tightly with Jia Mu first, but the masters of Jia Province are still hiding their ears and stealing bells, unwilling to save money from a little bit, many of them are like Jia Lian, looking forward to "where can we make another three or two million fortunes", the top level of Jia Fu has never recognized this situation, which is doomed to the decline of Jia Fu will be the first to be revealed from the economy.
Finally, attach a passage of aphorisms from the "Words and Sayings of the Golden Plum Bottle" to encourage the kings: the dance skirt song board is new and new, and the gold is scattered. Send a message to the rich child Hugh violently, frugality is like a good medicine can cure poverty.
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