Ren ruthless, moving.
Sixty-three chapters of A Dream of Red Mansions, group banquet, ivory flower sign. Xue Baochai reached out and pulled out the peony flowers: "Gorgeous flowers overwhelm the crowd", and there is a Tang poem: "Let no one move." Of all Cao Xueqin's descriptions of Xue Baochai, I was most impressed. Because I think this poem is the best footnote for Xue Baochai. Among the twelve women in Jinling, Xue Baochai is the most stereoscopic, controversial and puzzling one. Obviously, her feelings are extremely indifferent until "there is a faint gloom in the cold", but this does not prevent the other side of her personality from being gentle and sincere, nor does it prevent Jia Fu from praising her and loving her; She has a wide range of knowledge and is the best among twelve women. She even has a good understanding of Zen. Supposedly, such a person should be as lofty and refined as Daiyu or Miaoyu, but on the contrary, she values the interests of power and money. Compared with her sisters, she is very shrewd, but not as clever and exposed as Wang Xifeng. There is a needle hidden in cotton, and "Xue Baochai borrows a fan and knocks twice" makes people look creepy. She can't get love and desire. We feel sorry for her talent and disgusted with her vulgar heart. We admire her tact and hate her tact; We appreciate her cold, but we are afraid of her cold. For her, I don't think anyone can say clearly what kind of feelings they have for her. Do they mostly sigh or hate her? But we have to admit that this artistic image created by Cao Xueqin is moving, although ruthless, but still moving.
I don't know if there is such a component in the readers' indignation against her: she married Jia Baoyu instead of Dai Yu, and her painstakingly designed marriage with Jia Baoyu not only made Baoyu hold a grudge for life, but also made Dai Yu extremely miserable (controversial, temporarily renewed from a high amount). Maybe if Baochai hadn't finally intervened in Baoyu's marriage, we might not be so angry with her. Said she was heartless, You Sanjie committed suicide because of love, and even Aunt Xue lamented, but she "didn't care" and said "it was their fate in a previous life" and "in my opinion, I had to give it to him". She immediately changed the subject and begged Aunt Xue to let Xue Pan send people away, even Aunt Zhao put in a good word for her. Is this Xue Baochai's "Don't talk if you don't do your own thing", or is Wang Xifeng right? You Sanjie's death has nothing to do with her career, so she thinks she doesn't even have to be sad, but being herself is the most important thing. But there is still a trace of affection in her ruthlessness, and that is her feelings for Jia Baoyu. She came to Jiafu as a candidate for the palace. If she is a thoroughly good person, she will not cherish a little bit of Jia Fu, but try her best to enter the palace quickly (according to her talent and calculation, it should not be difficult to win the favor), but the "candidate for entering the palace" has never been mentioned again, and she began to design her marriage with Jia Baoyu wholeheartedly (such as the golden lock cold fragrant pills with suspicious origin and her blind flattery) to trap Lin Daiyu and so on. This shows that she is not an out-and-out person who pursues fame and fortune. Her affection for Jia Baoyu is better than her strong heart of fame and fortune to some extent. This rare tenderness in her body also makes her whole image a little cute (for example, Cao Xueqin's description of Baochai's "reddish eyes and flushed cheeks" in "Inspection"). And her complex feelings for Lin Daiyu's sisters and rival in love. There are many places where she framed Lin Daiyu, and every time she used tricks, she was very poisonous and made people angry. For example, when Jin Chuaner committed suicide by jumping into a well, Mrs. Wang wanted to give her a good burial and wrap her in "sister's new clothes", but fearing that Lin Daiyu was taboo, she insisted that Baochai give her her her clothes, and said a meaningful sentence: "Don't worry, aunt, I never care about these. "She won't be ignorant to don't know what the consequences of this sentence are. She obviously knows. This move was extremely cruel, which not only won the favor of Mrs. Wang, but also alienated the indifferent feelings between Mrs. Wang and Lin Daiyu. But it is also wrong to say that she is completely jealous of Lin Daiyu and wants to kill her. In fact, she and Lin Daiyu still have a little sisterhood in mutual appreciation. Lin Daiyu has been sad for her ill-fated life many times, because of her tireless persuasion, and also because Lin Daiyu accidentally said the lyrics of Peony Pavilion at the banquet and secretly explained it to Lin Daiyu. Although there are still many false elements in it, it can't be said that she has no tenderness. Of course she is hypocritical, but she is not completely hypocritical. She still has a true temperament, but she is rarely triggered. She won naturally in the power field of the Grand View Garden. She won completely, but she obviously lost in love. She lost completely. She has the talent to compete with Lin Daiyu, and her painstaking design has finally turned into a positive result, which has contributed to her marriage with Baoyu. However, as we can see from the book, Jia Baoyu did not love her from beginning to end, and her painstaking efforts brought her a lifetime of loneliness (starting from Gao E for the time being). Rainbow Xifeng, she tried her best all her life and got nothing. This is also Xue Baochai, an unlucky smart woman who has got nothing. Perhaps this is destiny takes a hand, if she had entered the palace at that time, at least there would not have been such an embarrassing ending, and of course there would not have been a mixed story.
If the most successful of the twelve women is Xue Baochai. Think about it, in the whole Dream of Red Mansions, Cao Xueqin described about 500 characters (a statistic, including those with names and no deeds), four huge families, and more than 500 people from top to bottom! However, in such an environment of intrigue and complicated relationship, Xue Baochai has won everyone's love, and so is the most brilliant politician. You said she was tactful. Is euphemism enough? Is Wang Xifeng round? Is Mrs. Wang there? Is tanchun circle smooth? Even Lin Daiyu, who disdains tact, is sometimes tactful, but they are obviously not as successful as Xue Baochai. It is said that it is easy to offend people to manage this big family. Tanchun and Xue Baochai were in charge for some time. As a result, Tanchun completely offended his mother, Aunt Zhao, and Xue Baochai won the hearts of the people again. Isn't this a gift? After reading this, I think we only have jaw-dropping copywriting. "Xi 'an Baochai's small kindness and small benefits are comprehensive", and only "small kindness and small benefits" can be "comprehensive". This is a gift, and this is also her moving point. In this respect, her intelligence is unparalleled. In fact, let's think for ourselves, is our harsh evaluation of Xue Baochai unfair? If we are surrounded by Xue Baochai and Alin Daiyu, do you like Xue Baochai or Lin Daiyu? How many people can remain lofty in real life? Of course, I deeply love and admire Lin Daiyu's lofty and good manners, but in real life, how many people can understand and accept her? On the contrary, Xue Baochai smells like a fisherman who can keep pace with the times and win the love of most people in real life. I'm not talking about Xue Baochai here. I hate her kitsch-but please note that this is the practical significance of her existence. Cao Xueqin said that Jia Baoyu was a "waiter to meet the gods" in the sky, and Lin Daiyu was a "crimson pearl fairy", which was not arranged casually. People like Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu are hard to exist in reality, and even if they exist, they will be marginalized in a sinister society. Does Cao Xueqin's arrangement of them as gods in the sky also imply that they are people in the sky after all, and their noble and good manners are the innate gifts of the gods, so we can only look up and fantasize. Cao Xueqin didn't arrange Xue Baochai as a flower god, because Xue Baochai is "on the ground". Her talent and her appearance are all mortal. No matter how extraordinary, she is also the most successful person in the world and the epitome of those of us who are busy in the world of mortals all day. And Lin Daiyu is the most extraordinary among the immortals. "People are born differently, and ghosts die differently." However, once this most extraordinary God comes to earth, he will be excluded by others, and his life will be eventful, unlike the "perfection" like the wooden idol that good men and women worship all day. Does this also include Cao Xueqin's another layer of helplessness and sad irony of reality?
In A Dream of Red Mansions, Cao Xueqin commented on Xue Baochai and said, "It's a pity to stop the machine". The word "sigh" is quite meaningful and seems to represent Cao Xueqin's attitude towards Xue Baochai. "Sigh", sighing for her talent, sighing for her ability, sighing for her wisdom, sighing for her fame and fortune, sighing for her life, love and hate, these complex feelings are condensed into this "ruthless and moving" complex Xue Baochai.