In feudal families, it is natural for parents to beat their children, which is not surprising. However, it is extremely unusual for Jia Zheng to beat Baoyu this time, but he still wants to die.
Judging from the situation at that time, it seems that making friends with actors and the so-called "forced prostitution" played a decisive role, but in fact, the root cause is the contradiction between the two concepts.
Jia Zheng was a loyal slave of the feudal supreme ruler and a defender of feudal ethics. He devoted himself to cultivating Baoyu according to the standards of feudal morality, hoping that he would take the road of imperial examination, so as to obtain high officials and high salaries and safeguard his right to speak in his family.
Baoyu, on the other hand, despises fame and wealth, hates talking about "official career economy" and doubts or even denies some aspects of traditional ideas in feudal society.
This contradiction between father and son is irreconcilable, and Baoyu's beating is the obvious concentrated expression of this contradiction's development to the point of confrontation.