Chapter 340
Wang Jiazhi hated the criticism of "favoring concubines over wives" and the glorification of the "difference between legitimate and illegitimate children" that has emerged in many novels and films. Who would want to be a concubine when they could be the legal wife? They were not even considered human beings, and even if they bore children, they couldn't call them their own mother. In ancient times, concubines were mostly poor girls, just like in "Camel Xiangzi": even the most beautiful daughters of poor families were sooner or later sent by their parents to "enjoy life," either as concubines or prostitutes. Even if she was favored and gave birth to a son, she would still be like Aunt Zhao, living a life worse than a maidservant. The maids dared to tease them by using jasmine powder as rose salt, and if she protested, the maids would beat her. To curry favor with the mistress, her own daughter would belittle her in public and in private, repeatedly insisting to Lady Wang and Baoyu that she didn't recognize her biological mother or brother, and only cared about the loyalty of her legitimate mother and brother. If she was favored like this, who knows what life would be like if she wasn't.
Just like Sun Xue'e, she was out of favor. She had six wives and concubines, while the other five enjoyed the lavish entertainment of drinking and entertainment, while she was stuck in the kitchen all day, working hard. The other five ate and drank, and she cooked all the dishes, yet she wasn't even allowed to sit at the table. Even so, she was often bullied by the wives, concubines, and maids, and her husband would incite others to kick and beat her without any reason.
If they weren't favored, no one would treat them as human beings. While favored, they weren't human beings either, but at least they could live a better life. Pleasing a man just to survive was shameless and restless. The wife of the first wife often came from a prominent family; even if she wasn't favored and had no children, she still had wealth and honor and the respect of the first wife. If a concubine wasn't favored, she was just waiting to be beaten, sold, and abused, and she might even lose her life.
Then there are the illegitimate children. Jia Huan and Jia Baoyu: one is a pitiful cat with a burnt skin, the other a beloved treasure. In some families, legitimate and illegitimate children are given different names. Just one name and everyone knows he was raised by a concubine. A illegitimate child's future career and marriage are greatly affected by his illegitimate birth.
These two groups of people are already pitiful enough. Just because they cannot be reincarnated, they will not suffer when they are alive. However, they will be abused by others thousands of years after their death. They cannot be reincarnated, so their lives are worthless.
The Qin Dynasty people all shouted: Are kings, princes, generals and ministers of different races?
Nowadays, people constantly claim to be anti-imperialist and anti-feudal, but they actually advocate for the principles of hierarchy and etiquette even more than the ancients. It's as if, back in ancient times, they couldn't possibly be the legitimate wife or legitimate son, when most of them were still lowly concubines or illegitimate children, lucky to be that, and perhaps not even that. Aren't they just insulting themselves?
Then there was the eunuch group, who, because they wanted to serve the emperor in the palace, seemed to only select smart and handsome boys. Li Lianying had several sons, but he was the most handsome, smart and sensible, so they threw him into the fire pit.
Wang Jiazhi once read a book about life in the imperial court of Empress Dowager Cixi. There was a terrifying passage about eunuchs performing surgeries. In those days, there wasn't even proper anesthesia, and the mortality rate for such surgeries was incredibly high, even for children as young as eight or nine. Even if one survived the complications, whether one could gain access to the imperial court through connections was another matter. Entering was like crossing a single-plank bridge with thousands of troops, and only a few could make it out.
The vast majority of eunuchs performed menial labor for minimal pay. After their death, their families, having sacrificed their health and dignity, considered them a disgrace and barred them from their ancestral graves. Many were penniless during their lifetimes, lacking even a plot of land for burial. Young eunuchs undergo annual checkups. Some, I've heard, develop growths that require "stubble removal." Some, despite not being able to do so properly, survived the surgery as children, only to die from this condition later in life.
This group of smart and beautiful people were cruelly sacrificed by their parents, treated like slaves without even the most basic dignity. It is because of the atrocities of a very small number of superiors that people hate eunuchs so much that they call them "castrated dogs." It is truly a pity.
These people are pitiful. We cannot let future generations stand on the perspective of the superiors and continue to curse them viciously just because they cannot be reincarnated, causing them terrible secondary harm.
Of course, Wang Jiazhi had no problem with Mrs. Yi; she was the best person to handle her own situation. If she were in Li Ping'er's situation, she might have some complaints about Mrs. Yi. She felt that she was just a parasite, unable to bring any help to him, and that he treated her like this simply because he liked her.
Speaking of Li Ping'er, Wang Jiazhi felt a certain indignation. A powerful woman, having seen money and power, willingly became Ximen Qing's final concubine simply because she was truly in love. To stay with him forever, she compromised, endured repeated humiliation, and ultimately was brutalized to death. Just thinking about it fills her with indignation.
Li Ping'er had plenty of money, no less than Ximen Qing. She was first sold to the son-in-law of Grand Tutor Cai as a concubine, and later became the lover of the favored eunuch beside the emperor. After the eunuch's death, she and his nephew Hua Zixu became a real couple. Ximen Qing only visited Grand Tutor Cai once on his birthday and said a few words in fear and trepidation, but she had lived among the emperor's close ministers since she was a child. The hairpins she casually took out to give to others were all brought from the palace, and were not available among the common people. Such a rich and worldly person, but she had a special liking for Ximen Qing, and even angered her husband to death. She moved boxes of her family property to Ximen Qing's house without any official status.
After finally getting married, her jewelry was too expensive, so when she saw that the main wife didn't have it, she destroyed it and made it into ordinary pieces. Her clothes were too expensive, so she didn't dare wear them even if the main wife didn't. She spent a lot of money on everyone in the family, from the main wife and concubines to the servants and maids. This was just to avoid causing trouble for Ximen Qing and to make people accept her living in the family. Such a person who had experienced many ups and downs and could be cruel enough to make her husband angry to death, actually because she fell in love with her, she was even cowardly enough to please Pan Jinlian, a lowly wife who sold steamed buns. She tolerated it again and again, and in the end, she and her child were abused to death by Pan Jinlian. The other wives and concubines also stood by and watched, wishing Pan Jinlian would abuse her to death. They knew that she was weak and could be bullied, and there was nothing wrong with her, but it was because she was favored that this was the original sin, and everyone wished her death.
But she was infinitely nostalgic for such days until her death. Before leaving, her soul instructed the maid: Take good care of the house, I'm leaving.
Wang Jiazhi felt very suffocated. She couldn't bear to live that kind of life no matter how much she loved herself.
Furthermore, although Ximen Qing only loved Li Ping'er, after her death, Pan Jinlian unexpectedly regained her favor. Not only did he not seek revenge, but he also doted on her again, even giving her Li Ping'er's high-end furs. Li Ping'er suffered so much bullying at home because of him, her child was killed, and she was later haunted by ghosts day and night, suffering so much that she couldn't even die a peaceful death. It's really unbearable to imagine.
When she was alive, her wives and concubines bullied her. After her death, Ximen Qing was heartbroken and held a grand funeral, and they slandered her in various ways. But after the funeral, the greedy wife Wu Yueniang and Pan Jinlian, while scolding her, fought shamelessly for the huge fortune she left behind.
Thinking of this, Wang Jiazhi supported her chin with one hand, thinking about the first time she read it, when Li Ping'er was incurable and had to ask a Taoist priest for help.
The Taoist explained that Li Ping'er's desire to be with Ximen Qing had angered her ex-boyfriend to death, leading to her being haunted by a ghost and unable to be saved. Furthermore, tonight was her death date, and Ximen Qing was told not to go to her room, as that would implicate him and lead to a miserable death. Wang Jiazhi was genuinely afraid that Ximen Qing would not go see Li Ping'er; after all, in the book, he was a very evil, cruel, and selfish person.
Fortunately, Ximen Qing said that he would rather die than not see her for the last time, and then he went to see Li Ping'er without hesitation. Li Ping'er was lying with her head facing inside, and she turned her head and said: I was wondering why you went out and didn't come back in.
If he never went in again, she would be so sad, but she was so love-brained that even if Ximen Qing was afraid of death and didn't want to see her for the last time, and made her bear all the sins and terrors alone, she would still have no regrets.
But in the end, he did not abandon her to bear everything alone because of his fear of death, and the two of them had a proper farewell.
In the past, Wang Jiazhi felt that Ximen Qing did not avenge Li Ping'er, and that he was deceiving himself and ignoring Pan Jinlian's actions, which was very infuriating. But after experiencing so many things, she also compromised. Because of gynecological diseases, Li Ping'er could not stop bleeding before her death, and she was incontinent. The room was very dirty, and she was tortured beyond recognition and no longer beautiful. But he still wanted to stay with her. She felt that she was too dirty and wanted to leave a good impression. She forced him to leave, but he refused to go. In the end, he said goodbye to her without fear of death. Such a man who had become addicted to sleeping with women and could not live without them for a day, actually stayed away from women for several months because of sadness. There is no such perfection as in dreams in the world. It is already very rare to be able to achieve such a thing.
However, it is quite interesting to see how Li Ping'er's death made her wives and concubines furious. Ximen Qing also had a concubine who passed away in the past. After sending her away, he locked the house, divided the servants in the house, and waited for the matchmaker to come and propose a new wife to fill her position. When Li Ping'er died, although there was a huge and expensive funeral, and the tablet still listed her as the legal wife, she was finally dead, and after the funeral, the wives felt that their worries were resolved. In fact, the money spent on the funeral was all her own, and she left a lot of money to her family when she died. Wang Jiazhi felt sorry for her. She wanted to leave a lot of money to Ximen Qing, but Ximen Qing died a year later, and all the money went to her rival.
The wives and concubines assumed that after Li Ping'er's death, the house should be locked up, and the servants should be divided among the rooms. Unexpectedly, Ximen Qing refused, declaring that even though Li Ping'er was dead, no one was allowed to touch her house or her servants. He had an artist paint a portrait of Li Ping'er, a portrait so lifelike that it looked like a living person, only a breath missing. He hung the portrait in the house and ordered the servants to keep the house tidy as usual and offer the painting three meals a day.
The wives and concubines thought that Li Ping'er was dead, so Ximen Qing would go to their rooms more often. However, Ximen Qing treated Li Ping'er as if she was still alive, and went to her room as usual. When he entered, he would ask whether the meals were served on time, and eat and chat in front of the portrait.
He would cry whenever he heard an opera and would cry even if he dreamed of Li Ping'er. When he returned from a long journey, he would be greeted by his wives and concubines. Last time he came back, Li Ping'er was there, but this time she wasn't, and he would cry again. He hated his wives and concubines to death.
As soon as Ximen Qing died, Wu Yueniang first burned Li Ping'er's portrait, took away all of Li Ping'er's property in the house, and locked the door. How cruel she was.
Wang Jiazhi felt that Li Ping'er was extremely weak, for she had tolerated such a trampling of her self-esteem for the sake of love. She could tolerate such compromise for a while, for several years, and obviously, if she had not died early, she would have endured it for a lifetime, but she could not stand it.
Every time I read this, I see the wives and concubines grieving over Li Ping'er, believing her favor stemmed from having a son, and that her son's death would bring her disfavor. After finally killing her son, Ximen Qing only doted on her and cherished her even more. Later, believing death would be all that mattered, and finally, seeing her still alive, Ximen Qing couldn't let go, resorting to the outrageous act of using a portrait to replace the real person. Seeing their constant efforts, only to be constantly disappointed, their constant heartache and helplessness, is quite satisfying. Thinking this way, Li Ping'er wasn't wronged either. Although her early death was a painful experience, there are gains and losses.
Of course, Wang Jiazhi didn't think that this kind of drama of being alive even though dead had anything to do with her.
After she died in her previous life, Mrs. Yi was relieved. She had originally wanted her to deal with Mrs. Ma, thinking she was just a lone wolf and would return to Hong Kong soon. Unexpectedly, Old Yi fell in love with her and wanted to move out to live alone. She also hated herself for letting a wolf into the house. Later, when she found out something had happened, she was scared for a long time. Gradually, the days passed, and it seemed that nothing had happened. Mrs. Yi felt relieved and thought that she could return to the old way. However, after Wang Jiazhi disappeared, there was nothing serious happening outside, but he seemed to be a little bit uneasy.
Old Yi was also a little abnormal. He was afraid of the cold and the dark. Since then, he didn't heat the house on cold nights. If the quilt wasn't cold enough, he would ask someone to fill a cold water bag. He also often stayed alone without turning on the lights. Wang Jiazhi had a cold body, and she felt cold when he held her in his arms. Especially since the house on Xiafei Road was very cold, she felt even colder. At that time, he held her in his arms and felt her body gradually warm up from cold. Another thing was that he rarely drank alcohol, and he would drink it in one gulp before sobering up; when he went to a Sichuan restaurant to eat, he would eat glutinous rice cakes without knowing how to dip them in brown sugar and soybean powder. Although he had become a little country girl who had never seen or eaten anything, no one would think that he had never seen the world, they just thought it was strange.
Wang Jiazhi's life also had some residual effects. For example, he got used to her cold body and would fill it with a cold water bottle; she got used to his warm body, sometimes filling it with a hot water bottle unless the weather was exceptionally hot, because she was used to being surrounded by a warm body. For another example, she used to be very afraid of the smell of cigarettes, but later on, she even bought a pack of cigarettes, even though she didn't smoke them herself. Once in a while, she would find a quiet place, light one up like incense, and think about the past in the lingering smoke.
Wang Jiazhi was lost in thought, but she hadn't noticed yet another win. There was nothing she could do; she was incredibly good at mahjong.
Because she was thinking about the child, she made an excuse to leave before evening. Mrs. Yi didn't dare to keep her anymore. The car was already waiting at the door. No wonder he suddenly agreed to play cards with her today. It seemed that he had also anticipated what was going on.
Mrs. Ma went out temporarily. Mrs. Liang also noticed that Wang Jiazhi seemed to have a car to pick her up now, so she asked carefully, "Tell me, what a grand ceremony she has over there."
Mrs. Yi's heart sank into a pit of ice. She didn't want to know, didn't want to be upset again. Actually, Wang Jiazhi's house was bigger than this one, and the staff and facilities were the same.
But he didn't mean to have a house that was too big. He wanted a quiet place in a busy city, and one that she would like. That one just happened to be a good fit.
Mrs. Yi was now more fawning over her. After all, she belonged to Old Yi, and she couldn't do anything to her. She could still take her anger out on her like she had in the past, and while she wasn't afraid of her complaining to Old Yi, she was helpless when Wang Jiazhi acted like she was today, causing her, the wife, to lose face.
My mother also found Mrs. Yi's elaborate Hongmen Feast today quite baffling. She said she was buying a gold bracelet, but it was actually a scam. She bought such an expensive item, and the man quietly paid for it, but not satisfied, she insisted on using the bracelet to deal with the second wife. Was she afraid that the family wouldn't be too peaceful? The first wife had become a troublemaker.
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