Zhang Ye was indifferent. He said, “Everyone might not believe it, but I will still say it. If this was Cao Xueqin’s original work… if this was Cao Xueqin’s original 108 chapters of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’, he would have written that the real reason why the Jia family was raided was because of Jia Zheng’s crime. Yes, to many people here, Jia Zheng was a very decent man. And when the Jia family was raided, Jia Zheng seemed the most innocent. The way you came to this conclusion was the same as what the continuer of the chapters after the eightieth thought too. Hence, using this line of thought, he wrote it into the image that everyone sees today. Even when the Jia family was raided, it did not raise any problems with Jia Zheng. There was no crime, and through his hard work, the Emperor even forgave him, allowing the resurgence of the Jia family. Hur Hur. On these matters, you already have preconceptions about this, hence, you are subconsciously disagreeing with what I’m saying. However, I still have to say it. This is a major error the continuer made. He did not understand the foreshadowing and line of thought Cao Xueqin had in the first 80 chapters. This is also the reason why everyone has been misled!”
Senior Zhou could not stand for this anymore. He liked Jia Zheng the most in ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’. “Teacher Zhang, where is the foreshadowing you mentioned?”
Senior Song asked, “Was it written earlier that Jia Zheng had committed a crime?”
Many students and people from the literary world could not accept it. In many people’s hearts, Jia Zheng was a person of utmost bearing. They liked him a lot too. Was Zhang Ye trying to subvert their understanding again? Wasn’t this subversion too much?
Zhang Ye smiled as he looked at everyone. “It’s good that there is controversy. Everyone, listen to me first. See if what I say makes sense. Then, let us temporarily throw away the image of Jia Zheng in the chapters after the eightieth. Let’s look at the first 80 chapters written by Cao Xueqin and how he described Jia Zheng’s image. Where was the foreshadowing? In chapter 75, You-shi was angry and went to visit Lady Wang. At this moment, an old woman accompanying her told her something shocking. ‘Some people from the Zhen family have just arrived there, madam, with a lot of things. I think it’s something secret they’ve come about. It probably wouldn’t be convenient for you to go there now.”
On the screen.
The original text appeared.
Everyone looked at it, and indeed, there was such a passage.
“Who is the Zhen family? It’s a close family to the Jia family. What was the situation back then? The Zhen family was convicted and raided by the Emperor.” Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Then in the book, was You-shi very surprised when she heard this? No, she was not one bit surprised. You-shi said, ‘Yes, I heard your master saying last night’, and this master is Jia Zheng, ‘that he had read in the Gazette that the Zhens had been attainted, and the family was being brought to the capital for questioning!’”
Everyone present looked surprised.
One wouldn’t know without thinking, but the moment they thought about it, they were shocked!
Zhang Ye asked, “Jia Zheng helped the Zhen family hide their treasures. I want to ask you, is this a severe crime?”
Senior Zhou ruminated for a while before saying in a convinced manner, “…Yes!”
The people from the literary world remained silent for a long period. They had an impression of this plot, but that was all they had. As the book did not write it in detail, and was just described with a few words, it was too superficial, and as a result, many people had neglected it. Even if they didn’t neglect it, this plot just meant that Jia Zheng was a person who valued sentiment. They did not link it with how it would add on to the crimes the Jia family was convicted of later after the eightieth chapter. Only when Zhang Ye pointed it out did these people think about it. Yes, it was truly the case!
Was the crime severe?
It was too severe!
In the society of that era, that was a serious crime!
Zhang Ye looked at the crowd, “This was written in the first eighty chapters by Cao Xueqin. They were the original words, so I would like to ask, later when the Jia family was raided, what was the reason behind it?”
Many people turned quiet. They were rendered speechless by Zhang Ye’s question!
The Redologists realized that things were not going well. Zhang Ye’s momentum was rising. His point and theory was becoming more and more valid. If they allowed him to carry on, even they would be convinced. Hence, Teacher Yang picked up a microphone and switched it on. He had to speak!