"Dream of Red Mansions" is written very implicitly and obscurely, and some things can only be understood but not spoken, but they will still leave vague clues, and we need to follow these clues to explore the cause, like a detective. In the first round, there are many foreshadowings, such as Nuwa, Stone, Monk, Police Fairy, Empty Daoman, etc., all of which serve the stories of the world. Far away, the story still returns to the world. The first human character to appear was Zhen Shiyin.

Next to the temple lived a hometown eunuch, whose surname was Fei Zi Shiyin. His wife is Feng, virtuous and virtuous, and knows etiquette and righteousness. Although his family is not very wealthy, the local people also promote him as a prominent family. Because of this Zhen Shi's hidden nature, he does not think of fame, and only enjoys watching flowers and cultivating bamboos, drinking wine and reciting poems every day, but he is a first-class character of a fairy. It's just a shortcoming, now half a hundred, no children under his knees, only a daughter, named Yinglian, three years old.

This passage says that although Zhen Shiyin's family is not very wealthy, the local people also promote him as a prominent family. Why is Zhen Shiyin known as a local nobleman? What is his hope? With this question, let's analyze all the situations of Zhen Shiyin, hoping to find the answer.

Cadres who retire and return to their hometowns to provide for the elderly

1. Zhen Shiyin is a eunuch

Zhen Shiyin is a eunuch who lives next to the gourd. What does eunuch mean?

Township: Generally refers to small towns, villages, places or ancestral hometowns where they grew up, hometowns, hometowns, township wells, and townships;

Eunuch: refers to being an official, an official eunuch, and an official eunuch.

Eunuchs: Collectively it means people who have been officials and returned to their hometowns, and generally refers to people who have retired and returned to their hometowns.

Therefore, from the meaning of the eunuch, it can be deduced that this Gusu Gate City, Shili Street, Renqing Lane is Zhen Shiyin's hometown, and it is the place where he grew up. Changmen is the west gate of the ancient city of Suzhou, which is the place of actual existence. Shili Street, Renqing Lane, homophonic snobbery Street and Human Affection Lane, are fictional imagination.

Zhen Shiyin's situation, in today's words, he is a cadre who retired and returned to his hometown to support the elderly. There is a very important point in the thinking of the Chinese, especially the ancients: that is, the leaves fall back to the roots! A person who has been an official abroad for many years, in his later years, has to return to his hometown, the place where he was born and raised, and is buried in his ancestral grave after a hundred years. It's an honor and a sense of spiritual belonging.

Second, Zhen Shiyin has been a seven-grade official

Zhen Shiyin is a retired cadre who returned to his hometown as an official to retire, so how old was he once an official? It is not explicitly stated in the book, but it can be inferred from the title of her mother's "Feng Family".

"Ruren" is the wife of the imperial court, and it should be the title of the official edict.

Court women mainly appeared in the Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. The wives of the first-grade and second-grade officials are called the fate, the third-grade lady, the fourth-grade Gongren, the fifth-grade pleasant, the sixth-grade Anren, and the seventh-grade are called widows, and the unsealed and unqualified are called ladies.

The rank of the seal is the grade of the corresponding official, the first to fifth rank is called the edict, the sixth to ninth rank is awarded the edict, and the wife grade is the grade that follows the husband, in addition to the official's wife, the object of the seal also includes the official's mother and grandmother.

The Feng family has no sons, so the title of "Ruren" should correspond to Zhen Shiyin's official product, indicating that Zhen Shiyin was a seventh-grade official or younger before retirement.

3. Zhen Shiyin is likely to have been a Beijing official

Zhen Shiyin is a retired cadre who returned to his hometown as an official to retire, and he was a seven-grade official before retirement. So where did he become an official? It is not explicitly written in this book, but it can probably be inferred. From Jia Yucun to Beijing to take the exam, Zhen Shiyin not only helped Jia Yucun materially, but also wanted to help him introduce network resources: "I want to write two more letters of recommendation and bring them to Shendu with Yucun, so that Yucun will take the house of a eunuch as a place to stay." It can be seen that Zhen Shiyin has friends in the capital, and he has made friends with the family of Shi Eun, and the friends of this family of Shi Eun are also willing to help Zhen Shiyin's friends.

Compare Jia Yucun, Jia Yucun was born as a jinshi, and he was selected to enter the outer class after being a jinshi, which means that he did not stay in the capital as an official. Leng Zixing, a friend made by Yucun, is only trading in the antique industry in the capital, this Leng Zixing is to borrow the name of Yucun Swen, to put it bluntly, Leng Zixing and Jia Yucun made friends or because he is a Jinshi and a cultural person, so the two speak speculatively, only fit, and have a common language. In fact, I just felt that Jia Yucun had a bit of value to make friends with him.

Jia Yucun is a person who often pays attention to the news, and he is still relatively camping, but he does not know about the reinstatement of the old staff, and he has no friends to tell him, so it can be seen that he has not made friends with the official eunuchs in the capital. It was Zhang Rugui, a former colleague who participated in the revolution, who told him. This Zhang Rugui looked for a way to find a way to reinstate his job, Jia Yucun heard about the reinstatement, but he didn't want to find a friend in the capital, or Leng Zixing gave him the idea to find Lin Ruhai to trouble Jia Zheng. It can be seen that Jia Yucun did not make friends with eunuchs in the capital.

But Jia Yucun wanted to go to Beijing to take the exam, but Zhen Shiyin was able to introduce Jia Yucun's house to the eunuch's house as a place to stay. It can be seen that although Zhen Shiyin's official character is not big, he still has friends in the capital, so it can be inferred that he is likely to be an official in the capital before, with a good character and many friends, so he dares to take care of these things. Although Jia Yucun is a jinshi and a fourth-grade person, he can only make friends with businessmen like Leng Zixing in the capital, and he has no friends with eunuchs, otherwise he will not ask Lin Ruhai when he comes back.

Therefore, although Zhen Shiyin is only a seventh-grade official, it is more likely that he is a Beijing official.

Pension assets are abundant after retirement

Although Zhen Shiyin is only a seventh-grade official, he is most likely a Beijing official. Judging from the introduction in the book, he is over half a hundred years old, that is, a little more than fifty. A little over fifty is still relatively young, he can retire, retirement in ancient times is more flexible than today's retirement. In the fourth year of the reign of Ming Hongzhi (1491), the emperor issued a holy decree: "Voluntarily retire officials, regardless of age, and give orders to officials." "The meaning of retirement here is to retire, that is, as long as the retirement is proposed, almost all of them will be approved, and even the reason for retirement will not be investigated.

In the Qing Dynasty, the retirement policy was more flexible, and even before the age of fifty, you could be disarmed and returned to the field, and the younger the official position, the earlier the retirement. Zhen Shiyin is a petty official of seven grades or below, and he does not cherish power, so he retired early.

So what do they live on when they retire? With what pension? Is there a pension? In fact, people who have been officials in ancient times have no pension after resigning, but the imperial court will give a piece of land that does not need to pay rent, and this field will generally be sealed in the hometown of the official, such as Zhen Shiyin's retirement field should be in the countryside around Gusu. The officials planted the fields themselves as they wanted, but in fact they generally did not plant them themselves, and basically rented them to tenants and lived by collecting land rent.

In addition to Arita, they also have some money and capital accumulated over the years as officials, and there may be various forms. It may also be antiques, calligraphy and paintings, gold and silver utensils, and so on. In ancient times, there was a saying that "three years of Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver". Zhen Shiyin is most likely a Beijing official, although his official quality is not high, he should also have accumulated some money.

There is also an asset that may be some ancestral property left to him by Zhen Shiyin's predecessors after they grew old, which is also possible. In addition, the Feng family may bring some dowry when they get married, but later Feng Su is so picky, it is estimated that there will not be much dowry.

Judging from Zhen Shiyin's retirement life, he only enjoys watching flowers and cultivating bamboos, drinking wine and reciting poetry every day, and he should have Liang in his hands and not panic in his heart, so Zhen Shiyin's retirement pension should be relatively generous.

Prestige refers to wealth

From the previous analysis of Zhen Shiyin's situation, it can be concluded that he is a retired cadre who returned to his hometown as an official to retire, and he was a seven-grade official before retirement, and he may have been a Beijing official and has relatively rich pension funds.

But the book says that he is a local nobleman.

What does it mean? A prestigious family refers to a family with a reputation and prestige, originating from a large family or a family with a large surname. The ancients attached great importance to the family and the style, and all took the achievements of the ancestors as the glory, inspiring the children of the clan to inherit the spirit of the ancestors and carry forward the family.

So what kind of hope does Zhen Shiyin refer to when he says that Zhen Shiyin is a wang family?

First of all, he is retired, and he is already unofficial and light. Even when he was in office, he didn't do much as an official, at most he was only a seven-rank official. Now he's just a rich idler.

Secondly, the population is not hopeful. The family members are simple, the wife is Feng, the temperament is virtuous, and the etiquette is well understood. Then he said, "It's just a shortcoming, now I am half a hundred years old, I have no children under my knees, and there is only one daughter, whose name is Yinglian, who is three years old." It shows that the population of Zhen Shiyin's family is not hopeful, and it has nothing to do with the big family, and the demographic situation of his family does not match the definition of the wang family.

Is it a literate person again? Obviously not, he shouted when he wrote two poems to Jia Yucun, which shows that Zhen Shiyin is also a bit educated, not a cultural celebrity, he may be a person or something, at most he is a jinshi.

And then there are the high-ranking families? There is no mention of any great feats of his ancestors.

Therefore, several possibilities about hope have been ruled out, and the wang family mentioned here can only be associated with wealth, because his family has a solid background, his income is guaranteed, and of course he doesn't have to go to work when he retires, and he should have worked hard for most of his life, and he can finally live a nourishing and comfortable life that he wants to live. There are abundant pension assets, including houses, possibly antiques, calligraphy and paintings, gold and silver utensils, and many grange properties.

Summary: Zhen Shiyin can be called a local noble family because he has a little money in the local area, is a person with a head and a face, and has mixed with the officialdom of the capital, although he is only a seven-rank official. There are relatively rich pension funds, although he is just a family man after retirement, no power, and the population is not prosperous, but Zhen Shiyin has some culture in his belly, there are friends in the capital, and there is a grange industry, and there may be antiques, calligraphy and paintings, gold and silver utensils at home, he also has a good wife, a daughter under his knees, and benevolence in his heart, and he is a small and medium-sized landowner with rich family resources. Therefore, his hope is mainly the hope of wealth.