贾赦荣国府袭爵的长房 · 18
Leaf 18 of the Red Chamber · 大老爷 the Eldest Master
Jia She 贾赦
In Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (c. 1791) · in the household (当家) · nicknamed 大老爷 “the Eldest Master”
He inherited the higher rank and none of the weight: a First Class General with an empty purse who beats his own heir for calling him a shabby extortioner.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 46
To Beg for Yuanyang by Proxy
為夫求妾He sends his wife to beg for Grandmother Jia's head maid Yuanyang, counting on the keys she keeps; when the girl swears in front of the old lady, Lady Shi's fury lands on him.
- ch. 48
Twenty Fans and a Fabricated Debt
奪古扇He covets Shi Daizi's twenty antique fans; when the man will not sell, Jia Yucun fabricates a debt to get them. Jia Lian's remark that it was shameful earns him his father's stick.
- ch. 79
His Daughter Pledged for a Debt
得價嫁女Owing the Sun family five thousand taels, he hands his daughter Yingchun over to Sun Shaozu as interest on the loan, and does not answer when her own household pleads with him.
- ch. 105
The Elder Branch Sealed and Listed
查抄寧府Imperial officers seal the gates and inventory the goods; the charges pinned to the elder branch are exactly the fans and the private dealings with officials in Ping'an Prefecture.
結局 The ending
The confiscated estate settles the account: he is found guilty for the fans and the private dealings, stripped of his rank and sent into exile, and an imperial amnesty afterwards lightens the sentence without restoring his place. The headship of Rongguo passes quietly to his younger brother's line.
The book itself: what happens, how long it is, which English version to read — The story · How long it is · Which translation · The lamp-oil night · The family tree · The first expulsion