Why Was Jia Zhen Afraid?
We saw in yesterday’s post that Jia Zhen was clearly afraid that somebody was going to discover something.
It’s a little bit hidden and kind of subtle, but it certainly is interesting. Check it out:
如今長了十六歲，比賈蓉生得還風流俊俏。他兄弟二人最相親厚，常共起居。寧府中人多口雜，那些不得志的奴僕，專能造言誹謗主人，因此不知又有什麼小人詬誶謠諑之辭。賈珍想亦風聞得些口聲不好，自己也要避些嫌疑，如今竟分與房舍，命賈薔搬出寧府，自己立門戶過活去了。
As a 16 year old, Jia Qiang was even more handsome and attractive than Jia Rong. The two were exceptionally close, as close as brothers, and shared everything in their lives. But, with so many people, the Ningguo Mansion was filled with gossip, and the disgruntled servants there were more than happy to spread slander about their masters. And thus it was impossible to tell what kind of malicious rumors and whispered slanders petty minded people might be thinking up.
Jia Zhen had also indirectly heard some of this negative gossip. Since he wanted to avoid raising any suspicion, he gave Jia Qiang a place to live separate from the Ningguo Mansion and commanded him to leave, telling him to set up his own household.
So - why did Jia Zhen go to the extreme of setting up Jia Qiang with a place to live merely to avoid some gossip? And what was the gossip possibly about?
