Jia Zheng is obviously a decent man in A Dream of Red Mansions. Why did he tell an indecent joke during the Mid-Autumn Festival?

The character Jia Zheng in A Dream of Red Mansions has been hotly debated in recent years. According to homophonic meaning, Jia Zheng is a prude. However, in the book, readers rarely see Jia Zheng's bad behavior. He is "upright, humble and kind, and has a great grandfather legacy", and he strictly teaches Jia Baoyu and is filial to Jia Mu. All these evidences tell us that

It has to be said that readers have an obvious misunderstanding about Jia Zheng. What can be clearly seen in the book is that Jia Zhen and his daughter-in-law Qin Keqing commit adultery, and Jia Lian commits adultery with his servant wife. Jia She is even an old goat, and even the Yuanyang beside the old lady is not spared. Therefore, once compared, readers mistakenly think that Jia Zheng is an upright man, which is based on the surface and simplifies things.

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. Jia Zheng likes to talk with all the hanger-on. The names of these hanger-on people are Zhan Guang (Zhanguang), Shan Renren (good at deceiving others), Cheng Rixing (Chengrixing), Hu Xilai (Hu Silai), etc. Like Jia Zheng, these people are honest in appearance and harbor traitors inside. Especially Jia Yucun, who won Jia Zheng's favor later, is the best among the treacherous.

After Xue Pan killed Feng Yuan and robbed Zhen Yinglian, Jia Yucun "Gourd Monk judged Gourd Temple in disorder" and let Xue Pan go easily with his own power, and wrote a letter specifically informing Jia Zheng and Wang Ziteng about this matter as a "record". Therefore, Jia Zheng was fully aware of Jia Yucun's disorderly judgment, but he did not feel that Jia Yucun was treacherous and cunning because of this incident, and regarded human life as dirt. Instead, his relationship with Jia Yucun became better and better from time to time. Can such a father be worthy of the word "good conduct"?