What Is Holistic Ability?
The scarcity of resources (involution) actually demands strong competence, solid connections, and personal savvy.
Hard skills are essential, but soft skills are crucial. Once you clear the initial threshold, everyone’s hard skills are adequate—what truly becomes the key to breaking through is your soft skills.
From Dream of the Red Chamber:
Jia Yun kept trying to curry favor with Jia Lian, but to no avail. Eventually, Jia Lian let it slip: “I have business to attend to tomorrow and won’t be home. The matter will be decided the day after tomorrow. Results will come then.” And he left.
After Jia Yun had been ingratiating himself to Jia Lian for so long, the only valuable information he extracted was the bid announcement date—the day after tomorrow. So how much time did he have to operate? Only tomorrow. Jia Yun had sent gifts to Jia Lian on multiple occasions and got nothing but this sliver of useful intel. At that moment, pay attention to what Jia Lian said: he would be absent tomorrow. The key couple—one would be away, leaving only the other. Who was that? Wang Xifeng. If you can read between the lines, the success or failure of this whole affair hinges entirely on tomorrow, and the key person is Wang Xifeng.
That’s why he rushed off to his inhuman uncle on credit for gifts. He pleaded through the evening with no success, until luckily he ran into Ni Er.
Ni Er, upon hearing Jia Yun’s plight, generously lent him over ten taels of silver—interest-free. Jia Yun used that money to buy gifts like musk and borneol, presented them to Wang Xifeng, and successfully opened the door to securing the position.
As he himself put it, he asked Jia Lian to help but failed; he asked Wang Xifeng just once and succeeded. Indeed, an uncle is no match for an aunt. If only he had come to his aunt sooner.
Ni Er lending money to Jia Yun may appear to have happened only one night, but in reality it happened every night. Jia Yun and Ni Er had been neighbors for over a decade and knew each other inside out. Jia Yun was so desperately poor, yet when his “inhuman” uncle humiliated him, he never once thought to borrow from Ni Er. Was it because he looked down on Ni Er?
No—it was because he maintained his integrity. He knew exactly what Ni Er did: he was a loan shark. He feared compounding interest he couldn’t repay. From Ni Er’s perspective, as a loan shark, what kind of clients does he typically deal with? People who drink excessively, gamble, and are basically addicted. Jia Yun had been a neighbor for so many years,缺钱 to such an extent, yet never came to borrow. That shows Jia Yun is highly disciplined. Among the pleasure-seeking scions of the Jia mansion, such self-control is rare. That’s the prerequisite for Ni Er being willing to lend—he knows deep down that someone who never borrows from loan sharks won’t default, which is why he dared to play the benefactor and do a favor.
So that night, Jia Yun took Ni Er’s money and went to present gifts the next day. Even though the money came from a loan shark used to buy spices, he never mentioned it. Instead, he said his mother and he missed their aunt’s well-being, happened to acquire some fine goods, and felt they’d be wasted on them. Considering everyone in the entire Jia mansion, only their aunt was worthy of enjoying such things, so he eagerly delivered them—never mentioning once that he wanted the position.
By the day after tomorrow, when the results were announced, he naturally won the bid. Because both uncle and aunt had been buttered up. In summary, Jia Yun is someone who knows how to conduct himself, how to listen, and how to get things done. He knows how to conduct himself—having been disciplined for many years, which is why Ni Er considered helping him. He knows how to listen—that’s how he understood Jia Lian’s hint. He knows how to get things done—turning a blatant bribery operation into what appeared to be a selfless gesture of filial respect toward Wang Xifeng.
As for having the surname Jia, that’s like having an impressive pedigree. Having good taste in plants is like having strong professional skills. None of this is mentioned in Dream of the Red Chamber because these are assumed baseline conditions—all candidates have them.
Years of effort on every single night culminated in this one achievement. Yet when people asked, he humbly said, “It was all luck.” Anyone who thinks that clearly doesn’t understand human nature—and there won’t be a “next time.” When Jia Qin didn’t send gifts, Xifeng still helped him. For what? Jia Qin’s family is large, which is why he asked Jia Zhen for extra provisions during the New Year. A large family means many mouths—and that’s a voting bloc. The more people who say nice things about Xifeng, the more it makes her look like a capable manager in Grandmother Jia’s eyes. Jia Yun, on the other hand, was an orphan and widowed mother—lacking in manpower. As a small voting bloc, wouldn’t he be eager to spread word of Xifeng’s kindness everywhere? If anyone asked, he’d say it was Xifeng and Uncle Jia who pitied him and his widowed mother. When someone helps you, shouldn’t you spend all day promoting their reputation as a great benevolent person?
Does the person you help necessarily want that reputation? Some patrons don’t want others to know the underlying interests at play in such deals. If Xifeng helps you and you keep quiet, who else will come to give her gifts in the future? Did Xifeng really do it for your meager presents and one-time transaction, or did she use your case to attract more people to seek her out—letting everyone know that she accepts gifts and actually gets things done?
