In chapter 8 of Dream of the Red Chamber, the novel describes Xue Baochai: “She spoke little. People said she was hiding her dullness. She accepted her lot and went with the times, and she called it keeping to her simple ways.” (罕言寡语，人谓藏愚，安分随时，自云守拙)
In chapter 55, Wang Xifeng explains why she cannot ask Lin Daiyu or Baochai to help run the household. One is as fragile as a paper lantern. The other “has made up her mind. When a matter does not concern her, she does not open her mouth. Ask her, and she shakes her head and knows nothing.”