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A Dream of Red Mansions, ten years of bitter tears.

It describes the rise and fall of a big family, and is also a microcosm of the feudal society of the Qing Dynasty.

"Dream of Red Mansions" is listed as one of the four great masterpieces of China for its exquisite character design and rich poetry.

The author who completed this masterpiece was none other than Cao Xueqin, who reviewed it for decades, added to and revised it five times before finally completing this book.

Many people think that "Dream of the Red Chamber" should not be counted among the four great classics.

It’s not that the level is not enough, but that it is too high.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Water Margin" and "Journey to the West" are all popular novels, which are compiled and adapted based on folk stories.

Only "Dream of Red Mansions" can be regarded as a novel about human feelings, and it can be regarded as the pinnacle of classical novels.

From a rich family's son to a poor and destitute one, and finally to a miserable death, Cao Xueqin experienced the rise and fall of the Cao family.

He had experienced nobility and humbleness, honor and disgrace, rise and fall, separation and reunion, sorrow and joy in his life, and he put all his life experiences into "Dream of Red Mansions".

"Cao Xueqin was born into a prominent official family in Jiangnan. His ancestors for three generations were all the Jiangning Weaving Supervisors."

"The ancestors of the Cao family were originally slaves of Dorgon, the leader of the Plain White Banner. My great-grandfather Cao Xi married Emperor Kangxi's wet nurse, Sun, and was appointed as the supervisor of the Jiangnan weaving factory."

"Cao Xueqin's grandfather, Emperor Kangxi's companion Cao Yin, and his two sons all inherited the post of Jiangning Weaving Supervisor."

"Kangxi made six southern tours, and used Cao Mansion as his temporary palace four times. He also arranged for Cao Yin's eldest daughter to be married to Prince Ping of the imperial clan as his princess."

"When Cao Xueqin was a child, he lived a life of fine clothes and delicious food, and was taught and disciplined by his father, brothers, teachers and friends."

"In addition, my great-grandfather Cao Xi and grandfather Cao Yin had built up an elegant family environment over decades."

"Cao Xueqin was very smart since he was young. He would read whenever he saw a book and read a wide range of books every day."

"I also eavesdropped on Bible stories or Shakespeare's plays at banquets hosted by my father Cao Fu for foreign friends."

"After Emperor Kangxi passed away, Emperor Yongzheng began to eliminate dissidents as soon as he came to power."

"The first to suffer were the closest relatives of the Cao family, Li Xu, Cao Yin's brother-in-law and Cao Fu's uncle."

"In the second year of Emperor Yongzheng's reign, Emperor Yongzheng threw Li Xu into prison on the grounds of embezzlement, awaiting trial."

"As a relative of the Cao family, Cao Fu looked for ways to avoid punishment."

"Not long after, Cao Xueqin's uncle Nersu was imprisoned for extorting money from local officials."

"Cao Yin's brother-in-law, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was also exiled to Heilongjiang because of his involvement with Longkodo."

"In the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign, Li Xu, who was still in prison, was found to have purchased a woman from Suzhou."

"He was charged with high treason by Emperor Yongzheng and sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, but was later sentenced to exile."

"In the middle of the same year, the Cao family was fined for the poor quality of the tribute items for the emperor, and was severely investigated by the emperor for harassing the post station."

"In December, Cao Fu was dismissed from his post and awaiting punishment due to the strict investigation."

"Ten days later, Emperor Yongzheng again accused Cao Fu of secretly transferring property."

"Order Cao Fu to be imprisoned, arrest the important members of the Cao family and bring them back to the capital, and confiscate all the Cao family's property."

"Cao Fu's property and family in the capital and Jiangning should have been awarded to Suihede, who took over the post of Jiangning Weaving Supervisor."

"But Suihede saw that the only people left in the Cao family were the elderly, the weak, women and children, and they could not make ends meet."

"He gave the seventeen and a half houses and three pairs of servants at Suanshikou outside Chongwenmen in the capital to Cao Xueqin's grandmother, Li."

"Cao Xueqin, his grandmother and his mother began to live in the capital, and Cao Xueqin also began to study at the Prince of Ping's mansion."

"Suanshikou is where ordinary people live, and there are many markets nearby."

"Here, Cao Xueqin came into contact with more ordinary people, as well as all kinds of people from the middle and lower classes."

"The various professions and skills provided him with material for later descriptions of the characters in Dream of the Red Chamber."

Zeng Guofan: The main reason for the decline of the Cao family was that they stood on the wrong side.

The Jiangning Weaving Factory run by the Cao family suffered losses year after year, but a big reason for this loss was not due to the Cao family's poor management.

During the more than 20 years from the 23rd to the 46th year of Kangxi's reign, Emperor Kangxi made six trips to the south of the Yangtze River, almost once every three to five years.

However, during these six trips to the south of the Yangtze River, he did not stay in the imperial palace five times, but instead stayed at Cao's house.

In order to welcome the emperor, Cao Yin had to hold a grand ceremony.

As for welcoming and seeing off guests, eating, drinking, defecating and urinating, all of them must be of the highest standard. It is absolutely impossible to save money on such things.

But the Cao family definitely cannot afford to pay this money.

So they could only get money from the Jiangning Weaving Office to welcome Emperor Kangxi.

Gradually, the hole in the Jiangning Weaving Office became bigger and bigger.

But unfortunately, faced with huge debts, the Cao family didn't even want to pay back the money.

Instead, he wanted to turn the tables through political speculation and directly participated in the fight for the throne.

The fight for the throne among Kangxi's nine sons in his later years can be said to be the largest battle for the throne in history, with almost all of Kangxi's sons involved.

In such a brutal war without the smoke of gunpowder, taking a wrong step would almost certainly lead to eternal damnation. Unfortunately, the Cao family took this wrong step.

In the final, they faced the Fourth Master’s Party and the Eighth Master’s Party.

The Cao family bet on the wrong horse and chose to support the Eighth Master's party.

After Kangxi's death and the fourth prince Yongzheng's ascension to the throne, he began to investigate the problem of financial deficits across the country.

The Cao family immediately became the target of public criticism and was held accountable by Emperor Yongzheng.

But at this time, Yongzheng did not want to kill the Cao family with one blow. After all, the Fourth Master was a very pragmatic person.

Yongzheng asked the Cao family to continue repaying the money and to pay it off within three years.

The Cao family was in a state of panic for a while. They didn't even think about paying back the money when they spent it in the first place, not to mention that most likely the money was spent on Kangxi.

Kangxi went to the south of the Yangtze River six times and stayed at Cao's house five times.

These daily expenses, including welcoming and seeing off guests, setting up a stage for performances and receiving ministers, all cost money.

Of course, he certainly wouldn’t dare say such things to Yongzheng.

The Cao family could only ask for help from people everywhere and request for leniency, and eventually the matter reached the ears of Yongzheng.

Yongzheng directly wrote the imperial edict and punished the Cao family again.

Don't think of crooked ways or asking for help from others, just do it honestly and find a solution.

If you do bad things outside and ruin my reputation, even Prince Yi can't save you.

This Prince Yi was the Eighth Prince who was originally supported by the Cao family.

It can be seen that until this point, Yongzheng's hatred for the Cao family mostly came from the fact that they stood on the wrong side in the fight for the throne and did not support him.

As for money, maybe it’s not really a problem.

It was not until the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign that the Cao family finally could not hold on any longer and took the thirteen-year-old Cao Xueqin back to their old home in Beijing.

But Yongzheng had long since stopped caring about the Cao family, because even the eighth prince had died long ago.

From then on, the Cao family, once the richest family in Jiangning, became a ruined noble family.

The Cao family once had an unusually close relationship with Kangxi.

But unfortunately, due to huge economic losses and incorrect political speculation, the Cao family's final outcome was the same as that of the Jia family.

"In the tenth year of Yongzheng's reign, Cao Xueqin's great uncle was pardoned and became a close minister to the emperor again."

"Because of his cousin's relationship, Cao Xueqin, who was twelve or thirteen years old, began to study at the Prince of Ping's mansion."

"Cao Xueqin studied the Four Books and Five Classics, as well as Confucian classics."

"On the other hand, I started to read folk literature, unofficial history, drama and other miscellaneous subjects."

"In the thirteenth year of Yongzheng's reign, Emperor Yongzheng passed away and Emperor Qianlong ascended the throne."

"Qianlong ordered that the guilty officials who embezzled or misappropriated funds could be pardoned after investigation, and Cao Fu was on the pardon list."

"The following year, Cao Xueqin's cousin was appointed the Manchu governor of the Plain White Banner, and Cao Xueqin's great uncle was promoted to the Minister of War."

"Cao Xueqin regained his status as a son of an aristocratic family and gained more freedom."

"He traveled to temples and historical sites all over the capital, and was particularly fascinated by theaters and teahouses, and became obsessed with some famous female roles."

"He even went so far as to make an appearance in person, despite his status."

"When the elders in the family learned about this, they were worried that it would lead to new political troubles."

"After repeated prohibitions, Cao Xueqin was confined to his home."

"During his days of confinement, Cao Xueqin kept himself company with books."

"After reading a lot of books, Cao Xueqin decided to write a novel about women."

"In the third year of Qianlong's reign, Prince Li and some of the royal family princes conspired to stage a coup." "After being reported by someone, all the princes who participated were stripped of their titles and permanently imprisoned."

"In the fifth year of Qianlong's reign, Prince Zhuang's son conspired again."

"Although it still ended in failure, the Cao family was also affected."

"Cao Xueqin's great uncle was implicated, dismissed from his post and imprisoned, and later died of illness."

"The Cao family members were once again confiscated and questioned for serving in Prince Zhuang's palace."

"When Cao Xueqin was 18, he was able to work in the Imperial Household Department."

"In the 13th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, he offended his superiors by not following the rules and was dismissed from his post."

"At this time, the elders in the family had passed away, and Cao Xueqin did not know how to make a living, so he soon fell into the predicament of lack of food and clothing."

"As a last resort, Cao Xueqin could only stay at the Reclining Buddha Temple in Suanshikou and concentrate on writing Dream of the Red Chamber."

"Since he had no money to buy paper, Cao Xueqin tore apart old calendars and turned the leaves over to use as manuscript paper."

"When Cao Xueqin was 30 years old, he worked as a private tutor in the residence of Prime Minister Mingliang in order to make a living."

"It was around this period that Cao Xueqin wrote the first draft of A Dream of Red Mansions, A Dream of Red Mansions."

"Not long after, due to jealousy and slander from others, Prime Minister Mingliang dismissed Cao Xueqin."

"Cao Xueqin, who was dismissed from the prime minister's residence, had a bad reputation and no place to stay in Beijing. He could only live in a stable attached to a large mansion to the south."

"In the 18th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, the first draft of A Dream of Red Mansions was compiled and completed."

"The following year, the manuscript of the first 28 chapters of A Dream of Red Mansions was circulated after being copied, reviewed and commented on."

"It also means that the manuscript of Dream of the Red Chamber is basically finished, but the content still needs to be rewritten or revised later."

Zuo Zongtang: Every word seems to be written in blood; the ten years of hard work are extraordinary.

The name of Cao Xueqin's first draft of "Dream of the Red Chamber" was not this, but "A Dream of Red Mansions".

It took a total of ten years and was extremely hard.

However, Cao Xueqin never gave up. He lived in seclusion since he decided to write the first draft at the age of 30.

For more than ten years, Cao Xueqin lived in poverty and didn't even have money to drink.

It is also because of this that Cao Xueqin has a deeper understanding of the darkness and cruelty of officialdom.

At the same time, his sympathy for the working people at the bottom deepened, and his insights into society and strong critical spirit were revealed.

With his tenacious perseverance, Cao Xueqin finally completed his masterpiece.

"Dream of Red Mansions" has another name called "The Story of the Stone". Cao Xueqin wrote it while he was handwriting it to spread it.

Unfortunately, Cao Xueqin never finished writing this book until his death.

Later, Gao E wrote another forty chapters based on Cao Xueqin's original draft, and "Dream of Red Mansions" was finally completed.

Through "Dream of the Red Chamber", we can understand Cao Xueqin's life and see the prosperity of the Cao family in the past.

Indeed, Cao Xueqin, who came from an aristocratic family, was very familiar with that kind of life, so he was able to describe it in such detail.

In addition, Cao Xueqin’s early family environment was of great help to his success in achieving such high achievements in his works.

This enabled Cao Xueqin to read widely and possess a strong cultural literacy and a temperament that was deeply rooted in his bones.

What happened to the Cao family afterwards was also very dramatic.

The family disaster made Cao Xueqin's heart more complicated and gave him more emotions to express.

The poverty he experienced in the second half of his life and his unique vision and personal experience of the cruel society motivated Cao Xueqin's writing career.

For a person who could complete such a masterpiece, Cao Xueqin's thoughts and soul must be unique.

In addition, Cao Xueqin's unswerving commitment to writing is a spirit that deserves admiration from the world.

"During the creation of Dream of the Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin's cousin silently served as Cao Xueqin's writing assistant."

"She helped Cao Xueqin to proofread the text of the Qing manuscript, sort out the manuscript, annotate the entire book, etc."

"The two of them already had a relationship since they were young, and with their close working relationship, their relationship grew stronger day by day."

"With the help of their friends, they finally got married."

"Confused by life, Cao Xueqin had to leave the capital and seek a living in the suburbs."

"He came to Huangye Village in Xishan and made a living by selling paintings and teaching children to read."

"Due to his meager income, Cao Xueqin was always in poverty."

"Cao Xueqin later used his unyielding perseverance during the more than ten years he lived in seclusion in the Western Hills."

"I added and deleted five times from my old work, A Dream of Red Mansions."

"Cao Xueqin was still working on this masterpiece until his death."

"In the 24th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, Cao Xueqin, who was selected as a distinguished scholar for his talent, was invited by Yin Jishan, the governor-general of Liangjiang, to work as a staff member in Jiangning."

"Cao Xueqin was also planning to find a sponsor who would pay for the publication of his manuscript, so he agreed to the trip to the south."

"In Jiangning, Cao Xueqin's talent was initially appreciated by Yin Jishan."

"But the two had different perspectives, and after working together for a long time, misunderstandings arose."

"In the 25th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, Emperor Qianlong discovered that Prince Yi Yongxuan was reading the evil book Dream of the Red Chamber."

"I was very shocked and angry, and ordered an investigation into the whole story of this obscene novel."

"In order to avoid being implicated, Yin Jishan, the governor-general of Liangjiang, had no choice but to ask Cao Xueqin to resign."

"Unable to avoid it, Cao Xueqin decided to return to the capital."

"After returning from Jiangning, Cao Xueqin spent most of his time reciting poems, drinking and going on outings with his friends. His life was relatively stable."

"In the 26th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, a Qing minister presented a selection of "Poetry of the Qing Dynasty" to Emperor Qianlong."

"But Emperor Qianlong opposed this and ordered the Imperial Academy to review and delete every single piece of poetry from the Imperial Dynasty."

"This collection of poems happened to include the poems of Cao's ancestors and Cao Yin. In order to avoid being killed because of his writings, Cao Xueqin burned all his poems."

"In the 28th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign, smallpox was prevalent in the capital."

"Tens of thousands of children died from the disease, and Cao Xueqin's son also died of smallpox in the autumn of that year."

"Cao Xueqin was extremely grief-stricken after losing his only son and would visit his son's grave every day."

"Not long after, Cao Xueqin became overly worried and fell ill, and his condition became increasingly serious."

"On New Year's Eve of the 28th year of Qianlong's reign, Cao Xueqin died of illness in Beijing."

Li Hongzhang: "Dream of Red Mansions" tells the story of how a noble family gradually goes towards destruction.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" is set against the rise and fall of the four major families of Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue. It is told from the perspective of the wealthy young man Jia Baoyu, and the main line is the love and marriage tragedy between Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai.

Under the Qinggeng Peak, the stubborn stone left over from Nuwa's work of mending the sky, under the guidance of a monk and a Taoist priest, descended to the mortal world to experience wealth and luxury.

One day, Jia Yucun, a poor scholar who was close friends with Zhen Shiyin, borrowed money from him to go to Beijing for the imperial examination.

Zhen Shiyin, who believed that this man would surely be successful in the future, generously donated money to him, so Jia Yucun went to Beijing to take the exam.

Unexpectedly, Zhen Shiyin's beloved daughter Zhen Yinglian was abducted by human traffickers, and the Zhen family subsequently fell into decline after a fire.

Jia Yucun lived up to everyone's expectations and passed the imperial examination. Later, when he was a county magistrate, he met Zhen Yinglian, who was forced to marry Xue Pan.

In order to protect his own interests and avoid offending the four major families, Jia Yucun made a random judgment.

Lin Daiyu's mother died early and she suffered from many illnesses since childhood. Her father Lin Ruhai dragged Jia Yucun to Beijing and took her to her grandmother's house.

When Grandmother Jia saw Lin Daiyu, she was overjoyed and from then on Lin Daiyu settled down in the Jia family.

On this day, Mrs. Wang's sister, Aunt Xue and her family also arrived in the capital. From then on, Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai and other young men and women witnessed the rise and fall of the four major families together.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" describes the rise and fall of the Jia family, a century-old prestigious family, and shows the social outlook of the late feudal society.

Cao Xueqin placed Jia Baoyu and a group of girls of different identities and statuses in the ideal world of Grand View Garden.

Show their youthful and beautiful life, and an important part of their life is love and marriage issues.

Although he is the heir of the Jia family, Jia Baoyu tries hard to break free from the life path prescribed by his family and is unwilling to choose the feudal lady under traditional moral norms.

Instead, he pursues a relationship of spiritual harmony, so Jia Baoyu falls in love with Lin Daiyu, who has the same innocent heart as him.

But the Jia family chose Xue Baochai as Jia Baoyu's virtuous wife, which led to the love tragedy between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, as well as the marriage tragedy between Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai.

The profoundness of "Dream of Red Mansions" lies in the fact that it does not attribute the tragedy entirely to the cruelty of the evil people.

Part of the tragedy was the direct destruction of feudal forces, such as the tragic end of characters like Yuanyang.

But more tragedies are caused by feudal ethical relationships and life tragedies caused by the orthodox culture accumulated over thousands of years. (End of this chapter)