New Here? This is Chapter 21 of Dream of the Red Chamber, China's greatest novel, translated into modern English one scene at a time. Start with the Start Here guide, or meet the family on the Characters page.
Baoyu has gone to the main house to pay his respects. His room is empty, and his desk is covered with books.
Lin Daiyu walks in, finds nobody there, and starts flipping through them. She isn’t looking for anything in particular. Whatever she finds, she’s going to have an opinion about it.
Previously: Baoyu woke up with the whole quarrel forgotten, Xiren hadn’t slept at all, and a jade hairpin broke in two. (See The Morning After.)
Who’s here: Lin Daiyu · Jia Baoyu · and, in name only, Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang
The Note. In the last Zhuangzi post, the novel said Baoyu “continued” the old philosopher. Daiyu has a different word for what he did, and it’s in the second line of her poem. The word is read differently from how it looks. See below.
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