Dream of the Red Chamber, Volume 1

The wife of Zhou Rui reports back on Granny Liu’s visit to Lady Wang the next morning. She waits for Lady Wang to finish her chat with Auntie Xue, Xue Pan’s mother, by talking to Bao-chai, who reports on her undiagnosable illness and the monk who prescribed her fragrant pills to remedy it. Later, Zhou Rui’s wife is asked to take 12 silk flowers to each of the young women in the house. She delivers the flowers to all the granddaughters of Grandmother Jia, finally bringing the last two to Dai-yu at the request of Xi-feng. As she finished delivering flowers, the wife of Zhou Rui runs into her daughter, who is worried about the country deporting her husband because of some minor legal issues. The wife of Zhou Rui agrees to ask Xi-feng for help.

The next day, Xi-feng goes to the house of You-shi and Qin-shi, where she relaxes, makes jokes, and enjoys wine and games. She takes Bao-yu with her, and Bao-yu meets Qin-shi’s brother, Qin Zhong, who is compared to Bao-yu in beauty and in temper.