Dream of the Red Chamber: Daiyu Goes on a Rampage

No romance, shining on her own, devoted to those she loves, full of strategy, and immensely satisfying. A rising ensemble of women: the young women break free of feudal constraints and distinguish themselves in salt administration, commerce, academia, and other fields. They turn the bitter irony of "Ten Thousand Beauties Sharing One Cup" into a fresh new story of "Flowers Competing in Splendor." Lin Daiyu, orphaned daughter of a top scholar, secretly holds an imperial edict that contains the key to controlling the salt trade. Cool-faced but warm-hearted, she breaks free of Madam Wang's humiliation. With her poetic talent, she wins over Xue Baochai and changes her mind about the "gold-and-jade match." She allies with Wang Xifeng to bring down corruption in the silver vault, then uses the witchcraft and salt-license cases to expose the schemes of the Xue and Jia families. She lures illegal salt traders, steals account books, mocks the powerful, exposes Madam Wang's love potion, and uncovers Aunt Xue's secret medicine. She investigates Prince Zhongshun's smuggled salt and scorns the imperial consort's token. A women's literary society gathers in the Xiaoxiang Pavilion. A search of the Hengwu Garden reveals a conspiracy. The Grand View Garden becomes a courtroom, and she dares to expose the emperor's misdeeds in the Golden Throne Hall. Only later does she realize that in the rise and fall of the world, it is always the common people who suffer. Why not claim the throne herself and put an end to their suffering? In the end, her iron-fisted control of the salt trade brings down the Xue family's imperial merchant house. She seizes power through rebellion, then watches with a smile as the Jia family falls and Baoyu awakens to the truth and becomes a monk. Wang Xifeng holds up a piece of writing from Daiyu titled "Reward and Punish in Equal Measure." "With your sharp mind and ruthless streak, little sister, you ought to be a female official. It's a waste to have you stay in the Jia household cleaning up its messes." "Is that all you aspire to, Sister Feng?" Daiyu asked with a sly smile. "Huh? You... you mean... ?" "If wealthy people like us stop taking responsibility for the world's troubles and only keep taking for ourselves, won't the suffering eventually reach us too?" "But we're only women!" Daiyu's eyes blazed with light. "So what?" With a cool gaze, she judges the pure and the corrupt. At the Orchid Terrace, she writes the chronicles of her age. Frail in body, she turns the tide of events, and with her wisdom she composes a legend: an extraordinary woman who remains unstained in a corrupt world.