Dream of the Red Chamber: Tanchun Is Reborn to Save the Jia Family from Ruin

Overworked office drone Lin Wan stays up late reading Dream of the Red Chamber and cries until she can barely breathe over the tragic fates of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling. When she opens her eyes again, she has become Jia Tanchun, the third young lady of the Rongguo House. Gripping the cold edge of the kang, she finds her mind filled with the tragedies of the original story: Daiyu weeping herself to death, Baochai left alone in an empty chamber, Fengjie ruined and disgraced, the Jia family collapsing once the tree falls and the monkeys scatter... And she herself is destined to marry far away to the coastal frontier, separated from her family. “This time, I, Jia Tanchun, will defy fate and change my destiny!” Armed with her golden finger of knowing the story’s plot, she lays her plans in secret: warning Daiyu to guard against Concubine Zhao’s schemes, helping Baochai avoid Xia Jingui’s machinations, and urging Fengjie to keep a lower profile. Most of all, she means to expose the Jia family’s false splendor, root out the parasites, and make up the shortfall in its accounts. But as she draws closer to Baoyu and Daiyu, she discovers that the human heart is more complicated than any book. The young scoundrel hides a sincerity she cannot understand in his eyes, while Lin Daiyu, frail and full of sorrow, secretly hides a prescription for her. The thunder of the family’s confiscation has yet to strike, but the imperial decree ordering her distant marriage is already on its way. Tanchun stands over the board, pieces in hand. Behind her is the Jia family, tottering on the brink; ahead lies an unknowable fate. “I won’t just survive. I’ll bring everyone I want to protect along with me!”