Withered lotus leaves and cold rain, tears chilling the Xiaoxiang Pavilion: such was the Red Mansion’s destined course. Yet the Lin family of Gusu had another daughter besides Daiyu, the girl who furrowed her brows and pressed a hand to her heart: a concubine-born younger sister, Songyu, born a year later. Ever since Songyu could remember, strange visions of “lives past and things to come” had drifted through her mind. In them, the Crimson Pearl returned to the Realm of Separation and Regret, tears fell in the Land of Enchanted Love, the Twelve Beauties of Jinling crumbled into dust, and the mighty Jia Mansion collapsed in a single night, leaving bones piled like mountains and their names forgotten.
She knew her sister was an immortal plant descended to earth to repay a debt of tears. She knew that Baoyu was a stubborn stone reborn, with deep roots of affection. But she refused to believe in “destiny.” After following her sister through the gates of that grand, walled mansion, Songyu put away childish airs and used her keen mind to read people and observe the ways of the world. She would protect her sister from harm, shielding her from the cutting winds and swords; awaken that lovesick boy from his delusions and expose the false promise of the golden-and-jade match; and, as the great mansion teetered on the brink of ruin, carve out a way to survive for the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, the Happy Red Court, and all the girls whose fates were not their own.
The pavilions and towers remain, and the lovesick men and women are much the same. Only now there is an incisive and clear-eyed Lin Songyu. Watch her fend off trouble with her sharp tongue and avoid disaster with her clever schemes, carving out a clear sky for her sister amid the Rongguo Mansion’s fierce storms, and securing a happy match for Baoyu and Daiyu. In the end, she will give the Red Mansion a new beginning, bring the flowers into bloom and the moon to fullness, and see good rewarded and evil punished.
