A modern office drone wakes up to find she has become Jia Mu, nearly seventy years old, in the Dream of the Red Chamber.
Looking at the Rongguo Mansion, glittering on the outside but rotten within, and remembering its future of confiscation, separation, and tragic deaths, she clenches her fists on the spot:
“Whoever wants this rotten ending can have it!”
She has a portable pocket dimension with a farm: spiritual fields for growing grain, a healing spring for staying healthy, and storage space for gold. She’ll build up the family’s assets, steadily and over time.
Within the family: She’ll discipline unruly servants, put an end to embezzlement, establish rules, and make up the shortfall. She’ll entrust the household to the capable Wang Xifeng, support her wholeheartedly, and never get in her way.
With the family: She’ll cherish Daiyu, raise Baoyu well, and protect the girls, so not one of them meets an early end or sheds a tear.
Beyond the family: She won’t court the powerful or join factions. She’ll keep a low profile, stay out of courtly struggles, and avoid the calamity of having the family’s property confiscated.
Wang Xifeng: “If the Old Ancestress trusts me, I’ll protect the Jia family for half my life.”
Lin Daiyu: “With Grandmother here, I’ll have a peaceful life and won’t die with my tears exhausted.”
Jia Baoyu: “I’ll study, learn to conduct myself properly, and protect my sisters and family.”
Years later, the Rongguo Mansion has upright family values, abundant food and funds, and the whole family is reunited.
No confiscation, no separation, no tragic early deaths, no sorrow.
Only peaceful years and a family safe and well.
She smiles faintly:
“I came to this life seeking no splendor, only a whole family and peace for everyone.”
