This is a fan fiction about Wang Xifeng. I’ve read Dream of the Red Chamber since I was little, and I always felt she deserved better. Writing this story is a way of fulfilling my own wish.
Wang Xifeng died. She died in a ruined temple, with no one by her side.
When she opened her eyes again, she had become Wang Fenglai, an orphan in the countryside of Northeast China. She had just registered her marriage to Regiment Commander Zhou Jianguo, and then her husband returned to his unit.
Her mother-in-law wanted to call off the wedding, her sister-in-law wanted to seize her house, and the villagers said she brought misfortune to her family and husband.
Wang Fenglai smiled. “In my last life, I managed hundreds of people in the Rongguo Mansion. You think I can’t handle you?”
She didn’t cry or make a scene. One telegram was all it took to make her husband lower his head and do as she said.
Later, she followed him to his military post, where all the women in the family housing compound kept an eye on her.
The political instructor’s wife accused her of using pregnancy to get ahead. Wang Fenglai shut her up with a bowl of millet porridge.
Later still, when China began its reform and opening up, she went into business, growing from a small shop owner into the head of a publicly listed corporation.
Zhou Jianguo rose from regiment commander to county magistrate, and everyone said he owed it all to his wife.
He said, “What does it matter? Just do your own job well.”
On New Year’s Eve, she leaned against his shoulder and asked, “Do you regret marrying me?”
He held her tighter. “I regret it. I regret not marrying you sooner.”
Feng the Pepper was right to be proud of this life.
