Introduction to "Qingwen Diary"
I, Qingwen, the maid in Jia Baoyu's house, was born with a lofty heart, but a lowly status.
This diary is the truth I wrote down one by one during my days and nights in Yihongyuan. Outsiders only saw flowers blooming in the Jia Mansion and burning oil cooked by fire, but I saw the cracks in this century-old mansion from the suspicion of the masters, the strife of the servants, and the shortcomings in the accounts - the vegetation and trees were all destroyed when Mrs. Wang inspected the Grand View Garden, the holes that no one could fill after Sister Feng fell ill, and the fate of the maids who were treated as objects.
I thought that by being fiercely competitive, I could keep my dignity. It wasn't until I was driven out of the house while I was ill and was lying on the broken bed waiting to die that I realized that in this man-eating mansion, obeying was death, and resisting was also death. Only by escaping can I live as a human being.
The biggest regret in my life is that I could not take Daiyu away. The girl who hid Baoyu's poem manuscript in her sleeve had already regarded Jia's house as her only home. If she learns that she is just another chess piece waiting for a price, being "forced by the wind, frost, and sword" but with nowhere to escape... I left this diary and every escape route I saw.
If you read this, tell her for me: Don't wither here. Although the world is miserable, there is still a clear sky.
——The remains of the manuscript that Miss Deng found under Qingwen's pillow were scrawled and stained with blood.
