A highly controversial novel about worldly affairs, it focuses on family ethics and female education. The writing style is elegant and elegant, and has received mixed reviews.
The book takes the Hua family in Datong, Shanxi Province as the core of the narrative, and tells the story of Xia Yaoyun, the daughter of the county magistrate, who was forced to flee due to her brother's private engagement, framed by an evil servant and other incidents through the main plot of the down-and-out scholar Zhao Bi and Zhao Kun's imperial examination.
The work breaks through the traditional stereotypes of talented people and beautiful women, and uses an erotic plot to lay the main line. It runs through the core ideas of "reincarnation of good and evil, and karma and retribution." With its bold writing and controversial core, it became a highly topical niche work in the late Qing Dynasty.
