The true author of the timeless masterpiece Dream of the Red Chamber was Hong Xi, grandson of the Kangxi Emperor. He was Zhi Yanzhai! This is a story that has not been accepted by the mainstream, but may well be true. Zhi Yanzhai and Cao Xueqin were related, but they were not close. Zhi Yanzhai was a pen name for Hong Xi, a grandson of the Kangxi Emperor and the son of Yinreng, who was twice appointed and twice deposed as crown prince. Hong Xi grew up in the imperial palace and the crown prince's residence, firmly absorbing the illusion that he was the heir destined to "mend the heavens." Even on his deathbed, he remained convinced that he had been granted a destiny but denied the fortune to fulfill it. Cao Xueqin was the grandson of Cao Yin, director of the Jiangning Imperial Silk Manufactory. The Cao family were imperial bondservants: slaves. In 1728, the sixth year of the Yongzheng reign, Cao Xueqin was taken to Beijing with his father, Cao Fu, who was arrested. In 1729, the seventh year of the reign, Cao Fu was released without a trial, in a remarkable turn of events, and entered the service of the Imperial Household Department. Cao Xueqin entered the Right Wing Imperial Clan School, though some say he attended the Xian'an Palace Official School. The Yongzheng Emperor established this school for the sons of the Upper Three Banners, including bondservants. It was taught by Hanlin scholars, and Cao Xueqin stayed on as a staff member after graduating. Zhi Yanzhai and Cao Xueqin each lived according to their own paths, like two parallel lines. Those lines crossed in the book The Story of the Stone. Through his own life, Zhi Yanzhai wrote The Story of the Stone, filled with reflections on the past and feelings about the present. Cao Xueqin, however, shattered each of Zhi Yanzhai's former illusions and put forward his own view of the value of life. Thus The Story of the Stone, originally a sorrowful autobiography haunted by regret, became Dream of the Red Chamber, a work that posed a question to Heaven, following in the footsteps of Qu Yuan.
