In Qinghe County at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Jin family, a salt merchant, became rich by selling salt. Jin Jingxiu, his legitimate son, clung to the powerful and married Jia Yaoqing, the concubine of Jia Shangshu in the capital. Spending huge sums of money to build the "Golden Tower", taking in concubines and raising Qingqing guests, after the marriage of the two houses, power became overwhelming. However, elegance and extravagance coexist in the wealthy family: Jia Yaoqing is talented but has a poor life, but is trapped in the quagmire of the inner house without being a pawn for marriage; Jin Jingxiu is in the officialdom, and his obsession and shrewdness are intertwined and he cannot escape his fate. In the world outside the building, there is an undercurrent of salt tax deficit, and collusion between government and businessmen is the root cause of the family's destruction. When the salt tax case came out, Jia's house was implicated and his house was ransacked, and the golden building collapsed overnight. Yaoqing's soul died in the library, and she passed away with a smile while holding her jade hairpin; Jingxiu experienced great catastrophes, achieved great enlightenment under the guidance of a wandering eminent monk, and escaped into Buddhism. All the concubines died or dispersed, and the slaves went their separate ways. It snowed heavily at the end of the year, and only wild grass remained at the old site of Jinlou. "Jinlou Fengyuepu" was quietly circulated, telling a post-apocalyptic tragedy of "I saw him build the Zhulou, I saw him feasting on guests, and I saw his tower collapse." This book uses the rise and fall of the Golden Tower as a mirror to reflect on the common tragedy of nobles and merchants in the last days of feudalism - no matter how rich they are, they cannot escape the prison of desire; only by uncovering the illusion can we find our spiritual home among the ruins. Between the lines, there is the elegance and pathos of "Dream of Red Mansions" and the fireworks of "Jin Ping Mei". After the prosperity has faded, there is a lingering warning of "abstaining from greed and extravagance".
Intention: Desire builds a building, and the building collapses to realize ignorance; all living beings are imprisoned, but the text is eternal.