The Beauty Daiyu in Republican-Era China [Dream of the Red Chamber]

[Pre-publication version archived on 2026.6.5] Also known as *Spring in the South, Spring in the North [Republican-Era Dream of the Red Chamber]*

Outwardly rakish, inwardly ruthless and cunning playboy VS fallen, clear-eyed young lady of a prominent family

"All the waters beneath heaven share one source, just as people share the same fate. You came from the east, and I was headed west. We happened to meet along the way, and so we became bound by the same destiny, rooted in the same place."

When they first met, he was a flamboyant rake, and she was a fallen daughter of a prominent family. A marriage contract bound them tightly together.

She once thought every meeting was only a prelude to parting. It was Huo Zheng who taught her, hand in hand, the meaning of freedom and love. Only then did Daiyu understand the meaning of noble ideals and convictions.

She refused to be a footnote in his life, and even more refused to be "some Mr. So-and-so's someone."

So she left behind an old letter and turned to walk into the storm.

"We meet to be together, and parting does not mean losing one another."

"Water turns to cloud, and clouds fall back to the mountains. In the end, we must make the journey once more."

"If you are there then, and I am there too, please sit across from me and share a cup of tea. Then we can talk at leisure."

Lin Daiyu, sealed by hand

Under lamplight, ninth month of the twenty-third year of Kangping

[Official blurb]

In the glittering world of the foreign concessions, everyone knew that before going abroad to study, the third young master of the Huo family was a notorious playboy. That was until he returned home before completing his studies and was ordered to fetch his rumored fiancée.

Huo Zheng fell hard.

He happily sought the hand of the woman he loved, only to be turned away at the door.

The messenger stammered nervously, "Miss Lin says thank you for the help you've given her in the past, young master. With so many beauties around you, surely you'll have somewhere else to go. She has no way to repay you, and can only promise to repay your kindness in the next life."

A pile of letters from his former admirers was returned to him all at once. Only then did Huo Zheng realize he'd taken his rakish act too far.

It turned out his darling hadn't wanted him from the very beginning...

Later, people saw the third young master Huo standing guard outside the Jiez Garden residence day and night, repeatedly turned away from the door yet taking it all in stride.

No one knew that Lin Daiyu behind that door had transmigrated from a hundred years in the past.

Her father had just died, her family had fallen into decline, and she was trapped in a desperate situation in Pingjing, beset by wolves on all sides after coming from Lincheng. Then Huo Zheng, dressed in a suit, fell from the sky and frivolously opened his arms to her.

They lived under the same roof. In Haicheng, he shielded her from every storm, yet he also loved putting on a show for others and treated her with the utmost care.

Daiyu quietly clenched her hands. There could be no such thing as affection without a reason. How could a man who could manipulate the world in such turbulent times willingly submit to an arranged marriage imposed by his elders?

She had to find another way out.

A branch severed from its roots had already given up on seeing spring again.

Huo Zheng, who had once been invincible, panicked completely. He lowered himself and asked around everywhere: "Does the marriage contract between the Lin family and the eldest branch still stand?"

[Reading guide]

1. An alternate-universe Republican-era Dream of the Red Chamber. Lin Daiyu, a character from a book, transmigrates in parallel to a hundred years later. The plot is entirely fictional and has no real-life basis.

2. A little angst and regret, no melodramatic love triangle, one-on-one romance, happy ending.

3. Important: The male lead deliberately creates scandalous rumors early in the story. He pursues his wife in the middle and later parts.

Theme: An ambitious man gives his heart away, then loses control completely after an extreme push and pull.