[Dream of the Red Chamber] Daiyu's Eldest Sister-in-Law

Ming Yaohua transmigrated eighteen years ago, and she’s been living a comfortable, happy life. Her family has a house and a shop in Yangzhou City. Her husband is young and handsome, preparing for the imperial examinations and confident of success. Her younger brother is studying and has been praised for his talent. Then one day, a middle-aged man claiming to be the head steward of the Yangzhou Salt Commissioner's residence comes to their door, falls to his knees, and cries, “Young Master! Young Madam!” Ming Yaohua is completely bewildered. “Huh?” Young Master Lin has acknowledged his eldest son, who has also passed the county-level examination and earned the title of licentiate. He’s an even more remarkable man than the late Eldest Master Zhu. The news reaches the Jia family in the capital and lands like a drop of water in a pan of hot oil, sending it splattering in every direction. The servants who had heard that Master Lin was chronically ill and probably wouldn’t make it, and had therefore treated Miss Lin, who lived in the family home, with great neglect, all change their dismissive attitudes and crowd around to flatter her. Some people can’t help gloating in private, green with envy: “Master Lin married the daughter of a down-on-her-luck family. I bet she’s as stingy and miserly as Madam Xing of the first branch, and just as unfit for polite society. Miss Lin will have a hard time with a sister-in-law like that!” Lin Daiyu: “What my sister-in-law is like is none of your business. Gossiping behind someone’s back is petty.” Ming Yaohua: “You spread rumors that I’m stingy and miserly. Don’t expect me to give you a single coin when your family is confiscated!” The male lead’s perspective in his previous life: Chu Mingji lost both his parents at fifteen and severed ties with his elder brother. His wife died when he was eighteen. At twenty, his fortunes turned, and his career in the civil service examinations and officialdom went smoothly. First, he and his brother-in-law both passed the licentiate examination. Then he passed the provincial examination at twenty-two, and at twenty-three he placed forty-ninth in the second tier of the metropolitan examination, a rare young talent. At thirty-six, the emperor promoted him into the Grand Secretariat. At thirty-nine, he became its chief minister. He died at forty-three, with neither wife nor child. Ming Fuguang resigned from office and escorted his brother-in-law’s coffin back to his hometown. As they traveled the long road, he leaned against the bright red coffin and said, “Brother-in-law, you never returned to Yangzhou after going to the capital. You said, ‘If she doesn’t come to me in my dreams, I won’t visit her grave.’ Well, now you can meet in the grave and see each other every day.” Theme: Live life with optimism, wherever and whenever you are