Li Bai in Dream of the Red Chamber

The sword spirit of the Green Lotus enters the Red Chamber, as the banished immortal Li Bai transmigrates into the Rongguo Mansion. In this life, he is no longer the son of a merchant, but Jia Baoyu, born with a jade in his mouth. Shedding his spoiled ways, he reads the Songs of Chu at night and studies policy essays by day, pouring all the poet immortal's talent into the eight-legged essays. At the Grand View Garden literary contest, he writes, "I laugh aloud and stride out the gate. How could we ever be mere weeds?" Jia Zheng is so shocked his beard and hair tremble, yet in Daiyu's eyes he sees the same admiration once found in the wine shops of Chang'an in his previous life.

In the three rounds of the spring imperial examination, his brush flies as he weaves the spirit of the prosperous Tang into his exam essays. On the day the results are posted, the name "Jia Baoyu" hangs high on the golden list. He rides through the streets in a scarlet robe, and for a moment, it is as if he can see the Hanlin Academy he could never reach in his previous life. The Rongguo Mansion is decked out in celebration, but he sits alone in the Xiaoxiang Pavilion, raising his cup to the moon. "Once I mocked Confucius; now I have become Confucius." Daiyu gently strokes the poem and sighs, "In the end, your poetic soul is trapped in a golden cage."

When the magic jade shatters, a faint sigh comes from the Land of Illusion: "A poet's soul has rusted with fame and rank; the road to success is actually the Heaven of Sorrow and Separation." In the imperial court, the new Hanlin academician's memorials are brilliant, word by word, yet he does not know whether what drips from his brush is ink or the tears of a golden goblet, still undried after a thousand years.

This is just for fun, so I haven't taken it too seriously. Please excuse anything unsuitable in the story! If you don't like it, please don't flame me; just drop it!

Theme: Stay true to your original aspirations and hold fast to your goals!