The Whole Class Drops into Dream of the Red Chamber

On the eve of the college entrance exam, 21 students from a top senior-year class were bound to the Happiness Value System and transmigrated together into the resentment-filled world of Dream of the Red Chamber. These students knew everything from astronomy to geography, could compose poems with the best of them, and were fit enough to compete in an Ironman triathlon. To earn a chance to go home, they had to raise the happiness values of more than 1,000 characters from the book to at least 60.

Forced into this grand transmigration project by the System’s ruthless terms, the students threw themselves into their new lives. Some pursued the imperial examinations and took up farming. Some settled into retirement in the inner palace. One became a captive of Japanese pirates, while another was caught up in the power struggle between old and new officials, branded and exiled three thousand li away...

After immersing themselves in life in ancient times, the students had plenty to say:

Student A: My old man’s a fossil and a superstitious fool. He actually threw me out because he thinks I bring bad luck. A trafficker is offering 300 taels for me right now, so get me while you can!

Student B: Thanks for the advice. I’m on the coast and have just boarded a pirate ship. Does a little captive born to a big captive have any job prospects? Can I delete my character and start over?

Student C: From the start, I’m a young prince in the northern desert. Wait, the barbarians are my own people?!

Student D: Hold on, upstairs. I’ve just been banished to serve in the army. If we’re brothers, let me take a swing at you!

The Red Chamber faces a Little Ice Age much like the one at the end of the Ming dynasty:

“Drought and floods ruin the harvests, while rats and thieves swarm everywhere. People seize land, steal and rob, and the common folk can know no peace.”

Behind the splendor lies devastation as far as the eye can see.

Yet, without anyone noticing, a mysterious force slowly rises. From noble sons and successful exam candidates to women in the inner palace, rebels and bandits, its eyes and ears are everywhere.

No one knows how its members communicate, or what they want.

Only when the land is finally at peace does the world understand: they endured every hardship and risked their lives for nothing more than a peaceful age, free of corpses from starvation, with the realm intact and at peace.

1. My own take on the Red Chamber, with a mountain of original worldbuilding.

2. Short-tempered beauty class monitor vs. frail orphaned heir to a deposed crown prince. Happy ending.

3. The class monitor is the most beautiful person in the whole story. Lots of unrequited crushes and a magnetic, everyone-loves-them vibe. I’ll dote on them every now and then, with a dark and twisted flavor to the romance.

4. Aside from one monk and one Daoist, no ghosts or gods show up. The story generally follows a materialist view of history.

5. No matter what hardships they face, those who leave home will return.

Theme: There are champions in every walk of life.