Dream of the Red Chamber: From the Start, I Take Xue Baochai Home

Honestly, author, do you know why so many people are criticizing you? Because you completely misunderstand the significance of a top scholar in ancient times! Making Xue Baochai the principal wife? And having the emperor bestow a marriage upon him? You must have written this without doing any research!

The beginning was alright, with a touch of saving the day, and the plot progressed reasonably well. Minor inconsistencies were tolerable. But then this arranged marriage… which emperor would compensate you for feeling wronged? Real emperors would tell me that without them, you wouldn't even be able to keep your degree, and you'd have to thank them.

This arranged marriage you've given is utterly humiliating. First, the official positions held by imperial merchants could not be considered those of high-ranking officials. The rank of "Ziwei Sheren" (紫薇舍人) was not high enough to qualify them as such. Throughout history, imperial merchants were essentially private servants of the emperor.

Is this supposed to be an explanation to the scholars? Are you trying to kill off the protagonist? Don't write romance according to modern standards. Even if you wrote the female lead as the daughter of a minor official like Qin Keqing, it wouldn't be a problem. A top scholar marrying a merchant's daughter—are you trying to make the protagonist never rise in the world?

🙃The emperor bestows a marriage as compensation, but it turns out the woman is a merchant's daughter, and the protagonist is a top scholar. Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter. First: The emperor started purging the old military officials because they had the literati as a base of support. Then you bestow a marriage on a merchant to the top scholar. You're slapping the literati in the face.

The Xue family wasn't merchants, they were scholars. Otherwise, the original novel wouldn't have chosen a female official. Reason 1: Look at Cao Xueqin, who was also a royal merchant. Reason 2: Merchants couldn't be considered one of the four great families alongside the other three. Some people dismiss everything with a simple "scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants" hierarchy.

A rejected imperial concubine was given to a third-place scholar; the reputation of the upright officials was utterly tarnished.

I was thinking, this Dream of the Red Chamber fanfiction is pretty good, it has both literary and martial arts elements, and it's not like those fanfics where the protagonist is just chasing after women all the time. Why are these readers so critical? This book looks pretty good. The plot flows smoothly without being awkward, and it doesn't just pick up girls without warning. It looks pretty easy, so why do you all have such strong opinions?

Seeing the author's praise of merchants' status in ancient feudal society in the comments section... I couldn't help but say a few words... Different people have different opinions... The author put a lot of effort into writing, so minor flaws should be forgiven... The Xue family's second branch and the Mei family, both from the Hanlin family, got engaged...

I came here because of the "arranged marriage" part! So I'm here to criticize the author! Xue Baochai is not worthy of the third-ranked scholar. I cannot accept the author's arrangement. It's an insult to my historical knowledge. Even if you praise Xue Baochai to the skies, she's still just the daughter of a royal merchant.