Chapter Summaries

Five respected scholars praised Dream of the Red Chamber and swore by their futures that it was not a fame-seeking novel, convincing the gathered crowd of its worth. Their testimony sent the scholars rushing into the Liusheng Bookshop to buy copies.

• One scholar announced that all five scholars had judged Dream of the Red Chamber exceptionally well written and worth far more than two taels of silver.
• The five scholars declared that the novel would bring pride and fame to Stone County, then swore to abandon their official futures if it was merely fishing for fame.
• The five scholars said they had each bought a copy and left the Liusheng Bookshop eagerly to read it again at home.
• A scholar urged the gathered crowd to buy Dream of the Red Chamber, and the other scholars rushed into the shop.
• Boss Yan Liusheng feared the scholars had come to loot the shop, then was delighted when they began buying the novel.

Scholars who bought the first ten chapters of Dream of the Red Chamber became captivated and returned to Liusheng Bookshop demanding more. Boss Yan Liusheng told them Young Master Zhou would bring the next volume in fifteen days, and he celebrated the novel’s sudden popularity.

• Around a hundred scholars bought the first ten chapters of Dream of the Red Chamber from Liusheng Bookshop for two taels each.
• The buyers read the novel and praised its writing, while their friends grew curious about it.
• The scholars became so engrossed that they reread the volume and wanted to know what happened next.
• The following morning, the buyers gathered at Liusheng Bookshop and demanded the rest of the novel from Boss Yan Liusheng.
• Boss Yan explained that Young Master Zhou was still writing and would deliver another ten-chapter volume in fifteen days.
• After the scholars left, Boss Yan rejoiced at the novel’s unexpected success.

Dream of the Red Chamber became a sensation in Stone County as scholars spread word of the novel and crowds flocked to Liusheng Bookshop. Boss Yan Liusheng used the rush to sell out successive batches before finally letting everyone who came buy a copy.

• Scholars praised Dream of the Red Chamber at their gatherings and piqued their companions’ interest by stopping their stories before revealing what happened next.
• Crowds rushed to Liusheng Bookshop, and all 1,500 advance copies sold out as Boss Yan Liusheng promised more would be ready the next morning.
• More than a thousand readers spread the novel’s popularity, and another 3,000 copies sold out shortly after the shop opened the next day.
• Boss Yan Liusheng told disappointed customers to return the following morning, though he had several thousand copies in reserve and was deliberately creating scarcity.
• The next morning, Boss Yan Liusheng sold copies to everyone who came to Liusheng Bookshop.

Zhou Yao heard Wuying’s reports on his expanding forces and the growing crisis on Great Zhou’s borders. After learning Chancellor Pei Yuanli had sabotaged supplies to the northern and central border troops, Zhou Yao ordered the officials responsible killed.

• Boss Yan Liusheng sold nearly all his copies of Dream of the Red Chamber as the book spread across Great Zhou and drew readers eager to meet its author, Zhou Yao.
• Zhou Yao spent the days dictating Dream of the Red Chamber to his wives Yang Aijin and Yang Ailian, while Wuying reported that the Brocade Guard was expanding and the Imperial Guard was training.
• Wuying told Zhou Yao that his guards and bodyguards were still undergoing intensive training before they could protect the young mistresses.
• Wuying reported that two neighboring countries threatened Great Zhou at the northern and central grassland borders, where troops lacked adequate supplies.
• Wuying explained that Chancellor Pei Yuanli had secretly tampered with provisions after the emperor rejected the second prince Zhou Xian’s attempt to replace the border commanders.
• Zhou Yao ordered his assassination squads to kill every official who had secretly disobeyed orders about the border provisions, especially those responsible for transporting them.

Zhou Yao ordered Wuying to investigate officials who had obstructed supplies to the border troops and punish the worst offenders. During the government’s second wife-delivery campaign, a runner brought twin sisters to Zhou Yao, and both sisters hoped to marry him after seeing how handsome he was.

• Zhou Yao told Wuying to investigate officials who had delayed border supplies and eliminate those guilty of heinous crimes and their families.
• On November first, the government began its second wife-delivery campaign of the year.
• Remembering Zhou Yao’s preference for petite women, the runner brought twin sisters to his home first.
• Zhou Yao inspected the sisters and found them to his liking.
• The twin sisters, who had feared being sent to an army camp, felt drawn to Zhou Yao and both wanted to marry him.

Zhou Yao chose the twin sisters, Qiuye and Qiuyu, as wives and brought them into his home. They were astonished by the plentiful food he served, and the chapter left them eating while Zhou Yao went to the kitchen.

• Zhou Yao told the constable he would marry both twin sisters, and the constable happily accepted his red envelope.
• The constable promised to look for more women for Zhou Yao and left to report that his assignment was complete.
• Zhou Yao led the twin sisters into his home and served them porridge, pickled vegetables, and white-flour steamed buns.
• The sisters marveled at the food during the famine and began eating hungrily while Zhou Yao went into the kitchen.

The twin sisters ate their fill and bathed while Zhou Yao explained to Yang Aijin and Yang Ailian how he had brought the sisters home. The sisters were still cleaning up as Zhou Yao’s wives learned that the newcomers faced the same danger they had escaped.

• The twin sisters ate two bowls of porridge and four steamed buns each, and Zhou Yao told them to rest while he cleared the dishes.
• Zhou Yao led the sisters to the bathing room and prepared a full tub of water, toiletries, and clean clothes for them.
• The sisters were shocked by the amount of water, then washed and enjoyed their first proper bath in years.
• Zhou Yao told Yang Aijin and Yang Ailian that the new arrivals were twin sisters who had disguised their beauty.
• Zhou Yao explained that slender, petite women were often rejected as wives and sent to military camps as prostitutes, prompting Yang Aijin and Yang Ailian to recall their own near-identical fate.

Yang Aijin and Yang Ailian reunited with their younger sisters Qiuye and Qiuyu, whom Zhou Yao had recently married. After the four women explained their past connection and feared punishment, Zhou Yao told them to get up.

• Yang Aijin and Yang Ailian waited with Zhou Yao to meet the new twin sisters in the main room.
• Yang Aijin and Yang Ailian recognized Qiuye and Qiuyu, and the four sisters embraced and wept.
• The two pairs of twins asked how they had come to be there, but Zhou Yao interrupted them with a cough.
• Yang Aijin explained that the sisters had known Qiuye and Qiuyu since childhood but lost contact after their family's property was confiscated and they were exiled.
• The four women knelt and asked Zhou Yao not to punish one another, and he said he had never planned to punish them and told them to get up.

Qiuye told Zhou Yao how her family had fallen after her father rejected the second prince Zhou Xian and the chancellor Pei Yuanli, and how she and Qiuyu had faced being sent to a military camp as prostitutes. She and Qiuyu thanked Zhou Yao for marrying them, and he welcomed them as family.

• Zhou Yao asked Qiuye and Qiuyu to introduce themselves, and Qiuye explained that they were the daughters of Bashu's former governor.
• Qiuye said Zhou Xian had pursued the sisters and tried to recruit their father, while Pei Yuanli had also sought his support; their father had rejected both men.
• After the emperor confiscated their home and ordered their parents killed, Qiuye and Qiuyu were sent to a military camp for hard labor.
• At fifteen, the sisters disguised themselves as frail and unattractive during the wife-distribution program, but learned that they would be sent to a military camp as prostitutes if no one chose them.
• Qiuye and Qiuyu knelt and thanked Zhou Yao for marrying them and saving them, and Zhou Yao told them to rise because they were family now.

Zhou Yao learned that Yang Aijin, Yang Ailian, Qiuye, and Qiuyu had all been destined to marry a son of former Prince Zhou Shun, and he welcomed the sisters into his household. After the four women left to look around, Zhou Yao caught and killed a man spying on them for the Great Zhou State's second prince, then erased all evidence.

• Yang Aijin and Qiuye told Zhou Yao that they and their sisters had been betrothed to a young prince, though they did not know which son of Prince Zhou Shun.
• Zhou Yao reassured the four women that they would be safe and cared for, then asked Yang Aijin and Yang Ailian to show Qiuye and Qiuyu around their home.
• Zhou Yao sensed a watcher in the nearby woods and approached the man without being detected.
• The watcher revealed that Zhou Yao had guessed he was monitoring the twin sisters for the Great Zhou State's second prince.
• Zhou Yao killed the man and destroyed the body and all traces of his presence.