Red Mansion: Holding Space and Marrying Like the Sea

In an exquisite courtyard of the Kyoto royal palace, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl with delicate features and skin as white as cream suddenly opened her eyes. This girl was Xifeng. Leaning against the edge of her bed, Xifeng recalled her past life. It was originally a story of "the East Sea lacking a white jade bed, so the Dragon King came to ask for the Prince of Jinling." The eldest daughter of the wealthy Wang family's eldest son, however, had married Jia Lian, the eldest son of the Jia family's eldest son, a consummate scoundrel and a gambler, thanks to the connections between the four families.

Recalling her previous life when she first married into the Jia family, the family's internal affairs were already in tatters. "Jia is not fake, white jade for the hall and gold for the horses," the Jia family's accounts were full of expenses, with rent for the year of the tiger spent in the year of the rabbit. The servants in the Jia family who served the elders had more respect than the younger masters. In Lady Jia's room, older people like Lai Ma, who had served the old master, could sit, but Xifeng in her previous life was not qualified to sit and could only stand.

Grandmother Jia's unwavering favoritism towards the second wife led to Jia Zheng relegating Tiangang to the main courtyard, while the teenaged phoenix egg Jia Baoyu was still hanging out in the backyard, only able to put on makeup and lacking any sense of responsibility. Meanwhile, the eldest wife, the heir to the ancestral family business, was forced to live in a secluded corner of the east courtyard, next to the stables. In her previous life, Xifeng's soul was contaminated after descending from the Guanchou Sea, causing her to commit many sins, a punishment she deserved. Reflecting on her past life's mistakes, "In Shuiyue Temple, thanks to the whispers of the old nun Jingxu, Sister Feng used her influence in the Jia family to persuade the governor Yunguang to force the garrison commander to accept the previous betrothal gifts. This directly resulted in the suicides of Zhang Jin'ge and the garrison commander's son, while Wang Xifeng enjoyed a fortune of three thousand taels of silver.

Although Zhang Jinge and the son of the garrison commander were not killed by Fengjie, "Fengjie did not kill Boren, but Boren died because of her", "she used Hu Junrong to abort You Erjie's fully formed male fetus, thus ending Jia Lian's lineage". Xifeng shook her head and woke up for a moment, thinking that if she could start over again, she must refuse the marriage with Jia Lian. As she was thinking, Xifeng fell asleep. When Xifeng was sleeping soundly, she heard a noise and sat up suddenly. This was a stress response formed in the end times. At this time, four maids came in, namely Ping'er, An'er, Feng'er, and Xing'er. Xifeng looked at the four maids with a lot of thoughts in her mind, "some will die, some will go".

In her previous life, upon arriving at the Jia Mansion, Jia Lian rebelled, leading Ping'er to become his roommate. An'er, fearing Jia Lian's refusal to obey, committed suicide by swallowing gold. Feng'er was assigned to a random servant and sent to work at the farm. Xing'er redeemed herself and left the mansion. Xifeng, accompanied by four maids, sat down at the dressing table. The figure in the mirror was elegant and refined, possessing a natural, ethereal air. Her skin was delicate, her demeanor relaxed, her eyes darting, her cheeks rosy with a smile, her words unspoken, her breath like the fragrance of orchids. Her aloofness and agility were captivating.

Ping'er was talking about what kind of bun the girl would wear today, and Xifeng said, "Let's have a lily bun! For the hairpin, I'd use a phoenix-shaped jade hairpin with kingfisher feathers. The other jewelry should be neat and simple." Feng'er and An'er each brought clothes to Xifeng's side and asked what outfit the girl would wear today. Xifeng pointed to the "baby red pomegranate skirt" and said, "That's it."

After finishing her work, Xifeng stepped out of the house, sighing inwardly, "The struggle has begun." Xifeng led her maid through the corridor and into the garden. April was the season of vibrant blossoms and green willows. Xifeng smiled gently, then placed her hand on a Yaohuang peony, saying with a smile, "Ping'er, do you think this flower is beautiful?" Ping'er replied, "It's beautiful. It would be even more beautiful if pinned on a girl's head." Chatting and laughing, the group made their way to the main courtyard.