Reading Notes W 5: Cao Xueqin , Part B

Character list
- AROMA, NIGHTINGALE, Snowgoose, Tealeaf, Crimson etc.: Maids in the Jia Household 
- Aunt Xue: widowed sister of lady wang and mother of Xue Pan and Xue Baochai
- Feng Yuan: caltrop's first purchaser, murdered by Xue Pan's servant
- Grandmother Jia: nee shi; widow of Bayou's paternal grandfather and head of the Rongguo branch 
  of the Jia family
- Granny Liu: old countrywoman patronized by Wang Xifeng and the Rongguo Jia's
- Jia Baoyu: incarnation of stone; the eldest surviving son of Jia Zheng and lady Wang of Rongguo
  house
- Jia Lan: Baoyu's deceased elder brother
- Jia Rong: son of cousin Zhen and Youshi
- Jia she: Jia Zheng's elder brother, Baoyu's uncle
- Jia Tanchun: daughter of Jia Zheng and Aunt Zhao; half-sister of Bayou
- Jia Yingchun: daughter of Jia She by a concubine
- Jia Yuanchun: daughter of Jia Zheng and lady wang and elder sister of Baoyu; the imperial
  concubine
- Jia Yucun: careerist claiming relationship with the Rongguo family
- Jia Zhen: also cousin Zhen; son of Jia Jing; acting head of the senior (Ningguo) branch of the Jia
  family
- Jian Zheng: Baoyu's father; the younger of Grandmother Jia's two sons
- Lady Xing: wife of Jia She and mother of Jia Lian
- Lady Zixing: an antique dealer; friend of Jia Yucun
- Lin Daiyu: incarnation of the Crimson pearl flower; daughter of Lin Ruhai and Jia Zheng's sister, Jia
  Min
- Lin Ruhai: Daiyu's father; the salt commissioner of Yangchow
- Qinshi or Keqing: wife of Ja Rong
- Wang Xifeng: wife of Jia Lan and niece of Lady Wang and Aunt Xue
- Xue Baochai: daughter of Aunt Xue
- Xue Pan: son of Aunt Xue and reckless elder brother of Baochai
- Zhen Shiyin: retired gentleman of Soochow; father of Caltrop
- When Yinglian: daughter of Zhen Shiyin, later know as Caltrop

The story "The Story of The Stone" or also known as Dream of the chamber written by Cao Xueqin. It was known as one of the great classical novels written in the 18 century Qing dynasty. The first chapter starts out with a goddess named Nu-wa who was melting stones to fill the sky, she melted amalgam into  36,501 blocks each measuring 72 feet by a 144 square feet leaving a single odd block unused. The odd piece of stone was discarded and thrown done to the bottom of the mountain. One day a taoist comes across this stone as it caught his attention by speaking to him. It speaks to him and tells him of wanting to travel to the earthly world (p.523). Chen Shih-yin  lives happily with his wife, Lady Feng and their three-year-old daughter Ying-lien  beside the Temple of the Gourd in the city of Kusu now known as Soochow. In a dream, Shihyin meets two immortals a monk and a Taoist, who show him a beautiful piece of jade, which the taoist found under the mountain . The dream ends and the monk and the Taoist reappear and predict a sad fate for Shihyin's daughter Ying-lien.