The #ReadingTheStone community forged ahead into Chapters 81-85 today, and we encountered so many callbacks to earlier moments to the point that some of us felt that they were giving final-season wrap-up vibes. Many threads and characters' fates are resurfaced, in anticipation of all coming to a head: Baoyu's return to studying for examinations, further mentions of the Jia family's financial excesses and the precarity of their fortunes being wrapped up in Yuanchun's place in court, and of course, the Baoyu-Daiyu-Baochai love triangle. Thanks to Elena, we spent some time pondering the details of Daiyu's dream - prognosticatory and Freudian avant la lettre.
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