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Zhen Shiyin
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Opening chapter figure.
Opening chapter figure.
Key story events this character is involved in, and the chapters where they appear.
Role in this event: Participant
On Mid-Autumn night Zhen Shiyin meets the down-and-out scholar Jia Yucun and gives him fifty taels of silver and two suits for the capital examinations. Jia Yucun leaves without farewell the next day; his failure to repay this kindness foreshadows his later climb through powerful connections.
Related chapters: Ch. 1
Role in this event: Protagonist
A young acolyte at Gourd Temple mishandles lamp oil and starts a fire that spreads to the Zhen home, destroying their property. Zhen Shiyin and his wife take refuge with her father Feng Su but are coldly used; the family's ruin foreshadows "suddenly the great hall collapses."
Related chapters: Ch. 1
Role in this event: Protagonist
Broken by poverty and illness, Zhen Shiyin hears the lame Taoist sing "The Song of 'All Is Well'" in the street, grasps that wealth and rank are empty, adds his commentary, and follows the Taoist away—the emblem of "true matters hidden" that titles the novel.
Related chapters: Ch. 1
Role in this event: Protagonist
In a nap Zhen Shiyin is led by a monk and a Taoist to the Land of Illusion; he sees the main and supplementary registers of the Twelve Beauties of Jinling and hears the twelve songs of the "Dream of Red Mansions." The karma of wood and stone is revealed here—a symbolic prologue to the novel's themes.
Related chapters: Ch. 1
暂无出场记录。
Nearby characters in the same family, ordered alphabetically—not by narrative importance.