Learning:
The Journey of a Lifetime
A Cloud Chamber of the Mind

2006 Literature Notebook

Bao-yu. [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21] The Stone.

Lin Dai-yu. [2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21] Young daughter of Lin Ru-hai. She received tutoring from Jai Yu-cun but now she is being brought up by the Jias of Rong-guo mansion.

Shi Xiang-yun. [20, 21] orphaned great-niece of Grandmother Jia.

Xue Bao-chai. [4, 5, 7, 8, 19, 20, 21] Xue Pan's sister.

Aroma. [3, 6, 8, 9, 19, 20, 21] A personal maid for Bao-yu.

Musk. [20, 21] One of Bao-yu's maids.

Patience. [6, 7, 11, 20, 21] A maid, and principal confidant, of Mrs. Lian.[Wang Xi-feng]

Wang Xi-feng ("Peppercorn" Feng) (Mrs. Lian): [3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21] Wife of Jia Lian, a beautiful young woman (about 18 - 19 years old), who is responsible for much of the management of the Rong-guo mansion.

Jia-Lian. [7, 12, 16, 21] Son of Jia She and Jia Zheng; husband of Wang Xi-feng.

"Mattress". [21] A staff member who becomes Jia Lian's mistress.

Bao-yu, Dai-yu & Xiang-yun spend some time together in the morning.

Bao-chai has an opportunity to get to know Aroma better.

Aroma and Bao-yu have an argument. Musk & Patience try to act as mediators. The disagreement is a simple one and after a couple of days is forgotten.

Xi-feng's baby daughter becomes ill with smallpox and Jia Lian is required to sleep in a separate room from his wife until the illness has passed. He quickly has an affair with one of the staff, "the Mattress', so named because of her promiscuity.

Patience discovers about the affair when she finds one of Mattress's hair tresses in Jia Lian's bed.