I meant to summarize the third volume of Dream of the Red Chamber last week after I read it, but I got distracted and never got around to it.
Before I summarize volume 3, I want to explain some stories about Xue Pan because I skipped over him in my previous posts. He is introduced into the story as the culprit of a murder case. Pan and some other guy were trying to purchase some kidnapped girl. The kidnapper took payment from both of the men, so they ended up in a fight over who would get to have the girl, and Pan had his people kill that other man. Since Pan was related to the Jias (his mother is Lady Wang's sister) and the government official handling the case got his job thanks to help from the Jias, the case was settled without Pan getting into any real trouble. The kidnapped girl becomes his concubine, and she is named Xianling/Caltrop.
Another notable story about involving Pan happens at some party. There's an actor present named Liu Xianglian. Pan mistakenly thinks Xianglian is gay and tries hitting on him. Xianglian doesn't like Pan but pretends that he's interested in him, telling him that they should leave the party and meet somewhere privately. Pan agrees, but when they meet at the agreed location, Xianglian beats up Pan and flees to avoid any consequences. Pan recovers from the beating just fine, but he's a bit embarrassed to be out around the household after this, so he decides to go on a trip with a family friend.
Now for the events of Volume 3, Xifeng gets sick, and since she's the one in charge of managing the servants, others have to take over her work instead. Baoyu's half-sister, Tanchun ends up taking most of the workload, and Baochai helps out as well. The family is also making changes to save money, because their expenses are currently greater than their income.
There's a member of the family named Jia Jing (he's Xichun's father). He hasn't been relevant so far since he didn't live at the mansion with everyone else. He instead was always at a temple doing Taoist stuff to try and become immortal or something. Apparently he tried drinking something hoping it could grant him immortality, but it poisoned him and he died. The Jias hold a massive funeral for him, that they can only afford by borrowing money.
While all this is happening, Jing's daughter-in-law Youshi has her stepmom and stepsister move in temporarily to help out. Xifeng's husband, Lian, falls for one of Youshi's stepsisters, Erjie. Lian wants to marry Erjie, but he knows Xifeng would be jealous and never allow it. He ends up having an extra house built for Erjie and her family and then secretly marrying her there without telling his wife.
Erjie's sister, Sanjie, is also unmarried, but she refuses to be married off to just anyone. She insists that she'll only marry a man she loves, and actor named Liu Xianglian. Lian remembers that's the same actor that beat Xue Pan that one time, and he goes to look for him. He finds Pan and Xianglian traveling together, and their way back to the Jia household. Apparently, Pan and his group were attacked and robbed, but Xianglian saved them and all their property. After that, they become best friends, treating each other like brothers. Xianglian initially agress to marry Sanjie, but later has second thoughts. Sanjie overhears Xianglian telling Lian that he doesn't want to go through with the marriage, and she runs out and kills herself in front of both of them. Xianglian regrets not marrying her and mourns her death. He ends up becoming a Taoist and running off with some monk right afterwards.
Xifeng eventually finds out her husband has a second wife, and she's furious. While Lian is out of town, she visits Erjie and pretends that she's actually fine with the marriage, and invites her to come live on the Jia property. Lian returns to find Erjie moved in and Xifeng seemingly okay with everything. He's also gifted a new concubine by his father. Xifeng allows the servants to treat Erjie poorly, and manipulates the newest concubine into disliking her. At the same time, Lian is spending less time with Erjie since he has another new concubine, and Erjie becomes ill from the bullying and stress. Eventually she also has miscarriage and, realizing that she is only getting more and more ill without any chance of getting better with all the continued bullying from Xifeng, she kills herself by swallowing some gold.
Some of the women of the household decide that they need to reduce the amount of servants working for the family to save some more money, so they decide to let go some servants. Various servants are dismissed, one of which had been working for Baoyu since he was little. She's sick when she's dismissed, and being forced to go home to her neglectful family only makes her condition worse. She dies shortly after being sent home, and Baoyu gets sick right afterwards.
Meanwhile, Xue Pan is matched with a woman named Xia Jingui. She turns out to be a bitch and manipulates Pan into disliking Caltrop. It gets to the point where Caltrop has to move in with Baochai. Jingui regularly gets into bad arguments with other women in the household, and everyone has no choice but to put up with her.
There's also a marriage between Baoyu's cousin, Yingchun, with some guy whose name I forgot and isn't important. Yingchun moves in with her husband when they get married, but she returns to her family for a brief visit. It turns out her husband treats her horribly, and she cries about how miserable her life is with him. Ultimately, she has no choice but to return back to her new home once the visit is over, so she reluctantly returns to her husband once the visit is over.
That's basically the end of the book sort of. The rest of the novel is written by a different author. Although the story wasn't finished, it's clear that certain events like Baoyu and Baochai getting married, and Daiyu dying, were going to happen later on in the story. I think it's really sad that Daiyu is destined to die tragically. I hope Limbus Daiyu has a better ending somehow.