Lin Daiyu

[1] She is portrayed as a well-educated, intelligent, witty and beautiful young woman of physical frailness who is somewhat prone to occasional melancholy.

Born to a Suzhou scholar-official, Lin Ruhai, and Lady Jia Min of the Rongguo house, Daiyu was raised by her parents in her family's mansion in nearby Yangzhou, where she received an excellent education.

Having a naturally weak constitution she has been taking medicine and tonic from a very young age, and this resulted in her somewhat willowy build and ethereal beauty.

Overcome by a spell of melancholy after a misunderstanding with Baoyu, Daiyu goes to the garden to bury fallen petals at a hillside, wrapping them in silk to keep them pure, and falls in deep weeping at their (and her own) transience.

In exchange for this gift, the flower vowed to be reincarnated as a human, and pay back her caregiver in the form of as many tears as a person may weep in a lifetime.

Even their physical attributes are opposites: Daiyu is slender and willowy while Baochai is likened to Yang Guifei for her fuller build.

Nonetheless, Baochai lacks an emotional bond with Baoyu and is reflected in the book as a model wife and an excellent "manager" of the family.