This episode is from the classic novel A Dream of Red Mansions. While the Jia family was preparing for Jia Zheng's birthday, he was suddenly summoned to the imperial court, causing great anxiety. After a long wait, the butler returned with astonishing news: Jia Yuanchun, Jia Zheng's eldest daughter, had been elevated to the highest rank of Imperial Consort. Furthermore, the Emperor had granted her permission to visit her family during the upcoming Lantern Festival. Relieved and overjoyed, the family embarked on frantic preparations, constructing a magnificent garden to welcome her.
On the Lantern Festival, the family matriarch, Grandmother Jia, led the entire clan to await Yuanchun at the garden's entrance. She arrived in a grand procession, carried in a phoenix-embroidered sedan chair adorned with tiny gold bells by eight bearers, accompanied by a swarm of imperial maids. She was given a tour of the lavishly decorated garden, featuring painted pavilions, bamboo groves, strange rocks, silk flowers on trees, and seashell lanterns by a pond. The opulence was so overwhelming that even Yuanchun found it excessively luxurious.
After being seated, Yuanchun was formally received by her grandmother and mother, Lady Wang. They faced each other in tearful silence until Yuanchun spoke: "It was not easy for me to return from that place where I see no family. Yet now that I am here, you only weep and say nothing. I might as well return to the palace. Who knows when I may come home again?" Her words only renewed their shared sorrow.
A banquet followed, during which Yuanchun invited her sisters and Bao Yu to compose poems and bestowed gifts upon the family. As her departure neared, she held her grandmother's hands and urged the family not to squander money on such extravagance for any future visit. With that, the Imperial Consort turned away mournfully and left.