In this episode, we cover the entirety of chapter 2 of Hong lou meng 紅樓夢. We discuss Jia Yucun's twists of fate and his visiting a dilapidated (Lynchian?) monastery. Upon his meeting an old friend, the compelling histories of and rumors surrounding the two main branches of the Jia clan (i.e., the Rong and the Ning clans) are introduced. We are first introduced to our protagonist Jia Baoyu and become acquainted with his childhood theory of girls' being made of water and boys' being made of mud. Jia Yucun presents his own unique psychological/ metaphysical theory of the "three types of people," all the while engaging in one of the most epic namedropping exercises in all of global literature.