Who was the guy to have bought it？

 9401 Who was the guy to have bought it   20221031

Who was the guy to have bought the first hand-written copy of the Dream of the Red Chamber? 

When I have found that the Chinese in Mainland or Taiwan or Hong Kong do not have interest on the book, I cannot help to remember the selling story of that book. 

It was said that the cost was a huge amount of 40 to 50 gold coins for the first hand-written copy.  And that must be the total annual income of a really rich person. 

It was sold in the temple bazaar which was an annual event for important festivals.

 

When the guy spotted the hand-written copy in the bazaar; he must have been standing there for a very long time to read.

How could he be willing to pay in such a huge cost? What was in his mind when he paid? 

He must be completely shocked by the inner feelings.

What is the reason that could make people do such a decision?

There might be two possibilities.

One is the extreme beauty in that book. That kind of shock can make one crazy and do things other clear-minded persons will not do in their life time.

 

The other might be a second thought that he can bring the book home as an investment. And the investment is simply to make another copy to re-sell it in the next bazaar.

This second thought needed to be supported by the first thought that the book must have a hugh value. This thought of value have its own effort to help the guy to make up his mind.

What is the extreme beauty, then?

Not everyone can reach that height. And not everyone could dare to invest in that amount of  money, I suppose.   

...

and the interest-lost was due to a double locking of the book. There is an open yet not realized  secret about it.