Chapter 54:
Lady Jia ridicules the cliches of romantic fiction; And Wang Xi-feng emulates the filifal antics of Lao Lia-zi

Chapter 55:
A foolish concubine seeks to humiliate her own daughter; And an ill-natured stewardess tries to outwit her young mistress

Chapter 56:
Resourceful Tan-chun abolilshes abuses in the interests of econoomy; And sapient Bao-chai shows how small consessions can be made without loss of dignity

Chapter 57:
Nightengale tests Jade Boy with a startling message; And Aunt Xue comforts Frowner with words of loving kindness

Chapter 58:
In which the cock-bird who mourns his mate is found to be a hen; And a true heart is able to sympathize with a strange kind of love

Chapter 59:
By Willow Walk the conververs of property resort to violence and abuse; And at Green Delights the defenders of law and order invoke a higher authority

Chapter 60:
As a substiture for rose-orris Jia Huan is given jasmine face-powder; And in return for rose essence Cook Liu is given lycoperdon snow

Chapter 61:
Bao-yu owns up to a crime he did not commit; And Patience bends authority in order that the innocent may be spared

Chapter 62:
A tipsy Xiang-yun sleeps on a peony-petal pillow; And a grateful Caltrop unfastens her pomegranate skirt

Chapter 63:
Flower-maidens combine for nocturnal birthday revels; And a grass widow copes with funeral arrangments single-handed

Chapter 64:
Five fair women make subjects for a chaste maid's verse; And nine jade dragons make a love-gift for a flirt

Chapter 65:
Jia Lian's second marriage is celebrated in secret; And the future marriage of San-jie becomes a matter of speculation

Chapter 66:
Shame drives a warm-hearted young woman to take her life; And shock leads a cold-hearted young gentleman to renounce the world

Chapter 67:
Frowner sees something that makes her homesick; And Xi-feng hears something that rouses her suspicions

Chapter 68:
Er-jie takes up residence in Prospect Garden; And Xi-feng makes a disturbance in Ning-guo House

Chapter 69:
A scheming woman kills with a borrowed knife; And one who has ceased to hope swallows gold and dies

Chapter 70:
Lin Dai-yu resuscitates the Poetry Club; And Shi Xiang-yun tries her hand at a song lyric

Chapter 71:
Lady Xing deliberately humiliates her daughter-in-law; And Faithful inadvertently iterrupts a pair of love-birds

Chapter 72:
Wang Xi-fen refuses to see a doctor; And Brightie's wife seeks help with a betrothal

Chapter 73:
A half-witted servant girl picks up a highly embarrassing object; And an easy-going young mistress refuses to inquire into a theft

Chapter 74:
Lady Wang authorizes a raid on Prospect Garden; And Jia Xi-chun breaks off relations with Ning-guo House

Chapter 75:
Midnight revellers are startled by a sound of evil omen; And Mid-Autumn moon-watchers listen to quantrains of unequal merit

Chapter 76:
Flute-playing at Convex Pavillion provokes too much melancholy; And linked verses at Concave Pavilion betray a morbid sensitivity

Chapter 77:
A wronged maid takes a loving last leave of her master; And three young actresses seek to escape matrimony in the cloister

Chapter 78:
Jia Zheng commissions the Ballad of the Winsome Colonel; And Bao-yu composes an Invocation to the Hibiscus Spirit

Chapter 79:
Xue Pan finds to his sorrow that he is married to a termagant; And Ying-chun's parents betroth her to a Zhong-shan wolf

Chapter 80:
Unfortunate Caltrop is battered by a philandering husband; And One Plaster Wang presribes for an insufferavle wife

Appendix I: Sandal, Musk, and Skybright
Appendix II: Suncloud, Sunset and Moonrise
Appendix III: You San-jie, Liu Xiang-lian and Jia Lian's Journeys
Appendix IV: Old Mrs. You and the Zhangs
Appendix V: Fivey, Bao Er and The Mattress
Appendix VI: Euergesia and the Little Actresses

Characters in Volume 3
Genealogical Tables