What is the rose dew in A Dream of Red Mansions?
Rose, as an edible medicine, was officially listed in Food Materia Medica. People often use roses and sugar to make boiled water clothes, which are sweet and delicious, and can promote qi and blood circulation; Soaking wine with roses can relax muscles and promote blood circulation, which can cure joint pain. Since ancient times, roses have been made into rose dew by distillation, which has a fragrant smell and remarkable curative effect. "Compendium of Materia Medica" said: "Roses are fragrant and tasteless, which can calm the liver with blood, nourish the stomach, broaden the chest and dissipate depression." "Jin's Plaster" also said: "Specially treat liver qi and stomach qi, and have an immediate effect." Even A Dream of Red Mansions says that Jia Baoyu took rose dew because of illness, and that patients with high fever can get a good effect of "refreshing their hearts and cooling their heads" by taking rose dew with cold water.