"I hate the prickly crucian carp, the tasteless begonia, and the unfinished dream of red mansions" means that there are three great regrets in life, one is that the shad is delicious but has too many fishbones, the other is that the begonia is beautiful but has no fragrance, and the third is that the masterpiece of A Dream of Red Mansions has not been finished.

From Zhang Ailing's Nightmare in the Red Chamber, Zhang Ailing compares and contrasts various versions, examines the possible changes and trends of the author's writing ideas and plots, and even examines the possible story modifications after the 1980s. For example, Jia She and Jia Jing were written to contrast Jia Zheng.