The Prototype of Some Characters in Dream of the Red Chamber

First of all, I found some information on the Internet that Cao Xueqin's grandfather was in charge of Jiangning Weaving, and the other Li family, who was also in charge of Jiangning Weaving, was a very close relative of the Cao family. I wonder if the majority of scholars admit this?
Secondly, I previously asked about Qin Keqing's funeral in the Knowledge section and said that it was really grand and did not fit the description of what she had brought from the orphanage. Therefore, some parts of 'Dream of the Red Chamber' had been altered by the author, but it was not thorough and left clues behind. I saw three names in one reply-Li Xiangyu, Zhu Xiangyu, and Liu Huilan.
According to the information I found, Li Xiangyu is the prototype of Lin Daiyu. The specific reasons are: 1. Her experience is detailed with Lin Daiyu. Li Xiangyu is the daughter of Li Xu's son, Li Ding. When she was about the same age as Lin Daiyu, her parents died, so she was brought to the Cao family, which was very close to her family. Therefore, Li Xiangyu and Cao Xueqin's relationship was very close. Later, Li Xu and Cao's family were both confiscated. Li Xiangyu and Cao's family moved to Beijing together and later died of depression. 2. Once in Dream of the Red Chamber, Jia Baoyu told a story to Lin Daiyu. It was about a group of mice stealing fragrant yams. One of the mice said that he could turn into a fragrant yam in the pile of fragrant yams to make it easier to steal. Unexpectedly, it turned into a beautiful woman. The mice said that they had changed wrongly. The mouse said,"I said that you have not seen the world. You only know that this fruit is fragrant yam, but you don't know that Master Lin's daughter is the real fragrant jade." The Master Lin here was Lin Ruhai, so it was obvious that Lin Daiyu was Li Xiangyu.
However, I read some posts that Li Xiangyu was divorced in the end, not that she died of depression. Moreover, Zhu Xiangyu can also be called Xiangyu. She was a small actress who was bought when she was young. Later, she became Cao Xueqin's study companion and was forced to enter the palace. Therefore, Cao Xueqin could only marry Li Xiangyu and take Liu Huilan as a concubine. After Yongzheng's death, Qianlong took the throne and demoted this fragrant jade to a commoner. After she came back, she had a relationship with Cao Xueqin and gave birth to a child under Li Xiangyu's urging. She did not know why she hanged herself after that.
After saying so much, it was nothing more than a few questions:
1. What was the life of these two Xiangyu? Could it be that the scholars didn't figure it out? Also, he heard that Liu Huilan was the prototype of Hua Xiren? Was it true?
2. There were many posts that said that many women in this novel had Li Xiangyu's shadow, so they were all Li Xiangyu's clones, such as Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai. Was it true?
Thank you so much!

Answer 1

There were many characters in Dream of the Red Chamber who had their own archetypes. The following are some of the main characters:

1. Jia Baoyu: The prototype is Cao Boju, a relative of Cao Xueqin, a writer of the Qing Dynasty.
2. Lin Daiyu: The prototype is Cao Xueqin's cousin Lin Daiyu from the Jia family.
3. Xue Baochai: The original was Cao Xueqin's cousin Xue Baochai from the Xue family.
4. Shi Xiangyun: The prototype is Cao Xueqin's distant cousin Shi Xiangyun from the historian.
5. Wang Xifeng: The prototype is Cao Xueqin's cousin, Wang Xifeng, from the Jia family.
6. Jia Yuanchun: The original owner of the Yuanchun Family Villa, the granddaughter of Cao Xueqin's great-grandmother, Jia Daishan.
Li Wan: The original was Cao Xueqin's cousin, Li Wan, the second wife of the Jia family.
Qin Keqing: The original was Cao Xueqin's cousin, Qin Keqing, the wife of the Jia family.
Third Sister You: The original was Cao Xueqin's cousin, Third Sister You, the third wife of the Jia family.

These were just a few of them. There were many other characters who had their original forms.