This situation exists. There are records in the works of Qing Dynasty literati who were about the same time as Cao Xueqin: "Every time a good person copies a copy and puts it in the temple market, it is worth dozens of gold."
In fact, it can be understood this way: because "A Dream of Red Mansions" is the pinnacle of Chinese classical novels, it is not an exaggeration to describe it as "unprecedented and unprecedented".
In the era when this novel was first written, social entertainment and cultural life were not as rich as we are today. The only ones were either reciting poems and composing poems, or watching operas and listening to music. The Dream of Red Mansions brings a brand new story, which can provide people with a theme for chatting in daily life and after dinner.
And there are records at that time: After watching Dream of Red Mansions, people who liked Daiyu and people who liked Baochai "turned against each other" to argue about who was better, and even more so because of Baochai in the Didi Cuiting incident. Is there any "several swings of old fists" made by blaming Daiyu? The intensity was no less intense than the arguments and wars of words between fans of popular celebrities of comparable status today.
"A Dream of Red Mansions" involves a wide range of knowledge, including popular literature, opera, poetry and songs, medicine, Buddhism, Taoism, diet, clothing, divination, astronomy and geography, etc., especially the character language, The description of behavior and psychology is so unique that people at that time regarded those who talked about Dream of Red Mansions as the most knowledgeable people.
Therefore, from "It is useless to read all the poems and books without talking about the Dream of Red Mansions", we can understand how much people at that time valued and loved the book "Dream of Red Mansions".
That's why there is a phenomenon that "someone who does good things will copy a copy of it and put it in the temple market, and it will be worth dozens of gold."