Rereading some parts of Canto 4 to refresh myself on plot details, and I can't believe it took me this long to realize that Baoyu's situation was alluding back to the Tearful Thing. Both from the straightforward perspective - two innocent individuals forced to witness an unimaginable amount of suffering with their kindness weaponized to make them feel more pain - but also the second layer of commentary on the narrativization of real people. Dongrang similarly refers back to the events of Canto 3 and other horrifying incidents as if they're nothing but fodder because he's so internally numb to it all. It's a cool thematic connection.