Bao Er
鲍二
“The Husband Nobody Asked”
His Story
A servant of the Rong house whose wife is Jia Lian’s mistress. In Chapter 44, during Wang Xifeng’s own birthday party, Xifeng walks in on the two of them and hears them talking about her. She beats her maid, beats the woman, and the affair ends with Bao Er’s wife hanging herself. Bao Er is paid off. He is the man to whom the whole episode happens, and he is never asked what he thinks of it.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Crouched, half-turned, glaring up: black cap, blue collar under grey robes, one hand raised with a finger cocked mid-argument. The photograph catches faint ghost characters bleeding through the paper down the left side — 水月庵, 荣国府 — text from another sheet showing through this one.
The Calligraphy
The inscription at the top right gives surname and number only, 鲍二, Bao the Second, the way a household refers to a man it has not bothered to name further.
Connections
- Bao Er’s wife 鲍二家的 — his wife, Jia Lian’s mistress, who hangs herself after the quarrel.
- Jia Lian 贾琏 — his master and his wife’s lover.
- Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 — the mistress whose birthday the affair is discovered on.
Others of the same kind · steward / manager Lai Da 赖大 · Lai Er 赖二 · Lai Sheng 赖升 · Lai Shangrong 赖尚荣 · Lai Mama 赖嬷嬷 · Lin Zhixiao 林之孝 · Zhou Rui 周瑞 · Dai Liang 戴良 · Yu Lu 俞禄 · Wang Xin 王信 · Laiwang 来旺 · Jin Cai 金彩 · Jin Wenxiang 金文翔 · Jiao Da 焦大 and 8 more
Named on these pages Bao Er jia de 鲍二家的
Dream of the Red Chamber
Xiang Li painted all 413 characters of the novel between 1975 and 1985, the first person to complete the entire cast. See the whole collection · Chinese Empresses
