Bihen
碧痕
“The Two-Hour Bath”
Her Story
Bihen is a second-rank maid at Green Delights 怡红院 — above the little girls, below Xiren and Qingwen. The novel gives her no scene of her own. What it gives her is a piece of gossip. In Chapter 31 Qingwen, sharpening her tongue on Baoyu, recalls the day Bihen was sent in to bathe him: the two of them were shut in for two or three hours, and when the others finally looked, water stood over the legs of the bed. Qingwen says it and the book moves on.
In Xiang Li's Hands
She carries a wide shallow basin under one arm, gold-washed and tipped toward us — the bathing tub, made the whole subject of the sheet. Black robe, apricot sash trailing to the floor, face turned aside. No water, no room, no Baoyu. The vessel alone.
The Calligraphy
碧痕, upper left, the two characters of the given name and nothing else, set well clear of the figure on the empty side of the paper.
Connections
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — her master at Green Delights, whom she was sent to bathe.
- Qingwen 晴雯 — fellow maid, whose jibe in Chapter 31 is the only reason the incident is on the page.
- Xiren 袭人 — head maid of the same room, above her in rank.
Others of the same kind · maid – Baoyu (Green Delights / 怡紅院) Qingwen 晴雯 · Xiren 袭人 · Sheyue 麝月 · Xiaohong 小红 · Qiuwen 秋纹 · Tanyun 檀云 · Qixian 绮霰 · Qianxue 茜雪 · Huixiang 蕙香 · Jiahui 佳蕙 · Zhui'er 坠儿 · Liang'er 良儿 · Chunyan 春燕 · Liu Wu'er 柳五儿 and 1 more
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
