Caiyun
彩云
“The Rose Essence”
Her Story
A maid in Lady Wang’s apartments who takes rose essence 玫瑰露 from her mistress’s store and gives it to Jia Huan. When the theft surfaces in Chapter 61 the household starts pulling itself apart over it, Baoyu takes the blame onto himself rather than let that happen, and Pinger settles the matter without a verdict. The early chapters use her name and Caixia’s almost interchangeably, and editions differ over which of the two is at Jia Huan’s elbow in a given scene.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Two sheets that share nothing. The first stands her in a storm of splashed ink, a white dove on her open palm, one arm thrown behind her head, laughing. The second wraps her in a hooded red cape with a furled umbrella under her arm — a girl from another century.
The Calligraphy
Both sheets carry the same two characters, 彩云, the given name alone, which is the whole of what a maid in these rooms is ever called.
Connections
- Lady Wang 王夫人 — her mistress, and the owner of the rose essence.
- Jia Huan 贾环 — the young master she takes it for.
- Caixia 彩霞 — the other 彩 maid of the same rooms, whose name the text repeatedly confuses with hers.
Others of the same kind · maid – Wang Xifeng and Lady Wang Ping'er 平儿 · Feng'er 丰儿 · Shanjie 善姐 · Caiming 彩明 · Jinchuan 金钏 · Yuchuan 玉钏 · Caixia 彩霞 · Xiaoxia 小霞
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
