Duo Guniang
多姑娘
“The Cook's Wife”
Her Story
Wife of the cook Duo Guan, known through the household as 多姑娘 and elsewhere as 灯姑娘. In Chapter 21, with Xifeng shut up nursing her daughter through smallpox, Jia Lian moves out of their rooms and takes up with her. She returns at the end of the Garden’s life: Qingwen, expelled and dying, is carried to this house because the cook is her cousin, and it is here that Baoyu goes to see her one last time.
In Xiang Li's Hands
The only young face among these serving-women. A green robe slides off one bare shoulder over a red under-dress cut close to the body; the head tilts away, the eyes come back. Behind her, sprays of pink blossom brushed loose across the whole sheet.
The Calligraphy
Set low at the right among the leaves, 多姑娘 gives the household’s nickname and withholds both surname and given name.
Connections
- Duo Guan 多浑虫 — her husband, the cook.
- Jia Lian 贾琏 — who sleeps with her during Xifeng’s illness.
- Qingwen 晴雯 — the cook’s cousin, brought to this house to die.
Others of the same kind · servant's wife / senior serving-woman Zhou Rui jia de 周瑞家的 · Lin Zhixiao jia de 林之孝家的 · Lai Da jia de 赖大家的 · Wang Shanbao jia de 王善保家的 · Wu Xindeng xifu 吴新登媳妇 · Wang'er xifu 旺儿媳妇 · Zhang Cai jia de 张材家的 · Zheng Hua jia de 郑华家的 · Wu Xing jia de 吴兴家的 · Laixi jia de 来喜家的 · Qin Xian jia de 秦显家的 · Bao Er jia de 鲍二家的 · Liu jia de 柳家的 · Shan Daniang 单大娘 and 10 more
Named on these pages Duo Hunchong 多浑虫
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
