Feng Yuan
冯渊
“Meeting Injustice”
His Story
A young gentleman of Jinling, orphaned and comfortably off. In Chapter 4 he buys a girl from a kidnapper, is taken enough with her to swear off his old habits and set a wedding day — and then learns the kidnapper has sold her twice. The second buyer is Xue Pan, whose men beat him to death. The girl is Yinglian, Zhen Shiyin’s stolen daughter, later called Xiangling. Jia Yucun tries the case and buries it. His name is the joke the novel makes of him: 冯渊 for 逢冤, meeting injustice.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Grey-brown robes with gold cloud roundels, a red sash flung across the paper, hair loose and falling forward over the shoulder. He crouches half-turned, brows down, right fist closed. She paints neither the bridegroom nor the corpse but the three seconds between.
The Calligraphy
冯渊 in full, surname and personal name, so that the pun that kills him is legible on the sheet.
Connections
- Xiangling 香菱 — the girl he bought and meant to marry, sold twice over.
- Xue Pan 薛蟠 — the second buyer, whose servants beat him to death.
- Jia Yucun 贾雨村 — the magistrate who knows the truth and rules the other way.
Others of the same kind · outsider – townsfolk, tenants, tradespeople Liu Xianglian 柳湘莲 · Jiang Yuhan 蒋玉菡 · Liu Laolao 刘姥姥 · Wang Gou'er 王狗儿 · Liu Shi 刘氏 · Ban'er 板儿 · Qing'er 青儿 · Ni Er 倪二 · Bu Shiren 卜世仁 · Yinjie 银姐 · Fang Chun 方椿 · Shi Daizi 石呆子 · Yun'er 云儿 · Wu Liang 吴良 and 4 more
Named on these pages Guai Zi 拐子
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
