Huixiang
蕙香
“Renamed Number Four”
Her Story
In Chapter 21, sulking after a quarrel, Baoyu asks a little maid her name. 蕙香, she says. Who gave you that? Xiren. Which of your sisters are you? The fourth. Then you are 四儿 — Number Four — he tells her, and no more of this 蕙香 and 兰气. She keeps the new name for the rest of the book. In Chapter 77, when Wang Furen purges Green Delights, Si’er is thrown out along with Qingwen and Fangguan, reported to have said that she and Baoyu, born on the same day, were meant to be husband and wife.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Green robe scattered with orange-yellow blossoms, blue skirt, brown sash flying loose. She turns her face straight out at us, cheerful, red ornaments at her ear. Behind her the paper is filled corner to corner with pale lotus scrollwork — the most decorated ground of this group.
The Calligraphy
The inscription reads 四儿, not 蕙香 — the master’s nickname rather than the name Xiren gave her, brushed blunt and large at the upper left.
Connections
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — her master, who renamed her Number Four and in whose rooms she was expelled.
- Xiren 袭人 — head maid, who gave her the name 蕙香 that Baoyu discarded.
- Qingwen 晴雯 — fellow maid, driven out of Green Delights in the same Chapter 77 purge.
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 · Bihen 碧痕 · Tanyun 檀云 · Qixian 绮霰 · Qianxue 茜雪 · 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
