Li Gui
李贵
“The Deer and the Duckweed”
His Story
Son of Li Nanny, Baoyu’s wet-nurse, which makes him Baoyu’s foster-brother and the senior man of his escort. In Chapter 9 he takes Baoyu to the clan school and is stopped at the gate by Jia Zheng, who wants to know what the boy has been reading. Li Gui drops to both knees, pulls off his cap, and reports that Baoyu has got as far as the third volume of the Book of Songs — “yo-yo cry the deer, lotus leaves and duckweed.” Jia Zheng laughs at the mangled line, then turns the scolding on him.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Mid-stride in profile, one hand raised open as though mid-sentence — the only man of the escort she paints talking rather than carrying. Dark grey robe over green, heavy black boots, a flash of red lining at the hem. Behind him a stone lion, outlined and left almost uncoloured.
The Calligraphy
李贵 at the upper left with 甲子年 beneath it — surname and given name in full, the address a grown retainer gets rather than the bare working names the study boys receive.
Connections
- Li Nanny 李嬷嬷 — his mother, Baoyu’s wet-nurse.
- Jia Baoyu 贾宝玉 — his foster-brother and his charge.
- Jia Zheng 贾政 — stops him at the school gate in Chapter 9 and makes him kneel.
Others of the same kind · page / boy servant Mingyan 茗烟 · Chuyao 锄药 · Saohong 扫红 · Saohua 扫花 · Moyu 墨雨 · Yinquan 引泉 · Tiaoyun 挑云 · Banhe 伴鹤 · Shuangrui 双瑞 · Shuangshou 双寿 · Wang Rong 王荣 · Zhang Ruojin 张若锦 · Zhao Yihua 赵亦华 · Qian Qi 钱启 and 5 more
Named on these pages Wang Rong 王荣 · Zhang Ruojin 张若锦 · Zhao Yihua 赵亦华 · Qian Qi 钱启 · Li Mama 李嬷嬷
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
