Qin Xian jia de
秦显家的
“One Day in the Kitchen”
Her Story
Siqi’s aunt by marriage. In Chapter 61, when Mrs Liu the Garden cook is accused of theft and put out of her post, Qin Xian’s wife is given the kitchen. She moves in at once and lays out her own money on gifts and food to mark the appointment. Within the day Ping’er judges the case, Mrs Liu is cleared and reinstated, and Qin Xian’s wife is turned out again with nothing to show for it.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Bent deep from the waist, grinning, painted almost wholly in wet grey-black ink with one yellow sash trailing. She steps through a moon gate — a huge white circle, its border patterned, opening onto blank paper. A woman on a threshold, caught just before she is sent back.
The Calligraphy
秦显家的 stands in the top right corner: a husband’s name and 家的, the standard roster form, with nothing added for the day she held a post.
Connections
- Siqi 司棋 — her niece by marriage, Yingchun’s maid.
- Mrs Liu 柳家的 — the cook she replaced and was replaced by.
- Ping’er 平儿 — whose judgment in Chapter 61 ended her appointment.
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 · Bao Er jia de 鲍二家的 · Liu jia de 柳家的 · Shan Daniang 单大娘 · Jin Wenxiang xifu 金文翔媳妇 and 10 more
Named on these pages Liu jia de 柳家的
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
