Yinjie
银姐
“The Errand Staged for a Guest”
Her Story
Daughter of the spice-seller Bu Shiren. She appears in Chapter 24 for the length of one errand: while Jia Yun sits asking his uncle for credit, her mother sends her next door to borrow a few coppers, loudly, so that the nephew will understand there is nothing in the house to lend him. She is a prop in her parents’ performance. The novel does not follow her out of the room.
In Xiang Li's Hands
Two figures on one sheet. The mother stands tall in grey and blue, eyes lowered, one hand up at her chin, calculating. The child in a red jacket and turquoise trousers looks up at her and reaches for her hand. The order is being given, and the girl has not understood it yet.
The Calligraphy
The inscription reads 卜世仁娘子·银姐, naming the wife only as her husband’s woman and the daughter by name — the child gets more of a self than the mother does.
Connections
- Bu Shiren 卜世仁 — her father, refusing credit in the next breath.
- Jia Yun 贾芸 — the cousin whose visit the errand is staged for.
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 · Feng Yuan 冯渊 · Ni Er 倪二 · Bu Shiren 卜世仁 · Fang Chun 方椿 · Shi Daizi 石呆子 · Yun'er 云儿 · Wu Liang 吴良 and 4 more
Named on these pages Bu Shiren 卜世仁
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
