Zhen Er Xiao Jie
甄二小姐
“The Better of the Two”
Her Story
The second daughter of the Zhen house of Jinling. She never comes on stage. She is talked about once, in Chapter 56, when four Zhen stewardesses arrive with gifts and say their mistress came up to the capital with the third young lady only.
Grandmother Jia remarks that the households of their First and Second Young Ladies are both on good terms with hers, then adds the one thing anybody ever says about this woman: the Second is the better of them, less taken with her own consequence, and that is why the two families are close. Married, well thought of, unnamed.
In Xiang Li's Hands
In a lilac robe over a peach under-gown and pale green skirt, hair loose to the hem, she holds a shaggy black dog up level with her face; something red is in its jaws. Bare paper behind. For a woman the novel keeps offstage, she gets the least ceremonial subject here: a pet held up and talked to.
The Calligraphy
甄二小姐 — surname, birth order, 小姐: house, rank and courtesy, brushed low on the left, with the place where a name would go left empty because the text leaves it empty.
Connections
- Grandmother Jia 贾母 — the only person in the novel who speaks of her, and who calls her the better sister.
- Zhen Furen 甄夫人 — her mother, who came up to the capital without her.
- Zhen Da Xiaojie 甄大小姐 — her elder sister, named in the same sentence and not praised.
- Zhen San Xiaojie 甄三小姐 — her younger sister, the one who made the journey.
- Zhen Baoyu 甄宝玉 — her brother, left at home with the old lady.
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
