Ni Er

His Story

A neighbourhood bravo who lends money at interest, drinks, gambles and fights, and is known as 醉金刚, the Drunken Diamond. In Chapter 24 Jia Yun, walking home after his uncle has refused him credit, is knocked into by Ni Er coming back drunk. Ni Er hears the story out and hands over fifteen taels and change on the spot — no interest, no note, no witness. The one act of open generosity in the book comes from a moneylender in the street, not from the family inside the gate.

In Xiang Li's Hands

Bald, bearded, grinning wide, robes sliding off one shoulder, a yellow wine gourd slung behind him on a stick. Grey ink swings out into red-lined skirts. One arm shoots forward with something pale green in the fist — the money, going out before it is asked for.

The Calligraphy

倪二 alone, surname plus a birth-order number rather than a name: how a street knows a man.

Connections

• Jia Yun 贾芸 — his neighbour, whom he bankrolls out of pure impulse.
• Bu Shiren 卜世仁 — Jia Yun’s uncle, who refused him an hour earlier; the painting’s opposite.

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 · Bu Shiren 卜世仁 · Yinjie 银姐 · Fang Chun 方椿 · Shi Daizi 石呆子 · Yun'er 云儿 · Wu Liang 吴良 and 4 more

Named on these pages Jia Yun 贾芸 · Bu Shiren 卜世仁 · Ma Fanzi 马贩子

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