Xiaojixiang'r
Xiaojixiang'r 小吉祥儿 — Pequeña Fortuna. La otra criada de la tía Zhao.
小吉祥儿
“Little Luck”
Her Story
Aunt Zhao’s other maid. The novel names her once, over a borrowed mourning dress: when the household must go into mourning she owns nothing suitable, so a set is borrowed on her behalf. That is her entire record — a girl who becomes visible only through a garment that is not hers, and only because somebody else had to lend it. Her name means “little Luck.”
In Xiang Li's Hands
She leans over a young deer folded on the ground, blue robe over pink and scarlet, both hands raised with fine threads between the fingers. A spray of yellow autumn flowers below. Nothing in the novel accounts for the deer; it is a standard emblem of good fortune, and her name is Luck.
The Calligraphy
The sheet is inscribed 小吉儿, not the full 小吉祥儿 — the name clipped mid-word to the two syllables a household would actually shout.
Connections
- Zhao Yiniang 赵姨娘 — her mistress, Jia Zheng’s concubine.
- Xiaoque 小鹊 — the other little maid of the same rooms.
Others of the same kind · maid – Yingchun, Tanchun, Xichun, Li Wan, Xiangyun Siqi 司棋 · Xiuju 绣橘 · Lianhua'r 莲花儿 · Shishu 侍书 · Cuimo 翠墨 · Xiaochan 小蝉 · Ruhua 入画 · Caiping 彩屏 · Cai'er 彩儿 · Suyun 素云 · Biyue 碧月 · Cuilü 翠缕 · Baoqin 抱琴 · Xiaoque 小鹊 and 5 more
Named on these pages Xiaoque 小鹊
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
