Zhang Yuanwai
Sueño en el pabellón rojo / Un personaje fuera del elenco habitual
张员外
“The Father Who Took the Better Offer”
His Story
A rich man of Chang’an, and the father of Jin’ge. He is the reason two young people die.
His daughter is already betrothed to the son of the former garrison commander of Chang’an. Then Li Yanei — brother-in-law of the local prefect, with money and connections behind him — sends to ask for her. Zhang Yuanwai wants the better match and demands the first engagement be returned. The commander’s family refuses, keeps the betrothal gifts, and threatens to go to law.
So he buys his way out. Three thousand taels reach Wang Xifeng through the abbess Jingxu, at the temple where Xifeng is conducting Qin Keqing’s funeral rites. Xifeng has a letter sent in Jia Lian’s name to the military governor of Chang’an, and the commander is left with no ground to stand on. The engagement is broken.
Jin’ge hangs herself. Her betrothed drowns himself. Xifeng keeps the money, and the novel notes flatly that from this beginning she grew steadily bolder in such affairs.
It is the first time we see Xifeng sell her family’s influence outright, and the episode is usually read as hers. But Xifeng is the instrument. The man who decided a daughter was worth trading for a better connection is her father, and he survives the story.
In Xiang Li's Hands
An old man in a scholar’s cap and a heavy grey-mauve robe, leaning back with his hands drawn up into his sleeves and his shoulders raised. The face is doing the work: eyes creased almost shut, mouth pulled into a thin, pleased, sidelong smile. A wide embroidered apron hangs at the front and a sash floats out behind him. He is not painted as a villain — he is painted as a man who is very pleased with a deal, which is worse.
The Calligraphy
张员外 — the surname plus 员外, the standard style for a wealthy country gentleman of no official rank. It is what the neighbours would call him, and it is all the novel gives him: a title of means where a personal name would go.
Connections
- Jin’ge 金哥 — his daughter, who hangs herself when he breaks her engagement.
- Garrison Commander Zhao 赵守备 — father of her betrothed, and the man he forces to give the gifts back.
- Young Master Zhao 赵公子 — the betrothed himself, who drowns himself when he hears.
- Li Yanei 李衙内 — the richer suitor whose offer he takes.
- Wang Xifeng 王熙凤 — takes his three thousand taels and applies the pressure.
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
