岫烟之母

Her Story

Wife of Xing Zhong, and Lady Xing’s sister-in-law. Chapter 49: she comes up to the capital with her husband and their daughter Xing Xiuyan, to live off Lady Xing, who must find them a house and pay their way. Xiuyan is kept in the Garden, and out of her two taels a month one is sent back out to her parents.

Chapter 57: Xue Yima settles on Xiuyan for Xue Ke, Lady Xing is pressed into standing as go-between, and word is sent to Xing Zhong and his wife, who agree on the spot — 极口的说妙极. Baochai’s private verdict on the pair is the coldest line said of any parents in the book: soaked through with wine-lees, and indifferent where their daughter is concerned.

In Xiang Li's Hands

Seated on garden rock in a plain grey robe with black trim, white beneath, a red-brown browband with a green stone, jade drops at the ears. A round painted fan rests low in her lap and a long red tassel falls across the skirt. Her mouth is open — she is talking. The palette is the poor relation’s; the fan and the browband are the show she keeps up.

The Calligraphy

岫烟之母 — the daughter’s given name alone, then 之母: she is named through the one member of the family the novel thinks well of.

Connections

• Xing Xiuyan 邢岫烟 — her daughter, who sends half her allowance home.
• Xing Zhong 邢忠 — her husband, judged with her in the same sentence.
• Xing Furen 邢夫人 — her sister-in-law, who houses them and arranges the marriage.
• Xue Ke 薛蝌 — the son-in-law she agrees to at once.
• Xue Baochai 薛宝钗 — quietly supplies what the daughter’s parents do not.

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