玉柱媳妇

Her Story

Chapters 73 and 74. She is married to the son of Yingchun’s wet nurse, which in this household is a kind of rank. Her mother-in-law has been caught running a gambling ring and punished, and she comes to Yingchun to beg her to intercede — walking in exactly as the room is discovering that Yingchun’s gold filigree phoenix has been quietly taken and pawned to cover the debt.

So she talks. She talks over Yingchun, who will not stop her; she argues with the maid Xiuju until Xiuju’s answers leave her nowhere to go; she comes back in to smother the subject when Tanchun raises it, and reddens and retreats when Ping’er speaks. Then she follows Ping’er out of the room, pleading the whole way. Ping’er’s terms: redeem the phoenix, hand it over, and nothing more will be said. She thanks her and goes.

In Xiang Li's Hands

Standing among grey rocks with one hand up, fingers spread, head thrown back and mouth open — caught mid-sentence. Sprigged yellow and green jacket, blue-grey robe, a yellow sash streaming away behind her, teal skirt. Xiang Li paints the one thing this woman actually does, which is talk, and gives her a whole rock face to do it against.

The Calligraphy

玉柱媳妇 — a husband’s name and the word for wife, three characters down the top right, identifying her by a man who never appears in the novel at all.

Connections

• Jia Yingchun 贾迎春 — her husband’s foster-sister and the mistress she comes to work on.
• Yingchun Rumu 迎春乳母 — her mother-in-law, whose punishment she is trying to lift.
• Xiuju 绣桔 — Yingchun’s maid, who will not let the phoenix go unmentioned.
• Ping’er 平儿 — settles it, and lets her keep her face.
• Jia Tanchun 贾探春 — sees through her at once and says so.

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