Hong lou meng: chapters 75-78, Miaoyu, Skybright, the firing

1/ It’s funny how in chapter 74, the Giả (Jia) family or mostly phủ Vinh quốc (Rongguo house) create so much ado about a little bag with some sexy image, as though they’re a very moral and proper family, chapter 75 describes much worse things happening in the family, mostly at phủ Ninh quốc (Ningguo house)—people drinking, playing cards, gambling, having male prostitutes, etc. 

2/ I don’t have much to say about chapter 76, about Mid-Autumn Festival. The most interesting part is at the end of the chapter, when Tương Vân (Xiangyun) and Đại Ngọc (Daiyu) leave the party to watch the moon and make some linked verse, before they’re unexpectedly joined by Diệu Ngọc (Miaoyu/ Adamantina). The other 2 have always been good poets, but the continuation of the poem by Diệu Ngọc (Adamantina) is particularly interesting. Look: 

“In golden censers figured incense burns;

Unguents in their jade pots coagulate.

A flute provokes the grieving widow’s weeping;

She craves some warmth her bed’s chill to abate.

Its cheerless hangings stir in the wind of autumn,

Its love-ducks mock a mistress without mate…” (Ch.76) 

Is that not curious for a nun? She has not truly renounced life. 

3/ In chapter 77, several servants are fired. Some other readers may talk about the partiality, unfairness, and cruelty of Vương phu nhân (lady Wang), who never manages everything in the household but once she gets involved, isn’t much kinder than Vương Hy Phượng (Wang Xifeng). 

But the things that stand out more to me are the reactions of Nghênh Xuân (Yingchun) and Bảo Ngọc (Baoyu). 

Vương phu nhân (lady Wang) is harsh and irrational indeed, but is Bảo Ngọc (Baoyu) not passive and helpless, unable to help or defend anyone? Does he not, in a way, fail Huệ Hương/ con Tư (Citronella/ Number Four), Phương Quan (Parfumée), and especially Tình Văn (Qingwen/ Skybright)? Does he not appear spineless? He feels compassion, but does nothing, absolutely nothing to stop his irrationally stupid mother from kicking his servants out over some imaginary charges. He does nothing to help them stay, nothing to defend their name. He does nothing to save Tình Văn (Skybright).

Both he and his mother share the blame for her death the same way they both share the blame for the death of Kim Xuyến (Jinchuan/ Golden). He hasn’t learnt. 

The reaction of Nghênh Xuân (Yingchun) is understandable—she stands outside everything, she is an example of someone with no attachments. Come to think of it, she’s even more detached than Diệu Ngọc (Adamantina). 

4/ I note that in chapter 76, Đại Ngọc (Daiyu) hangs out with Tương Vân (Xiangyun) and feels lonely because Bảo Thoa (Baochai) is away and Bảo Ngọc (Baoyu) is busy taking care of the sick Tình Văn (Skybright), and she doesn’t suit Nghênh Xuân (Yingchun) and Tích Xuân (Xichun) very well. 

These 2 Xuân (Chun) girls have a few things in common: both lack poetic talent and generally stand outside the poetry challenges; both worry about their reputation; both are indifferent to their close servants, ready to let them go. 

The difference is that Nghênh Xuân (Yingchun) comes across as meek and unassertive to the point of lacking a spine, while Tích Xuân (Xichun) comes across as cold and harsh.  

5/ After firing Nghênh Xuân’s (Yingchun) maid Tư Kỳ (Chess), who is at least guilty of something, and 3 girls from Bảo Ngọc’s (Baoyu) house for no reason, Vương phu nhân (lady Wang) in chapter 78 doesn’t like the looks of Giả Lan’s (Jia Lan) nurse. What’s wrong with this woman? Why does she dislike everyone pretty? She needs some good dicking. 

6/ I like Tình Văn (Skybright). She has a hot temper and, like Đại Ngọc (Daiyu), is often sarcastic, but she doesn’t irritate me the way that Đại Ngọc (Daiyu) does. One of the memorable images of Tình Văn (Skybright) is that she, terribly sick, stays up all night sewing and covering up a burnt part in a new coat of that stupid stone Bảo Ngọc (Baoyu). Does she absolutely have to do that? Not really. But she does it anyway, and tries to do it as well as she can. 

Another thing is that she’s not full of self-pity. Even in the last moment, she comes across as angry, rather than sorry for herself. Đại Ngọc (Daiyu) always cries, often gets passive aggressive, and always feels sorry for herself. As Tương Vân (Xiangyun) has pointed out in chapter 76, they have similar circumstances—both are orphans, both have to be dependent on relatives, both have no siblings, Tương Vân (Xiangyun) even has to do all the embroidery and needlework in the house while Đại Ngọc (Daiyu) never has to do a thing, but the former is open-hearted and cheerful while the latter always pities herself. 

Now look at Tình Văn (Skybright)—she’s also an orphan but doesn’t have relatives on whom she can depend, and she’s a servant; Đại Ngọc (Daiyu) is weak and often sick, but with Tình Văn (Skybright), Vương phu nhân (lady Wang) complains to Giả Mẫu (Jia Mu) that she’s been sick too often and now has to leave while having consumption. 

It is tragic, especially tragic because it is unjust. 

7/ I note that Cao Xueqin associates Tình Văn (Skybright) with the same flower that Đại Ngọc (Daiyu) gets in the drinking game in chapter 63. 

The scene of the elegy and invocation is moving. 

8/ It’s funny how, because Bảo Ngọc (Baoyu) is a boy (and his son), Giả Chính (Jia Zheng) always brings him to see some guests and test his poetry, when Bảo Ngọc (Baoyu) is always the one who comes last in the poetry club. 

Very early in the novel, Giả Chính (Jia Zheng) also tells him to suggest names for different parts of the garden, but as it turns out later, some of the good names come from Đại Ngọc (Daiyu).