刘姥姥两进荣府的老亲 · 35
Leaf 35 of the Red Chamber · 乡下老亲 Poor Relation from the Village
Granny Liu 刘姥姥
In Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (c. 1791) · in the household (当家) · nicknamed 乡下老亲 “Poor Relation from the Village”
She sells herself as a clown to feed a family, and the book's one unembarrassed act of gratitude is hers: the great house, with all its thousands, found nobody else.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 6
First at the Rong Gate
一進榮府Unable to face the winter, she takes her little grandson to the gate of the Rong household, is led in through a steward's wife, and hears the young manageress hand over twenty taels of cold cash.
- ch. 39
The Firewood Girl in the Snow
信口開河She comes back to thank the Dowager and invents for the old woman a tale of a girl gathering firewood in the snow — a lie told to please the room, which Baoyu alone takes for true.
- ch. 40
An Appetite Like an Ox
食量如牛At the garden banquet she lets them plant chrysanthemums all over her head, then stands up to announce that her appetite is like an ox's, and the seated ladies fall out of their chairs at her.
- ch. 41
Asleep in Baoyu's Bed
醉臥怡紅院Drunk and turned round by the house's fittings, she wanders into Baoyu's own bedroom and goes to sleep in his bed, then wakes believing the room was a dream; nobody hurries to explain.
結局 The ending
The 120-chapter text repays her. When the house collapses and Qiaojie's own kin move to sell her, Granny Liu carries the girl out of the capital into the country, and the closing summary of fates — one line, no scene — pairs her with 板儿, the boy who came to the gate with her in chapter 6.
The book itself: what happens, how long it is, which English version to read — The story · How long it is · Which translation · The lamp-oil night · The family tree · The first expulsion