平儿贾琏之妾 · 凤姐心腹 · 30
Leaf 30 of the Red Chamber · 通房丫头 Jia Lian's Maid-Concubine
Ping'er 平儿
In Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (c. 1791) · in the Maids (丫鬟) · nicknamed 通房丫头 “Jia Lian's Maid-Concubine”
Married to one tyrant and servant to another, she spends the book quietly overturning their sentences, and is paid with the only promotion a servant can be given.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 21
The Lock of Hair She Hid
軟語救璉While Xifeng audits the silver her husband has hidden in her own boxes, Ping'er gets hold of a lock of another woman's hair before it can be found, and afterward talks Jia Lian into behaving.
- ch. 44
Blamed on Her Mistress's Birthday
潑醋牽怒On her own birthday Xifeng, half-drunk and furious at finding her husband abed with another, takes it out of Ping'er, who flees with a sword; Baoyu shelters her, re-does her makeup and waits on her.
- ch. 52
The Shrimp-Whisker Bracelet Hushed
情掩蝦鬚釧A shrimp-whisker bracelet the Dowager gave away is stolen inside the Happy Red Court and a little maid is found with it; Ping'er asks that it be settled quietly, not dragged through the quarters.
- ch. 61
Rose-Water and Poria Cake
平兒行權Rose-water and poria-cake go missing and an innocent girl is caught with them; Ping'er works out the whole chain, then lets the young master take the blame so that nobody has to be whipped.
- ch. 69
A Secret Kindness to the Rival
私慰二姐She befriends the secret second wife living in terror of her own mistress, weeps with her, and is beaten for it when Xifeng finds out — the one open kindness that costs her most.
結局 The ending
She outlives the jealousy that used her. After Xifeng dies, Jia Lian, grateful for the way Ping'er treated his wife and his concubines, takes her formally as his wife — the plainest reversal the novel allows a servant. The closing chapters give her no further part and never say what she thinks.
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