薛宝钗金锁 · 3
Leaf 3 of the Red Chamber · 蘅芜君 Lady of Aralia
Xue Baochai 薛宝钗
In Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (c. 1791) · in the Main register (正冊) · nicknamed 蘅芜君 “Lady of Aralia”
Prudence, propriety and a locket cut to match a piece of jade: she is the bride the household votes for, and the register buries her gold pin under its own snow of duty.
可叹停机德， 金簪雪里埋。
Alas for the wifely virtue that stopped the loom — a gold hairpin buried in the snow.
畫 A heap of snow, and under it a single gold hairpin.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 4
Awaiting the Imperial Selection
進京待選After her brother's killing of Feng Yuan, she travels up with her mother, waits on the imperial selection for ladies' offices, and settles at the Jia compound.
- ch. 8
Comparing Locket and Jade
比通靈Lets Baoyu read the characters on her locket while he shows hers on his jade; the matching mottoes are overheard by Golden Oriole and never forgotten.
- ch. 27
Butterflies at the Green Pavilion
戲彩蝶Chases butterflies as far as Blinking-green Pavilion, overhears a servant's scandal there, and saves herself by pretending she was only hunting Daiyu.
- ch. 37
The Crabapple Poem Wins
偶結海棠社Backs Tanchun's poetry club, takes the name Lady of Aralia and wins the first round with a crabapple poem judged the most contained.
- ch. 42
Taking Her Aside with Medicine
蘭言Takes Daiyu quietly aside over the wicked lines she quoted at the banquet, and ends years of barbed talk with a gift of medicine and honest advice.
- ch. 97
The Veil on a Reeling Groom
出閨成禮Marries Baoyu by a scheme of Xifeng's — the veil raised over a groom out of his wits, drums sounding while someone upstairs stops breathing.
結局 The ending
She wins the marriage and nothing inside it: the tune paired with her verse says that even with the tray lifted to her eyebrows his heart is uneased. In ch. 120 Baoyu sits the examinations and goes back into the stone, leaving her a young wife at home with her gold pin still under the snow.
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