薛蟠金陵薛家的公子 · 25
Leaf 25 of the Red Chamber · 呆霸王 the Obstinate Tyrant, his byname
Xue Pan 薛蟠
In Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (c. 1791) · in the household (当家) · nicknamed 呆霸王 “the Obstinate Tyrant, his byname”
The rich fool the plot needs twice: he bought one girl and had her first buyer killed for her, then married the shrew who finishes what his own temper started.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 4
Buying a Girl Already Sold
買婢致命He buys the little girl already sold to the Feng family, and his dependants beat Feng Yuan to death over her in the street; the magistrate who buries the case owes his post to their money.
- ch. 28
Mangling the Wine Game
席上胡謅At Feng Ziying's banquet he mangles the wine-game's lines about daughters in grief and joy, quotes old poems wrong on purpose and by accident, and is the laugh the party has come for.
- ch. 79
An Ungovernable Bride Promised
悔娶河東Home from his trading trip with Xiangling's reproaches behind him, he has already been promised Xia Jingui — a bride from a house as rich as his own, and as ungovernable.
- ch. 80
Beating the Girl with a Staff
杖打香菱Believing his new wife's tale that Xiangling cursed her in a spell, he beats the girl with a staff until she can hardly stand, and takes no notice when his mother and sister tell him what he has done.
結局 The ending
His wife poisons herself with a cup she brewed for someone else, and the older killing abroad is reopened in the same breath, so that he is back in the yamen at the last. Xue money buys him out, and the chapters let him keep his habits but not Xiangling's goodwill.
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