尤三姐尤氏继母之女 · 39
Leaf 39 of the Red Chamber · 小妹 The Ungovernable Younger Sister
You Sanjie 尤三姐
In Dream of the Red Chamber 紅樓夢 (c. 1791) · in the household (当家) · nicknamed 小妹 “The Ungovernable Younger Sister”
The only woman in the book who chooses her own husband, and the only one who kills herself over it in the front courtyard: she gets a chapter and a half for both.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 63
Coming to Keep the Mourning
居喪一見When the Ning household's master dies of his elixir the sisters come up with their mother to attend the rites, and the men of that house at once go looking for the lodging where the mourning is kept.
- ch. 65
Her Feet Bared, Their Money Spent
撒潑罵珍When Ningguo's master comes to make free with her she drinks back at him, bares her feet, reviles him and his brother-in-law to their faces and spends their money till neither dares stay long.
- ch. 66
The Sword She Drew on Herself
恥歸地府She would wait for Liu Xianglian only; when he hears where she has lived he reclaims the double-dragon sword Jia Lian had carried her as a pledge, and she draws it across her throat there.
結局 The ending
The book gives her one more entrance as a ghost: still holding the blade she appears to Liu Xianglian that night to take her leave, and he shaves his head in the same chapter. It never lets her live long enough to be proved wrong about the man she chose.
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