Summary: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Dur­ing her lat­er years, Lily reflects on her life, recall­ing her strong yearn­ing for moth­er­ly affec­tion from a young age. When she was six, a match­mak­er named Madame Wang pro­posed that due to her bound feet and a lao­tong bond – an inti­mate life­long friend­ship with anoth­er woman, Lily could mar­ry into a pros­per­ous fam­i­ly in Tongk­ou vil­lage. The painful foot­bind­ing process leads to the trag­ic death of Lily’s younger sis­ter from an infection.

Madame Wang then intro­duces Lily to her lao­tong, Snow Flower, a girl from a noble fam­i­ly. They com­mu­ni­cate through nu shu, a clan­des­tine lan­guage used by women, on a fan, which becomes their shared form of com­mu­ni­ca­tion. As they mature, Lily and Snow Flower con­nect over com­mon expe­ri­ences of prepar­ing for mar­riage and hon­ing their nu shu skills. An unfor­tu­nate event occurs when Beau­ti­ful Moon, Lily’s cousin, dies from a fatal bee sting. Lily even­tu­al­ly mar­ries into the afflu­ent Lu fam­i­ly and real­izes Snow Flow­er’s fam­i­ly’s des­ti­tute cir­cum­stances dur­ing a vis­it. Upon learn­ing about Snow Flow­er’s engage­ment to a butch­er, along with her fam­i­ly’s pover­ty, Lily feels a sense of betray­al but reas­sures Snow Flower of her unwa­ver­ing feelings.

Over the years, Lily solid­i­fies her posi­tion in her new fam­i­ly by bear­ing two sons, while Snow Flower gives birth to a son and two still­born daugh­ters. When Snow Flow­er’s sec­ond son dies and her hus­band mis­treats her, Lily advis­es her to be sub­mis­sive. A mis­un­der­stand­ing strains their rela­tion­ship, with Lily wrong­ly assum­ing Snow Flower broke their lao­tong vow. In lat­er years, as Snow Flower nears death, Lily real­izes her mis­in­ter­pre­ta­tion. Filled with regret, Lily ded­i­cates her remain­ing days to mak­ing amends to Snow Flow­er’s chil­dren and pre­serv­ing Snow Flow­er’s lega­cy by shar­ing their tale.

Chapter 1

At eighty, Lily rem­i­nisces about her past as all her loved ones have passed on. Her life­long pur­suit of love has brought her much suf­fer­ing, includ­ing her long­ing for her moth­er’s affec­tion, which led her to endure the agony of foot­bind­ing with­out protest. This ordeal tough­ened her, shap­ing her char­ac­ter. Through­out her life, she has been under the con­trol of her moth­er or hus­band, except when con­vers­ing in a women-exclu­sive lan­guage with her spir­i­tu­al twin, Snow Flower. Alone now, Lily pon­ders over the mes­sages exchanged with Snow Flower on a fan, trac­ing their bond from child­hood to adult­hood. She con­tem­plates her lessons in love, ruing not cher­ish­ing Snow Flower more. Lily begins to nar­rate her sto­ry as a way of explain­ing her­self to her depart­ed loved ones, ances­tors, and Snowflower.

Chapter 2

Lily, a farmer’s daugh­ter, shares a room with her two sis­ters, Elder Sis­ter and Third Sis­ter, and her cousin, Beau­ti­ful Moon. As young girls, they are more rivals than sib­lings, com­pet­ing for their par­ents’ atten­tion. At five, Lily starts observ­ing her fam­i­ly dynam­ics more close­ly. She notices the affec­tion between her plain-look­ing Aunt and Uncle towards Beau­ti­ful Moon, while her moth­er bare­ly acknowl­edges her. She real­izes that as a sec­ond daugh­ter, she is insignif­i­cant to her moth­er, who sees her as belong­ing to her future hus­band’s fam­i­ly. Want­i­ng to earn her moth­er’s approval, Lily decides to be use­ful and incon­spic­u­ous. The women retire to their pri­vate cham­ber while Lily and her younger sib­lings toil in the fields. After lunch, Lily gains entry into the wom­en’s cham­ber where Elder Sis­ter’s sworn sis­ters are present. Despite form­ing a sis­ter­hood at sev­en, their bond will break upon mar­riage. Aunt per­suades Lily’s moth­er to allow Lily and Beau­ti­ful Moon to play out­side, con­sid­er­ing the immi­nent foot­bind­ing that will restrict such activ­i­ties. Reluc­tant­ly, Mama agrees after some per­sua­sion. Lat­er that evening, Lily tries to express affec­tion towards Mama, only to be rebuffed. Reflect­ing on that day, Lily rec­ol­lects the emo­tions stirred as she began view­ing her fam­i­ly in a new light.

Chapter 3

Lily’s moth­er arranges for a for­tune-teller to select an aus­pi­cious day for Lily’s foot­bind­ing. Sur­pris­ing­ly, the divin­er sug­gests involv­ing a match­mak­er, Madame Wang from Tongk­ou, over the local Madame Gao, as the for­mer believes Lily has the poten­tial for per­fect­ly bound feet. Dur­ing Madame Wang’s assess­ment, Lily notices a glint of hope­ful­ness in her moth­er’s eyes. Madame Wang sug­gests form­ing a lao­tong bond with a girl of high­er social stand­ing, offer­ing a more ben­e­fi­cial mar­riage prospect for Lily. Despite this, Mama rep­ri­mands Lily after Madame Wang’s depar­ture, cau­tion­ing her against caus­ing trou­ble, though Lily inter­prets it as a good omen. In the wom­en’s cham­ber, Lily embarks on her edu­ca­tion­al jour­ney, learn­ing about Con­fu­cian obe­di­ence, sewing, and nu shu – the secre­tive lan­guage of women. She dis­cov­ers that nu shu is pho­net­ic and con­text-depen­dent and must be con­cealed from men. At sev­en, a date is set for Lily, Third Sis­ter, and Beau­ti­ful Moon to begin their foot­bind­ing, a crit­i­cal step towards mar­riage and moth­er­hood. The ardu­ous foot­bind­ing com­mences with Lily and Beau­ti­ful Moon, fol­lowed by Third Sis­ter who attempts to flee but is brought back force­ful­ly. Sob­bing in pain as they take their first steps, the girls com­pre­hend the need to obey for their own sake. Third Sis­ter falls ill, her legs cov­ered in red stripes, and her feet seep­ing pus and blood. Despite her dete­ri­o­rat­ing con­di­tion, foot­bind­ing con­tin­ues to pre­vent her from being deemed unmar­riage­able if crip­pled. When Lily’s father seeks help, the doc­tor declares he can­not aid Third Sis­ter and notes Grand­moth­er’s ill­ness. Sub­se­quent­ly, after Third Sis­ter’s pass­ing, fol­lowed by Grand­moth­er’s demise, Lily becomes fur­ther con­vinced that her bound feet sym­bol­ize her com­pli­ance and pain endurance, essen­tial for impress­ing her future in-laws.

Chapter 4

After the funer­als of Third Sis­ter and Grand­moth­er, Lily, and Beau­ti­ful Moon con­tin­ue with their foot­bind­ing rit­u­al. Mean­while, Elder Broth­er and Elder Sis­ter com­mence their mar­riage prepa­ra­tions with Madame Gao, whom Lily con­sid­ers less refined than Madame Wang. Dur­ing a vis­it from Elder Sis­ter’s inti­mate friends, they share a song called “The Sto­ry of the Woman with Three Broth­ers,” depict­ing the hard­ships of a woman dri­ven to sui­cide due to her broth­ers’ inabil­i­ty to pro­vide a dowry. Lily grasps the deep­er mean­ing: a wom­an’s duty shifts from one man to anoth­er. Madame Wang brings news of a suit­able lao­tong match for Lily – a girl named Snow Flower. They share var­i­ous sim­i­lar­i­ties, includ­ing birth date, order, and height, but Snow Flow­er’s fam­i­ly out­ranks Lily’s sta­tus. Madame Wang presents Lily with a fan, urg­ing Mama to pon­der over the pro­pos­al. After deci­pher­ing a mes­sage from Snow Flower writ­ten in nu shu on the fan with Elder Sis­ter’s assis­tance, Lily con­tem­plates the invi­ta­tion to become “same” togeth­er.” Upon obtain­ing approval from her par­ents, Lily records her response on the same fan, going against cus­toms to inscribe their com­pan­ion­ship per­ma­nent­ly, a ges­ture typ­i­cal­ly saved for a nov­el fan. Madame Wang then deliv­ers the fan to Snow Flower.

Chapter 5

Numer­ous days go by as Lily eager­ly awaits her meet­ing with Snow Flower. Accom­pa­nied by Madame Wang, Lily and Snow Flower embark on a jour­ney to the Tem­ple of Gupo in a palan­quin. After Madame Wang departs from the con­veyance, Snow Flower ini­ti­ates a con­ver­sa­tion, address­ing Madame Wang as “Aun­tie.” Lily is puz­zled by this term, prompt­ing Snow Flower to observe that this is Lily’s ini­tial utter­ance. Not­ing that her own loqua­cious­ness often leads to trou­ble, Snow Flower pre­dicts that Lily’s reserved demeanor will make her an exem­plary spouse. Upon Madame Wang’s return, she directs the girls to pick a sheet for their lao­tong vow. Ini­tial­ly opt­ing for a large piece of paper, Lily is advised by Snow Flower about its sub­stan­dard qual­i­ty and its inabil­i­ty to rep­re­sent the endur­ing nature of their bond. Con­se­quent­ly, Snow Flower opts for a small­er, yet supe­ri­or qual­i­ty sheet. This moment enlight­ens Lily on Snow Flow­er’s sophis­ti­ca­tion in com­par­i­son. They affix their life­long com­mit­ment in ink, and Madame Wang pro­claims their con­nec­tion as sacred as mat­ri­mo­ny, with an addi­tion­al stip­u­la­tion that no force or enti­ty should ever dis­rupt it. Sub­se­quent­ly, Snow Flower and Lily rel­ish the fair, albeit at a slow­er pace due to Snow Flow­er’s con­va­les­cence from foot­bind­ing. They return to Lily’s dwelling, where Snow Flower is to reside as a guest for sev­er­al days. Lily feels self-con­scious about her mod­est abode, rec­og­niz­ing Snow Flow­er’s famil­iar­i­ty with grander liv­ing con­di­tions. As they drift off to sleep, Lily pon­ders ways to earn the affec­tion she craves from Snow Flower.

Chapter 6

Con­tem­plat­ing the dis­tinc­tive essence of a lao­tong’s affec­tion, Lily con­trasts it with the famil­ial love typ­i­cal­ly based on duty and prone to dis­ap­point­ments. Accus­tomed to gar­ner­ing affec­tion through dili­gence, she endeav­ors to for­ti­fy her bond with Snow Flower through their fan cor­re­spon­dences. Snow Flow­er’s expres­sions appear more pol­ished to Lily. Dur­ing Snow Flow­er’s vis­it, they con­verse, laugh, and rel­ish their youth in uni­son. From Snow Flower, Lily imbibes more refined man­ners, while impart­ing knowl­edge of dai­ly chores to Snow Flower in return. Wit­ness­ing Snow Flow­er’s inter­ac­tions with her Younger Broth­er, father, and Uncle, Lily observes her bring­ing vital­i­ty and joy into their house­hold. Con­vinced that her endeav­ors have nur­tured the love she sought, Lily believes Snow Flower rec­i­p­ro­cates her sentiments.

Chapter 7

Over three years, Lily accom­mo­dates Snow Flower at her abode but refrains from vis­it­ing Snow Flow­er’s res­i­dence. Ten­sions esca­late between Madame Wang and Madame Gao; the lat­ter desires employ­ment for Snow Flow­er’s fam­i­ly, as a means of retal­i­at­ing against Madame Wang for inter­fer­ing with Lily and Beau­ti­ful Moon’s fate. Fol­low­ing the foot­bind­ing of Lily, Beau­ti­ful Moon, and Snow Flower at the age of eleven, Madame Wang deems them suit­able match­es. Lily is betrothed to the pros­per­ous Lu fam­i­ly in Tongk­ou. Beau­ti­ful Moon is slat­ed to join a less­er-ranked Lu fam­i­ly in prox­im­i­ty to Lily, where­as Snow Flower is matched with anoth­er house­hold in Jint­ian. The girls per­sist in their nu shu lessons with Aunt. She recounts the sto­ry of the woman who orig­i­nat­ed nu shu a mil­len­ni­um ago. Yux­iu, a woman serv­ing as the emper­or’s con­cu­bine, devised the encrypt­ed lan­guage to clan­des­tine­ly com­mu­ni­cate with her fam­i­ly after fac­ing iso­la­tion and dis­dain from oth­er women who ridiculed her cal­lig­ra­phy and embroi­dery skills. Aunt empha­sizes that nu shu will aid them in main­tain­ing a con­nec­tion with their birth fam­i­lies post-mar­riage. Upon reach­ing thir­teen, the girls wit­ness a height­ened feud between Madame Wang and Madame Gao. Madame Gao hints at a scan­dal involv­ing Snow Flow­er’s fam­i­ly, allud­ing to her father’s habit of smok­ing opi­um. Mama expels Madame Gao from the house, with Madame Wang cau­tion­ing Lily not to dis­close the inci­dent to Snow Flower. Elder Sis­ter’s wed­ding draws near. Fol­low­ing the nup­tials, she will reside with her natal fam­i­ly until con­ceiv­ing, vis­it­ing her hus­band peri­od­i­cal­ly. Elder Sis­ter, com­pli­ant by nature, com­plains about the harsh treat­ment of her in-laws. Lily and Beau­ti­ful Moon empathize but hope to evade a sim­i­lar fate. Aunt, typ­i­cal­ly the fam­i­ly’s jester, asserts that women must accept their fate. As Elder Sis­ter’s tears per­sist, Mama val­i­dates Aun­t’s words, remind­ing Elder Sis­ter of the neces­si­ty to yield to her in-laws.

Chapter 8

Upon reach­ing the age of fif­teen, Lily and Snow Flower wit­ness changes in their hair­styles, indi­cat­ing their forth­com­ing mar­riages. Dur­ing the Catch­ing Cool Breezes Fes­ti­val, a time when women return to their parental homes due to the intense heat, Snow Flower vis­its Lily. With Elder Sis­ter on the brink of giv­ing birth and Beau­ti­ful Moon in the com­pa­ny of oth­ers, Lily and Snow Flower find them­selves alone in the cham­ber. In a bid to alle­vi­ate the heat, they strip down to only their slip­pers at night. Snow Flower inscribes the first verse of a poem on Lily’s abdomen in nu shu, a clan­des­tine tongue that Lily iden­ti­fies and con­tin­ues on Snow Flow­er’s skin. Lily acknowl­edges Snow Flow­er’s flaw­less physique and togeth­er, they recite the remain­ing vers­es of the poem. The poem, cen­tered on a home­sick schol­ar, sym­bol­izes the bond between Snow Flower and Lily, deem­ing each oth­er their abodes.

Chapter 9

Fol­low­ing Beau­ti­ful Moon’s return, the girls immerse them­selves in craft­ing gar­ments and oth­er fab­ric arti­cles, aid­ed by cloth gift­ed from their prospec­tive fam­i­lies. They toil under a canopy arranged by Baba and Uncle to evade the sum­mer’s heat. A mis­sive from Elder Sis­ter, express­ing dis­con­tent with her in-laws, makes Lily val­ue the tra­di­tion of mov­ing in post-preg­nan­cy sole­ly. Dur­ing this peri­od, they find Beau­ti­ful Moon gasp­ing for breath, seem­ing­ly asphyx­i­at­ed. While Snow Flower rush­es to seek aid, Lily, spot­ting a dead bee on Beau­ti­ful Moon’s needle­work, infers a bee sting. Pro­fess­ing her love, Lily watch­es as Beau­ti­ful Moon draws her last breaths. Baba, Uncle, and Elder Broth­er arrive, pro­found­ly dis­traught, plac­ing Beau­ti­ful Moon’s life­less form on the table. Snow Flower dis­patch­es Elder Broth­er to fetch Aunt. Upon her arrival, Aunt main­tains a com­posed silence, watch­ing over Beau­ti­ful Moon. Post-inter­ment, mourn­ful cries from Aunt fill the air. Believ­ing them to be an embod­i­ment of Beau­ti­ful Moon’s spir­it, Lily and Snow Flower erect a flo­ral tow­er as trib­ute, lay­ing it at her grave while chant­i­ng a nu shu hymn. This rit­u­al offers them solace, yet Aunt and Uncle’s grief persists.

Chapter 10

Two years lat­er, Snow Flower vis­its Lily to assist with her wed­ding arrange­ments, fur­ther strength­en­ing their bond. A vis­it from Madame Wang unfolds, where she nar­rates “The Tale of Wife Wang.” The anec­dote revolves around a woman mar­ry­ing an unwel­come butch­er in Bud­dhism, implor­ing him to cease slaugh­ter­ing ani­mals. Dis­re­gard­ing her pleas, he con­tin­ues, prompt­ing the King of the After­world to sum­mon her for her vir­tu­ous deeds. Rein­car­nat­ed as a male with her true name imprint­ed on her foot, she pros­pers in life, even­tu­al­ly reunit­ing with her hus­band ‘small ham­let and unveil­ing her iden­ti­ty. This results in their kin reach­ing enlight­en­ment. Lily per­ceives the nar­ra­tive as a fore­shad­ow­ing of her life, con­vinced that she can offer saga­cious guid­ance to her spouse. Fol­low­ing her nup­tials, she is tasked with aid­ing in Snow Flower’s mat­ri­mo­ni­al arrange­ments. Snow Flower express­es appre­hen­sion about Lily’s lofty aspi­ra­tions for her abode and house­hold. Dur­ing the for­mal lun­cheon with Lily’s rel­a­tives and in-laws, Lily is dis­mayed that her moth­er-in-law is not don­ning the footwear she craft­ed for her. To avoid dis­ap­point­ing Snow Flower, she con­ceals this fact. That night, Lily longs for her mother’s coun­sel on her forth­com­ing wed­ding night but receives only a reminder to be coura­geous. Snow Flower reas­sures Lily that she will excel as a part­ner and par­ent. The next day, as Lily departs, Snow Flower presents her with their shared fan. While en route to her hus­band’s abode, Lily sheds tears as she com­pre­hends that she will per­pet­u­al­ly remain a vis­i­tor there. Per­plexed by a mis­sive from Snow Flower that unveils secrets Lily will soon unearth about her com­rade, she fears she may cease to love her. Brush­ing this aside, Lily is con­fi­dent that her sen­ti­ments for Snow Flower will remain unchanged. Upon arriv­ing at her in-laws’ res­i­dence, Lily kneels before them, vow­ing her def­er­ence. Sub­se­quent­ly, she weds her hus­band and they rev­el in their union. On their inau­gur­al night togeth­er, she finds him allur­ing and deems the act of him plac­ing slum­ber­ing slip­pers on her feet more inti­mate than their love­mak­ing. The next morn­ing, trou­bled by Snow Flow­er’s cor­re­spon­dence, Lily encoun­ters her maid, Yong­gang. Com­menc­ing her chores, she antic­i­pates a vis­it from her fam­i­ly to peruse her third-day wed­ding texts. How­ev­er, Lily is dis­heart­ened by Snow Flow­er’s absence.

Chapter 11

Dur­ing Lily’s vis­it to Snow Flow­er’s res­i­dence, she is star­tled by the des­ti­tu­tion. Ini­tial­ly mis­tak­ing a woman garbed in peas­ant cloth­ing as a ser­vant, she lat­er dis­cov­ers she is Snow Flow­er’s moth­er. Snow Flower divulges her fam­i­ly’s bygone afflu­ence, which waned after the demise of a pre­vi­ous monarch. Her father, the sole male heir, was com­pelled to vend their land to cov­er expens­es and ulti­mate­ly suc­cumbed to opi­um addic­tion. This vice was the “pipe” allud­ed to by Madame Gao, emit­ting a putrid odor in the house. Snow Flow­er’s aunt, Madame Wang, res­cued the fam­i­ly from com­plete des­ti­tu­tion, hence Snow Flow­er’s affec­tion­ate moniker for her as “Aun­tie.” In a stun­ning rev­e­la­tion, Snow Flower dis­clos­es her immi­nent union with a butch­er, a rev­e­la­tion that deeply unset­tles Lily. Feel­ing duped, espe­cial­ly after the joy-damp­en­ing effects of Snow Flow­er’s mis­sive and her absence from Lily’s nup­tials, Lily redi­rects her ire towards Mama for con­ceal­ing Snow Flow­er’s predica­ment. Before Snow Flow­er’s wed­ding, Lily aids in tidy­ing the premis­es and beholds Snow Flow­er’s dowry. Notably, she rec­og­nizes the mate­r­i­al from Snow Flow­er’s for­mer attire, orig­i­nal­ly belong­ing to her moth­er. Lily admires the cun­ning employ­ment of wom­en’s hand­i­work to deceive men. Post-wed­ding, she deliv­ers Snow Flow­er’s third-day nup­tial texts to her fresh abode, where she dis­ap­proves of the assem­bled women. As the sole lit­er­ate in nu shu, Lily perus­es the texts before return­ing home, where she inscribes on the fan a depic­tion of a phoenix soar­ing above a roost­er and a weep­ing flower, sym­bol­iz­ing Snow Flow­er’s marriage.

Chapter 12

Upon her return home, Lily dis­tances her­self from her kin­dred. Mama even­tu­al­ly con­fronts her, prompt­ing Lily to accuse her of mask­ing Snow Flow­er’s cir­cum­stances. Mama defends her actions, stat­ing they were for Lily’s ben­e­fit, rem­i­nisc­ing about the foot­bind­ing inci­dent. Lily com­pre­hends that the act stemmed not from affec­tion but from Mama’s aspi­ra­tions, swear­ing nev­er to par­don her. A year into their mar­i­tal unions, Lily and Snow Flower con­vene at Gupo tem­ple, delib­er­at­ing on plans for prog­e­ny. Fol­low­ing Snow Flow­er’s announce­ment of her preg­nan­cy a year lat­er, Lily is left feel­ing ashamed due to her per­ceived supe­ri­or sta­tus. Once Lily becomes expec­tant, both friends vis­it the Gupo tem­ple to pray for sons and pledge to cher­ish each oth­er’s sons as dear­ly as each other.

Chapter 13

Snow Flower noti­fies Lily via a let­ter of her pros­per­ous birthing of a robust boy. Con­cur­rent­ly, Lily also wel­comes a son, cement­ing her posi­tion in her fam­i­ly. Despite this, Lily’s moth­er-in-law pro­hibits her from invit­ing Snow Flower to her son’s one-month cel­e­bra­tion. Nev­er­the­less, the two con­tin­ue their cor­re­spon­dence, large­ly unbe­knownst to Lily’s hus­band due to the dis­mis­sive atti­tude men hold towards wom­en’s writ­ing. Lily, how­ev­er, must tread cau­tious­ly with her moth­er-in-law, who per­sis­tent­ly prompts her to sev­er ties with Snow Flower. The mis­sives from Snow Flower high­light the mal­treat­ment she endures from her hus­band’s fam­i­ly. Real­iz­ing that Snow Flow­er’s nu shu scripts mir­ror her real-life tri­als, Lily grasps the sig­nif­i­cance of their clan­des­tine lan­guage in afford­ing them a dis­tinc­tive voice. Lily resolves to invite Snow Flower to her native abode for the Expel Birds Fes­ti­val. On their jour­ney to Lily’s home, she coun­sels Snow Flower to main­tain har­mo­ny with her spouse and in-laws for a tran­quil house­hold. Snow Flower reveals her sec­ond preg­nan­cy to Lily, sur­pris­ing her as it indi­cates that Snow Flower and her hus­band dis­re­gard­ed the cus­tom­ary hun­dred-day post­par­tum wait­ing peri­od before resum­ing inti­mate rela­tions. One evening, Snow Flower con­fess­es to find­ing plea­sure in phys­i­cal inti­ma­cy with her hus­band, leav­ing Lily bewil­dered. Depart­ing after­ward, Lily expe­ri­ences con­tent­ment from their time togeth­er. Sev­er­al months lat­er, a dis­traught snowflower shares the news of her still­born daugh­ter. Per­plexed by Snow Flow­er’s grief, as par­ents often feel relief if a daugh­ter is still­born, Lily reas­sures her that she has anoth­er chance to bear a son. Three years lat­er, Lily wel­comes anoth­er son while Snow Flower mourns anoth­er still­born daughter.

Chapter 14

Snow Flower and Lily become moth­ers to daugh­ters, and despite their dis­parate per­son­al­i­ties, they aspire to cul­ti­vate a pro­found bond akin to lao­tong between them. Sub­se­quent­ly, Snow Flower bears a sec­ond son amid nation­al mourn­ing over the sov­er­eign’s demise and his heir’s ascen­sion. Uncle Lu los­es his impe­r­i­al post, and rumors of upris­ings cir­cu­late with­in Lily’s fam­i­ly. After birthing her own son, Lily gains aware­ness of the Taip­ing rebels from Snow Flower dur­ing a sojourn to her birth­place. Her hus­band for­bids her from return­ing home should she per­sist in dis­cussing the rebels. Her hus­band embarks on a jour­ney to a neigh­bor­ing province to pro­cure salt for trade after a drought. Lily frets over the poten­tial ram­i­fi­ca­tions of his demise, includ­ing being sold off to anoth­er fam­i­ly. When a typhoid out­break strikes the region, the Lu fam­i­ly secludes them­selves. Lily tends to Lady Lu dur­ing her ail­ment until her pass­ing. Post-epi­dem­ic, Lily learns of her own par­ents’ demise. She finds solace in her hus­band’s safe return with ample salt to alle­vi­ate their finan­cial strains. With the demise of Lily’s father-in-law, while toil­ing in the fields, she and her hus­band ascend to the roles of Mas­ter and Lady Lu.

Chapter 15

Lily receives a com­mu­ni­ca­tion from Snow Flower which urges her to pay a vis­it to her com­pan­ion. Free from any duties to her moth­er-in-law, she sets off on the jour­ney. Dur­ing the sec­ond night, they are awak­ened by the smell of a fire and the clam­or of peo­ple flee­ing. It emerges that the emper­or’s troops are advanc­ing to engage the Taip­ings, with the con­fronta­tion head­ing towards Jint­ian. Lily con­sid­ers wait­ing for a palan­quin to trans­port her back, but Snow Flow­er’s part­ner insists she not remain by her­self. They trav­el in a cart as far as they can before begin­ning a hike up the moun­tain. Though Lily’s feet ache, she deems her­self for­tu­nate com­pared to oth­er women with injured bound feet. Even­tu­al­ly, they find refuge under a tree with three oth­er fam­i­lies. A woman named Lotus recounts the sto­ry of the Yao peo­ple, who sought shel­ter in the moun­tains and made plans to rebuild their home soon. Lily pon­ders whether they are dis­hon­or­ing their ances­tors by not resist­ing the Taipings.

Chapter 16

Dur­ing the harsh moun­tain win­ter, Snow Flow­er’s hus­band’s tal­ent for hunt­ing and prepar­ing ani­mals becomes cru­cial for their sur­vival. How­ev­er, his moth­er remains harsh, depriv­ing Snow Flow­er’s eldest son of food. Lily inter­venes, shar­ing her own meals with the boy and instruct­ing him. She is shocked when Snow Flower and her hus­band con­tin­ue their inti­mate rela­tions amid the harsh con­di­tions, result­ing in anoth­er preg­nan­cy. Snow Flower sug­gests a union between their chil­dren, but Lily dis­miss­es the pro­pos­al. Despite the grim cir­cum­stances, Lily observes a joy in Snow Flower that has been absent for years. Trag­i­cal­ly, after ten weeks, Snow Flow­er’s sec­ond son dies in his sleep. Her hus­band buries him, and when she asks where, he vio­lent­ly assaults her lead­ing to a mis­car­riage. Snow Flower bare­ly speaks and is cared for by Lily and the oth­er women. She con­fides in Lily that she has been beat­en after each of her five mis­car­riages and has yearned for death. Lily’s response is a cliched piece of advice about a wom­an’s role. Snow Flower shows Lily a fan she brought, fear­ing their demise in the moun­tains. After three months, they final­ly return home. Lily begins to reas­sure Snow Flower of her unchanged view of her, but their inter­ac­tion is dis­rupt­ed by the arrival of her hus­band. She warm­ly greets him and declines Snow Flow­er’s offer of the fan intend­ed to alle­vi­ate her suf­fer­ing. Lily and her hus­band then depart for Tongkou.

Chapter 17

After the coun­ty’s recov­ery from the con­flict and ill­ness, Lily and Snow Flower start to meet more fre­quent­ly. Snow Flower, how­ev­er, remains del­i­cate and with­drawn. Lily suc­ceeds in per­suad­ing her to par­take in a cer­e­mo­ny, despite her adver­si­ties. Through an old­er lens, Lily rec­og­nizes how she impa­tient­ly pushed Snow Flower to con­form to cus­toms in the hopes of enhanc­ing her life. Short­ly before their daugh­ters’ foot­bind­ing cer­e­mo­ny, Lily receives a mes­sage from Snow Flower via a fan, reveal­ing her inca­pac­i­ty to meet Lily’s expec­ta­tions and her new bond with three sworn sis­ters, leav­ing Lily dev­as­tat­ed. Lily begins to scru­ti­nize Snow Flow­er’s imper­fec­tions, espe­cial­ly her lies about her fam­i­ly and mar­riage. To shield her­self, Lily opts to dis­tance her­self from Snow Flower, dis­re­gard­ing her com­mu­ni­ca­tions. She con­structs a flower tow­er and burns a let­ter to Snow Flower, a rit­u­al they once shared. As she begins her daugh­ter’s foot­bind­ing, she vents her frus­tra­tions on the child. When Madame Wang brings a fan sug­gest­ing a lao­tong rela­tion­ship between their daugh­ters, Lily rejects it and rebukes Snow Flower. Dur­ing the cer­e­mo­ny, Snow Flower sings a Let­ter of Vitu­per­a­tion, express­ing her griev­ances and accus­ing Lily of caus­ing her and her daugh­ter suf­fer­ing. In retal­i­a­tion, Lily com­pos­es her own Let­ter of Vitu­per­a­tion, accus­ing Snow Flower of seek­ing sym­pa­thy and being dis­loy­al, which she believes is the rea­son behind her mis­treat­ment by her hus­band’s fam­i­ly. She dis­clos­es Snow Flow­er’s secrets, includ­ing her plea­sure in inti­ma­cy with her hus­band, to which Snow Flower retorts that Lily expects too much of her. In her lat­er years, Lily admits her shame­ful con­duct towards Snow Flower, earn­ing her praise by demon­strat­ing how Snow Flower was beneath them. Lily’s Song of Vitu­per­a­tion serves as a les­son, high­light­ing Snow Flow­er’s humiliation.

Chapter 18

Eight years lat­er, Snow Flower’s daugh­ter, Spring Moon, vis­its Lily to relay the news that Snow Flower is seri­ous­ly ill and wish­es to see her. Fear­ful of the soci­etal reper­cus­sions if she does­n’t vis­it, Lily prompt­ly arranges a trip to her. Lily is heart­bro­ken to find Snow Flower in such a dire state. Snow Flower express­es that her affec­tion for Lily has always remained, and despite a sworn sis­ter sug­gest­ing that Lily cease pro­long­ing Snow Flow­er’s pain, Lily per­sists in seek­ing reme­dies. Lily acknowl­edges the solace the sworn sis­ters pro­vide Snow Flower while hon­or­ing her bond with Lily. One day, Yong­gang, a ser­vant, deliv­ers items sal­vaged from the burnt flower tow­er, includ­ing their shared fan. As Snow Flower breathes her last, Lily reads their lao­tong agree­ment aloud and sings to her. Fol­low­ing Snow Flower’s funer­al, the sworn sis­ters reveal that Snow Flower was nev­er tru­ly one of them. This rev­e­la­tion sur­pris­es Lily, as she had mis­con­strued Snow Flower’s nu shu — Snow Flower had implied the sworn sis­ters would love her uncon­di­tion­al­ly, not that she intend­ed to join them. Lily is dis­mayed by her own stub­born­ness and igno­rance in mis­in­ter­pret­ing the nu shu. The sworn sis­ters also dis­close that Snow Flower had engaged in rela­tions with her hus­band soon­er than the cus­tom­ary hun­dred days after child­birth to sat­is­fy Lily, who had hint­ed that her hap­pi­ness depend­ed on hav­ing more sons. They also accuse Lily of assess­ing Snow Flow­er’s val­ue sole­ly from a man’s per­spec­tive and inform her that Snow Flower was already unwell dur­ing their moun­tain excur­sion. Mem­o­ries of a frail and des­ti­tute Snowflower flood Lily’s mind, regret­ting that she had only scold­ed her to be more com­pli­ant. Upon her return home, Lily writes what she believes to be her final mes­sage to the fan, express­ing a desire to reunite with Snow Flower in the heav­ens. Lily resolves to spend her remain­ing years con­tem­plat­ing how to make amends for the wrongs she inflict­ed upon her dear­est friend.

Epilogue

Reflect­ing on the time fol­low­ing Snow Flower’s pass­ing, Lily finds her­self step­ping into her role for Spring Moon’s wed­ding rites. How­ev­er, Spring Moon ends her own life on her wed­ding night. Sub­se­quent­ly, Lily per­suades her hus­band to employ Snow Flower’s son and ele­vate his fam­i­ly’s cir­cum­stances. Lily also nego­ti­ates with Madame Wang for Peony, Snow Flower’s grand­daugh­ter, to mar­ry her eldest grand­son. Con­se­quent­ly, she takes charge of Peony’s edu­ca­tion and looks for­ward to the prospect of their and Snow Flower’s lin­eage gov­ern­ing the Lu house­hold. Simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, Lily begins doc­u­ment­ing the life sto­ries of female vil­lagers upon their request, aim­ing to help them rec­og­nize the val­ue of their lives. This task trig­gers her own mem­o­ries, most­ly filled with regret. Now, she employs her per­son­al nar­ra­tive to seek for­give­ness from Snow Flower and those who wit­nessed her past con­duct in the afterlife.