Summary
The governor meets some of the students' demands, such as issuing an official apology and instating a rule that soldiers are not allowed to hit students. After several days of staying home, getting information only through publications and the news Chueh-hsin brings back, Chueh-hui decides to sneak off the compound. Chueh-hui goes a complicated route through the gardens but is distracted by the fragrance of plum blossoms. He follows a path to a grove of plum blossoms. Here, Chueh-hui sees Ming-feng conversing with Chien-erh, a bondmaid of Uncle Ke-an's house. Once Chien-erh leaves,
Chueh-hui approaches Ming-feng, who is gathering plum branches at Chueh-min's request. Chueh-hui helps Ming-feng gather high-up branches, even going so far as to remove his cloak and climb a tree. When Ming-feng tries to leave the grove and bring the branches to Chueh-min, Chueh-hui convinces her to come to a secluded area where they can talk without being overheard. Chueh-hui and Ming-feng regret not spending time together as they used to when they were children. Testing her affection, Chueh-hui says he will have Ming-feng sent away to marry someone else. Ming-feng is greatly distressed by this; she wants to stay with Chueh-hui, her source of comfort and strength, even if it means being a bondmaid. Chueh-hui and Ming-feng both admit their love for one another, and Chueh-hui promises he will figure out a way to marry her, even though Mingfeng insists that they are of two different worlds. Ming-feng insists that if Chueh-hui makes his feelings known, the Kao family will send Ming-feng away.
When Ming-feng and Chueh-hui hear Chueh-min approach, Mingfeng leaves. Chueh-hui remarks to himself that Ming-feng is "pure, truly pure." Later that night, Chueh-hui is too consumed with thoughts of Ming-feng to sleep, so he walks outside by the light of a particularly full moon. He encounters Chueh-min, who asks Chueh-hui if he is in love with Chin. Chueh-hui, his mind occupied with thoughts of Ming-feng, accidentally answers in the affirmative. Chueh-hui quickly amends that he loves Chin as an elder sister, and encourages Chueh-min to pursue Chin, so he will not end up like Chueh-hsin. The two brothers then hear Chueh-hsin playing bamboo flute, the mournful sound of which seems to "carry a warning, a threat." Chueh-min remarks that he has been kept awake by Chueh-hsin's flute-playing for several nights. Chueh-min believes that Chueh-hsin has learned about Mei's return to Chengdu, and Chueh-hsin is playing the flute to express remorse over his lost love.
Cooped up at home, a place he describes as a "desert, a narrow cage," Chueh-hui is restless. The revolutionary activities in Chengdu have died down, and Ming-feng is avoiding him, afraid of the Kao family discovering their connection. The Venerable Master Kao gives Chueh-hui a book, "On Filial Piety and the Shunning of Lewdness." Chueh-hui reads a bit of the book and is insulted by its old-fashioned ideas "behave like a slave" to one's own family members. Leaving his room, Chueh-hui encounters his sister-in-law, Jui-chueh, in the plum grove picking plum blossoms for Chueh-hsin. Jueh-chueh has also sketched out an embroidery of plum blossoms for her and Chueh-hsin's bed. Jui-chueh, sensing Chueh-hui's loneliness and boredom, invites him to play chess with her. As Chueh-hui and Jui-chueh play chess and play with Hai-chen, Jui-chueh tells Chueh-hui about her past. She fondly recalls her childhood spent with her sister and her time working as a fan painter after the 1911 Revolution. Jui-chueh becomes emotional as she explains how her sister, forced into an unhappy marriage with an abusive man, died of a miscarriage. Jui-chueh also regrets being unable to see her other relatives often.
At dinner, Chueh-hui hears Chueh-hsin discussing tactics on how to appease relatives. Chueh-hui is amused and repulsed by the inaneness Chueh-hui's concerns. Chueh-hui is also angry with Chueh-min, who is lovesick over Chin and has seemingly abandoned his revolutionary ideas. Chueh-hui vows he will not waste his youth and will instead do something to help change the world and cast off oppression.
The Kao family compound prepares for the New Year, the most important celebration. The family and servants all enjoy a generally festive atmosphere. The women create paper items to burn in offering to ancestors; the servants cook, clean, and set up ancestral portraits for the banquet held two days before the new year.
Chueh-min and Chueh-hui, ignoring Yeh-yeh's command to remain on the compound, visit Chueh-hsin at his office. Chien-yun joins as well. While there, Chueh-hui reads a passage aloud from Turgenev's On the Eve about love, startling his companions. This passage sparks a conversation about happiness. Chueh-Hsin finally reveals to his brothers the family history that made him adopt a policy of non-resistance when dealing with family matters. Chueh-hsin explains that his mother dealt with many hardships when she married into the Kao family, as the family did not accept her. She had poured all her hopes and dreams into Cheh-hsin, who, excelling at school, promised to vindicate her by being successful. After his parents' death, Chueh-hsin assumed responsibility for his siblings. Chueh-hsin carries tremendous guilt for his elder sister's death. Chueh-hsin openly weeps and pleads with his brothers not to talk about happiness since Chueh-hsin believes his opportunity to find happiness in life has long since passed. Chueh-min expresses that he understands his brother. Chueh-hui, though moved by his brother's story, redoubles his conviction to find his own happiness outside of the family and not end up like his older brother, using Chueh-hsin as an example of cowardice and a life wasted.
Yeh-yeh then comes to the office. He does not notice that Chueh-hui has defied his orders to remain home, and commands Chueh-hsin to accompany him shopping. Chueh-hsin obliges, and the other brothers and Chien-Yun depart to prepare for the New Year's banquet that night.
Analysis
Chueh-hui decides to leave the compound and rejoin the student movements, but on his way he is distracted by the fragrance of plum blossoms and follows the scent to the plum grove. Plum blossoms represent romantic love. Symbolically, Chueh-hui's diversion from his path to Ming-feng, object of his desires, shows that romantic love is a distraction from Chueh-hui's ideals.
Ming-feng gathers plum blossoms in the plum grove for Chueh-min, as Chueh-min is falling in love with Chin. Chueh-min and Chin's relationship is facilitated by their privilege, represented by Ming-feng gathering the blossoms for Chueh-min instead of him doing it himself. Chin and Chueh-min connect on an intellectual and ideological level because they both have the privilege of a quality education. In addition, this education gives them the courage to resist their families' demands and fight to be together.
In the plum grove, Chueh-hui climbs a tree to reach higher branches for Ming-feng. Climbing the tree demonstrates that by wooing Ming-feng, Chueh-hui endangers himself literally (he could fall out of the tree) and symbolically (he jeopardizes his station in the family and Ming-feng's future). Chueh-hui has a private conversation with Ming-feng, where he tests Ming-feng by threatening to have her sent away. Chueh-hui, because of his privilege and class, does not comprehend how seriously these words wound Ming-feng. Ming-feng says she would rather die than leave Chueh-hui; this foreshadows Ming-feng's death when instead of becoming a concubine, she commits suicide.
Chueh-hui and Chueh-min walk in the gardens by the full moon's light. The natural light lays bare the truth of romantic love; Chueh-min admits his love for Chin, and Chueh-hui admits his love for Ming-feng, albeit to himself. Additionally, Chueh-hsin plays his bamboo flute mournfully, expressing his grief and love for Mei.
Chapter 11 is written primarily as an entry in Chueh-hui's diary. This form establishes Chueh-hui's interest in writing and self-reflection. The diary entry format also shows how Chueh-hui's politics, emotions, and relationships intersect in his mind.
The Venerable Master Kao gives Chueh-hui a book entitled On Filial Piety and the Shunning of Lewdness. This is a very ironic interaction. Throughout the text, books symbolize opening the mind to progressive ideas, but "On Filial Piety and the Shunning of Lewdness" is an overview of how to submit to the Confucian hierarchy. Additionally, the Venerable Master Kao himself does not shun lewdness; he enjoys erotic operas and the company of female impersonators.
Chueh-hui finds Jui-chueh is in the plum grove alone. Her presence in the grove alone shows that her love for Chueh-hsin is somewhat one-sided; though he loves Jui-chueh, Chueh-hsin's true love is Mei. Mei's presence has entered their marriage, symbolically represented by Jui-chueh designing a plum blossom embroidery for her and Chueh-hsin's marriage bed.
At dinner, Chueh-hui hears Chueh-hsin discuss tactics for dealing with relatives. The text uses the language of military battle and strategy to convey this. Chueh-hui is amused by the inaneness Chueh-hsin's life and family dramas. Chueh-hui vows to himself that he will not waste his youth and will instead do something to help change the world and cast off oppression. However, Chueh-hui does not realize that he is complicit in the oppression of others. He also does not recognize that the family has also oppressed Chueh-hsin. Chueh-hsin takes the burden of being a "savior" upon himself while still criticizing Chueh-hsin's refusal to help himself.
In preparation for the New Year, the Kao women create paper items to be burned in offering for their ancestors. This symbolizes that even in death, the family patriarchs demand sacrifices, though many of these sacrifices are worthless and quickly used up.
Chueh-hsin's explains to his brothers that their mother poured her hopes into Chueh-hsin and placed on him the responsibility for vindicating her mistreatment. Chueh-hsin does the same thing with his son, Hai-chen, though he is not self-aware enough to know that by continuing the cycle, he is perpetuating the system that injured his mother in the first place.
Chueh-hsin asks his brothers not to speak about happiness, because Chueh-hsin believes he is beyond hope. This is another example of how the Kao family confuses forgetting pain with experiencing pleasure. Chueh-hsin's composure slips as the conversation with his brothers becomes more honest; the symbolic veneer cracks to expose a very corroded underneath.
Yeh-yeh comes to the office and does not notice that Chueh-hui is not obeying his orders to stay on the compound. Though the patriarch's order could have derailed Chueh-hui's entire life, the order means little to the Venerable Master Kao. Similarly, when Mrs. Chien and Mrs. Chou meet, they have forgotten about the mahjong dispute that prevented Chueh-hsin from marrying Mei.
