Alas for her wifely virtue, the weaver who stopped her loom!
How pitiful her poetic gift, like willow-down in the breeze!
A jade belt hangs within the forest,
A golden hairpin lies buried in the snow.
English titles, text, and notes are AI-assisted for reading only; for scholarship cite the Chinese and authoritative editions.
Annotation
This joint verdict covers both Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai. 'Stopping the loom' alludes to the wife of Yue Yangzi who cut her weaving to encourage her husband's studies, symbolizing Baochai's wifely virtue. 'Willow-down talent' refers to Xie Daoyun's famous comparison of snow to willow catkins, symbolizing Daiyu's literary genius. 'Jade belt in the forest' read backwards conceals 'Lin Dai Yu'; 'golden hairpin buried in snow' conceals 'Xue Bao Chai' (snow = Xue, hairpin = chai).
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