Who is Miss Duo? Miss Duo (多姑娘兒) is the young wife of Duo Guan’er, a drunken cook in the Rongguo Mansion, in Dream of the Red Chamber. She’s twenty, good-looking, flirtatious and openly unfaithful. In Chapter 21, while Xifeng’s daughter is sick with smallpox, she becomes Jia Lian’s lover.
The name
多姑娘兒 / 多姑娘儿 / Duō gūniang’ér / ㄉㄨㄛ ㄍㄨ ˙ㄋㄧㄤ ㄦˊ
This is a nickname, not her name. The novel doesn’t give her a personal name.
多 (duō) is her husband’s surname. As an ordinary word, it means “many.”
姑娘 (gūniang) is the word for an unmarried girl, a “miss.” She’s a married woman, so calling her that is a joke at her expense.
兒 (ér) is a small, familiar ending that makes the nickname teasing.
Given what the novel tells us about her and the men of both mansions, I don’t think the “many” in her name is an accident.
What we know so far
Her husband’s father found her for him two years before Chapter 21. She’s flighty by nature and loves to flirt, her husband never objects, and the men of both mansions have all had their turn with her. Jia Lian has been watching her for a long time, and she has had her eye on him too. When Xifeng’s daughter falls ill and Jia Lian is sent to sleep alone in the outer study, she finds reasons to walk past three or four times a day. A pageboy arranges the rest (Congratulations, It’s Smallpox).
In bed with Jia Lian, she teases him for breaking the household’s taboos while his family is making offerings to the Pox Goddess. His answer is that she’s the goddess.
My reading so far, after Chapter 21: she knows exactly what she’s doing, and she enjoys it. Of everyone in the scene, she’s the one in control.
Why the author needs her
So far she’s a plot lever: she gives Jia Lian’s wandering eye something to land on while Xifeng is busy. I think she’s also a contrast with Xifeng, a wife who does as she pleases while Xifeng spends twelve days at an altar. That’s a working theory, so far.
Every post about Miss Duo
Read next
Meet her husband: Duo Guan’er
Meet Jia Lian: Jia Lian
New here? Start with the Start Here guide, or meet the rest of the family on the Characters page.