Yet Another Triangle
This is going to be another brief translation passage, in part because of the hectic holiday season, and in part because it’s actually pretty deep. This goes into the heart of the relationship between these boys. Cao Xueqin does a fantastic job here creating a minor conflict in the heart of Jia Qiang, a character that we just met a few paragraphs ago. The most fascinating part of this conflict is that it’s presented in a very subtle way; you have to be able to read into it in order to understand what’s really going on.
