Last chastity arch

Author: Xi Lingxue
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: Xi Lingxue's long series. The novel revolves around a chastity arch, with the story beginning with Lu Siye's obsession with the arch, even going so far as to fake it to make it real. The narrative unfolds until Siye's death, and the second young master poisons five people to exchange for a genuine chastity arch—the last one in Chinese history—to conclude the story. The prose is sensual, and the plot is intricate, making it a rare gem in depicting courtyard life after Su Tong's The Story of the Stone.
To cover up his impotence, the Chamber of Commerce president Lu Siye goes to great lengths, marrying a 16-year-old girl named Xia She as his sixth concubine to deceive others. Xia She enters the Lu family as a veil of shame, and her fate is inevitable—besides the humiliation from the master, the schemes of the first mistress, the suspicion of the other four concubines, and the entirely different attitudes of the two young masters toward her, all of which contribute to her tragic end. On a rainy night when she conspires with the eldest young master to elope, the plan is exposed, and Xia She is finally forced down a path of no return.