Lu Cheng

Lu Cheng is Lu Xun’s father, Shen Hui’s husband, and one of the household’s most reassuring elders. He appears not as a distant patriarch who rules through silence, but as a warm, observant man who turns family life into a space of conversation, chess, teasing, and protection. His importance lies in the way he recognizes both affection and danger: he welcomes Su Xiangwan as a daughter-in-law, understands Lu Xun’s attachment to her, and repeatedly helps Shen Hui interpret conflicts without allowing old loyalties or family anxiety to dictate the outcome.

Identity and Family Position

Lu Cheng belongs to the older generation surrounding Lu Xun’s marriage, but his authority is expressed through companionship rather than severity. He and Shen Hui are presented as a close couple whose intimacy remains visible in ordinary domestic scenes. When Shen Hui becomes troubled, Lu Cheng puts aside his gardening, removes his gloves, places an arm around her shoulders, and sits with her on a bench so that she can explain what happened. Their marriage therefore supplies a model of mutual consultation: Shen Hui may react sharply, but Lu Cheng listens, analyzes, and helps her regain perspective.

His connection with Su Xiangwan is equally affectionate. He and Shen Hui regard her as a precious daughter-in-law, and Lu Cheng takes satisfaction in the fact that Lu Xun has brought such a woman into the family. When Su Xiangwan visits, he is eager to play chess with her, while Lu Xun wants her to rest with him after lunch. The competing invitations leave her briefly caught between two forms of affection, but the scene also establishes that Lu Cheng does not treat her as an outsider. He wants her company for her own sake, not merely because she is Lu Xun’s wife.

Domestic Warmth and Shared Rituals

Chess is Lu Cheng’s clearest recurring activity. He plays with Su Xiangwan in the study while Lu Xun sits nearby, watching the game and idly handling his phone. Lu Cheng’s invitation creates a small triangle of domestic intimacy: father and daughter-in-law share a pastime, while the son remains close enough to observe, and perhaps jealous enough to want her attention for himself. The game also becomes a sign of continuity, since Lu Cheng promises that Su Xiangwan will return another weekend to play with him.

His hospitality is woven into family schedules and rituals. When Lu Xun receives a company call and has to leave, Lu Cheng questions the interruption with a frown, only accepting the explanation that business requires their return. Lu Xun promises that the couple will come back for dinner the following day, and that Su Xiangwan will play chess with Lu Cheng then. Lu Cheng’s disappointment is therefore not ceremonial; it reflects a genuine desire to maintain shared time with her.

At the Lu family birthday gathering, Lu Cheng takes responsibility for the atmosphere because it is his wife’s birthday. He calls for someone to perform a song and attempts to keep the celebration lively while the family’s tensions remain just beneath the surface. When Shen Hui hesitates over musical performance, he becomes impatient because he wants the evening to proceed smoothly and does not want Su Xiangwan to be embarrassed. His concern for appearances is thus connected to care: he wants the new daughter-in-law to be protected within the family’s public rituals.

Attitude Toward Lu Xun and Su Xiangwan

Lu Cheng is amused by Lu Xun’s devotion to his wife. After seeing Lu Xun remain near Su Xiangwan, he privately remarks that his son loves the good qualities of his wife and invites Lu Xun to follow him. The observation is teasing, but it also identifies Lu Xun’s behavior as unusually attentive. Lu Cheng does not ridicule the attachment or demand that his son subordinate marriage to parental expectations; instead, he recognizes the relationship as a source of happiness.

He also supports Lu Xun’s decision not to rush Su Xiangwan into having a child. When Shen Hui raises the question of grandchildren, Lu Xun answers that Su Xiangwan is still young and should have another two years to enjoy herself. Lu Cheng responds in the same broad-minded spirit, saying that Lu Xun is not old and that the matter should be left to fate. His position counters the pressure placed on the couple by conventional family expectations. The future of the marriage is not reduced to producing an heir, and Su Xiangwan’s youth and freedom are treated as worthy considerations.

Lu Cheng’s approval of Su Xiangwan is also linked to her independence. After she openly resists Shen Hui’s protection of Shen Yiyun, Lu Cheng comforts Shen Hui and assures her that Su Xiangwan is not someone who will swallow her anger or simply compromise when confronted with this kind of problem. He sees her refusal to accept an unfair arrangement as a strength. His praise gives the conflict a second interpretation: Su Xiangwan has not merely behaved defiantly; she has demonstrated a character capable of defending its own boundaries.

Judgment During Family Conflict

Lu Cheng’s most substantial role emerges when the conflict involving Shen Yiyun threatens to damage the household. Shen Hui worries that Shen Yiyun has called late at night to ask Lu Xun to bring back osmanthus cake. Lu Cheng notices that the pastry shop normally closes at six in the evening and infers that the request is designed to make Lu Xun leave early rather than remain for dinner while his wife is ill. He does not dismiss Shen Hui’s unease, but he tests the circumstances against practical facts and offers a plausible explanation.

This intervention displays his characteristic method. He does not respond with immediate condemnation, nor does he blindly defend the younger relative. Instead, he reconstructs the intention behind the request and gives Shen Hui a way to distinguish innocent wording from manipulative timing. Shen Hui accepts his reasoning and calls him the smart one, while Lu Cheng laughs and redirects the household toward preparing food. His humor does not erase the conflict; it allows the family to continue functioning while the conflict is assessed.

Later, Lu Cheng reassures Shen Hui after Su Xiangwan leaves with Lu Xun. He asks whether she is now at ease and reminds her that Su Xiangwan will not silently accept treatment she considers wrong. Shen Hui admits that the evening was different from previous nights, yet also acknowledges that she was treated with respect. Lu Cheng helps her hold both facts together: Su Xiangwan resisted, but she did not humiliate or discard Shen Hui. This distinction is central to his judgment. He values firmness without confusing it with cruelty.

Past Guilt and Moral Perspective

Lu Cheng also understands that the immediate dispute is entangled with Shen Hui’s earlier decisions. When he asks whether she is still brooding over what happened in the past, he opens a moral conversation rather than allowing the household to remain trapped in present anger. He tells her that she did the right thing at that time, although her methods were too ruthless, because failing to control the situation might have allowed a disaster to develop. At the same time, he refuses to pretend that the harshness was irrelevant: he links it directly to her character.

His assessment is measured rather than exculpatory. Shen Hui’s intentions may have been protective, but the severity of her methods remains part of the moral record. Lu Cheng then contrasts her approach with Su Xiangwan’s. He suggests that Su Xiangwan handles such matters differently, neither swallowing her anger nor reproducing Shen Hui’s ruthlessness. Through this comparison, Lu Cheng becomes a mediator between generations: he acknowledges the older woman’s fears and past necessity while recognizing that the younger woman represents another way of asserting boundaries.

He finally accepts Shen Hui’s responsibility for having spoiled Shen Yiyun and supports a practical consequence: once Shen Yiyun recovers, she should live with Zuo Teng, since the two already wish to live together. The decision is not presented as a triumphant punishment, but as an acknowledgment that the younger woman is old enough to bear the consequences of her choices. Lu Cheng’s stance combines indulgence with a limit; affection cannot mean endless protection.

Narrative Function and Significance

Lu Cheng functions as the family’s humane interpreter. He turns scenes that might otherwise become simple confrontations into negotiations among affection, duty, jealousy, illness, and self-respect. His chess games with Su Xiangwan establish intimacy; his teasing of Lu Xun makes the son’s marital devotion legible; his support for delaying children protects the couple from premature pressure; and his analysis of Shen Yiyun’s late-night request exposes the practical structure beneath seemingly minor behavior.

He is also a counterweight to the more controlling forms of family authority surrounding the marriage. Lu Cheng accepts that Lu Xun’s wife can challenge the household and still remain a respected daughter-in-law. He does not require obedience as proof of belonging. Instead, he measures belonging through continued conversation, return visits, shared meals, games of chess, and the ability to disagree without destroying the family bond. His warmth is therefore not merely decorative. It provides the domestic framework in which Su Xiangwan’s independence can be recognized rather than crushed, and in which Lu Xun’s love can be understood as attachment rather than weakness.