Shen Hwei

Shen Hwei is Lu Xun’s mother, Lu Cheng’s wife, and one of the Lu family’s central household figures. She combines maternal authority with visible affection: she advises her adult son and daughter-in-law, welcomes Su Xiangwan as family, and intervenes when the younger woman is unwell or vulnerable. Her home offers Su Xiangwan a striking experience of parental warmth, though Shen Hwei’s protectiveness can also meet resistance when she defends a relative whom Su Xiangwan distrusts.

Identity and Family Role

Shen Hwei is established through the family life she helps organize. She is married to Lu Cheng, and together they receive Su Xiangwan as their daughter-in-law. Her authority is intimate rather than distant: she enters the study to call Su Xiangwan to dinner, takes her by the hand, and jokingly warns that Lu Xun might otherwise refuse to let her eat. Su Xiangwan follows her out happily, turning back to make a face at Lu Xun. The small exchange presents Shen Hwei as a source of welcome and ease within a household where her son’s rules can otherwise dominate.

She is also willing to advise the couple on their future. At one family gathering, Shen Hwei raises the subject of Su Xiangwan having a child, reasoning that it would be better to give birth sooner and recover while younger. Su Xiangwan agrees with her. Shen Hwei then recommends Chinese medicine to help with Su Xiangwan’s perceived weakness and urges Lu Xun to take some as well before autumn, hoping to prevent him from becoming ill. Her son refuses the suggestion, and Lu Cheng teases Shen Hwei for indulging him; she responds by calling her husband annoying and accusing him of spoiling Lu Xun. The exchange shows a family in which Shen Hwei can press her advice but cannot simply command its acceptance.

A Mother and Daughter-in-Law

Shen Hwei’s bond with Su Xiangwan is marked by reassurance and inclusion. After Song Yuner causes tension at a family gathering, Shen Hwei takes Su Xiangwan upstairs and counsels her not to take Song’s behavior to heart. Su Xiangwan answers that she treats Song politely out of respect for Lu Xun, not because she expects affection from her. Shen Hwei responds with fierce certainty that Su Xiangwan belongs in the family and is a precious gift to its elders.

Su Xiangwan, in turn, describes the affection Shen Hwei and Lu Cheng have given her as the parental love she longed for while growing up with her grandfather and sister. That gratitude has a painful background: Su Xiangwan recalls that her own mother had a terminal illness and, believing she did not want to burden the family, went out onto a balcony after seeing a drawing Su Xiangwan had made of her parents holding her hand. Su Xiangwan had been drawing at the time and later remembered the incident, despite her grandfather believing she was too young to retain it. In another reflection, she contrasts her mother’s suicide with the way Shen Hwei raised Lu Xun. Shen Hwei therefore represents more than a kind mother-in-law: her family’s ordinary warmth makes visible the loss and longing that shape Su Xiangwan’s understanding of belonging.

That acceptance also appears in ordinary acts of attention. At a Lu family gathering, Shen Hwei receives Su Xiangwan’s birthday gift, embraces her, and wonders whether she has paid for it with her own money. She has heard from Lu Xun that Su Xiangwan manages the household accounts well, and her concern suggests that she notices both the younger woman’s contribution to family life and the personal cost of her generosity. When Su Xiangwan is ill, Shen Hwei explains to Shen Yiyun that her sister-in-law had been feverish for two days, so her recent behavior should not be mistaken for dislike. Later, Su Xiangwan calls the family home in a weak, hoarse voice and asks Shen Hwei to have Lu Xun bring back osmanthus cake. Shen Hwei immediately asks whether she is unwell. The request for a familiar treat and the mother’s concerned response convey a settled intimacy without requiring a formal declaration.

Hosting and Public Support

As a hostess, Shen Hwei is attentive to how the Lu family and Su Xiangwan appear before others. During a family celebration, she draws attention to Su Xiangwan as the Lu family’s future daughter-in-law and insists that she should have the chance to perform. The announcement turns the room’s attention toward Lu Xun and then toward Su Xiangwan, who is standing apart from the crowd. Shen Hwei’s confidence in her daughter-in-law makes the performance a public affirmation of Su Xiangwan’s place in the family.

Su Xiangwan displays her command of several instruments, including the violin, accordion, erhu, and pipa. As the guests call for more, Shen Hwei’s concern shifts from presentation to fatigue: she recognizes that Su Xiangwan has been performing too long, has the music turned on, and lets the dancers take over so the guests can disperse. She later pats Lu Xun on the back and tells him that the evening has demanded enough effort and that everyone should go home and rest. Lu Xun replies that Su Xiangwan is not as delicate as Shen Hwei thinks, but he searches the crowd for her and goes to meet her. Shen Hwei’s pride in the performance is thus paired with a protective awareness of its cost.

Her welcome extends beyond the immediate household. When Lu Xun returns to the family residence while still sick, Shen Hwei is waiting at the entrance and questions why he has come there instead of resting at home. She also welcomes Shen Yiyun affectionately when the younger woman arrives, while still explaining Su Xiangwan’s illness to her to prevent a misunderstanding. These scenes show Shen Hwei as a family host who attends to relationships through practical explanation, hospitality, and concern.

Protection, Boundaries, and Conflict

Shen Hwei’s instinct to protect the people she regards as family can create friction with Su Xiangwan. Shen Yiyun is Lu Xun’s cousin, an adopted child of his uncle rather than a blood relative. When Su Xiangwan objects to Shen Yiyun’s closeness with Lu Xun, Shen Hwei patiently reminds her that Shen Yiyun is his cousin. Su Xiangwan rejects the reassurance, arguing that a relative without a blood tie is still a woman and that such relationships could leave no room for a husband to manage. Shen Hwei’s expression hardens; Su Xiangwan then stands and prepares to leave rather than continue the argument.

The disagreement exposes a limit to the comfort Shen Hwei offers. She seeks to reassure Su Xiangwan by explaining the family relationship, but Su Xiangwan sees the same non-blood kinship as a source of uncertainty. Shen Hwei’s response is not indifference: she tries to mediate, then reacts sharply when her reassurance is challenged. Her maternal loyalty to Lu Xun and her acceptance of Su Xiangwan therefore do not automatically resolve the couple’s anxieties; at this point, they bring competing understandings of family boundaries into the open.

Character and Narrative Significance

Shen Hwei’s role is built from repeated acts of care rather than from a separate plot or public ambition. She feeds and advises, welcomes and consoles, notices illness, explains behavior, and takes pride in Su Xiangwan before an audience. This care is not uniformly gentle: her advice about childbirth and her defense of Shen Yiyun show how concern can carry expectations or press against Su Xiangwan’s need for security. Yet the narrative also establishes the emotional value of her presence through Su Xiangwan’s explicit gratitude for the parental love she and Lu Cheng provide.

The contrast with Su Xiangwan’s childhood gives Shen Hwei’s domestic kindness particular weight. Where Su Xiangwan remembers a mother lost to illness and suicide, Shen Hwei offers the continuing attention of a mother-in-law who draws her into the household and recognizes her as a daughter. She does not erase the earlier loss, and her disagreements with Su Xiangwan remain real; instead, her place in the story shows how affection can create a form of family belonging while leaving old grief and present mistrust unresolved.