Song Yuner Abandons Her Pursuit of Lu Xun and Leaves Yancheng is the decisive withdrawal of Lu Xun’s former neighbor and old friend from a love triangle that has already ceased to offer her a credible future. The event takes place while Lu Xun is injured and temporarily unable to leave, with Su Xiangwan beside him and Lin Yanche also present. What begins as Song Yuner’s insistence that she remain to care for Lu Xun becomes a public recognition that Lu Xun’s emotional allegiance has moved elsewhere; her departure is therefore both a personal surrender and a reordering of the relationships surrounding Lu Xun, Su Xiangwan, and Lin Yanche.

Causes and Background

Song Yuner’s persistence is sustained by the fact that Lu Xun once saved her and, when they were alone, treated her with warmth. She interprets that history as evidence that she still has a chance, even though his conduct in Su Xiangwan’s presence makes clear that he no longer places her at the center of his attention. Her attachment is also bound to a broader pattern of pursuit and uncertainty: she continues to test whether Lu Xun’s protection signifies love, while Lu Xun increasingly treats the question as settled.

The immediate circumstances sharpen the conflict. Lu Xun is injured, and Su Xiangwan has returned obediently to his side to watch over him. Lu Xun then tells Lin Yanche to take Song Yuner back because he may not be able to leave for the time being. Lin Yanche agrees to send her away, although he does not want to leave Yancheng himself. The practical arrangement exposes the emotional hierarchy: Lin Yanche is being asked to remove Song Yuner from the scene, while Su Xiangwan remains the woman Lu Xun expects to have beside him.

What Happens

Song Yuner immediately objects. She says that she must stay behind to take care of Lu Xun, presenting her refusal as concern for an injured man rather than as another attempt to remain close to him. Lin Yanche counters that Lu Xun already has a woman to care for him. Song Yuner responds that Lu Xun had asked Su Xiangwan to look after him because he had been injured, and she frames that arrangement as unfair treatment. Her argument tries to turn care into a matter of justice, but it also reveals the deeper issue: she wants Lu Xun to acknowledge that her devotion still gives her a place beside him.

Lu Xun answers by reminding her of the purpose for which she originally came. He warns that distraction will prevent her from accomplishing anything. Song Yuner then declares that she has spoken with Yama and failed to persuade him; because he insists on protecting Su Qingrou, she says that she will let go. The tears accompanying the declaration show that this is not effortless acceptance. Her words are directed both at Lin Yanche and at Lu Xun, making the supposed renunciation partly a final appeal for recognition.

Lu Xun does not take the bait. He tells her that, if she has let go, she should go back, adding that having Su Xiangwan beside him at night is enough. This is the event’s decisive value shift: Song Yuner’s hope of remaining necessary becomes explicit exclusion. Lu Xun no longer leaves room for an ambiguous arrangement in which he might rescue her, comfort her, and still permit her to compete with his wife. His statement makes Su Xiangwan’s place immediate and exclusive.

Song Yuner replies that she understands and says she will go, while promising Lu Xun time to see himself clearly. She turns away with her head held high, a gesture of controlled dignity that contrasts with the tears she has just shed. Su Xiangwan calls after her, and Song Yuner refuses to speak with her. Su Xiangwan answers that she does not want to speak with Song Yuner either, then tells her to take her bag so that she will not miss the time to return. The exchange strips the scene of sentimental reconciliation: the two women recognize the hostility between them, and Song Yuner leaves without receiving either sympathy or a private farewell from Lu Xun.

Departure and Immediate Consequences

Song Yuner reluctantly returns to collect her bag and gives Lu Xun one last look, but he does not look back. The refusal matters because she remembers how warmly he treated her when the two of them were alone. In front of Su Xiangwan, however, he offers no comparable sign. Whether Song Yuner interprets that earlier warmth as genuine, situational, or merely insufficient, the present scene denies her a new promise.

The ward door closes on the three-way confrontation, but the scene preserves the sound of Song Yuner’s unwillingness after she has gone. Her departure is therefore not represented as a clean emotional transformation. She performs acceptance, walks away proudly, and verbally agrees to leave, yet the narrative keeps her resistance audible after the physical exit. The external action is complete before the inner separation is complete.

Her removal also changes the practical balance around Lu Xun. Lin Yanche is assigned to take her back, while Su Xiangwan remains with Lu Xun. The decision confirms that Lu Xun’s injury has not revived his former ambiguity; instead, vulnerability intensifies his preference for Su Xiangwan’s presence. Care becomes a declaration of marital priority, and Song Yuner’s attempt to claim the role is rejected in front of the people most capable of understanding its implications.

Character and Relationship Significance

For Song Yuner, the event is a retreat from pursuit rather than proof that pursuit never mattered. She has not stopped caring because her feelings have been disproved; she stops because Lu Xun’s present choice has become too unmistakable to contest without losing further dignity. Her promise to give him time to see himself clearly preserves a final trace of confidence in her own interpretation of their past, but Lu Xun’s indifference makes that confidence increasingly untenable.

For Lu Xun, the departure is a boundary-setting act. He does not merely allow Song Yuner to leave; he instructs Lin Yanche to take her away and states that Su Xiangwan is sufficient company. His response converts private preference into public conduct. The relationship with Song Yuner, once protected by history, rescue, and emotional ambiguity, is displaced by the marriage bond with Su Xiangwan.

For Su Xiangwan, the scene offers security without tenderness toward her rival. She returns to Lu Xun’s side and remains there, while her brief exchange with Song Yuner is sharp and openly adversarial. Her presence is not passive: it is the condition under which Song Yuner’s access to Lu Xun becomes impossible. The scene thus links marital security with possession of space, time, and care.

Lin Yanche’s position is more complicated. He performs the practical work of removing Song Yuner, yet he does not want to leave Yancheng, and Song Yuner’s declaration that she will let go is aimed at him as much as at Lu Xun. Her withdrawal therefore intersects with Lin Yanche’s own entanglement with Su Qingrou. The event does not resolve every relationship around the group, but it separates Song Yuner from Lu Xun while leaving the wider emotional damage visible.

Narrative Meaning

The event turns the pursuit of Lu Xun into an ended possibility. Its force comes less from physical movement than from the contrast between Song Yuner’s effort to remain useful and Lu Xun’s calm insistence that Su Xiangwan is enough. The repeated language of care—who may stay, who is needed, and who has the right to look after an injured man—functions as the scene’s emotional currency. Song Yuner attempts to pay with devotion; Lu Xun accepts only the care associated with his wife.

The departure also echoes the book’s recurring tension between protection and control. Lu Xun’s injury makes him dependent on others, yet he retains the authority to decide who may be near him. Song Yuner’s concern is not allowed to determine the arrangement, while Su Xiangwan’s place is reinforced by Lu Xun’s command. The scene presents affection not as an abstract confession but as the power to define proximity.

By the end, Song Yuner has physically left, but the narrative does not pretend that the emotional consequences vanish with her. Her tears, her final look, her refusal to surrender gracefully in private, and the unwillingness audible beyond the closed ward door all preserve the cost of the decision. She abandons her pursuit because Lu Xun has chosen Su Xiangwan in a way that no longer permits a rival interpretation. Her exit closes one route toward Lu Xun, while exposing the grief and humiliation concealed beneath the language of letting go.