Qin Hongmian and Mu Wanqing

Qin Hongmian and Mu Wanqing are mother and daughter whose relationship is shaped by their shared attachment to Duan Zhengchun and Qin Hongmian’s hostility toward his other partners. At Little Mirror Lake, they arrive together intending to confront Ruan Xingzhu, but their encounter turns into a private vigil for Duan Zhengchun: Qin Hongmian admits she wants to see him while not wanting to meet him, and Mu Wanqing stays beside her as they wait.

Family and Background

Mu Wanqing is Qin Hongmian’s daughter and one of the children Duan Zhengchun fathered through his relationships in the Central Plains. Qin Hongmian had once been his lover; their daughter’s parentage connects her to the wider family network around Duan Zhengchun, alongside his wife Dao Baifeng and other partners, including Ruan Xingzhu. The narrative presents Qin Hongmian’s attachment to Duan Zhengchun not as an isolated romance but as one strand in a complicated family history, where affection, rivalry, and the circumstances of his status overlap.

Qin Hongmian’s grievance is directed less at Duan Zhengchun for having relationships elsewhere than at the women she considers rivals. She resents those she believes have drawn him away from her. That distinction helps define the mother and daughter’s shared position: Mu Wanqing is not merely accompanying her mother on a journey, but is implicated in a contest over the man who is her father and Qin Hongmian’s former lover.

The Journey to Little Mirror Lake

After learning that Duan Zhengchun had another lover, Ruan Xingzhu, living in seclusion by Little Mirror Lake, Qin Hongmian and Mu Wanqing went there intending to kill her. Their arrival was part of a wider pursuit of Duan Zhengchun’s other partners: after receiving word from her younger fellow disciple Gan Baobao, Qin Hongmian had already gone with Mu Wanqing to try to kill Dao Baifeng and another of his lovers. Neither attempt succeeded. At the lake, their immediate target was Ruan Xingzhu, whom they believed had taken a place in Duan Zhengchun’s affections that belonged to Qin Hongmian.

Their confrontation with Ruan Xingzhu does not proceed as planned. When Ruan Xingzhu recognizes Qin Hongmian, she tries to soften the encounter with flattering words, while Qin Hongmian refuses the conciliatory address of elder sister and identifies herself by name. The exchange makes the rivalry explicit, but it also gives Mu Wanqing a direct view of her mother’s volatile position among Duan Zhengchun’s partners. Qin Hongmian and Mu Wanqing then leave together, only to return secretly after realizing that Ruan Xingzhu has misled them about whether Duan Zhengchun is nearby.

A Daughter’s Loyalty and Longing

The clue that turns them back is a pair of men’s shoes beneath the couch in Ruan Xingzhu’s bedroom. Qin Hongmian notices that the shoes are embroidered with the words “Mountain” and “River,” and that they are new, with mud still on the soles. She concludes they belong to Duan Zhengchun and that he must be close. Mu Wanqing recognizes what the discovery implies: Ruan Xingzhu had concealed his presence, and the father they came seeking may be within reach.

Mu Wanqing responds with anger at her father, saying that he has no conscience and that her mother need not see him. Yet Qin Hongmian says she does want to see him, even though she does not want to meet him. She reflects that they have been apart for many days and that both he and she have grown old. Her words expose the tenderness under the hostility: the woman who came intending to attack a rival still longs for the absent man. Mu Wanqing answers with a sorrowful acceptance rather than further argument, sharing the emotional weight of a reunion neither mother nor daughter can straightforwardly claim.

Waiting in Hiding

Qin Hongmian decides that they will watch from nearby because she expects Duan Zhengchun to arrive soon. She pushes aside the long grass and hides there; Mu Wanqing takes cover behind a tree. Their actions turn the pursuit into a vigil. The mother chooses to remain close enough to see the man she says she does not want to meet, while the daughter follows her into concealment, even after declaring that he is not worth seeking out.

The scene holds their bond in this contradiction. Qin Hongmian’s resentment toward Duan Zhengchun’s other partners has brought them to Little Mirror Lake, but beneath the planned confrontation lies a wish for contact with him that she cannot openly resolve. Mu Wanqing’s loyalty does not erase her own sorrow or her anger at her father; instead, she stays with her mother as both wait. Their relationship is therefore shown through shared movement and withheld encounter: they arrive together, retreat together, and finally watch from hiding for a man whose presence draws them close even as they avoid meeting him.