Miao Ruolan (simplified: 苗若兰, traditional: 苗若蘭, pinyin: Miáo Ruòlán, jyutping: miu4 joek6 laan4), called Laner (兰儿) by her father, is the only daughter of Miao Renfeng and Nan Lan. In Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain she is seventeen, ten years younger than Hu Fei, to whom she pledges herself despite the feud between the Hu and Miao families. She appears as a small child in Side Story of the Flying Fox.
Biography
Early life
Her father descends from the Miao bodyguard of Li Zicheng. When Ruolan was three, her mother ran off with Tian Guinong. Miao Renfeng pursued them for three days and nights with the child in his arms, then turned back. In Side Story of the Flying Fox she is the little girl at the Shang Family Fort, crying for her mother to hold her (FLY ch. 10; SIDE ch. 2).
Miao Renfeng raised her alone. He told her that he loved her more than his own life, yet would give her up if heaven would return Hu Yidao’s lost son. He deliberately taught her no martial arts, because he meant the Miao Family Swordplay to end with him and the feud with it. She grew up refined and learned, playing the qin and quoting the classics. When she was seven her father told her how Hu Yidao and his wife had died, and from then on she hoped the “poor child” had survived and wished to care for him (ch. 5, 6, 10).
On Jade Brush Peak
Before going to Beijing, her father sent her ahead to stay with Du Ximeng on Jade Brush Peak. There, among Baoshu’s uninvited company, she tells the tale of the four bodyguards and her father’s account of the Cangzhou duel. She promises Ping Asi protection under her father’s name, and keeps her word even after he reveals that he has thrown away all the food. Liu Yuanhe snatches her phoenix-head pearl hairpin, which holds the treasure map (ch. 3, 5, 8).
When Hu Fei arrives for his appointment with the absent Manor Master Du, the assembled fighters hide. Ruolan goes out to receive him with Steward Yu and her maid Qiner. She tells him plainly whose daughter she is, has wine brought, and plays the qin. The two answer each other with verses from the old song Shan Zai Xing. He carries off the wounded Ping Asi, and she is left gazing at the snow (ch. 6).
Before setting off for the treasure, Baoshu seals her acupoints. Tian Qingwen strips her to her underclothes and hides her in a curtained bed. Hu Fei, hiding from Commander Sai’s men, slips into the same bed. When Hu Fei bursts out to save Miao Renfeng from Commander Sai’s trap, Miao sees his daughter half-dressed in the bed and takes Hu Fei for a seducer. Hu Fei wraps her in a quilt and carries her to a cave (ch. 8–9).
There he frees her acupoints. She tells him about her mother’s flight, and he tells her how his parents met at the treasure cave and why he quarrels with Du Ximeng. She promises, “I will learn from your mother, not from mine.” She stops him from killing Baoshu in the treasure cave, but cannot stop him sealing the treasure-seekers inside. She tells him her heart has been his since she was seven (ch. 10).
The ending
Miao Renfeng arrives and leads Hu Fei away to fight. Before going, Hu Fei gives Ruolan the bundle of his mother’s belongings that Du Ximeng has just returned, as the most solemn betrothal gift he can offer. She asks him to bear with her father whatever he does. The novel ends with her standing alone in the moonlit snow. She has opened the bundle: a baby’s clothes and shoes, and the yellow cloth wrapper embroidered with her father’s epithet, in which Miao Renfeng once wrapped the infant Hu Fei. The novel does not say whether Hu Fei will return (ch. 10).
Personality
Miao Ruolan is gentle, refined and composed. She has no martial arts, yet her calm authority silences a hall of quarrelling fighters, and she faces the dreaded Flying Fox without fear. She is compassionate: she protects Ping Asi, and she asks mercy for Baoshu.
Relationships
- Miao Renfeng (Father): raised her alone after her mother left and deliberately kept her from martial arts.
- Nan Lan (Mother): left when Ruolan was three; Ruolan resolves not to follow her example.
- Hu Fei (Betrothed): she pledges herself to him on Jade Brush Peak and receives his mother’s belongings as a betrothal gift.