Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: Rice-and-Salt Days: Letter of Vituperation Summary & Analysis

People begin rebuilding their lives. Lily vows to never again enter the outside world of men. She and Snow Flower see each other often, and their husbands allow them to sleep together. They also continue to travel to Puwei for festivals, where Aunt and Uncle have become beloved "grandparents" to the children of Elder Brother and Second Brother. When Lily and Snow Flower make offerings at the Temple of Gupo, they discuss their daughters' impending foot binding. Lily realizes that while she is very happy, Snow Flower doesn't gain weight and appears emotionally as though she jumped off the cliff in the mountains.

Lily's husband warns her that Snow Flower isn't as strong as Lily is, and says that not every man is like him. Snow Flower confirms this when she admits that the butcher continues to beat her often. Snow Flower refuses to leave her husband, though, saying that she must protect her eldest son. Lily as the narrator says that she didn't have enough patience with Snow Flower then, and instead peppered Snow Flower with questions like "why couldn't she try to be a better wife?" Lily keeps asking why Snow Flower can't do what Lily did, and wrap herself in convention that could keep her safe. Lily says she didn't realize that Snow Flower's spirit was broken.

In the middle of August, Snow Flower and her children plan to visit Lily for the Mid-Autumn festival, but Lotus appears on Lily's doorstep instead. She carries Lily and Snow Flower's fan wrapped in silk and gives it to Lily. Lily is suddenly afraid. She opens the fan and reads Snow Flower's note, which says that she has too many troubles and that Lily no longer has to listen to Snow Flower's complaints. Snow Flower writes, "three sworn sisters have promised to love me as I am." Lily doesn't understand Snow Flower's use of "love." She believes their laotong relationship doesn't allow Snow Flower to join other sisters, and decides that Snow Flower doesn't care for her anymore.

Lily realizes that the sworn sisters must be Lotus, Plum Blossom, and Willow, the women they lived with in the mountains. Lily feels immense pain, but reacts like the Lady Lu she now is and falls back on conventions rather than feel her emotions. She begins to assess Snow Flower's faults until she's found a pattern of deceit and betrayal that went back to the beginning of their relationship. Lily remembers what she did to Mama when she found out Mama lied to her, and vows to treat Snow Flower with the same sort of distance. Lily doesn't write Snow Flower back, and doesn't start Jade's foot binding on the date that she and Snow Flower set.

A week later, Lotus comes again with a letter from Snow Flower, asking why Lily hasn't written. Lily burns it, as well as the next few that come as she starts Jade's foot binding. Lily explains that she started "Cutting a Disease from My Heart," or erasing all memories of Snow Flower. She constructs a flower tower to get rid of the ghost tormenting her and burns all of the letters from Snow Flower she can find with it. Lily cannot, however, find the fan, and Snow Flower continues to haunt her.

Jade bears much of Lily's suffering. Lily wraps her feet tightly and channels her anger into chasing Jade across the room. She repeats what Mama told her about a lady letting no ugliness into her life. Madame Wang visits Lily several months later. Lily knows that Madame Wang is a shrewd businesswoman, but her love for Snow Flower is her greatest weakness.

Lily doesn't offer Madame Wang tea and tells her it's too early to find Jade a marriage match. Madame Wang pulls out a fan and mentions the laotong match between Jade and Spring Moon. Lily asks for the fan and reads the note on it, which is nearly the same as what Lily received from Snow Flower many years ago. Madame Wang calls Lily out on severing her match with Snow Flower, and Lily replies that she cannot match Jade with a butcher's daughter. She continues that Madame Wang told them years ago to not allow "concubines" into their relationship, asking if Madame Wang knows what Snow Flower has done.

Lily tosses the fan at Madame Wang. Madame Wang agrees to pass the message to Snow Flower, and then kindly says that while Lily once had nothing but pretty feet, she now has an abundance of malice.

On the day of Snow Flower's cousin's Sitting and Singing ceremony, which Lily and Snow Flower had planned on attending together, Lily hopes that Snow Flower won't come. However, both Snow Flower and Madame Wang are in attendance. Lily sits across the circle and participates in the singing and chanting.

The bride's mother asks Snow Flower to tell them of her life, and Lily is shocked to hear Snow Flower announce that she will sing a Letter of Vituperation (a public grievance). Snow Flower starts, "the pheasant squawks and the sound carries far." She lists all the miseries of her life and then says that her laotong was her one happiness in life for 27 years. She asks Lily why she turned away, and why she refused Spring Moon as Jade's laotong. She begs Lily to not make a third generation of women suffer.

Lily begins her own Letter of Vituperation in retaliation. She says that all women know hard lives, but that Snow Flower thinks her own hard life is special. Lily cries as she tells Snow Flower that she always remained true, and accuses Snow Flower of embracing sworn sisters. Lily continues that as women, they have to accept when their husbands turn away from them, but it's merciless when women turn away from other women. She grows even angrier and begins telling the room everything she can about Snow Flower, including that she and the butcher don't obey the laws regarding having sex after birth.

Lily tells the reader that in the moment she thought she was free, but realizes now that she was becoming trapped in hatred for Snow Flower. Snow Flower, crying, addresses Lily and says that the women in her village don't criticize her, but comfort her and visit her. She says she feels like a bird flying without its mate. Lily thinks of her grievance against Mama and ignores Snow Flower. Snow Flower gets up and leaves, and not even Madame Wang follows her.

Lily tells the reader that when she looks back on that day, she knows that she was despicable. However, she gained the respect of every other woman there by exposing a woman who did not conform, and destroyed Snow Flower in the process. Lily's Song of Vituperation became known and news of Snow Flower's disgrace spread. Lily is crippled by these events. She can't figure out the point of being Lady Lu without love.