Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: Sitting Quietly: Regret Summary & Analysis

Lily tells the reader she's now too old to perform any household chores, and she's too tired to shoo flies off her hands. She's lived too long. After Snow Flower died, she mentally began her years of "sitting quietly," even though her rice-and-salt days were by no means over.

Lily says that she needed Snow Flower's children so she could try to make amends to her laotong, but it's hard to be generous when you don't know how. In the months after Snow Flower's death, Lily took her place in Spring Moon's wedding ceremonies. On her wedding night, Spring Moon threw herself into the village well and died. Gossip circulated comparing Spring Moon to Snow Flower, and Lily shut it down when she heard it. Lily felt as though she'd failed Snow Flower miserably, and recorded Spring Moon's death on their fan.

Next, Lily turned to Snow Flower's son. He'd recently married and his wife was pregnant, and Lily hated the thought of her living with the butcher's family. Lily asked her husband to help, and Dalang hired Snow Flower's son to collect taxes and gave him his own house.

When Lily turned 50 and stopped menstruating, people in her household began waiting on her. She wished to abstain from bed business and went against her earlier plan to never bring concubines into her home. She found three concubines to entertain Dalang, and the fact that she found them herself prevented jealousy and pettiness in the upstairs chamber. Lily's relationship with her husband became companionable. He sat with her in the women's chamber and talked with her, and their home was full of grandchildren.

There was one child, though, that Lily desperately wanted: Snow Flower's granddaughter, the daughter of Snow Flower's son. Lily's husband obliged her wishes, and Lily sent for Madame Wang when the girl's feet were about to be bound. Madame Wang looked very old, and Lily believed she didn't recognize her, but when Lily mentioned who the girl was, Madame Wang proved otherwise. Madame Wang tried to argue, but gave in when Lily said that she believed Snow Flower would've approved. Lily was then able to bring the girl, named Peony, under her care, and even bound her feet herself. She spoke to Peony of Snow Flower, nu shu, and friendship.

Lily's husband died when Lily was 57, and after that the days, weeks, and years began running together. Lily saw everyone die, including Yonggang and Jade. Lily’s first son became a jinshi scholar and has already bought Lily a lacquered coffin. Peony is now 37 and has five children. In their faces, Lily sees both Snow Flower and herself. Lily is content knowing that both her blood and Snow Flower's will rule the house of Lu—as Peony’s husband is Lily's grandson.

When Lily was traveling to Jintian to teach Peony nu shu, women began asking her if she would copy down their autobiographies. Lily charged a small fee and tried to get the women to value their lives, most of which were miserable. She wonders why a man would treasure his wife if he sees her as little better than a chicken or a water buffalo. Hearing these stories made Lily consider her own life, in which she treated Snow Flower, the one person she truly loved, like a husband would treat a wife. Lily says she's reaching out now to Snow Flower and others who witnessed her life, and she asks them for forgiveness.