Granny Tan

Granny Tan, also known as Xiao Juan, is the wife of Grandpa Tan and the former apprentice-sister of Zhao Qiansun. Her brief but consequential role brings together an old attachment, the Beggar Society’s search for the “leading big brother,” and the hidden parentage of A'Zhu and A'Zi. She is remembered both for keeping the identity of a politically important figure secret and for the unresolved circumstances of her death.

Identity and Background

Granny Tan belongs to the generation of martial-world figures connected with the events at Yanmen Pass. In the present-day investigation, Qiao Feng recognizes her near Elder Xu’s memorial ceremony and knows that she and Zhao Qiansun had once been apprentice-brother and apprentice-sister. Their youthful connection has not, in Zhao Qiansun’s view, lost its emotional importance, though Granny Tan is now married to Grandpa Tan.

Her household places her within a network of obligations that the search for the “leading big brother” threatens to expose. She is not merely an observer of the old affair: Zhao Qiansun’s loyalty to the concealed man and her own decision not to name him make her a central participant in the withholding of the truth.

The Meeting with Zhao Qiansun

After Qiao Feng sees Granny Tan and Zhao Qiansun moving separately through the city, he follows Zhao Qiansun to a large wooden boat beside a canal. Hidden above the cabin, Qiao Feng overhears Granny Tan address Zhao Qiansun as her elder apprentice-brother. She reminds him that they are both old, that regret cannot undo their youth, and that Grandpa Tan had already been displeased when he encountered Zhao Qiansun in Weihui. She urges Zhao Qiansun not to create further difficulty for her.

Zhao Qiansun asks her to sing songs from their past, saying he fears he may not live long enough to hear them again. Granny Tan initially resists, then agrees to sing. The meeting is presented as a private return to shared memories, not as a renewed romance. Qiao Feng, however, sees an opportunity: he believes both may know the identity of the “leading big brother” and decides their attachment could give him leverage.

Refusal to Reveal the Secret

Qiao Feng blocks both visitors’ acupuncture points and demands that Granny Tan answer one question: who wrote to Chief Wang of the Beggar Society about Qiao Feng? He promises to release them and keep the encounter secret if she tells the truth. Granny Tan says she will inform him if she knows, but Zhao Qiansun immediately warns her not to speak. He declares that he owes the hidden man a debt and would rather die than disclose his name.

Qiao Feng then turns the threat toward Granny Tan’s reputation and Grandpa Tan’s honor. He tells her that disclosure could spare them all further trouble, while Zhao Qiansun says he will kill himself if Grandpa Tan learns of the meeting. Granny Tan understands that Zhao Qiansun’s decades-long devotion to her has never before been expressed through such a request, and that he is prepared to die to protect the person to whom he is indebted. She therefore refuses Qiao Feng’s demand, telling him that what he does with the information is his own choice and insisting that she and Zhao Qiansun have clear consciences. Her polite answer is nonetheless final: she will not identify the “leading big brother.”

Qiao Feng gives up trying to force an answer. He takes a jade hairpin from Granny Tan’s hair and leaves the boat, then goes to find Grandpa Tan. This departure sets up the next confrontation: Qiao Feng brings Granny Tan’s husband to the place where he believes the meeting has taken place, turning a private conversation into a public test of honor and trust.

Death and Unresolved Circumstances

When Grandpa Tan looks into the cabin, he sees Granny Tan and Zhao Qiansun leaning against one another. He reacts in anger, but discovers that both are already dead. Granny Tan has been dead for some time; Zhao Qiansun is also lifeless. Grandpa Tan’s grief and indignation turn toward Qiao Feng, who is himself astonished. He says that he had only blocked their acupuncture points before leaving and cannot explain their deaths.

Examining Zhao Qiansun, Qiao Feng finds no weapon wound or blood. Instead, a large dark bruise on the chest appears consistent with a heavy palm strike, strangely resembling an injury Zhao Qiansun may have inflicted on himself. The scene leaves the cause and sequence of the deaths unresolved in the evidence presented here. It also reverses the apparent meaning of the cabin encounter: what Qiao Feng brought Grandpa Tan to witness as an incriminating meeting becomes the discovery of two deaths, with the evidence unable to establish how they occurred.

Connection to the Hidden Family History

Granny Tan’s place in the larger story is linked to the concealed identity of the man sought as the “leading big brother.” Later, A'Zhu and A'Zi’s parentage is disclosed: both are daughters of Duan Zhengchun and Ruan Xingzhu, born a year apart and given away in infancy after their parents separated. To make future recognition possible, their mother arranged for each girl to bear a red “Duan” character tattooed on her shoulder; the matching marks and gold locks reveal their connection.

The political history surrounding the old Yanmen Pass expedition also explains why the secret carries such weight. Duan Zhengchun had joined the Central Plains martial artists who intercepted the Khitan warriors, ostensibly in defense of Great Song but, as the account explains, also to protect Dali from a possible later invasion. Granny Tan’s refusal does not itself expose the concealed man, but her encounter with Qiao Feng belongs to the same chain of withheld knowledge through which the past, political loyalty, and family identity become entangled. Her story ends without a confession or a settled account of her death; the secret survives her silence, while the human cost of that silence remains visible in the boat’s cabin.