You Tanzi's Iron Mask

You TanZhi’s iron mask is a custom-made covering that conceals his face from Xiao Feng and leaves him unable to remove it. Commissioned at AhZi’s suggestion, it is fitted through a calculated process that begins with a face mould and ends with the mask and a second iron piece joined around his head. The object serves AhZi’s plan, but its presentation to Xiao Feng also exposes the different ways the two regard You TanZhi: she treats the mask as a successful trick, while he refuses to make its wearer suffer further merely to satisfy her curiosity.

Design and Commission

The mask is first seen in a dim stone workshop, where three Khitan men bring You TanZhi before a blacksmith. Made of wrought iron, it has four openings for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Its fit is exact: You TanZhi realizes that the men had pressed wet flour onto his face earlier to make a mould. The custom fitting makes clear that this is not a loose disguise he could take off at will, but an object deliberately fashioned to match and cover his face.

The blacksmith repeatedly compares the mask with You TanZhi’s features, reheats it in a furnace, and adjusts its shape against his cheekbones and forehead. A second, curved iron piece is prepared for the back of his head. Once both pieces are heated and fitted, they meet around his head as a closed iron covering. The blacksmith, described as Yanjing’s finest ironworker, joins the two halves seamlessly. The mask’s construction is thus both careful craft and an instrument of confinement: precision ensures that it will stay in place.

Fitting and Concealment

The fitting is carried out while You TanZhi is held down by five men. After the mask is secured to the front of his face, the blacksmith places the second piece at the back of his head, enclosing it. You TanZhi later finds that the edges have been welded firmly; pulling at the mask cannot free him. He eventually recognizes that it has sealed his head and that he cannot remove it himself.

The mask’s openings allow him to see and speak, while the narrow mouth seam permits only limited eating. Food must be shredded before it can pass through, and he cannot use his teeth to bite AhZi. This practical restriction is part of her purpose in ordering the mask. Its role is not simply to hide his appearance: it also controls what he can do, turning an object made for disguise into an everyday constraint.

AhZi’s Plan

The room attendant’s captain arranges the work at AhZi’s suggestion. She asks after You TanZhi while he recovers, initially concerned that he might die and render the effort useless. Once she learns that he will survive, she orders him brought to the Beginning Fortune Palace, her residence. YeLu HongJi had granted her the title of Beginning Fortune Princess and bestowed the palace upon her.

AhZi’s central aim is to keep Xiao Feng from recognizing You TanZhi. When she sees the finished mask, she is pleased that even if her brother-in-law stands beside him, he will not know who he is. She rewards the attendant with another fifty silvers for the blacksmith. You TanZhi, looking through the eyeholes, watches her and responds to her appearance and voice with admiration, despite the bitter circumstances in which the mask has been fitted.

Xiao Feng’s Response

When Xiao Feng enters the palace, he notices the blood on the floor and You TanZhi’s unusual iron-covered head. AhZi presents him as an “Iron Clown” from GaoChang, claiming that the man was born frightening in appearance and that his parents made him wear the mask. She asks Xiao Feng to remove it so she can see what he looks like beneath it. You TanZhi, who fears Xiao Feng will recognize him if the mask comes off, is desperate for it to remain in place.

Xiao Feng taps the iron and judges it too carefully made to ruin. More importantly, he sees You TanZhi’s fear and declines to remove the covering, reasoning that someone accustomed to wearing a mask since childhood might not be able to live normally if it were forcibly taken off. AhZi’s invented explanation has temporarily disguised the mask’s purpose, but her request gives Xiao Feng a chance to choose whether he will participate in her cruelty. He refuses. His response preserves the concealment AhZi needs, while making clear that he will not treat You TanZhi’s distress as entertainment.

Narrative Function

The mask changes the relationship between appearance and recognition into a material fact. Xiao Feng inspects its ironwork but cannot see through it to the identity AhZi is hiding; You TanZhi, meanwhile, fears that the disguise may be the only thing preventing discovery. The same object therefore protects the secret and imprisons the person who bears it.

Its presentation also sharpens the contrast between the characters’ attitudes. AhZi celebrates the mask as an effective device and relishes the restrictions it imposes, whereas Xiao Feng notices You TanZhi’s terror and declines to remove it. The mask’s success is consequently double-edged: it accomplishes concealment, but its construction makes that concealment inseparable from You TanZhi’s loss of control over his own face and head.