Zhu Danchen

Zhu Danchen is a senior retainer and bodyguard of the House of Duan, trusted to protect Duan Zhengchun and carry messages on his behalf. At Little Mirror Lake, his service becomes a test of loyalty amid a dangerous attack: he fights beside the prince’s other retainers, tries to defend Chu Wanli, and witnesses Chu’s death. Later, he conveys Duan Zhengchun’s urgent message to Ruan Xingzhu, then leaves without acknowledging A'Zi, whose conduct toward Chu has alienated him.

Identity and Service

Zhu Danchen serves Duan Zhengchun as one of the four Grand Bodyguards. He accompanies the prince on a journey from Dali into the Central Plains, undertaken to investigate the killing of Venerable Xuan Bei and pursue doubts about the accusation against the Murong Clan. During the visit to Ruan Xingzhu at Little Mirror Lake, the bodyguards spread out to guard Duan Zhengchun, placing Zhu within the protective circle around his lord.

His first appearance in this sequence is indirect. At the bluestone bridge, he has drawn in reverse, and Xiao Feng initially misreads his purpose. When Zhu later reaches the group and calls the middle-aged man his lord, Xiao Feng recognizes that Zhu and the other armed retainers belong to Duan Zhengchun’s party. The revelation changes the bridge encounter from an apparent obstruction into a sign that the parties have been approaching the same household crisis from different directions.

The Defense at Little Mirror Lake

Duan Yanqing’s arrival overwhelms the scattered guards. Gu Ducheng and Fu Sigui are injured, while Chu Wanli is caught in A'Zi’s Flexible Silk Net. After Xiao Feng helps rescue Gu and Fu, Zhu and the other senior retainers regroup around Duan Zhengchun to meet the attackers. Zhu’s immediate task is both practical and personal: he tries to free Chu from the net, whose threads cannot be cut with knives and whose knotting resists ordinary attempts to untie it.

When the fighting spreads, Zhu joins Hua Hegen in attacking Yue the Third, one of the Four Evils, from two sides. He carries iron brushes, while Hua Hegen wields a steel shovel. The pair’s pincer attack is not a display of ceremonial form; Duan Yanqing is too formidable for the defenders to rely on one-on-one contests, and their coordinated assault reflects the pressure of defending Duan Zhengchun against a superior enemy.

Zhu also takes part in the effort to contain the other attackers. When A'Zi’s actions have left Chu without his iron fishing rod, Chu takes Fu Sigui’s copper staff and joins Fan Hua against Ye Erniang. As Chu’s conduct becomes increasingly reckless, Zhu and the others call for him to withdraw and rest. Zhu then rushes to pull him back, but Chu strikes him in the face with an elbow. The moment turns the defenders’ efforts inward: Zhu is no longer simply fighting the enemy, but trying to prevent a fellow retainer from sacrificing himself.

Chu Wanli’s Death and Its Meaning

Chu continues fighting Duan Yanqing despite repeated calls to stop. Zhu again urges him to fall back, but Chu keeps pressing the attack. By the time Chu has exchanged roughly thirty moves with Duan Yanqing, he has sustained numerous wounds and is still unwilling to yield. Zhu understands that continuing will cost Chu his life and wants to intervene, but cannot halt the fight in time.

After throwing the copper staff at Duan Yanqing, Chu advances again and finally turns to Duan Zhengchun to declare that he would rather die than be dishonored and that he has never failed the House of Duan. He then turns to Zhu, addresses him as a good brother, and begins to say that he must go first. Before he can finish, he dies standing upright. Zhu is the companion singled out in Chu’s final words, making their bond more than an incidental feature of the bodyguard unit: Chu’s last acknowledgment is directed to the fellow retainer who has repeatedly tried to save him.

The account explains Chu’s fatal resolve through the humiliation he feels after A'Zi traps him in the net. As a servant of Duan Zhengchun, he sees no way to answer that indignity without appearing to challenge his lord’s daughter. In that setting, defeat in martial arts is not itself an enduring disgrace, but the difference in status makes the humiliation difficult for Chu to escape. Zhu’s attempts to free him, and later to draw him away from Duan Yanqing, cannot undo that constraint. After Chu dies, even the injured Gu and Fu rise with the intention of fighting to the death, showing how his end intensifies the retainers’ determination to defend their lord.

Messenger and Witness

Later, at Little Mirror Lake, Zhu arrives to report that Duan Zhengchun cannot return that day because an urgent matter requires him to go north in search of Murong Fu. Ruan Xingzhu had mistaken the approaching footsteps for the prince’s and had come out expecting to see him; Zhu’s message replaces that expectation with another separation. He assures her that Duan Zhengchun intends to return after dealing with the matter, but she answers that his promises of a quick return have previously left her waiting for years.

Zhu’s delivery is formal and restrained: he bows and identifies himself as a subordinate carrying his lord’s order. Yet the message brings private disappointment into the open. Ruan Xingzhu is left without Duan Zhengchun, while Zhu—already upset by Chu Wanli’s death—does not stay to comfort her or engage with A'Zi. He bows again, turns away, and does not look at the girl. His departure registers a personal judgment without any stated confrontation: the loyalty he owes the prince does not erase his indignation at the treatment that helped bring about Chu’s death.

Narrative Role

Zhu Danchen’s appearances link service, kinship, and the costs of loyalty. On the battlefield he acts as a coordinated defender of Duan Zhengchun and as Chu Wanli’s concerned companion; afterward he becomes the bearer of news that prolongs Ruan Xingzhu’s separation from the prince. These roles place him between public duty and private feeling, without suggesting that either can be cleanly set aside.

His restrained actions carry particular weight beside the more dramatic choices around him. Zhu cannot free Chu from the net, stop his final attack, or change Duan Zhengchun’s decision to travel north. He can fight, call for Chu to retreat, try to pull him away, and deliver the prince’s message faithfully. His silence toward A'Zi after Chu’s death is therefore significant: it marks the lasting consequence of the lake-side crisis in the conduct of the household’s loyal servants, even as Zhu continues to carry out his duties.