A’Zhu—A’Zi

A’Zhu and A’Zi are the abandoned daughters of Duan Zhengchun and Ruan Xingzhu, separated in infancy and raised in different households. Their relationship moves from concealed kinship to recognition, but it becomes consequential beyond the sisters themselves when A’Zhu, near death, asks Xiao Feng to look after A’Zi. That plea binds him to a younger sister whose conduct repeatedly tests his patience and grief.

Shared parentage and separation

Duan Zhengchun, a prince of Dali, had a relationship with Ruan Xingzhu while already married. After the couple separated, Ruan could not take her daughters home: she feared her strict maternal grandfather would punish her if he learned of the affair. A’Zhu explained that she and A’Zi were born a year apart, and that their mother sent them to other families when they were little more than infants.

To leave open the possibility that the girls might recognize one another, Ruan had a red character marking their shared father’s surname tattooed on each daughter’s shoulder. A’Zhu was adopted by a family that knew only that her mother’s surname was Ruan. She therefore grew up not knowing that her own surname was Duan, or that A’Zi was her sister.

Recognition through matching tokens

The sisters’ relationship came to light through identifying marks rather than a shared upbringing. After seeing the red mark on A’Zi’s shoulder, A’Zhu recognized that it matched the mark on her own. She also noted that the sisters had matching gold locks, each engraved with twelve characters. Together, these tokens connected the two girls to the same parents and made visible a family bond that their separation had concealed.

A’Zhu disclosed her discovery to Xiao Feng, explaining that she had overheard her parents and younger sister talking. She connected their childhood separation to Xiao Feng’s own painful discovery about his origins, saying that both had been miserable children who grew up without knowing their parents. The resemblance between their histories gave her a way to describe her isolation, while her newly discovered kinship with A’Zi offered the prospect of a family reunion.

A’Zhu’s request and Xiao Feng’s duty

As A’Zhu lay gravely ill, she insisted on finishing what she needed to say, despite Xiao Feng’s concern that she not overexert herself. She asked him to keep an eye on her only younger sister, because she feared A’Zi might go astray. Xiao Feng tried to reassure her that they would find A’Zi after she recovered; A’Zhu instead imagined the sisters joining him beyond Yanmen Pass to ride, hunt, and herd cattle and sheep. The future she described remained a hope, not an event the account confirms.

A’Zi emerged from beneath the bridge and rejected the labels of elder sister and brother-in-law, saying she would not go with them. Even so, A’Zhu’s request shaped Xiao Feng’s treatment of her. Later, when A’Zi mocked him while he was trying to learn the identity of the person behind the Beggar Society’s old conspiracy, he restrained his anger because he remembered A’Zhu’s final plea. He resolved to do his best to correct A’Zi’s conduct, reasoning that she was young and willful, despite recognizing the malice in her actions.

A bond that outlasts the sisters’ reunion

The sisters’ relationship does not erase the difference between them. Xiao Feng tells A’Zi that A’Zhu is far better than she is, and A’Zi challenges him over whether he cares for her in her own right or only because her sister entrusted her to him. His answer makes the source of his obligation plain: he would not otherwise involve himself in her affairs, but he regards A’Zhu’s request as binding.

A’Zhu and A’Zi’s sisterhood thus persists in the plot chiefly through recognition, separation, and delegated care. The shoulder marks and gold locks reveal the family connection; A’Zhu’s plea turns that connection into a responsibility Xiao Feng carries after her death. A’Zi’s later choices make the charge difficult to fulfill, but they do not dissolve the promise that joins her to her sister’s memory.