You Ju

You Ju, known as the second master of the You family, was a prominent martial artist of Juxian Manor and the father of You Tanzhi. His attempt to redirect his physically frail son from martial arts toward literary study ended in failure; after You Ju and his brother You Ji died by suicide following the battle at Juxian Manor, You Tanzhi was left alone, his grievance against Xiao Feng becoming the purpose that carried him north.

Identity and Family

You Ju belonged to the You family of Juxian Manor, whose brothers were known as the Twin You Heroes. The family’s standing was bound to its martial reputation, but You Ju’s place in the story is also defined by his role as a father: he recognized that his son was ill suited to the family’s fighting style and chose to have him educated instead. That decision, made out of concern for You Tanzhi’s limitations and safety, set him at odds with the boy’s interests without changing the course of their unhappy relationship.

You Ju was the younger generation’s connection to a household that had once carried considerable weight in the martial world. When You Tanzhi later identified himself as a member of the You family, he named his father and uncle’s deaths as the reason he sought Xiao Feng. The family’s reputation thus survives in the story less as a source of protection than as a burden inherited by its sole remaining young member.

A Failed Change of Path

You Tanzhi began learning martial arts from his father at an early age. His build was thin and weak, however, and the forceful methods favored by the You brothers did not suit him. After three years of training, he had made little progress. When he was twelve, You Ju and his brother You Ji concluded that the boy’s poor skill would bring ridicule upon their family and leave him vulnerable: opponents who knew he was the son and nephew of the Twin You Heroes might attack him without restraint. They therefore ended his martial training, and You Ju hired a tutor to teach him literature.

The change did not produce the studious life You Ju hoped for. You Tanzhi remained distracted and preferred boxing to lessons. When his teacher asked about the pleasure of learning, the boy answered that he had enjoyed learning from his father; the teacher rebuked him for confusing scholarship with martial play. You Tanzhi took the rebuke as an insult to his father and drove the tutor away. He repeatedly dismissed later teachers in the same fashion. You Ju beat him several times, but punishment made the boy more stubborn rather than more tractable. Eventually, unable to teach him, You Ju sighed and stopped intervening. At eighteen, You Tanzhi had acquired neither literary learning nor martial skill.

Death and Its Consequences

The defeat and deaths of the You brothers at Juxian Manor transformed You Tanzhi’s failed upbringing into a family tragedy. During a confrontation with Xiao Feng, the young man declared that Xiao Feng had killed his father, mother, and uncle. Xiao Feng recognized him as the nephew of the You brothers and identified You Ju as You family’s second master. He answered that the brothers had died by suicide after losing their shield, rather than being killed by him directly. You Tanzhi nevertheless regarded Xiao Feng as responsible for the disaster that had destroyed his family.

You Ju’s wife also died after the brothers’ suicides, leaving their son without immediate family. You Tanzhi’s grief hardened into a desire for revenge: after witnessing the battle at Juxian Manor and learning that Xiao Feng was Khitan, he wandered north in search of him. His encounter with Xiao Feng in Liao territory brought the old family loss into the present, but You Ju himself appears only through the son shaped by his choices and the death that You Tanzhi could not accept.

Narrative Role

You Ju’s story turns on a protective decision that could not protect his family from disaster. He tried to spare his son the dangers of a martial reputation unsupported by ability, first by withdrawing him from training and then by placing him with tutors. Yet You Tanzhi rejected both alternatives, and the father’s attempts to correct him ended in resignation rather than reconciliation. The contrast between the father’s cautious assessment and the son’s fixation on revenge explains why You Ju’s legacy is not a transmitted skill or settled lesson, but an unresolved grievance that continues to shape the plot after his death.