Zhou Zishu

* Adult
* Lord Zhou
* Zhou Xu
* Child

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***❝ How can people like you and me bear to be asked about our lives?. ❞***

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> - Zhou Zishu
>
>

**Zhou Zishu** (周子舒, *Zhōu Zishū*) is the founder and former leader of Tian Chuang and the leader of Siji Manor who left through drastic measures in order to leave his past behind, and enjoy the rest of his limited days travelling in jianghu as **Zhou Xu** (周絮, Zhōu Xù), a homeless wanderer with an unknown past.

**NOTE:** *This page discusses the characterisation and plot of Zhou Zishu in Word of Honor. For Zhou Zishu in Faraway Wanderers/Audio Drama, see here.*

## Appearance

* Real Appearance
* Disguise

From his days in Tian Chuang, he wears a black cloak as the leader with blue robes underneath, his hair is tied upwards while wearing a braid underneath.

From afar, Zhou Zishu seems arrogant and distant with a cold beauty to him, his face is slim and pale with thin lips which adds up to his heartless demanour. While his eyes are bright and half hidden, Zhou Zishu's gaze can become unnerving.

Due to the Nails of Seven Apertures for Three Autumns, Zhou Zishu is thinner and looks ill, his skin colourless with the nails infused in his acuepoints.

After his department from the imperial court, Zhou Zishu rests for a much simplier and humble robes, plain in colour and style, he also lets his hair loose in comparison to the tied up hairstyle from his Tian Chuang appearance.

Zhou Zishu's disguise as a beggar consist of a mask that is darker in skintone, giving the appearance of a "dirty" skin akin to the Beggar Sect, yet he didn't bother to apply the colour to the rest of his body. The mask also has an unkempt stubble and a healed scar on his left cheek.

He is often seen with a straw hat that he uses to cover his appearance. His hair is messy, accompanying the appearance of a beggar.
## Personality

Having been the leader of both his sect and Tian Chuang, Zhou Zishu is a man to be feared and respected, carrying out actions and orders that must be done that others can't bear to do. Despite this, Zhou Zishu was a gentle person, loving and being loved by his sect brothers in Siji Manor, most notably Qin Jiuxiao, who admired Zhou Zishu alongside others.

As a man who had these two sides, Zhou Zishu was complex, where in an instance he is cruel, and the other is gentle. Consistent with his disguise, he often appeared cold hearted, unfriendly and reserved. He avoided all unnecessary conversation with others, keeping to himself as much as possible, even while accompanying Zhang Chengling.

Despite being the inhumane leader that Tian Chuang needed, Zhou Zishu carries his regrets deep in his heart, which culminated into years of self-loathing and hatred that eventually broke at the death of Qin Jiuxiao, where he put himself through the *Nails of Seven Apertures for Three Autumns* as penance for his actions, and wishes to redeem himself in his limited lifespan.

After the exposure of his real appearance of both Wen Kexing and himself, Zhou Zishu showed more compassion and trusting towards Wen Kexing. Their relationship became significantly more essential to his life.

## History

### Childhood

Zhou Zishu was the son of the former capable assistant to Prince Jin, who also happened to be his cousin. Since Zhou Zishu was born from someone within the imperial court, he had a rich upbringing. At some point, he was sent to be a disciple of the Siji Manor, where he was delighted to be sent there as Long Que remembers. Qin Huaizhang, the master of the Siji Manor, treated Zhou Zishu as if he was his very own son, to the point where he made Zhou Zishu the young master instead of Qin Jiuxiao.

Twenty years ago, Zhou Zishu encounters a young name by the name of *Zhen Yan*, who becomes his junior brother once Zhen Yan becomes a disicple of the Siji Manor, however, Zhen Yan disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and is thought to be dead, hence, Qin Huaizhang considers Qin Jiuxiao to be Zhou Zishu's second junior brother.

### Shouldering Two Legacies

At sixteen, Qin Huaizhang suddenly passed away from illness, which moved the leadership to Zhou Zishu, who was young at the time and equally devastated by the loss of his master, he attempt to shoulder the Siji Manor, which at the time, had eighty-one brothers. In his late teens, Prince Jin wrote him a letter, asking him for assistance in the imperial court, which sparked Zhou Zishu's youthful heroism and drive to help his cousin. Thus, Tian Chuang was established when Zhou Zishu was twenty-three, pledging his own service and the service of all the brothers in the Siji Manor.

As the years passed, each brother of the Siji Manor fell in battle or decided to leave Tian Chuang by taking the *Nails of Seven Apertures for Three Autumns*, some succumbed to power lost their goal, while others disagreed with the higher orders and tried to intervene. One particular incident was the order of killing Officer Zhang and three brothers of the Siji Manor refused, including Qin Jiuxiao, and pleaded Zhou Zishu to try and discuss the matter with the prince. Zhou Zishu, both seeking to do what's needed and not wanting to cause harm to his brothers (especially Qin Jiuxiao), he drugged them all to sleep and carried out the mission himself. When Qin Jiuxiao woke up, he left without saying goodbyes as his and Zhou Zishu's relationship was severely fractured.

The last time Zhou Zishu saw Qin Jixuiao was when he was in his coffin, as Qin Jiuxiao thought that Zhou Zishu was trapped in a town alone, and proceeded to fight until his death for his senior brother. This was the final straw to Zhou Zishu's culminating guilt, as when he knew of this, he coughed up blood, and finally decided on leaving Tian Chuang by slowly putting the *Nails of Seven Apertures for Three Autumns* in himself every three months.

### Farewell to the Imperial Court

After almost a year of putting each nail, Zhou Zishu was nearing the end of his service, unbeknownst to Prince Jin. His last mission was to kill an military governor, Officer Li, who was accused of plotting against the prince, as Zhou Zishu successfully carried out the mission and killed Officer Li, his last target was Officer Li's daughter, Princess Jing An. Because of her deed of bringing Qin Jiuxiao's body to Zhou Zishu, he gave her the option to die with honour by suicide. As she was dying, Zhou Zishu takes notice of the hairpin she holds, which was made by Qin Jiuxiao intended for a lover which reveals Jing An as his lover.

Reporting the mission, Zhou Zishu was informed that Bi Changfeng made a grave mistake during the assassination, which made the prince angry, regardless, Bi Changfeng asked to leave Tian Chuang, and by default, it meant taking in the *Nails of Seven Apertures for Three Autumns*. Zhou Zishu is the one who sends him off personally, and afterwards goes to the abandoned Siji Manor, where he re-opens the wounds of the nails. He hallucinates Qin Jiuxiao, and talks to the ghost while crying about the way he had driven all his eighty-one brothers into death and even killed Qin Jiuxiao's lover.

Zhou Zishu goes to the palace to meet with Prince Jin, telling him that he wants to quit Tian Chuang and shows him the nails he had already put in, Zhou Zishu merely asks for Duan Pengju to put in the final nail in his body. Prince Jin screams and is shocked at Zhou Zishu's actions, going as far as to kill him, he reluctantly let Zhou Zishu go, with the promise of becoming Emperor in the three years that Zhou Zishu will get to live in. Prince Jin storms off while giving Duan Pengju leadership of Tian Chuang.

### Wandering Jianghu with a Bottle of Wine

Free of Tian Chuang and the entirety of the Imperial Court, Zhou Zishu disguises himself as a beggar in order to slip Tian Chuang's radar and live freely. In one evening, Zhou Zishu relaxes by the bridge and sunbathes, a young master passes by him and gives him money, but Zhou Zishu refuses and tosses the money away, he is then greeted by a young maid who gives him wine, as Zhou Zishu tells her he's simply subhathing, his eyes lock with the girl's master, this is interrupted by her initating a fight, and the pair fight in public while Zhou Zishu exhibits high skilled moves, surprising everyone. The fight is cut short by the girl's young master, who introduces himself as Wen Kexing.

## Effects of The Nails

* **Limited Life Span** - He have only around two to three years left to live. However, Wu Xi might have a "cure" for him. He proposed Zishu to consider ridding himself of his own martial ability. Even then, there is still only a fifth of chance that his life can be saved.
* **Halved Martial Arts Strength** - Due to the effects of the Nails, his martial arts strength is reduced by half.
* **Periodic Pain** - He suffers from prickling pain in his chest when the Nails are acting up. It is not the kind of pain that mangles one's body, or the slow, simmering kind as seen with internal injuries. It is one that feels like someone is cutting his meridians apart one by one. After more than a year of suffering he had well adapted to the pain, and nothing showed on his face anymore.
* **Sleeping Schedule** - The Nails will always raise hell after midnight, so he usually makes sure to sleep early in order to gather enough strength when the torment hit. The agony only subsides when the sun rises. If his schedule is broken and he is unable to go back to sleep; all he could do now was gritting his teeth and bearing it. By then he felt like he was almost paralyzed. Thus, morning is when he is at his weakest.
* **Withered Meridians** - Even Ye Baiyi doesn't know of a way to treat his Nail injuries. According to the former, his meridians have almost withered completely, like an ancient tree without roots. Even removing the poison inside you won’t help. In fact, channeling more energy into himself will break his dying meridians, and he can only perish.

## Abilities

* **Master Disguise** - He has an unspecified amount of human masks on himself that he use to disguise himself. He has learned the technique from his former master, Qin Huaizhang. It is said to be impossible to recognize him the moment he joins a crowd. He is able to conceal himself, going from the most frightening individual in the palace to a free-spirited, miserable-looking wanderer riding a thin horse, gnawing a straw in his mouth while humming folk songs takes that place. He becomes the first to actually get away from the Tian Chuang network just like that.
* **Infinity Indefinite (无际无痕)** - A move restricted to to the disciples of Siji Manor, an swift evasion tactic taught to him by Qin Huaizhang.

* **Flute Craftsmanship & Playing** - He demonstrated them when fighting back against the musical (zither) skills of “Enchanted Song” Qin Song. He made a flute during the journey out of boredom with very poor craftsmanship. The notes are not right and the tuning is all over the place, thus he never got around to using it. A big crack appeared in it after a single use. His flute playing is described to be "an ear-piercing noise". However, normally flutes would never make sounds that sharp, so sharp to the point it felt like they could tear something apart.
* **Medicinal Skills** - He himself states that he wouldn’t call himself an expert in medicine-related matters. He might not possess an intensive knowledge about the field. However, he had seen enough to know that there had yet to exist a poison that could cause hallucinations for a certain long period of time.
* **Enhanced Hearing** - His hearing is retained due to the secret of the Nails Punishment. He could hear Gu Xiang, and didn’t miss a single word. Even though the former was a noisy road away, and her voice was at a medium volume.
* **Mastery at Martial Arts** - Recognized by many, Zhou Zishu possess significant understanding and mastery at the ways of martial arts.

## Skills and Weapons

* **Baiyi (白衣)** - It is a Whip sword (软剑) that was given to him by his master, Qin Huaizhang. The sword has its name “Baiyi” carved on it. The sword was in turn, actually gifted to the former by Ye Baiyi. Zishu himself once thought it was some kind of mysterious motto, however it turned out to be a symbol of Baiyi himself.
* **Swift Moving Steps** - Possessing such skill learned from his Four Seasons Manor, Zhou Zishu has mastered the technique of Swift Moving Steps. His mastery at such a technique completely confuses Gu Xiang at their first initial contact and impresses Wen Kexing.

## Relationships

### Wen Kexing The Fall of A Thousand Weights - 千斤坠

Wen Kexing takes a significant interest in Zhou Zishu. Zhou Zishu takes suspicion in Wen Kexing because of his constant appearance in the different places that he goes. Overtime, Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu get closer and closer, resulting in a crucial friendship/relationship with one another. Wen Kexing calls Zhou Zishu his soulmate, which Zhou Zishu reciprocates back. It is learned that Wen Kexing is Zhou Zishu's junior brother, resulting in an even closer relationship and feelings of protection.

### Gu Xiang

Zhou Zishu often uses her to tease Wen Kexing, allowing her to come close to him, touch his face, and calling her a "cute girl". Even though they aren't as close as Wen Kexing and himself, Zhou Zishu still cares for her and protects her. They rely on each other to get things done and help one another.

### Zhang Chengling

Zhou Zishu's disciple. He takes great care of Chengling due to the promise that he made the Old Man. After a while, Zhou Zishu can't help but want to protect and care for Chengling, as they created a relationship similar to that of Master/Disciple. Zhou Zishu constantly worries about Chengling's well-being, asking Gu Xiang to find ways into the Five Lake Alliance to check on him and make sure that he is okay. Zhou Zishu often puts himself at risk to protect Chengling, even before Chengling became his disciple.

### Ye Baiyi

Zhou Zishu's respectable senior. Zhou Zishu's master had a important friendship.relationship with his master, which was often taught and told to Zhou Zishu. Zhou Zishu 's first impression of Ye Baiyi wasn't amazing, resulting in a fight between Wen Kexing and Ye Baiyi. Zhou Zishu greatly admires Ye Baiyi as the great senior that he was told by his master. Even though Zhou Zishu has great admiration for him, he conflicts with him to protect Wen Kexing.

## Novel Difference

*See: Zhou Zishu/Novel*

* Zhou Zishu has little to no remorse about his actions during his time in Tian Chuang and spends less time dewlling on the past.
* Zhou Zishu's involvement with Tian Chuang and Siji Manor is drama-exclusive, as he decided to leave all of his past behind in the novel.
* Zhou Zishu is less emotionally open than his drama-counterpart, and questions Wen Kexing's sincerity initially before eventually warming up to him.
* Zhou Zishu's morality isn't as black and white, and rarely gets in the way of Wen Kexing's actions concerning his revenge plan.

## Gallery

**Promotional Material**

**Official Drama Stills**

**Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing Drama Stills**

**Official Posters**

**Official Q-Version**

**Official Merchandise**

## Trivia

* The scriptwriter intended for Zhou Zishu to be watered down concerning his sharpness and morality in *Word of Honor*, he was watered down even further by his actor, Zhang Zhehan.

## References

1. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 18
2. ↑ Web-Series, Episode 24